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The Brief with Jim Sciutto

CNN International: Cost of Living Crisis Triggers Protests in Iran; European Leaders Strike Optimistic Note on Peace Process; Russia's New Nuclear Threat; CIA Conducted Drone Strikes on Venezuelan Port Facility; Second Day of China's War Games Around Taiwan; Major Travel Disruption in Europe; Former Bangladeshi PM Khaleda Zia Dead at 80; Gaza Humanitarian Crisis; UAE to Pull Forces from Yemen after Saudi Airstrike. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 30, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR, "THE BRIEF": Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington and

you're watching "The Brief."

Just ahead this hour from students to shopkeepers, growing economic protests in Iran as the cost-of-living soars there. Now, the government

says it is offering a dialogue with the demonstrators, rare. Russia rolls out the deployment of hypersonic nuclear capable missiles stationed in

Belarus. President Vladimir Putin claims they are impossible to intercept. And reopening one of aviation's greatest cold cases, a new search to find

the remains of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. That story and plenty more coming up.

We begin tonight in Iran where there is growing unrest and demonstrations over the country's soaring cost of living. Students at Tehran University

and other schools joined the protests on Tuesday. These demonstrations are the largest in Iran in three years.

They erupted on Monday over the collapse of Iran's currency, the Riyadh. It fell on Tuesday to a record low against the U.S. dollar. The Iranian

government is now offering to at least speak with protest leaders. A government spokesperson said, quote, "We officially recognize the protests.

We hear their voices and we know that this originates from natural pressure arising from the pressure on people's livelihoods." The government has not

provided any details exactly how this dialogue would take place.

Alex Vatanka is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and he joins me now. Alex, it's good to have you here. And it's interesting because, as

you know, protests are difficult to have in Iran. A lot of people get thrown in jail or worse. But these are the largest since those protests

protesting the death of Mahsa Amini back in 2022. Are they a threat to the regime?

ALEX VATANKA, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Jim, great to be with you. They could be. It's too early to say. And, Jim, if we could just go

back a few years, you know, from 2017, '18 onwards, we've had five big rounds, nationwide rounds of protests. This is just the latest happening

now. And, you know, this is the third day. It began on Sunday. It could go on for days, weeks to come. Who knows?

But it's just, again, a sign -- and the regime, by the way, in Tehran accepts this. There are some underlying serious troubles in this Iranian

Islamic Republic. And they're not going to go away with sort of words and promises of change to come. You just referred to the spokesperson for the

Iranian government of Masoud Pezeshkian. You know, great to talk about reform. But the point is this. Iranian people know that Pezeshkian and his

government do not have the power to bring about the sort of changes the country needs. That lies with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

And he's not speaking the language of reform. And that's why you have the sense of deep, deep hopelessness in Iranian society, you know, as people

don't know what's going to come next.

SCIUTTO: Inflation, 42 percent higher now than last December. I wonder if this is the kind of issue that unites the Iranian public in a different way

than the previous sparks for protests. I mean, the death of Mahsa Amini was awful. Economic interests affect everyone across the political perspective

spectrum. Is that more of a threat and more of a sign that these might sustain for some time?

VATANKA: No doubt about it. The economic pressures that ordinary Iranians are under is something they haven't experienced. You probably have to go

back to the early years of Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. So, things are not pretty if you're living around right now.

And you mentioned inflation. The 42 percent, by the way, Jim, is a disputed one. A lot of figures out there speak of much higher rates. So, if you're

an average Iranian consumer, all you know right now is you just cannot live the way you used to just a couple of years ago.

But I also want to point out economics is oftentimes a trigger that brings people out to the streets. But I want to go back to the point I made

earlier. It's the regime as a whole that's in trouble. It's a regime that's not accountable. It's a regime that, you know, essentially doesn't want to

listen to its own people.

[18:05:00]

And I think that is not going to go away. We've seen the frequency of these protests increase in recent years. And I bet you even if they survive this

round of protests, 86-year-old Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, can pretty much bank on more protests happening in the near-term, because if he's

willing to make structural changes, then the anger is not going to go anywhere.

SCIUTTO: I wonder, do you see this as connected, just the willingness, right, to stand up and challenge the regime, to the regime's enormous loss

of power in the region, having seen its ally asset Hezbollah weakened in Lebanon, its friend, Assad, forced out of Syria, and its friend, Hamas,

greatly reduced in Gaza, as well as strikes inside Iran, including on its nuclear program? And should we look at this all together as a regime that's

seeing its power threatened on a number of fronts?

