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Tributes to Grant Wahl; Karen Bass Makes History as L.A. Mayor; Major Storm Batters U.S. West; Viktor Bout "Wholeheartedly" Supports Ukraine Invasion; China Relaxes Some COVID-19 Rules; Orion Capsule Returns to Earth. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired December 11, 2022 - 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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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.

Heartfelt tributes are pouring in for American sports journalist Grant Wahl, who died after collapsing at the World Cup. How he's being remembered.

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HARRAK (voice-over): And the game Wahl loved so much is seeing history made. We'll look at what Morocco's stunning upset means and who joins it in the semifinals.

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HARRAK: Plus a powerful storm unleashes snow and heavy rain across the Western United States. We'll have a look at where the system is headed next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.

HARRAK: We start with tributes and mourning at the World Cup after the death of acclaimed sports journalist Grant Wahl. The American died doing what he loved, reporting on soccer at the Argentina-Netherlands match on Friday.

The 49-year old was passionate about the game but he was also at times critical of FIFA, world football's governing body, and Qatar, over its human rights record.

Still, FIFA honored Wahl on Saturday, saying he should have been there. Flowers and a picture of the journalist were placed in the media section ahead of the England versus France match. CNN's Don Riddell has more on Wahl's life and legacy.

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DON RIDDELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS ANCHOR: At the most extraordinary World Cup game, the most devastating news. As the quarterfinal match between Argentina and the Netherlands went into extra time, American soccer writer and broadcaster, Grant Wahl, died after collapsing suddenly in the stadium.

Just days before, the 49-year old had spoken in his podcast about feeling unwell during the tournament.

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GRANT WAHL, SPORTS JOURNALIST: My body, I think, told me, even after the U.S. went out, dude, you are not sleeping enough. And it rebelled on me. And so I've had a case of bronchitis this week. I've been to the medical clinic at the media center twice now.

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RIDDELL: After collapsing on Friday night, on-site medics reportedly spent 20 to 25 minutes treating Wahl. News of his sudden death quickly sent shockwaves throughout the football community.

JON CHAMPION, ESPN COMMENTATOR: I was at the Netherlands game last night when all this horrible drama was unfolding. I wasn't aware of it at the time. So to wake up this morning and switch on my laptop and see the news was just devastating really.

RIDDELL: Wahl made his name initially as a writer for "Sports Illustrated," introducing then unknown high school basketball player, LeBron James, to the world through a memorable cover story.

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: Very fond of Grant. And, you know, having that cover shoot, you know, me being a teenager and him covering that, it was -- it was a pretty cool thing.

RIDDELL: But it was as a soccer writer that he made his greatest mark.

WAHL: I'm Grant Wahl, running for FIFA president.

RIDDELL: In 2011, he used a campaign to run for FIFA president to expose the corruption within football's world governing body.

Wahl quickly emerged as a cheerleader for the beautiful game in North America long before it was fashionable.

CHAMPION: He was one of the first people to welcome me when I made my big move across the Atlantic.

He was almost a missionary and in that sense. He would travel around the globe, telling people to take American soccer seriously.

RIDDELL: In the run up to the World Cup, Wahl made it his mission to expose the deaths of migrant workers Qatar had enlisted to build the stadiums. He continued to advocate for human rights as soon as the tournament

got underway, refusing to follow the demands of stadium security to remove a rainbow shirt worn in solidarity with the LGBTQ plus community.

Wahl tells CNN that he was detained for 25 minutes by Qatari authorities for wearing the shirt.

WAHL: They forcibly took my phone out of my hands. They made me stand in front of a CCTV camera. They continue to try to get me to take off my shirt.

RIDDELL: He went on to receive apologies from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the security team.

After spending 12 years writing about the build-up to Qatar, this tournament was Wahl's eighth and final Men's World Cup. The tributes that have poured in have commended Wahl's commitment to exposing injustices within the sport and cemented his legacy as one of the greatest advocates of American soccer -- Don Riddell, CNN, Qatar.

