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Vatican Announces Funeral Plans For Benedict XVI; Moscow, Idaho, Residents Relieved After Arrest Of Suspect; Long COVID-19 Kills Thousands In U.S.; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's New Year's Message To Ukrainians; North Korea Launches Record Number Of Missiles In 2022; Santos Campaign Funds. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired January 01, 2023 - 05:00 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 here in the United States and around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --
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POPE FRANCIS, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH: (Speaking foreign language).
HARRAK (voice-over): Pope Francis beginning the new year by celebrating mass right now at the Vatican. This after Pope Emeritus Benedict's death. We will examine the late pontiff's complicated legacy.
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HARRAK (voice-over): And it took weeks but police have a suspect in custody in the Idaho murder investigation. We will look at the case police are building against the man, now facing four counts of first- degree murder.
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HARRAK (voice-over): Plus Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, rings in the new year with a barrage of missile attacks. A live report on the very latest on the war.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: From Asia to Europe and now the Hawaiian islands, the world has been ringing in the new year with one spectacular celebration after another.
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HARRAK (voice-over): In New York, thousands watched as the traditional ball drop marked the beginning of 2023. It was a stunning show, complete with fireworks, music and a ton, literally a ton, of confetti raining down on the crowd.
While there were dazzling displays earlier, many cities including Paris, Lagos and Sydney where, more than a million people gathered to see the famous fireworks show around the harbor.
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HARRAK: Pope Francis is celebrating the first mass of the new year right now, one day after his predecessor, former Pope Benedict, died at the age of 95. The Vatican announced that the pope emeritus, who was the first to resign the papacy since the 15th century, will lie in state for Monday in St. Peter's Basilica.
At Benedict's request the Vatican, says his funeral on Thursday morning will be, quote, "simple." Burial will be in the papal tombs beneath St. Peter's Basilica.
CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen is standing by in Rome. But let's start our conversation with Barbie Nadeau in St. Peter's Square.
Barbie, what's happening right now?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right now, you know, there is a lot of activity going on here in St. Peter's Square right now. The pope is finishing up his mass, the first mass of the year, in which he called Benedict a messenger of peace.
There are a lot of people filling in the St. Peter's actual square right now, waiting for his blessing at noon. This is something he does every single Sunday at noon. But this is especially important because it's New Year's Day and because of the death of Pope Benedict.
We expect him to speak about the state of the world in this address. At the same time, they are making preparations for the funeral -- for the funeral to be held on Thursday. So there is a bevy of activity here all around the square this morning, Laila.
HARRAK: We do expect, I understand, that Pope Francis will mention Pope Emeritus Benedict in this first appearance before the general public since the death of the former pope.
NADEAU: That's right. He did mention him in the mass; he called him a messenger of peace but he is expected to talk about him when he is on the balcony in about an hour from now. But let's listen to what he had to say last night at the celebration.
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POPE FRANCIS, PONTIFF, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): We are moved as we recall him as such a noble person, so kind. And we feel such gratitude in our hearts.
Gratitude for God for giving him to the church and to the world, gratitude to him for all the good he accomplished and, above all, for his witness of faith and prayer, especially in these last years of his life. Only God knows the value of his sacrifices for the good of the church.
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NADEAU: And, you know, what's really important about this message from Pope Francis is he's really trying to, you know, present Pope Benedict in a positive light.
This is a man with a very, very complicated legacy, especially when it comes to the clerical sex abuses in the church, something he apologized for years ago and -- but something that has been tied to not so much during his reign as pope but when he was head of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.
And Pope Francis, we're hearing, is trying to gather people around to celebrate his life, to appreciate the dedication this man made to the church, of his whole entire life, Laila.
HARRAK: Barbie Nadeau reporting from St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Thank you so much. Let's bring in CNN's senior Vatican analyst John Allen, who is also in Rome.
John, Pope Emeritus Benedict, I understand, left a letter.
JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: That's right. Happy new year to you. Pope Francis, like his predecessor, St. John Paul II, left behind what in the Vatican is called a spiritual testament, which basically it's his final message to the world.
This is a very brief two-page missive from the pope emeritus. It was actually written in 2006, shortly after he was elected to the papacy in 2005. Basically he thanked a number of people, including his members of his family, his brother, Georg (ph), his sister, Maria (ph), who was his housekeeper for most of his life, his parents and so on.
