three mothers, changemakers. changing the way we look at childbirth. and in turn, demanding change. ♪ i got the fire in me ♪ >> the birthing center you just saw is planning on expanding to other areas where alternative options for maternity care are limited. thanks for watching "the whole story. " hello and welcome. i'm michael holmes. coming up on "cnn newsroom," the u.s. secretary of state set to meet with benjamin netanyahu,

ramping up pressure on israel to define the next phase of the war with hamas. this as the idf claims it's discovered the biggest hamas tunnel in gaza and describing it as an underground terror city. hong kong pro-democracy media tycoon jimmy lai i on trial at this hour, facing his most consequential legal challenge to date. >> live from atlanta, this is "cnn newsroom" with michael holmes. hours from now, the u.s. defense secretary will arrive in israel, his second trip to the country since the october 7 attack by hamas. and u.s. officials said lloyd austin will meet with israeli officials for updates on the war, but he's also expected to press them to define specific operational milestones and work to drill down on efforts to boost humanitarian aid to gaza. his visit comes as the israel

defense forces says it's uncovered the biggest hamas tunnel in gaza, wide enough to drive a large vehicle through. that tunnel, which the idf says was secured a few weeks ago, was made public on sunday. an israeli military spokesperson describes what the idf says it found. >> translator: so far, we have uncovered more than four kilometers of the tunnels' webs. this is a flagship project of hamas. it reaches a depth of 50 meters below the surface of the earth. inside the tunnels, we found many weapons. this is no ordinary tunnel. it as city of terror underground that hamas dug and built instead of investing money in the residents of gaza. >> meanwhile, the idf is claiming to have what it calls operational control over parts of khan younis in southern gaza and claims to have struck what it says was terrorist

infrastructure there. cnn could not independently verify either of those claims. some of the images coming out of gaza continue to be graphic, and that includes our next video, which is difficult to watch. it comes from jabaliya in northern gaza where a senior official in the hamas-controlled health ministry says at least 24 people were killed, dozens more wounded, in what is thought to have done an israeli air strike on sunday. he says a house sheltering displaced families was hit. the majority of the casualties, women ask children. cnn's jeremy diamond is following developments from tel aviv and has more on israeli military's discovery of that hamas tunnel. >> the israeli military on sunday revealing new video of what it is calling the largest hamas tunnel that they have discovered inside the gaza strip. in the past, we've seen tunnels that the israeli military has discovered where individuals would have to walk single-file in order to get through them. very narrow. but this one is quite wide.

in fact, wide enough to drive a large vehicle through it, according to the israeli military. it reaches up to 50 meters underground, and it's equipped with everything from electricity to ventilation and communication systems. the israeli military says it is part of a broader network of tunnels that spans 2 1/2 miles or about 4 kilometers. this tunnel didn't cross into israel, but it appears to have been used by hamas within the gaza strip. it comes out very close to one of the key crossing points between israel and gaza, and that is the erez crossing, also a sea kite hamas militants attacked on october 7th then crossed into israel from there. there's no evidence at this point that this tunnel was used as part of that october 7th attack, but the size and the scale of this tunnel just shows the capacity that hamas had to build these large networks of tunnels which hamas says that there are hundreds of miles beneath gaza.

for the first time since october 7, aid trucks are entering gaza directly from israeli territory. israeli officials say 79 trucks passed through the kerem shalom border crossing into southern gaza on sunday. 122 more entered through the rafah crossing from egypt. the united nations says the amount of aid coming into gaza is still less than half of prewar levels, not nearly enough. france is welcoming the opening of the kerem shalom border crossing but says more action is needed to provide aid for civilians in gaza. france's foreign minister visited tel aviv on sunday. she says her country is concerned about the, quote, catastrophic and tragic situation in gaza and is calling for israel to implement an immediate cease-fire. >> translator: the systematic bombardments are causing too much suffering.

