tv CNN Newsroom Live CNN December 16, 2023 2:00am-3:00am PST
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viewers in the united states and all around the world. ahead on "cnn newsroom", outrage across israel after the idf mace takenly kills three hostages. the what the families are saying about the tragedy. plus 17 million americans are under severe weather threat as heavy rain and wind is expected to slam into florida and then up the east coast this weekend. more on the timing of the major storm from the cnn weather center. and tiger woods and his son charlie set too compete at the championship this weekend. andy scholes joins me live to preview the father-son tournament. it is 10:00 a.m. here in
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london. residents in one neighborhood are being to gather supplies. operations in part of rafah to allow civilians to replenish basic necessities like food and water. in the meantime, the hamas-controlled ministry of health says airstrikes killed at least 14 people. all this coming amid grief and outrage in israel. several dozen protesters marching overnight. the crowd chant ing "everyone now" demanding the government take immediate action to bring the remaining hostages home safely. the protests erupted following the announcement that its soldiers mistakenly shot and killed three hostages in gaza. you're looking a at them on the screen. after misidentifying them as a
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threat. all three were kidnapped by hamas during the october 7 terror attacks. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on friday described their deaths as an unbearable tragedy and says israel will learn the lessons of the incident. the white house calls the deaths heartbreaking. a national security council spokesperson explains what officials might be able to glean from the incident. >> with should be careful of drawing too firm conclusions about what happened today. it's heartbreaking news for three families that are going to be getting the worst possible news that any family can get. we bereave with them. we mourn for them and pray with them. i'm sure they will work through how this happened and how to lessons so it doesn't happen again. they share a strong desire to get every single one of those hostages back home with their families safe and sound with their families and we're going
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to continue to do what we can to achieve that. we still believe it's possible to get a pause in place to get another exchange of hostages and we're working on that by the hour. >> melissa bell is following all the developments paris. good to see you. we'll get to the ostages in just a moment. what more are you learning about the tactical pause in rafah. how are people being formed of this pause. >> that's one of the big concerns. we understand connectivity is completely down in the gaza strip and has been for more than 24 hours. it's unclear how people are going to get word of this pause. it's also very short, four hours between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to allow people in that part of the district to get some mu much-needed food and water. it comes, as we understand, that the humanitarian situation continues to worsen.
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we have been hearing over the course of the last day from a spokesman who spent a week-long mission who came out speaking of the terrible conditions, things he said he had never seen, neither the despair nor the devastation anywhere else in his time as a humanitarian aid worker. also speaking of the fact that gazaen children are now in danger from the skies, from disease on the ground and of in danger of die rg from either thirst or hunger. it gives you an idea of how desperate conditions are. for the few people likely to get wind of this, how desperately needed a pause like this is. >> let's talk about the hostage situation and the killing of the three israeli hostages. what is the reaction from the families of the loved ones who haven't been released here. how concerned are they?
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>> this takes their levels of concerns up. their levels of anger as well. the families have been very vocal making their anger plain trying to get the release of the hostages seen more so since the pause that allowed 100 hostages to get out. the families of the men haven't even any loved ones get out of gaza. in the wake of the killing, we we heard not just seen, not just more families of hostages on the streets, but heard a little bit more of their anger, have a listen. >> my reaction was grief. these are families that i know personally and people that have been waiting so hopefully for their loved ones to return. and to me, it struck me in the heart showing that there's got to be a deal to bring them back
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and we have to do more things to help these people get out of this. >> for the time being, very little sign that the talks will be able to resume both from the israeli and the palestinian side. the conditions are not in place they may resume. >> thank you so much. a cousin of one of the israelis still held captive in gaza spoke with cnn earlier. he says he's not surprised hostages were mistakenly killed during the offensive. have a listen. >> we knew this would happen. we warn ed that that was going o happen. and now we are keeping on the warning. this is going to happen again if we don't change what we're doing. israel must put an initiative on the table right now to get all the hostages back from gaza because it's impossible to fight a war in these conditions.
