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IDF Claims to Have Found 'Biggest' Hamas Tunnel in Gaza; Hong Kong Activist Jimmy Lai Faces Trial; Rise in Suicides Under Taliban Rule; Ukraine Struggles to Secure Critical Western Aid; New Rooster Installed Atop Notre Dame Cathedral's Spire. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 18, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
[00:00:33]
Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. secretary of defense set to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu, ramping up pressure on Israel to define the next phase of the war with Hamas.
Hong Kong pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai on trial at this hour, facing his most consequential legal challenge to date.
And a once happy young teenager with dreams of becoming a doctor now fighting for her life. Afghan doctors see they're seeing a dramatic rise in girls contemplating suicide.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
And just hours from now, the U.S. defense secretary will arrive in Israel. His second trip to the country since the October 7th attack by Hamas.
A U.S. official says Lloyd Austin will meet with Israeli officials for updates on the war, but he's also expected to press them to define specific operational milestones and work to drill down on efforts to boost humanitarian aid to Gaza.
His visit comes as the Israeli Defense Forces says it's uncovered the biggest Hamas tunnel in Gaza, wide enough to drive a large vehicle through.
That tunnel, which the IDF says was secured, quote, "a few weeks ago," was made public on Sunday.
An Israeli military spokesperson describes what the IDF says it found.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON (through translator): So far, we have uncovered more than four kilometers of the tunnel's webs. This is a flagship project of Hamas. It reaches a depth of 50 meters below the surface of the earth. Inside the tunnels, we found many weapons. This is no ordinary tunnel. It is a city of terror underground that Hamas dug and built, instead of investing money in the residents of Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And as Israel pushes on with its offensive in Gaza, the Hamas- controlled Palestinian Health Ministry says the death toll there has now climbed to nearly 19,000, of which 70 percent of women and children.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following developments from Tel Aviv and has more now from the Israeli military's discovery of that Hamas tunnel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli military on Sunday revealing new video of what it is calling the largest Hamas tunnel --
DIAMOND (voice-over): -- that they have discovered inside the Gaza Strip. In the past, we've seen tunnels that the Israeli military has discovered, where individuals would have to walk single file in order to get through them. Very narrow.
But this one is quite wide. In fact, wide enough to drive a large vehicle through it, according to the Israeli military. It reaches up to 50 meters underground, and it's equipped with everything from electricity to ventilation and communication systems.
The Iraeli military says that it is part of a broader network of tunnels that spans two and a half miles, or about four kilometers. This tunnel didn't actually cross into Israel, but it appears to have been used by Hamas within the Gaza Strip.
And it comes out very close to one of the key crossing points between Israel and Gaza. And that is the Erez crossing, which was also a key site that Hamas militants attacked on October 7th and then crossed into Israel from there.
There's no evidence at this point that this tunnel was used as part of that October 7th attack. But the size and the scale of this tunnel just shows the capacity that Hamas had to build these large networks of tunnels --
DIAMOND: -- of which Hamas says that there are hundreds of miles beneath Gaza.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: For the first time since October 7, aid trucks are entering Gaza directly from Israeli territory. Israeli officials say 79 trucks passed through the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Southern Gaza on Sunday. A hundred and twenty-two more entered through the Rafah crossing from Egypt. The United Nations says the amount of aid coming into Gaza is less than half of pre-war levels and not nearly enough. The scale of the suffering in the enclave is immense and more visible every day.
A warning: these images are disturbing. A senior official in the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry says that at least 24 people were killed and 90 wounded in one Israeli air strike in Jabalya. He says a house sheltering displaced families was hit, and the majority of the casualties are women and children.
[00:05:08]
The World Health Organization says Gaza's largest hospital is, quote, "completely overwhelmed." A WHO official in the Al-Shifa Hospital says the facility is barely functional, with nearly no medical staff nor supplies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN CASEY, EMERGENCY MEDICAL TEAMS COORDINATOR FOR WHO IN GAZA: There are women delivering in these common spaces that are just absolutely packed to the brim. Most patients are on the floor. A few are in beds and stretchers behind me. The emergency department is just covered in blood, and there are very few staff.
Children are being treated on the floor for serious injuries or burns, for open wounds. They're struggling to get operating theaters operating again. There is no intensive care capacity. And it's almost impossible to transfer patients out of Shifa. It's absolute chaos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: WHO staff say they are participating in a joint U.N. mission to deliver medicine, anesthesia materials, and surgical supplies to the hospital.