israel must preserve the lives of civilian populations, as international law demands it. and must agree to a cease-fire, which would allow for the liberation of hostages. it must allow aid, and the distribution of aid, in much bigger volumes whilst the population is exposed and suffers from many things. it must maintain the functioning of hospitals and medical institutions. and as we have said before, not allowing enough aid to populations that need enough humanitarian aid to respond to their needs would constitute a violation of humanitarian rights. >> the world health organization says gaza's al shifa hospital is completely overwhelmed. w.h.o. staff visited the facility to deliver critical surgical supplies and medicines they say the hospital is barely functional. >> this largest referral hospital here in gaza has become a traubl stabilization point. it can only provide the most

basic care for people with very serious injuries and very serious illnesses. there are women delivering in these commons spaces that are just absolutely packed to the brim. most patients are on the floor. a few are in beds and stretchers behind me. the emergency department is just covered in blood, and there are very few staff. >> joining me now is hanny al m mayrun, director of philanthropy. it's good to see you. we heard sound from one of the w.h.o. team when went to al shifa, gaza's biggest hospital, describing the emergency department as a bloodbath, little more than a trauma stabilization point. what is happening to people in gaza when it comes to effective medical treatment at the moment? >> frankly, it's horrifying. it's been just a nightmare.

every day there's a new blow. every day there is a tragic story. people at the hospitals, like up north, al shifa, they come and describe horrifying stories and incredible tragedies that we try to process here, but it is happening that people are just dying from simple injuries. you know, we have relatives who have been shot in the foot, and then two weeks later we have to bury them in gaza because there is no medical care. the evacuations are not happening from north to better hospitals or maybe more equipped hospitals in the south. as you know, the five or six major hospitals in the north are all just offline. we're trying to do as much as we can in the primary care. we're trying to get fuel to those hospitals. but if they're in the north, it is harder to get to, almost impossible. we have not made any deliveries to those hospitals, and even

khan younis, which is in the south, as you know, is becoming harder to access and very unsafe and dangerous. basically, the u.n. agency that provides aid have been limited to a small town in the south called rafah, and that's pretty much it. >> the population of rafah has quadrupled over the course of this conflict, so facilities there are under enormous strain. it's been raining in gaza. countless people living under plastic shelters and precious little sanitary facilities. rafah's population has quadrupled. more aid has come in, but does it change the underlying crisis at all? not just food and medical needs but shelter as well? >> yeah, we're hearing about more aid, hopefully, with the new kerem crossing that's going to be able to process more trucks for the last week or so it's been 100 trucks a day. the need right now in gaza is 1,000 trucks a day because they've lost everything, and

they need everything right now. from blankets to bread to flour to what have you, to ready to eat meals, but it's not being delivered. we're oftentimes trying to deliver to areas where we're allowed to operate. we can't just go deliver anyplace. despite this, we're losing staff. more than 135. this is not an easy number to share. 135 u.n. staff have been killed in gaza. more than 120 buildings have been damaged. so there is a safety concern. there's no police. how do you feel safe trying to deliver aid to a desperate community? there's a lot of issues. some of our staff feels like despite personal harm and lack of security to try to go to these shelters to deliver, more than 90,000 families have received food already outside the shelters, but we have to remember there's 1.3 million

refugees inside 155 buildings. this is like 55% of the population of gaza just living in 155 buildings. you can imagine it takes -- there's 450 people for every -- >> yeah, i was actually reading the unwa ra update and saw that statistic. 1.4 million civilians in 155 unrwa shelters which is a staggering number. people forget how small gaza is. 40 kilometers by around 10, 12 kilometers at its widest. most of the 2 million population is now crammed into one-third of that in the south. the unrwa commissioner general said the strip is now essentially uninhabitable. is that your feeling as well? >> 100%. my family remains north, and they're moving from one shelter to another.

you've seen unclothed men, some of them my family members. there are a lot of horrifying stories i'm getting and personal accounts. yes, basically my family told me they're lucky they can get a couple of dates a day. that's their diet. unfortunately, now that's the reality in gaza. very unsafe. there is little supplies. even if you had money, you couldn't buy anything. i can't get money to my family in gaza, let alone make a phone call to them. this is the reality we run into in gaza. despite this, we have 5,000 colleagues at unrwa trying to deliver, but really nobody's equipped to answer the crisis in gaza right now, despite being the largest humanitarian actor. this is just too much, and we feel overwhelmed right now. >> it is an increasingly desperate situation. hani abaduhn, thank you so much.