VATANKA: Well, absolutely we should. It's a regime that's essentially on the defensive, and it doesn't know what it wants to do. But, you know, if

you go back to the 12-day war, Jim, there was a moment in Iran where people were talking about maybe the lesson has been learned. Maybe the regime will

now decide, you know what, what we're doing in the region is one of the reasons why we are in these, you know, fights, in these wars for the United

States, for Israel. Maybe we should change course.

Six months later, that's not where Iran is. Essentially, what they're doing is quietly trying to rebuild, and that creates anger in Iranian society,

rebuilding capabilities that, you know, might be grand if you try to change the regional political landscape, but it's not doing anything good for your

average Iranians.

And, Jim, last point I make on this issue. Look, President Trump could be there for three more years, and right now, U.S. and Iran are not talking.

So, if you look at the history of Iran's nuclear standoff with the United States going back to 2002, there was always a moment of hope of

negotiations. There is no such a hope right now.

So, you're sitting in Iran right now, war might happen, but at the very least, you know, there's no negotiations happening, so things could only go

worse, at least for the next three years while Trump is in the White House. And, again, they don't see their regime taking that seriously. They don't

see Ayatollah Khamenei and his cohorts trying to get the people of Iran out of this pickle they're in right now.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Well, I will say that President Trump said yesterday that he'd at least be open to the prospect of negotiations, whether those happen

is another question. I don't want to ask you to predict, because it's impossible to predict. Of course, the CIA famously did not predict the

collapse of the Shah in 1979. But are there any folks in Iran concerned or expecting, perhaps, that this regime could go so far as to collapse?

VATANKA: Look, I would say, you know, it's very difficult, as you said, to predict. Who would have predicted Bashar al-Assad falling the way he did?

The same, in some extent, is true in Iran. But I want to say this, Ali Khamenei is sitting on top of, in some ways, a house of cards. It looks

robust. The machinery of repression is doing its job right now, but it's still a house of cards, and he knows it. And that's why I think, right now,

he's probably not sleeping well tonight.

SCIUTTO: Alex Vatanka, thanks so much for walking us through it.

VATANKA: Thank you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Peace is on the horizon, those remarks from Poland's prime minister as European leaders expressed some optimism about reaching a deal

to potentially end Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, following talks earlier today. This, despite signs an already fragile peace process is

unraveling. Kyiv says Russia had two civilian ships and damaged facilities in attacks on the Black Sea ports today.

Ukraine still rejecting Russian claims that it targeted a residence, one of many, of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Ukraine's president says

it's a lie meant to scuttle peace efforts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: I don't trust Putin, and he doesn't want success for Ukraine, really. He doesn't want. He can say it. I

believe that he can say such words to President Trump. I believe in it, that he can say it, but it's not truth, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, President Trump claims that Putin told him of the claim in a phone call Monday, and Trump seemed to take Putin, as he often does, at

his word before conceding that perhaps the incident did not occur. Fred Pleitgen has more from Berlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Moscow is continuing to double down on those claims that the Ukrainians launched a

massive drone attack against one of Vladimir Putin's residences in the northwest of Russia. So, far, the Russians haven't provided any evidence

that this attack really took place. However, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, scoffed at the idea of having to provide evidence, saying this was

a large drone attack and that all of the drones were taken down by Russian surface-to-air systems. At the same time, he also says that this is going

to have severe consequences for the diplomatic process.

[18:10:00]

The Russians are saying they are going to continue to negotiate with the United States, but certainly take on a tougher line towards the Ukrainians.

The Russians are accusing Ukraine with this alleged attack of trying to undermine the peace process that U.S. President Donald Trump has put into

motion to try and end the conflict in Ukraine.

Of course, the Ukrainians are continuing to say that these allegations are fabricated, and that no strike by the Ukrainians actually took place. The

Ukrainians, of course, accusing the Russians of allegedly finding a pretext to possibly attack Ukraine even harder than they have already been doing in

the past.

At the same time, the diplomatic process seems to be continuing. The Ukrainians are saying that there has been another phone call between Rustem

Umerov, who is the chief negotiator for the Ukrainians, and the U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff. They say that several points were

discussed how to move forward. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, saying that some documents could be ready to sign as early as

January.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, as Russia accuses Ukraine of escalating, it is showcasing missiles that could expand its capability to strike targets across Europe.

