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Snowden Warns of Government Surveillance; Top 10 Weather Stories of 2013; Top Sports Stories for 2014

Aired December 25, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello thank you so much for joining me and of course merry Christmas to you.

For 20 years, British TV viewers could watch the Queen's traditional Christmas message followed by an alternate address often by someone quite controversial. Well this morning that message came from the exiled -- exiled American Edward Snowden. His full address will air later this morning, but British TV did release a preview. Here it is.

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.

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COSTELLO: Elise Labott is our foreign affairs reporter she joins us from Washington to tell us more about this. Good morning Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Good morning, Carol. Well Edward Snowden joined the ranks of Mahmud Ahmadinejad, Ali Gee and even Marge Simpson. All of whom have addressed British viewers at Christmas. Snowden is really urging listeners to rally against the kind of government -- mass government surveillance that he revealed last year. Remember Orwell's famous book "1984" about Big Brother watching? Well Snowden says it's nothing compared to what's going on today. Take a listen.

LABOTT: Ok. Well, I think we -- we have an error there. But anyway, it's not a very uplifting Christmas message about the world we live in today, Carol. He's saying that really everybody needs to start a dialogue about these kinds of programs and I think you've seen this over the last year, Congress and an independent panel talking about that perhaps the NSA and all these programs that the U.S. had overreached. And I think you started seeing Edward Snowden kind of more just leaking this information, but now he's kind of evolved into a kind of provocateur, speaking out, giving more interviews about the need for us to question how our government is watching us.

COSTELLO: Yes and I would assume, because he can't leave Russia that he taped this message in Russia a place where free speech doesn't flow easily. Oh before you answer that question, we do have the bite that you were waiting for. So let's listen to more of Edward Snowden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SNOWDEN: The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surround 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)

COSTELLO: Again you just can't escape the fact that he is in Russia saying these things.

LABOTT: He's in Russia saying these things. And really one of the conditions about his asylum, this temporary asylum that the Russians gave him was that he would not do anything more to damage the United States around the world. And you see he's been working with Greg -- with Glenn Greenwald who's been leaking a lot of this information selectively over the year, so not necessarily sure if he's really living up to those conditions, but -- but clearly the Russians have been criticized for cracking down on their own opposition, their own press and so the fact that he is doing that from there kind of a little ironic.

COSTELLO: It certainly is Elise Labott many thanks to you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM the super typhoon that rocked the Philippines was the strongest storm to make land in recent history. We'll look back on that and the other top ten weather stories of 2013.

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COSTELLO: A 1,000-year flood, a nearly 300 mile an hour tornado, a typhoon that destroyed millions of homes, mind-boggling numbers. Those were some of the extreme weather stories we've covered this year.

Chad Myers counts down the top ten.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: 2013 was quite a year weather-wise. Let's go to the top ten weather stories right now. We'll start at number ten in Mexico, twin hurricanes hitting that country, one from the Gulf of Mexico, the other from the Pacific, $5 billion in damage. More than 100 people killed in that flooding.

Now to South Dakota, 12 days into autumn we're looking at this -- four feet of snow, 70 mile per winds. 20,000 cattle were killed in this storm as ranchers were caught off guard.

Now to the northeast -- the nor'easter, a big storm back in February, 83 mile per hour winds at one point. But the pressure was equal to a Category 2 hurricane.

Now to Arizona where the wildfire struck, lightning strike north of Phoenix created this wildfire. It grew to 6,000 acres. the Granite Mountain Hotshots were send in the wind shifted directions on them and blew the fire right back at those firefighters. 19 died that day, that's the largest loss of life of firefighters since 9/11.

To East Asia right here, big dome of high pressure -- very populated area here shining high into Shimanto, Japan. Shimanto, Japan had 106 degrees. Shimanto, Japan has never been that hot, in fact no city in Japan has ever been that hot on any day, any summer as long as they were keeping records.

Now to Oklahoma City a 210-mile per hour tornado, an EF-5 headed to Moore, Oklahoma. Moore, Oklahoma right here and it was coming in from the West. And we knew it was moving into a populated area.