appreciate your time. >> always a pleasure. as the humanitarian crisis in gaza grows, cnn has gathered a list of vevetted organization you can find details on how you can help on our website, cnn.com/impact. right now, more than 55 million americans are under flood watches from north carolina to vermont. the storm system out of the gulf brought heavy rain and severe weather to florida on sunday. the system now sprinting along the eastern seaboard, dumping lots of rain in the carolinas, mid-atlantic, and the northeast. there's a slight risk of excessive rainfall up and down the east coast before daybreak eastern time. the storm will spend most of monday bringing a nor'easter. conditions along the coastal northeast minus the snow, fortunately. new england will get the heaviest rains and strongest winds on monday.

hundreds of people were rescued from floodwaters after remnants of tropical cyclone jasper dumped intense rain on northeastern australia. officials say there's still potential for life-threatening flash floods in the area. authorities say people sought safety on rooftops and some were stuck there all night, and there are concerns about safe drinking water. sewage overflows and power outages reported. so far no deaths or injuries, but more rain is expected on monday. in argentina, there has been de death. an intense storm leaving 13 dead and others injured in a town outside buenos aires. winds reportedly reached 140 kilometers per hour. officials say at least 300 people had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. argentine president javier milei says his cabinet is working with local authorities to help victims recover from the storm. still to come, after years in government custody, hong kong

pro-democracy supporter jimmy lai gets his day in court. we're live outside the courthouse with more on the landmark trial for you. also, a second straight year, voters in chile rejecting a proposed new constitution. why the country keeps trying and trailifr failing to replace a constitutution w written d duri dictatorshship.

trial is now under way in hong kong to decide the fate of media tycoon jimmy lai, a supporter of the city's pro-democracy movement and founder of the now-shuttered "apple daily" newspaper. lai's anti-beijing newspaper was forced to shut down in 2021 following his detention in 2020. he's being tried under hong kong's sweeping national security law, facing multiple charges of colluding with foreign forces and a separate charge of sedition. the maximum penalty is life in prison. cnn's kristie lu stout is following the story from outside the court in hong kong. this is a really high-profile trial. it puts a spotlight on china's sclamp-down on hong kong. walk us through what's been happening.

>> reporter: here in hong kong, we're standing outside the west kowloon magistrate's court for the first day of the national security trial of the china critic, media mogul jimmy lai. outside the courtroom, security has been tightened. authorities have warned against any disruption. inside the courtroom, jimmy lai was seen wearing a gray suit. he appeared noticeably thinner. he appeared. he was surrounded by at least four corrections officers who were guarding him. he also said hello and smiled at a number of supporters in the courtroom just a moment ago. they had a break for lunch. we saw jimmy lai's daughter walk into the courtroom to watch proceedings. a number of people in hong kong and around the world are paying very close attention to this trial because it is seen as a test of hong kong's freedoms in the wake of the imposition of the national security law by beijing on the territory. watch this.

considered by many as a father figure to hong kong's prodemocracy movement, jimmy lay always knew his actions might attract the ire of authorities. but he didn't let it faze him. >> i think it's a good idea any time, any situation that you are in, to fight for your freedom. because without freedom, you have nothing left. >> reporter: in a recent media briefing, china's ministry of foreign affairs not holding back in their criticism of lai, calling him "one of the most notorious anti-china elements bent on destabilizing hong kong." after numerous delays, the former media mogul returning to court to finally face trial under hong kong's sweeping national security law. since that legislation was imposed by beijing in response to massive social unrest and