Moscow released this video on Tuesday said to show the deployment of hypersonic missiles to Belarus. President Vladimir Putin says the Oreshnik

missile is impossible to intercept by missile defense systems. The missiles reportedly travel more than 10 times the speed of sound. We should note

they are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Some Western officials are skeptical of Russia's claims as to their capabilities.

The CIA conducted a drone strike on a Venezuelan port, marking the first known U.S. attack on Venezuelan territory. Sources tell myself and my

colleagues this strike happened earlier this month via drone targeting a dock allegedly used by the Tren de Aragua gang for drug trafficking. The

Venezuelan government has not commented on the incident. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen strongly criticized the Trump administration for its

Venezuela activity when I spoke with him a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with stopping drug running the United States. You know, fentanyl does not come

to the United States from Venezuela. The president pardoned, you know, the formerly convicted head of Honduras who had been convicted of drug running.

This is all about trying to achieve regime change in Venezuela in order to get his hands on the oil. Donald Trump and his family and their billionaire

buddies want to get their hands on Venezuelan oil. That's what this is all about.

Congress needs to continue to push for a war powers resolution. We have done that. Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate are willing to give

Donald Trump a blank check. I mean, that's been just a pattern of negligence we've seen from day one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: CNN's Alayna Treene, of course, covers the White House, joins me now with details. You heard the senator there. He's not the first one to

accuse this administration of having aims other than stopping drug trafficking here. You speak to sources in the White House all the time. Do

they give you a straight or clear answer as to what the objectives are of the Venezuelan operations?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Not really publicly, although I would note, actually, I'd remind you of that interview that Susie Wiles,

the White House chief of staff, actually did a couple of weeks ago, or at least it was published a couple of weeks ago with Vanity Fair. And she kind

of made clear that the end goal is trying to see Maduro be ousted from power. The way she put it, I don't have it in front of me, but it was

essentially that they want to keep bombing boats until Maduro cries uncle.

And so, I think that in itself kind of gives you the answer to your question, Jim. But I notice what I mean. Yes, you're right. I talk to White

House officials and Trump administration officials about Venezuela all the time, and they've made it clear. They don't want to say publicly that this

isn't about drugs, because in part they argue and they continue to maintain this is about drugs and that the president cares very deeply about trying

to stem the flow of drugs into United States.

But there is, they'll admit, at least tacitly, a broader goal here as well. And they have long been very critical of Maduro. They believe that he does

not deserve, or he is wrongly, I should put it, in power. And they would like to see someone else kind of fill that vacuum. I'd add as well, we've

reported, my colleagues and I, that they've been making day-after plans should Maduro either step down on his own voluntarily because of all of

this pressure and the escalating pressure they've been putting on him, or if he's ultimately ousted. They are making plans to kind of fill the power

vacuum that could be left once Maduro and if Maduro is gone. And so, I think it's clear that there is another goal there.

[18:15:00]

But again, that's something that leaves a lot of lawmakers, like the one you just interviewed, very skeptical because what the Trump administration

has been doing here, you know, a lot of lawmakers are arguing that they have not been very transparent about what they are doing. They're not

giving as many briefings as many lawmakers are arguing they would like.

And the thing that's really interesting about your reporting, Jim, along with our colleagues, is that because this was a CIA operation, it did allow

the president and some of his top officials, who I should note have been for weeks now, insisting and vowing really that they would go to Congress

before any sort of land operation, land strikes were ordered. This is a little bit different because it's a CIA operation. So, in some ways they

were able to kind of skirt that responsibility.

SCIUTTO: Yes. Do you get the sense that there will be more such operations? Because one consistent phenomenon since this all began, right,

is a gradual, incremental increase of the pressure, starting with the boats and the ships, right? And now, a strike on land.

TREENE: Yes. I mean, it looks like it's heading there. Obviously, the president has been threatening this for weeks, saying that land strikes

inside Venezuela were coming very soon. I think what's going to be a key thing here, and what's so interesting about Venezuela and the Maduro

government not responding to this recent, most recent attack that you're reporting on, is, you know, how they respond.

It really is going to depend on how Venezuela actually responds to this and whether or not the Trump administration and the president specifically

feels like they are getting the type of reaction from Venezuela and the Maduro government that they want here. And so, it wouldn't be surprising if

they do more. I should note as well, of course, that the president made earlier this year kind of giving the CIA carte blanche, essentially, to

conduct covert operations, both inside Venezuela and Latin America more broadly, just a couple of months ago. And so, that does tend to kind of

lead to the expectation that this could be potentially one of many.

