an explosion in downtown nashville, tennessee, on christmas morning has investigators searching for answers. covid at christmas, surges in the u.s. and around the world show that the virus is definitely not taking a holiday. and donald trump's christmas

chaos. as millions are set to expire this weekend, the american president is golfing. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, welcome to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world. this is "cnn newsroom." authorities in nashville, tennessee, are examining what could be human remains after the explosion downtown. all signs point to the blast being intentional. the mayor called it a deliberate bomb that was planted in a recreational vehicle. video captured the moments before the explosion. >> if you can hear this message,

evacuate now. if you can hear this message, evacuate now. >> so as you heard a recorded countdown warned people to evacuate the area before the explosion. it came from inside this white rv which had entered the area a few hours earlier. police haven't announced any suspects so far, nor has any person or groups claimed responsibility. tasha explains what we do know at this point. >> much of downtown nashville is under a curfew that began the afternoon of christmas day and goes into sunday afternoon. and that's to keep people away from the investigation scene that now stretches several blocks, debris scattered everywhere. this happened early christmas morning when people first heard gunshots, called 911, and then there was the odd sound of a recorded message coming from an

rv giving a countdown 15 minutes before an explosion. the mayor of nashville said that at least 41 businesses were destroyed, 3 people, three civilians hospitalized with nonlife threatening injuries. the mayor said that this was intended to create chaos, but that the city will be resilient and rebuild. >> my message is expect to knock on your door, you know? it's going to be a mystery for some period of time. but i expect them to solve it and they're bringing the resources to be able to solve it. this should not be an america where you have bombs on the street. >> police did say they believe it's an intentional act. the mayor said the city will be resilient. back to you. >> joining me now in legislation, cnn law enforcement contributor steve moore. he's a supervisory retired

special agent with the fbi. given that we don't know a lot right now, but authorities said this attack was, quote, intended to create chaos and fear. so to set this up in a location that would limit casualties, the loud speaker warning people away, what do you make of this? >> creating chaos and fear is the definition of terrorism. so this person was trying to create fear, trying to create panic, chaos, but he was doing it without trying to -- without trying to cause civilian casualties, which is not what terrorists usually do. so then you have to back away and say this is nonconventional, but this is kind of a strange brand of it. and you have to try to figure

out at this point what is the intent? what is the target, what is the motivation for this? >> and i'm not trying to link it to classic terrorism. i'm saying terrorism has the same goals. this person may be someone who has a grej against an establishment. >> maybe against law enforcement themselves? the explosive device was placed in this vehicle on christmas day when nobody is going to be in the establishments.

it was set do go off between 5:30 and 6:30 when even if there was going to be somebody in the establishments, it would be way too early. it was intentionally set in an area where casualties of civilians would be zero. if they just wanted to inflict pain, why would they fire slots, now the police are there, and the civilian is are kept away. so you can't come down, number one, on a specific theory and put all your weight on it yet, but you have to consider the fact that this is potentially a targeted attack against first sponsors. >> so looking at some of the clues they've found so far, authorities say thenl they found issue that could be human

remains. what are the forensic challenges here? >> there's nothing in the forensics that's going to tell you necessarily. they're still going to have explosive residue, things like that on them. if it's the perpetrator, there may not be a missing persons report. whereas anybody who has family and friends who might have been in that area are looking for them and we would find out if nobody is missing. if nobody is reported missing, it's more likely that you have one or more of the perpetrators. >> so what's next?

>> you're going to be able to find probably the rear axle with a vin number on it, but at the same time, you're working the other way. probably i would have profilers on the line and say what would fit this kind of behavior? what potentially could this person have been trying to achieve? and you're also looking for anybody who has any beef with anybody who has a location on that street. whether you have somebody deranged enough to set up a bomb that size in the middle of the downtown area, if they're crazy enough to do that, they're probably not sane enough to need a big excuse to do something

horrible. >> so many unanswered questions. but thank you so many for your insight and analysis. steve moore, appreciate you joining us. >> thanks, kim. appreciate it. the u.s. marks an unusual christmas holiday this year. the traditional joys of the season nearly over-shadowed by the impact of covid-19. the total number of those lost to the virus tops 330,000 and the total infections are now over 8.7 million. california reported 312 deaths on christmas day. it was the third consecutive day in which covid deaths topped 300. much of the city of california is under stay-at-home orders prompted by shrinking intensive care unit capacity and those will probably be extended. icu space is an issue in arizona, as well. the state had the highest number of patients in intensive care.