He apologized for any wrong he may have done to people over the course of his life. And then the last part of the letter was a sort of vintage Pope Benedict touch. The key theme of his thought and life in many ways was the relationship between faith and reason.
That religious faith is not opposed to reason; it is instead kind of the peak of reason. It is compatible and it is the fulfillment of reason. And that was the message in the spiritual testament as well.
HARRAK: John, now that some time has passed, how do people reflect on Benedict's tenure?
Could he have done more to deal with the sexual abuse crisis which engulfed the church?
ALLEN: I suspect Benedict himself would be the first to say he could have done more. Look, you're asking how about people reflect on his papacy. This is like asking how will people reflect on a given American president or a given British prime minister.
It will be in the eye of the beholder. More conservative or traditional Catholics, I think, will remember Benedict as a man who stood for the truth of Catholic teaching in a time of secularism and moral relativism.
More liberal Catholics will see him as a tragic figure who tried to obstruct reforms in the church intended by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, that they would say are only coming to fruition now under Pope Francis.
Some victims of clerical sexual abuse will see Benedict of the public face of the church's denial and coverup but others will remember him as the first pope to apologize, the first pope to meet with victims of sexual abuse, which he did in the United States in 2008.
The first pope to begin expelling abusers from the priesthood and to write zero tolerance into the church's policy. Look, it is a complicated kaleidoscope of images.
At the end of the day, I think Pope Francis has tried to put his figure -- put his finger not so much on the public figure but the private man of Pope Benedict, who, I think, anyone who knew him would agree with Francis, was a kind, gentle, humble, sweet figure.
HARRAK: John Allen talking to us from Rome. Thank you so much, John.
The suspect in the deaths of four Idaho college students is currently being held without bail in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested on Friday. Bryan Kohberger has waived extradition back to Idaho, where he is charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary.
Authorities say he made the cross-country drive back to Pennsylvania with his father, who flew out to Washington state to make the trip with his son. In nearly seven weeks since the four University of Idaho students were killed, investigators say they checked approximately 20,000 tips.
Moscow's police chief said authorities got more than 400 new tips after Kohberger arrest was announced. Even though a suspect is in custody, the investigation is far from over. Jean Casarez is in Pennsylvania with more on Kohberger arrest and what happens next.
But we start with Veronica Miracle in the relieved community of Moscow, Idaho, where the police chief says he has no regrets about the way his department handled the investigation.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There has been such a sense of relief in this community now that the suspect has been arrested. It doesn't change the fact that four gruesome murders took place in the seemingly safe town in this rural college community.
But now that there has been an arrest, we've heard from people who feel such relief. A business owner came by the police department to drop off a gift. He said this community has been impacted emotionally. Everyone has been on edge.
But it has also impacted the economy. He is a business owner and his employees are students, as are most of the businesses in this town. Other businesses have been impacted, where students have left because they don't feel safe.
So they have been studying virtually and so many people are hoping this community comes together when students come back to class in the next couple of weeks.
In terms of the Moscow Police Department there has been a lot of criticism over the last seven weeks because they did not release hardly any information.
And any time we would ask why, they said they wanted to protect the integrity of the investigation. There were no leaks from this small department and they kept all of their information close. They say they are glad they did that. The police chief said he wouldn't change a thing and he is receiving apologies now.
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CHIEF JAMES FRY, MOSCOW POLICE DEPARTMENT: A few have sent me emails, some apologizing. We are a pretty humble group and we know that people are going to be watching what we are doing. And some of that is criticism.
And we have a job to do and we continue to do it and it does feel good. We held everything close for a long time and we did it for the reason that we have stated. And I think the end result proved that maybe it was done right.
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MIRACLE: Bryan Kohberger remains in Pennsylvania. He has an extradition hearing coming up Tuesday. The public defender has told CNN he is going to waive his right to an extradition hearing so he could be back in Idaho as early as Tuesday.
I asked the police chief how long that process would take. He said it could be as early as Tuesday. When he arrives back here he will go to the Latah County jail -- Veronica Miracle, CNN, Moscow, Idaho.
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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bryan Kohberger remains right here at the Monroe County correctional facility. And we do know that it was on Friday in the early morning hours that he was arrested at his family's home in Wrightsville, Pennsylvania, a small town about 10 miles away from here.
But what has been not known is exactly what happened at the time of his arrest. The chief public defender for Monroe County told me after speaking with his parents that happened.
JASON LABAR, CHIEF PUBLIC DEFENDER, MONROE COUNTY: His father, Michael, answered the door and he was cooperative from that point forward.
