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Cities Prepare for New Year's Eve Celebrations; Special Counsel Pushes Back on Trump's Immunity Claim; Ukraine Reports New Russian Overnight Strikes; Biden Turns Up Pressure on Congress Over Ukraine Aid; Netanyahu: War Against Hamas "Will Continue for Months"; Health Experts Warn of JN.1, Fast-Growing Subvariant; Pistons Finally Snap Record 28-Game Losing Streak. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired December 31, 2023 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:01]

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, you know, it's -- it's almost a physical release, I suppose, of the -- perhaps some of the stresses that we've been experiencing, right, and some of the hopes that we have.

I'm just hearing now that the countdown is beginning, Kim. I don't know if you want to join me here, but I would love to count down to midnight for -- with everybody here. We're just 14 seconds out right now. You might be able to see up on this projection map.

Nine, eight, seven, six -- very exciting. I'm seeing these lanterns rise up very -- oh! And there you have it. New Year, sort of, in Japan.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let's take a moment and watch this and appreciate the sights and sounds as these lanterns go up in the air.

(SPEAKING JAPANESE)

MONTGOMERY: Wow, I mean, really a gorgeous, gorgeous sight. I don't know if you can tell, but in these lanterns, obviously, they have an LED light here, and you're able to, you know, see the lantern light up. And once it got dark around it, you could kind of see the lights go up again. And it's really just beautiful here.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, traditionally, there would be, you know, what, lit candles in there, but I guess it's obviously a lot safer to have LED lights there instead of sending out candles on the wind, so to speak.

MONTGOMERY: Yes, exactly. We're just panning up to show you some of the lanterns going up. I'm just seeing a few smiley faces as well. There are lots of people here as well with their families, with their children, and of course, you know, as a child, school is very important, right? So, you're seeing some resolutions of just hope in the new academic year. I'm seeing people's faces right now in the crowds and they just look very excited, you know?

And I'm sure, many of the people there, they're going to go back home and celebrate the New Year with their families, ring in 2024, and carry those hopes and resolutions with them into the new year.

BRUNHUBER: Well, it's a great way to get ready for the real thing, sort of a pre-New Year's celebration at civic plaza in Tokyo.

Hanako Montgomery, thank you so much. Really appreciate that.

Now other cities around the world are setting the stage to ring in 2024. In London, workers loaded nearly 12,000 fireworks on to barges for the U.K.'s biggest New Year's Eve fireworks display. Fireworks also the centerpiece in Rio de Janeiro. Some 2 million people are expected to gather at Rio's popular Copacabana Beach.

Now, speaking of beach, why brave the cold and crowds of Times Square to watch the ball drop when there's Key West high heel drop. On Saturday, organizers in Key West did a test run of the drop, a New Year's Eve tradition that's been going strong for nearly three decades.

U.S. special counsel Jack Smith is pushing back against Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity amid his 2020 election interference case. Smith's claims are in a new court filing on Saturday. It says that Trump's sweeping assertion, quote, threatens to license presidents to commit crimes to remain in office. Smith also made an unusual request for the appeals court to implement its ruling quickly. That could fast track the case ahead of the 2024 election.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has more from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Special counsel Jack Smith is arguing that the former president, Donald Trump, is wrong in claiming that he should have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution in the federal election subversion case. And he's asking a federal appeals court to move quickly in hopes of preventing the March 4th trial date from being delayed.

Now, this is in a new court filing by Smith, in which he says Trump's claim of absolute immunity threatens to license presidents to commit crimes to remain in office. Smith also emphasizing the historical importance, warning that granting Trump such broad immunity, quote, threatens the Democratic and constitutional foundation of our republic.

This filing is coming ahead of oral arguments. Those are set to begin in Washington on January 9th. The trial was initially scheduled to begin on March 4th, but Trump has been trying to delay that in his fight over the immunity claim really underscoring those efforts. But if the appeals court moves quickly, it could keep the original trial date from sliding. And with the looming presidential campaign only months away, it's clear that timing is critical for both sides in this case.

Zachary Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, Trump's political rival and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis says that removing the former president from ballots in states like Maine and Colorado won't affect him.

