Return to Transcripts main page

Connect the World

COVID-19 Takes Its Toll on New Year's Eve Celebrations; U.S. Reports Highest COVID-19 Death Toll on Two Consecutive Days; U.S. to Fall Well Short of Vaccination Goal; Momentous Change in the U.K.; Interview with Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, Urging People to Stay Home for New Year's Eve; Iran Accuses U.S. of Fabricating Pretext for War; Pope Francis to Miss New Year's Eve Due to Sciatica. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired December 31, 2020 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HALA GORANI, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to the last edition of CONNECT THE WORLD for 2020. I'm Hala Gorani. Happy New Year to our viewers, joining

us from those parts of the world that have already rung in in 2021.

2021 is just arriving in Tokyo and Seoul. But some of you are already in the New Year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI (voice-over): New Zealand, which kept a good handle on the coronavirus outbreak, went on with fireworks and no COVID restrictions and,

yes, we are envious.

Not so in Sydney, which held a fireworks display over the Harbor Bridge as usual but with no spectators. The restrictions, a last minute decision

following Sydney's recent COVID outbreak.

The celebrations were all on television, with police making sure health rules were followed. Next hour, we will see Hong Kong ring in the New Year

with virtual celebrations.

Meanwhile, here in London, the city's iconic fireworks show over the River Thames is canceled due to England's tough stay-at-home orders.

And in New York, it will also be a New Year's Eve like no other. The city's police department is urging potential Times Square revelers not to come for

the ball drop. Officials say no spectators will be allowed in Times Square.

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live in Times Square with the details.

So are there any fireworks?

What are we expecting in New York tonight, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, I wish I was in New Zealand. There's no fireworks, no crowds. In fact, this is a time typically that we're

seeing crowds of people line up outside Times Square, waiting for the NYPD to go over and allow them to come in and sit in those pens all day long,

waiting for the big celebration.

But that is not the case. In fact, NYPD is saying stay away. Don't even come close to this area because they won't allow for it. So that's of

course all because of the pandemic, the health restrictions, that they want to keep this to a very small group of people allowed in Times Square, a

very tight knit group, which includes a lot of performers and also some front-line workers, the heroes, the real heroes of 2020 and their family

members.

They will be allowed in but all of those people have undergone a COVID test. But they will be able to actually be up close and personal with the

ball drop here to celebrate 2021. The NYPD will be here as well, as they always are, making sure it goes off safely, making sure there are no

issues.

But again, they made that message very clear to just stay away if you are the general public.

GORANI: All right. Brynn Gingras, thanks very much.

You can stay at home and watch CNN New Year's Eve live, hosted by our Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. The fun starts at 5:00 am New Year's Eve

day in Abu Dhabi if you are up that early, 1:00 am in London and 8:00 pm on Thursday in New York. All COVID friendly celebrations.

You can see here, Wuhan, China, less than an hour away from ringing in the New Year but it's also marking a year since the first cases were reported

of that mystery disease at the time that would come to be known as COVID- 19. Since then, more than 1.8 million people around the world have died.

It looks like a -- feels like a different world a year ago. Many of more than 80 million survivors are dealing with the long-term effects of this

novel virus as well. So it's not just those who were sickened during the duration of the illness but what they are having to put up with afterward.

There's no place worse affected than the United States. As 2020 comes to a close, America is seeing more coronavirus deaths than ever before. And

every week, hundreds of thousands of Americans are filing for new unemployment benefits, making the situation more miserable.

Looking for leadership from Washington, Americans are finding their president returning from holiday to Washington next hour a day earlier than

anticipated. As Paul Vercammen reports, the situation has never been, in the U.S., more dire than it is now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The United States sees its deadliest days since the pandemic began. More than 3,700 Americans were

reported dead on Wednesday from the coronavirus and more than 125,000 Americans are currently hospitalized, the highest since the start of the

pandemic.

[10:05:00]

The CDC now projects as many as 424,000 Americans will die from the virus by January 23rd.

In California, the state identified its first case of the coronavirus variant after Colorado reported one confirmed case and one suspected case

on Tuesday. The case involves a 30-year-old man in San Diego, who had no recent travel history and had very few social interactions in the days

before becoming symptomatic.