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HARRAK: Medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen spoke to CNN about Wahl's death and what, if any, ties it may have to symptoms he reported earlier.

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DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: There is so much that we just don't know, we heard about his sudden collapse, we heard about this viral illness that preceded it. But we don't know whether these two things are necessarily related.

People get viral illnesses all the time. This is the season when many people have colds or the flu or other things. And especially for somebody who's generally young, and what it sounds like pretty healthy. It's extremely rare for them to die, much less to die suddenly from that viral illness.

And also for people who do die, it ends up -- it's not usually sudden. In fact, there is gradual deterioration, somebody may be getting short of breath, they're in the hospital, et cetera. So that sudden death, it could be related.

I mean, there is -- there are possibilities, maybe the viral illness, and we don't know this, but maybe the viral illness somehow affected the heart in some way.

But there are other possibilities, too, including whether the sudden death could be caused by a sudden heart rhythm problem or a heart attack or a blood clot. Again, we just don't know. And again, it's just so tragic at this point.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: Dr. Wen also said she does not want to imply there's anything Wahl could have done differently to prevent his death.

The quarterfinals Wahl had been covering have ended with a semifinal that few would have predicted. We'll have highlights from those matches coming up a little later in the program.

The January 6th committee says its final report on the attack at the U.S. Capitol will be made public by December 21st. And it may include a number of criminal referrals to the U.S. Justice Department, including former president Donald Trump.

Committee members will finalize that list when they meet later today. CNN's Marshall Cohen has our report.

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MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Members of the January 6th committee are meeting Sunday to talk about possible criminal referrals that they will include in their final report as they wrap up their work.

The committee has been working aggressively for almost two years now to investigate the January 6th insurrection and everything that led up to that catastrophic day for American democracy.

As part of that final report, lawmakers might include criminal referrals to the Justice Department, identifying people that they believe have committed crimes.

Now who might be the target of these referrals?

Obviously the committee has been looking very closely at Donald Trump. But they have also zeroed in on some of his top associates, like Mark Meadows, his White House chief of staff; Rudy Giuliani, his longtime attorney; John Eastman, a lawyer that worked on some of the post- election attempts to undermine the Democratic transition and a man by the name of Jeffrey Clark, who was a senior Justice Department official that schemed with Trump on how to use the powers of the DOJ to stay in office.

Now whether the committee decides to go forward with these referrals, it's important to remember that the committee is made up of politicians, not prosecutors. And any decisions on a criminal investigation or a criminal indictment would be made totally separately by the Justice Department.

Switching gears, in another Trump investigation, the Mar-a-Lago investigation, a federal judge on Friday declined to hold former president Trump in contempt over noncompliance with a subpoena.

This investigation is all about whether or not Trump or his closest advisers mishandled highly sensitive classified documents and national security documents when they left the White House in January 2021 and brought those materials to Mar-a-Lago, his resort and home in south Florida. The criminal investigation has been ongoing for the better part of the

last year and, as part of that probe, prosecutors wanted to hold Trump in contempt. That's because he did not fully comply with a subpoena that was issued in May that demanded the return of all classified documents.

Back in May and June, his lawyers handed over some documents but dozens of additional documents with classification markings were later recovered. The DOJ wanted to ramp up the pressure and have a judge hold him in contempt.

But on Friday the judge declined to do so and she told both sides to work out their issues separately without a contempt finding. And of course, the investigation, the criminal investigation, is still ongoing. It's being overseen by special counsel Jack Smith here in Washington -- Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.

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HARRAK: Los Angeles is about to have its first female mayor. Later today, Karen Bass will be sworn in by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

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HARRAK: Bass will become the city's 43rd mayor but she won't formally take over from Eric Garcetti until Monday.

Bass is a U.S. House Democrat, who beat real estate developer Rick Caruso in last month's election. She will also be the first woman of color to hold the city's top spot. She's taking office amid a homelessness crisis and as the city council faces fallout from a racism scandal.