CASAREZ: And then Bryan came to the door?
LABAR: Yes, and Bryan was also very cooperative. He went with state police to the barracks. I don't think there were any issues and he was cooperative.
CASAREZ: I asked the chief public defender for Monroe County, Pennsylvania, if he had all talked to his client about having a psychological assessment at this point, because defense attorneys many times want to get that mental state right from the beginning.
He said he spoke with his client but he does not know who is going to represent him once he gets to Idaho.
LABAR: Obviously given the charges and the serious nature of the offenses, it's likely that it's going to be a capital case, so there is a select number of people in Idaho that can actually try the case and represent Bryan.
CASAREZ: The next legal proceeding for Bryan Kohberger will be in Monroe County on Tuesday. It will be the extradition proceeding. We do know from his attorney he will waive that and then he will be on to Idaho to face those very serious criminal charges -- back to you.
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HARRAK: The New York police commissioner said three officers are in stable condition following a machete attack near Times Square. The unprovoked assault happened two hours before midnight near a screening site to get into Times Square.
One received a skull fracture and a large cut on his head and another officer suffered a laceration. The third officer's injuries were not specified.
A 19-year-old man began swinging a machete at the officers without warning before he was shot and wounded. Mayor Eric Adams praising the officers' professionalism while maintaining security for the celebration.
An atmospheric river is being blamed for what is to become historic rainfall in San Francisco. Parts of U.S. Highway 101 flooded so badly it had to be shut down for a while.
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HARRAK: Homes, side streets and even vineyards weren't spared, as the rain just kept coming down in northern California.
On Saturday, San Francisco was close to beating its all-time record for rainfall in a single day.
More than 25 million people are under flood watches across California and Nevada. Snow is expected to spread to the mountains late Sunday and into Monday, causing hazardous driving conditions.
Meanwhile, in Buffalo, New York, residents are working to dig out from under more than 4 feet of snow that fell during last week's historic blizzard. In the coming days, temperatures are expected to rise well above freezing, putting the area at risk of flooding as all that snow and ice melts.
Erie County officials say they've prepared stockpiling pumps and generators and digging drainage ditches for melting snow.
Still ahead on CNN, we're looking ahead to the new year and challenges in medicine, including a new combination vaccine for COVID and the flu. Details after the break.
Plus long haul COVID, the lingering condition after an infection that's responsible for millions of deaths. We will talk to an expert about its dangers.
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HARRAK: With 2023 officially upon us, CNN is looking ahead to the challenges and opportunities we could face in the year ahead. Paula Hancocks focuses on North Korea, where Kim Jong-un has called for an exponential increase in the country's nuclear arsenal.
And Becky Anderson sits down with football legend Wayne Rooney to talk about his career.
The new year and sushi. But first, Elizabeth Cohen looks at how close the world is to breakthroughs and treating serious illnesses, including Alzheimer's disease.
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ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A pipeline of new drugs might -- might -- provide some hope and relief to people suffering from certain medical conditions as early as 2023. One of the most anticipated new products is a drug which doesn't cure
Alzheimer's but clinical trials show it appears to slow the progression of the disease by as much as 27 percent. Doctors say that could give patients a longer quality of life. But there are concerns over possible side effects, like brain swelling and bleeding.
DR. RONALD PETERSON, MAYO CLINIC ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RESEARCH CENTER: The people will remain stable at their current level of function for a longer period of time. Maybe six months, up to 12 months.
And for people who are planning their life and dealing with day-to-day activities, this could be a very meaningful postponement of the deterioration of the disease.
COHEN (voice-over): Another possible breakthrough is in the works for a problem women have been enduring for generations. Clinical trials for a new drug shows it significantly reduces the severity and frequency of hot flashes. The oral nonhormonal treatment may be FDA approved early next year.
Also by fall, researchers are hopeful an RSV vaccination will be available, especially given the wave of infections filling up hospitals this year. There are several candidates nearing review in the U.S. which could protect the very young and elderly, who are most susceptible to complications from this lung infection.
On the COVID front, look out for a combination of a COVID and flu shot which could be available by next flu season. And the FDA is weighing an application to allow Narcan to be sold over the counter. That decision should come in late March.
Industry experts say there's one thing that's almost certain for 2023: the cost of health care will go up one, with one survey predicting global health care costs increasing by 10 percent next year.
