-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom." and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, the team that will accompany joe biden into the white house takes shape, how it's making history, and the other key appointments we're expecting. america's top health officials warn dark days are coming, as the country braces for a coronavirus surge. and mourning mixes with rage in

iran amid the funeral for its top nuclear scientist. ♪ good to have you with us. u.s. president-elect joe biden will receive his first presidential briefing today, as his cabinet and inner circle come further into focus. his economic team is set to be the latest announcement in the hours ahead. cnn's mj lee has the details on that and why biden made a weekend visit to the doctor. >> reporter: president-elect joe biden paying a visit to the doctor's office on sunday, the transition office announcing on sunday that on saturday he had an incident where he was playing with his dog, major, slipped and hurt his ankle.

he visited an orthopedist. the x-rays showed he did have a sprain in his right foot. the biden transition team also making a slew of announcements as well, including key women who will be serving in white house communications team. some names worth mentioning include kate bedingfield, who is being named the white house communications director, jen sochi, who will be standing behind the podium as press secretary. we also have symone sanders who will be chief spokesperson for vice president kamala harris and kareen jean-pierre who is being named press secretary. the biden transition team is expected to formally announce key members of biden's economic team including janet yellen, who is expected to be named his treasury secretary. she would be the first woman to serve in that role if she is affirmed.

two other names worth mentioning, neera tanden. she is going to be named biden's head of the office of management and budget. and we also have cecelia rouse who will be named head of council of economic advisers. this is a group of women who will have their work cut out for them because they will be spearheading the economic recovery effort in the middle of covid-19 pandemic. mj lee, cnn, wilmington, delaware. meantime, top health officials are calling on americans to get tested for the coronavirus after millions of people travelled over the thanksgiving holiday despite warnings not to. it is a situation that is urgent, and here's why. right now more americans are hospitalized with the virus than at any other point in the pandemic. the number is now at more than 93,000. that's according to the covid tracking project.

and data tracked by johns hopkins university show cases will spike in the next two weeks just ahead of christmas. >> i want to be straight with the american people. it's going to get worse over the next several weeks. >> as we go through the next couple of weeks into december, that we might see a surge superimposed upon that surge that we're already in. >> cnn's natasha chen has more from the world's busiest airport on what is typically the busiest travel day of the year. >> reporter: i talked to some people arriving home to atlanta after traveling for the holidays, and their experiences varied depending on which airports they came from around the country. sunday was the busiest travel day of the entire thanksgiving week at the atlanta airport. officials here estimated 190,000

people coming through on sunday. that's still about a third of the travellers they saw this time last year. i talked to someone who was traveling for the very first time since the pandemic began. >> reporter: i was a little nervous because it was the first time going out. charleston was really, really empty this morning, the airport. and atlanta is always busy. so, it was just very different for us to just have this -- the airport itself, everything is really nice and safe. i feel like it's safe. >> reporter: people did describe how tough it was to make the decision with their family on whether to travel for the holidays. those who did travel tell me that they do plan on getting tested after they get home. in one case someone said they would self-quarantine for 14 days. the tsa says they screened more than a million passengers on at

least three separate days during the thanksgiving week. that's a sharp increase in passenger traffic because that record was only hit one other time since the pandemic began. back to you. >> thanks for that report. well, as the u.s. struggles to contain the pandemic, restrictions vary state by state and even between cities. inial ka c inial california, cases and hospit hospitalizations tick higher. in new york, some measures will soon be lifted. mayor bill de blasio says many public schools can reopen to begin in-person learning in early december. dr. jorge rodriguez joins me now. thank you, doctor, for being with us and for all you do. >> my pleasure. thank you. >> let's start with the positive news two, safe and effective covid-19 vaccines awaiting approval, poised to offer e are

leaf in the midst of this pandemic. on tuesday, the cdc will hold an emergency meeting to vote on who should get the vaccine first. so, who do you think should be lined up initially to take these vaccines once they're approved? >> well, i think, you know, it's almost like being on an airplane. if you're the adult, you need to put your mask on first. so, we need to provide that vaccine to people that are on the frontlines, physicians in emergency rooms, nurses, radiology technicians, people that are in grocery stores that we don't really are first line people in this country, policemen, firemen. i think those people need to get it first along with the people that are at highest risks, meaning people over a certain age, people that have secondary medical conditions that put them at risk. once we inoculate, vaccinate those people, then i think we can go into the general population. but we need to prevent those