NATHAN FLETCHER, SUPERVISE, SAN DIEGO COUNTY: We believe this is not an isolated case in San Diego County and there are probably other strains,

other cases of the same strain, in San Diego County.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): Dr. Anthony Fauci is not surprised that this variant has been found in the United States and believes the vaccine will

likely protect against this new strain.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The transmissibility of this mutant is more efficient than the

transmissibility of the standard virus.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): This new COVID variant comes as California is still struggling to get the pandemic under control. In L.A. County, one

person is dying every 10 minutes from coronavirus. The county just surpassed 10,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

Hospitals are still overwhelmed in the state and ICU capacity is at 0 percent in much of the state.

Meanwhile, some of the nation's top health officials are now admitting, the pace of the vaccine rollout is lagging behind expectations.

MONCEF SLAOUI, CORONAVIRUS VACCINE CZAR: We agreed that that number is lower than what we hoped for, we know that it should be better.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): The United States has distributed 12.4 million doses and administered only 2.7 million vaccines. The administration had

promised 20 million vaccinations by the end of the year.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: It's overpromising in the first place; it's also not having a national strategy but, instead, throwing up our

hands and basically saying it's, now the federal government has does their job with the production and initially distribution to the states.

VERCAMMEN (voice-over): In Florida this is what demand for the vaccine looks like, senior citizens lining up for hours, many arriving in the

middle of the night and sitting in lawn chairs. Florida's first-come, first-served policy for elderly residents leading to a scramble for a

limited number of doses.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GORANI: Paul Vercammen reporting there.

One way to get more people vaccinated is to spread the two doses out. So vaccinate as many people as possible in a first wave and then later in a

second wave. That's a strategy officials here in the U.K. have now decided to follow.

Pfizer says it has no data to support the U.K.'s new vaccine regimen. Right now, the U.S. is withholding enough of the Pfizer BioNTech and Moderna

vaccines to make sure everyone who has already received the first dose will be able to receive the second dose on time.

But some are starting to rethink that approach, hoping to ramp up vaccinations as Operation Warp Speed is more than 17 million doses behind

schedule.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: You can make an argument -- and some people are -- about stretching out the doses by giving a single dose across the board and hoping you're

going to get the second dose in time to give to individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: Let's bring in CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, she's standing by for us in Atlanta.

As you know, the AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine strategy, in the U.K. at least, is to vaccinate as many people as possible in the first wave. Even though

we were told this by the researcher of the Oxford team, even though you might still contract COVID in the clinical trials, anybody who got that

first dose didn't end up in hospital and didn't become deathly ill.

Is that something the U.S. might be looking at now?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the U.S. is likely looking closely at that data. But remember, we don't have the AstraZeneca

vaccine here in the U.S. So it's really not a relevant question at the moment.

In the United States, what we have is Pfizer and Moderna and there is no data to suggest that just one vaccine, just one dose of the vaccine, will

do any good. It just wasn't done that way, it wasn't studied that way.

And that's why Dr. Anthony Fauci is saying it's under consideration. But it's going to be a tough one. When there is no data to say something will

work, it will make the U.S., the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, quite hesitant to move in that direction.

You might give a bunch of people one shot and it might not work very well or it might wear off quickly and it won't be -- and when they do get

another shot three months later, that second dose may not help very much.

There are so many questions here. The experts that I'm talking to are saying, in the U.S., it is unlikely that they will go the way that they

have gone in the U.K. -- Hala.

GORANI: And why is the U.S. so far behind on its vaccination schedule?

COHEN: Right.

[10:10:00]

COHEN: So if you look per capita, the U.S. is way behind the U.K., way behind Israel, way behind Bahrain. And there are several reasons for that.

Let's take a look first at the numbers that give sort of a hint to show how far behind things are.

So more than 12 million doses have been distributed; 12.4 million doses have been distributed but only 2.7 have actually been administered. So

again, 12.4 doses distributed but only 2.7 or about 2.8 have been actually administered. There's several reasons for that.

I think Dr. Wen really had put her finger on it. Number one, they overpromised. When they put out the feeling that, oh, we're going to have

20 million people vaccinated by the end of the year, which is just hours from now, that was never going to happen.

They never should have left that impression because now everybody, including the media, are like, well, where are those 20 million

vaccinations?

Of course they were never going to get to 20 million. And the reason for that or one of the reasons is the U.S. doesn't have a National Health

Service the way the U.K. or Bahrain or Israel does. There is no one central authority doing this.