A trial is no underway in Hong Kong to decide the fate of media tycoon Jimmy Lai, a supporter of the city's pro-democracy movement and founder of the now-shuttered "Apple Daily" newspaper.
Lai's anti-Beijing newspaper was forced to shut down in 2021, following his detention in 2020.
He's being tried under Hong Kong's sweeping national security law, facing multiple charges of colluding with foreign forces and a separate charge of sedition. The maximum penalty is life in prison.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is following the story from outside the court in Hong Kong.
Yes, the -- it's a high-profile trial. It really is putting the spotlight on China's control of Hong Kong. Walk us through the case.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Michael, here in Hong Kong, I'm standing outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court for day one of the national security trial of the media mogul and very high-profile China critic Jimmy Lai.
Outside the courtroom, security is tight. Authorities have warned against any disruption.
Inside the courtroom, Jimmy Lai was seen wearing a gray suit. He appeared calm. He was surrounded by at least four corrections officers who were guarding him. He also smiled and waved at supporters inside the courtroom.
A number of people inside Hong Kong and around the world are watching this trial very, very closely, because it's seen as a test, a test of Hong Kong's freedoms and judicial independence in the wake of the national security law, which was imposed by Beijing on the territory in 2020. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT (voice-over): Considered by many as a father figure to Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, Jimmy Lai always knew his actions might attract the ire of authorities, but he didn't let it phase him.
JIMMY LAI, FORMER CHAIRMAN & FOUNDER, NEXT DIGITAL: I think it's a good idea any time, any situation that you are in, to fight for your freedom. Because without freedom, you have nothing left.
STOUT: In a recent media briefing, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs not holding back in their criticism of Lai, calling him, quote, "one of the most notorious anti-China elements bent on destabilizing Hong Kong.
After numerous delays, the former media mogul returning to court to finally face trial under Hong Kong's sweeping national security law.
Since that legislation was imposed by Beijing in response to massive social unrest and anti-government protests, authorities have cracked down on dissent.
Today, most of Hong Kong's political opposition are either in prison, like Lai, or have fled the territory.
As the founder of the "Apple Daily," once Hong Kong's largest pro- democracy newspaper, which regularly challenged the government, Lai is the most high-profile critic of Beijing charged under the national security law.
He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on multiple counts of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as a single charge of sedition under a law that dates back to Hong Kong's colonial past.
Seventy-six-year-old Lai has been in custody for the last three years. And his son is concerned that incarceration is taking its toll.
SEBASTIAN LAI, JIMMY LAI'S SON: I think psychologically he's emotional, but there is -- always is that element, is nobody escapes the gravity of age. And at his age, he is at a tremendous amount of risk being in maximum security.
STOUT (voice-over): For its part, the Hong Kong government says that all cases concerning offenses that endanger national security, including Lai's, are handled in a fair and timely manner.
In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson said, quote, "Without commenting on individual cases, the Hong Kong SAR law enforcement agencies have been taking law enforcement actions based on evidence. And strictly in accordance with the law in respect of the acts of the persons or entities concerned."
[00:10:16]
Lai was a fixture at the student-led pro-democracy and anti-government demonstrations that brought central Hong Kong to a standstill in 2014.
When millions of people took to the streets in 2019, Lai was there once again.
Just months later, Lai was marched out of his own newsroom when more than 200 police officers raided the "Apple Daily's" headquarters.
A year on, Lai's printing presses fell silent as the paper shuttered, a blow to media freedom in Hong Kong.
Lai's legal challenges have mounted ever since. His lengthy rap sheet, worn as a badge of honor, after a lifetime of demanding democratic reform.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: The government of the United States, the United Kingdom, also the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ, have all criticized his trial and called for the release of Jimmy Lai.
The Hong Kong government has repeatedly said that freedom of speech and freedom of the press is enshrined in the basic law and is not at risk.
Back to you, Michael.
HOLMES: And Kristie, tell us more -- more broadly what the trial says about Hong Kong's legal system and, importantly, how it's changed under the national security law?
STOUT: Unlike mainland China, Hong Kong follows a common law tradition, a common law system that's been in place since the handover in 1997.
But the national security law cases deviate from that. There is no jury. There are judges that are hand-selected, handpicked by the chief executive of Hong Kong. That's the top leader here.
There's also a higher threshold for bail.
The Hong Kong government has also blocked Jimmy Lai's representation by a British lawyer, which his team, they're trying to appeal to change that.