[05:05:07]

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It doesn't affect me at all because I'm running to win, period, and that's just the reality. Now, I do not think the Supreme Court is going to uphold what Colorado and Maine did. I think it opens up a Pandora's box. And let's just be clear, if one of Trump's competitors were kicked off the ballot, he would be spiking the football. He would be cheering it. That's just a fact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: DeSantis was campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday ahead of the state's primary on January 23rd. A CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire last month shows Trump maintains a significant lead among likely voters in the state's primary.

Moscow has fired a new salvo in the wave of cross-border attacks and counterattacks between Russia and Ukraine that's been going on for the last couple of days. Ukraine says that Russia targeted the Kharkiv region overnight, where three people were killed and 28 others injured. Three regions in southern Ukraine also came under attack. Officials in Kyiv say they repelled the latest wave of drone strikers.

Hours earlier, Ukraine says that Russian missiles pummeled the city of Kharkiv, wounding 26 people. Those strikes damaged residential buildings, hospitals, businesses, and government offices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IRYNA NIKITINA, KHARKIV RESIDENT (through translator): This is our New Year. What a present Russia gave us this New Year. They are black souls, simply black souls. They bomb residential areas. There are people here. How can one do such a thing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: The second attack on Kharkiv followed a Ukrainian strike. Russia says the death toll has reached at least 24 people with more than 100 others injured.

Nic Robertson reports on the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: In the middle of the Russian city, Belgorod, the fiery aftermath of a suspected Ukrainian rocket attack. Russian officials claiming it was a massive assault, using Ukrainian and to Czech made ammunition fired from a multi-barreled rocket launcher, some of which they claim to have intercepted.

IGOIR KONASHENKOV, SPOKESPERSON, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY (through translator): The Kyiv regime by carrying out indiscriminate attacks on squares and committing this crime is trying to divert attention from defeats at the front as well as provoke us to similar actions.

ROBERTSON: The death toll, including children, climbing through the day. It comes the day after Russia launched its biggest air assault on Ukraine in almost two years of war, at least 40 people were killed, more than 150 injured.

The Ukrainian strike on Belgorod, barely 20 miles from its border Saturday, is its deadliest known cross-border attack of the war, according to Belgorod's governor.

Putin dispatched its health minister and an emergency ministry team. Three months out from his upcoming re-election, the chaos dents his carefully created image of a war going well.

It's unclear if this war's Ukrainian revenge and, Ukrainian officials don't routinely comment about this type of attack, but the up-tempo does seem to speak to frustrations, fears, even, and a determination in Ukraine that absent the financial support that they need from their allies, they can still land blows and thwart Putin's aggression.

Russian's U.N. spokesperson called for an emergency U.N. Security Council session, to censure Ukraine. Much as Russia was the previous night of their massive air assault.

VASSILY NEBENZIA, RUSSIAN REPRESENTATIVE TO U.N. (through translator): Today, Security Council members have a chance to fulfill their duty and assess what happened a few hours ago, a terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime against a civilian city of Russia, Belgorod.

ROBERTSON: Russia's defense ministry says the attack will not go unpunished. By late Saturday, Russia attacked Ukraine in Kharkiv, with drones, more deaths can be expected.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And we go now to Rome where CNN's Barbie Nadeau is standing by.

So, Barbie, Nic mentioned the U.N. Security Council meeting accusations of terrorism by Russia against Ukraine. Bring us the latest.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yeah. You know, that U.N. Security Meeting is really interesting. There's been a lot of pushback, especially allies of Ukraine, that, you know, Russia has the audacity, basically, to call this a terrorist attack. A lot of the officials there saying that, in fact, it's Russia who's to blame for anything, any loss of life related to this war.

[05:10:02]

Let's take a listen, though, to the Russian representative to the U.N. and then to the Ukrainian representative to the U.N., what they said about that meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEBENZIA (through translator): Russia does not target civilian Ukrainian citizens, no matter how much you talk about it. Some of you know that you are aiming only at the military infrastructure of Ukraine, and even more so, we do no purposefully direct weapons against civilians.

