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Archbishop Desmond Tutu Dies At Age 90; Italy Sets New Case Record For Third Straight Day; DRC Suicide Bombing Kills At Least Six; Armed Intruder Arrested At Windsor Castle; World's Most Powerful Telescope Rockets Into Space. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired December 26, 2021 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a pivotal champion of South Africa's anti- apartheid movement in the 1980s, has died at the age of 90. Tutu rose to prominence during a period of political violence and upheaval in South Africa.

As the first Black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, he preached non- violent resistance to the apartheid system. In 1984, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role both before and after South Africa ended apartheid and abolished its long-time policy of minority white rule.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa first announced Tutu's death, calling him, quote, "a patriot without equal."

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was often a unifying and healing presence for the people of South Africa during the bloody fight against apartheid. Here's CNN's David McKenzie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDA NGWENYA, PHOTOGRAPHER: You find your cousin had been killed --

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When we spoke to late photographer Juda Ngwenya in 2016, he remembered a different time.

NGWENYA: We've got funeral each week. People getting killed. And then you don't find one person; at five, six, seven, eight people, mass funeral happen.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): During the 1980s, the apartheid regime was at war with the Black majority. One of its goals: to turn the liberation movement against itself.

Neighbors betrayed neighbors, friends became informants. In this maelstrom, a diminutive Anglican bishop was ever present. Desmond Tutu was never afraid to step up to the racist regime, using his bully pulpit of peace.

MCKENZIE: During apartheid, Archbishop Tutu's position in the church gave him a semblance of protection and his deep faith gave him an unwavering moral compass, even when it was deeply unpopular.

BISHOP DESMOND TUTU, ANGLICAN CHURCH: I am not a politician, even if there are those who say so. I speak from the Bible.

NGWENYA: The car was standing down there.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): For Ngwenya, Tutu's defining moment came at a funeral.

NGWENYA: This is not what we wanted. We wanted to kill him.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): Mourners wanted to throw a suspected informer into his burning car. But Tutu saved the man from the mob, saying he should be forgiven, that the struggle should rise above the violence of the state.

NGWENYA: Tutu is a man of God that talked the truth. And I think that's why the truth.

MCKENZIE: But people listened.

ENGUENIA: People listened to Tutu, no matter what.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): And during those dark days, with ANC leadership in jail or exiled, Tutu was the voice of the struggle. But after liberation, Tutu's embrace of the ruling ANC was awkward.

D. TUTU: You and your government don't represent (INAUDIBLE).

MCKENZIE (voice-over): When the rainbow nation faltered he spoke up on corruption, AIDS policy, diplomacy.

D. TUTU: One day we will stop praying for the defeat of the ANC government. You are disgraceful.

MPHO TUTU, DESMOND AND LEAH TUTU LEGACY FOUNDATION: He's an equal opportunity irritant.

(LAUGHTER)

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But Tutu's daughter says, now that he's gone, South Africa will lose its conscience.

M. TUTU: South Africa will lose a champion and a coach.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): She says Tutu always cheered South Africa when it did the right thing and consistently called the country to task when it did not.

(END VIDEOTAPE) MCKENZIE: And David McKenzie joins us now on the phone from Johannesburg, South Africa.

So David, take me through the earlier years during the struggle against apartheid. As you mentioned in your report, unlike some of the other Black activists, his religious robes acted as a sort of shield and allowed him to stay active as a vocal opponent.

So why was his voice so crucial, especially in his outreach to the wider world?

MCKENZIE: Well, I think, Kim, just to start off, this is truly one of the last great giants of the anti-apartheid movement. Desmond Tutu, as an archbishop, as you say, a member of the church, the church was a powerful moral voice in many cases in the fight against apartheid.

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MCKENZIE: I think what is crucial today, is South Africans learn that this great icon has died after a long struggle on and off with illness, is that he was never afraid to speak out his mind, to use his moral authority as a religious man and as a man of the unimpeachable moral compass, to both praise and criticize where he saw fit.

His relationship with the ruling ANC was tricky, to say the least. And as you saw in that report, he was never afraid of speaking his mind. The church, the Anglican Church, a short time ago, putting out a statement, really summing up the man.

Desmond Tutu's legacy is, quote, "his moral strength, moral courage and clarity."

And after the end of apartheid he was crucial, the crucial member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. And you could see the horrible crimes of apartheid, as they were put out to the public for the first time, the moral weight of his office, at one point breaking down and crying, as he heard the awful testimony of the people, whose loved ones died under the yoke of the racist regime.