Critics say that the national security law cases undermine the rule of law, undermine the international standing here in Hong Kong. Supporters in the government here say it is a matter of national security and that any opinions from overseas belong overseas.
Back to you.
HOLMES: And real quick, what other legal challenges is Jimmy Lai facing?
STOUT: He is facing quite a number of legal challenges. Just a couple of years ago in 2021, he was sentenced to 13 months in prison for his role in the vigil to honor the victims of the crackdown that happened in Tienanmen Square in 1989.
A year ago, he was convicted of fraud, and now he is facing multiple counts at the moment, three counts of collusion with a foreign body. That is a serious crime under national security law, punishable by life in prison, as well as a separate charge of sedition, which falls under a law that dates back to the colonial era here in Hong Kong.
Back to you, Michael.
HOLMES: All right, Kristie Lu Stout there in Hong Kong for us. Thank you so much.
A quick break here on the program. When we come back, the heart- breaking story of an Afghan girl whose life now hangs in the balance after the Taliban's crackdown on women's rights robbed her of her dreams and drove her to attempt suicide.
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[00:15:30]
HOLMES: North Korea has launched a long-range ballistic missile. The South Korean military says it was fired Monday from the Pyongyang area with a flight range of about 1,000 kilometers.
Japan's Coast Guard believes the missile fell into the waters West of Okushiri Island, in the Hokkaido region. Just a day earlier, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile that flew about 570 kilometers before falling into the water.
Pyongyang says the launch was partly in response to a U.S. nuclear- powered submarine arriving in South Korea.
Voters in Chile have rejected their new draft constitution to replace an existing one, the holdover from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Electoral officials say, with nearly 100 percent of the votes counted, more than 55 percent of people oppose the change. Around 44 percent were in favor.
Chile had already rejected a proposed constitution last year, written by a left-leaning convention. The new proposal was even more conservative, though, than the existing one.
Chile's president says there will be no third vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL BORIC, CHILEAN PRESIDENT (through translator): our country will keep its constitution, because after two referendums on two constitution drafts, none of them was able to represent nor unite Chile's beautiful diversity.
The country was polarized. It was divided and on the sidelines with this clear result. The constitutional process did not channel the hopes of having a new constitution that was written for everyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Critics say the latest proposal would have limited women's reproductive rights and enabled the expulsion of many immigrants.
And now to a troubling story out of Afghanistan, where young girls, once full of dreams and ambitions, are struggling to find the will to live after the Taliban's draconian crackdown on women's rights and access to education.
CNN's Anna Coren brings us the story of just one of those Afghan girls.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a small, dimly-lit room in the outer suburbs of Karachi, Pakistan, a 15-year- old girl we'll call Arzo lays on a cot.
With eyes closed, she slowly inhales. Her skeletal frame rises slightly, an action causing pain and an enormous amount of effort.
"Don't worry, you'll be fine," says her mother, kissing her hand. "We are with you always."
Her older siblings, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, smuggled her in from neighboring Afghanistan five months ago, following a series of events that would irrevocably change the course of their lives.
"We don't try to force her to remember what happened," he says. "But once I asked her, and she replied crying that she was tired and had given up all hope."
But Arzo didn't always feel this way. Seen here in pink, dancing on cell phone footage, the teenager was happy, studious and had big dreams to one day become a doctor.
But that all changed in August 2021, when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal, following its 20-year war.
And one of the first edicts the Taliban enforced was a ban on female secondary education.
"She would say, I hope we move from this place," explains her sister. "I don't want to be here. There is no education."
Over the following months, her mood darkened but nothing that alarmed her family, until one day in July this year.
"She came into the room, and I saw her eyes were abnormal," she says. "I asked her what had happened, and she said she'd drunk acid. I didn't believe her, so I put my fingers in her mouth, and she vomited up blood."
Arzo's sister said she had drunk battery acid in their home in an attempted suicide. A trend that is spiking amongst teenage girls across Afghanistan, according to health professionals and human rights groups.
COREN: An Afghan doctor who spoke to us anonymously, fearing retribution from the Taliban, tells CNN he's seen a 50 percent rise in the number of mental health cases among girls at his clinic who have considered suicide in the past two years.
[00:20:06]
Of these cases, at least 10 percent have taken their own lives, drinking chemicals, overdosing on pain medication, even consuming rat poison.
He believes this is the direct result of the education ban and other draconian restrictions that have been placed on girls.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, AFGHAN DOCTOR (through translator): I try to give them hope the education will start again. But I don't see any good future for anyone in this country. Everything is in a very dark situation.
