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"Black Friday" for App Downloads; Most Inspirational Moments of 2013; Pope Francis Delivers First Christmas Message; U.S. Embassy Attacked by Taliban; Signup Surges for Obamacare

Aired December 25, 2013 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for being with me. There's a lot of news going on, but before we get to that, merry Christmas, everyone, may your day be magical.

As the sun rises across the country, Christians celebrate with both revelry and reverence. In Washington, the families of service members remember their loved ones both at the city's war memorials and in Maryland, symbols of the season took to the ways of the National Harbor, the Grinch even bounced along on a jet ski.

In Australia, far from the north pole, revelers celebrated on the surf and on the sand. Santa parked the reindeer and padded around in flip- flops to deliver gifts and good cheer.

And in China, Christmas is not so much a religious holiday as it is a wacky excuse to celebrate. Kind of like St. Patrick's Day here in the United States. But China's government does take pride in its massive exports of toys saying without its cheap products, Americans couldn't enjoy those piles of gifts under the Christmas tree.

All right, let's head to the Vatican now where Pope Francis has a simple message this Christmas. Shun pride and selfishness, and open up your heart to God and one another. And millions of people hung on his every word. Call it the Francis effect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (Through Translator): God is peace. Let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world. Let us allow ourselves to be moved by God's goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: John Allen is CNN's senior Vatican analyst. He joins us now from our Rome bureau.

Welcome.

JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST: Hey, Carol, merry Christmas to you.

COSTELLO: Merry Christmas to you, too, John. You know, the Pope delivered such a simple message, choose light over dark. It's what we learn all of our lives, yet coming from a man who leads a major church, it seems fresh. Why is that?

ALLEN: Well, that's absolutely right, Carol. I mean, look, we've got a kind of blustery Roman Christmas afternoon here today and just as the wind is blowing strongly in the city, a lot of people would say, a new wind is blowing in the Catholic Church with this Pope.

I mean, you're absolutely right, in a sense that he has not invented a new message, but what he is doing is lifting up elements of that message, that perhaps have not gotten the kind of attention he's devoting to them. In particular the social gospel, concern for the poor, for victims of war, for those who are in other ways at society's margins, that's something that's run through his Christmas messages this is year.

And coupled with that, Carol, was the fact that when he talks that talk, people think he also walks the walk. This is a pope of deep simplicity and humility, who in a thousand and one ways has indicated that he much prefers to live life as an ordinary man close to real people as opposed to living in a kind of gilded cocoon. I think that goes a long way towards explaining his appeal.

COSTELLO: Pope Francis is also saying, quote, "If we love God and our brothers and sisters, we walk in the light, but if our hearts are closed, if we are dominated by pride, defeat, self-seeking, then darkness falls within us and around us."

Again, it's so simple, but of course he's saying so much more, and that also seems to rub some people the wrong way, despite the Pope's popularity. Why do you think that is?

ALLEN: Well, I mean, look, Carol, I mean, there is no doubt that Francis is a change agent in many respects in the Catholic Church and change, whether we're talking about politics or the economy or in this case religion, is always unsettling to some.

I mean, I think there would be some conservatives in the Catholic world who would think it's just too much too fast with this Pope. I think there would be some liberals who feel he's not going nearly far or fast enough. But you know, you make the point, I mean those reactions aside, what we know is that in every corner of the world in which public opinion can be scientifically measured, Francis has overwhelming approval ratings.

We saw that in the crowd today in the square that was just electric with enthusiasm for this Pope. I think what he's accomplished over the first nine months of his papacy is he has put this massive deposit of political capital and goodwill in the bank, and now the drum of 2014, Carol, in some ways is, how is he going to choose to spend it?

COSTELLO: Well, that is the big question. Will there be any real changes because talk is one thing and, you know, doing charitable works and mingling with common folk is another. But actual change within the church is something else. ALLEN: Well, that's right. Now it should be said that he's already moved the ball on some critically important fronts. He's changed personnel in the Vatican, he has shaken up the composition of the Vatican's all important office that appoints 5,000 bishops around the world, moving in the direction of moderates and away from hard liners.

