all. warnings of more sanctions. the high stakes call between president biden and putin turns tense at times. so what did it achieve? and a standing ovation for angela merkel who is take a bow after 16 years as germany's first female chancellor. we're live in berlin for a vote on her replacement. >> announcer: live from london, this is "cnn newsroom" with max foster. well, it's wednesday, december 7th, and we're just hours away from a key deposition into the attack on the u.s. capitol, and that sounds like it's no longer happening. but first exclusive reporting on the very wide net, the january 6 committee is casting. cnn has learned members have officially subpoenaed the phone records of more than 100 people including trump officials and associates and his one-time chief of staff mark meadows. >> one of the first things that this committee did when they first got stood up some months ago was they sent letters to phone carriers, to telecommunications carriers asking them to preserve these records. and now we know that they have gone ahead and requested and gotten the records of more than 100 people. some of these people, this includes people inside trump's inner circle. >> for the committee, what they're doing is they're trying to put together a picture of what was happening inside the white house, you know, among those trump associates in the days leading up to january 6 and during the event of the capitol riot. and so for them this is actually very, very important, and so they can get details from some of the people who already are cooperating. and we know that there are a number of those people that are cooperating and providing, filling in those blanks that the records that they have don't provide. >> an attorney for mark meadows says he won't be cooperating with congressional investigators after all. meadows is supposed to face the committee in about six hours' time. cnn's ryan nobles as why he is now dodging the deposition. >> reporter: the january 6 select committee is no longer expecting mark meadows, the former white house chief of staff, to appear for a scheduled deposition on wednesday. meadows sending the committee a letter on tuesday morning where he expresses reservations about the tentative agreement the committee worked out between him and his attorney for him to come forward and provide information about what he knows about the january 6 riots. now, meadows had expressed a willingness to cooperate with the committee, and had evenhanded over thousands of documents with information related to the january 6 riots. but the deposition was key. this in-person interview was something the committee was counting on. and in that letter mark meadows expresses concerns about what may or may not be covered under executive privilege and what questions he may be asked as a result of it, and he also expressed concern about the committee requesting phone records from not only him, but several hundred other -- several individuals that were also connected to this investigation. now, even though the committee is starting to run into roadblocks with mark meadows, steve bannon, jeffrey clark and others, the committee stresses that this is just a small number in terms of the wide universe of people that they have spoken to. this is what adam schiff had to say about the investigation. >> we've interviewed in excess of 250 people. these are the outliers. now, these outliers still have important information. so i don't want to minimize the fact that we should hear from them. we're going to do everything we can. but nonetheless, the fact that we are moving with expedition to hold them accountable. >> reporter: now, even though the committee does believe that they are making progress, there is a time line that they are working under and as they are trying to get some of these reluctant witnesses to participate, they are going to be running into just a situation where they could run out of time. for instance, in the criminal prosecution of steve bannon, that's not scheduled to take place until july 18th. that's not a lot of time between july 18th and the midterm elections when many believe this investigation needs to be wrapped up by because if republicans were to take back control of the house, it's likely that this committee's investigation would come to an end. ryan nobles, cnn on capitol hill. >> some legal experts say meadows' change of heart could be a sign that investigators already know too much. others say he's trying to play both sides and some suggest his testimony isn't even that important. >> people get in their heads that you have to have always the big fish, the king pin, the president, the vice president, the chief of staff, whomever it is when you're running an investigation, when often it is far more valuable to speak to the people around them, providing testimony about what you have hard evidence about in the form of phone records. and so these phone records are incredibly valuable. >> he's worried about a perjury trap being created for him. because when he disclosed those documents voluntarily, i would bet that he is giving over things to make him look pretty good. now, though, he doesn't know what other people may be saying. there may be people that he didn't disclose that he spoke to, so he's worried about that and he's afraid of being ambushed so they're backing out. now they know there are ways he could be impeached or confronted. >> cnn will have much more coverage of the january 6 investigation throughout the day, of course. now, the republican and democratic leaders of the u.s. senate have agreed to a one-time process to allow democrats to raise the debt ceiling on their votes alone. the house has passed legislation that sets up the process and also delays automatic medicare cuts. the measure will need ten republican votes