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. 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...

To get out. so it does not appear that much progress was made in the third round of talks, anderson. >> reporter: a u.s. defense official said the russians are increasing bombardments of major ukrainian cities including kharkiv and kyiv and as well as mariupol in the south. what is the latest on that? >> well, this was a significant fear. here we are more than a week into this war and russia has not made much progress on the ground. so the concern was to make up for it, that they would start stepping up their aerial bombardment and that is -- it does appear what they're doing. we're hearing co...

Early to tell. i think we're going to see what happens in the next few months, frankly, and sort out the decision making in the biden administration. it's a political question that will confront biden in the months ahead. >> tim, we're hearing comparisons of this moment, what we're seeing in kabul, to the fall of saigon. the iconic image of people fleeing the u.s. embassy by helicopter as the city fell. took a look at these side by side images. here's what secretary of state tony blinken said about that on cnn earlier today. >> president biden is intent on avoiding a saigon moment, that's a re...

Reportedly met with others this week. joining us by phone is bill nelson. what's the latest you're hearing first of all in terms of the power that this storm might have in we're hearing comparisons to an cr andrew, and they're not good as this could be far worse. >> absolutely. you think 25 years ago to andrew, the state was not prepared. the federal government was not prepared. i think that's the big difference today. i think the coordination between the state, local, and federal governments are all there. the mistake in new orleans and katrina, for example, where the u.s. military and the ...

Analyst brit hume to bring a little perspective to all of this. you're one of the only people i know who actually covered the famous saturday night massacre in 1973. special prosecutor was dismissed. your hearing comparisons to that event tonight. are they valid? >> the occurrence of the saturday night massacre, the investigation into the alleged crimes of watergate was very well advanced and a great deal of evidence of wrongdoing had been uncovered both in congressional hearings and in the criminal investigations that were going forward. archibald cox, the independent counsel special prosecut...