He's issued tough new laws on Vatican finances, trying to clean up some of the scandals around here. He's created a commission to deal with the church's pedophile priest scandals.

I think we will see more of that, Carol, as the year rolls forward. We'll also going to continue to see Francis trying to be an apostle of peace. We know in May he's going to be in Israel and the Palestinian territories. He's going to continue to be engaged on the Syrian conflict and on and on.

One thing I will tell you that we have learned about Francis over nine months, Carol, this is a Pope who simply does not have an off switch.

COSTELLO: I think you're right about that.

John Allen, thanks so much for joining me on this Christmas morning, I do appreciate it.

ALLEN: You bet.

COSTELLO: In other news this morning, an attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul. The Taliban is claiming responsibility saying two missiles were fired at the embassy. A U.S. embassy spokesperson says two rounds of, quote, indirect fire hit the embassy compound, but no one was hurt.

This comes as the U.S. and Afghanistan work on a plan for U.S. military presence in the country after 2014.

CNN's Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon. She's following this story.

Tell us more, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, they don't know yet whether it was rockets or mortar fire. It has happened before, but a very rough Christmas morning to start for the people at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.

There were no injuries, everyone's accounted for, thankfully. It doesn't appear to be major damage at this point.

Over the years, the embassy has taken fire many U.S. bases. NATO bases in Afghanistan have taken fire so it does happen. But of course we are coming into 2014, the U.S. is looking for a significant reduction in its present 47,000 troops or so now, going to go down to somewhere in the 10 to 12 range with NATO in 2014, if, if Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs an agreement for all of this.

Otherwise, this time next year, we'll be looking at the U.S. fully getting out of Afghanistan if there is no new security agreement -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's switch gears a bit and talk about this Navy SEAL injured in south Sudan. Apparently he's headed to a military hospital in Germany now. Why?

STARR: Well, this hopefully is some very good news for this young man and his family. Saturday, of course, those four Navy SEALs injured badly when they tried to help with the evacuation effort of Americans out of south Sudan. Their aircraft came under fire. They were all shot.

Three of the SEALs were transferred to Germany a few days ago. They were well enough to be transferred. This young man had to undergo very extensive additional surgery. They could not move him. Now we are hearing this morning he finally is on his way to Landstuhl for further medical care and then expected to come back to the United States for even further care so good news for him and his family.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, thanks so much.

Also this morning the president and first lady paid tribute to the nation's troops as part of their annual holiday message. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years that they have been with their families on Christmas. In fact, with the Iraq war over and the transition in Afghanistan, fewer of our men and women in uniform are deployed in harm's way than at any time in the last decade.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: And that's something that we all can be thankful for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And for the president, an early Christmas gift of sorts. Signups for Obamacare surging as Americans scramble to meet those enrollment deadlines and for those who had a hard time getting coverage, there may still be help available.

Athena Jones has more for you.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

It turns out a lot of Americans are last-minute shoppers even when it comes to health care. The federal exchange healthcare.gov and the state exchanges have seen a big jump in visitors to their Web sites over the last several days as folks all across the country scramble to try to sign up for coverage starting January 1st.

Health officials say Monday was a record day for healthcare.gov with two million visitors to the site and 250,000 calls to the call center. Tuesday also saw big numbers, officials say, but not as big as Monday. Now the administration is making its best effort to make sure that those who are making their best efforts to enroll in coverage starting January 1st, but who weren't able to complete the process by last night's deadline, that they'll still be able to get that coverage starting in January with the help of a customer service representative.

Now (INAUDIBLE) have also seen a big surge in signups and visitors and it's interesting because it depends on what state you're in, some states have pushed back their deadline even further than the federal government. Either Friday, December 27th, or Tuesday, December 31st. And in Washington state, residents there have until January 15th to sign up for coverage, retroactive to January 1st if they were having problems.

Now of course this is all good news for the Obama administration, especially after those early problems with healthcare.gov, but it's important to know that they're still unlikely to meet their original target of 3.3 million enrollees by this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Athena Jones, reporting.