SERHI DVORNYK, COUNSELOR, UKRAINE'S PERMANENT MISSION TO U.N.: And as Ukraine is still recovering from yesterday's horrendous strikes, new waves of Russian terror persist. Just hours ago, as was mentioned by assistant secretary general, Russia again terrorized Kharkiv with S- 300 missiles hitting a residential building and a hotel. Since this morning, a number of citizen villagers in Ukraine have come under Russian fire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NADEAU: And you know, Kim, when you listen to that, it's really a matter of propaganda very much on the side of the Russian representative there, because this war obviously two years in now, going into the third year, very much unprovoked invasion of a sovereign nation. So as we go forward, there's been a lot of debate about funding, continued funding in the United States and here in Europe, and it seems ever more important that that funding comes through so Ukraine can continue to defend itself -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely.

All right. Thank you so much, Barbie Nadeau in Rome.

President Biden is turning up the pressure on lawmakers to approve more aid for Ukraine. More than $60 billion in military aid is stalled in Congress, as Western officials warn Ukrainian forces will face an uphill battle without more assistance.

Kevin Liptak has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Biden is sharply condemning Russia's attack on Ukraine, calling it the most serious since the war broke out. And really using it to remind Americans of the continued war on the ground there, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin's intentions have not changed in the two years since this war broke out.

And he's also using this as a moment to call on Congress to pass new assistance for Ukraine and really telling lawmakers that the defensive systems that have been passed already, the Patriot missile batteries, other defensive systems, have saved lives on the ground there, including just this week, but if those systems aren't provided in the future, the Ukrainians will essential be left defenseless.

In a statement, the president saying: Unless Congress takes urgent action in the New Year, we will not be able to continue sending the weapons and vital air defense systems Ukraine needs. We cannot let our allies and partners down. History will judge harshly those who fail to answer freedom's call.

But remember, this new funding for Ukraine is tied up in this debate back in Washington between Democrats and Republicans over immigration, over tightening the rules at the border. And it remains to be seen whether this new air assault will do anything to change the minds of skeptical Republicans, who at the end of the day really just don't support new funding for Ukraine. They don't believe that it is in America's best interests.

Just this last week, the White House said that it had approved the final amount of money that was left in the existing authorization, $250 million in assistance to Ukraine, but essentially saying that that was the bottom of the barrel, that no new funding would be going forward, unless it was passed by Congress.

So President Biden really hoping to use this moment to convince these lawmakers that that assistance is necessary going forward. And as he returns to Washington next week, that will certainly be at the top of his agenda, as the war in Ukraine continues to rage on.

Kevin Liptak, CNN, traveling with the president in St. Croix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says his country will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with neighboring South Korea. State media reports that Kim said it would be a mistake to deal with people who would consider North Korea to be, quote, the main enemy. This comes as Kim earlier this week instructed his army to accelerate war preparations in response to what he called confrontation moves by the U.S.

Israel says that its war against Hamas will go on for months, but displaced Palestinians are already facing disease outbreaks and food shortages. We have a live report from Tel Aviv, next.

And later, U.S. health officials say the latest COVID vaccine provides protection against a new rapidly spreading subvariant, but once again, there's no shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding vaccinations. We'll have more on that straight ahead.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:18:33] BRUNHUBER: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war against Hamas will continue for months. He says Israel's military has the upper hand right now and claims it's killed more than 8,000 terrorists since the war began, but the Hamas-run ministry of health says the majority of victims in Gaza are children and women. They put the latest death toll at nearly 22,000 and more than 56,000 wounded.

Now, CNN can't independently confirm information from the ministry, which doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, officials warn people to use alternate routes that they say are safe. They posted a map with instructions online, but it's not clear how many will be able to receive that information because of lack of communications and Internet in the enclave.

Thousands of people protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for all remaining hostages in Gaza to be freed. They demonstrated outside of Israel's defense ministry, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a news conference. Some carried Israeli flags and posters of hostages. One woman said that she's worried that the Israeli government isn't prioritizing the release of the hostages, and said a cease-fire is needed now.

And joining us is journalist Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv.

So, Elliott, a frank assessment from Netanyahu about how long this war might last. What more can you tell us?