people grfrom getting sick firs. >> absolutely understand that. and doctor, when this vaccine is available to the general public -- and of course we don't really have a firm timeline on that -- how do you make sure the second dose is available and ready to go when people turn up three weeks or four weeks after the first dose? and how do you convince people they can trust these vaccines? because the polls show that that's a little bit of a rocky area. >> it is. well, answer me answer the first part of the question. i'm assuming that when they give someone a vaccine that they have already safeguarded and have allotted their second dose. so, i don't think they would give anybody a first dose -- i would hope not -- without assuring they're going to have that second dose ready because otherwise it's for not. it won't do any good. so, i am trusting that the first dose will come with a reserved second dose. and how do you get people to

trust vaccines? you know, that's a good one. and all we can do is continue to tell the truth here. when you hear how many people are dying per day in this country, how many millions of people have been affected throughout the world, hopefully that'll be enough of an impetus for people to take us. but what i really would like people to know is that there's very little chance, very little chance, for us to go back to a normal way of living without a vaccination. and not just a vaccine because the vaccine is no good unless it becomes a vaccination. >> yeah, absolutely. and of course the efficacy of these two covid-19 vaccines so much higher than the flu shot, which is only been able to get about, what, 45% of adults to take it. >> correct. >> so, hopefully that will change. but on average one american life is lost every minute to covid-19. but we just saw millions of

americans travel for thanksgiving, and now christmas is just around the corner. how concerned are you about the consequences of these superspreader holidays and the behavior of some people during this risky time? >> i'm very concerned. i go, i oscillate between just being mad and really bitter about it and being terribly worried. i don't know why people just don't understand the facts, which are without doubt, if you go to the health.org website, covid19.health.org, i think, it will show you all the charts that have been right on the money. if we don't right now, today, everybody start wearing masks, there will be approximately 3,000 to 4,000 people dying in this country every day, double what is occurring today, which is double what was occurring a

month ago which was double what was occurring the month before that. and it is just increasing. so, you know, we can't grab everybody and shake them to realize this. and appealing to people's humanity doesn't seem to be working either. so, ooii'm at a loss. i'm at a loss. i just hope that people realize this is not a joke. this is not a drill. and it just keeps getting worse. >> yeah, i am an at an absolute loss as well. i just cannot get my head around it. dr. jorge rodriguez, thank you so much and again for everything you do. >> thank you. well, japan is reporting a sharp increase in new coronavirus cases. the health ministry recorded more than 2,000 on sunday. a day earlier japan reported more than 2,600 new cases. that's its highest single day increase since the pandemic began. cnn's paula hancock joins us now. good to see you paula. what is behind this spike in

cases, given the japanese people are very receptive to wearing masks? >> rosemary, there's a number of things that experts are pointing to that could be behind these rises not just in japan but also in other countries that have kuhn well up until this point, south korea, hong kong, for example. what we're seeing in japan is that as these numbers are growing quite significantly that the government's tried to step in and bringing more restrictions. but quite a few of them are just suggestions at this point rather than mandating restrictions. but things like restaurants that serve alcohol, things like karaoke bars. they are now going to be closed or at least they're appealing to those places to close early so they can try and curtail the amount of time that people are spending at them. and of course people are spending a lot more time inside. this is something we were experiencing in the northern hemisphere. it's something that has come to

fruition. as it gets colder, we're staying inside and seeing the number of patients rise. we are seeing the patients at 462. that's the highest number since the pandemic began. so, that's certainly of certain for officials. now, a similar situation here in south korea. we have seen numbers above 500 for three consecutive days. they've dipped to just over 400 for sunday, but we do know there's lest testing that happens on a weekend. and here in south korea, one of the issues officials say they have is that these clusters are very numerous. they're not looking at just a few clusters. they can contact trace which makes it much more difficult. >> paula hancocks bricking us the latest there. appreciate that. the funeral for a top nuclear scientist is underway in iran. i'll talk to a security analyst about how and when iran is

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held for a chief iranian nuclear scientist killed in a brazen assassination. moez mo mohs mohs mohsen fakhrizadeh cuz killed outside tehran on saturday. he was considered one of the masterminds of iran's controversial nuclear programs. for more on this, let's turn to cnn's fred polite gwen. president rouhani has vowed to respond at the right time. what might he mean by that and what considerations might he be weighing up? >> i think there's a lot of considerations. there's a lot of anger within the power structure but within the general population at the assassination of mohsen fakhrizadeh who was a revered scientist in iran.