For 20 years, British TV viewers could watch the Queen's traditional Christmas message followed by an alternate address often by someone controversial.

Well, this morning that controversial message comes from none other than Edward Snowden. While his full address airs later this morning a preview has been released. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD SNOWDEN, LEAKED NSA SURVEILLANCE: A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, and unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that's a problem because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Elise Labott is our foreign affairs correspondent. She joins us now from Washington.

He's getting a lot of pub.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: That's right, Carol, well, it's usually delivered by a newsmaker, this alternative message. Edward Snowden joins the ranks of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even Ali G and Marge Simpson, all who've addressed British viewers at Christmas. And he's going to urge viewers really to rally against the kind of mass government surveillance that he revealed this year.

He says this big brother type spying and Orwell's famous book 1984 is nothing compared to what's going on today.

Let's take another listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNOWDEN: The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together we can find a better balance.

End mass surveillance. And remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.

For everyone out there listening, thank you and merry Christmas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: So, Carol, a very positive message from Edward Snowden about the world we live in today. But I think that over the years, he's obviously been a very controversial figure, and so he has gone from kind of revealing this NSA surveillance program, I think to being more of a provocateur and getting a dialogue going about the kind of programs that are going on right now.

COSTELLO: You know, it just enters my mind, he probably taped -- he did tape that in Russia, right? Because he can't leave and Russia's not exactly, you know, a place where freedom of speech flourishes and if he said anything against Russia, Russia probably wouldn't let him release this message and he's just a complicated guy, and it's a complicated issue and I don't know how to feel about it.

LABOTT: Well, I think it's interesting, and there's a bit of hypocrisy going on as you say, because in Russia, there's very little freedom of expression. You have seen over the last year, President Putin cracking down even further on his opposition.

And one of the conditions of Edward Snowden's so-called temporary asylum is that he wasn't going to do any more leaks against the United States. But you have seen, you know, he's passed a lot of information to journalist Glen Greenwald and others, and so you've seen these selective leaks over the years and officials say they really have no idea how much information he really has.

And it could be just the tip of the iceberg, so a very select moment. It seems to inflict kind of maximum controversy. Maximum damage to U.S. prestige over the world. We could see in the coming weeks and months even more programs. We really have no idea how much information he has or what's going to be linked by his so-called proxies.

COSTELLO: Elise Labott, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, today is Black Friday, well, sort of. Christmas is the number one day for downloading apps.

After the break, we'll take a look at some of the apps you might want to consider on your new iPhone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, we're the Calendar family stationed at Lajes Field, Azores, Portugal, and we'd like to send our happy holiday greetings out to our friends and family in the Indianapolis area.

Happy holidays, everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our top stories at 17 minutes past the hour.

Utility crews are hustling to get the power back on to hundreds of thousand of people who lost it in last weekend's snow and ice storms. Michigan's been hit the hardest. People in Maine, Vermont and New York state are also spending Christmas without heat or lights. And holiday travelers got stuck after a multicar pileup on I-90 in Ohio. No one was badly hurt but more than a dozen vehicles were damaged. Drivers blamed whiteout conditions.

Same-sex marriages will go on in Utah while a court moves forward. On Tuesday, a court denied a request from Utah officials to temporarily stay last week's ruling, striking down the state's ban on same-sex marriage. Hundreds of licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Salt Lake County since Friday.

Your tree may be missing a few gifts if you had them ship with UPS. The company says thousands of packages that should have arrived yesterday will be late. Higher than normal shipping demand and bad weather to blame. UPS says packages will arrive, but you will get them tomorrow. Sorry.

It's called the Black Friday of app downloads. Every year, Christmas Day is the heaviest download day for tablet and smart phone app. And the reason is simple, all you out there diving into your new tablets and smart phones spend all day filling them up with apps.

Etan Horowitz with CNN Digital. And he's here to tell us a couple of apps you absolutely desperately need on your phone or tablet?