WNBA star Brittney Griner continues to undergo a medical evaluation at a U.S. Army hospital in Texas, following her 10-month detention in Russia.

Griner's wife posted an update on Saturday, saying in part, "As BG and I started our journey to heal our minds, body and spirits, I want to personally say thank you to some of the hands, seen and unseen, that helped make it possible for me to see my wife again."

While Griner was arrested in Moscow last February for a small amount of cannabis oil, given a nine-year sentence, most recently she had been laboring at a penal colony, where she struggled to stay warm in the frigid temperatures.

Once the euphoria of being home wears off, Griner will likely experience some difficulties readjusting to a normal life. One person who knows all about that is a former oil company executive, who was detained in Venezuela for five years before his release in early October. He spoke earlier to CNN about that experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JORGE TOLEDO, CITGO CORPORATION: I recall when I just landed in San Antonio, so with that flow of adrenaline, so it was -- I felt great. So the taste of freedom, the smell of freedom and you never think about any, you know, aspect as a consequence of your captivity.

But as the time passed by, so you start getting -- and you get into the normal life, you notice that, you know, reintegration means challenge and everything, you know, becomes a challenge. So -- but, you know, the challenge represents, for instance, your relationship with your family.

So in my case, I spent almost five years in captivity, so it's a long time. So your relationship with your spouse, your children, even my grandchildren, so that I'm now building a new relationship because, when I was detained, they were just babies.

So the aspect of the family is important, but also some other aspects in their normal life, such as your career, your normal activities. I used to be a marathon runner as an example.

So how can I go back to running in -- and then minor things that become true challenges or source of anxiety. such as driving.

So you feel insecure to drive?

So there's so many things that you need to deal with.

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HARRAK: One of the former CITGO 6 detainees, explaining the difficulty of reintegrating after a long captivity.

Tropical cyclone Mandous hit India and has killed at least four people, damaging dozens of homes. Up to a quarter of a meter of rain fell in the state capital, more than the average precipitation for December.

A local official said that more than 9,000 were moved to safety to some 200 relief camps, as authorities tried to remove uprooted trees from the roads.

This kind of thing happens pretty regularly in Italy's famous floating city.

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HARRAK (voice-over): High tide is flooding Saint Mark's Square in Venice but the tourists keep on touring. Besides elevated walkways, there are also glass barriers to protect the interior of the historic basilica.

That was damaged during a flood three years ago. Those barriers, they were not activated this time. Climate change is apparently making the problem worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: A major winter storm is pummeling parts of the Western U.S. with heavy snow and rain. At least 9 million people in more than a dozen states are under storm alerts through Monday.

Flood warnings are up for parts California, while some places in the Sierras can expect up to 3 to 5 feet of snow. And of course, after lashing the West, it will move eastward.

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HARRAK: Russia feels Ukraine's wrath after its latest attack on Ukraine's energy system. Still ahead, the latest as Kyiv takes aim at Russian-held targets after a major Ukrainian city was left in the dark.

Plus Vladimir Putin's war takes center stage at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. How a Russian laureate is condemning Russia's assault on its neighbor.

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HARRAK (voice-over): Tens of thousands protested in the streets of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, to demand the resignation of the prime minister. The rally was organized by the Bangladesh nationalist party, the country's main opposition.

The demonstrators blame prime minister Sheikh Hasina for rising fuel prices and the soaring cost of living. They want her to step down for new elections under a caretaker government.

The prime minister has called opposition leaders "arson terrorists" and Western officials have expressed concerns about her government's response to the protests.

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HARRAK: At least 20 people were injured during clashes in southern Peru, four of them police officers. The motive for Saturday's protest is not clear. But it took place in one of several towns where people have taken to the streets, demanding the release of ousted and now jailed former president, Pedro Castillo.