[05:20:02]

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Kim, we've been hearing this from different people, from the war cabinet, from the defense minister and the like, talking about, this is not going to be a short operation. It is a complicated war, and it will go on basically as long as it needs to.

Now, Israel has its key war objectives, namely destroying Hamas militarily, saying it can never repeat the massacre of October the 7th and to bring those hostages home. Those were subjects that Netanyahu was talking about while, as you say, over the road, thousands of demonstrators turning up again on a Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, to keep up the pressure on the government to do just that. To do everything that it can to bring those hostages home.

Now, Netanyahu said that a deal seems to be doable. Though he doesn't want to get people's hopes up, but he did say that the war would continue for as long as is necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The war is at its height. We are fighting on all of the fronts. We have huge success, but we also have painful cases. Achieving victory will require time, as the chief of staff has said, the war will continue for many more months. I greatly value the support of the U.S. for Israel, the support that

was expressed last week in the U.N. Security Council and the way it was expressed for the additional supply of weapons systems for the IDF.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOTKINE: And this gratitude to the United States, of course, coming on the back of another batch of equipment related to shells, fuses, and charges, which the Biden administration is sending to Israel, bypassing the traditional 20-day review period, by Congress.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that this was done because of Israel's urgent defensive needs. And Netanyahu will have a chance to thank Blinken in person in the coming week, because the U.S. secretary of state is due back in Israel for the fifth time since October the 7th for meetings with Netanyahu and other officials -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate the update. Elliott Gotkine in Tel Aviv, thanks so much.

I want to go now to Alon-Lee Green, the national co-director and co- founder of Standing Together, a progressive Jewish Arab grassroots movement.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, Prime Minister Netanyahu warning the war will last months, all the while the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza grows. I mean, it certainly portends a bleak future going into 2024.

ALON-LEE GREEN, NATIONAL CO-DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, STANDING TOGETHER: Yes, most certainly. We do feel that this war is going nowhere. That it has brought only death and destruction and more hatred between the two people that live in this country. And it must be said, none of those people is going anywhere.

Those people (AUDIO GAP) standing next to millions of Palestinians and the destruction in Gaza, the toll of the death in Gaza is something we need to ask, how can we deal with it? It's not only a problem of the Palestinians. It's not only something that the Palestinians are suffering from.

(AUDIO GAP)

With this amount of (AUDIO GAP) and death, this is also something that will affect the Israelis, the Jewish citizens. We need to understand that the way that from here forward is not good, is very dark. And the government is just promising (AUDIO GAP).

BRUNHUBER: You talk about death and suffering, but Israelis are getting a different and a sanitized version of the war. How is that affecting your ability to come up with solutions, if many Israelis don't know the true scope of devastation that's been inflicted on so many Palestinian civilians? GREEN: So I do think Israelis understand that the magnitude of the

destruction and the death. We saw yesterday, the headline that (AUDIO GAP) was published about 70 percent of the house, the homes the have been destroyed, 50 percent of all buildings have been impacted and destroyed as well. We understand the amount of death. And we also see the amount of soldiers that are coming back dead from Gaza.

This is all true thing and we need to be able to hold the pain of all people that are impacted at the moment, Israelis and Palestinians. And I do think that our message, a message of Israeli-Palestinian peace is the only solution to achieve life, to achieve security, to achieve some kind of peace is a message that more and more people are joining. We had big rally rallies.

(AUDIO GAP)

We do see that the space of discussion is becoming wider. People are criticizing the government about the level of destruction.

[05:25:01]

And people are asking the question, where does it lead us? What is the plan of the government? What is going to happen the day after?

(AUDIO GAP)

BRUNHUBER: It's a very -- it's a very important message of peace and unity that you're sending and your organization is certainly working hard to bring the two people together. Unfortunately, we have to leave it there, just because our Internet connection isn't that strong, but really appreciate having you on and certainly hope we can speak to you again.

Alon Green, thank you so much for being with us.

All right. Coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM, holiday travel always includes huge crowds, long lines, but not like this. Why trains to and from London were shut down during one of the busiest travel periods of the year.