93% of all icu beds in arizona are now occupied. alexander field has more. >> this christmas, the one we never imagined. >> it was january 1st of this year when most of us heard about the covid-19 pandemic starting out of hubei province in china. >> in l.a. county, a person dies from covid every ten minutes. there are no icu beds left in southern california or the san joaquin valley. >> we saw this back in march and april and southern new york city, that's how mortality rates

skyrocket. now we're reproducing that manhattan and new york city epidemic from march and april times dozens of times. >> travel can increase your chance of getting and spreading covid-19. more than 7 million people pass through america's airports in the last week. >> i think people don't think coronavirus will happen to them. they think coronavirus will happen to another family. >> passengers coming from the uk will need a test and documentation. >> we are testing to see this new strain is equally sensitive to our vaccine and will be utilized by our vaccine. >> pfizer's ceo says he's

cautiously optimistic the vaccine will prove as effective against the variant. dr. anthony fauci now estimates 735% to 80% of the country will need to get the vaccine to get herd immunity. >> it will take half a year, maybe more, for us to get to herd immunity. and in the meantime, we have to really double down and do the masking, physical distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings. >> the suffering this holiday season, unprecedented. for most americans, even the first dose of the vaccine is still months away, but another surge may be just days out. >> christmas today is going to do a similar thing. >> given the concerns about yet another surge after christmas and given the fact that we have seen the numbers rise so sharply after so many major holiday these year, it should come as no

surprise to anyone that the cdc recommends if you're going to celebrate your friends, to do i tell online and everyone stay home this year. >> and dr. scott miskovic is a family physician and national testing consultant. thank you very much for joining us. so i want to touch on what we just saw there, all the travel. the good news, i saw the numbers. car travel is down by about a third in the u.s., air travel numbers seem to be down about 60%. the bad news, it's still about a million people a day flying over the last couple of days, which is about the same as thanksgiving and we know what happened after thanksgiving. so how hard do you expect

hospitals to get hit? >> we're really worried when you start looking at the january 10th to 15th mark. that timing, as we're seeing now the results of thanksgiving and some of the early gatherings, it's already concerning. we have areas in southern california and different states where we're maxing out intensive care units. >> passengers coming from the uk have to get a new test within three days o f flying.

hawaii, where you are, has that same retirement. so according to the data, to be effective, shouldn't that window for testing be much smaller? >> yes, it should. i'm running the testing in different areas across the state. and one area that is a role model now is the big island of hawaii. we do three days plus we do another arrival test as soon as you hit the airport terminal. and we've had good success. what really should happen is we should have a quarantine and then another test. i am concerned with the contagious nature of this new variant that that will miss quite a few and i would agree with the findings.

>> so the vax evccine now. >> i think the country needs to understand it's very, very rare to have an allergic reaction. we need to be equitable in the way we get this virus distributed. i'm very concerned about the rural areas. as a country, it may be easy to get into urban areas, but we need to find those affected the most who may have a higher chance of dieing and we're going to continue to do that. >> absolutely. finally, this is in your wheel

house here . in sports, last night we learned the women's duke double team won't play due to covid concerns. i were involved in college testing for one of the biggest conferences across the nation. all told across the country, there are some 140 football games canceled due to covid. so what have you learned about the ability to run competitive sports during a pandemic and how should schools apply that knowledge now, given how bad the outbreak now and the next couple of months? most collegiate sports are going to be played indoors. >> correct. i still believe there is hope with sports, but we're seeing

pockets where groups are having higher rates. so it comes down to the visit responsibilities of the players and the coaches also are getting positive with the covid. so i believe that we can still have competitive athletics and i do feel somewhat optimistic because the number of serious cases that may be long-term are very, very low. but it still doesn't change the fact where we may get to a point where athletics has to be put on told until we move further because it's more important to have safety than it will be to have athletics. >> absolutely. well said. we'll have to leave it there. thank you so much for coming on, family physician and testing consultant dr. scott miskovic. >> thank you, kim. a christmas message of hope for virus vaccines. the pope calls for equity.

plus, countries in asia once were the model for how to track and contain the coronavirus. now they're setting new daily records. stay with us. night. unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. and longer. zzzquil pure zzzs all night. fall asleep. stay asleep. every minute. 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. there's resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference.

