iran vows revenge after its top nuclear scientist was killed in an apparent assassination. the u.s. hits a new covid milestone, 13 million cases. the cdc prepares to decide who will get the first vaccine. and a new legal defeat for donald trump and some blistering words from the court. he tries to have legitimate election results overturned. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, i want to welcome our viewers here in the united states, canada, and around the world.

i'm paula newton and this is "cnn newsroom." the apparent assassination of iran's top nuclear scientist has sent shock waives around the world. with joe biden to be the new president, great uncertainty how iran may retaliate. he told his cabinet iran will respond to the murder, as he calls it, in time. iran's ambassador to the united nations demands the u.n. security council condemn the killing of him. his vehicle was ambushed on friday on a highway east of the capital tehran. no one has claimed responsibility for the attack but iran is pointing the finger

at israel. so faris rail has said absolutely nothing. anything peyton walsh explains the ice railly government has been complaining about him for years. >> reporter: iran's most nuclear scientist lived largely in the shadows, the force behind the nuclear weapons program gunned down friday in an apparent assassination. he was traveling east of tehran when the reports say his car was targeted by gunfire and a vehicle explosion. iran's defense ministry say he and his body guards were gravely wounded, succumbing to their injuries at the hospital. believed to be 59, he's said to have headed the area. u.s. and israeli intelligence

services say he was behind a secret program to design anatomic warhead. that effort was scrubbed in 2003 but it's claimed he continued to research by benjamin netanyahu in a 2018 conference. remember this name. he says the general aim is to announce the closure of project ahmad but then he adds, special activities, you know what that is, special activities will be carried out under the title of scientific know how developments. the israeli government had no response. several of his colleagues have been killed going back decades. >> it is a twofold effect. one is to slow down the program. the other one, which is something prime minister

netanyahu would want, is to get iran to do something that would make it impossible for the united states to engage iran after january 20th. >> iran has long denied that they plan to weaponize nuclear energy claiming he was merely an academic for years denying the iaea's request to interview him. they're vowing revenge for killing. they warn of, quote, severe revenge against the killers and terrorist murdered an eminent iranian scientist today. this cowardess with serious indications of israeli role shows desperate war mongering. they call on the eu to end their shameful double standards and condemn this act of terror. the death of fakhrizadeh is

aimed at limiting the options for president-elect joe biden to reopen diplomacy with iran, namely the 2015 nuclear deal, so near to broken in the past few months. anything peyton walsh, cnn, london. for some reaction cnn's oren lieberman is tracking the story from jerusalem. we begin with ramin in iran. iran reacting angrily. that part so far is predictable. what is not is whether or not they will go through with retaliation. >> paula, it is also the pressure from the grassroots and hard liners. as i talk to you in about 20 minutes or so, there are a group of people, young people of course, who will go to the foreign ministry to shout for the revenge.

preside president's government is to go for, a, not to go for any negotiations biden in post january 20 and at the same time, b, the government to have severe revenge. in 40 days will be the anniversary and also revenge for fakhrizadeh. the government of rouhani is under pressure given a dire economy situation, then you can see how it's a pressure for president rouhani and his

government at this moment while the international community is calling for something else and bear in mind that diplomacy is at a stake now and the negotiation chance for the president-elect biden is getting less and less. >> no doubt whoever carried this out knew it would make diplomacy much more difficult. we'll go to you, oren, in jerusalem. obviously jerusalem isn't going to say anything. from nick peyton walsh's report, he was a high value target for some time. that brings up the interesting target that they could have perhaps attempted an assassination, if it was israel, at any time. they chose to do it now, why, if in fact it was israel? >> reporter: an excellent point there. israel's official response has been no comment from the prime minister's office though we will see if and what responses are

made if the sabbath ends here in the next few hours. a lot is poisoning the well for the biden administration. the deliberate attempt to derail any attempted negotiations on the part of a biden administration, future administration, to try to get back to some nuclear agreement with iran. it was netanyahu who said there must be no return to a nuclear agreement with iran. the maximum pressure is exactly the way to continue going. the speech we saw in nick payton walsh's package, in 2018, a major attempt to convince president donald trump to leave the iran nuclear deal. netanyahu has always opposed the nuclear deal. he has always been in favor of the sanctions, what's called the maximum pressure campaign against iran, and that's not changing. you're absolutely right that he was very high on israel's essentially list of people to