ETAN HOROWITZ, CNN MOBILE EDITOR: Sure. Well, as you said, everybody gets a new tablet, gets a new smart phone. Last year, 328 million apps were downloaded on Christmas Day alone. That's more than double the normal amount that's downloaded. And this year, it's going to be even bigger. I mean, there's so many devices out there, not just iPads, you know, Kindle, Nexus, Windows, and so many devices.

And if you're an app developer, this is the day when you want people to download your a app. This is the day when you want them to really unwrap that new device and find what you've done.

COSTELLO: It's what I need from my mom when she opened up her new iPad, right?

OK. So, your top five recommended list. The first one on the list is, Dots. HOROWITZ: So, Dots. So, more games are downloaded than anything else today. And this is a great game that's free, it's connect the dots, but, you know, with touch, with your finger, similar if you played Candy Crush, you know kind of a similar game, it's real simple.

It's a great one, it kills time, very addictive. So, that's -- you know, you're going to be -- people are downloading a lot of games today. So that's the first one.

COSTELLO: OK, the second one is Dropbox?

HOROWITZ: Yes. So, this is a really great one, a really useful one. I have a 2 1/2-year-old son, so I take a lot of pictures and I want to make sure I don't ever lose those pictures.

So, what this can do is automatically back up every photo you take with your phone, with your tablet, as well as lets you store files, videos, documents and get them on any device on the computer. Dropbox free app available on all platforms.

COSTELLO: OK. And the next one, Kindle?

HOROWITZ: Kindle. So, everybody knows, you know, Amazon's Kindle is an e-reading device itself, but you may not know, they also have an app that you can use on an iPad, on Google tablet. I don't have a Kindle. I have iPads and iPhones. But I use the Kindle app because it's really easy to transfer your books, to sink them, to read them when you have a minute here, a minute there.

COSTELLO: Oh, I like that. In fact, I have Kindle on my phone, but I don't use it for some reason. But I'm going to start, since you've given it your recommendation.

The next one is Zite.

HOROWITZ: Zite. So, this is actually an app that CNN owns, but it's a really great app. It's sort of like Netflix but for really interesting articles out there.

So, you go in, you say, I'm interested in sports, I'm interested in business, I'm interested in music. And then it gives you articles and as you read through it, you do a thumbs-up or thumbs down, it gets better as time goes on and it really delivers personalized reading recommendations. Really great app, you know, if you're interested in finding articles on any topic.

COSTELLO: Awesome.

OK, and the last one, Evernote.

HOROWITZ: Evernote. So, similar to Dropbox, it's a productivity app. You know, it's great. It's available on all platforms. It's free, something pops in your mind, and you don't want to lose it. You know, some people might write it on a post-it note, but that gets lost. They might put it on a fridge. But with Evernote, you just pop open your app, type it in, it saves, it syncs, you can do voice dictation, you can take photos and that will scan the texts. So, another great one just for productivity.

COSTELLO: Awesome.

Can I ask you what the most useless app is, or you don't want to say?

HOROWITZ: The most useless app. Well, I mean, I think a lot of people probably feel bad about playing games, I know I play Candy Crush. I play, you know, like I said, with my 2-year-old, we're into Curious George, so he gets a lot of use out of it.

But it's a great day to play with apps. You know, you've got time to kill, you know, hanging out, just maybe the weather's not good. So I encourage people to check them out.

COSTELLO: OK, you didn't want to stay Candy Crush is useless. But it really is, it's fun at the same time.

HOROWITZ: What games do you like?

COSTELLO: I do Words with Friends.

HOROWITZ: OK.

COSTELLO: Yes. I think that makes me think.

HOROWITZ: The education value.

COSTELLO: I'm trying here, try to keep my brain working.

Etan Horowitz, thank you so much for coming in on Christmas. We appreciate it.

If you got a new smart phone or gadget this holiday season, make sure you download the CNN app for your new device. You can find it in the app store or at CNN.com/mobile.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the most inspirational moments of 2013, from the pope's message that everyone should be embraced by the church, to a teenaged boy just doing the right thing. We've got them all for you, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TECH. SGT. JORDAN APPELGATE, INCIRLIK AIR BASE, TURKEY: Hi. I'm Tech Sergeant Jordan Appelgate, stationed at Incirlik Are Base, Turkey. And this is my lovely wife Mallory. During this holiday season, we especially remember Jesus who gave us life and our families who add value to our lives.