in the senate to pass. mitch mcconnell is confident he can secure those votes. treasury secretary janet yellen has more on the debt limit that could be reached within a week from now. now, as congress grapples with how to pay for previous spending, president joe biden is hitting the road to promote his plans for future spending. u.s. president will be in kansas city, missouri, later today, to deliver remarks about his bipartisan infrastructure package, the $1.2 trillion bill was signed into law last month. meanwhile, another key part of mr. biden's economic agenda is making its way through congress. the $1.9 trillion build back better bill passed the house in november. it faces hurdles in the senate, though, where more moderate democrats have been hesitant to get on board. the senate majority leader chuck schumer says he's still hopeful it can be passed by christmas. now, as the president touts the spending plan every day americans are spending a little less at the pump. a new report finds the national average price for gasoline has already dropped 4 cents in the last week to 3.35 a gallon. the u.s. predicts those costs will dip lower with average prices dropping below $3 a gallon by next year. now, with tensions running high, u.s. president joe biden and russian president vladimir putin sat for a two-hour virtual summit dominated bayou crane and deep concerns over russia's military buildup. the biden administration says it does not believe mr. putin has made his decision on whether or not to invade ukraine, but mr. biden laid out the consequence if he does, which could include strong economic penalties. sources say the video call turned tense at times as the two leaders discussed the tens of thousands of russian troops at ukraine's border. cnn's kaitlan collins has more on the meeting from washington. >> reporter: a high stakes call amid fears of a russian invasion. >> hello. good to see you again. >> reporter: with tensions simmering on the border of ukraine, president biden spoke to russian president vladimir putin for two hours and one minute. >> the main topic was ukraine. >> reporter: the call posing a critical test for bhiden as he tries to avoid a major security crisis if russia invades ukraine. >> we didn't get clarity if that is his intention? >> we still do not believe president putin has made a decision. what president biden did was layout clearly the consequence if he chooses to move. >> reporter: biden warning putin about strong economic consequence and, quote, other measures, but it remains to be seen if the combative russian leader backs down. >> there is no finger wagging, but the president was crystal clear. >> reporter: putin had his own demands, including blocking ukraine from joining the military alliance known as nato. >> he made no such commitments or concessions. >> reporter: sullivan adding the u.s. is prepared to act in ways it didn't after russia illegally annexed crimea when president obama was in office. >> he looked putin in the eye and told him today things we did not do in 2014, we are prepared to do now. >> reporter: tensions between the united states and russia have only gotten worse in the months since biden and putin sat down for talks in geneva. at that meeting in june six months ago, biden predicted he would know soon if he had made real progress with putin. >> what is going to happen next is we're going to be able to look back, look ahead in three to six months and say, did the things we agreed to sit down and try to work out, did it work? >> reporter: kaitlan collins, cnn, the white house. president biden set to speak with ukraine's president on thursday. joining me here in london to talk about all the developments is cnn's scott mcclain. we heard a lot from the u.s. side. how is it being viewed from moscow this meeting? >> the russians made it quite clear in that call, they say they have serious security concerns about themselves in the region. in fact, they say that, look, these soldiers, tens of thousands of soldiers amassed at the border, look, these are russian soldiers on russian soil defending russian borders. there is nothing to see here. there is certainly no risk to ukraine at this point. and what's interesting is if you ask u.s. officials, they're a little bit puzzled by this. they're not certain if russia is actually trying to retake mart of the former soviet union, or whether this is just sort of a ploy for russia to have some leverage in future gs winegotia with the u.s. in order to de-escalate things. russia is known to create crises in the past and solve them on their own terms. perhaps that may be what's happening here. the two big things russia is interested in is they want some legal assurances that ukraine is not going to become a member of nato, and they also wanted to -- nato to stop sending military equipment to ukraine as well because they don't want ukraine to sort of become for lack of a better term, an eastern flank of nato even though not officially a member. there were some positive signs. the u.s. is open to dialogue as long as there is de-escalation going on in that part of the world. there were also positive overtones from the kremlin's read out, their characterization of the call. one kremlin aide saying there were jokes, committee changes of compliments during the call which i thought was quite interesting. here's where things stand now. there is no indication at this point the russians are going to move their troops out of that area at least any time soon, and there is also no indication that the americans are going to stop sending military equipment to ukraine unless they genuinely feel the threat is passed, even if the troops were to be moved they would feel that way. americans making clear, look, it is not up to the russians to decide who gets into nato and