keep track of. but when it comes to iran's nuclear program that is, was, and will be their deal. this has the hallmark of killings in the past blamed on israel. the question is, what is the response and what is israel judging at this point? at this moment the idf has not moved to high alert on the lebanese border or syrian border. israel's assessment is if iran were to react, it's not a knee-jerk reaction. it's well thought out and planned. >> indeed you do. if there's any official or nonofficial response. appreciate you both. we have international relations at the london school

of economics. he joins us now. there's a lot to untangle here. i'm really happy to see you because i can think of no one else better to help us do it. the question is what is the end game? it's clear that the timing was important for a reason. obviously most people are saying that as oren said, it is poisoning the well for a biden administration that is on the record, we should say, saying they want that nuclear deal with iran back in place. >> paula, the prime minister, the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, has a limited time, 50 days or so. i don't know if your viewers know, but israel has been attacking iranian targets in syria quite frequently on weekly basis. israel is widely believed to

have carried out major attacks in iran, inside iran, explosions and paramilitary attacks, and this particular attack fits the pattern. what the israeli prime minister is trying to do is provoke iran to retaliate and ultimately trigger an iranian am/american response. the israeli prime minister are basically anxious that the next u.s. administration will likely engage iran and salvage a deal. the next 50 days what you're seeing inside syria, iran, the assassination of iranian top nuclear scientists fits the pattern that israel is pushing to push iran back to the wall

and forcing them to retaliate. my take is that iran has shown restraint and they don't want to provide the pretexts and having the trump administration to carry out devastating attacks. >> what could change that calculus for snem it is clear iran has a lot to gain from a biden administration here, but it's not a done deal. it won't be a new done deal. we had ramin talk about the grassroots and talk about how difficult this is going to be for them to go back to the table with the u.s. government, any u.s. government. >> you're absolutely correct. any kind of deal between the biden administration and iran is going to be extremely difficult given what has happened in the past year or so. we're not just talking about the

killing of the top iranian scientist, we're also talking about the assassination of the top iranian general. if you were to ask me about the big picture, you have had the details from your many reporters in the field. if you ask me the big picture, we -- historians, i could be wrong, historians will look at this particular period about the trump administration because we say that some actions produce the opposite results and the unintended consequences is that the trump administration by putting out that the nuclear deal which iran which was signed by president obama and by israel assassinating the top scientist, it will not only complicate u.s./iranian relations, we will look at this particular period as basically a tipping point in speeding up iran's acquisition

of an electronic bomb. what you are going to see is not iran retaliating against israel and the u.s. now, what you'll see is a speedup p process by iran in order to acquire nuclear capacity which they have done in the past years. >> right. >> iran is on the way to becoming anatomic nuclear power thanks to what the trump administration has done. this might precipitation a major confrontation with the biden administration. we should not really lose sight of that. >> they do want to have a firm hand when they go back to the negotiating table. one of the issues that you talk about is the so-called breakout period has shrunk. they could be a few months from having a nuclear weapon. thank you very much for joining us. just a reminder to everyone, we are still awaiting response from israel. there's no indication or evidence they are the puns who

are responsible. next on "cnn newsroom," it's another defeat for president trump and his legal team. as a federal appeals court rejects his challenge of some pennsylvania ballots. and the court minced no words turning away the case. plus, u.s. officials are meeting next week to decide how a vaccine would get distributed and who should go first.

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that was my business gi, this one's casual. get set up right with a live bookkeeper with intuit quickbooks. trump campaign's latest effort to change the presidential outcome was squashed by another federal appeals court. unprecedented are just two of the terms used in the ruling. they have tried to use legal battles to overturn election results in key states. but that strategy has mostly ended in defeat as it did friday in pennsylvania. cnn's jessica snider has more. >> reporter: this is just the latest loss in what has been a string of more than two dozen losses for the trump campaign's legal team all spearheaded by rudy giuliani. friday's loss in the federal appeals court came from a panel