And then post that, he was always just willing to be this moral voice, being less public in recent days because of his illness and his age. But he would always crop up, kind of steer the country in the direction that he felt was the right direction to go -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: David, we, in the rest of the world, only saw him, you know, occasionally on the world stage or sometimes on the national stage. But you've covered him closely for years.

Aside from leader, statesman, religious figure, what kind of man was he?

And I'm thinking, for example, his sense of humor.

MCKENZIE: He was a powerhouse. And he had this wonderful impish sense of humor. I remember, as a young reporter first starting out at CNN, I had interviewed him in his role in the peace process in East Africa. And, of course, given the moral stature and the fame of this

archbishop, who had done so much in my country of my birth, it was very intimidating. I remember sitting down and the producer whispering in my ear, giving some advice.

And he said, "Talk about football."

I said, "What?"

And I asked him about the latest games. And he laughed and we had a chat about sports. The man was a disarming -- a moral giant with an impish grin and a wonderful sense of humor and always was ready to put people at ease.

But the bravery, even just the physical bravery of the man, during the '80s, during the shutdown of the townships in parts of South Africa, where the Black population was forced to live at the time, he would wade in, as our story reports, he would wade into these situations of just great danger and not be afraid to make a decision which he felt was right, even if it put himself in a huge amount of physical danger.

And I think his position as part of the church, it was crucial in his moral authority. But he never let his stature, his Nobel Peace Prize, his position as a founding member of elders, his relationship with Nelson Mandela, over all, his just joy of life and his willingness to crack a joke and just be down to Earth.

And I think that's what really makes him such a key figure and extraordinary man in South Africa and world history.

BRUNHUBER: You mentioned Nelson Mandela. Last time I was in South Africa was for the coverage of his funeral. I mean, that was unprecedented in terms of an occasion of national mourning. This won't be the same. I mean, nothing can be.

But what are you expecting in terms of a country coming together to remember a beloved son?

MCKENZIE: Well, all throughout South Africa, I know that people will take a pause and reflect on the man and their relationship with him and his power. There is a factor of time here. It's been many years since the end of apartheid.

The ravages of apartheid still have an impact on this country but this is a different time. And his long life and his ability recently to stay out of the public eye will mean that there might be some muted reaction across the country.

I expect that there will be a great deal of joy about his life today and, in this holiday season in South Africa, reflection on what he's done. There is also the fact that COVID is an issue.

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MCKENZIE: And gatherings are difficult to organize. But I suspect that this is certainly seen as one of the last great struggle icons of South Africa passing away, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Thanks, David, for bringing us all of this context to Desmond Tutu's extraordinary life. Thanks so much.

All right. Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, empty airports and canceled plans as Omicron disrupts global holiday travel. We'll have live reports from Europe and the U.K. coming up.

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BRUNHUBER: New cases of COVID-19 are surging around the world this holiday season, driven in part by the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. France, for the first time, reported more than 100,000 new cases on Saturday. That's double the number that was recorded just three weeks ago.

And many public health officials are watching a worrisome uptick in hospitalizations. South Korea is reporting its fourth straight day of record high numbers of ICU patients.

The virus has also upended holiday travel plans for countless passengers around the world. COVID-related staff shortages have led many airlines to cancel or delay thousands of flights during one of the busiest travel times of the year.

Italy and the U.K. are among the countries posting record numbers of new cases. CNN's Scott McLean is standing by in London. But let's begin with Barbie Nadeau in Rome.

Barbie, where is the concern greatest right now?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think Italy thought, quite naively, that they were going to escape this brunt of this next wave. And we've seen the numbers here just skyrocket in the last couple of days.

The great area of concern is, of course, hospitalizations. And a lot of the problem across Europe is the fact that so many health care workers are themselves infected and cannot go to work.

So it's not that we're seeing necessarily people who are sicker or need to be on respirators and things like that; it's just a shortage in people who can take care of people, who are sick right now, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: So as you say, if hospitalizations and deaths so far aren't necessarily so bad, then the struggle for politicians is how far to push those restrictions.

NADEAU: That's right. And I think we've seen, just across Europe, people struggling with that. Pretty much every politician turned a blind eye to Christmas. People had their Christmas celebrations. They're really looking now at how to sort of keep and contain those crowds for New Year's Eve and those New Year's Eve celebrations.