Some costs impacting widely used products like COVID-19 vaccines. It's estimated the cost of vaccines could quadruple in the U.S. if the federal government stops providing them for free -- Elizabeth Cohen, CNN reporting.
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HARRAK: Surging COVID cases are leading to a growing number of restrictions around the world for air travelers from China. They will be banned from entering Morocco starting on Tuesday. Canada and Australia will require a negative test before those travelers can board a plane. That applies to all travelers regardless of nationality.
On Friday, England and France joined the U.S., Spain, South Korea and other countries in announcing similar restrictions. All this comes as Beijing's rapid drawback of its zero COVID policy has led to a huge outbreak in cases.
While the long COVID-19, lingering infection has caused thousands of deaths in the U.S. Earlier we spoke with Dr. Scott Miscovich, a national consultant for COVID testing and the president and CEO of Premier Medical Group USA. We asked him what scientists have learned about long COVID since the start of the pandemic. Take a listen.
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DR. SCOTT MISCOVICH, FAMILY PHYSICIAN AND NATIONAL CONSULTANT: First, with long COVID-19, the single most important thing we are concerned about is we have really not identified any real treatment.
When you get COVID-19, you start developing long COVID-19, we almost have to pick and spot the treatments for the different conditions that you have. And the big three are clearly now the fatigue, the shortness of breath and the brain fog.
And they are different and each one has a different treatment. So that is the biggest single problem that we have right now.
The second issue is trying to get care and trying to fight through the red tape that the insurance companies and even the government puts into play to access care.
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MISCOVICH: Because what you do for checking lungs versus checking the brain, it's quite intensive with diagnostic to go into rehabilitative therapy. So that's the first issue.
Now the second issue with your question is, is enough being done?
Well, what we would like is to have a treatment we could initiate early on so that people don't go on to have this long COVID-19.
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HARRAK: After a record year of missile tests, North Korea shows no signs of letting up. Why its leader wants to expand his country's nuclear arsenal in the new year.
Plus this: a Russian missile strike is caught on camera and sends people in Kyiv scrambling for cover.
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HARRAK: Welcome book to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, I'm Laila Harrak and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Ukraine's president is telling Russians they will be fighting a losing battle in 2023. He spoke to them directly in his evening address on Saturday.
He said Russians are not fighting NATO, as Moscow keeps telling them. He says the truth is they've been sent to war to keep president Vladimir Putin in power for life. Mr. Zelenskyy also addressed his fellow Ukrainians in his new year's message. He said despite all their suffering in 2022, they shouldn't feel that they've lost anything.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We haven't lost anything. It was taken from us.
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ZELENSKYY (through translator): Ukraine did not lose its sons and daughters, they were taken away by murderers. Ukraine did not lose their homes, they were destroyed by terrorists.
We did not lose our lands, they were occupied by invaders. The world did not lose peace, Russian destroyed it. This year has struck our hearts. We've cried out all the tears, all the prayers have been yelled.
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HARRAK: But a very different message from Russia's president Vladimir Putin. He used his new year's address as a rallying cry for the war, saying Russia laid the foundation for what he called its true independence in 2022.
Mr. Putin also blamed the West for the fighting in Ukraine. That's because in his words the West is using Ukraine to split and weaken Russia. Mr. Putin also gave states awards to some of the troops who fought in Ukraine. Russia's top commander there was given the country's highest military honor.
Back in Ukraine, we're getting word of a new attack on Kyiv. Officials say almost 3 dozen drones targeted infrastructure in the region on New Year's Day. The attack came on the heels of a separate wave of strikes the day before.
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HARRAK (voice-over): That's the video of a strike caught on camera in Kyiv on Saturday. Ukraine says Russia launched missile attacks across the nation, killing at least six people and leaving more than 2 dozen wounded. CNN's Ben Wedeman was within earshot of some of the strikes on the capital.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, there have been several loud explosions. We see three points of impact. The air defenses are working. We've also seeking puffs of smoke in the air where they've gone. This is an ongoing barrage.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HARRAK: Saturday's attacks hit schools, businesses and residential buildings in Kyiv. About 30 percent of the city was temporarily left without power.
For more now, Clare Sebastian joins us live from London.
We're getting word on new drone attacks in Kyiv.
What more can you tell us?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they are following on from those cruise missile attacks that hit various regions, including the capital, Kyiv, on Saturday. We are hearing about what seems to be a fairly widespread drone attack overnight around the turn of the new year.