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it's clear now the fact that only three hostages were killed and the people that i got to know their families and my heart goes to them and to the soldiers who didn't mean to hurt innocent hostages. the fact that it's only three is, in a way, lucky. >> he went on to say that israel should not be willing to sacrifice the lives of hostages in order to eliminate hamas and bringing them home safely needs to be the top priority. hundreds of people gathered to mourn a journalist in gaza on saturday after he died after being wounded in israeli airstrike. his body was wrapped in a white cloth and carried from hospital to a nearby cemetery along with his press vest, as you can see there, and helmet. they are accusing israel of targeting its journalist saying
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the network holds israel accountable for systemically targeting and killing journalists and their families. we're about to show you video of the body arriving at the hospital after the airstrike on friday. we must worn you that it is graphic. he is the first journal ist to e killed since this war began and that is according to the committee to protect jou journalists. the group says four others have been injured. cnn cannot independently verify the allegation. they have reached out to the israeli military for comment. some palestinians men and boys are vealing allegations of abuse, torture and humiliating treatment while being detained by israeli forces. the military denies those claims. jeremy diamond has the story. >> reporter: bruised, lacerated and swollen. these are the hands of a man after he was detained by five days by israeli forces.
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we were handcuffed behind our backs. his wounds are not unique in this corner of gaza's hospital. here six boys and four men, their hands numbered with red marker, were being treated hours after israeli forces released them without charge. he's just 14 years old. this is from the boots. he and his father were detained in gaza city. the israeli military has been engaged in heavy fighting with hamas. >> translator: they would tie our hands behind your back and doctrag you like a dog. depending on the mode of one of them, they would come kick you with their boots. i didn't do anything to him. he just decided toment come and kick me. >> reporter: he and his father are among hundreds of palestinian boys and men, many
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identified by relatives or employers as civilians, who have been blindfolded, stripped and detained over the last week. >> translator: they put us on the floor and put their feet on our heads. they would ask are you hamas and beat us. when weed to sleep because it was so cold and when we asked for something to wear or cover ourselves with, they would beat us. >> reporter: the ten boys and men who spoke to cnn described nearly identical accounts of abuse. several said they were not allowed to go to the bathroom, made to sleep on grains of rice spread on the floor and given little to no food or water. a day after he arrived at the hospital, this 40-year-old can barely stand. his relatives say he's diabetes and had had no access to insulin during his five-day detention. >> translator: he arrived
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physically exhausted. there were signs of beating all over their bodies. >> reporter: in a statement the israeli military said it was detaining individuals suspected of involvement in terrorist activity and that those who are found not to be taking part in terrorist activities are released. the idf said the individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law and it strives trooet any detainee with dignity. any incident in which the guidelines were not followed will be looked into. a spokesman for the military declined to address specific allegations of mistreatment or provide an explanation for the detention of the ten boys and men interviewed by cnn. >> international law is quite clear that you can only detain civilians when absolutely necessary for imthe pertive reasons of security. they are not charged within 48 hours, they should be released. the reality here is that the israeli government has violated many of those provisions before.