Here in Rome, the big concerts have been canceled. In Paris, the fireworks have been canceled, trying to do everything they can to keep people not together. We've got a ban on outdoor concerts or activities of any kind here for the coming week and celebrations.

But politicians, they're going to have to weigh whether these rising numbers really do match rising hospitalizations and deaths. And we're not seeing so far yet -- of course, there's always a lag.

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NADEAU: We're not seeing anything like we saw a year ago, when the number of new cases were lower in terms of hospitalizations and deaths across Europe so far -- Kim.

So let's pivot, then, to Scott.

So as those cases in the U.K. hit new highs, the political debate is raging hot within Boris Johnson's government about what to do about it.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and you can understand why, Kim. They're not releasing new data this weekend because of the holiday.

But on Christmas Eve, this country set a new record for new infections. And the official government estimate is that one in every 35 people has the virus right now. In London, the Omicron epicenter, undoubtedly, the number is one in 20.

Some Premier League soccer fans will be disappointed that some matches scheduled for today had to be postponed because of outbreaks amongst teams. Scotland is going ahead with new restrictions on bars, restaurants, night clubs, large gatherings.

Wales is doing much of the same but even tighter restrictions than they're seeing in Scotland.

England, though, is definitely an outlier here. Boris Johnson has opted not to go any further than he has already, which is things like indoor mask mandates and COVID passports for very, very large events.

But if you look at the data, you can perhaps understand his thinking. Yes, cases have shot nearly straight up over the past couple of weeks. But deaths are still flat or even declining.

And while we are seeing a very slow rise in hospitalizations, it is not matching the trajectory of the case counts by any stretch of the imagination.

We also saw this new data out or these new studies suggesting that the Omicron variant is significantly weaker or causes a less severe illness than previous variants of the virus; 40 percent in one case, up to two-thirds less severe, according to a real-world analysis that was just put out. The danger, though, is far from over. Of course, epidemiologists say

you could get so many cases that that still may well put pressure on the health system. And in London, that is particularly acute amongst health care workers.

Here's some new data that perhaps illustrates the issue. If you go back to the end of November, Kim, about 1,000 health care workers in London were out sick with the virus. Fast forward to about a week ago -- that's the latest data -- those numbers have almost quadrupled, almost 4,000 health care workers calling in sick because of this Omicron variant.

BRUNHUBER: Wow. And that's exactly what puts such a strain on the system. Scott McLean in London. Thanks so much.

The Omicron variant is casting a cloud over the Christmas holiday in the U.S. More than 1,000 flights have been cancelled for Saturday and Sunday, on top of the nearly 700 cancellations on Friday.

Airlines say just too many flight crews have been sidelined by the virus. Hospitalizations remain relatively lower than earlier this year. But experts say that tends to lag behind infection rates.

Concern over the variant led to long lines at testing sites across the country, with many people waiting for hours and shortages of supplies forced some of those sites to turn people away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Dr. Scott Miscovich is the president and CEO of Premier Medical Group, he's also a U.S. consultant for COVID-19 testing.

Thank you so much for being here with us, Doctor. With Christmas and the holiday season, so many people mixing, two people came to me with the exact same story. Their daughter came home, they had COVID and now they all have the virus, even after they are vaccinated.

How much trouble are we going to be in 10 days or two weeks?

DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND NATIONAL CONSULTANT: Boy, you called it, Kim. I am getting people, trying to come to my home to get tested. It's happening across the country right now.

We now have a virus that's 15 times that R, the transmissibility; measles is 18 times. It's so contagious, it's getting in and it's going through the entire family, even with two or three vaccinations. That's what's really worrying us right now.

People can be vaccinated and they're still ripping through families. We are in trouble. We'll pass our all time high of 246,000 in the United States very shortly, by the time you are referencing.

BRUNHUBER: Young people getting infected.

What do you think that means for schools beginning in January?

We'll be looking at distance learning again?

MISCOVICH: It's very likely and it depends a lot on the stage right now and their positivity.

[03:20:00]

MISCOVICH: But one concerning factor that we have right now is a 400 percent increase for pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19; 50 percent are under the age of 5 that can't be vaccinated.

So when you combine how contagious this is, how much it could spread in the classroom, I believe there are going to be a lot of schools that are going to be moving to distance learning, where they're going to be shutting down because they'll have so much positivity.

