to you by sokolove law. >> mesothelioma victims call now $30 million in trust. money has been setone 800 859 2400. that's one 800 859 2400. >> the man charged in a fiery new york subway murder, facing a judge for the first time as we learn new details from that arraignment today. the man arraigned on murder and arson charges. >> plus, it's like the super bowl or world series of travel days, with millions squeezing in last minute holiday trips. and on top of that, a temporary pause in flights this morning for a major airline. what we know about the cause and the impact. and millions of americans use diabetes and weight loss drugs. what doctors say you need to know if you use those medications and are considering a pause over the next few weeks so you can enjoy those holiday treats. those stories and much, much more ahead on cnn news central.

>> we have new details, disturbing details about the brutal, burning death of a woman on a new york subway a short time ago. the suspect was arraigned in court and according to testimony from police officers on the scene, he allegedly set fire to the sleeping woman's clothing and, quote, fanned the flames by waving a shirt around her. >> cnn's gloria pazmino joins us now from new york. gloria, what more are you learning? >> yeah. danny. erica, we're getting more details because just a short while ago, the suspect in this case was actually arraigned. he appeared in front of a judge in brooklyn criminal court. and it was there that we got an opportunity to learn some of the details that were reported by the detective that initially investigated this incident. it happened early on sunday morning, and as we've been reporting, there was a man who now stands accused of murder in the first degree who approached a woman who was asleep inside

of a subway car. he pulled a lighter out of his jacket pocket and lit her on fire. that woman died. now the suspect was in court. just a few, um, a few hours ago, and we got some additional detail, including what you mentioned at the beginning, that at one point they have video evidence showing that the suspect actually was fanning the flames by using a t shirt to fan the flames as the woman was becoming engulfed in fire. we've also learned that the victim's cause of death has been determined by the city's medical examiner. she died of smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. the woman who died in this incident has not yet been identified. now the suspect, sebastian zapeta-calil, is 33 years old. he's originally from guatemala, and he is facing murder in the first and second degrees degree and arson charges. he was remanded back into custody and he is expected

to appear back in court next friday. we have heard from the brooklyn district attorney, eric gonzalez, in this case. he has said that he expects to prosecute the case to the full extent of the law, and it is a case that has just really put a focus on a big issue here in new york city, and that is the safety of the public transit system as well as public safety in general, mental illness, as well as homelessness. both the suspect and the victim in this case are believed to have been homeless. the suspect has spent the last few months checking in and out of homeless shelters, and the woman, who has yet to be identified, also believed to be homeless by law enforcement officials. we have reached out to the lawyer who is representing the suspect in this case but have not heard back, but just learning. some really horribly graphic details in the last few hours about how this incident unfolded. >> yeah, it is. it is so

disturbing. and, gloria, just to follow up, you said the woman believed to the victim, they're believed to have been homeless, but she hasn't been identified. is there is there anything that has been learned about her at this point? >> yeah. the the the woman has not been identified. and without getting too graphic, the reason they have not been able to identify her is because the medical examiner is essentially having to go through dental records in an effort to figure out who she is. that is part of the reason we do not know who who she was, the fact that her body was left in a condition where she was not able to be recognized or anything in her belongings to figure out who she was. so hopefully we will learn her identity soon. it's something that we know. the medical examiner's office is working on. in fact, it was part of the reason why the arraignment was so delayed. they were waiting on the autopsy to be completed so that could be included in the testimony that was used in the arraignment.

>> gloria pazmino, thank you for staying on this very, very sad and scary story. appreciate it. all right. for more on this, let's talk more with former nypd detective sergeant felipe rodriguez. he's now an adjunct professor at john jay college of criminal justice. thank you, philippe, for being with us on this christmas eve. first, i just want to get your reaction to this new information that is just so troubling that the suspect allegedly fanned the flames after setting fire to this victim. >> it's one of the most heinous things i've ever seen in 31 years of law enforcement. >> the fact that he's actually, you know, fanning the flames like that, it's almost to the point of being almost torture, because here we are. >> you're actually increasing, right? the temperature of the flames and fueling them. so it's something on an annual something almost out of a horror movie that we're seeing in the new york city subway system at this time. >> philippe, can you explain to me from your perspective how important it is to actually learn the suspect's motive in this case? why would that be