of three judges, one of whom was appointed by president trump. circuit judge wrote the campaign's claims have no merit. the number of ballots it specifically challenges is far smaller than the roughly 81,000 vote margin of victory and it never claims fraud or that any votes were cast by illegal voters. this is the exact sentiment we've heard from other judges both state and federal all across the country. they've repeatedly issued opinions that drill in on the fact that the trump campaign has put forward no proof of widespread fraud and what they're asking for is too drastic for any courts to grant. nevertheless, the trump campaign is vowing to once again appeal this time to the supreme court, but all indications are that the supreme court wants to stay out of this fight. in fact, there are several petitions pending before the nine justices right now challenging the ballots that

were received in pennsylvania after 8 p.m. on november 3rd. the supreme court has not acted on that so there is every indication they will not take up this latest appeal out of pennsylvania, especially since the vote has already been certified for joe biden there. jessica snider, cnn, washington. president-elect joe biden's campaign spokesman said about this court decision, this election is over and donald trump lost, both in pennsylvania and nationally. desperate and embarrassing meritless lawsuits like this one will continue to fail and will not change the fact that joe biden will be sworn in as president on january 20th, 2021. we want to dig in deeper to all of this with natasha from colchester, england. she is professor of government at university of essex. it has to be said, it is the president's prerogative to launch these legal salvos and the court's prerogative to shoot

them down. i guess what i'm wondering, what is the collateral damage between all of them? >> well, i think the main damage is what trump is trying to do to our confidence in our electoral processes. we have said many times that there was the shocking poll that 70% of republicans thought the election wasn't free and fair. that is incredibly damaging. we need to have complete belief in the legitimacy of our electoral processes, and he has really damaged this with all of these frivolous lawsuits that have gone nowhere. they're not going to go anywhere. he's already accepted that the writing is on the wall and he needs to move forward but they're expensive. when he tries to get a recount, for example, in georgia, this is going to be something the taxpayers there are going to have to pay for, and it's really wasting his efforts. he needs to be focusing on the

pandemic. >> it is a good point that it's a distraction for anyone, not the least of him, who's trying to deal with hopefully a pandemic. >> the recount in georgia. in wisconsin they had a recount, the partial one. the trump campaign had to pay for it, a few million dollars. it ended up with 132 more votes for president-elect biden. this isn't going anywhere. let me push back a little bit. when you look at the polls, republican voters, those that are really in favor of trump, the vast majority actually believe that there is something to his allegations. >> right. i think that's the danger here because the electoral commissions have said this is the most free and fair election in u.s. history, that everything went as smooth as possible. this was due to the great effort they put into ensuring the electoral processes were free

and fair. that's the danger here. there's no evidence of fraud. when they try to provide any evidence, they haven't been able to provide any of it. when they go to the courts they're careful about the way they talk about it. they don't use the word fraud. it's dangerous to speak to the media and the american public and say there are millions and millions of fraudulent votes out there. i think that's really probl problemat problematic. >> how will this affect the incoming biden administration? they have been trying to take down the temperature. they have the statement we read out today. they haven't been reacting too much. when you put all of this together, not just the challenges in courts, not just the recounts, but also this latest event in iran complicating things for the biden team coming in. what do you think the mission is here as trump is on his way out? >> i think the biden team has a really uphill battle here because there's a lot that they're going to feel they have

to reverse. there are a lot of relationships with global powers trump has hurt. trump has america first policy and rejected multi-lateralism. they have to restore the u.s.'s role of coalition building and try to also ensure allies that the u.s. is a more predictable ally. trump left the health organization, withdrew from the iran nuclear deal, trying to withdraw from the paris accord and withdrawing or trying to withdraw from nato. so there's a lot that biden has to do, not just internationally but if you look domestically, there's clearly a very divided nation. he has to restore trust in our institutions and engage in some sort of action across the aisle

so it looks like there's more bipartisan support across the policies they try to pursue. >> yeah, it certainly is, as you said, an uphill battle and not many days to go since they just formally started with the transition last week. thanks very much. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me. good news for france as coronavirus numbers there start heading in the right direction. just ahead, we'll take a look at how the country will start easing restrictions this weekend. thunk, turn the temperature down.