who doesn't. that is a question for the ukrainians. the nato members as well. ukraine saying, look, this would be a bloody massacre if they were to actually invade that area, and obviously as you mentioned, the u.s. saying, look, there's going to be economic sanctions big time, but no commitments of any american boots on the ground. >> at least they're talking, i guess. >> progress. >> thank you. the omicron variant is being identified in 21 states now. florida and illinois are among the latest states to detect it. experts expect it to spread. recent data suggests it's transmissible but doesn't cause severe disease. delta remains the dominant variant by far still. in michigan cases are up and new data shows more people are hospitalized with covid now than at any other point during the whole pandemic. and a new york doctor says delta's problem right now -- delta is a problem right now, but people need to get vaccinated and boostered for the omicron variant. a top medical expert agrees with that. >> delta is still their most significant player by far that we have in the u.s.. and we're not in a terribly good place right now. following thanksgiving, we're seeing cases going up again. i've been hoping this for a few months that people looking at this situation with both delta and maybe the threat of omicron would say, boy, if you're not vaccinated, this is the time to roll up your sleep. if you're vaccinated and eligible for a booster, get that booster now. >> early findings out of south africa suggest pfizer's covid vaccine may be somewhat less effective against the omicron variant. researchers found it was able to partially dodge protections by the two-dose vaccine, but they found adding an extra layer of defense like a previous infection or indeed a booster shot can help fend off infection. still unclear how those results will translate into fighting real-life infections, though, since researchers were working with samples in a lab. cnn's larry madowo is live in johannesburg. that's where they are getting a sense of how effective the vaccines are against it. >> reporter: that's correct, max. this is the first experiment that tries to track how this omicron variant might behave in somebody who is already vaccinated. so it's a small sample size, just 12 samples here in a lab. so it's not a real-life experiment. but the researchers say this is a little positive because they expect it to be way worse. the headline here is that at least for the pfizer virus, the omicron variant does escape immune protection but not entirely. if you were infected and then vaccinated, you have better protection. or if you have had a booster shot, you have also slightly better protection. there is going to be a lot more data and research necessary until they can say more about how this omicron variant behaves with the vaccines and this is just with pfizer. we need hear more about moderna or astrazeneca or johnson & johnson. it's a long way to go, but it's a start. like i said, the researchers think it's promising. this is something that's coming as south africa is still surging. cases here about a quarter of all the tests of africa are turning out positive, max, and that is an incredible, incredible number because two weeks ago the positivity rate was 2%. yesterday the positivity rate was 24.9%. now the government is considering a vaccine mandate making it mandatory for everybody in the country to get vaccinated to get basic services, get on public transport. before the government makes an announcement on that, a lot of private companies are doing so. even universities requiring staff and students to get vaccinated. many starting from january before the government can really make a decision on that. >> larry in johannesburg, thank you. now, australia won't be sending a delegation to the beijing olympics. chinese officials are already speaking out about the move. still to come, why they're putting the blame on australia for botched relations. and closing arguments start soon in the jussie smollett trial. we'll have details on some of the heated cross-examination when the actor was grilled by prosecutors over his hate crime allegations. with mucinex all-in-one you've got powerful relief from your worst cold and flu symptoms. so when 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who fatally shot adan tway wright during a routine traffic stop. kimberly potter faces first and second degree murder charges. her lawyer says she mistook her gun for a taser. wright's killing in april sparked days of protests. body camera video expected to be critical in the friel. footage shows potter yelling, taser, before pointing her hand gun and shooting the unarmed 20-year-old. in chicago closing arguments in the jussie smollett's criminal trial will take place a few hours from now. on tuesday the defense rested its case after he testified he was the victim of a hate crime and staged the attack for attention. sarah sidner has more from just outside the courtroom. >> reporter: jussie smollett taking the stand for a second day. there were fireworks in the courtroom because prosecutors were cross examining him. he is accused of six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly participating and planning a fake hate crime against himself, blaming it on trump supporters and then lying to police. smollett has constantly said he is innocent of the charges against him, but prosecutors trying to poke holes in his testimony and they pointed to a couple different things including the images and video of him with a noose around his neck. they asked whether he took that noose off and put it aside and only put it back on when police came to his door. he said that is indeed what he did. he did take it off and put it back on. but not to try and make the crime look worse than it was