helpful at this point? >> well, it is it goes towards, you know, the charging offenses that we're going to have, you know, the indictment that's going to be brought forth just for the fact of, you know, was it premeditated? was it something out of, you know, did they know each other? and it all goes to the level of being between a second degree murder, a first degree murder. and this is one of the few times you might get that first degree murder indictment, because if you cause the death of a person and you actually through torture, you know, it definitely elevates the charges. so we always try to make sure that, you know, motive is a key thing when it comes to charging any criminal charge. so that's what basically the detective is trying to piece together at this time. >> philip, new york governor kathy hochul's office said in a statement that crime rates have decreased by 10% since the governor introduced a subway safety initiative back in may and are down 42% since january of 2021. what's your perspective on that? as a new yorker, as a new yorker and as a professor? >> you know, i always tell my students, let's let's look at the evidence. correct. and while she, you know, she is

saying some truthful information, it's all how we kind of skew things at times. you know, what the governor is leaving out is you have major felonies are down. that's correct. but so far we've had nine murders this year in the subway system at this same time. so that gives you an increase of over 60% at this time last year we only had five. so, you know, there's certain felonies that we could say, you know, it wasn't really a larceny. it might have been a robbery. and we could kind of change things around on paper. but murders are still murders, and that's kind of hard to make a way that the governor, you know, make that disappear in any which way do you feel safe riding the subway these days? you know, it's almost like, you know, it's heightened alert. you know, you can't fall asleep on the trains. unfortunately, i wouldn't recommend any family member to do that. i would constantly recommend to them. you know, ride where the moment is or the conductor, which is one of the more safe areas. and if you get that new yorker feeling right, you get that tingling type thing that something's going wrong, follow it. go with it, go with your hunch and move to another car. or you know what? just get off at the next station. wait

for a following train. you know we have to be hyper vigilant. unfortunately, that's the way the transit system has become. >> philip rodriguez, thank you, as always for your perspective. appreciate it. erica. thank you. >> for many people, the holidays can be the most wonderful time of year. but maybe not. if you're a traveler, perhaps affected by the glitch. this morning, when american airlines had to ground its fleet. now, the airline says it did request that complete ground stop for all of its planes following a technical issue this morning. it was, of course, lifted. pete muntean joining me now with where things stand at this hour and how the company was actually able to overcome what could have been a nightmare. pete danny. >> erica. american airlines says it's all hands on deck right now to get things back to normal. we now know that this was caused by an outage of a computer system. that is key to getting flights on their way and push back from the gate. american has about 3900 tuesday flights scheduled in total, and the good news for the half million people traveling on the airline, no major cascading cancellations. making the real

story. the delays. airline analytics firm cirium tells me that american hubs like charlotte and miami have been hit hard. add bad weather on top of that at dfw and it all means only 37% of american flights have left on time. the silver lining 93% of flights are departing within two hours of when they were scheduled, american spokesperson sarah jantz tells me. the delays are to be expected, but she insists that american does have the staff in place to get things back on track quickly. this outage started at about 7 a.m. on the east coast. all american flights held on the ground for about an hour. american now says this was an issue with an i.t. vendor. that network feeds into american's critical flight operations system, and without that, flights could not be dispatched. this is the statement from american airlines, a vendor technology issue briefly affected flights this morning. that issue has been resolved and flights have resumed. we sincerely apologize

to our customers for the inconvenience this morning. history has shown that airline technology issues can have an outsized impact. in july, the crowdstrike outage caused delta airlines to melt down. it canceled about 5000 flights in total. the southwest airlines holiday meltdown was happening right now two years ago, and southwest canceled about 15,000 flights over a weeks time. the department of transportation has really turned up the heat on keeping airlines accountable, and outgoing secretary pete buttigieg says the delta investigation is still ongoing, though airlines are hopeful that the trump administration may be more sympathetic to them when it comes to issues like this latest snag. danny. erica. >> all right. pete. thank you. also with us this hour, zach. griff, who's a senior aviation reporter for the points guy. zach, good to have you with us. you know, as pete laid out, the technology can have sort of an outsized impact when it comes to problem. things are back on track. the other thing that's good to know for travelers is your rights have changed a little bit just in the last few months. at the end of october, these new rights went into effect in terms of refunds for delays and cancellations. what