SCIUTTO: We know you'll be watching. Alayna Treene, thanks so much for joining.

For a second day, China has mobilized Army, Navy, air and rocket units for military drills, big ones, around Taiwan. This is the second largest number

of fighter jets deployed by China, with some 130 warplanes as well as 22 ships. This, according to Taiwan's defense ministry, the Taiwanese

government has condemned the drills, accusing China of military intimidation.

Beijing has criticized a recent arms deal between the US and Taiwan worth more than $11 billion, one of the biggest. As Will Ripley reports, the war

games aren't just on the military front. Beijing is laying out its vision digitally as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): China's A.I. generated vision of war, heavily armed drones swarming Taiwan, robot

dogs opening fire, humanoid soldiers in urban combat. This menacing video as Beijing launches massive military drills surrounding this island

democracy. China's People's Liberation Army calls it Justice Mission 2025, testing its ability to blockade Taiwan and seize control of key ports and

critical areas.

LIN WEI-MING, TEACHER (through translator): I think these drills are just meant to scare us, to intimidate us.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Defiance on the streets of Taiwan's capital, Taipei.

STEPHANIE HUANG, INTERIOR DESIGNER (through translator): We are our own country, we have a president, we have our own constitution, and we have our

own legislature. I believe we are a completely independent nation.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te expressed his strongest condemnation, calling the drills a blatant provocation, vowing

not to back down in front of threats. In China's capital, Beijing, this man echoes the Chinese Communist Party line.

MR. LV, BEIJING RESIDENT (through translator): It's our internal affairs that should not be interfered with, because we are not bullying the weak.

It's about unification.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to unify with Taiwan by force if necessary. U.S. military leaders say Xi told the PLA to

be ready to take Taiwan by 2027, saying last week Beijing is getting closer to that goal.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Nothing worries me, nothing.

RIPLEY (voice-over): President Donald Trump downplaying the danger to Taiwan, saying he does not think China's largest show of force in months

will lead to war.

TRUMP: I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it, but he hasn't told me

anything about it, and I don't believe he's going to be doing it.

RIPLEY (voice-over): China's army, navy, air force and rocket force all mobilized. Live fire drills declared in at least five zones encircling the

island, seven zones announced by China's maritime authorities. Taiwan's defense ministry says China fired 27 rockets in two waves, landing in

waters north and southwest of Taiwan. Some rockets landing closer than before compared to previous military drills.

[18:20:00]

In the first 24 hours, 130 Chinese warplanes and 22 warships operating around Taiwan, the island's defense ministry says, the second largest

single-day deployment ever recorded. Taiwan scrambled its own fighters in response, just days after the Trump administration announced a record $11.1

billion arms deal for Taiwan, including HIMARS rocket systems and loitering drones. Military experts say this drill is explicitly rehearsing how China

would block foreign militaries like the U.S. and Japan from coming to Taiwan's aid. Taiwan deploying its own Air Force and Coast Guard, bracing

for a future when this may not be just a drill.

RIPLEY: After months of escalating rhetorical attacks on Taiwan's president, the timing of these drills is significant. They come just days

after that massive $11 billion U.S. arms sale, a deal Beijing fiercely condemned. Also, weeks of tension between China and a key U.S. ally, Japan.

The new prime minister is suggesting Tokyo could respond militarily if China attacks Taiwan. Beijing's narrative is that could drag the U.S. into

a dangerous, perhaps catastrophic situation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Bangkok.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Coming up, travel disruption in Europe. Eurostar now working to fully restore its train services after power problems. We'll have the

latest next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Wall Street finished the last full trading session of the year in the red. Tech sector losses pulled the NASDAQ down a quarter of a percent.

NVIDIA and Palantir both posted back-to-back losing sessions.

Checking some of today's other business headlines. Meta is buying the startup Manus, a firm working on general purpose A.I. agents. A source

tells Reuters that Meta is paying between $2 and $2 billion. Meta says it plans to integrate Manus' tools into its social platforms. The move is the

latest effort by Meta to try to keep up in the A.I. race.

It is the end of an era in Denmark. The country's state-run postal service will deliver its last ever letter today. That makes Denmark the first

country in the world to decide that physical mail is no longer necessary. Parcels will still be delivered. But after Tuesday, any letters will have

to be delivered by private courier.