Meanwhile, Peru's new president, Dina Boluarte, named her new cabinet just days after Castillo was sacked by congress and later arrested for rebellion and conspiracy. Castillo has been accused of attempting to dissolve the legislature to prevent an impeachment vote. (MUSIC PLAYING)

HARRAK: Reports that Ukraine is firing back after Russia knocked out power to the city of Odessa. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Iranian-made drones hit key power facilities around the city on Saturday, leaving it largely in the dark. This is how he described the situation in his evening address.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The key for today is energy. The situation in Odessa region is very difficult. After the night strike, the strike by Iranian drones, Odessa and other cities and villages in the region are in the dark.

As of this time, more than 1.5 million people in the Odessa region are without electricity. Only critical infrastructure is connected and as much as it is possible to supply electricity.

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HARRAK: But now Ukraine says its missiles later hit the occupied city of Melitopol. A Russian news agency says the same happened in the Russian-held Eastern Ukraine. While unconfirmed social media reports are describing widespread explosions across the Crimea Peninsula.

Meanwhile, the European Union is moving to give Ukraine a head start in future reconstruction. On Friday the E.U. Council approved more than $18 billion in loans for Ukraine's short-term financial needs.

That includes repairing its infrastructure and making the first steps toward postwar reconstruction. The proposal still needs to be approved by the European Parliament and that could happen as early as next week.

Convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, now back in Russia, is voicing his full-throated support for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, saying he would volunteer if he could.

Bout had been serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. when he was set free on Thursday in a controversial swap for American basketball star Brittney Griner. Many U.S. officials opposed the trade, fearing Bout would use his trafficking skills against Ukraine and the West.

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HARRAK: A Russian lawmaker said on social media that the first thing Bout asked him was, "How can I help Donbas?"

Barbie Nadeau is monitoring developments in Ukraine.

We understand Ukraine has targeted occupied Crimea and Melitopol.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: An important, strategic move on the part of Ukraine. Melitopol, this was described as a giant Russian military base. Much of the infrastructure there in that city is occupied by Russian forces.

There are -- there's military hardware in residential areas, we understand. So a direct hit on this is a very strategic move for Ukraine, fighting back now, taking the war to Russia.

And these explosions in Crimea are very much the same. This is going to be unsettling for the Kremlin, obviously, because you see Ukraine fighting back harshly now. They're no longer just a country being invaded; they're taking the war to Russia now, too.

HARRAK: And Barbie, less than 48 hours after his release, a notorious Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, sits down for an interview, expressing his support for Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia wanted him back badly.

Could he play a role in the war?

NADEAU: He is playing a war in the role to a certain extent because he's very useful for the propaganda machine in Russia right now. He's not going to be very useful on the battlefield.

As you mentioned, he said he'd be happy to volunteer. It's unclear if he has the skillset to actually fight. But he does have a voice right now and he's expressing his support of Vladimir Putin, said he kept a photo of him in his federal prison cell in the United States.

He's getting a boost because this prisoner trade is really seen as a diplomatic success for Russia. They were able to get this man back. Now they're using him very much to voice his support for Russia. And that's something that probably the Russian people are very much in need of right now, some good news, if you can call it that.

HARRAK: Barbie Nadeau reporting, thank you so much.

A Russian Nobel Peace Prize laureate is blasting president Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. Yan Rachinsky is the chairman of the Russian human rights group Memorial.

At an award ceremony in Norway on Saturday, he slammed Russia's, quote, "insane and criminal war."

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YAN RACHINSKY, CHAIRMAN, MEMORIAL (through translator): In Russia, hatred is incited against Ukraine. Its culture and language are publicly declared inferior and the Ukrainian people are deemed not to have a separate identity from Russians. Resistance to Russia is called fascism.

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HARRAK: While Memorial was ordered to close by Russia's supreme court last year, it was co-awarded this year's peace prize, along with Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties and the jailed Belarusian activist, Ales Bialiatski, whose wife accepted the award on his behalf. A dream run at the World Cup inspires millions worldwide. Ahead, we'll

take a closer look at Morocco's breakthrough performance and break down what it all means for Africa and the Arab world.

Plus Beijing rolls back many pandemic restrictions after a wave of protest. We'll speak to an expert about the public health impact that changes could have.