We saw the long lines in Florida, where it's on a first-come, first-served basis. That is not a plan. The -- President Trump tweeted the other day,

states need to get with it. Telling states to get going is not a plan. It's much easier to have a plan when you have a centralized service that is

doing all of this. That is not what we have here in the United States.

GORANI: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks very much and Happy New Year to you.

COHEN: Happy New Year.

GORANI: In China Sinopharm's coronavirus vaccine has gained regulatory approval for the public there. Right after announcing it was more than 79

percent effective, China already approved emergency use of certain vaccines in June. The National Health Commission there estimates 4.5 million doses

have already been administered.

A top health official says China will provide vaccinations to everyone in the country free of cost. Unclear, though, if two jabs are needed or only

one. There are fewer details on that particular vaccine.

Let's get up to speed on some other stories that are on our COVID radar right now. Japan may consider declaring a state of emergency over the

ongoing surge in COVID cases, according to a tweet from its minister in charge of the coronavirus response.

Japan has reported more than 3,800 new cases Wednesday, including a record number in Tokyo.

Also among the top stories we're following, South Korea has imposed the toughest social distancing measures at its prisons. It follows an outbreak

at a facility in Seoul. Officials say the Dongbu prison has been almost -- has seen almost 800 cases since November.

The state of Victoria in Australia is reporting three new, locally transmitted cases of COVID-19. It had not seen any cases in two months. So

this is really bad news there. It's now closing its borders with the state of New South Wales, which recently saw an outbreak in northern Sydney.

Up next, as 2020 finally ends, the U.K.'s COVID nightmare is only getting worse. A London paramedic talks to me about taking personal responsibility

on New Year's Eve.

Then as Big Ben comes alive again for New Year's Eve, the streets of England will be silent, thanks to new COVID restrictions. London's mayor

joins me next with his hopes for a brighter 2021. We will be right back.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

(MUSIC PLAYING)

GORANI: No fireworks in London for this New Year's Eve but Big Ben will come alive at midnight to ring in 2021.

It's the little things.

Its famous chimes have been mostly silent since 2017 because of repairs, except for significant events. And it's all about significant events in the

U.K., as it wraps up a very tough 2020.

One hour before Big Ben heralds the New Year, Brexit will finally be done and dusted in practice. It took more than four years for Britain to propel

itself into a post-Brexit future. But on Wednesday, it took only hours for Parliament to say yes to the U.K.'s new relationship with the European

Union.

They voted in favor of that U.K.-E.U. deal. All parts of a momentous day in the United Kingdom; with each hour, a new announcement. Downing Street

applauding a newly approved vaccine, then announcing tough new COVID restrictions across most of the country.

Those restrictions are now in force across most of England, and the United Kingdom for that matter, and this comes as the U.K. reports another 981

COVID-related deaths, the highest daily toll since April.

That's piling the pressure on Britain's National Health Service. Some ambulances are now having to wait hours outside of hospitals. Martin Berry

is a paramedic with the London Ambulance Service. He says the worst is still to come. He joins me now.

Thanks, Martin Berry, for joining us. I know you are very busy and you are working extra shifts as a paramedic on top of your teaching job. I've been

seeing and reading articles and reading social media posts from paramedics about how long wait times are outside of some London hospitals.

What has been your experience in ambulances?

MARTIN BERRY, PARAMEDIC, LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE: It has been particularly tough. I've got a number of years attached to my career, all

of which I'm very proud of. But the challenges that we are facing at the moment are particularly extraordinary.

I think, in health care widely, we're sometimes guilty of jumping on and saying crisis whenever there may be a challenge ahead. But I think, under

these circumstances, this is truly unprecedented. The pressure being put on the entire system and the system being a collection of outstanding

individuals, trying to do their best and the right thing by their patients, is really higher than anything we've ever seen before.

And it just seems to be continuing and we are worried that we're going to see some even greater challenges and more numbers and, unfortunately, more

deaths over the next few weeks before we start seeing any sort of improvement.

GORANI: Because I've been reading reports of some ambulances waiting six hours, sometimes eight hours outside of hospitals, with patients having to

be treated inside the vehicles.

Is that correct?

BERRY: That is true. That's something we're seeing across the U.K. And in the shifts that I've been undertaking over the last few days, there have

been multiple patients, where we haven't been able to immediately hand the patient over into the receiving hospital units, where we have actually had

to wait outside the departments.

And staff and myself, my colleagues, have been continuing to treat patients in the back of the ambulance. Obviously, that then impacts on the care of

the individual that we're receiving at that time. But also that means that ambulance is not available to respond to the next call that comes in.