and essentially right now there's sort of two -- i wouldn't say schools of thought but two different directions going on when and how iran is supposed to or should respond. first of all you have the iranian hard liners in the orbit of the iran supreme leader and the security services as well, especially the elite revolutionary guard corp. saying iran needs to respond swiftly but also in a harsh way because they believe otherwise there could be invitation to others to conduct operations within iran to weaken the islamic republic itself. the iranians are saying that a lot points to israel being involved in all of this. they certainly believe israel would be in ka hoots with the united states and some of their allies in the middle east. there are some calling for a swift and harsh response. then you have those, as you mentioned, around president rouhani, who are the more moderates in iran saying iran really needs to take their time. they believe that israel and the

united states are trying to bait iran into irrational moves, especially in the last days of tluf trump administration because many in the u.s. believe there could be better times ahead dealing with the biden administration than dealing with the trump administration. so, the moderates are saying don't go too fast. think about what you want to do. there are some calling for a harsher and faster response as well. >> fred polite gwen joining us as well there. for more on how iran could respond to fakhrizadeh's killing, let's turn to our senior research fellow in middle east security at the royal united services institute. thank you so much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> so, iran's president vows revenge, but what are the limited options available when considering a response to this assassination? and how much of this will be about saving face? >> yeah, i think it's a great

question. i think my sense is that iran is really unlikely to respond in a proportionate manner for the time being. and this is a manner both of capability battles of strategic calculation. we have seen the attempts of iran during previous assassination of nuclear scientists being foiled. and we know these things require time to be planned and carried out. so, i don't think it's really feasible to see something like that happening in the short term. and i think the response to the killing of soleimani earlier in the year is an indication of that. iran probably could carry out a face-saving response similar to what we have seen in iraq. but a more proportionate retaliation is likely to take place in the short run. and this is obviously also a matter of calculations. and you can see that from the

statements coming out of iran from various officials that the main message in response will come in due time. and i think that the second message is that really that iran feels this was a trap and wants to avoid being drawn into that confrontation at a time which at least some in iran have a hope that a change in u.s. policy is about to happen. >> who do you think was behind this assassination and what was the intent? how relevant was the timing of this? >> well, i think fingers within iran point in israeli direction. and i think there are similarities at least from the reports, conflicting reports th that we are seeing with previous assassination as well. i think it would be con ssisten with the israeli rhetoric and concerns when it comes to the iranian program that such an

assassination took place, especially right now. there is obviously a concern that a change in the u.s. administration will change the calculation and the policy from the u.s. side towards iran drawing closer toward negotiation, potential for getting back to the nuclear deal, tdea deal. i think there might have been a calculation there both to try to take out a figure that has been long-considered as key to the iranian nuclear program before the new administration comes in, but also to potentially spoil the chances of negotiation or render them much more tricky when biden comes in. >> yeah, because this assassination does limit the options available to u.s. president-elect joe biden, doesn't it, when he takes office in january 20th. how should he deal with iran's nuclear ambitions going forward? >> look, i think the biden administration has been already very clear in what are the goals

and strategies early on when it comes to iran. i think the first step from their side will be to try to get back to the jcpoa, not because it's the legacy of the obama administration or it's something that was great in the past but because really that seemed to be the only manner in which at least temporarily the iranian nuclear ambitions could be capped. so, i think these stands as consideration from the biden administration up until today. from the iranian side, yes. it's true the assassination makes things muchl more challenging, i think especially from a perception of threat and vulnerability that iran has and makes the calculations much more tricky. but i think there is really still a sense that engagement is possible, that the two sides should come together, and for

this escalation in the region to reduce, the only way really is for dialogue to reprise. >> thank you so much for your analysis. appreciate. >> my pleasure. thank you, rosemary. white house senior adviser jared kushner will travel to saudi arabia and qatar this week in a bid to solve an ongoing rift between the two countries. that is according to a senior administration official. kushner will meet with both the saudi crown prince and amir of atar. it's not the first time the u.s. has tried to strike a deal between the two countries. u.s. president donald trump remains forensic tated on the election results, as he continues repeating his false claims of a, quote, rigged election. we will have the latest from the white house. plus november is coming to a close with record numbers for wall street and a lot of that's been driven by joe biden. and look at his impact on the markets. that's next.