The Ukrainian air force reporting about 45 Iranian made drones they say were shot down. The Kyiv authorities, the city's military administration, saying about 3 dozen drones were launched toward that city. Infrastructure was damaged although, as of now, no casualties.
But I want to bring you some pictures provided by the chief of police in the Kyiv region. They show fragments of what they say are a drone that appears to have been shot down, including this one, where you can see the words "happy new year" written in Russian.
This is a crucial holiday in the Russian speaking world. We know that Ukrainian authorities were worried about potential attacks over the holiday leading up to this.
HARRAK: And, Clare, 10 months into this war, the situation more and more uncertain for Ukraine going into this new year.
SEBASTIAN: Yes, I mean, I think the problem now is that Russia and Ukraine both have their red lines. Russia has said that it will not give up territory in those annexed regions. And Ukraine, of course, wants to return to its 1991 borders, which include Crimea. So there doesn't seem to be room for negotiation.
And this was made very clear in President Putin's new year speech, where he said that Russia is defending its historical territories, protecting its people here, referring to those illegally annexed regions and continues to in a way deny Ukraine's sovereignty by suggesting that it is being used by the West for the West's own gain. Take a listen.
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VLADIMIR PUTIN, PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA (through translator): The West lied about peace but was preparing for aggression. And today they openly admitted without shame and (INAUDIBLE) Ukraine and its people to weaken and split Russia. We have never allowed and never will allow anyone to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SEBASTIAN: I think we can see, by the violence over the last 24 hours, that Russia's efforts to weaken and split Ukraine continue unabated.
HARRAK: Clare Sebastian in London, thank you for your reporting.
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HARRAK: South Korea says the North Korean leader used provocative language when he demanded an exponential increase in his country's nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong-un made the call after his country conducted another missile launch after a record year of weapons tests. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2022 saw record after record being broken in North Korea with the most amount of missile launches in its history. Short, medium and long range, from land, sea, even trains, weapons developments mainly focused on strengthening its nuclear deterrence of the United States.
ANKIT PANDA, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: They are rehearsing for nuclear war and that, I think, is the big picture this year. They are maturing as an operator of nuclear capabilities.
And everything we've seen this year suggests that Kim Jong-un is dead serious about using nuclear capabilities early in conflict if necessary.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The only element missing, a seventh underground nuclear test. Experts say it's still a matter of when, not if, they test.
Why has such an intensity of testing and development been met with calmer reactions?
BRUCE KLINGNER, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The activity has become so routine through repetition of missile launches that people have become a bit jaded by it.
And also the last several years there have been very big events which draw attention away.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Kim Jong-un was front and center at many of the launches, always a sign of a strategically significant event, even introducing his daughter, believed to be 9 or 10, sparking speculation of bad health or succession messaging.
Others suggest it shows him domestically as a softer family man, a hard image to pull off in front of a massive ICBM.
Kim Jong-un had no interest in talking this year, ignoring offers from the United States and South Korea. Kim is working his way through his five-year military plan announced in January 2021, blaming military drills for the rising tension on the peninsula. JENNY TOWN, DIRECTOR, STIMSON CENTER: The North Koreans probably see 2022 as a victory. They certainly hit many milestones in their WMD developments. They had a COVID outbreak and they beat it in three months, which is a little hard to believe.
But at the same time it certainly is something that they can talk up domestically as a political win.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): The country remains closed to people. But some trade resumed this year with China. Experts say a necessity to ease a serious food shortage, following bad weather, bad harvests and a COVID-induced isolation.
But with neighboring China lifting some of its COVID restrictions, is 2023 the year for a COVID paranoid Pyongyang to decide to finally open its borders? -- Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
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HARRAK: An incoming House Republican is already being criticized for his repeated falsehoods. Now there are new questions about some of his campaign expense claims. That and voter reaction just ahead.
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HARRAK: There's more trouble for incoming Republican congressman George Santos. His finances are already under investigation and he's under fire for lying repeatedly during his campaign.
Now election records show he had dozens of expenditures that curiously fall exactly one penny short of campaign requirements to keep receipts. His lawyer says Santos' expenses complied with the law. But as CNN's Eva McKend shows us, it's all become too much for many voters in his district in New York.
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TEODORA CHOOLFAIAN, SANTOS SUPPORTER: I am completely betrayed.
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER (voice-over): In George Santos' Long Island district the outrage is palpable.
CHOOLFAIAN: George Santos is a fraud. I no longer supported him.