[18:25:00]

And Beyonce is now a billionaire. According to Forbes, the milestone for the megastar comes after her record-breaking 2023 world tour brought in

nearly $600 million. Her success continued with her Grammy-winning album "Cowboy Carter."

So, why would a United Arab Emirates -- check that -- train services are slowly resuming through the channel tunnel between Britain and continental

Europe. Power supply failure caused Eurostar to halt all trains earlier today, disrupting peak holiday travel. Eurostar operates high-speed trains

linking London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Anna Cooban is in London with details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: Major disruptions to the Eurostar train service linking the United Kingdom to the European continent

today could not have come at a more inconvenient time. During the busy holiday travel period sandwich right between Christmas and New Year, there

was a power supply issue on the tracks, which caused a train to break down and then dozens of trains to be delayed or cancelled.

Now, the broken-down train was a train that was part of the LeShuttle service, which brings cars and trucks with their passengers through the

tunnel. I was at King's Cross St Pancras station early afternoon on Tuesday speaking with people who have been affected. One man said he'd been on a

train -- stuck on a train for around six hours at the mouth of the tunnel above ground and that he was then ferried back to London. I spoke to a

woman who was lamenting the fact that she was probably having to cancel plans to see friends in Rotterdam to celebrate New Year's Eve.

Now, Eurostar has said that there is a partial resumption in service, but it still warns people to stay away from the train station if the train has

been cancelled and also for people whose trains are scheduled to go to expect severe delays and also potentially last-minute cancellations.

Now, this all gets to the fact that this Eurotunnel is a vital artery linking the U.K. with the continent and therefore extreme bottlenecks can

be created when there are issues. The Eurotunnel is actually made up of two passenger tunnels, one going from London to Paris, the other going in the

other direction. And so, when there are issues, they hardly go unnoticed.

Last year, around 20 million people used the service, according to Eurostar. And that was boosted by the fact that there was the Paris

Olympics and people going to see those sporting events. But millions of people use this service in an average year. And so, when there are

problems, the impact is pretty outsized.

Anna Cooban, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: And we'll have more news right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back to "The Brief." I'm Jim Sciutto. And here are the international headlines we're watching today.

The Iranian government has offered to engage in dialogue over protests that erupted in Tehran this week and continue. Shopkeepers and students hit the

streets over soaring living costs in the country's largest demonstration in three years. Protests broke out on Monday after Iran's currency dropped to

record lows, this in part under the impact of Western sanctions.

The suspect accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. ahead of the January 6 assault on the Capitol appeared in court today. Attorneys for

Brian Cole Jr. argued he poses no threat to society and should be released from detention as he awaits trial. Prosecutors say Cole has confessed and

deserves to be kept behind bars. Judge declined to make an immediate decision.

In sad news, Tatiana Schlossberg, environmental journalist and granddaughter of President John F. Kennedy, has died at just the age of 35.

Her family announced her death in a social media post. Tuesday comes just about five weeks after she revealed a terminal leukemia diagnosis. She said

doctors discovered the cancer shortly after she gave birth to her daughter in 2024. Schlossberg was an author and wrote about science and climate at

The New York Times.

Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has died at the age of 80. Before her death, she had been planning to launch a potential political

comeback in February's general elections. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more on her life and legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Khaleda Zia came to power as Bangladesh's first female Prime Minister in 1991, serving another

term from 2001. Her arch-rivalry with Sheikh Hasina, whose recent rule was toppled by student protests in 2024, defined the country's politics for a

generation. Zia was married to Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated during an attempted coup in 1981.

Following his death, Zia helped build a mass movement against a military dictatorship that later came to power, finally ending in 1990. She then

took office as prime minister, beating out Hasina, her then political against military rules.

Zia worked to reestablish the country as an electoral democracy and replaced presidential rule with a restored parliamentary system. Over the

years she faced corruption cases that she claimed were politically motivated. Bangladesh's Supreme Court acquitted her of the last of those in

January, which would have freed her to run in the country's next election in February.

The 80-year-old had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, and chest and heart problems, according to her doctors. She had returned to

Bangladesh in May after undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom. Despite years of ill health, Zia had promised to campaign in the upcoming

election in which her Bangladesh nationalist party is expected to perform well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Hanako Montgomery for that story. To Gaza now, foreign ministers from 10 countries, including the U.K., Canada and France,

are voicing renewed concerns about catastrophic humanitarian conditions there. At least 1.3 million people still need urgent shelter, according to

the statement, which also highlights the collapse of sanitation infrastructure.