Plus, we'll go to Sydney, Australia, where 2024 is just a few hours away, and we'll give you inside look at New Year's Eve preparations at one of the world's most iconic buildings.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: And welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada, and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

It's beginning to look a lot like New Year's Eve in New York. The Times Square New Year's Eve ball got a test run Saturday before the famous countdown later tonight. It's 12 feet in diameter, covered with more than 2,600 crystal triangles and weighs nearly 12,000 pounds. Organizers say for the first time ever, it will be re-lit after the traditional playing of "New York, New York".

Well, as New Year approaches, a lot of rain and snow in store for much of the U.S.

CNN meteorologist Elisa Raffa has more on what to expect.

[05:30:04]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, that potent tomorrow that we've been talking about that's been kicking the waves in California -- well, it's not going to really make it all too far east. It's not bringing a lot of rain and it kind of dies in the Rocky Mountains. There you can see that on that future radar.

We do have a little hiccup that wants to pop from the Great Lakes going into the Appalachian Mountains, but not going to really fine tune much of either rain or snow out of that one. That's because we have this big, dominant area of high pressure that's going to bring that dry, sinking air and keep us quiet going into the New Year's holiday. Like I mentioned, some of that rain and snow totals not really all that impressive, even for the spine of some of those highest elevations, only looking at a few inches of snow.

So, that leaves you with some pretty quiet conditions as you're headed out for your new year's in the evening. Not too much rain and snow, pretty much really nationwide. Temperatures kind of seasonal, a little bit on the chilly side going for a temperature at 32 degrees in Minneapolis and 30s down to St. Louis. You've got temperatures in the 30s and 40s up to the Northeast.

If you're looking for that forecast for Times Square, that ball drop headed into the upper 30s by midnight, with just a few clouds. Maybe a flake or two could fly, but for the most part, looking at dry conditions, with a little bit of a breeze, you'll find those wind chills in the middle 30s. You'll definitely want to bundle up. But upper 30s is kind of seasonal, kind of right where those temperatures usually are for this time of year.

When you look at the records, the warmest records for that midnight ball drop in New York City, all of those records, are in the middle 50s. We actually hit one, the third warmest on record coming into this year, 2023, with that temperature of 54 degrees. 2022 was also top five for record warm.

Back in 2018, we were rivaling one of the coldest ball drops on record. We just missed it, second spot, 9 degrees. That was set back in 2018. We're going to keep things quiet going into New Year's Day. Again, not too much in the way of rain or snow, really anywhere in the U.S. things staying pretty quiet. Temperatures seasonal or a little bit below average. A temperature of 49 degrees, that is on the chilly side for Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: It's been a nasty few days of weather in the U.K., with heavy rain, snow, and wind gusts complicating travel across the British Isles, and especially in one of the world's busiest cities, London, leading to chaos from flooded train lines and Eurostar shutdowns.

Michael Holmes explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Holiday plans derailed. The New Year travel rush to some popular European destinations hit the skids on Saturday, after train operator Eurostar canceled its services to and from London.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just devastated. I've just had a little cry. I just want to get home.

HOLMES: The cause of the chaos, flooding in a railway tunnel near London, video shows water gushing on to the tracks. Eurostar says pumps and tankers are on the scene to try to reduce the amount of water. But that won't be in time to help thousands of passengers scrambling to rearrange their travel plans after the last-minute cancellations.

Passengers packed the station as they tried to plot alternate routes to places like Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We could have booked flights today and I wish we had. So, yeah, I will question whether Eurostar is the best option.

HOLMES: There were similar grievances at a station in Paris where some passengers were counting not only lost time, but lost money, after missing out on many pre-booked, unrefundable activities in different cities.

One woman says, it's almost a total loss for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): It was shaping up to be a beautiful weekend. We're financing this trip with our wedding gifts, so seeing it go up in smoke this way because we won't be able to get anything back, except maybe the price of the outward ticket. So we're obviously gutted.

HOLMES: Eurostar has apologized for the travel disruptions, though some hearty travelers say maybe being stuck isn't so bad, and are turning what could be a travel nightmare into an extended holiday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's kind of chaos, but I would love to stay another couple of days in London. It's a wonderful city. It might cost a lot of money, but we'll enjoy it.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: In Sydney, Australia, preparations are underway two spectacular New Year's shows inside and outside the world-famous opera house, which celebrated its 50th birthday earlier this year.

