. good morning, everyone. welcome to cnn this morning. it s december 31st. yes, it s the last day of the year. happy new year s eve to you, martin. happy new year s eve to you as well, amara. thank you. we are, of course, following breaking news this morning. pope benedict emeritus has died. pope francis had been asking for prayers. for the firstet time in modern history he resigned in 2013, citing advanced age, which paved the way for pope francis to head the church. cnn s delia gallagher with more. reporter: in many respects, benedict xvi was the pope who got a bad rap. nearly 24 years as pope john paul ii eternal enforcer and the german chancellor lived in the shadows of hitler s regime, referred as god s rottweiler. years of anything tev publicity caused many of his accomplishments to go unnoticed. he was the first pope to go green, making the vatican the first country in the world with a zero carbon footprint, putting solar panels on its rooftops, and bringing
news out of the vatican. the former pope emeritus benedict has died at the age of 95. with sorrow, we inform you that the pope emeritus benedict xvi passed away, today, this morning, at 9:34 in the mater echess yamon tia mona stare. he was the first pope to resign, rather than stay in office for life. he was a controversial at times member of church. let s go to barbie nadeau in st. peter s square right now. barbie, i m curious, there were a lot of people already in the square and then the news breaks. so what s the reaction? what are people talking about there? reporter: yeah, you know, it s a mixed reaction, because a lot some people didn t know. some people here in rome enjoying a day. the square is empty behind us right now, they re doing a security check because pope francis is going to be coming out here in the next hour or so to visit the nativity scene there. we ve got a lot of pilgrims pushed off the square. they re coming back. but the mood is very solemn.
our other major headline tonight, new year s storm threats. two big systems hitting on both coasts. in the west, 13 states on alert for heavy mountain snow. torrential rain and nasty weather moving east just in time for the new year. our team tracking it all. six years of former president trump s tax returns now made public after years of legal battles. what they reveal about his profits and losses. foreign bank accounts, and how he paid no taxes in his final year at the white house. how trump is responding tonight. southwest airlines resetting and resuming normal service tonight after nearly 16,000 cancellations since the holiday travel meltdown began last week. the airline ceo talking exclusively to abc news, apologizing and promising the company will make good on passenger reimbursements. the finances of embattled congressman-elect george santos under new scrutiny. tonight, questions about how he spent campaign money. more than $70,000 in air travel and hotel expense
28-year-old bryan kohberger at 3:00 a.m. this morning in scranton, pennsylvania, live look at the jail where the suspect is being held. he has already made a court appearance for first-degree murder and is awaiting extradition back to idaho. gillian: new videos coming and showing police outside kohberger s apartment in pullman, washington, miles away from idaho state university s campus where the students were murdered. alicia: let s get to fox team coverage. ted williams spent some time on the scene in moscow. he is here with his analysis. david spunt standing by and what we are hearing from the doj. gillian: we begin with national correspondent william la jeunesse. what are we learning this hour? what was out cold case is now red-hot with the arrest of 28-year-old bryan kohberger. pennsylvania state police and the fbi making the arrest around 3:00 a.m. this morning the mountains of eastern pennsylvania. philadelphia, 2500 miles from moscow, idaho. kohberger is not a
for votes. kevin pmccarthy huddling with those to become speaker of the house. one doubling down on his opposition just moments ago. plus new details of the idaho murder. how the spektrct was tracked do and putin suffer ing on the battlefield. losses growing inside russia. let s go outfront. good evening. i m erica hill in for erin burnett. house leader kevin mccarthy still on the hill at this hour, still meeting with members of his party with just hours to go for that critical vote of speaker of the house. dozens of republicans seen going in and out of mccarthy s office. among them congressman matt gaetz. significant, one of the republicans who s been a hard no on his gavel. moments ago leaving mccarthy s office, gaetz offered this update. give in to your demands? might vote for him tomorrow? i don t know. i m a no. i m a no. tomorrow the entire conference gathers to hear mccarthy make his final case for the speakership. shortly after that, if he doesn t get su