by disshelving the news, but to put it back on because he was told by a colleague that, indeed, he didn't want to be tampering with the evidence. and then the prosecutor said, then, why did you say this to "good morning america's" robin roberts? >> there was like this bleach on me, too. so when the police came, i kept the clothes on. i kept the rope. >> so you had the rope on the entire time? >> it wasn't like wrapped around. it was around. i wanted them to see. i wanted them to see what this was. i told them what happened, everything. i asked them to turn the body cams off. they were trying to stay in the hallway. please come in. i don't want a big scene with my neighbors and the second round of police officers. i went down to where it happened. i walked them through exactly what happened. >> reporter: smollett acknowledged what he said during the interview but couldn't explain the inconsistencies. he called out these two brothers, one of whom is his trainer, who both testified that indeed they were paid by smollett to plan and then carry out the attack against him. smollett outright calling both of those osundaiaro brothers liars. back to you guys. a woman testifying in the sex trafficking case against ghislaine maxwell says her heart and soul are broken over the abuse that she endured. the woman named carolyn is the third woman to testify. jeffrey epstein sexually abused her. maxwell was involved. she claims the abuse started when she was 14 and lasted until she was 18. she is now in her 30s. in cross-examination, the defense went after carolyn's credibility revealing she had used money given to her by epstein to buy drugs including cocaine. the government expects to rest its case this week. sometime today we could find out whether a saudi man in french custody is accused of killing khashoggi. they have yet to reveal whether they identified the identity. turkish authorities have a warrant out for him saying he dismembered khashoggi in istanbul in 2018. cnn's cyril vanier is tracking this live from paris for us. what are we waiting to hear today, then, cyril? >> reporter: max, french authorities are still trying to confirm the identity of this 33-year-old saudi man that they arrested yesterday, 9:30 a.m. local time as he was about to board his flight to riyad, saudi arabia, from paris's international airport. now, what are we looking at here? the french have just told cnn that the name of the man they have arrested matches a name for a man who was wanted by turkish authorities and by interpol. it also matches a name of a man who is under a sanctions regime from the u.s., from the uk, from france because that man is believed to be a member of the hit squad that dismembered and killed jamal khashoggi, the saudi journalist and saudi dissident in istanbul in 2018. so, it could be that we are facing a situation where one of jamal khashoggi's killers is now in custody in france and will be made to face justice. that would be a very interesting turning point in this story because until now khashoggi's killers have only faced justice in saudi arabia. and, max, the u.n. -- for killings at the time said the trial had taken place in saudi arabia was a parody of justice. now, the international community as you know was shocked by this grisly murder. we also cannot lose sight of the fact, max, that the identity of the man currently in custody has not been fully confirmed yet to us by french authorities, and saudi authorities are saying they believe it could be a case of mistaken identity. max? >> cyril in paris, thank you. germany's parliament has just elected a new chancellor. ahead, a new political landscape as angela merkel ends 16 years of her leadership. plus, france records one of its highest covid counts to date as the country grapples with the fifth wave of the virus. we're live for you in paris just ahead. blendjet's holiday sale is on now for the #1 gift this holiday season, the blendjet 2 portable blender. it packs the power of a big blender on the go, and it crushes right through ice. just drop in your favorite ingredients, even frozen fruit, and make a smoothie any time, anywhere. blendjet cleans itself. just add a drop of soap, water, and blend. recharge quickly with any usb port. order now on blendjet.com and get our best deal ever! xfinity rewards are our way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like sing family fun nights! rent sing for $1, then belt out all your favorite tunes from the movie with sing karaoke. plus, see sing 2 in theaters with buy-one-get-one free fandango tickets. join over a million members by signing up for free on the xfinity app. our thanks. your rewards. welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm max foster. if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the stories we're following this hour. former chief of staff mark meadows is not cooperating with investigators. they subpoenaed phone records from more than 100 people which could provide them the details that they need. president biden warned his russian counterpart vladimir putin of tougher economic sanctions if russian troops invade ukraine. the high stakes call was said to have got tense at times. the u.s. president is set to speak with ukraine's president on thursday. germany's parliament is in a new political era with the election of a new chancellor. a social democrat will lead a three-party coalition government with the progressive greens and the liberal free democrats. lawmakers started the session with an ovation for angela merkel as she ended her 16-year run as the country's first female chancellor. her time in office is second only to homer could. cnn's fred pleitgen joins us from berlin. eyes are on merkel, but it's all about the future, isn't it, fred? >> reporter: it is about the future. the future began