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>> reporter: human rights groups says the images of stripped down palestinians alone could violate the laws of war. >> whether the detention is of a civilian or combatant, the law protects those in detention and custody against degrading and humiliating treatment and outrage of personal dignity. >> reporter: the trauma is not just the physical for this 14-year-old. >> translator: i don't want to speak. i'm afraid. i'm scared of the israelis. i don't want them to do something to uses. >> reporter: with his father's permission, he adds his story to the allegations of abuse. jeremy diamond, cnn, near the israel-gaza border. later in the show, arrests in germany and denmark including suspected members of hamas alter about the risk of a terror attack. rudy giuliani, the man once known as america's mayor, is now
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on the hook for nearly $150 million after more than 10 hours of deliberations a washington jury ordered rudy giuliani to pay $148 million in damages to the two georgia election workers he defamed following donald trump's 2020 presidential defeat. upon leaving court on friday, giuliani mocked the verdict and says he plans to appeal the judgment. >> reporter: 148 million, this is the amount a federal jury in this courthouse on friday decided rudy giuliani should have to pay. so the former mayor of new york, the former lur to donald trump in the 2020 election, he was on trial because he defamed two women repeatedly of after the 2020 election. those women are a mother and daughter. they were absentee balallot counters, counting the ballots
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mailed in for the vote. and giuliani and others accused them of switching votes or stealing votes. those were absolute lies that has been determined by court. so the trial, this entire week in washington, d.c., was about how much in damages rudy giuliani should be facing because of the lies he made. the jury's ultimate conclusion was a veries a stounding number in a lot of ways. that's a quite significant number. $148 million for any defamation case against an individual. and it is a sizable amount for the former mayor of new york. it's not about the money, though. here is what freeman and moss had to say after court after the verdict was read. >> the flame that giuliani lit with those lies and passed to so many others to keep that flame blazing changed every aspect of
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our lives. our homes, our family, our work, our sense of safety, our mental health. i want people to understand this. money will never solve all of my problems. i can never move back into the house that i called home. i will always have to be careful about where i go and who i choose to share my name with. >> within that $148 million damages finding by the jury, there was $75 million of it that the jury said was specifically owe d to these women to punish giuliani and deter him and others from continuing to do what he is doing. but giuliani after court, he essentially said he is ready to keep fighting. he wants to appeal. here's what he had to say outside the courthouse. >> certainly, we'll appeal. the absurdity of the number merely underscores the absurdity
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of the entire proceeding. >> do you have the regrets about the comments? >> the comments they received i had had nothing to do with. those comments are abomabominab. no defense to it, but i receive comments like that every day. >> reporter: it doesn't appear he has a lot of legal options to escape a judgment like this. he may have to start putting up money quite quickly. their lawyers are going to try to claim money from giuliani very fast. they are going to try to collect. but giuliani has said repeatedly that he is broke. he has nothing to pay. he's trying to sell an apartment he owns in new york city for $6.1 million. it hasn't been sold since it's been listed for a couple months. he has no other money to be paying lawyers or do other things. so there is still a question of exactly how much money these two women will be seeing out of rudy giuliani, someone who is quite powerful after the 2020 election and for many years in this
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country, but they say it never was about just money alone and what they could be rewarred. it was about sending a message that people with a platform like his should know better and not do these sorts of things to harass workers of elections and people who would be participating in elections. katelyn polantz, cnn, washington. coming up next, leaving a mystery in his wake. cnn learns about a key fold of russian intel that vandished in the final days after the trump administration. plus the threat of flooding and power outages as strong storm heads towards florida and the east coast. when can people expect to see it? >> a storm developing in the gulf of mexico right now will roll across florida this afternoon, up the east coast and into new englaland by mondayay. forecacast is comiming up.
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businesses could lose power. chad myers is at the world weather center with more. >> most of this storm now is still in the gulf of mexico. but by later on today, it will affect florida. tomorrow the carolinas and by monday it will be in the northeast delaying or canceling flights. so let's get to it. the storm is still west of florida. by later on this afternoon, heavy rainfall and flooding all the way from jacksonville down to south florida. there may even be a few tornadoes embedded because the storm is spinning so much. this is a nor'easter without snow. it's just not cold enough. there's no snow on the backside of the storm to put down nor'easter-type snow. but we'll get rain, we'll get the wind, we'll get the surge, we'll get windment coming on shore pushing that water on shore and causing beach coastal erosion and sol of these bays, rivers andest wares will be
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flooding for sure. so yes, rain today. look how much rain in the carolinas tomorrow. 4 inches likely of rainfall. on top of those mountains, that water has to go somewhere. it will try to slide back into the ocean, but it's going to take time doing it. there's going to be flooding here. 2 to 4 inches all the way up into parts of atlantic canada. there maybe even some wind with gusts 60 miles per hour. that will bring down trees and it will bring downpour lines. and some of these spots will have gusts that will be tropical storm force without a doubt. that could always do that tropical storm-like damage. potential for tornadoes, wind, not really a hail of that here, but this is wind and surge. we're going to see coastal erosion all the way across it'll. for that matter, all the way up the east coast.