BRUNHUBER: Obviously all of this puts even more emphasis on boosters. But you have written that we should be getting them sooner than six months after the second shot. And we should not even be calling them boosters. Explain what you mean.

MISCOVICH: Yes, I have been saying this for quite a while, when it comes to -- we are giving a false sense of an understanding of what that third shot is. It's clear right now, even pre-Omicron, that immunity was waning. That's why Delta was beginning to surge pre- Omicron.

You need three shots. Let's take away that booster; it's a three-shot series. You need to get all three shots. We should publish the data in every state to show how many people are safe and fully vaccinated.

Finally, we are one of the only countries that is sticking to six months for the time when you get your third shot or your booster. There are many countries moving up to three shots, three months, because that's when the immunity starts to wane.

And look at how progressive Israel is. They started the fourth shot for the over 50 and immunosuppressed. So my recommendation is three months.

BRUNHUBER: So with the last minute here, in COVID testing for Olympics and leagues around the country, last time we talked, not that long ago, you made a prophetic decision, that we'll see pro leagues pausing. You are right on the money there.

What do you see -- from everything you have been seeing, from evidence in the U.K. and South Africa, that Omicron cases hit hard and burn out a little quicker than Delta.

Do you think that's the situation where athletes will stabilize or are all the cancelled games we are seeing now is just the beginning?

MISCOVICH: Just the beginning, unfortunately. We are seeing new policies in a lot of the professional leagues but they're not going to be enough, especially when you time it with the holidays, when it's natural people are going to be gathering and they're not isolating. So I think we'll have some serious effects for the NFL and all the

other sports leagues. The second is college, college athletes, they're 18 to 22 and 23 years old. They're enjoying family and friends. We are going to see a big surge.

I believe we'll have some major bowl games cancelled. It's only going to get worse. I do believe -- my projections are March-April, we are going to see that we are going to have peaked and we'll be on the downside. But that's only a prediction right now. We don't have that information.

BRUNHUBER: It's still a long way. Doctor, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

MISCOVICH: Thank you, Kim, and merry Christmas to everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we'll be right back. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We're getting the first witness accounts of a deadly Christmas Day bombing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Officials say at least six people are dead after a suicide bomber blew himself up in this bar in the city of Beni.

The victims, who include two women and a teenage girl, were celebrating Christmas at the time; 15 other people were wounded. One survivor says he was in the bar when the explosion went off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS EKILA, WITNESS (through translator): When I went inside, I saw a movement. A motorcycle turned around. When the motorcycle turned around, I heard a bang.

I shouted, "Manager, manager."

He replied, "I don't see you."

I lost control. I didn't know what was going on outside. When we left the restaurant, that's when I learned that there had been people killed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: And the nation's president condemned the bombing as an odious terrorist attack.

So let's check some other stories around the world.

The military junta in Myanmar is being accused of a Christmas massacre. A local human rights group says more than 30 people were killed in an area between the capital and the Thai border.

The group says the victims' charred remains were found on Saturday. Aid groups say the children says two of its staff are missing after their car was attacked and torched. Military controlled media reported an attack on what they called terrorists. Fighting has flared in the past few days between the junta and armed groups opposing military rule.

Scenes of chaos near Sudan's presidential palace after security forces fired tear gas on protesters Saturday. An opposition group says close to 180 people were injured, including eight who were shot.

Protesters want the military out of the transitional government, which leads Sudan until elections in 2023. Military leaders staged a coup back in October before reinstating a civilian prime minister, who leads the joint administration.

Iran says war games this week in the Persian Gulf were meant as a firm response to recent threats by Israel. That's according to Iran's semi- official news agency. The military says the drills were long planned, fired ballistic missiles at a target, which resembled an Israeli nuclear reactor.

The U.K. condemned the use of ballistic missiles during the war games, calling it a threat to regional and international security. Now this as an eighth round of nuclear talks resume Monday. Iran says it doesn't intend to go above the 60 percent level of uranium enrichment, even if sanctions aren't limited.

Greek authorities say at least 16 migrants died on Saturday when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean. The Hellenic Coast Guard rescued dozens of people and brought them to the nearby island of Paros for medical attention.

Authorities believe about 80 people were trying to go from Turkey to Italy. It's not clear what caused the ship to capsize but Greece's shipping minister said trafficking gangs are to blame, calling them indifferent to human life.