is that change? >> yeah. well, thanks so much for having me. i think one of the big things that people should remember when things go wrong and of course they could go wrong today, they could be going wrong on the return trip from the holidays, is that you're entitled to a full cash refund when your flight gets canceled or significantly delayed. and for so many people, especially when they're traveling places where there are multiple airline options, maybe in the instance of today, american's flights are super delayed. they've delayed about 1200 flights today. if you have another option to potentially fly with a different carrier, you could get that full refund from american and then go and voluntarily choose to book a last minute ticket. and in some cases, those tickets aren't as expensive as some people might think, especially on some of the lower cost carriers that could be operating on time and getting you to your final destination in time for the holidays. >> i would say another win too. in addition to what we saw, part of those rules also were more transparency. airlines have to be a little bit more honest about what they're

charging you for, and not only is it transparency, it's also they have to take the initiative to get those refunds and those credits issued to you on their dime. >> it's not you having to call in and wait for a supervisor speaking to the refund desk. it's the airline who is now responsible for processing these things, for telling you what's included, whether your bag, how much it costs, what's the seat assignment fee. when things go wrong, we process the refund for you within a certain time period. it's significantly more flier friendly, which is great. >> so for somebody, just a little bit of practical, maybe some practical pro tips if you would. so if somebody let's say you're dealing with a canceled flight over the holidays, maybe you're just getting ready to leave for the airport and you get an alert that your flight is going to be late 2 hours or 3 hours. are you better off still going to the airport as opposed to waiting a little bit? >> yeah, i mean, so so the first thing certainly for me, someone who's traveling hundreds of times a year, the first thing you get that notification is you're looking for your alternative options.

ideally, you have those alternative options already thought through before you get that cancellation. but i'm going to, you know, expedia, google flights, starting to see what other airlines are out there. if they're on time, it's locking in those seats as soon as possible and then handling the compensation and the refunds afterwards. because when time is of the essence, such as when you get that notification, you and all of your traveling companions who may be on that flight are also doing the exact same thing. and you're talking about a resource that's very it's shrinking. you know, there's so few seats that are available at the last minute. you want to grab that first and then handle kind of the rest of the picture. >> and is it better to stand in line, try to get somebody on the phone or make the change on your app as much as possible, doing it on the app, doing it on your phone. >> you can definitely stand in line because some of the more complicated itineraries may require agent assistance, but do as much as you can on your own. some of the better tips out there is try to call a foreign a foreign language, a

phone line for an airline could be so much faster than calling the traditional one 800 number. if you have access to the club, go and speak to the customer service agents there. but all while you're doing this, make sure someone is on that phone checking the app. refreshing. if new seats are a better flight becomes available. >> and i have to ask you because we are in the middle. of course of look, it's full on winter, so who knows what can happen when mother nature gets involved. this always comes up with people when their flights get delayed or canceled, when it's related to weather, when it's related to weather, is the airline still required to compensate you? >> yeah. so the airline, when the flights are canceled or significantly delayed, those refund rules that are written by the department of transportation, they do not exclude weather. so so refunds in terms of getting your cash back to that card so that, you know, say you don't want to cancel the trip or you're going to postpone it, that's enshrined in the rule. now, compensation is a different story because that's when the airline typically goes above and beyond, maybe gives you miles, hotel vouchers, food vouchers, things like that. and typically when it's weather

related, you have the airlines saying, hey, this is out of our control and we'll get we'll give you up to what the law requires us, but maybe not that little bit extra. >> yeah, zach, really appreciate it. such helpful tips and tricks ahead of this busy holiday season. happy holidays to you. thanks so much. >> thanks. safe travels. >> still to come hear president-elect trump says he wants his justice department to, quote, vigorously pursue the death penalty. this those comments coming in the wake of president biden's decision to commute the sentences for dozens of federal death row inmates. plus, is trump's push to buy greenland and to take over the panama canal, a negotiation tactic? a bit of trolling, maybe a little bit of both, and how donald trump will have to shift his approach to a more vulnerable iran in his second term, one of several international adversaries he'll be contending with. all that and much more coming up right here on cnn news central. >> 2024 was a wild ride. >> it was like the craziest roller coaster ride i've ever