And at times, ambulance services are holding hundreds of calls waiting for a response and people are waiting hours for that ambulance response, to

then wait longer to get into the hospital and then potentially, when they get to the hospital, that precious intensive care bed may simply not be

available.

GORANI: I can imagine.

What about other medical emergencies?

I mean, you have to still respond, heart attacks, strokes, broken bones, all of that, all of those things.

[10:20:00]

GORANI: How is that impacting those other emergency response needs that people have?

BERRY: I think you're absolutely right to highlight these individuals. We have to remember that the world continues to spin. And individuals,

unfortunately, are still having life-changing events, such as heart attacks and strokes, as you've mentioned.

Now the real sort of story behind this is we've almost become somewhat blase about the tragic numbers of individuals who have sadly lost their

life to COVID-19. But that isn't the true extent of this global pandemic.

It's having an immediate impact on other individuals, who need access to that health care system. So the difference of an individual suffering a

stroke, getting rapid treatment, being admitted to a specialist care unit and then being discharged later down the line and returning to a normal

life, that suddenly could be very different.

And a person facing lifelong paralysis, bedbound and being fed for the rest of their life is very, very different. And we're not seeing those impacts

of this pandemic and it's important to raise those individuals, that they are also victim of this horrific virus, even if they are not necessarily

COVID positive.

GORANI: Absolutely. You were quoted as saying, "On my last shift, every patient, bar one, was suspected COVID." I mean, you are seeing a huge jump

in cases in London.

BERRY: Not just London; I think it would be unfair just to point out London. I think this is across the U.K. Obviously in my experience in

London, that is absolutely true. The significant proportion of patients were COVID positive or very likely to be COVID-19 positive and, of course,

we have to remember that we ourselves are not bulletproof.

We make every effort to make sure that we keep our patients safe, that we don't become super carriers of the virus and spread it around our areas of

work.

But we're also seeing a large number of health care professionals, be it paramedics, nurses, doctors, who are becoming victim of the virus as well

and then having to self-isolate or go off long-term sick.

And that means that individual is not there to respond to the needs of our patients. So it really is tough. And my message to all of your viewers,

anyone who may listen to the message, is, please take your personal responsibility seriously and make sure that you keep your hands washed, you

keep your masks on and you keep people around you safe.

GORANI: Yes. Absolutely. Martin Barry is a spokesperson for the London College of Paramedics, who is a paramedic himself. Thank you so much for

all the work you've been doing during this very, very difficult time, especially this year-end difficult period, with the spike in numbers we've

been seeing across the country and, indeed, around the world as well. So to all the medical workers, thank you so much.

The mayor of London is also urging everyone in the British capital to stay home and celebrate the New Year safely. Sadiq Khan joins me now.

Thank you, Mayor Khan, for being with us. We're hearing -- and we just spoke to a paramedic here -- we're hearing reports of overwhelmed

hospitals, patients being treated in the back of ambulances.

What is the situation across London?

SADIQ KHAN, MAYOR OF LONDON: Well, it's good to join you and good to be on CNN again.

We're seeing in our city a combination of the normal, non-COVID winter surge we see every December, January and February. But on top of that,

record numbers of COVID patients going to hospital.

We now have, in hospitals in London, more COVID patients than at any time during this pandemic. And the NHS in London, hospitals in London, our

fantastic health workers in London are stretched.

And that's why my message to all Londoners, as we approach New Year's Eve, is the best way you can help the NHS and the best thing you can do to save

lives is to stay home and celebrate the New Year at home with your family and in your bubble.

GORANI: Are you seeing -- I mean, are you concerned that some hospitals might become overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed?

Is that a concern?

KHAN: That's one of the things that we're concerned about. One of the fantastic things about the National Health Service is that there is a

flexibility within the NHS to ensure that we can make sure we can increase capacity by, for example, canceling certain things.

So for example, some hospitals have postponed the routine elective surgeries to increase capacity and increase flexibility. But the big worry

we do have is, if we continue to see an increase in the virus spreading, it's possible that hospitals better have the ability to cope.

And that's particularly the concern because we have not yet reached the normal January non-COVID peak.

[10:25:00]

KHAN: And that's why it's so important all of us do the sensible thing to stay at home unless you have an exceptional reason to leave your home.

GORANI: What are -- I mean, you've -- I -- London has canceled all, obviously, public gatherings and New Year's celebrations.