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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and Canada. I'm Laila Harrak, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Health officials in New York are urging residents to mask up this holiday season, as three potentially deadly viruses are rapidly spreading. Officials say they have seen an unusual spike in COVID-19, RSV and flu cases in recent weeks. CNN's Brynn Gingras has more.

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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The New York State Department of Health saying this is a complex challenge with the fact that these three viruses are really spreading through communities -- RSV, COVID- 19 and the flu.

Now as far as New York is concerned, let me point to something that the Department of Health said. They said the number of laboratory- confirmed flu cases has nearly tripled the past three weeks. And flu hospitalizations have more than doubled.

In addition, COVID-19 continues to pose a significant threat, particularly for unvaccinated or undervaccinated New Yorkers, as the virus remains one of the leading causes of death in the United States.

The Department of Health is now urging, especially children, people with immunocompromise, 65 years and older, to possibly wear masks, saying, let's put out a mask advisory.

Consider it; it's not a mandate but it might be a good idea as these viruses continue to spread. It's not just here in the state of New York, it's happening all across the country; 80 percent of hospital beds are full right now. They are taxed.

And also this statistic coming from the CDC, 26 hospitalizations for flu for every 100,000 Americans, a number they haven't seen for more than a decade. So it's so important to take those precautions right now.

That is what health officials are urging right now, to stay vaccinated, possibly wear a mask, make sure you take care of yourself and others, particularly as we head into the busy holiday season and going into the new year -- I'm Brynn Gingras, CNN, in New York.

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HARRAK: After a wave of unprecedented protests in China over the country's strict zero COVID policies, Beijing overhauled its pandemic rules last week.

The government's new 10-point plan capped some restrictions but rolled back mass testing, scrapped health code tracking for most public places and will allow many people with COVID to quarantine at home.

Chinese officials said the changes are keeping pace with the times. And many people are expressing happiness and relief at the new freedoms. But there are also concerns about the impact the adjustments will have.

Just in the last month, China has reported an all-time pandemic-high number of new COVID cases.

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HARRAK: I want to bring in Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for the Global Health Council on Foreign Relations. He joins me now from East Hanover, New Jersey.

Good day, sir. We're seeing a significant policy shift in China, the loosening of restrictions in some areas.

Is a country the size of China prepared for easing of restrictions right now?

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YANZHONG HUANG, SENIOR FELLOW, GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Well, if you're talking about the ability of health care system to withstand the spike of cases, then I would say it's not very well prepared.

You look at the ICU beds per 100,000 population. You look at the vaccination rate for the elderly. It's lower than many countries in the world, especially its Asian neighbors and developed countries. So in that sense, the rapid policy shift arrived at a time when it's not fully prepared for the reopening.

HARRAK: Of course, we've got a big holiday coming up.

Are there worries about the Lunar New Year that could see potentially millions travel, if they're allowed to?

HUANG: Well, many experts indeed expressed concerns that, with the arrival of the spring festival, the traveling season, where you're going to see probably more than 200 million people traveling across the country, that means the virus also travels with the mobile population.

In the meantime, the reopening occurred at a time we're seeing the seasonal influenza and possibly RSV also going to spread in China. So you can just see a double, even triple viral wave in China. That is certainly going to put stress on the fragile health care system.

HARRAK: China seems to have abandoned its goal of eradicating COVID.

What will these changes mean for the people of China after three years of zero COVID?

HUANG: Well, I think for many of the people who are complaining about excesses of zero COVID policy, I think they're happy to see that this policy finally has been abandoned; local governments, too. They want to resume the normal social and economic life.

They seize the moment to call for economic recovery. But in the meantime, I think the main challenges, again, whether the health care system has the ability to withstand the coming spike of cases.

HARRAK: And a final thought and a final question to you.

From a global public health perspective, if there are high infection rates in China, what could that possibly mean, what would that mean?

HUANG: Well, something could have implications for the trajectory of the virus in other parts of the world. Some experts pointed out that, because China has such a huge immunologically naive population, they could harbor the virus for many months.