Gaza is enduring harsh winter weather with heavy rains and plunging temperatures, putting lives at risk once again. Gaza's government media

office, which is run still by Hamas, says 20 people were killed when their homes and buildings collapsed, as residents sought shelter from that

weather.

Matthew Chance has more on the harsh reality that remains in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The war in Gaza has eased, and it's the elements now pounding it's displaced

from the skies. Severe weather has left tens of thousands of people exposed to the high winds, cold and rain, appalling conditions that have left at

least 25 people dead this month alone, including six children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health.

[18:35:00]

We woke up to find ourselves floating in the water, says this woman. We've got no food, no drink, no bedding. Everything we had has been ruined, she

adds.

This man shows us inside the waterlogged tent, where he lives with his baby daughter, inundated by the rains. Everything is soaked, the clothes, the

mattress, everything just wet, as you can see, he says.

But for people in Gaza, their homes destroyed by war, there's still little sign of relief. His promises to rebuild the devastated territory have yet

to materialize, held up until the second phase of President Trump's Gaza peace plan, also involving Hamas surrendering its weapons, gets underway.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the reconstruction of Gaza begin even before Hamas has disarmed?

TRUMP: I think it's going to begin pretty soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Before Hamas disarm?

TRUMP: He's looking forward to it, so am I. What a mess. What a mess it is.

CHANCE (voice-over): A deadly mess, with dozens of bomb-damaged buildings collapsing amid the severe weather over the heads of people inside, leaving

Gazans with a life-or-death choice to risk shelter beneath crumbling ruins or endure the flimsy tents outside.

Matthew Chance, CNN Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: So, much suffering there. Well, the United Arab Emirates says it is now withdrawing its forces from Yemen, this after its close ally, Saudi

Arabia, bombed a Yemeni port. Riyadh says it targeted the port after two ships from the UAE delivered weapons to separatist fighters. The UAE

initially denied the accusations, but later announced it would withdraw its counterterrorism forces, as it called them. Earlier this month, Saudi

Arabia accused the UAE of pushing that separatist group, the STC, to conduct operations close to the Saudi border.

What's going on exactly? Joining me now to explain, Firas Maksad, managing director for the Middle East and North Africa at the Eurasia Group. Good to

have you on, Firas. Can you explain what's happening here?

FIRAS MAKSAD, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, EURASIA GROUP: Yes, Jim. In many ways, this isn't a surprise to watchers of the

Middle East. What's happened over the past two decades is that the GCC, the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia, but also the UAE and Qatar,

have emerged as the powerhouses in the region, as the traditional regional powers have collapsed. First, because of the Arab uprisings that swept

through North Africa and the Levant. And second, on the back end of October 7th, the collapse of the Iranian-backed axis in the region.

So, there's a power void. Saudi Arabia and the UAE very much jockeying to fill that void, to push their influence in the region, and in many cases,

Yemen being amongst them, their loggerheads.

SCIUTTO: Does the U.S. have skin in this game? Is it supporting one of them to take the lead?

MAKSAD: Well, that's a very important question, because the U.S. certainly has skin in the game. First, the U.S. is a partner of both these nations.

Second, Yemen is very important for counterterrorism, both against al- Qaeda, sort of Sunni jihadism, but also pushing back against Iranian-backed elements, the Houthis in Yemen, too. And the U.S. very much has a presence

there, perhaps not fully on the radar, but in Western Yemen.

And so, this is something that can impact U.S. interests both directly on a military level, but also broadly economically, diplomatically, close to

both those nations.

The new Middle East, Jim, as it's being reborn on the back end of October 7th, it was really witnessing, in many ways, a Pax Americana. America's

regional competitors are ebbing, whether it's Russia consumed in Ukraine, China, whose influence remains purely in the economic realm, not military

or otherwise, or diplomatic, and then collapse of the Iranian axis.

So, really, what's at stake for the U.S. is to be able to manage these differences amongst its allies, whether inter-Arab or Arab-Israeli.

SCIUTTO: Does it want to, right? Because if you read the national security strategy, it was quite explicit in there that over time, because the U.S.

doesn't need the region's oil anymore, producing so much itself, that it won't be as invested, at least under the Trump administration.

MAKSAD: Well, anybody who understands the way that energy markets understands that it doesn't matter whether you're directly importing your

oil and energy from the region, this is fungible, it's a global market, it impacts prices. The U.S. very much has skin in the game.