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>> somewhere inside every lost grown up is the kid they once were. i'm enchanted to you and me. >> after oklo cleaned our place for $19, we fired our old housekeeper home. oklo tackled everything from our kitchen to our bathroom, all our laundry. you just pick a date, pick a cleaner, and enjoy a spotless house for $19. >> long after guests leave viruses and bacteria linger. air fresheners add a scent, but only lysol air sanitizer helps erase the trace, eliminating odor and killing 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. scent can't sanitize lysol. >> can new year's eve live with anderson and andy? live coverage starts at eight on cnn. >> president elect trump is now blasting president biden's decision to commute sentences for most federal death row inmates. in a new social media post this morning. trump said he will, quote, direct the justice department to

vigorously pursue the death penalty. now, this comes just a day after president biden commuted the sentences of nearly every federal death row inmate, 37, in total. something trump has said makes no sense. joining us now, former communications aide for lindsey graham and mike pompeo, who is also the vp of push digital group. rt aurigae, also democratic strategist and co-founder of lift our voices. julie roginsky. thank you both for joining me on this christmas eve. i hope you're having a happy holiday to both of you. first off, t.w., i want to speak with you first on this. former president trump, president elect trump's relationship with the death penalty is long. he famously took out that full page ad in the new york times, calling for the death penalty for the central park five. they were eventually found innocent, but also during his first term, he oversaw more than a dozen executions. is this is the former president the president elect, wading into this now just about biden, or is this really something he's

passionate about? >> yeah. >> well, first of all, thanks for having me. >> and merry christmas to everyone watching. um, look, i think donald trump has been pretty clear that he supports the death penalty. i believe he thinks that there are some crimes so heinous that only god can forgive you. and it's up to us to set up that meeting. and look, i, from joe biden's perspective, i understand he's a man of faith. he's a catholic like myself. and there's some discernment there that every person of faith, regardless of your religion, has to go through on issues of life and death. and he's made the calculus that he opposes the death penalty, but supports abortion. and that's fine if that's where he comes down on. but look, this is a really bad look. on the heels of pardoning his son, hunter biden. these people that he commuted the sentences of, i realized that they will not be getting out of jail for the rest of their life. but look, these are butchers. these are people who killed men, women and children who raped children. these are the worst of the worst. and there's a reason they're on death row, both from a

practical standpoint and a symbolic standpoint. and i think most americans would agree that commuting them looks bad. donald trump has always supported the death penalty, and so this is no surprise at all. and and it's a it's a valid, valid point of view. >> julie, though, it's interesting because according to a gallup study released just last month, public support for the death penalty has dropped to about 53% among americans. that's a five decade low, actually. so is this a political issue that you think is going to be favorable for president-elect trump as he enters the white house? >> well, first of all, let's talk about the fact that the president of the united states is directing the justice department to do something. i mean, before donald trump, you didn't have presidents directing the justice department to do anything. it was independent department. that was the legal department for the united states of america, not for donald trump, not for any president. so for him to direct the justice department to do anything is a little unusual. but look, people disagree on the death

penalty. we disagree on the death penalty. i don't support the death penalty, no matter how heinous the crime. i actually think spending the rest of your life rotting in a jail cell is worse than being put out of your misery through the death penalty, but that's a that's a disagreement that we can have. it is absolutely the right of the president to issue a pardon or issue clemency. i don't love that provision of the constitution. i don't think we should have it. but nevertheless, the founding fathers disagree with me. and so as a result of that, the same way that donald trump could pardon anybody he wanted to on his way out the door a few years ago, is the same way that joe biden can pardon or give clemency to whoever he wants. and ultimately, that's his decision to do, and that's what he's doing. >> i'm interested to see, though, if we end up hearing more about this issue overtly, especially as we enter the new year. and, you know, there are a lot of priorities for president elect trump in this new administration. speaking of which, i want to talk to you about the story that has captivated, i think, many people for the past 72 hours or so. president-elect trump also continuing to push this idea of taking control of the panama canal. he's also talking about

taking over greenland. teasing this idea of annexing canada. that seems more like a joke. but what's what's the bigger here? what's the bigger picture here? why, in your view, is he talking about all this? >> yeah. well, in short, it's actually good policy. and, you know, we've been pretty formulaic in u.s. foreign policy over the last 30 plus years. but for the majority of our history, things like this were not out of the realm of possibility. in fact, it was just good foreign policy business. look at how we got the panama canal in the first place. and right now the panamanians are showing a very, um, bad judgment in terms of allowing chinese corporations to take over strategic locations along the canal. it's one of the wonders of the world. it is critical to global trade. and if china decides with their finger on that pressure point, to put pain on america and its allies, we will suffer tremendously. so trying to get back to the negotiating