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newton and this is "cnn newsroom." the u.s. crossed another sobering coronavirus milestone on friday. more than 13 million cases have been confirmed to date and more than 265,000 deaths but there is of course some good news on the vaccine front. u.s. federal aviation administration says it has supported the first mass air shipment of the covid vaccine and it says it will prioritize future flights carrying the vaccine. cnn's alexandra field has more on how the pandemic is weighing on the holiday weekend. >> reporter: the season usually filled with cheer is here, but the pain across the country only deepening. >> i expect that the daily death rate will double in the next ten days. so we'll be seeing close to 4,000 deaths a day. >> reporter: more than 90,000 americans spent thanksgiving in a hospital bed. another record-setting day for the 17th day.

>> hospitals are full already. icus are full. in places like el paso we've been talking about accessing military hospitals. in other parts of the country, you know, we're standing up field hospitals. >> reporter: deaths this week already at their highest levels since may are forecasted to climb by 60,000 in the next three weeks and health officials continue to warn about the holiday surge upon a surge. >> if you are with your family yesterday, stay home for the next couple weeks while we -- while you make sure that you observe quarantine. >> reporter: the cdc recommended people stay home for the holiday last week. since then around 6.5 million have passed through security at america's airports. more than a million of them flew on the day before thanksgiving. that's record travel during the pandemic, but the busiest travel day is still to come expected on sunday. >> what i can say is for travel is that there really is no zero risk at the moment. >> reporter: the pandemic hasn't

put an end to black friday either. deal hunters still lining up at some stores, but this thanksgiving weekend won't be all about football. 11 college football games canceled or postponed this week because of covid. positive tests also reported in the pros including within the browns, falcons, broncos, and ravens star quarterback lamar jackson. the race towards a vaccine lately fueling more optimism but now some confusion. a dosing mishap in astrazeneca's trial gave them less dosage but it was more effective than the planned dose leading to broader questions about their trial, but without any vaccines available yet, more places keep adding new restrictions. in texas, houston's mayor is eyeing a curfew. >> basically we're going to look at people's behavior. we're going to look at the degree of community spread but as the positivity rate goes up, i won't take anything off the

table. >> reporter: but in florida where they're reporting 6,000 new cases a day, a decision from republican governor ron desantis to extend an order that rolls back virtually every covid-related mandate. >> reporter: on the vaccine front we're learning cdc advisers will meet next week on tuesday, december 1st to vote on who will get the first doses of the vaccine. draft recommendations have suggested early doses will go to health care workers. others in that group could include people who are likely to get the disease, to spread it, and to suffer the most severe consequences of it like nursing home residents, for example. but no one will be getting any vaccine until it receives that emergency use authorization from the fda. in new york, alexandra field, cnn. the situation in the united states, meantime, many countries in europe are struggling to contain the second wave of the coronavirus. germany surpassed 1 million cases friday after it confirmed more than 20,000 new infections.

that's according to johns hopkins university. this comes as chancellor angela merkel said restrictions and a partial lockdown would last until december 20th. france is set to begin easing its restrictions this weekend. icu and positivity rates have been declining during the past week. for more on all of this, we're joined by cnn's jim bidderman. good news, we haven't had a lot of it. i've been interested to see the different approaches in europe, especially now as it comes to the holidays. this is good news for france at least. >> reporter: well, absolutely, paula. in fact, after a month of lockdown, a very tough month of lockdown, things are starting to ease up slightly but ever so slightly. shops, stores, hair dressers can open this morning. people can circulate more than up to 20 kilometers from their front door. up to now it was only a

kilometer. they can stay out for three hours. places of worship are reopening. shops and stores, this is the time of year when they make about 20% of their income. the month lead up before christmas so they're quite anxious. the customers as well were anxious to get their christmas shopping underway. we saw one department store, big department store this morning, where a number of people were -- the clients were lined up out front and the various employees of the store were all lined up in double rows to applaud the incoming clients. a great deal of relief even if it's a very small step, paula. >> yeah. it's poignant you say that. so many small businesses suffering through this. in terms of how they're going to handle the holidays, do you think there may be a change depending what happens in the next few weeks? macron has made it very clear the health care system has to be

protected. >> reporter: exactly. he said everything is contingent on the numbers. on the 15th of december they're planning to open up cinemas, theaters, what have you here if the numbers are going in the right direction. curfews remaining in place through december except for christmas eve and new year's eve and into january and the first opening of the bars, restaurants, cafes, so much a part of life here, paula, as you well know, won't be until at the earliest january 20th. so still some distance off. across europe the picture is really different in every country depending on how the countries are grappling with this idea of how to get through the holidays. in brittain they have this idea of a christmas bubble which will go from the 23rd through the 28th of december in which you can get together in a number of three households but no more. in northern ireland is in the midst of a very severe circuit