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the biden transition is in full swing. president-elect joe biden will get his first presidential daily briefing on monday. he's also building, as promised during the campaign, a government as diverse as america. he has announced an all-female senior white house communications team. and cnn has learned he is set to name key member of his economic team on monday, including the long expected announcement of janet yellen as treasury secretary and two other women in top roles.

meanwhile biden's victory over president donald trump in wisconsin was reaffirmed after a recount was completed in one of the state's largest counties. but that didn't stop mr. trump from ranting about non-existent election fraud on fox news. take a listen. >> this is total fraud and how the fbi and department of justice -- i don't know, maybe they're involved. but how people are allowed to get away with this stuff is unbelievable. this election was rigged. this is the essence of our country. this is the whole ball game. and they cheated. joe biden did not get 80 million votes. >> he did get 80 million votes. it was not rigged. cnn's jeremy diamond is following that story and has details of that interview. >> reporter: well, it was a stunning 45 minutes of lies,

delusion, and disbelief from the president of the united states on sunday, as he phoned in to a fox news program for something that really didn't resemble an interview but more of a conversation with the host of the show even encouraging the president as he made these false claims and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. the president continuing to make these baseless claims even in the face of the mounting evidence against his case, 30 plus lawsuits brought forward by the president's campaign and their allies have been dismissed or withdrawn by those legal teams in state and federal courts in key battleground states across the country. one of the latest blows to the president's attempts to claim voter fraud coming in a series of federal cases in the state of pennsylvania, with one particularly strong rebuke from a trump appointed judge, stephanos bibas. he wrote this, calling an election unfair does not make it so. charges require specific allegations and then proof. we have neither here. the campaign's claims have no merit. that goes to push back against all the claims of thrown out ballots that the president was

making, election observers not being allowed in the room. all of that debunked by these legal cases. the president also continues to make this conspiracy theory about voting systems deleting or switching votes that were intended for him to president-elect joe biden. that was somewhere that even ronna mcdaniel, the chairwoman of the republican party, she wasn't willing to go that far as she campaigned in georgia. listen. >> by switching the votes and we should go there in crazy numbers and they should have won but then they're still -- >> yeah, we have to -- we didn't see that in the audit, so we've got to just -- that evidence i haven't seen. so, we'll wait and see on that. >> reporter: and president's efforts to call this election rigged also running into road blocks as it relates to key recounts in the state of georgia that confirmed the results of the victory for joe biden, where

the two recounts in the counties in state of wisconsin paid for by donald trump's campaign, $3 million recounts that sends more votes to joe biden, confirming joe biden's victory there. the president did make clear this, even as he said earlier this week he would leave the white house january 20th if the electoral college confirms joe biden's victory in the 2020 election, he also said he's not going to abandon the notion that the election was rigged. as false and baseless as it may be, the president saying even suks months from now he will still maintain that this election was strollen from him. jeremy diamond, cnn, the white house. jessica levin sin joins me now. good to have you with us. >> thanks for having me back. >> in his first tv interview, donald trump we want on a rant on fox news completely unchallenged by the interviewer. he again falsely claimed the election was rigged even go so far as to claim his own justice department and the fbi of being

involved. he has no evidence to prove any of this, and yet so many republicans believe him. how dangerous are all these baseless claims, and what impact could they potentially have on this democracy and joe biden's future leadership? >> yeah, so, i think the short answer is not that dangerous right now in the sense that guardrails are holding in america. donald trump has won one fairly insignificant case. he's won 39 cases varying in degrees from not that big to real blig. so, the judiciary have stood as a guardrail. they have rejected president trump's baseless claims. in terms of how much damage this will do, we have to see if trump is an aberration or a power. we have to see what president trump does when he's former

president trump, how much he tries to keep the spotlight. >> yeah, we'll keep an eye on that of course. while fox news failed to challenge the president, a trump appointed federal judge wasn't afraid to do so saying in response to trump's pennsylvania lawsuit, calling an election fair doesn't make it so. charges require specific allegations and proof. he added we have neither here. the campaign's claims have no merit. so, jessica, trump knows the courts reject his false claims outright, and he's now using fox news to spread his conspiracy theories. why would the republican party go along with this, especially given it could backfire in the two run off elections in georgia on january 5th. and it looks like that is happening right now. >> absolutely. and i think that's why we see this division in georgia with the secretary of state and the governor saying essentially don't worry that much about the