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south korea and japan are experiencing record breaking surges of new coronavirus cases. japan broke its daily new infection rate for the third day in a row with more than 3,800 new cases on friday. and in south korea, new infections continue to linger through thursday's all-time daily high with more than 1,100 new cases reported on friday. now turn to go europe during his christmas day message, pope francis called for coronavirus vaccines to be made available to everyone, especially the most vulnerable. this comes as the eu is preparing to begin its vaccination rollout on sunday after it approved the use of the pfizer b i ontech vaccine earlier this week. so for more, let's turn to cyril joining us from paris. the good news, the vaccine is being rolled out there. so what is the latest? >> you're absolutely right, kim. good morning to you. good news and bad news here in

france this morning. the bad news, france is now add to the list of this country where we have detected the highly transmissible strain of the vaccine. so it was one french national who traveled from the uk to france a week ago, on the same day as me. this was before the uk had hit the panic button on the new variant. he tested positive for covid four days after that. they sent his test for the dna sequencing and it came back that he has the new variance. he has no symptoms, he's doing fine. french authorities say they're now contact tracing to try and limit the spread of that variant. separately, there's big news for the european union which is that

the vaccination program for 450 million people across 27 member states begins tomorrow. so the pfizer vaccine was approved by the european medicines agency earlier this week. now it's being shipped out. it arrived in paris earlier today, right? they're being shipped out to national hubs. and then each country takes over from there and rolls out their national vaccination program. so here in france, two to three sites tomorrow. only a few dozen people at most will be vaccinated or i should say will get the first jab of this two-dose vaccination program. but it's the beginning of something big for europe and it's also the beginning of something that's going to take a long time. the eu wasn't shy about that. they said by the end of 2021 we hope to have vaccinated all the adults who want this vaccine. kim. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. so let's bring in cnn's lena

wang joining us from tokyo. celina, some of the countries in the region have recently been breaking new daily records. >> that's exactly right. japan continues to break its daily covid-19 infection record reporting more than 3,000 cases for three days in a row. the country has confirmed its first cases of the new potentially more contagious covid-19 variant coming from five people who had entered the uk. now, japan along with more than 40 country sess now restricting travel from the uk. it is clear in japan that this outbreak is gaining momentum if you look at the data here. it took more than nine months for japan to reach 100,000 covid-19 infections. but in less than two months, that number has now doubled to more than 200,000 infections. the government has so far refrained from calling a state of emergency. the prime minister has said he had controlling using subsidies

and penalties to enforce shorter hours for restaurants and bars. now south korea is dealing with record high cases, lingering near more than 1,000 a day. they have ordered tourist attracts to close. but the big challenge in south korea is if you look at those previous coronavirus infections, they were mostly sparked from large clusters such as in churnlgs or nightclubs. but it is important to put into context that this increase we're seeing in south korea and in japan pale in comparison to what we're seeing in parts of europe and the united states. but it is an important reminder

of just how hard it is when you have winter weather driving people indoors and when most of the world is dealing with covid-19 fatigue. kim. >> don't we know it. thank you so much, leena wang in tokyo. despite a stimulus package left in limbo, a looming government shutdown and a christmas morning blast, it's been a quiet holiday for president trump in florida. we'll have his reaction next. and later, outrage from survivors of the infamous blackwater massacre in iraq. coming up, the backlash over president trump's decision to pardon the four men involved. stay with us.

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welcome back to all of you watching here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber and you're watching "cnn newsroom." police say possible human remains have been recovered after a huge explosion near downtown nashville, tennessee, on christmas morning. more than 40 businesses were damaged, several cars were destroyed, three people were hurt, but no deaths or life threatening injuries have been reported. a blast appears to have been caused by a bomb in this vehicle. about 50 minutes before it blew up, a record message warned people to leave the area. david was walking his dog on christmas morning when a blinding flash ripped through his neighborhood. luckily, he hasn't hurt or killed. >> i had stepped outside. our building is next door to 21c hotel and the night manager was running around outside saying he

had to evacuate the building. and i was just kind of frazzled. every current had police calls added, stopping any kind of traffic. i turned around. this would have been just a couple of minutes before the explosion. i think the explosion was my security cameras, i think, showed it at 6:29. mifk rig might have been right there. so i turned around and officers walking towards me, i said, why do we have to evacuate? what's going on? and right then, the bomb went off. his back was to the explosion. it was behind him. and we were about half a block away from where the explosion was. after the explosion, i mean, all i saw was this huge fireball from my side of the street, which is the same side as the at&t building is moving up and across the sky.