table, if providing security for the panama canal is really, really sensible and obviously trump's going to put it in his own phraseology and people are going to jump. and it's, you know, almost exciting in a way to hear how he talks or horrifying, depending on your point of view. but it's good business. and the second is greenland. look, people would be shocked to learn that only 50. what is it, 56,000 people live in greenland. greenland has a strategic location on the arctic circle. russia is really playing a lot of funny games in the arctic to get more control. that is a strategic place with tons of natural resources, with military capabilities. our access to the arctic circle is really small over alaska, greenland, who really doesn't have any military, so to speak, and relies on denmark in a little way? um, it's really wise for our allies and ourselves to have the protection of the united states on a broader swath of the

arctic circle. it makes a lot of sense. and as teddy roosevelt once said, when dealing with the panama canal the first time while congress deliberates, the canal gets built. so i think that's sort of where we're at right now. there will be a lot of chatter, but it's a good negotiating starting point. >> all right, julie, do you agree with t.w. that it makes a lot of sense? >> i didn't think we were going to be bringing up the roosevelt corollary to the monroe doctrine today, but what the hell? listen, you said there's 56,000 people to talk about it it's christmas eve. why not go down memory lane as to what was happening over 100 years ago? um, but look, at the end of the day, we have 56,000 people, as you point out, who live in greenland, who just don't want to be part of the united states. believe it or not, the same way the ukrainians miraculously don't want to be part of russia. i mean, there are people who don't want to join other countries, no matter how much those countries want to annex them. and yes, you're right, the russians have access to the arctic. that's because their country borders the arctic. we don't, for the most part because our country doesn't for the most part. and so we can't

force somebody to annex themselves to us just because we want more access. the way to do it is to work with the danes, our allies. cooperatively for mineral rights, for access to the arctic, for national security. but it's not by, by by saying that we're somehow going to just grab greenland and just annex it, any more than we're going to annex the panama canal, which you may disagree or agree with. jimmy carter, and relinquish him back to the panamanians. but nevertheless, here we are. the panamanians own it, and we can't get it back short of what, a military strike. i don't know what the proposal here is, so look, there's a way to do this diplomatically, and there's a way to have access to both the canal and to greenland, without suggesting, as donald trump is, that we are going to just go and grab it. and that's the difference between a president that knows how to do diplomacy, especially engaged in diplomacy with our allies and a president who just wants to stomp all over our own allies to get to a point that he's never going to get to. because short of us sending the united states

military to nationalize the panama canal again or to annex greenland by force, i don't know what his plan here is with the way he's conducting himself. >> well, either way, i feel like we're going to be having a lot of very interesting conversations in 2025 with this new administration. julie, thank you both so much for your time. have a very merry christmas eve and holiday. >> thank you. merry christmas everyone. >> all right. still ahead, ski lift chairs collide, spilling skiers down on the slopes. why? one witness says though they were lucky that it happened when it did. >> laura coates live weeknights at 11:00 eastern on cnn. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for. >> sling lets you do that. hey, where are you going? >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i want. sling lets you do that too. >> sling. >> i wish my tv provider let me choose what i pay for and let me pause my subscription when i

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three people into the ocean. wharf had been closed for renovation. the victims were inspecting the structure when it gave way. two of them were rescued by first responders. the third person was reportedly able to make it out on their own. and some scary moments a little bit further north at a lake tahoe ski resort, when two lift chairs collided. witnesses say one chair slid back would slammed into the other, sending skiers falling to the ground. at least five people were hurt and had to be taken to the hospital. the resort said it is investigating what caused that malfunction. and after a three month break, new video shows one of the world's most active volcanoes putting on a pretty fiery display. lava shooting as high as 300ft, spewing from the kilauea volcano on hawaii's big island. that spectacle brought packed crowds to hawaii volcanoes national park to witness it in real time. authorities say nearby communities important to note, they say, are not in danger. >> well, here we are. he knows when you've been sleeping. he knows when you're awake. and