a few moments ago. olaf has now been officially voted in as german chancellor by the german parliament. got a majority in german parliament and will be officially sworn in in just a couple of minutes as well. and later today he will go to the chancellory and take over from angela merkel who obviously will be moving out and he will be moving in. and you're absolutely right. it is on the one hand a new political ca era in germany. on the other hand, olaf scholz has said there will always be a lot of continuity from the politics we've seen in the merkel era. olaf schultz was the finance minister under merkel. angela merkel was only second to helmer cole. she leaves behind a gigantic political legacy. let's have a look. a farewell with the highest military honors, after more than 16 years in office, angela merkel received the so-called grand tattoo ceremony of germany's armed forces. a changing of the guard in german politics. >> translator: it is now up to the next government to find answers to the challenges that lie ahead of us and to shape our future. for that dear olaf scholz, if we don't succumb to envy and pessimism, the likes elsewhere a few years ago, would drain our heart. >> reporter: it is the end of a political year that was never easy for angela merkel. often belittled in the world of german conservative politics. my girl, is what legendary german chancellor hem wood cull called her as she moved through the ranks. many rivals mistakenly fail to take her seriously enough. >> when they realize a woman from the east is able to play this game of power, it was too late for them. >> reporter: when angela merkel became germany's first female chancellor in 2005, her style was completely different than previous chancellors. calm, quiet and reserved. but what merkel lacked in fiery rhetoric she made up for as a crisis manager, both during the lehman collapse in 2008 and the greek debt crisis in 2012, she took bold action to prop up the g german economy and eu member states, possibly saving the single currency, the euro. >> translator: europe will fail if the euro fails. and europe will win if the euro wins. >> reporter: in 2015 hundreds of thousands of refugees mostly displaced by the syrian civil war were literally on the eve's doorstep seeking shelter. angela merkel led the eu as it opened its gates, taking in well over a million people. >> translator: we have achieved much. we managed this and whenever something gets in the way, we will overcome it. >> reporter: but integration of the refugees proved more difficult, giving rise to nationalist forces in germany. while angela merkel did manage to win a fourth term in 2017, her popularity was waning and she announced she would not seek a fifth one. still, the challenges kept coming. with the election of donald trump as u.s. president in 2016 and trump's alienation of many of the u.s.'s allies, merkel, a quantum chemist, often appeared stunned by some of the u.s. president's remarks. >> i have german in my blood. i'll be there. >> reporter: angela merkel led germany through the pandemic, but her party support collapsed in the final months of her chancellor ship. her christian democratic party lost the 2021 elections, paving the way for a social democratic-led government which will take power after angela merkel's final political good-bye. and that final political good-bye happening in berlin. the end of a very, very long political era and one we just saw was really riddled with a lot of challenges that angela merkel had to overcome. this new government of course faces a lot of challenges as well. first and foremost, max, dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. germany in a tough situation as far as that's concerned. and, of course, you currently have that crisis at the eastern border of ukraine with russia amassing troops there. and i think one of the things that that's important to point out with this new chancellor olaf scholz and the team he has around him, he has shown himself to be a big fan of joe biden. at the press conference, he reiterated he's very much in favor of that multi-lateralism you see from the u.s. administration. he's been talking to angela merkel about sin chronizing with the u.s. and allies. a female foreign minister the first time of the green party, she is also very, very high on transatlantic relations as well, max. >> fred, thank you. be interesting to see what merkel does next. now, europe's health agencies are trying to battle rising covid cases ahead of the christmas holidays. the eu drug regulators says vaccines may be used and booster shots. it will produce good levels of antibodies against covid-19. meanwhile the euro chief is warning against vaccine mandates, saying they should be a last resort in dealing with the omicron variant. and france recorded one of its highest daily case counts, just over 59,000 new infections on tuesday. cnn's melissa bell following this story for us from paris. melissa. >> reporter: max, this was one of the largest rises we've seen in a long time. it comes in the wake of other large rises, 50,000 new cases a day over a 24-hour period we've seen several times in the last few days. a staggeringly fast rise and spread of what is mostly a delta variant-driven fifth wave. so for the time being, a series of measures introduced here in france, but you're quite right to point out that the trend europe wide is for governments to be looking at whether or not they should make vaccines mandatory either for their entire populations or for parts of them. health care workers, for instance, or elderly parts of the population. we know that germany is considering it. we know that the european level has said it is something europe may have to consider, but that word of warning from the world health organization a reminder really