COREN (voice-over): From her home in a remote Afghan province, Arzo was rushed to a clinic, but doctors said there was nothing they could do.
So, in a desperate attempt to save her life, her family decided to smuggle her into Pakistan. Arzo has since had three operations at a private hospital in Karachi as doctors try to repair her severely- damaged esophagus and stomach. But so far, it's not working.
Weighing a mere 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, Arzo is slowly wasting away. She's fed a nutritional drink and separately juice four times a day via a tube in her stomach. But she's not gaining weight, which may jeopardize her next operation, scheduled in a matter of weeks.
Adding to the family's worries is Pakistan's recent decision to expel Afghans living illegally in their country. Her siblings fear if they're forced to return to Afghanistan, Arzo will die.
"I don't cry in front of her. But when I kiss her at night, while she's sleeping, I will cry," he says. "I'm so worried for her future, her treatment, and if she will be able to survive."
A daily anguish for these siblings doing everything they can with what little means they have to keep their sister alive.
Anna Coren, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, Western aid for Ukraine is quickly running out, and the promise of more money is up in the air. What that means for the new year, just ahead.
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HOLMES: Russia has been using fleets of drones to attack targets in Ukraine on a near daily basis.
Ukrainian officials say they took down at least 20 drones on Sunday, adding that one of them did crash into a neighborhood in Odessa, destroying homes and killing at least one person.
This is the third Russian air assault on the Odessa region this week.
Ukraine, meanwhile, struggling to secure aid from its Western allies, with talks stalled in the U.S. Congress and a European aid package blocked on Friday by one member, Hungary.
[00:25:11]
Nick Paton Walsh reports on how Ukrainian forces are doing whatever they can with a dwindling resources to fight off Russia's continued invasion.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out of Kherson City, past a bridge, the Russians invaded and left on -- you reach a new phase of hope and anxiety in this war.
Down on the edge of the Dnipro River, on whose isolated right bank loan groups of Ukrainians are making rare advances into Russian occupied land.
But it's tiny tools, hand-rigged donated drones, and small gains. The U.S. is stalling on the big money Ukraine needs to make the breakthrough the West wants. And you can feel the anger at that here.
It is relentless work.
"I think it will be very difficult without American help," he says. "Our supplies are also ending. So we need theirs. We've had days so busy we launched 15 to 20, and I got ten minutes' rest between flights," the pilot says. "I never imagined this would be my war."
It's the PlayStation generation headsets directing cheap, single-use drones on a one-way flight into Russian lines. WALSH: It's just saying now that the weather has cleared up. The fog
was just settled over the river. And the Russians are very aware of these threats. And you can see them now, trying to find a target.
WALSH (voice-over): This keeps the Russians off the road by day and helps Ukraine take ground.
Now they maneuver towards a Russian checkpoint. Killing here, somehow remote, yet also intimate.
Another prized target emerges: their Russian equivalent drone unit, hiding in a red roofed house, worth sending two drones at.
The first, as it closes in, taken out by jamming. The second picks it up.
At night, another unit elsewhere near the city takes over. Thermal imaging help them find Russians hiding in the woods across the river, near Krynky, a village where Ukraine has a valuable foothold.
This unit, too, are hunted and use a cheap device to spot the frequency used by a Russian drone passing above. This operator dons a new cloak as he launches a drone off the roof.
See how it reduces his heat signature, possibly invisible to the Russians above.
The night in battered Kherson City is no respite for civilians. Sirens, yes. But also a series of Shahed Russian attack drones.
WALSH: Lights off, lights off.
WALSH (voice-over): They close on us. The motor winds lower as it passes over our heads.
Anti-aircraft guns pierce the blackout.
(SOUNDS OF ARTILLERY)
WALSH (voice-over): There really is little life to be enjoyed here. And what's left, rushes at the news there are rare food hand-outs. They're fast gone.
The shelling is relentless. A woman injured here the night before, her neighbor knocked off her feet.
ZHANA, KHERSON RESIDENT (through translator): I don't drink, but yesterday I drank a bottle of wine. We all have our guardian angels. We women here are resilient.
WALSH (voice-over): Kherson, liberated last year, is still in the grip of the war. And unless they push the Russians back, a dark and bloody normal awaits.
WALSH: In the summer, we saw kids out here, playing, and it's not just the bitter winter that's forced them indoors. It's the fear of artillery strikes at any time, with a protective wall now built around the children's playground.