election. actually it was okay and look at what president trump's own administration said. this was the safest election that we've ever held. and we see this division between republican in georgia who have to convince voters that they should come back and vote in the run off and trust the system. and then the republicans who will stay with president trump no matter what. and i think that second group is dwindling. and in part because of what you see in the question, which is a trump-appointed judge had a tour deforce opinion where he said in no uncertain terms, this is baseless. he wrote in an opinion there's nothing to be appealed to the supreme court. there's no legal question at issue. >> it speaks volumes. meantime president-elect joe biden made and announced an all-female senior white house communications team and is set to announce his top economic team in the hours ahead. how significant is that in terms of this polar opposite

administration in waiting? >> well, i think that's exactly what it is. i think that president-elect biden is really going to try and swing the pendulum back and say i'm going to right the ship. we're going to back to a status quo, but then also push it a little farther into a place he wants it to be, where we look at senior communication staff. and it's not news that they're all women. where we look at vice president of the united states where it's normal that there's a woman and a woman of color who's in a position of power. it's norm that will you walk into any room where the ladders of power of the government are being pulled and you should see women there. i think that will continue to be part of what he's doing. but notice he's picking people based on expertise and experience. he did this with his covid relief team. he's doing this with the communications team, with the national security team. this is a list with résumes longer than you have paper to print on.

>> thanks for your analysis. we appreciate it. . >> thank you. and investors will be closely watching president-elect joe biden when he formally names members of his economic team later today. john defterios joins me now. good to see you, john. markets reacted well to early indications january et yellen we named. how will global markets likely respond? >> well, i think it just takes it to another level, if you will, rosemary, the official stamp of approval from the joe biden. they'll need senate clearance. but i don't see any indications there will be any resistance. so, this is very positive for not only u.s. investors but global investors. and i think in fact the global community has done a fantastic job of shutting out the noise, if it's a twitter storm over the weekend or fox business news. they don't buy it and they're moving on, if you will. let's look at the pick.

the number one you were talking about there also with our analysts from the united states is janet yellen serving as treasury secretary. joe biden picking her as the first woman to be in that post. very widely seen as working with jerome powell. janet yellen served as vice chair and chair of that institution in the past. and also the thought that everybody decision would be a sensible one. that's the view not only in the united states but far beyond wall street. let's take a look at the tally of the surge in november, the s&p500 up 11%, the united states at a record. and then we have the global index, 13%. and look at the european markets, both and paris and milan surging trying to catch up with the gains we've seen in the united states. we have a data point, if you will with china with the vaccine distribution. so, different political set up, military set up, security set up. but we see the factory orders have surged to a three year high of 6.6%.

that won't be the same playbook, if you will, for the united states and europe. but there's a thought that this time next year, we should have herd immunity because of the vaccines. and if that's the case, the markets right now are a lead indicator of what's to come, rosemary. >> john defterios, many thanks for that analysis. appreciate it. more than 100 people are dead after a gruesome attack on nigerian villages. just ahead as the victims are aleied to rest, we will find out which terror group is suspected in this attack. ol dermatologists use to fight wrinkles? it's what i use! neutrogena®. the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists. rapid wrinkle repair® visibly smooths fine lines in 1 week. deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles... and other wrinkle creams goodbye! rapid wrinkle repair®. pair with our most concentrated retinol ever for 2x the power.

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the head of the un refugee agency is calling for millions in aid to help refugees who have fled to sudan to escape fighting in ethiopia's tig way region. thousands of people may have been killed in the conflict according to the un and tens of thousands have left for sudan

since fighting began in early november. ethiopia's government says federal forces took control of the regional capital on saturday, but on sunday rebels claimed to have shot down a military plane and retaken a town. a communications blackout makes all claims difficult to verify. we are tracking news of a horrific attack in north eastern nigeria and a warning some of what you're about to see is disturbing. a un official says at least 110 civilians were killed on saturday when a farming community was attacked near the capital of boar know state. funerals for many of the victims were held on sunday. boca he ran militants are suspected of the attack. let's bring in cnn international correspondent arwa damon. arwa, the details are

horrifying. what more are you learning about this brutal attack? >> reporter: it's absolutely hair raising, rosemary, and quite gutting when you think about everything that these communities have been through in borno state when it comes to the violence that has been wrought on them, the economic security, the economic challenges they all face. what we do know from eyewitnesses is that these attackers arrived on motorcycles. they killed some people on the spot. others were taken away. and according to some accounts beheaded. others still remain missing. and now these remote communities are trying to come to grips with what it is they went through and also how are they going to protect themselves from this sort of a thing in the future. of course the nigerian government has been locked in an ongoing battle with other