That, according to a leading epidemiologist based in Hong Kong, that could mean billions or more communities (ph) for the virus to evolve. But in the meantime, there are also some experts say, well, don't worry.

As long as the Chinese population, most of them are not exposed to the Omicron variant. So there will be less pressure for the variant to evolve, to evade the immunity further. So that is certainly good news.

So -- but I think it's too early to say how -- you know, what that is going to mean for the rest of the world in terms of the evolution of the virus.

HARRAK: Yanzhong Huang, thank you so much for your time.

HUANG: Thank you.

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(SPORTS) HARRAK: Just ahead, the Artemis I mission is almost over, as NASA

waits for the Orion space capsule to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on Sunday. We'll have a report.

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HARRAK: Nearly four weeks after it was launched, the first Artemis mission to the moon is coming to an end.

The Orion capsule, which will carry astronauts in the future, will be re-entering Earth's atmosphere about nine hours from now. It's expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja California. Michael Holmes has more on what's ahead.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And here we go.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The leadup to the Artemis I launch might have been a bumpy ride after a series of delays due to technical glitches and bad weather. But NASA says, once its mega rocket got off the ground, it's been smooth sailing.

MIKE SARAFIN, ARTEMIS MISSION MANAGER: We got to witness the world's most powerful rocket take the Earth by its edges and shake the wicked out of it. And it was quite a sight.

HOLMES (voice-over): After 3.5 weeks in space, filled with engine burns, lunar fly-bys and stunning views of the Earth and the moon, NASA's Orion spacecraft is almost home.

But before its splashdown, it needs to pass a critical test.

In one of the most nail-biting times of the re-entry process, the Orion capsule will separate from its service module, then complete a skip maneuver off the edge of the Earth's atmosphere, which will bring it closer to its landing site and cut down on the G-forces that future astronauts will have to endure.

After that, all eyes are on the heat shield as Orion blazes back to Earth at temperatures twice as hot as molten lava. NASA says the heat shield has been tested more than 1,000 times.

And making sure it can take the heat is one of the primary goals of this mission. From the outset, the uncrewed Artemis I mission has been a dry run to make sure the spacecraft is safe enough for astronauts to fly on board.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We are stressing it and testing it in ways that we will not do to a rocket that has a human crew on it. HOLMES (voice-over): If Artemis I is success, it will be followed by

Artemis II, which, like the first mission, will fly around the moon but this time with a crew. That will be followed by Artemis III, which intends to return astronauts to the moon's surface, including the first woman and person of color.

Later missions will aim even further, with the goal of sending astronauts to Mars. But NASA says, before any of that happens, the Orion capsule must successfully complete its journey on Sunday.

STEVE PLATTS, CHIEF SCIENTIST, NASA HUMAN RESEARCH PROGRAM: As we progress, we will spend -- we'll land on the moon, we'll step foot on the moon and then we'll extend the time we're on the moon longer and longer.

HOLMES (voice-over): Michael Holmes, CNN.

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HARRAK: A marine fossil just discovered in Australia is being compared to the Rosetta Stone, which helped decode ancient languages.

The 100 million-year-old skeleton, found on a cattle station in the Queensland outback, is being hailed a breakthrough that may provide vital clues about prehistoric life.

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DR. ESPEN KNUTSEN, PALEONTOLOGIST: There's still so much we don't know about these animals that were swimming in this ancient inland sea 100 million years ago, including how many species of these long-necked plesiosaurs, how many species there were there. We don't really know exactly.

So this animal here, that has a head with a body attached to it, allows us to unravel some of that species diversity.

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HARRAK: Some amateur paleontologists called the Rock Chicks made the discovery. The three women go around Australia, hunting for fossils.

You've heard of strangers on a train.

But what about strangers in a van?

We'll tell you how a bunch of stranded strangers became fast friends and a viral sensation. Stay with us.

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HARRAK: And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. I'll be back with more news after a quick break, please stay with us.