The sense, really, of a city getting ready for a bit more of life underground, some of it in bomb shelters.
Especially here at the maternity hospital, still open for tiny miracles. And readying this basement to be their new ward.
Built by the Soviets for a nuclear war, it's now a shelter, because the floors above have been hit again and again.
But there are sparks of life here, even if this is the view Yevgenia (ph) had when she gave birth just seven hours earlier.
YEVGENIA (ph), NEW MOTHER (through translator): It's not scary. We've got used to the shelling. I've been here since the start of the war and occupation. We'll only leave if the heating goes off.
WALSH (voice-over): Kira (ph), conceived in spring, when an end to the war was imaginable, but born into a city lost to Russia's slow grind to nothing.
[00:30:07]
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kherson, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Joining me now from Jerusalem is Mick Ryan. He's a retired major general for the Australian army and author of the book "War Transformed."
Good to see you, Mick.
Putin has always bet that he can outlast Western resolve. When you look at the stalling of aid packages from both the European Union and the United States, do you fear that strategy is starting to bear fruit?
MICK RYAN, AUTHOR, "WAR TRANSFORMED": Good day, Michael.
Well, I think Putin would feel confident himself that it is, and his statements in his recent press conference indicate that.
I think it also shows that using terms that we're with you for as long as it counts might be ringing hollow in the ears of many in Ukraine. So Ukraine has a -- yes, Russia has a strategy to wait out the West, and at the moment, that appears to be working.
But let's just see how Congress and the E.U. go in the coming weeks with their aid packages.
HOLMES: What is the potential cost of delays at a time when the reporting is that Ukraine is running short on weaponry and ammunition that's being outgunned by Russia? How will battlefield -- the battlefield be impacted? And how quickly could the tide turn for the Ukrainian military without that continued support? RYAN: Well, the most immediate concerns are artillery munitions and
air defense missiles, particularly air defense missiles. We saw in your report about the air raid attacks and drone attacks. These are going to be very important over Christmas time for the Ukrainians.
But at the end of the day, what we're seeing now is that, whilst the Ukrainians have all the heart in the world. They have courage. They have good strategy. They also need a large industrial system behind them, like Russia has to help them win this war. And that's where we are not succeeding at the moment.
HOLMES: Yes. Do -- is there a sense that -- you know, the bigger picture, that what Putin will do if he succeeds in Ukraine, do you think that that's getting lost in the bickering over money right now?
I mean, how dangerous is Ukraine in the bigger regional picture?
RYAN: I think it's very dangerous. Putin all the way along has been telling us what he wants to do. He's been very open about taking back Ukraine several years ago. He's talking now about the threat posed by Finland and other countries that his ministers have talked about. The threat of Poland.
We tend not to believe these dictators when they tell us what they're going to do and then act all surprised when they do do it. So we should be listening to what Putin said. He is a threat to NATO. And stopping in Ukraine is a much better strategy than waiting for him to be on the borders of Poland.
HOLMES: Yes, and I guess to that point, how nervous then is all of this? The money, the fact that aid is becoming such an issue on domestic fronts.
How is all of that making Ukraine's neighbors feel: Poland, Romania, the Baltic states and so on?
RYAN: But we're seeing a massive buildup in the military hardware in Poland for the last couple of years. All the way along, not only have they been great supporters of Ukraine, but they've had to hedge their bets and fill up their own strength just in case the worst happens.
That now looks like an increasingly clever strategy from Poland, even though it's a tragic one for the Ukrainians, if it works out that way.
HOLMES: I guess, is it fair to say, if Europe and the USA doesn't come through, or comes through it, the levels that Ukraine needs and Ukraine folds, I mean, those billions of dollars being held up for political reasons, in many ways, that's just going to needed to be strengthen -- needed to strengthen NATO nations who could be under threat next. Right?
RYAN: It will take much more than what they're going to spend on Ukraine to strengthen NATO nations. I mean, it really is a case of a stitch in time saves nine. A little bit of money spent on Ukraine now will save a huge amount more down the track in having to reinforce NATO. So this is terrible strategy. It's terrible politics. From the E.U.
members that are holding up funding and the members of the U.S. Congress that are doing that.
HOLMES: And how do you think this is all going down after the Kremlin?
RYAN: Well, I think they will be celebrating a pretty joyous Christmas. They'll be looking at their strategy of waiting out the West working.
But it also plays to their core argument that the West is in decline, that Russia is rising again.