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i can see at least 100,000 or more people being without power. >> cnn investigation has found in the final days of the trump administration that they are made to led intelligence with from the white house. sources about the u.s. government assessment that vladimir putin had sought to help trump win the 2016 election. cnn has the latest on the mystery of the missing intel binder. >> so this binder that was brought to the white house contained raw intelligence that the u.s. and nato al the lies collected on russia's efforts to med until the election. some of the most sensitive information in the intelligence world. what we're talking about here is the underlying intelligence that formed the basis of the u.s. government's assessment that
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vladimir putin sought to help trump wip the 2016 election. the disappearance of this binder was so alarming to intelligence officials that they broefed senate leadership about the situation last year ask were told this was not among the classify items found in last year's search of trump's estate. two years later t appears this binder is still missing. but my colleagues and i followed the trail of the intelligence from the cia to the white house. trump has spent years trying to declassify material that he would prove claims that the investigation was a hoax. and this intelligence was part of a massive collection of documents that he ordered brought to the white house. there was a sort of frantic scramble in the final days to redact them so they declassified. trump did issue a declassification order for some of the materials, and the fbi has published some of it on its website. but after that, things get murky. we don't know what happened to the binder that went missing. there's one theory that has
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emerged from testimony from cassidy hutchinson, the former top aid to mark meadows. she told the january 6th committee that she was, quote, almost positive it went home with mr. mdoes. it was kept in a safe in his office when it was not being worked on she wrote about this in her book that on january 19th, she saw meadows leave the white house with an unredacted binder tucked under his arm. now mark meadows' attorney strongly denies this. he said in a statement, meadow was keenly aware of for the proper handling of classified material any such material he handled or was in his possession was treated accordingly and any suggestion that he's responsible for any missing binder or other classifyied information is flat wrong. so at this point, the miystery f this missing binder remains just that. a mystery.
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still to come, suspected members of hamas are arrested in germany. denmark is searching for more terrorism suspects. what it could mean for security in europe. plus another major batch of aid for ukraine has been put on hold just as key faces a tough winter in its war with russia. now troops in the trenches start to feel the impact. both those stories, after this break. you're watching cnn newsroom.
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israel says its military is taking a tactical pause in part of rafah this hour for humanitarian purposes. it's set to last for roughly another 90 minutes. the pause is meant to allow civilians to replenish basic supplies such as food and water. in addition, israel says it will allow humanitarian aid to cross directly into gaza from israeli territory from the first time since the terror attack on october 7th. israel's military is investigating after its the soldiers mistakenly shot and killed three israeli hostages in gaza. the idf says the three hostages were misidentified as a threat during a military operation in northern gaza. three suspected members of hamas who were detained on thursday were formally arrested on friday. germany's federal prosecutor says they are, quote, long standing members of hamas. and have participated in hamas
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operations abroad. they and another suspect arrested in the netherlands are accused of trying to gather weapons for possible attacks on jewish institutions in europe. meantime in denmark, authorities are searching for four additional terrorism suspect who is were still at large. they are connected to four others who were arrested thursday but terrorism offenses. security services says they were acting on behalf of hamas. danish authorities have not revealed details of charges. the danish prime minister says arrests are, quote, extremely serious. have a listen. >> translator: for a number of years now, we can see there's some people who live in denmark who do not wish us well, who are against our democracy and are against our freedom and against danish society and everything that comes with it, including happiness and good things,
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freedom and equality between genders. we have seen a readiness earlier. >> let's get more on this story. joining us is the president of the european strategic intelligence and security center and the former intelligence agent. claude, good morning to you. thank you for taking the time to speak to us. as we have outlined for our viewers, these arrests in denmark and germany, what do you make of the arrests in europe and the timing of this? >> the timing is very significant. it was made extremely by the danish jailman and police f forces. it was done in a coordinated manner between denmark and germany. and this is clearly to prove that the authorities were worried they will try to add.