MCKEND: Democrats and Republicans angry in the wake of revelations, Santos lied extensively about his personal background and credentials.
Teodora Choolfaian voted for Santos was drawn to his positions on pushing back on COVID-19 measures in school.
CHOOLFAIAN: My time, my choice.
MCKEND: But the Nassau County mom showed up at a rally this week organized by state Democrats to call on him to resign.
CHOOLFAIAN: The whole persona that he created in the ability to deceive us is just so troubling. This man should not be allowed to be in office and we all know it. I wanted to show you the Republicans not to.
MCKEND: Among a slew of fabrications --
REP.-ELECT GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): Shabbat Shalom to everybody.
MCKEND: -- Santos also misrepresented himself as Jewish and claimed his grandparents were Holocaust survivors, something genealogists say there is no record of.
JACK MANDEL, JEWISH COMMUNITY LEADER: He is a make-believe person. He's a person that's really not there.
MCKEND (voice-over): Jack Mandel is a Jewish community leader who met Santos twice and thought he was the kind of fresh face, the district needed but now?
MCKEND: Given what you know, now, if the election was tomorrow and you had to do it all again, would you vote for George Santos?
MANDEL: Absolutely not. I couldn't good conscience. Once someone lies to me, I can never trust that individual again.
The Holocaust is something that touches the heart of every Jew and someone that would use that as a talking point as a vote getter, I think he is wrong.
MCKEND (voice-over): But some say he shouldn't have the opportunity to further explain himself.
HENRY GOLIS, SANTOS SUPPORTER: The man deserves his say and he has to answer to a lot of personal questions. Why we're at the situation.
The bottom line, at the end of the day, he has to own up to everything.
REP. TOM ZMICH (R-NY): He hasn't done anything wrong. As far as legality wise. He admitted he lied and most Christian people believe in forgiveness. Maybe not forget but move on. Let's see what happens.
MCKEND: And disappointed voters are not the only concern for Santos. Federal and local prosecutors now investigating the incoming congressman who was set to be sworn in next week.
Some of the responses we receive were somewhat varied. Even that Jewish leader we spoke to in the synagogue, even though he told us he wouldn't vote for Santos again if given the opportunity, he didn't call for him to outright resign. What we know, what seems consistent in communities like Manhattan, Great Neck, Oyster Bay, there seems to be wide-spread disappointment. This is a wealthy district but maybe one that doesn't receive a lot of national attention.
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MCKEND: And it's because of the many lies of this congressman-elect that are bringing these communities into the spotlight.
I should note, the 3rd District also includes parts of Queens as well -- Eva McKend, CNN, Manhattan, New York.
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HARRAK: Still ahead, from a soccer pitch to a sushi restaurant, former football star Wayne Rooney rolls sushi while reflecting on his storied career.
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HARRAK: Brazil is making preparations for the public wake for football legend Pele. The ceremony will begin Monday at this stadium in Sao Paulo state. Organizers have been setting up tents, chairs and banners across the field where Pele's body will be placed.
Thousands of people are expected to show up and say their goodbyes. Pele died last week after a battle with cancer.
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HARRAK: It's a new year and if your resolution is to get rich, maybe you should consider buying a lottery ticket. The fourth largest Mega Millions jackpot ever could be drawn on Tuesday. It's estimated to be $785 million but your odds of winning it all in the new year, about 1 in 302 million.
And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Laila Harrak. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is up next, for the rest of the world stay with us for "THE JOURNEY MATTERS."
But I want to leave you now with some revelers who are ringing in the new year with festivities across the world from New York to Greece and places in between. Here is how they're celebrating. Have a good one.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to 2023 in Sydney, Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy new year. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An incredible sight here in Hong Kong. This is the first time I've seen fireworks over the Hong Kong harbor in almost three years. Wow, this really feels like a new beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy new year.
DAVID CULVER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Taiwan is reopening to the world after three years of pandemic.
[05:55:00]
CULVER: This is a democracy that is ready to showcase a positive message of peace on Earth.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): From Dubai, at the tallest building in the world with over 160 floors and certainly one of the most famed. It's always ready to ring in the new year.
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LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm like one of the kids here, enjoying a ride on a camel, getting some ice cream, some Swahili food as they all anticipate that moment at midnight when East Africa, Mombasa and this region celebrates 2023, at the beginning of a new year. Happy new year from Mombasa, Kenya. That's spectacular.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is it, happy new year from Athens, everyone. Happy new year.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
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