So I think Putin and those closest to him will have what they would think is a pretty good Christmas, compared to last year, which was extraordinarily grim for Russia.
HOLMES: And I know you -- you follow daily what's going on on the battlefield, the study of war and so on. What's your read at the moment of the -- the lay of the land?
RYAN: Well, the Russians really are seeking to go on the attack in -- in multiple axes to take back ground. Not just physically on the ground in Ukraine. But also in the minds of those in Europe and in the West who are supporting Ukraine.
[00:35:08]
They want to project an atmosphere where people in the West think it's no longer worth supporting Ukraine, because a Russian victory is inevitable. And I expect we'll continue to see the Russians do that in the coming months before the Russian election.
HOLMES: Always great to get your analysis, Mick. Thanks for getting up for us there in Jerusalem. Mick Ryan. Appreciate it.
RYAN: Thanks, Michael.
HOLMES: Well, heavy rain and flooding in Northern Australia after remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jasper lashed the region, leaving behind a trail of destruction. What authorities there are worried about. We'll have that coming up.
Also, the restoration of Paris's Notre Dame Cathedral, entering final stages. Coming up, the golden rooster, now atop the iconic landmark.
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HOLMES: Hundreds of people were rescued from floodwaters after the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jasper dumped intense rain on Northeastern Australia. Officials say there is still potential for life-threatening flash floods in the area.
Authorities say people sought safely on rooftops. Some were stuck there all night. And there are concerns about safe drinking water, sewage overflows and power outages. So far, no reports of any deaths or injuries. But more rain is
expected on Monday.
In Argentina, an intense storm has left at least 13 people dead and others injured in a town outside Buenos Aires. Winds reportedly reached 140 kilometers an hour.
Officials say at least 300 people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. Argentina President Javier Milei said the cabinet is working with local authorities to help victims recover the damage.
People around the world watched Notre Dame Cathedral burn nearly four years ago. I was there, covering it.
Now the restoration may not be on schedule to meet the original goal of opening before the Paris Olympics. But an event over the weekend symbolizes the enormous progress that workers have made.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): Flying high over the Paris skyline, a golden rooster is hoisted to its new perch, on top of the newly rebuilt spiral of Notre Dame Cathedral, scheduled to reopen in a year.
The rooster, made of gold-colored copper, is a crowning milestone in the church's reconstruction after a blazing fire destroyed the roof of the historic structure four and a half years ago.
PHILIPPE JOST, PRESIDENT, REBUILDING NOTRE-DAME DE PARIS (through translator): The rooster now means it's the very end of the rebuilding of the spire. It stands 96 meters tall. And once the roofers will have covered the spire, we'll be able to take the scaffolding off.
And that's when Parisians and everyone who walks past will be able to see this flamboyant rooster.
HOLMES (voice-over): The rooster is a longtime symbol of France. But this one, shining in the sunlight, is more like a phoenix rising from the ashes.
[00:40:13]
Its predecessor, a weather vane that sat atop a wooden spire, crashed through the ceiling of the cathedral in 2019, when it became engulfed in flames.
Workers say it's been a labor of love to help this new bird get off the ground.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It's something I'm really proud of, because you only do it once in your life. You don't do it twice. So, it's going to be engraved in my memory for a very long time.
HOLMES (voice-over): Before it was sent aloft, the roster was blessed by the archbishop of Paris, who placed a tube inside it, listing the names of hundreds of people who took part in the reconstruction.
Just over a week ago, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited the construction site and said work was on track for the cathedral to reopen on the December 8, 2024.
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): We saw the advancement of this worksite that seemed impossible, come to reality. And, for the first time, we came here not to mark the anniversary of the fire but to mark one year before the reopening.
HOLMES (voice-over): The old rooster, found battered and dented in the debris of the fire, will be displayed in a new museum. The new one will watch over the final stages of Notre Dame's restoration and hopefully the many years that follow.
Architects say they have installed a range of fireproof features in the cathedral, so this venerated church is never again reduced to ashes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art says it will return more than a dozen ancient artworks to Cambodia and Thailand. One of the artifacts is a Tenth Century sandstone statue of a goddess from Cambodia.
Another is a statue of a buddha's head from the Seventh Century that will be returned to Thailand.
The works were linked to a British art dealer accused of trafficking artifacts looted from South Asia.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on X, Threads and Instagram, @HolmesCNN. Stick around. WORLD SPORT will be up next. I'll see you with more news in a little under 20 minutes.
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