of that problem of vaccine hesitancy in some countries. and the fears there are of a backlash from some parts of the population. max, this is what we've seen seeing the last few weeks. protests sometimes turning violent from those parts of the population that are resenting the new measures we are seeing in so many countries, that are trying to force them towards vaccination. so where vaccines have been made mandatory, for instance austria, the extension of covid policies, for instance, trying to make life as difficult for the unvaccinated as possible. so on one hand, resistant parts of the population that are a worry, but on the other, those really fast covid figures mostly delta variant here in france represent 99% of cases. but we know that omicron is moving fast behind that. therefore several cases in europe, one berlin-based pointed out, the summer is likely to be omicron, max. >> melissa bell in paris, thank you. australia joining the diplomatic boycott of the beijing games calling out china for human rights abuses. the latest from olympic officials just ahead. start your day with crest 3d white and from mochaccinos to merlot, your smile will always be brilliant. crest 3d white brilliance. 100% stain removal, 24 hour stain resistance to lock in your whitest smile. crest. the #1 toothpaste brand in america. australia has signed onto the u.s. diplomatic boycott of the winter olympics in bay gbinije. the announcement came tuesday from scott morrison citing china's human rights record as the driving factor. >> the human rights abuses and the many other issues that australia has consistently raised, we have been very pleased and very happy to talk to the chinese government about these issues, and there's been no obstacle to that occurring on our side. but the chinese government is consistently not accepted those opportunities for us to meet about these issues. so it is not surprising, therefore, that australian government officials would, therefore, not be going to china for those games. china athletes will, though. >> well, china says australia is blindly following the u.s. regardless of whether it's right or wrong. the foreign ministry in beijing says the boycott goes against the olympic spirit and principle of staying politically neutral. cnn's kristie lu stout is following the story for us from hong kong. we should note aussie sports fans, people from those countries are still going to the olympics. but there will be some sympathy for the beijing point of view as well, that this should be separate, politics and sports should stay separate. >> reporter: and australia has made sure to mention as we heard from u.s. officials earlier this week that this is not a full boycott, but a diplomatic boycott, meaning government officials won't be attending, let's say, the opening ceremonies of the beijing olympic games. we did hear from chinese ministry foreign affairs a couple hours ago. they accused australia of making this decision blindly following other countries without limit. it was on wednesday. earlier today when we heard from scott morrison, the australian prime minister who formally announced this diplomatic boycott a day or so after the u.s. made the announcement. he said the reason they made this decision was because of difficulties in reopening diplomatic channels with china to discuss human rights abuses in shin zhong and the tariffs. we heard from the olympic committee. this diplomatic boycott will not be impacting an estimated 40 australian athletes due to take part in the beijing winter olympic games that are kickoff in two months from now. we heard from china's embassy in australia. they wish the australian athletes good luck. they said they hope they have a, quote, excellent performance. they also said this. let's bring it up for you. the blame for the current predicament of china/australian relations are squarely on the australian side. china urges the australian side to take practical measures to create favoritable relations for bilateral relations. unquote. on monday that was when the united states announced its diplomatic pye cot and china pushed back saying america will pay the price. there will be resolute counter measures. we heard this from the ministry of foreign affairs on tuesday, in which the spokesman says that it doesn't matter whether or not diplomats attend the games. listen to this. >> translator: as we stated on various occasions, it is the athletes instead of politicians clamoring for boycott out of selfish political gains that should be in the spotlight. in fact, no one would care whether these people come or not, and it has no impact whatsoever on the olympics to be successfully held by beijing. >> reporter: and we heard the similar message today, a statement of, nobody cares about a diplomatic boycott from beijing, even though on monday, the very words, united states olympic boycott were censored online in social media in china, max. >> okay, we'll be watching other countries as well. thank you. honolulu, hawaii recorded nearly 8 inches of rain on monday, making it the region's wettest day of december on record. the state has been inundated with historic rains and flooding since the weekend. meteorologist pedram javaheri has the latest forecast for you for that area. >> good morning, max. what a mess across portions of the hawaiian islands, oahu and honolulu in particular. we saw as much as 8 inches of rainfall come down in the past 24 hours. the single wettest december day on record across this region. of course, significant disruptions across the roadways. certainly saw some power outages as well. the flooding continues here as we see conditions finally i improve over the next few days. the energy, what is left of this very slow-moving system pushing further toward the west. the western islands, kauai, we