CNN's Angus Watson has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANGUS WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first of the day's summer sun glimpse on the famous white sails. Dean Jakubowski and his team have begun their effort to rig the Sydney Opera House with fireworks.

DEAN JACUBOWSKI, BUILDING OPERATIONS MANAGER, SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE: It's the most recognizable structure in the world. So, you know, just playing a small role in that is amazing.

[05:35:00]

WATSON: These are the pyrotechnics that will paint the New Year sky, springing from the opera house as the city celebrates the building's 50th birthday.

JACUBOWSKI: There's 1 billion people that tune in to watch the fireworks, so no pressure to getting the fireworks right.

WATSON: The team hauls the pyrotechnic and all the launch gear up like this, as delicately as possible.

On New Year's Eve, Jacubowski will have what some people might consider the best vantage point on earth, but few would be brave enough to take this seat.

JACUBOWSKI: Literally feels like the world around you is exploding.

WATSON: When it opened in 1973, the architect Jorn Utzon had not only given Australia an icon to proudly display on postage stamps, the House, as it's lovingly known, has over its 50 years helped to evolve Australian culture.

SAMANTHA CLARKE, SOPRANO: For Australia being such a young country to have such an iconic place, being an opera house, as that landmark for us, I think that's really special.

WATSON: On New Year's Eve, as the sky above explodes in color, Opera Australia will perform the Traviata to a sold-out crowd.

Samantha Clarke is starring as the tragic heroin Violeta.

CLARKE: If you would have told 16-year-old me that, you know, I was going to be opening La Traviata at the Sydney Opera House, I wouldn't have believed you. It's like a bucket list thing for me.

WATSON: Behind the scenes, work has been going on for weeks. Hundreds of hours of effort has been spent towards the staging of the glamorous opera. Its decadent and its vibrant, a perfect fit for New Year's Eve, despite its sad ending.

HANNAH LOBELSON, CUSTOME COORDINATOR, OPERA AUSTRALIA: Someone is there toasting with champagne, and all the women are in beautiful dresses having a wonderful time. But there is a subtext, quite a serious story line through Traviata which I think the production is trying to address.

WATSON: To Australians, the Opera House addresses the idea for art, for ideas, for intellectual challenge and discovery. In 2023, the 50th anniversary celebrated a place where people come with open hearts and open minds to a building worthy of the beauty that surrounds it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And you'll want to stay with CNN for our New Year's Eve coverage as world rings in 2024. That begins just before midnight there in Sydney, which is midday London and morning in New York.

All right. Still to come, we'll take a look at the latest subvariant of COVID-19 that's quickly spreading throughout the U.S. and we ask why more people aren't getting the vaccine that's proven effective against it.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:41:00]

BRUNHUBER: U.S. health officials are warning that a subvariant of COVID-19 is spreading quickly and is currently linked to almost half of the new cases in the U.S. due to waning immunity and holiday travel. So have a look here. You can see the rapid growth of JN.1 over the past couple of months. It's expected to be the dominant strain globally in a matter of weeks.

Experts say it has an increased ability to evade immunity, but all in all, the current vaccines are expected to provide protection. New data shows it's by far the dominant strain in the U.S. Northeast.

Now, just as the risk of COVID hasn't disappeared, neither has the conspiracy theories surrounding vaccinations. And it's making allies out of two very disparate groups.

Joining me now from Johannesburg, South Africa, is Sarah Downs. And she's a PhD candidate in infectious diseases and molecular biology through the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

So, before we talk about the conspiracies affecting vaccination here in the U.S., according to the CDC latest data, only about 17 percent of adults and 8 percent of children have gotten the latest COVID shot. Do those low rates surprise you and is that what you're seeing elsewhere around the world, as well? SARAH DOWNS, PHD CANDIDATE IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, UNIVERSITY OF

WITWATERSTAND: So they don't really surprise me given the amount of misinformation that has been out there. And a bunch of other factors, as well. In my country, we don't actually have access to that data for vaccines, so I think in other countries, we're not quite seeing the same thing for a very different reason.