How did you come to that decision?

Obviously public health is the biggest priority here.

But how do you even police just people getting together and wanting to ring in the New Year together?

How do you do that?

KHAN: Well, there's bad news and there's good news. The bad news is I made the decision a number of months ago to cancel the brilliant fireworks we

organize every New Year's Eve on the embankment of the River Thames for the obvious reasons.

I don't want hundreds of thousands of people congregating together when this virus is spreading rapidly. We've instrument organized a fantastic

show that's going to take place on midnight tonight London time, where people can, from the safety of their home, watch an amazing show that will

look back on the last year but also look forward on a celebration of hope.

And I can share with you a secret, one of the things that will be in the show tonight from midnight is my way -- our way of saying thank you to

health workers but also be defining moments of the last year, commemorating in this live show as well as a look forward to what I hope will be a great

2021, where our world bounces back from this awful, awful year we've seen in 2020.

GORANI: Everyone is going to join you in that hope that 2021 will be better. Let me ask you about the economic impact on London. London is, of

course, home to the banking sector in the U.K., not just the pandemic but also Brexit.

Can you quantify, can you put a number on how much economic hurt London is sustaining right now?

KHAN: Well, it's quite clear that the health of individuals in our countries is inextricably linked with the health of our economy and the

impact of the pandemic has been massive. Official figures show a shrinkage of our economy of about 10 percent in terms of GDP.

Add on top of that Brexit, us leaving the E.U. -- and understandably we are concerned about the health of our economy.

But the good news is the underlying strengths of our city are still here in relation to our unique ecosystem -- world leading professional services,

financial services, legal services, culture, creative industries, tech, life sciences, higher education, the language, all those things are still

going to be there, come tomorrow when we've formally left the European Union.

The key thing, though, is for us to get a grip with this pandemic. That's why there is a race between the virus spreading and the vaccine being

rolled out. So we're going to urgently increase the rollout of the vaccine to make sure we can get a grip with that, which can lead to us bouncing

back even better next year.

GORANI: But Mayor Khan, you do not have an agreement between the U.K. and the E.U. on services, including financial services.

Anecdotally I am hearing from continental European financial services firms that, in some cases, they may be even suspending cooperation and businesses

with U.K.-based firms in London because they don't have clarity on what rules will guide their relationship going forward.

Are you hearing similar stories in London from financial services companies?

KHAN: The good news is many of the big financial services, the CEOs, the boards understand the unique ecosystem our city has. We are arguably

Europe's only global city. Of course, I'm unhappy that we will be outside the single market, outside the customs union.

There is a big argument, discussion, debate taking place around equivalence and some of the issues around financial passporting.

But we now have a deal which provides the foundations and the springboard for a good working relationship between not just the U.K. and the E.U. --

look at our colleagues in the USA., really important partners there.

So I'm looking forward to President-Elect Biden, once he's sworn in on January 20th, doing a deal with the U.K. sooner rather than later. I'm

looking forward to having an outward looking, pluralistic U.S. president, looking to the U.K. in the new special relationship.

And it's very important our prime minister, Boris Johnson, stops being insular. And I will be lobbying him to be outward looking, to understand

the huge importance the financial services has to the world, being not just London's economy but our country's economy and, indeed, Europe's economy as

well.

GORANI: I imagine that you are relieved that it's not Donald Trump who was reelected in the United States after -- I mean, you traded some public --

well, he tweeted.

[10:30:00]

He name-checked you in some tweets, criticizing you by name.

KHAN: Well, I'm smiling now. I'm not sure what Donald Trump is doing as we speak. But the key thing is that, look, the U.S. has got a rich history of

making sure that they are a world leader in relation to human rights, in relation to pluralism, in relation to great institutions like the U.N.,

like the Paris climate change agreement, like being a world leader in relation to gender equality, in relation to LGBTQ plus rights, to the civil

rights movement.

And I'm just disappointed over the last four years, rather than send out ripples of hope and positivity, you have had a president who has been

making enemies where there didn't need to be enemies and sending out ripples of fear.

I'm really pleased at the results of the U.S. elections, looking forward to welcoming the new president of the U.S. and the vice president as well on

January 20th and looking forward to continuing the special relationship London has with presidents of the U.S.; albeit, not the same relationship

over the last four years.

GORANI: London mayor Sadiq Khan, thank you very much for joining us on this last day of 2020. And Happy New Year to you and your team. Thank you

very much for speaking with us today.