anti-government protests, authorities have cracked down on dissent. today, most of hong kong's political opposition are either in prison, like lai, or have fled the territory. as the founder of the "apple daily," once hong kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper which regularly challenged the government, lai is the most high-profile critic of beijing charged under the national security law. he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison on multiple counts of colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security, as well as a single charge of sedition under a law that dates back to hong kong's colonial past. 76-year-old lai has been in custody for the last three years, and his son is concerned that incarceration is taking its toll. >> i think psychologically, he's very strong, but there always is that element. nobody escapes the gravity of age. at his age, he is at a tremendous amount of risk being

in maximum security. >> reporter: for its part, the hong kong government says all cases concerning offenses that endanger national security, including lai's, are handled in a fair and timely manner. in a statement to cnn, a spokesperson said, "without commenting on individual cases, the hong kong sar law enforcement agencies have been taking law enforcement actions based on evidence and strictly in accordance with the law in respect of the accounts of the persons or entities concerned." lai was a fixture at the student-led pro-democracy and anti-government demonstrations that brought central hong kong to a standstill in 2014. when millions of people took to ththe streets s in 2019,9, lai ththere once agagain. just months later, lai was marched out of his own newsroom when more than 200 police officers raided the "apple daily's" headquarters. a year on, lai's printing presses fell silent as the paper

shuttered, a blow to meet yeah freedom in hong kong. lai's medical challenges have mounted ever since. his lengthy rap sheet worn as a badge of honor after a lifetime of demanding democratic reform. and michael, the last few days the governments of the united states, uk, also the committee to protect journalists have criticized the trial. they have called for the immediate release of jimmy lai. the hong kong government has repeatedly said that press freedom and freedom of speech are enshrined in the basic law. that's the mini constitution here in hong kong. and that they are not at risk. back to you. >> more broadly, what does this trial say about hong kong's legal system, and importantly, how it's changed under the national security law? >> reporter: unlike mainland china, hong kong follows a common law system. but this common law tradition has deviated because of the

national security law. with these national security law cases, there is no jury present. there are judges that are handpicked or hand selected by the chief executive of hong kong, the top leader of hong kong. there's a higher threshold for bail. also, the hong kong government has blocked jimmy lai from being represented by a british lawyer. critics point out the national security law has undermined judicial independence in hong kong. hong kong's response to that and china's response to that is that this is a matter of national security and that foreign entities should not interfere. >> all right, kristie lu stout there covering this important trial for us in hong kong, thank you. voters in chile have rejected a new draft constitution to replace the existing one which is a holdover from the dictatorship years of augusto pinochet. it is the second time in less than two years that chileans have rejected proposed changes to their charter.

cnn's christopher aloa has more. >> reporter: once more the voters said no. with 99% of the votes counted, 55.7% of chileans decided to go with the option against this new pro proposal, a text much more conservative than a text we had in last year's referendum. for example, there was a part of the text that was looking for to protect the life of the unborn. contrary to actual laws of abortion that we have in chile. we must remember that this whole process started in 2020 after the riots and the protests of the social outburst of 2019 where chileans demanded, among many other demands, a new constitution. now, almost three years later, the actual constitution created

through the military dictat dictatorship of augusto pinochet will remain. in his term there will not be a third constitutional process. the press conference, he also said that he already instructed to his ministers to keep working and to put urgency to the pensions reform and also to keep approving a new fiscal pact as well as to keep working on new health and social proposals. for cnn, christopher lloa, santiago, chile. sheikh al sabbah has died at age 86. only close relatives attended his funeral per royal instructions. he was admitted to hospital last month for what state media called "an emergency health problem." the crown prince has been named as successor, and a 40-day

mourning period announced. still to come on the program, the israeli military now planning to destroy what it calls the biggest hamas tunnel in gaza, and it's testing out ways to degrade the vast tunnel network by flooding them with seawater.