MALLORY APPELGATE: We miss you family in Arkansas, and we love you. We wish we were with you this Christmas.

TECH. SGT. APPELGATE: I love you guys and we miss you. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's the holidays, a time of year when we like to reflect on all the good that happens in the world. And lucky for us, 2013 was full of some truly inspirational moments.

Earlier, I sat down with CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace to talk about some of the highlights of this year.

I started out by asking her about the cover of Katy Perry's "Roar" that left nearly everyone in tears.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: It was so touching and it brings tears to your eyes. And Katy Perry even responded after that video and then after hearing the news that cancer patient had died because she said she was so inspiring, she really took the message of "Roar", you can fight, you can do anything, you can overcome your obstacles -- and that message, it went viral.

And, you know, Katy Perry also challenged high schools around the country to do their own videos. And we saw so many kids doing videos, attacking the issue of bullying and kids with negative self esteem. So, I think, Carol, so often, we accuse our pop stars of doing the wrong thing, right? Here's a case where I think her video and her inspiring message really struck a cord with a lot of teens around the country.

COSTELLO: Absolutely.

OK, so let's move on to Jennifer Lawrence. She's so popular now. And she -- because she's just so down to earth, she proved we don't all have to be graceful. Remember when she fell at the -- and it was so charming.

WALLACE: Right, on her way, she's about to accept the award, best actress, right, at the Academy Awards, and she tripped and you think oh, no! And she just handled it with such grace.

And I think what's great about her, women really relate. She's so relatable, right, Carol? She's down to earth, she's authentic, she says it like it is, and that's so refreshing, right? Because too often, Hollywood celebrities actors and actresses, you don't necessarily think the person you see on the screen is the same person you would see if you met them casually.

COSTELLO: She's got her head on straight. I like that about her.

Let's talk about the guy who returned the money to a blind man. He worked at Dairy Queen. This woman stole like, what, 20 bucks from a blind man?

WALLACE: Can you believe it, right? So the blind man dropped the $20 bill, the Dairy Queen manager sees it, someone picks it up, and he tells the person to give it back, they refuse, so he gives the blind man $20 of his own money.

The story could have ended there, but a customer saw it. A co-worker saw it, posted it on Facebook. And I love this about social media, it goes viral, everyone's talking about it. And then he gets a call, right, from Warren Buffett because Buffett's company oversees a ton of things, including all the Dairy Queens and he's commending him and congratulating him.

I think it shows you, Carol, nice guys don't always finish last, right?

COSTELLO: Right. Exactly, sometimes it does pay to do the right thing in many different ways.

WALLACE: Sometimes it does. Yes.

COSTELLO: Pope Francis, some people say he's transforming the Catholic Church, and he's doing it by simple gestures. And in this case, he kissed a disfigured man and that too went viral, that image, that story. It was just so incredibly powerful.

WALLACE: It was so powerful, Carol. It blew up, really, on CNN.com. People were talking about it for days and days.

And I think what it does is, it's such a human moment right, and I think we talk about how can we accept people with differences, from different backgrounds, with disabilities? That gesture and that embrace and that sort of acceptance, I think the response that people were saying, wow, that is so beautiful, it sends such a message to all of us, can't we all do a better job of embracing those who don't look exactly like we do?

COSTELLO: I know. And isn't that part of what Christmas is all about?

WALLACE: It should be, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come on the NEWSROOM. Obamacare signups surge ahead of a key deadline. But will the enthusiasm last? We'll talk about that next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. RENEE CHARITY CASSIDY, UNDISCLOSED LOCATION, SOUTHWEST ASIA: Hey, Jacksonville. It's Captain Renee Charity Cassidy with the United States Air Force, of (INAUDIBLE) high school class of '04. Mom, happy holidays, no tears, I'll be home soon. And, dad, I can't get you the '76 Mustang this year. Jacksonville, keep my family safe and go Jaguars!

(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)