However, obviously, for domestic political reasons, it's in the interest of every administration to say, we're de-emphasizing the Middle East, we're no

longer going to be engaged in forever wars in the region. And so, that's not entirely surprising to me.

[18:40:00]

But if you look at the Middle East, it sits there in the middle of three continents at the crossroads of not only energy but commerce that runs

through the Red Sea. There's just no way around having to care and be involved in the issues of the Middle East.

SCIUTTO: One more question. Can you explain what's going on with Israel's recognition of Somaliland? Tell us how that fits in.

MAKSAD: It does fit in because what we're seeing is a growing partnership between Israel and the UAE under the rubric of the Abrahamic Accords. So,

if you're Saudi Arabia and you're looking at the regional map and you see the UAE and Israel pushing back against your interests in Yemen, but also

in Somaliland, in Sudan, where they're in competing interests, you start to worry about being encircled, about an emerging Israeli-UAE axis that you're

not part of.

And that, frankly, does not make much sense for anybody to push Saudi into a deeper tie with Turkey, a deeper tie with Qatar, perhaps a deeper detente

that is beginning to emerge with Iran. So, the wise move today by the UAE to de-escalate and announce a withdrawal from Yemen, I think, puts things

on the right track again and creates that potential off-ramp for the region to avert a new crisis.

SCIUTTO: Wow. Just the concept of an Israel-UAE axis is pretty remarkable to imagine, given, I mean, a couple of years ago, a few years ago, one

could not have imagined. Firas Maksad, thanks so much for joining.

MAKSAD: My pleasure.

SCIUTTO: Well, the search for MH370 is beginning again, nearly 12 years after the flight disappeared. We're going to explain the significance of

this latest search with someone who knows it pretty well, Richard Quest. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: The search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is officially back on. Malaysia's transport ministry says the search will be carried out by

the marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity over the next 55 days.

The Boeing jet was carrying 239 people when it disappeared from radar back in 2014. Satellite data later showed the plane turned from its flight path

and headed south over the Indian Ocean where it is believed to have run out of fuel and crashed.

[18:45:00]

Joining me now is CNN's Richard Quest. He's written a book on the subject, "The Vanishing of Flight MH370," covered this from the beginning. Richard,

it's great to have you here. I wonder, because we've seen a lot of failed attempts to find this jet. Is this latest search more justified or any more

likely to find the flight finally?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS EDITOR-AT-LARGE AND CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Those are two fascinating aspects. The justification side,

absolutely. In the book, I said, look, they will have to keep searching. Why? Because you can't have a 777 that went down and not understand what

went wrong. So, there is a hanging issue in aviation that needs to be sorted out. Now, that's the first part of your question. The justification

is absolutely as relevant now as it was then.

Ocean Infinity and the Malaysian government won't give us much information about what they think has changed, other than new technologies, new sonar,

new ways of looking, A.I. to interpret what they're seeing on the basis. And several years, five, six, seven years of drift flow modeling from those

pieces of wreckage that they have confirmed washed up on the West Indian side.

SCIUTTO: So, that's fascinating. The challenges remain, right? Because this is a very deep part of the ocean. And also, as I understand it, it's

not flat, right? A lot of places for the wreckage, presuming it's there, to be lost or difficult to find.

QUEST: The way I describe it is this, that the ocean bed is exactly the same as land. It has hills, canyons, mountains, the lot. You know, when you

get down there, it doesn't just suddenly become all flat. And what we know from this area, 30,000, 35,000 feet down on this ocean floor, is that there

are canyons and crevices, many of which have never been explored before. We know this from the first two searches, which were incredibly difficult

because they were pushing the forefronts.

Now, the new technology is believed to help enormously. But you're still -- look, Jim, imagine you take an aircraft, you smash it up, and you spread it

over the Rockies over a certain area, that's the equivalent of what you're looking for here, which is why in this search, they're going to be looking

for large parts of the aircraft, the engines, the fuselage that we'll have.

We know the plane went into the water pretty much intact. We know that from the bits that they found and the way they ripped these pieces that you're

looking at now. The way they ripped off the aircraft meant that the plane did not disintegrate in the air. It went into the water pretty much whole.

So, they do expect to find, when they do, large chunks in a very even larger area.

SCIUTTO: And remind us, Richard, in the years since, has the best theory as to what happened here changed at all?