We watched it live on CNN from our local affiliates and broadcast it live to the world. And that school is Plaza Towers. It took a direct hit. Seven children were killed in that school, but look at the damage that that school had.

Now on to El Reno I was there 11 days later. This is a 2.6 mile wide tornado that moved to the southeast for a while. But when it got very strong, almost 300 miles per hour, with some mobile Doppler Radar units it turned to the left, caught an awful lot of storm chasers out of where they thought they should be in a very bad position. That's where the storm should have gone, in that white line, it didn't do that it turned to the left and the storm chasers were right there.

In fact even the Weather Channel was right there. Their storm chase vehicle was hit by this tornado. But sadly Tim Samaras (ph) and two other chasers were killed in that vehicle right there as the tornado over took them.

Colorado flash floods, this is a once in a 1,000-year flood; 17 inches of rain in eight days, nine inches of rain in 24 hours. When you get that kind of rain the mountains are going to run off. It can't all soak in. So the rain came down and it ran down the mountains and washed away towns, washed away bridges and roads. And there was significant damage all the way into Boulder.

Also have very effective video, look at this video we watched this just for hours as they rescued people out of some of these creeks and streams. These high water rescues go on for a couple of days.

Now we go to India, 15 inches of rain in 24 hours and look at what happened here. These towns were eaten alive by the water. Washed away into the rivers here one building after another. There were religious pilgrims in the area as well and more than 5,000 of them died.

Now, on to Europe. This isn't a flash flood like we've just seen in the past two, this is a long of term rain event. And it rains in the mountains and it rains in the plains and it all gets down into the rivers, and the rivers there in Europe went up. The Danube, the Rhine, the Elb -- all at historic record levels.

They have been keeping records for some of these rivers since 1501. It even broke those records. Vienna, Prague, Budapest -- all of those ancient cities hit by this flood.

Now to number one, super typhoon Haiyan. The strongest storm to ever make landfall in recent history, a 200-mile-per-hour monster super typhoon, we had 20-foot storm surge. Andrew Stevens was there, Anderson Cooper was there. 6,000 people died as a 200-mile-per-hour wind rolled through Tacloban also with that 20-foot storm surge.

There are still 2,000 people missing, there are millions of people that don't have homes right now still in the Philippines.

All of this happened in a year that the IPCC put out their climate report -- those are the climate gurus for the United Nations. And they say we're going to have more heat waves in the future, we're going to have more floods, and we're also going to have more drought because of climate change.

So maybe what we think of right now as extreme weather might just be the new normal.

COSTELLO: Oh ok, let's lift the mood on this Christmas day. Let's talk sports, my favorite thing to talk about. We're going to talk about A-Rod and Peyton Manning. It was a big year for sports in 2013. After the break, we will look ahead to 2014. To hear what the big sports stories will be in the wonderful year coming our way next? We'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: The New Year is right around the corner. When it comes to sports news, the year was anything but quiet.

Broncos quarterback, Peyton Manning, broke all sorts of records on the gridiron, but will he be able to lead his team to the Super Bowl? And will Super Bowl XLVIII be covered in snow and bitter cold like we've already seen in a few games this year?

Earlier I talked with "Bleacher Report's" Joe Carter and Mike Pesca from NPR Sports to get their predictions on the year ahead in sports.

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COSTELLO: So I guess I should ask you first about your Super Bowl predictions, Joe.

JOE CARTER, CNN SPORT: I've got Broncos/Seahawks. I mean I'm going with the two favorite horses. But you know, obviously it's going to be a cold weather Super Bowl. I mean it's going to be the first time that we're going to see a Super Bowl hosted in a cold weather city in an outdoor stadium. And you know what -- I hope it snows. If we're going to go there and go through all this, let it snow, baby. Let is know. Because you know what -- football is a game that's built to be played in cold weather. It's built to be played in the snow. The one part of it that I really think is the wildcard is the half time show. Think of Bruno Mars and that crew having to push out all that equipment when they go to half time, set it all up, have that big light spectacular and have them pull that off when it's snowing.