breaker lockdown right now hoping to get the numbers down for christmas. in germany, merkel is saying not going to be another announcement, everything is going to stay in place until december 20th not making any plans for what the christmas traditions might be. it's a little bit different in every country. the italian prime minister said this is going to be a different christmas, and that's certainly true. >> absolutely, as we all brace for what that is going to mean in the next few weeks. cnn's jim bittermann in pair race, appreciate it. the cdc has called an emergency meeting for tuesday. it intends to vote on recommendations of who will receive the coronavirus vaccine first. that is once the fda issues its own authorization. want to talk more about this with an associate professor of molecular virology. thanks so much for joining us. a lot of questions about the vaccine and the vaccine

approval. i want to talk about the vaccine approvals going on too quickly. if i understood you correctly, do you feel they are approving them too quickly or they can do it in a short order? >> i think it's important to understand that regulatory bodies have been working hand in hand with the companies to see whether or not vaccines are safe and effective. now what we've seen in the last couple of weeks is that in emergency situations, people working overtime, critical conditions, mistakes happen, as have happened with the astrazeneca vaccine. it's essential we maintain transparency and clear lines of

communication with the agencies and pharmaceutical companies. unfortunately you and i are sitting outside of that bubble, if you like, of the communication. we do not get to see all of the data. much as we would love to, those of us who are appropriately trained. this is how the system works. there is a group of highly expert individuals created by regulatory bodies and they review the data. as long as they keep the data open, we're going to be in good hands. there's no such thing as a perfectly safe vaccine. water isn't safe if you drink too much of it. we have these emergency use approvals with a continuing gathering of data so anything potentially untoward is caught as quickly as possible and we make sure we're mitigated as

fast as possible. for the average person this is not worth worrying over. for the first month of vaccination and for the second days after the booster we are still vulnerable to the disease. second of all, it will last us as a minimum six months, probably a year. no one knows after that. lest we get ourselves too far that this will open up immediately. >> so many good points. we talked about the astrazeneca and oxford university vaccine whmpt it goes to the data and the dosing, what more do you think needs to be seen? because this has confused everyone. even when you speak to people involved in the study, they themselves say they do not know what is at work there. >> yes. so i don't know either. i'm not part of the study and i can't, you know, bring much light on it, if you like. what i can say, the regulatory bodies worldwide had said 50%

perfection and efficacy would have been good enough, okay? the oxford vaccine has exceeded that whether it's 60% or some cohort suggest 90% if you get half the dose. the point is the originally defined barrier has been exceeded and therefore if the vaccine is safe, it's worth distributing it. we cannot throw the baby out with the bath water because much as i love the technology, i spent all of my career researching our futures. much as i love that moderna is so good, they need a minus 100 degree freezer. we need something that will be useful for the wide community and useful for the world all over, not just us. >> as many people pointed out,

it's not the vaccine, it's the vaccination that's important. if you are dealing with less efficient, effective, that's okay if you're able to distribute it to more people. once i get you go, once we start to see those vaccinationness a small portion of the population, especially if it goes to the vulnerable, do you see a lot of this virus subsiding by the week and month? >> no, no, no, no, no. once we get the physicians, nurses, vulnerable straightaway, the rest of us should understand we don't flow what the long term effects of the virus are. we don't know what it means yet and you do not want to find yourself on that side of the population or demographic with protracted fatigue for the rest of your life.

there are people who have gone through the first wave of the infection and still experiencing fatigue, low grade fever symptoms and they debilitate their everyday lives. you don't want to end up dead but you don't want to end up with serious problems. so be careful about yourself. >> yeah. we are all going to be thrilled when we see those first doses. don't get your hopes up too soon. thanks very much. appreciate it. >> you're very well joom allegations of police brutality are enraging people in france. after the break, incriminating videos. a controversial bill. we'll take i look at the outrage and protests that are now sweeping the country. out the con fees. so, you can start investing today wherever you are - even hanging with your dog. so, what are you waiting for? download now and get your first stock on us. robinhood.