i didn't feel any concussion from the explosion. the dog didn't yelp or anything like that. so i wasn't aware of what kind of damage this had actually caused. >> the white house says president trump was briefed on the explosion. for the most part, he spent the holiday golfing had his resort in until even as millions of americans dets desperasperate ft for him to sign the economic bill. >> the president was scheduled to have a teleconference with military service members on the christmas holiday, but yunlike n previous years where the president invited cameras in to record the event, the president this year disinviting the news media from attending that teleconference to the troops regarding that explosion in

nashville. the president earlier this week putting that legislation into limbo, calling it a disgrace and suggesting he might not sign that legislation. the president complaining about a number of items in that omnibus spending bill as well as saying that he wanted to see those stimulus checks to americans more than triple. the president raised those objections only after that legislation was passed. and the president, so far, he has done nothing to actually get that piece of legislation amended or to get it passed in congress. the president said spending time on both of his two full days at his mar-a-lago resort golfing and doing nothing, it seems, to actually get that legislation through. jeremy diamond, cnn, traveling with the president in west palm beach, florida. >> without the key stimulus benefits for millions of americans, they will soon expire.

let's bring in julie norman who joins me now. she's a lecturer in politics at the university of london. the covid relief bill made its way to mar-a-lago where it presumably sits there unsigned. the president wants to give americans $2,000 instead of the $600. and democrats agree. so what is wrong with the president using these strong arm tactics to for those congressional republicans to give americans more aid? >> well, ken, as we know, this bill is a long time coming. throughout these last weeks of the process, there wasn't any indication from trump even to his closest aid that he was going to take issue with some of the compromises that had been made and that included on the amount of those checks. and the situation we have now is

that that bill passed with a situation of great urgency, with unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of this month, with a government shutdown looming next week. so by disagreeing on this point, trump has really kind of blown up the bill at this really, really crucial moment of urgency. we saw democrats trying to push through the larger check amount over the last couple of days. that does not move forward. it would have increased the amount of the bill over $350 million which republicans were not going to go for. so this has put congress back in a tough position, but more importantly has put many americans in an extremely difficult situation. >> so was it just the sheer dollar amount here? we've seen a growing rift, it seems, between congressional republicans and the president over a couple of issues here. why do you think they've chosen this moment to break with the president when they've green lit practically every reaction, every utterance for the last

four years? was this a sign that the president might not be as influential post presidency as some predict? >> that's certainly a possibility. but right now, we still see trump having a pretty strong grip on the gop, especially in the house, and, again, most elected republican officials in the house still are locked into pushback against the president directly. with this kind of statement about the checks, again, this is part of such a much larger legislation package that, again, congress knows needs to getting through. that this is one thing where you'll see congress -- congressional representatives and senators, you know, trying to kind of find this middle road between now acknowledge stating the president, but also sticking to what they know needs to go forward with the bill. and one way to look at this is trump pushing back at what he has seen as some increasing resistance from the senate in particular, from mitch mcconnell and perhaps him throwing a

wrench in what was a pretty smooth process at the very end for the republicans. >> you mean as revenge for moving on saying look, the election is done and dusted, we have to sorted of accept that. >> yeah. with this tactic this week, trump has kept himself front and center. it shows that he is pulling the strings. if congress doesn't pass the checks, it makes it look like he's the one that is behind that and if it does go through, it's still him. >> it's also taking the spotlight off of that long list of pardons for friends and allies. my monitoring of conservative

media suggests, you know, all the focus is on the president's prerogative. he has the power to do this and he used the power. nothing to see here. but some have mooted the idea of taking the pardon power out of the constitution. is that realistic? >> we've seen a lot of renewed attention to the presidential power of the pardon with the way it's been used by trump. the amount he has used is less than most presidents in recent years, but it's the way that he's used it. of the 94 pardons and commutations he's given so far, over 94% of those are persons with political connections and over 70% of those were a direct political advantage for the president. so this is another one example of trump breaking the norms and

some would say abusing that power in ways that aren't becoming to the president. >> and finally, i know you keep a keen eye on foreign policy. we saw in the spending bill the president's objection to the amount for foreign aid, but going forward on the internal front, what do you expect to see for joe biden? >> biden and his whole foreign policy team will be entering office when the coronavirus is so front and center, that it will be a bit more difficult for them to justify some foreign policy objections over domestic needs. but even more rushlly, this sense of trying to find some

kind of path in between the much more broadly ope n globalization, and i do think there's a way they can navigate that by addressing the grievances back home at the same time. >> yeah. they've been left plenty of challenges by the outgoing administration. julie norman from university college london, thank you very much. we really appreciate it. >> thanks, ken. wounds reopened, victims families and survivors of the blackwater massacre in iraq slam president donald trump for pardoning the men convicted of the killings. their stories, straight ahead. it's max strength formula coats your throat and provides powerful relief.