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welcome back. you're watch watching "cnn newsroom." i'm michael holmes. the israeli military says it plans to destroy what it calls the biggest hamas tunnel in gaza. israel says it was secured a few weeks ago, but the discovery was only announced on sunday. the idf claims it was used for

hamas troop movements and as a launching point for attacks. israel says the tunnel is about four kilometers wrong or roughly 2 1/2 miles and has electricity, ventilation, and communications systems. meanwhile, a u.s. official says the idf has been testing out ways to degrade the vast hamas tunnel system by flooding some of the tunnels with seawater, but it's a risky operation as cnn's nic robertson reports. >> reporter: the tunnels themselves are big. big enough for fighters and their weapons, seen here in this hamas propaganda video which was also posted by the israel defense force. they are reinforced with concrete, too. two years ago, hamas claimed to have built 500 kilometers, more than 300 miles of them. the tunnels are spread all over gaza. this map, over two years old. the idf says they've discovered

800 tunnel shafts so far. and have destroyed 500 of them. the entrances are often well hidden. >> this is a 20-meter tunnel. >> reporter: as i was shown by the idf near a gaza hospital, really well hidden, which means the tunnels can be really hard to find. the idea of flooding the tunnels using the abundant seawater that's along the many miles of gaza's mediterranean shore is apparently a creative idea, not just to destroy hamas and quite literally flush them out, but also to reach the parts of tunnels that might never be discovered from above ground. now, it's not without its risks. there could be hostages in those tunnels. there are very few details about how precisely the water is getting into the tunnels, how much water, how fast it's going

in, or what you do if you suddenly discover you're flooding hostages, other than the idf say they have begun carefully testing it and that this method is being trialed on a limited, limited basis. some of the tunnels are thought to be five floors deep. some of the hostages who were freed have described them. this elderly hostage helped by her daughter. >> translator: we began walking inside the tunnels with wet ground. it was moist all the time. >> there are a huge network of tunnels underneath. it looks like a spiderweb. >> reporter: the idf says it will proceed cautiously to make sure they are not flooding tunnels where the hostages are being held. >> it's significant that more than six weeks into the ground campaign, this full-scale tunnel

problem is only now really becoming apparent. even controlling the streets above is not enough to locate all the tunnels, so flooding seems to be the new best option to really probe the extent of the invisible subterranean network. both destroying hamas hiding there and denying it their use. of course, a key caveat in success here is, if you can't find the tunnel and it's not connected to a system you're already flooding, how effective can you be about flooding it and knowing that you're hitting, destroying the whole of the tunnel network? nic robertson, cnn, london. >> for more, i'm joined by daphne richmond barack in israel. she's an assistant professor of diplomacy and strategy at like land's university school of government, also the author of

"underground warfare." to that point, you literally wrote the book on underground warfare. what do you make of the extent, the complexity of the hamas tunnel system we've seen so far and the sheer size of this most recently revealed tunnel? >> sure. hamas definitely has perfected the art of tunnel warfare. it has one of the most sophisticated, vast, and impressive tunnel networks ever seen in the history of warfare. even if you compare it to the network that was discovered by the u.s. forces shortly after 9/11 in afghanistan, this is by all means an enemy that has entrenched into the subterranean environment for almost two decades. so definitely it has figured out and it has overcome a lot of the disadvantages of this terrain. it has turned them to its

advantage. and today it has the upper hand in gaza thanks to this network. and this is why, without the destruction of hamas' vast military infrastructure underground, the war really cannot end. >> in a practical sense, how difficult would it be to totally destroy this tunnel network given its size? >> there are several methods available to neutralize tunnels, to render them temporarily unusable. there are very few methods to destroy, to eliminate, to carry out what they call a hard kill of the tunnel structure. meaning to collapse the walls and the ceiling of the structure so that it cannot be used again. and so the methods to destroy a tunnel network are very few and far between, and most of them are very destructive. if you look back at the history of warfare, the way that states have generally dealt or contended with subterranean threats is by deploying their most powerful weapons, and for

the most part, aerial weapons. so bunker buster bombs, b-52s, flame throwers, and pediatrician-guided strikes. >> yeah, the difficulty being, in an area as populated as gaza with 2 million people in an area 40 kilometers by 10 kilometers, that buildings problem mat nick a military sense. i want to ask you, gaza is one of the most surveilled places in the world. drones constantly overhead. myriad other intel resources directed at it. in a way, is it surprising that hamas in a military sense would use tunnels in a place like gaza? as opposed to operating above ground? it's not really surprising, is it? >> i don't think that the reason why hamas has made such deep use of the underground is because of the civilian populated area. i think it's more because of the strategic advantage that this terrain affords a terrorist group like hamas in a war