Now does the New Year mean a new threat to the U.S. from Iran?

Ahead, opinions vary widely within the U.S. defense community on whether or not Iran will seek to avenge, for instance, the assassination of a top

general on the anniversary of his killing. That and other world news headlines coming up next.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

GORANI: 2020 began with the Trump administration's assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. It is ending with a show of U.S. military

force in the Middle East, meant as a warning to Tehran not to attack American interests or personnel in the region.

There is debate within the U.S. defense community over whether an attack will actually happen in the days surrounding the anniversary. Iran's

foreign minister tweeted a few hours ago that the U.S. is fabricating a pretext for war. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is here with the

very latest on that.

Of course, we are just days away from a new Defense Secretary, from a new administration, perhaps more amenable to the idea of rejoining a nuclear

deal with Iran.

So how is that changing the equation in the region and at the Pentagon?

[10:35:00]

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, up until now I think it's fair to say the U.S. military had largely thought Iran would, in

fact, stay quiet until the Biden administration came into office, just for the reasons you mentioned, Hala.

But right now, what they are most worried about is these Iranian-backed militias that are inside Iraq and whether those militias may be getting to

act on their own anyhow with their inventories of Iranian-supplied weapons.

A good deal of concern about the potential for rocket and artillery attacks against U.S. targets inside Iraq. That is all of what has led to this

posture of deterrence, that's why B-52 aircraft flew in a show of force a couple days ago into the region, the third time they have done that to send

that very public message to Tehran: control the militias, don't even think about it.

Is there a difference of opinion?

Yes, the intelligence -- yes, the intelligence is not crystal clear. It rarely is. But there are certainly people in the U.S. military who are

deeply concerned, that they see signs that these militias with Iranian weapons are preparing and organizing and could attack.

Now we spoke to a defense official, who reflects the thinking of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who has a bit of a nuanced view. Let me read

to you exactly what this official told us.

He said, "The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is paying extremely close attention to the situation. The military doesn't believe an attack is

imminent but is taking all precautions to ensure they deter Iran while protecting U.S. forces."

Those final couple of words there, "while protecting U.S. forces" is really one of the keys because what that tells us -- and what we know from our

sources -- is they have ramped up security measures inside Iraq to protect those U.S. troops. And that reflects the level of concern that they do have

right now -- Hala.

GORANI: All right. Barbara Starr, thanks very much.

A lot more ahead on the program. For the first time as pope, Francis is missing traditional New Year's celebrations at the Vatican. Why he made the

decision to skip the events.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

GORANI: Well, it was a surprise announcement. Pope Francis will miss New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrations at the Vatican. The Vatican says

it's because of his sciatica. It's pain from a herniated disc that he first revealed back in 2013. It's the first time he will skip the year-end

vespers service and New Year's mass.

He will still lead a prayer on Friday, though, as planned. Our senior Vatican analyst, John Allen, joins me from Rome with more.

[10:40:00]

What more do we know about what led the pope to make this decision?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SR. VATICAN ANALYST: Hi, there, Hala. Happy holidays to you. Of course, these holidays are turning out to be a bit bittersweet for

Pope Francis.

Yesterday he awoke to learn of this remarkable decision in Argentina, his home country, to become the first large nation in Latin America to legalize

abortion. And today he was forced to pull out of the traditional service this evening -- that's the New Year's vespers service the Vatican conducts

-- featuring this great hymn of Thanksgiving to God for the year, the "Te Deum," and the New Year's mass tomorrow morning.

It was a surprise in the sense that we didn't know it was coming. It was not particularly surprising, though; as you indicate, we have known for

many years that Pope Francis suffers from sciatica, this nerve condition that produces intense pain periodically in the back and in the legs.

In 2017, we know he spent part of the summer getting treatment for it. It has apparently flared up again. Nonetheless, the pope has indicated he

still will deliver his traditional noontime angelus address tomorrow. No indication he's scaling back any other activities.

So this is not, in any sense, a major health crisis, Hala; no indication this is particularly serious. It's just one of those things, to be frank

with you, that 84-year olds -- and let's remember, the pope turned 84 on December 17th -- it's one of those things that people of that age

periodically go through -- Hala.

GORANI: OK. John Allen, thanks very much.

And not just people of that age. Sciatica is very painful. I have had a few myself.

(WORLD SPORT)

[11:00:00]

END