BRUNHUBER: All right. So, there are many factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy. I mean, you've looked at one of them. This sort of odd confluence of right wing and left-wing conspiracies. Take us through this.

DOWNS: So it's this phenomenon where previously, there was a lot of polarization along political lines, where now you have the new age and wellness groups combining the conspiracies with very right-wing groups. And it's not who you would typically expect to see together.

And the link is mistrust in government or mainstream or corporations. And a lot of it is being driven by profit. And so, they're using paranoia and mistrust, these influences to basically peddle these conspiracy theories, and then they're also selling their own products or making money through streams, those kinds of things. So, that's kind of what the problem seems to be.

BRUNHUBER: Give us some examples. I mean, it's not just about COVID vaccines, for instance. It sort of spreads throughout other vaccines, even other, you know, health phenomenon.

DOWNS: Yes, definitely. So there's a wide range of examples globally, actually, not just in the U.S. So, to talk about the U.S., we've got Joseph Mercola, who has been peddling misinformation about sunscreen, saying that it blocks vitamin D absorption, and he's also selling his own alternative sunscreen. And his alternative wellness brand, he has a net worth of $100 million. So that's just one example.

And someone in the -- in Australia has been peddling the same misinformation and using it to sell his books and all sorts of things. And in South Africa, we've had wellness doctors who usually do weight loss and aesthetics, and have nothing to do with public health or vaccines or infectious diseases, and they've pivoted to influencing over vaccines and COVID to sell their own products, their own detox protocols. Things like putting things on to might be microscope slides and spreading information about what they're seeing on those slides that is just not true. So, that's a lot of what we're seeing worldwide.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, and this is having real-world effects, if more people from both sides of the political spectrum are more vaccine hesitant, they certainly become a bigger player, politically, as well, when they sort of are putting more pressure on people to, you know, get out of COVID mandates, things like that, for instance.

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DOWNS: Yes, definitely. It's being used to drive politics, as well. If you can get a bigger audience and be seen to be defending something, of course, that's going to give you more clout. And I think in the U.S., we definitely can see examples of that.

BRUNHUBER: So, once this misinformation is out there, it's very hard to eradicate. Let's get to solutions here. How can we push back against this?

DOWNS: It's very difficult, because newer research has shown that once people believe something, it's difficult to reverse their beliefs. It's almost like we need to inoculate the public against misinformation -- how to identify it, what's driving it, warn people that this is being driven by profits, and that it's going to harm public health. And sharing how to identify misinformation, what the facts are. And we have to actually do this, and I think we learned this throughout COVID. We have to do this before the misinformation is out there.

So I think it's going to involve a lot of research into what are the best ways to inoculate people against information, so when they hear it, they can identify it.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, certainly, a huge challenge, as you say, as we've learned throughout the pandemic.

We'll have to leave it there, but, Sarah Downs, in Johannesburg, thank you so much for speaking with us. Appreciate it.

DOWNS: Thank you, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: An evacuation warning has been lifted for some residents in Ventura County, California, just north of Los Angeles. An offshore storm has been pummeling the area with high waves and coastal flooding for days.

As CNN's Camila Bernal reports from Manhattan Beach near Los Angeles, plenty of onlookers have been watching the hazardous surf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've consistently seen waves of maybe 5 to 10 feet here in Manhattan Beach throughout the day. And authorities are telling people to be extremely careful.

At the moment, the pier here in Manhattan Beach is closed, but we are seeing a lot of people coming to take a look at these waves. Authorities saying, yes, they may be beautiful, but they are also extremely dangerous. You're seeing closures when it comes to the piers, all up and down the California coast, not just here in Manhattan Beach.

According to the National Weather Service, we expected waves between 15 and 20 feet in the central coast of California. And then here in Manhattan Beach, where I am, in Los Angeles County in Santa Barbara County and Ventura County, waves of 10 to 15 feet.