In the U.K. a security scare kicked off Christmas morning for Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. CNN's Nada Bashir is in London with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: Well, Christmas was, in many ways, far from traditional for the queen this year. Police were called to Windsor Castle, where the queen is currently staying for Christmas, after being alerted to an intruder on the castle grounds in the early hours of Christmas morning.

According to a statement from local police, a 19-year-old man was arrested on the grounds of the castle, found in possession of an offensive weapon. Police say the royal family were informed of the incident.

But that didn't stop the queen's son, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, from attending a Christmas service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. The queen herself didn't make any public appearances on Christmas Day.

But she did deliver her annual message to the nation, this year taking a more personal approach, commemorating the life of her late husband, Prince Philip, who died in April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH II, QUEEN OF ENGLAND: Christmas can be hard for those who have lost loved ones. This year especially I understand why. But for me, in the months since the death of my beloved Philip, I have drawn great comfort from the warmth and affection of the many tributes to his life and work from around the country, the commonwealth and the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now during that message, the queen wore the same dress seen in a photo during their honeymoon, while a photo taken during their diamond anniversary featured front and center on the queen's desk.

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BASHIR: The moments of reflection on the past year touching on the impact the pandemic has had on this year's festivities but it also offered a hopeful look ahead to 2022, which will see the queen mark her platinum jubilee -- Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

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BRUNHUBER: Coming up, we return to our breaking news coverage of the death of Desmond Tutu. How the archbishop and anti-apartheid champion is being remembered inside and outside South Africa.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us from around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

Back to our breaking news this hour: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who helped lead South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, has passed away at age 90. His death was confirmed by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Tutu preached non-violent opposition to the apartheid system. In 1984, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. And nearly a decade later, he witnessed the end of the regime of white minority rule in South Africa.

He went on to serve a key role in the post apartheid era, chairing a truth and reconciliation committee under then president Nelson Mandela. CNN's Larry Madowo joins us live from Nairobi, Kenya.

Larry, he was an absolutely pivotal voice against the evils of apartheid. Take us through how he spoke out and how that helped liberate the country.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim, to understand the power of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's message, even before the end of apartheid, he won the Nobel prize, you mentioned, back in 1984.

That's a full decade before apartheid finally fell in South Africa. He was using his platform on the pulpit to preach non-violent resistance to racial segregation in South Africa long before the international community, long before South Africa was ready to abandon that racist system.

And to understand also the influence of his work in South Africa, look at this tweet from president Cyril Ramaphosa this morning.

He said, "Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal, a leader of principle and pragmatism, who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead. We pray that Archbishop Tutu's soul will rest in peace but that his spirit will stand sentry over the future of our nation."

Because Archbishop Tutu has been such a bigger figure beyond just his preaching, people often forget he was an Anglican priest first, before any of these things. He was a priest and he never abandoned that pulpit. He was a preacher and a powerful preacher who would bring crowds, bring congregations to tears or to laughter with his words.

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MADOWO: And that was how he was able to take that message beyond the pulpit to the streets, fighting against any violent opposition to what was happening in South Africa by the apartheid regime but also by members of the ANC and other political parties. That is how powerful and that is how strong his legacy is.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. As you sort of mentioned there, he was still hugely influential in the post-apartheid era. Tell us a bit more about what role he played in kind of bringing the country together.

MADOWO: He obviously supported Nelson Mandela's work and F.W. de Klerk, setting aside all of the systems that brought up apartheid. And he was appointed by Nelson Mandela as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated the crimes that were committed on both sides in the struggle against apartheid.

So incisive was his work that eventually both the ANC and former members of the apartheid regime rejected the investigation; at least, the report that came out of his commission. He also is credited with coining the term "the rainbow nation." This

is the very complicated but somehow it worked together ethnic mix of South Africa after apartheid. He came up with that term, which is still in use in South Africa today.

And he was also critical of members of the ANC, members of his own Anglican church in, for instance, their opposition to gay marriage and to the ordaining of gay priests. So he's a man who was seen as the moral conscience of South Africa, not only in the pre-apartheid era but even after that. He never lost his voice and never felt that now the struggle is over; whenever he saw an injustice, he spoke out against it.

BRUNHUBER: And Larry, we've been focusing on South Africa for good reason. But his work went far beyond the country's borders as well.

MADOWO: His work was global. He was a founding member of the elders. This is this global list of leaders that Nelson Mandela set up on his 89th birthday.

He mediated in peace talks, even here in Kenya in 2008, after a disputed election. He came out here in Kenya and was critical of the leaders here, criticized the corruption that had been seen, the selfishness that he saw, that led to the disputed election and the violence that led to more than 1,000 people dying.