right now, slowly but surely, he is making his way here to the states. >> cue the bells. we are, of course, talking about santa. he is currently in mozambique, in southeast africa. he's taking a somewhat circuitous route. it seems. our friends at norad are tracking the big guy as he brings christmas cheer. i don't know if there was eggnog involved for the circuitous route. i'm sure it's nothing. it's just sort of, you know, it makes sense. it's probably the wind. >> my favorite part about, too, is that it's rudolph. you can see him with his red nose right at the front of the line there. love that. >> that's how you know it's really them. >> right, right. of course. exactly, exactly. um, but for those of us who cannot travel by sleigh. courtesy of nine flying reindeer. cnn meteorologist derek van dam has a little bit more guidance for those of us who might need the holiday forecast. >> some lucky few will get their white christmas dreams realized, including here in staten island, new york, where a fresh layer of snow blanketed the roadways and the landscape here early christmas eve morning. >> i think temperatures will

remain cold enough to where this sticks around. >> maybe we'll get that white christmas in and around new york city, something we haven't seen in quite some time. this is going to have impacts though, on the roadways. of course, one of the busiest travel weeks of the year. and with the faa ground stop with american airlines earlier on christmas eve morning, which has since been lifted. this could, of course, have compounding issues through the course of the day. now, the storm system that brought the snowfall to new york and surrounding areas has moved offshore. there is still some light drizzle reported in and around washington and baltimore. the higher elevation bridges and overpasses could have some slick spots. so do take care. now we're focusing our attention just a little further to the west, where heavy rain could be an issue for eastern sections of texas. this area you see shaded in green has a marginal risk of excessive rain that could lead to localized flash flooding. there has already been flash flood warnings in and around the dallas fort worth region, 2 to 4in locally higher amounts expected across the area. plus,

you'll want to keep an eye to the sky. we have a slight risk from the weather prediction center of severe weather today, basically from waco to the south and east outside of houston. although there is a marginal risk all the way to the gulf coast. damaging winds hail a possibility, especially where you see that shading of yellow. that is why we have at least minor to moderate potential here for some airline delays because of the weather across eastern sections of texas, you saw the snow, the icing potential along the east coast. but then let's focus out west because a series of storm systems have been impacting the western coastline of our country lately, bringing rough surf and also strong winds and heavy rain. we'll measure the snowfall and mount in the mountains here in feet, not inches. but again, it's all about the coastal surf that has been very rough. that will continue at least for the next 24 hours. back to you. >> derek van dam, thank you very much. coming up ahead, iran and the middle east have changed quite a bit since president-elect trump's first term. how he could adjust the

way he handles iran after he takes office. we'll talk about it next. can't fool myself. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> luther. never too much new. >> there's news and there's good news. like thousands of patients receiving free life changing surgeries from volunteer doctors and nurses on hospital ships, all made possible by donations. we love good news. >> this holiday season, kevin. catherine. all aboard the freedom unlimited. >> kevin. kevin. kevin.

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free book to answer questions you may have. call now and we'll come to you. >> 800 821 4000. >> donald trump is inheriting a very different world when he takes office in a few weeks. the conflict in the middle east has, of course, changed the power dynamics in that region. iran is a country that will pose a dilemma for president-elect trump. how he handles it is the focus of a new piece from david sanger, cnn political and national security analyst. he's also the author of new cold wars china's rise, russia's invasion and america's struggle to defend the west. david, always good to see you. he really does come into this second term with a much different iran. and in your reporting, you discuss how this is going to be a major focus for him. is there a sense yet of how donald trump will approach tehran well, there's certainly a sense, erica, that the iran he faces looks quite different in several ways than the one he left when he left

office in january of 2021. >> so first of all, it's just in a much weaker position. and that's not a function of the past four years. it's really a function of the past 2 or 3 months. it's lost. hamas and hezbollah, its two major proxies that could strike israel. it has lost syria, the country through which it sent most of its weapons. along the way. it had some missile exchanges with israel, and it lost in each and every one of those unable for its missiles with except with a few small exceptions, to get through the shield that israel built up with the united states and some arab allies. so iran is feeling exposed in a way it never did. when president trump left office. and then, of course, iran has built up its nuclear capability. in part, that's a function of