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it is that it will be the first time we catch hamas in europe. usually they are using it for financing propaganda. >> i wonder it you could expand on that. historically, hamas hasn't shown much of an interest in carrying out terrorist attacks outside of israel. so this would be a departure from them in europe. how would you interpret these terror plots in terms of the scope, but also in terms of their capability. >> it's extremely difficult to process for the moment. we know it's the was tasked with
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fin finding by hamas some times ago. so that's the first indication. it indicates that hamas was preparing terrorist attack in europe. the german authorities were wanted by intelligence services so the time the hamas was planning the attack, there were plenty of other attacks in europe. and it's the first time that we find hamas terrorist action outside israel. and this is a lot. >> that's the concerning part. a tall british media with
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intelligence community will be faithful of a path towards radicalization in the uk. we saw what took place during the invasion of iraq and afghanistan. so what are the challenges for authorities and for the countless jewish institutions around europe? >> in the case you mentioned with afghanistan, iraq and syria, it was the possibility to join the outside europe or in afghanistan. in the case of hamas, they have absolutely no possibility to join the fight in the gaza strip. so if they want to join the actions of hamas, the only solution they have is to do it in europe.
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it's a direct threat against europe and in europe. >> very worrying indeed. always appreciate you give ing your analysis and expertise. thank you very much. >> thank you. ukraine says it has largely foiled a barrage of russian drones fired overnight. the ukrainian air force shot down 30 drones that went after targets across the country and that includes kyiv. only one russian drone may have gotten through. that's according to the statement. officials say some debris fell in the city damage ing at least
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two buildings and causing a fire. so far, there are no injuries. the reports came after russia claimed it destroyed more than 30 droenss over crimea on friday night. ukraine's uphill bat toll get foreign aid has gotten even steeper. hungary blocked the next batch of aid worth $55 billion at an eu summit. all the other 26 eu countries support the aid package. the impass in brussels comes with an even bigger round of u.s. aid being held up in congress. and after western military officials warned that ukraine could lose the war without more aid, some leaders say they have other options to approve money for ukraine. others say they will see the issue when they meet again next year. >> i would like to repeat were optimistic to be in a position to pull fill on our promises to
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support ukraine. i'm confident the decision will be formalized. >> international aid just as ukraine kneads it most. it's what's expected to be another when western intelligence officials believe russia will once more unleash attacks on energy infrastructure. ukraine's will to fight is already taking a hit. >> even if u.s. and eu do find their way to ukraine, the damage of this delay on both parts has been to ukrainian moral. this has been a ghastly summer for ukrainian troops trying to prosecute a counteroffensive that haven't had the success they wanted. now they face a winter where they use everything it can, drones, prisoners, to attack their positions. but no longer do they feel that pretty much the west unified has
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their back. that's essentially the big change we have seen this weeks. it's going to slow isly deteriorate ukraine's readiness here. it's going to be a difficult winter, but it's going to be impossible for them to continue their defense. if the money dries. one medic i spoke to who lost a friend in the last months, he says we're finned. >> that's nick paton walsh for us innen ukraine. still to come, we are learning more about what led to the death of matthew perry. a closer look at the autopsy results just released.
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the high court ruled friday he was a victim of extensive phone hacking by journalists working for the newspapers. he was awarded $180,000 in damages. here's what he said. >> today's ruling is vindicating and affirming. i have been told that slay tray gones will get you burnt, butt importance of what is doing what is needed for a free and honests press, it is a worthwhile price to pay. the mission continues. >> the autopsy report of the late "friends" star matthew perry has been released. he died of ketamine and drowning. according to the autopsy, perry's assistant found him unresponsive at his malibu home. dr. sanjay gupta takes a closer lock at the report.