Ventura County was the hardest hit. That's where we saw those dramatic videos of these monster waves and people running from the ocean. Unfortunately, in Ventura County, at least eight people were taken to

the hospital because of this. That's where we saw some of the road closures and some of the evacuations. Authorities saying that there is still the risk of flooding, especially in those areas that normally flood, in the lower areas.

So, again, people being told to be extremely careful, to never turn their back to the ocean. I know I'm doing that now, but I do have a team just ready to tell me, in case we need to make a run for it. Hopefully, that is not the case.

But, again, authorities telling people to continue to be very careful and a lot of the closures you're going to see them through Sunday.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: All right. Coming up, they're dancing in the streets of Detroit. The longest losing streak in NBA history is over. The Pistons victorious at the expense of this Canadian favorite basketball team. That's me, yeah.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:37]

BRUNHUBER: Detroit Lions are livid after losing to the Dallas Cowboys by one point because of a controversial penalty call in the final seconds.

Carolyn Manno joins me now from New York.

Carolyn, this one stings even more, because of what it means in terms of the NFL playoffs, right?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, Kim.

There's a lot on the line as the season winds down. The loss means that the Lions are officially out of the running for the number one seed in the NFC and the first-round buy. For the Cowboys, the win means they still have a shot at winning their division and getting a home playoff game. The stakes are very, very high here.

Here's how expected. I'm going to walk you through this. Detroit was down by seven with under 30 seconds to go when Jared Goff finds Amon- Ra St. Brown who dives into the end zone for the touchdown.

Now, rather than kick it and tie it up, the Lions decided to go for two and the win, and they pull out a trick play that's Goff to offensive lineman Taylor Decker, who comes down with it, but hold on, but there's a flag on Decker for ineligible man down field. So, the rule is that an offensive lineman must go to the referee

before the play if they want to report as an eligible receiver. The ref said that Decker did not and instead it was number 70, Dan Skipper, even though on the replay it looks like it was Decker going up to Allen. They replayed the down, Detroit goes for it again, no good, but now Dallas is called for a penalty.

So we do it again. Detroit going for 2, and Goff just missing a wide open James Mitchell. Cowboys win 20-19. Campbell still really upset after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN CAMPBELL, DETROIT LIONS HEAD COACH: I don't want to talk about it. All right?

REPORTER: We can see the frustration on your face. Can you just explain where it comes from right now?

CAMPBELL: What would you be -- would you be frustrated right now?

REPORTER: Is it on the call, on the execution is it -- you know --

CAMPBELL: I don't like losing Dave, and that's what happened, we lost. And that bothers me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: There was some good news for Detroit last night. After more than two months and an NBA record 28 straight losses, the streak is finally over. The Pistons squeaking out a two-point win over the Raptors last night in front of some devoted home fans.

Cade Cunningham was great again. He scored 30 points as Detroit wins for the first time since before Halloween.

[05:55:03]

Now, this team can finally take a breath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONTY WILLIAMS, DETROIT PISTONS HEAD COACH: It wasn't relief. It was just like thank God, you know, finally. And guys were screaming, I was almost in tears, and I'm just so happy for our guys.

CADE CUNNINGHAM, DETROIT PISTONS GUARD: Man, I felt amazing. This is the first time to not be cheesing in this interview. To finally get over that hump, like I said, I'm not trying to go back. Now it really begins, where we see who we're going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: Cunningham is such a talented player. It's been a really rough stretch for them, Kim, as you can see, the emotion right there, but hopefully they can start to get a little bit of a win streak going here. Good to see it come to an end.

BRUNHUBER: Yeah, I was saying to them, I was saying to the team, it's typical Canadian politeness to allow Detroit to win. They just felt bad for them.

Carolyn Manno, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

MANNO: Sure.

BRUNHUBER: And finally this morning, the Powerball jackpot is still up for grabs in the U.S. after nobody won the massive prize in Saturday's drawing. The jackpot has now grown to an estimated $810 million and will likely go higher. The next drawing is set for Monday, New Year's Day. And it's been more than two months since anyone has won the grand prize and that jackpot is worth more than $1 billion. Well, it's yet to be claimed.

All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber.

For our international viewers, "Artisans" is next. For everyone else, it's "CNN THIS MORNING" and a happy New Year.

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