president trump's decision in 2018 to pull out of the earlier nuclear accord, which it had been largely observing. and it's built up a lot of capability soon. so the question is, might it raise for a bomb? >> and as we look at this, the fact that iran is weaker, the current national security advisor, jake sullivan, speaking with my colleague fareed zakaria over the weekend, said that could actually serve as an incentive. i want to play a little bit of what he had to say. >> one of those things is, if you're iran right now and you're looking around at the fact that your conventional capability has been reduced, your proxies have been reduced, your main client state has been eliminated, assad has fallen. it's no wonder there are voices saying, hey, maybe we need to go for a nuclear weapon right now. >> is there a sense of how many of those voices may be saying that? i mean, do you agree? oh, david, can you hear

me? we just lost david sanger. but i do encourage you to to to read his piece in the new york times. we'll try to get him back. we're going to take a quick break here. or. oh, or maybe maybe. oh, we got you back. hey, david. sorry about that. let's. you know, when it happens, it's technology. it happens all the time, and it's live tv. that's all right. we roll with the punches. all good. i know you're familiar with what jake sullivan had to say over the weekend. basically talking about how iran's weakness could actually be some sort of incentive when it comes to nuclear weapons. would you agree that that's potentially where this could be heading? >> that's certainly where it could be heading. and that means that president trump, when he comes into office, will have two different paths he can pursue. one is open up a negotiation with iran. and i think he was has shown some openness to that. and the iranian president has shown some openness to that. but i also think that the fear that iran will move

quickly to try to get a bomb, and it certainly accelerating its production of material, will also ramp up the the pressure for israel to take military action, perhaps with u.s. help. and so i think you're going to see both of these movements happen simultaneously. and they'll probably be an effort at some coercive diplomacy, an effort to say to iran, either you give this up through a diplomatic process or you lose it, and it's going to be a far different dynamic as well. >> when we look at the relationship between donald trump and benjamin netanyahu, trump is far more willing to back netanyahu, as we've seen publicly encouraging israel striking iran's nuclear site. that will also be a major factor, not just when it comes to iran, but frankly, for the region. >> it certainly will. and we just don't know how prime minister netanyahu is going to respond to all of this. he has certainly at other moments,

pressed the united states for approval to go ahead with a strike on iran's nuclear facilities. he always backed away, sometimes because of voices inside israel, sometimes because of pressure from washington. but we just don't know how president trump will respond to that. and remember, it's the iranians who sent out some hit men. if you believe the justice department and their recent indictment to try to assassinate president trump when he was. candidate, obviously that effort didn't go very far. but i'm sure it left an impression on him. >> yeah, certainly. david sanger, always good to talk to you. happy holidays. >> happy holidays erica. thank you, thank you. >> just ahead here what to watch out for if you are taking a holiday pause. if you're on a weight loss or diabetes medication like wegovy or ozempic. >> and it has been one wild year. >> i know that whole live

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consultation. again, that's one 800 712 3800. >> i'm steve contorno covering the trump transition in west palm beach, florida. and this is cnn tis the season for friends, family and of course, food. >> but what if you're taking one of those popular weight loss and diabetes drugs which curb cravings? well, some people, we understand are

taking the holiday pause from these drugs so they can chow down. but is it a good idea? let's discuss with the doctor, megan ranney, the dean of yale school of public health. doctor ranney, thank you so much for being with us on this christmas eve. so tell us right off the bat, what should people know about skipping some of these doses? >> gosh, i am getting this question a lot right now. almost half of americans with diabetes are taking one of these glp one drugs, like wegovy or ozempic or zepbound, and 1 in 8 american adults are taking the medication for some reason or another. they do have side effects. so it's not surprising that people are thinking about skipping a dose for the holidays. now, my best advice is, of course, to talk to your own doctor, but knowing that it's christmas eve, you might not be able to do that. so there are two things that i tell folks to think about. the first is honestly, skipping one week of your medication is not going to be the end of the world, even if you are taking it for diabetes, your blood