against an enemy that is militarily advanced and sophisticated. and the reason why i say that is because the underground, what it does is that it neutralizes the capabilities, the advance capabilities of the israeli defense forces, just as isis used the underground to neutralize the asymmetry betwewn itself and the coalitionon agait isis, both in syria and iraq. we see terrorist groroups in t lastst two decadades realllly u this terrain more and more. alal qaeda and islamic maghrhre isis, hezbollah at the border between israel and lebanon, and of course, hamas, whicich has made, as i said earlier, the most expensive use of this terrain. anand so what's underground is that it equalizes between the parties,s, it reduceces s asymm between the e partrties. this is the great appeal of the

underbrown, and the underground has maintaineded this appealal thoughgh the t technology hahas greatly improved in the last decade since "operation protective e edge," which was t latest grereat confrfrontation between hamas and israel. since then, israel understood that it had to ramp up its effofort when it came to tunnen warfare, and it has today probably the most sophisticated technology, but still, the challenge remains. subterranean warfare is always incredibly complex militarily, especially when combined with urban warfare. >> i was about to ask you that. when it comes to the use of tunnels in warfare and how they're used, how do they complicate, in this sense, the military strategy forth idf? the efforts to eliminate the tunnels, to eliminate hamas, but we have hostages in this sort of environment. >> tunnels complicate and change everything. they call for a rethinking of all the assumptions that usually

prevail on the battlefield. how do you secure the ground? how do you rescue soldiers? what kind of combat can you expect? you're looking at combat as soldiers very much alone underground. the traditional means of communication do not work. what kind of equipment do you send your soldiers with? i think looking back more specifically at what's going on in gaza right now, the he want israeli security agency called this war a war of tunnel shafts. the idf has been really surprised to find hundreds upon hundreds of tunnel holes in the ground. and these holes, they allow hamas fighters to pop in and out, to surprise the forces, to fire at them and then kind of hide again underground. so they present a major risk to the forces, and they of course -- first and foremost, i want to say, they threaten the civilian population that is above ground. they weaken the civilian

infrastructure. there are risks of collapses and explosives, explosions. and so these tunnels, they complicate military operations. but let's not forget in what precarious situation they also place the civilian population that lives in its vicinity. >> yeah, it's a complicater. daphne richmond barack, thank you for your time and your expertise. when we come back, donald trump on the campaign trail doubling down on his tirade against undocumented immigrants in a state with a large migrant and latino population. his incendiary rhetoric when we come back.

donald trump is vowing a harsh crackdown on illegal immigration if re-elected as president. at a rally in nevada on sunday, he stoked fears about migrants crossing the border from mexico,

claiming they were from mental institutions and prisons in other countries. trump also emphasized his plans for what he called, quote, the largest deportation in american history. >> given the unprecedented millions of biden illegal aliens who are invading our country, it is only common sense that when i'm re-elected, we will begin -- and we have no choice -- the largest deportation operation america has seen. >> those comments a day after trump accused undocumented immigrants of, quote, poisoning the blood of the country, a phrase that many have associated with adolf hitler-type language. u.s. senators are struggling to reach a deal on immigration reform even though democrats are hoping to have a vote this week. many republicans say that's probably not going to happen. cnn chief congressional correspondent manu raju with the latest.