terrorist organizations for years. but recently they have been altering their strategy in the sense that the military has been concentrating a lot more on populated areas in the cities, which means that these rural communities have largely been left to their own devices. there are civilian vigilante groups that do try to provide some measure of protection, but they are very poorly equipped and very poorly trained, especially when it comes to an enemy. villages try to cut their own deals with boko ha ram. this seems like a deal gone sour and devastatingly ending for so many. rosemary, this is aa moment of reckoning for the government. it is going to have have to answer to this, as well as have to answer, of course, for the population in other parts of the country as well, with the

demonstrations that have been happening and all sorts of malcontent with authorities that exist throughout the country at this stage. >> exactly right. arwa damon joining us live. many thanks for bringing us details on that. european rights ambassadors say they're deeply concerned about a group of female activists detailed in saudi arabia. they are calling on the kingdom to release them. one of the women who has already spent more than two years in jail will now be tried by a terrorism court. her apparent crime? demanding the right to drive. nic robertson has the story. >> reporter: saudi arabia's most well-known female prisoner has gone from jailed rights activist to alleged national security threat. her sister is horrified. she alleges she's been tortured in prison.

>> my parents saw she was very weak, that her body was shaking and that her voice as well. but even with that, she was still very focused and wanted to read her whole defense for her and other activists being electrocuted, beaten, deprived of sleep, force-fed. >> saudi authorities have repeatedly denied allegations of torture and sexual abuse in their jails. campaigned for women to drive. then just weeks for saudi's krouns prince gave the go ahead for the long awaited reform, she was arrested. human rights groups called on world leaders to use last week's virtual g20 summit to pressure mbs to allow her release. instead, days after the event

wrapped, hashe appeared before court to learn her case was being referred to terror court. >> in order to pass it on to hostile groups. >> so far the saudi government hasn't published its evidence and saudi's courts, where evidence would be presented, are notoriously difficult to access. international pressure for release isn't working. unclear if president-elect joe biden, who has promised to tack a tough line on saudi can make a difference. >> we're not subject to pressure. these individuals who are aresd under our laws and our courts have jurisdiction and they decide, we don't allow people to put pressure on us in order to do things that are against our interest. >> unclear too when hathloul's

next court appearance will be, although the venue is set, saudi arabia's criminal rights court. amnesty international. nic robertson, cnn london. >> "cnn newsroom" continues after this sport break. of brai. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. understanding how to talk to your doctor about treatment options is key. today, we are redefining how we do things. we find new ways of speaking, so you're never out of touch. it's seeing someone's face that comforts us, no matter where. when those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. the first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything.

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. the world's loneliest elephant is on his way to a better place, largely thanks to an iconic u.s. pop star. ♪ no matter how your heart is breathing ♪ ♪ if you keep on believing ♪ the dream that you wish will come true ♪ >> now if you couldn't tell, that was the singer cher serenading the elephant. he's been living in grim conditions at a zoo in pakistan and has been totally alone since his partner died in 2012. now he's headed to a new life at an elephant sanctuary. let's get more from selena wang from tokyo.

a very sad story with thankfully a happy ending. >> rosemary, that's right. this is such a long awaited moment. cher and activists around the world have been campaigning for worlds to have the elephant moved to a better home. that is now finally happening. the spokesperson for for paws, an international group that spearheaded the group, just told me that he has landed in cambodia. he landed from a jumbo jet from pakistan. a veterinarian on board set that the flight went smoothly, that he even slept during the fight. he had been pakistan's only asian elephant. he had spent 35 years -- and this is a 36 year bull elephant -- and most of those years in this tiny enclosure in chains in an islamabad zoo n. 2012, he then lost his female elephant partner. now elephants are social

animals, so this was a major loss. it was as if these past eight years he was living in solitary confinement, which then led to behavioral issues. veterinarians had also diagnosed him as having physical, psychological challenges as well as being overweight and malnourished. in cambodia, however, the good news is he's going to be with other elephants and living in a sanctuary in a huge junkal engineer closure. rosemary. >> wonderful news. we love a happy ending. selena wang, thank you so much for bringing us that. thank you for staying with us this hour. i'm rosemary church. i'll be back with more news in just a moment. finding dental insurance plans can be confusing, confusing like, "why am i sitting here in a

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viewers joining us here in the united states and all around the world. you are watching "cnn newsroom" and i'm rosemary church. just ahead, the united states is smashing coronavirus records but there are warnings post-thanksgiving, the worst is yet to come. president-elect joe biden makes history with his staffing picks while donald trump goes on a new rant about the election he refuses to concede. and morning mixurning mixese in