COSTELLO: Think of all the half-naked dancers with him.

CARTER: Exactly -- they're all going to have coats on. They're all going to have lots of coats on. But you know, the NFL VP of events said that he thinks it's romantic. That he thinks that when it snows it's what football is supposed to have so I say, let it snow.

COSTELLO: Mike, I have to agree with Joe.

MIKE PESCA, NPR SPORTS: The halftime show?

CARTER: Yes, yes.

PESCA: That is exactly what to worry about. If you want my picks, I agree, I think Seattle is just the class of the NFL, and they have such a great home field advantage, but, you know, the Broncos have shown vulnerability, so what the heck I will pick the Cincinnati Bengals, you know. So that's no horses in the Super Bowl for me.

COSTELLO: I like the Bengals -- they go high. Who needs the champions.

CARTER: I agree with Mike. Mike, the Bengals are tough. That's one team that definitely --

COSTELLO: The other big story -- well, what's bound to be a big story in 2014 is A-Rod and Major League Baseball, the never, never-ending story. So Mike, I'll let you go first on this one.

PESCA: Yes, I think that the weird 211-game suspension to A-Rod, why is it that number? My prediction would be he'll get fewer than 211 games, but he'll still get a significant suspension. A-Rod' suit against the Major League Baseball, I don't know that that will go anywhere. However, the big, you know, over-arching theme of this is how will it cost the Yankees?

I do think the Yankees -- what they really want is A-Rod off their books so they can get their salary lower and that is not going to happen for them. I think that A-Rod is one of these guys who is guilty and unsympathetic, yet maybe has been punished too hard. It's possible for both those things to be true -- that he's both a scapegoat and a victim at the same time. And I think that appeals to A-Rod's vanity actually.

COSTELLO: If A-Rod is able to return to the team and play, Joe, will he play well?

CARTER: It's hard to say. He is getting older and obviously he's known --

COSTELLO: Last season he didn't do too badly, right with all the pressure on him.

CARTER: Well, he didn't play very much. I mean he played very little but I mean if we're predicting forward, I would have to say that -- I think that yes, like mike said, he's going to get less than 211 games.

I think that his legal team, and there are a lot of lawyers to his team will take this case to federal court, they'll file an injunction and will get tied up in the legal system. I think he'll be back on the baseball diamond in no time. He will be playing until he says it's time to stop playing. It's not going to be Major League Baseball's call, but I think it's going to be Alex Rodriguez' call.

I think all in all when the fans look at this story, I think there's a bit of Alex Rodriguez some fatigue that's set in. I think people are ready for the story to be over. I think that they're ready for it to -- you know, to move on from the whole steroid and baseball connection to begin with. I think people are just tired of hearing it. I think once Bud Selig leaves and there's new management commissioned -- I think that's a new start for baseball.

COSTELLO: Not only are the fans tired, but I think his fellow players are pretty tired of him too.

CARTER: Yes.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Olympics because that's bound to be big in 2014. I'm sure we won't be short on controversy either right -- Mike?

PESCA: Well, yes, you know, Russia has a rule against protesting, well what they consider protesting, speaking out in favor of gay rights. It's just casting a pall over the entire Olympics. A gay rights activist called President Obama's appointment of a delegation that including Billy Jean King and Brian Boitano. These gay rights activists called it a brilliant snub. So I think we'll have a chance to see diplomacy trump hard power in the Olympics. The big question is what athletes are going to be allowed to say? What sort of protests are they going to be allowed to engage in? Will they be able to wear small lapel pins with say a rainbow flag? If the NBC cameras interview an athlete after a successful run and that athlete says something pro-gay rights, will punishment be meted out?

Well this is what the Olympics and IOS jets, when they do business with a country like Russia which have these laws that run counter to what we think of as human rights.

CARTER: Good point.

COSTELLO: And Joe, this seems to be overshadowing, you know, the sports that are going to be involved in the Olympics -- right?

CARTER: Yes. And I think that's where we fall into the love for the Olympics, obviously, it's a time of year that we all get patriotic and turn to our television and we sit around and we watch with our families, the opening ceremonies and all of that spectacle that comes along with it.