He was vocal on Israeli-Palestinian issues. He was vocal on what he saw as segregation in the U.K. He added his voice to causes around the world.

And Desmond Tutu's somebody I went to school here in Kenya, that we learned about in Kenyan history. We learned about him, not just as a South African hero but as a global icon, somebody who's revered around the continent, around the world.

And you're starting to see some of these condolence messages coming in from leaders here on the African continent, who saw him as somebody who was a shining light, a beacon toward democracy and the word of God, could be, not just in South Africa but around the world.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, and his death will be mourned, obviously very keenly in South Africa. But around the world as you say. Larry Madowo in Nairobi, thank you so much.

Well, turning to other world news now, the James Webb telescope launched on Christmas from the European Space Agency port in French Guiana. And it could change the way we see the cosmos. CNN's Kristin Fisher has more.

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KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: After nearly two decades' worth of work and about $10 billion, it all boiled down to one moment on Christmas morning. And it worked.

The Webb space telescope successfully launched from French Guiana and is now heading to a point about 1 million miles away from Earth. But this is really only the beginning of the journey for the Webb space telescope.

Yes, an incredible achievement for NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, the three partners involved with the Webb space telescope. But it is now embarking on what is called the 29 days on edge.

You've heard with Mars rovers they have the seven minutes of terror, when the ground loses communication with the rover. Well, this is the 29 days on edge, the time in which it's going to take to really know if all of those more than 300 single points of failure of the telescope, if they're going to work.

So over the next few days and weeks, the telescope is going to be unfolding like an origami to finally put together that massive mirror, which is really the centerpiece of this telescope. And it is designed to answer some of the most existential questions to humankind.

You know, are we alone in the universe?

And where did that very first light in the cosmos come from?

This telescope, it's an infrared telescope. It's 100 times more powerful than Hubble, which is an incredible thing and a gift that, you know, so many astronomers all over the world have been waiting years for. But because it is so powerful and technically advanced and so far away, if something does go wrong --

[03:40:00]

FISHER: -- during these 29 days on edge, it means that no astronauts are actually going to be able to ever fix it. So a great Christmas morning launch for the Webb space telescope.

But it is not over yet for the scientists and engineers, who are going to be waiting and watching carefully to make sure all of these bits and pieces actually work -- Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: All right. So let's take a look at what makes the James Webb telescope more powerful than Hubble. Both Hubble and Webb can see the universe in infrared. But the James Webb's higher sensitivity will mean that, for the first time, we'll be able to see the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system.

That means potentially finding worlds that can sustain life.

A town in Japan is redefining the term "hybrid vehicle." Have a look at this.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Now this bus in Tokushima is no ordinary bus. Once it reaches the rails, steel wheels replace the front tires, transforming it into a train. The rear wheels stay down to drive it forward.

SHIGEKI MIURA, CEO, ASIA COAST RAILWAY (through translator): Conventional vehicles could only run either on roads or railways. But this dual mode vehicle can reach the locals as a bus and carry them onto the railways as well. In rural areas with an aging population, we expect it to be a very good form of public transport.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The dual mode vehicle can hit speeds of 100 kilometers an hour on the roads and 60 kilometers an hour on rails.

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BRUNHUBER: And finally, in his Christmas Day message, Pope Francis reflected on the importance of healthy social relationships, especially during the pandemic. CNN's senior Vatican analyst John Allen has more from Rome.

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JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: It was a clearly somber and yet still hopeful Pope Francis, who celebrated Christmas in the Vatican under a rainy, gray Roman sky. The pontiff delivered his annual Urbi et Orbi message, that's "to the city and to the world," usually a 180 degree review of the global situation.

And, of course, the pope concentrated in a particular way on the coronavirus pandemic, not only repeating his frequent calls for global justice and access to vaccines but also expressing concern for the social impact of the pandemic; that is, women who were being abused because they're trapped at home, children being bullied, elderly people who were isolated, alone and afraid.

In response to that, the pope called for a culture of dialogue and encounter; that is, reaching out to people and listening to what's on their hearts and minds, trying to be present to them. And the pope insisted that, if you do that, even in the era of Omicron, there is still hope -- for CNN, this is John Allen in Rome.

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I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks for watching. More CNN NEWSROOM at the top of the hour. "MARKETPLACE AFRICA" is next.