sugars might go up a little bit. you might gain a little weight because you're going to eat a little more. but when you take your dose next week, you're going to quickly re-equilibrate. so if you really must skip a dose, so be it. the second thing, though, to think about is the reason why you are taking these medications. again, for most people that are taking them, it's because they have diabetes or heart disease or something that this medication really treats. so rather than skipping a dose, think about how you can use these holidays to celebrate with your family, but also create new traditions that honor your new, healthier self. you know, maybe eat a little less food, or find traditions that are not so food centered, but try hard to not skip the dose simply because of the message that it sends to yourself and to your family about what you're committing to for the new year, which is taking care of your body. >> and doctor randy, i'm curious because some of these drugs are weekly injections, as you noted, if you stop and skip

one dose, will the effects linger or will it really be almost immediate? you can. those curbed cravings will go away. >> yeah, that's a great question. the medication does stay in your body for a while, particularly that injectable version of the medication. so it's not going to completely disappear over the course of a few days. we actually tell people if you miss a dose, you can take a makeup dose even a few days later. so missing one week doesn't mean it totally disappears from your body. um, so. but but there's the other side of it, too. again, which is the effect does decrease over time. so you don't want to miss more than one week if you can possibly help it. >> now, i guess here's the other question that i imagine you are getting are there. you know, some of the users of these drugs, they sometimes have side effects nausea, uncomfortable abdominal pain. if people are considering pausing, though to just enjoy some of these holiday, you know, delicacies, could those side effects return when they start up again? could

they be stronger than before? what is the data say? >> so not totally sure. one of the things again, that's with only missing one week, you don't have to start at a lower dose than you did before. right? when you first start, you started a low dose and then you slowly titrate up. if you only miss one week, you can stay at the same dose that you were taking before. but if you're eating a lot of fatty or greasy or heavy foods, you may find more side effects when you restart. that's why we recommend with these injectable medications that you eat multiple small meals, lots of protein, lots of fiber. and those holiday cookies, roast beef, and so on are not going to interact super well with the medication. so try to keep those portions small. >> doctor, can i just ask you one question? looking forward. you know, it seems definitely that this year in particular, the use of these types of drugs really became perhaps more mainstream. you cited those numbers earlier about how many americans are on it.

do you think that 2025, we're going to see an even larger explosion of people being, or at least asking to try and be on some of these drugs? >> we're certainly going to see more people asking for it. and we've seen a lot of the shortages that stopped people from going on. it start to resolve. the big question, of course, is whether you can afford to take them. now. the biden-harris administration did approve these medications for weight loss for folks on medicare, which is really exciting and deeply needed because it can save costs over the long term, prevent heart attacks, prevent strokes. we'll see what happens around health insurance under the new presidential administration in the new year. i think that cost is still going to remain a big barrier for a lot of folks. unfortunately. >> doctor megan ranney, thank you so much for breaking all that down. really appreciate it. and have a very merry christmas eve. and coming up ahead. you bet. coming up ahead, how the grinch did much

more than steal christmas in one town. we'll explain. that's coming up next. >> you only come across an artist like luther vandross once in a lifetime. >> he was a boss from the beginning. >> luther said, i have a sound in my head. i got to get it out. you are my shining star. >> my. >> it was the most exciting time in the world. >> his life had extremely joyful moments and some really difficult moments. >> if we were to be able to talk to luther as fans, we would be able to say, we just love you, luther. never too much. new years day at eight on cnn. >> he looks down at his queen and says, after many more, i'll be in tow. >> let's work on that, friend, shall we? >> i've learned many new ideas through oh, wow. >> brian niccol more harry enten.

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indulge me, twas the weekend before christmas. and who's that at the front door? well, if you're an alleged drug dealer in lima, peru, it might just be the grinch. this is video of a peruvian police officer dressed as doctor seuss infamous christmas hating grinch sledge in hand, leading an anti-drug operation. >> i mean, as one does. you see, the grinch here smashes the door, cuffing someone appearing to find what possibly or drugs were told. and it turns out, danny, this is an ongoing tradition for this police unit. a few years ago, two officers dressed up as santa claus and an elf while raiding a home of alleged drug dealers. this year, on the day before valentine's day, an undercover officer dressed as a teddy bear during a big drug bust. so, um, i guess they like costumes. >> i guess his heart grew. how many sizes that day from drugs? >> oh, that's right, that's a good question. i don't remember terrible. >> unbelievable. erica, you're the best. thank you so much for being with me. and thank you all for what it has been for watching this christmas eve. i'll be back tomorrow at 1

p.m. eastern. history of the sitcom is up next. have a great night.