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a mid a flurry of pardons, president trump has granted clemency to a group of blackwater employees. the presidential pardons sparked outrage and for survivors have reopened deep emotional wounds. arwa damon joins us now. there is so many hard break and anger over this. >> that's right, kim. and a lot of shock, as well. when you speak to those who managed to survive, they can't actually believe that president trump would do this, that america would do this. and that's the same sentiment being expressed by just about every single iraqi that i have been able to speak to because at the time when this happened,

there was so much anger and that anger wasn't just because of the senseless killing that happened, it was because of the attitude that blackwater had afterwards. and it caused a significant rift between iraq and america at the time. the errorer filled memories of that day in september 2007 still haunt those who survived, whose physical scars may have healed, but who graped with the psychological trauma every day. >> i remember seeing a woman and her son, their car was on fire. she cried out until she burnt to death. there was so much gunfire, it wasn't normal. i wasn't wounded yet. i moved my car to get away and i was shot multiple times. it was a sunny day in baghdad, one where the population could

almost pretend their country wasn't being ravaged by violence. in an instant, a busy baghdad round about turned you into a street of blood. ayab was the youngest victim, just 9 years old, shot in the head in the back seat of his car as his father helplessly watched him die. my son was the heart of my family, his father told us years ago. the shooting rampage was carried out by what was then blackwater, a company notorious for its brutish and trigger happy behavior. numerous eyewitness accounts said they were not under attack. no one fired at blackwater. they were not attacked by

gunmen. they were not targeted. salman traveled to the u.s. to testify almost teven years after the massacre. in the end, one of the blackwater operators were sentenced to life in prison. three others sentenced to 12 to 15 years. salman, a lawyer himself, felts as if there was a semblance of justice. it renewed his faith in american ideals. not any more. president trump, the first recent u.s. president to pardon convicted killers, let the murderers, the men who destroyed his life walk free. >> i say to him, your decision, you're going to have to face god on this, salman says. you did not fulfill justice. you pardoned the killers. the blood of the dead and wounded is on your hands.

>> salman also warned of the dangerous precedent this sets and said that america had once again lost its moral standing. and once again, sent a clear message to iraqis that their lives are not worth very much. >> all right. very touching. thank you very much, arwa damon in istanbul. and "cnn newsroom" continues after a quick break. 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. every minute. 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. there's resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. when we use it to improve things, then that change can last within us. when we understand what's possible, we won't settle for less. the best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. managing heart failure starts now with understanding. call today or go online to understandheartfailure.com for a free heart failure handbook. - [child] what is a wish? (submarine rings) - [man] captain, we're ready to dive. - [child] it's adventure in seeing the unknown. (dolphin chatters) it's imagination! - [man] we're ready to surface. and coming up for air. but really, deep down, a wish is hope.

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well, it was a white christmas in st. petersburg, russia, but it wasn't just from the snow. a mysterious foam was floating in a river and flying into the air. some people were worried about it and others say it was just fun. christmas was largely subdued this year due to covid. st. peters scare was quiet. with a nationwide lockdown in italy, the pope gave christmas mass indoor urging wealthy nation toes share the covid-19

vaccines. red square in moscow looked like a post called covered in a blanket of snow. russians give gifts and share their main winter holidays on new year's. festively dressed swimmers and surfers hit the beach in australia. >> there's no one really here, which to be honest i'm not going to complain about. it's far safer. >> bronte beach's scene, however, was called appalling. ♪ ♪ gloria in exchelsio deo

>> classical songs and jingle bells as the church's choir gave a christmas eve concert. a fire devastated the historical cathedral last year. it is closed to the public during its renovation. and that wraps this hour of cnn's news room. i'll be back in just a moment. more news. enjoy the music. ♪ ♪ ♪

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♪ a recorded warning, then a massive explosion. investigators in nashville are trying to figure out who blew up a motor home in the city center and why. the united states is responding to a new variant of the coronavirus, but one expert says that the effort to keep it out is like putting up a chain link fence to keep out a mosquito. and we're still waiting to see if president trump signs the covid relief bill with millions set to lose extra unemployment benefits and eviction protections this w