But there are some pretty interesting story lines as Mike pointed with the gay rights issue and then also the money that's being spent, you know, the $51 billion they're saying this Olympics is costing more than every Olympic game combined because Putin is trying to put on a show beyond anybody else's type of show.

And I think there's two good come back stories that are coming in the Olympics. Obviously. Now we'll know if Lindsey Vonn, can she actually ski off that knee? And what's going to happen with Lola Jones. Is she going to be able to make any -- is she going to be able actually do something of notoriety. Should we have to win a gold medal in bobsleds?

COSTELLO: Despite sending out controversial tweets -- right.

PESCA: Yes, besides being controversial. She's such a polarizing figure because obviously she gets the big marketing dollar. She attracts a lot of attention, but people say she's never really won anything in the Olympics. Can she actually walk away and win in bobsledding of all sports? So I think those and Lindsey Vonn are the two stories to watch out for.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Go ahead Mike, wrap it up for us.

PESCA: I was just going to say I think Lola is actually a lovely person. She didn't invite this upon herself. If she were to medal for the Olympics, it would be this great, weird strange twist.

COSTELLO: It certainly would. Mike Pesca, Joe Carter -- thanks to you both.

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COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me, and have a wonderful Christmas. Merry Christmas. We leave you with President Obama and the First Lady's message to the country. It's Christmas day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hello everybody, and happy holidays.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: We know how busy this time of year is for everyone, so we're not going to take much of your time. But we did want to take a moment to wish you all a Merry Christmas, from our family to yours.

B. OBAMA: This is a season for millions of Americans to be together with family, to continue long-held holiday traditions, and to show our gratitude to those we love. And along the way, some of us might even watch a little basketball or eat some Christmas cookies, too. M. OBAMA: Here at the White House, over the past few weeks, we've had about 70,000 people from all across the country come visit us and look at our holiday decorations. This year's theme was "Gather Around: Stories of the Season". And in every room of the house, we tried to tell a story about who we are as Americans and how we celebrate the holidays together. And we made certain to highlight some of the most powerful stories we know -- the stories of our outstanding troops, veterans, and military families and their service and sacrifice for our country.

B. OBAMA: Our extraordinary men and women in uniform are serving so that the rest of us can enjoy the blessings we cherish during the holidays. But that means many of our troops are far away from home and far from family. They're spending some extra time on the phone with their loved ones back home. Or they're setting up video chats so they can watch as the presents are opened.

So today, we want all of our troops to know that you're in our thoughts and prayers this holiday season. And here's the good news: for many of our troops and newest veterans, this might be the first time in years that they've 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.

M. OBAMA: And that's something that we all can be thankful for. And with more and more of our troops back here at home, now it's our turn to serve 0- it's our turn to step up and show our gratitude for the military families who have given us so much.

And that's why Jill Biden and I started our Joining Forces initiative to rally all Americans to support our military families in ways large and small. And again and again, we have been overwhelmed by the response we've gotten as folks from across the country have found new ways to give back to these families through their schools, businesses, and houses of worship.

B. OBAMA: That's the same spirit of giving that connects all of us during the holidays. So many people all across the country are helping out at soup kitchens, buying gifts for children in need, or organizing food or clothing drives for their neighbors.

For families like ours, that service is a chance to celebrate the birth of Christ and live out what he taught us - to love our neighbors as we would ourselves; to feed the hungry and look after the sick; to be our brother's keeper and our sister's keeper.

And for all of us as Americans, regardless of our faith, those are values that can drive us to be better parents and friends, better neighbors and better citizens.

M. OBAMA: So as we look to the New Year, let's pledge ourselves to living out those values by reaching out and lifting up those in our communities who could use a hand up.

B. OBAMA: So Merry Christmas, everyone. And from the two of us, as well as Malia, Sasha, Grandma, Bo --

M. OBAMA: And Sunny, the newest Obama.

B. OBAMA: We wish you all a blessed and safe holiday season.

M. OBAMA: Happy holidays everybody, and God bless.

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