QUEST: I'm smiling when you say this because the truth, Jim, nothing has changed. I mean, the same -- you know, was it the captain? Did he go on a

suicide mission? Look, of course, it is the most obvious. Occam's rule says, yes, that's what happened. But there's no real evidence of this.

There is absolutely zero evidence. It's the favored theory. But, you know, I'm not going to convict somebody just because it looks like it might be

the case.

Otherwise, mechanical failure. Well, we don't know what that could have been. 777s have been flying for many, many years with no incidents

whatsoever. And some form that the final report said that they did believe there was some form of external influence on this. But they could not say

what that was. Targeted terrorism, hijacking, pilot suicide.

SCIUTTO: Richard Quest, fascinating story continues. Thanks so much.

QUEST: Thank you, sir.

SCIUTTO: And I will be back with more news right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

SCIUTTO: Well, it's official, George and Amal Clooney are now citizens of France. According to a government gazette notice, documents show the couple

and their two children have been granted French citizenship. This comes after years of privacy concerns about raising their children in Hollywood,

surrounded by paparazzi.

While the family has homes in the U.S. and England, Clooney told The Times earlier this year that their primary residence is a farm in France, a

country which has notably strong privacy laws. Those laws include rules that make it illegal to photograph someone in a private space.

Well, the new year may still be around the corner, but the party has already begun in Scotland with Hogmanay celebrations in full swing. And if

you want to dress to impress, why not try a Scottish kilt? Max Foster spoke to a kilt maker about crafting the perfect look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Howie.

HOWIE NICHOLSBY, KILT MAKER, 21ST CENTURY KILTS: Max.

FOSTER: You've got some fabric here.

NICHOLSBY: Yes.

FOSTER: How much do you need for a kilt?

NICHOLSBY: Well, it's 7.3 meters, eight yards.

FOSTER: All of this into --

NICHOLSBY: All of this is what I'm wearing in one kilt.

FOSTER: Just explain where all the fabric goes then.

NICHOLSBY: All the fabric goes into the pleats. There's over 30 pleats here and it has to recreate the pattern and it's fully hand-stitched. The

only part of this kilt machined is the waistband.

FOSTER: Yes.

NICHOLSBY: So, when you're wearing it, you still get that swing and that masculine feeling, but it's not a woman's skirt. It's made for a man.

FOSTER: So, when someone flies in from another part of the world, is it acceptable for them to wear the tartan?

NICHOLSBY: Absolutely. It's all about how you feel mentally and physically in a kilt. You've got to feel confident.

FOSTER: So, you showed how much fabric was used. It's a lot of fabric. It gets heavy. But, really, when you wear them, it doesn't feel heavy. What's

the secret?

NICHOLSBY: You've got to adjust a little bit. The weight of the kilt is very proportioned around the body. I want people to enjoy wearing a kilt,

so it has to be comfortable and shaped to the body.

FOSTER: And the length?

NICHOLSBY: The length is personal preference. Now, I measure from the pelvis to the kneecap, top of the kneecap, and that's where Queen Victoria

liked it and that's where it should be worn for formal wear.

FOSTER: Why did she like that?

NICHOLSBY: She liked to see the soldier's knees.

FOSTER: This is what people will recognize, the sporran.

NICHOLSBY: Yes. This is Gordon Winkleman.

FOSTER: What was the thinking behind the sporran?

NICHOLSBY: Well, sporran was a pouch, originally. When it became more military, they wore long hair like this and were centralized. French

royalty were wearing it. They were worried about a man being aroused, so the sporran got put in the middle as a kind of protection.

FOSTER: Really?

NICHOLSBY: So, the legend goes.

FOSTER: So, your view is that anyone anywhere in the world can wear a kilt?

NICHOLSBY: Yes. Yes, just as long as it's a nice kilt, properly made, hopefully made in Scotland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: And never call it a dress. Well, tourists and locals across India are gearing up to welcome the new year. Many are heading to hill towns to

escape urban air pollution and taking the opportunity to dance in crowded streets. Tourists are also being kept entertained by winter carnivals and

cultural performances ahead of the start of 2026.

[18:55:00]

Wherever you are, the countdown is on to 2026. Join us for New Year's Eve around the world as CNN brings you celebrations from across the globe. The

party starts December 31st at first at 8:00 pm in Hong Kong, 11:00 in Sydney, noon in London. It's getting close.

Thanks so much for your company. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. You've been watching "The Brief." Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:00:00]

END