see rain taper off as well. rainfall has been staggering as it gets. radar imagery still producing rain on the western periphery. as much as, say, 3 to 4 inches still possible on the western flank, but that is really about it. the damage has already been done across this region. rainfall ranging from hilo at 5 inches to work your way towards portions of kauai where as much as 14 inches have come down, again, in the span of a couple of days. the islands as we noted sitting underneath a drought situation, so at least some of this rainfall is going to be beneficial, but, of course, we've seen quite a bit of damage left in place as well. around the lower 48 states of the u.s., we do have some wintry weather into the higher elevations of the northwest and the interior western united states as well. while even a bout with snow showers possibly in store in parts of the northeast, boston in particular. wednesday night into thursday morning could see some flurries across that region, some accumulating snow as well. notice this into the inter mountain west. denver potentially seeing its first snow of the season coming down over the next several days among the longest snowless droughts in place for our friends in denver. finally about to be over. temperatures one more day climbing to the upper 50s. seattle at 45. atlanta 57 degrees. max? >> thanks, pedram. now, another name added to the list of billionaires in space. a japanese fashion tycoon makes his way to the international space station. a look at his journey next. >> ms-20 with two japanesese spe flight -- blendjet's holiday sale is on now for the #1 gift this holiday season, the blendjet 2 portable blender. it packs the power of a big blender on the go, and it crushes right through ice. just drop in your favorite ingredients, even frozen fruit, and make a smoothie any time, anywhere. blendjet cleans itself. just add a drop of soap, water, and blend. recharge quickly with any usb 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acceptance is guaranteed. and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock so your rate can never go up for any reason. so call now for free information and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner. and it's yours free just for calling. so call now for free information. tony here from creditrepair.com taking to the streets to talk about credit. can you repair your credit yourself? yes. -great. how? uhhh... how long does credit repair take? i don't know, like 10 years. what? are you insane? what's a good credit score? go. 600. maybe if you're trying to pay thousands extra in interest rates. cut the confusion, get started with a free credit evaluation at creditrepair.com. and liftoff. liftoff of u.s.-20 with two japanese -- >> japanese fashion tycoon is on his way to the international space station. he blasted off just a short time a go traveling with a videographer and a russian cosmonaut. cnn's blake essex joins us. explain what his personal mission is? >> reporter: max, i think the whole world looking at this mission. japan's yakuzu mayazawa joining the list of billionaires to launch into space, winchestering it happen from inside the spacecraft as it was happening was really exciting. he had a big smile on his fashion, understandably. excited about what was hang. the fashion tycoon who forbes says is worth $1.9 billion took off from kazakhstan two hours ago and is now on board a russian spacecraft traveling to the international space station for a 12-day mission. the 46-year-old says that the purpose of his trip is to share the experience of going to space as a commoner and give the perspective that is different from an austria toro naught. a recent video of him on his youtube channel showed him trying on a space suit and struggling to learn russian. it was organized by a virginia-based company called space adventures. now, this won't be the eccentric japanese billionaire's only trip to space. he rented a spacex rocket to fly around the moon as early as 2023. he made headlines earlier this year when he began accepting applications from ordinary people from all over the world to join him on that spacex flight with the billionaire footing the bill. max? >> okay, blake, exciting stuff. we'll look forward to the pictures. now, the city council in south port land, maine, may have elected the country's first somali-american man. he said a lot has changed since 2018 when she first ran for the council and won. a fellow city councilors, white voted for her praising her dedication to the community. >> america is this amazing land that is -- anybody can become whoever they want if they really work hard and make relationships. >> sthere are 25,000 people. it is the fourth largest city. she is set to serve a one-year term. thanks for joining us here on "cnn newsroom." i'm max foster in london. "early start" with christine romans and laura jarrett up next. you're watching cnn. do you struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep? qunol sleep formula combines 5 key nutrients that can help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up refreshed. the brand i trust is qunol. this is elodia. she's a recording artist. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. hello, everyone. it is wednesday, december 8th. it is 5:00 a.m. in new york. thanks so much for getting an early start with us. i'm laura jarrett. >> i'm christine romans. welcome to our viewers from the united states and around the world. important relief for american consumers. energy costs are falling now. first remember there had been worries home heating bills could double in some cases this winter, but those concerns are melting away here. a couple of reasons. warm temperatures and forecasts for warmer

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