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>> sadly, here's what we do know after reading this 30-page report from the medical examiner's office. they list acute effects of ketamine as the cause of his death along with drowning. to give you context of the ketamine, the dosing that they found, the levels they found were around 3,200 nanograms. sometimes ketamine can be used in anesthesia, and typically the levels are seen between 1,000 and 6,000. so he had a lot of ketamine in his system. a couple important pointings. it's still incredibly rare, even at those levels for someone to die of ketamine intoxication. unfortunately, he was also in the swimming pool at the time. it sounds like that in combination with the ketamine is what led to his death. as one medical examiner told us,
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the ketamine probably is not what ended up killing him but made it more possible for him to drown. that is kind of what we know at this point. they do know that some ketamine was found in his stomach, which suggests he swallow ed it. you can snort it, inject it and there's different rates of onset. enjex injex is the fastest. if you swallow it, it can take an hour. so it's possible he took this ketamine before it really took any effect. he was in the swimming pool. this ketamine caused a significant disassociation, which is what it typically does, and that's what led him to drown. he also had a synthetic opioid in his sl. we don't know why he was taking these together, but sometimes that can be used to help dampen some of the ha loose gins of ketamine. it's a sad story. it's just sad all around.
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turning to sports, a special night in the nba as lebron james took the court against the next generation of talent for the first time. andy scholes joins me now. fans, i believe, had been waiting for this matchup. they had it circled on their calendar for some time. how did it go? >> everyone has been waiting for lebron vs. wembanyama. lebron has been playing in the nba longer than victor has been alive. this is his 21st season. wemby is 19 years old. s this is the first time they squared off. he's 7'4" guarding lebron in the corner here. but lebron skies a three over
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him. lebron had had had 23 points. the spurs were running 18-game losing streak going into this one, but a slam there. lakers were without three st starters, including anthony davis. i they weren't able to overcome it. 129-115, here's here was wemby afterwards on facing lebron. >> just awe struck. >> like people are when they see you. >> i mean, i would have thought i would feel some type of way, but honestly on the court, i was just trying to win. trying to defend is and made the right play. so i didn't have no feelings on the court. >> grizzlies star meet ing with the media yesterday. this was the first time he spock in public since being suspended
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for flashing a gun on social media. the ban has been tough, buts he's grateful for the support he's received. >> it's been tough. a lot of learning. a lot of teaching. it's been a process. obviously, i wouldn't say i regret it, but i'm not happy that it happened. but i'm also grateful that i had this opportunity to reflect and do things that i felt like was not only needed for me, but for my family, for us to realize pretty much what's all at stake. >> he will be able to play tuesday against the pelicans. tiger woods is going to be teeing up it up with his son charlie in the pnc championship in florida. the two out there on the course for the pro am yesterday. charlie now 14 years old and is
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quite the golfer himself. tiger says he always loves this weekend. >> it's been fun. it's been fun for both of us. we have fed off of our competitive nature. and we really push each other to become better. it's a fun atmosphere. we keep it light and kpet and enjoyable. >> i always love watching this tournament every year. my favorite part is when tiger hits a bad shot and his son charlie just looks at him like, come on, dad. >> can you imagine the competition between those two? >> unbelievable. and imagine the pressure charlie has always had to be a good golfer and he is. so that make it is so much cooler. >> andy, appreciate it. great to see you. thank you very much. actor and author will no longer serve as jep host. sony, which produces the tv
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show, made the decision. former "jeopardy" champ ken jennings will be the sole host moving forward. they had been sharing hosting duties since 2021 following the death of the long-time host alex trebek. before we go in the past year has taught us anything, it's the power of taylor swift. hear how she inspired one family to make this the holiday era a swiftness to remember. >> i went is and saw the eras tour movie with my girlfriends. i walked out knowing that hadn't created our scene yoet for our lights disi play. i had had this idea that we could represent her eras on our front lawn for our christmas lights display this year. i brought the idea home to my family and they loved it right away. >> free advertising there. decorating the house was a family affair.
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she say it is began the process in lit november when her daughters were home for thanksgiving break. she credits her husband for her vision. that looks fphenomenal. that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." for viewers in north america, "cnn this morning" is next. for the rest of the world it's "african voices." have a wonderful day.
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