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safety and convenience of xfinity home. and don't forget to catch the croods, a new age now in theaters. rated pg. there is outrage in france after footage of police beating a black man was leaked.

four officers have now been suspended. this comes as the country is also reeling from other allegations of police brutality. cnn's melissa bell has more. >> reporter: the images have shocked even the french president according to a spokesman. they were captured by a security camera inside his paris music studio. you can see the music producer being violently beaten up by police officers. images that were published on wednesday night. by thursday morning an investigation had been opened and police say the officers have been suspended. >> these images are unspeakable, extremely shocking and as soon as i learned about them and what happened, i asked for the suspension of those police officers. >> reporter:? in a statement on friday four officers have been summoned and would be taken into custody to be heard by the internal discipline. michelle is still in hospital by his lawyer.

he was ducking away from them because he was not wearing a mask and. >> translator: of course i was scared. i had my phone in my hand. there was a policeman pointing a gun in his hand hiding. what was that about? was i armed too? are they going to shoot as soon as they have an angle? of course, i'm he afraid. the people have to protect me, pointing their guns at me. >> reporter: it's unknown if the officers have attorneys. they made no public statement. cnn affiliate says the officer's report said they smelled marriage when they encountered zecler. he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice since they accused him of trying to take their weapons. >> translator: if we didn't have these videos and i hadn't acted as i had, unfortunately my client would be under committal order today. >> reporter: the investigation into what happened is the second one relating to allegations of

police brutality opened in france this week. the other surrounds pictures taken of the dismantling of a migrant camp on monday. images showing them chasing people down the streets. an investigation is underway. >> translator: i would like to say to the police that i support them unfailingly, but the quid pro quo, obviously the interior minister's demand for absolute respect for law and ethics. >> reporter: the two investigations come in the very weeks that france's national assembly limits the puck cablic of photos. protestors are marching against a bill that will make it harder to hold the police to account and many wondering whether it is the police that needs protection from harm. melissa bell, cnn, paris. coming up, a tantalizing mystery in the utah desert.

a tall metal pillar sticking out of the ground in one of america's most remote spots. who found it and who put it there? a cnn mystery.

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no, not a movie set. a parliament setting in taiwan that evolved into a vicious brawl. the main opposition party started throwing buckets of pig guts at the premiere. now at the heart of the bitter dispute some lawmakers are angry the government will soon allow imports of u.s. pork containing an additive that's ban in the european union in china. taiwan's president posted that taiwan is a free market and people are not forced to eat the meat. they condemned the chaos saying it was a waste of food and, quote, disgusting. they're right about that. now the great willederness writer edward abby said the desert wears a veil of mystery. now in the hinterlands of southern utah there's a mystery,

indeed. astonished pilots have discovered a worldly monolith standing tall and silent among the rocks. andrew adams of cnn affiliate ksl has a look. >> reporter: captain's log, star date 11/18/2020. the crew of the utah dps helicopter traveled to count big horned and he was like, turn around. there's this thing back there. we have to go look at it. >> the crew spotted an object. >> the intrepid explorers go down to investigate the alien life form. >> reporter: in the middle of the desert stood a mysterious monolith. >> it's between 10 and 12 feet high. >> that's wild. >> if one of us disappears, the rest make a run for it. >> reporter: it didn't look like

it was dropped there, it was firmly planted into the ground. >> is this some nasa stuff? bouncing satellites off of it? >> reporter: it seemed less scientific and more artistic. >> i'm assuming it's a new waive arti artist. >> reporter: the similarity to the space movie was unmistakable as was the bizarre effect it had on openers. >> it was unusual. >> reporter: the universe is filled with the unexplained and this journey to southern utah only raised more questions. as the crew headed home, they only wished they had the answers. >> yeah, we've never -- that's been about the strangest thing that i've come across out there in all the years of flying. >> i bet. now utah's department of public safety says it doesn't yet know who or what placed the monolith, and we will bring that story to you when they find that out.

that wraps this hour of "cnn newsroom." i'm paula newton. i'll be back in just a moment with more news.

♪ he's accuse israeli of assassinating a top scientist. dire predictions as americans ignore warn, for travel on the holidays. and president trump still spreading misinformation as his legal team suffers yet another defeat. live from cnn headquarters in atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the united states