>> reporter: senators have spent the weekend trying to see if they can get any sort of compromise on the issue of immigration, dealing with a surge at the southern border of mexico among migrants coming into the united states, changing border policy. things that have really eluded congress for decades. they want to try to get an agreement now in order to see if they can unlock aid to israel and ukraine. republicans have said the border must be dealt with first before they'll agree to green lighting billions of dollars in more aid to ukraine as well as aid to israel, which is why so much focus is on these talks that are happening in the senate. there's already blowback, some from the right, concern that republicans are giving away too much, not pushing for enough restrictive policies. a growing number of critics on the left worried about joe biden giving away too much, some flatly warning it could cost him at the ballot box. >> why do you think the president's struggling with has panic voters compared to last time? >> well, look.

i am not as worried about that yet. i think if we do go -- if he does go too far in the trump direction when it comes to this, it's going to be felt at the ballot box next year, no doubt about it. >> i am amazed that what is the equivalent of trumpian ideas is being promoted by president biden in a democratic white house. >> reporter: if they were able to get a deal, it would take time to draft the text, to get approval from the four different caucuses in the house and senate, actually set up the votes in the senate, which takes time. getting it out of the senate. the house is out until january. this would not even get approved until january. and we'll see how republicans and democrats alike react to any deal that is reached. it could potentially sink in the house as well. so many questions about whether they can get there. but negotiators say they've been making progress, but enough progress to get a deal that can pass both chambers?

that remains a huge question at this critical moment. the florida republican party has voted to censure its chair, christian ziegler, who's accused of raping a woman with whom he and his wife were planning a sexual encounter. in an emergency meeting sunday, the state party stopped short of removing ziegler, but they are stripping him of nearly all authority and cutting his salary to $1. ziegler and his wife, bridget, are being denounced for hypocrisy and accused of scandalous sexual behavior. bridget ziegler is a cofounder of the conservative group "moms for liberty" which calls itself a defender of family values. christian ziegler is not being charged with a crime. he says he is innocent. restoration of the notre dame cathedral has entered its final stages. coming up, the golden bird new roosting atop the gogothic lalandmark.

people around the world watched notre dame cathedral burn nearly four years ago. the restoration might not be on schedule to meet the original goal of reopening before the paris olympics, but an event over the weekend symbolizes the enormous progress that workers have made. flying high over the paris skyline, a golden rooster is hoisted to its new perch on top of the newly rebuilt spire of notre dame cathedral, scheduled to reopen in a year. the rooster, made of gold-colored copper, is a crowning milestone in the church's reconstruction after a blazing fire destroyed the roof of the historic structure 4 1/2 years ago.

>> translator: the rooster now means it's the very end of rebuilding of the spire. it stands 96 meters tall, and once the roofers will have covered the spire, we'll be able to take the scaffolding off and that's when parisians and everyone who walks past will be able to see this flamboyant rooster. >> reporter: the rooster is a longtime symbol of france, but this one, shining in the sunlight, is more like a phoenix rising from the ashes. its predecessor, a weathervane that sat atop a wooden spire, crashed through the ceiling of the cathedral in 2019 when it became engulfed in flames. workers say it's been a labor of love to help this new bird get off the ground. >> translator: it's something i'm really proud of, because you only do it once in your life. you don't do it twice. so it's going to be engraved in my memory for a very long time. >> before it was sent aloft, the

rooster was blessed by the archbishop of paris, who placed a tube inside it listing the names of hundreds who took part in the reconstruction. a week ago the french president, emmanuel macron, visited the construction site and said work was on track for the cathedral to reopen on december 8, 2024. >> translator: we saw the advancement of this worksite that seemed impossible come to reality. and for the first time, we came here not to mark the anniversary of the fire, but to mark one year before the reopening. >> the old rooster, battered and dented in the debris of the fire, will be displayed in a new museum. the new one will watch over the final stages of notre dame's restoration and hopefully the many years that follow. architects say they have installed a range of fire-proof features in the cathedral so this venerated church is never again reduced to ashes. f

fine. it's only rock 'n' roll, but i like it. rolling stones guitarist keith richards is celebrating his 80th birthday today, just months after mick jagger did the same. the two knew each other as teenagers, and the rest is history. richards created the iconic riff on their song "satisfaction" released nearly 60 years ago. the band is gearing up for their "hackney diamonds" tour next year, and it really is sponsored by aarp which, for nonamericans, is the american association of retired persons. who'd have thought? 80. thanks for spending part of your day whitmer. i'm michael holmes. you can follow me on twitter, x, and instagram @holmescnn. stay with us. "cnn newsroom" continues with the one and only rosemary church after this.

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