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Countries Rush to Contain Omicron; South African Officials Frustrated by Travel Bans; Corruption, Poverty Main Concerns in Honduras Elections; Authoritarian Trends in Latin America; Italy Confirms First Omicron Case; The U.S.' Great Resignation; Citgo Six Falsely Held; Afghan Refugees Celebrate First Thanksgiving; Big Ben Ready for New Year's. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 28, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers, joining us all around the world, appreciate your company.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, new countries and new travel restrictions, the world responding to Omicron. But much is still unknown about this latest COVID variant.
Also, Honduras going to the polls. We look at how democracy is losing ground in Latin America.
And, inside the mission to intentionally crash into an asteroid. Why this could one day help save mankind.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: Countries around the world, scrambling to get a handle on the new COVID variant, called Omicron. On recent days, it has already spread from southern Africa and is being seen in Italy, Germany, the U.K. and the Czech Republic. More suspected cases around the world, to.
The variant has been studied, extensively, though it is not yet known whether it is any more deadly or whether it can blunt vaccine efficacy or natural immunity. But scientists fear, it could be more contagious.
Dozens of countries, already, banning or limiting travel, from parts of southern Africa, where there are confirmed cases of the variant. Officials say, vaccinating everyone is the key. But rich nations failing woefully in getting their promises met to share vaccines.
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GORDON BROWN, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: We have got to realize that our failure to vaccinate the rest of the world is not only causing deaths in Africa and Asia, Latin America and other parts of the world but is going to come back to haunt us.
It is something that we have got to do something about immediately. Let's just remember, only 25 percent of what America has promised in vaccines, to the rest of the world, has been delivered. Only 11 percent of what Britain has promised has been delivered; 19 percent of the European Union; only 5 percent of Canada.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Not great figures. At least 2 of the cases, of Omicron variant, have been discovered, in the United Kingdom. That is prompting immediate action, from the British government. CNN's Nada Bashir, more, on Downing Street.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Warning signs: U.K. prime minister, Boris Johnson, announcing new COVID-19 restrictions, as fears and questions, growing over the new Omicron coronavirus variant.
Johnson says, the variant has already been detected in the U.K. and scientists warn, this highly mutated strain, first identified circulating in countries in southern Africa, could challenge some of the hard-fought advances, already, made against the virus.
BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: Our scientists are learning more, hour, by hour. And, it does appear, that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.
BASHIR (voice-over): England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty says the possibility that vaccines may not be as effective against the Omicron variant is what is galvanizing the government response.
DR. CHRISTOPHER WHITTY, BRITISH CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: Delta, it was primarily, driven by the ability to spread really rapidly. This, one here, really the biggest thing that is leading us to wish to move rapidly is to do with the least strong theoretical reasons, for thinking that in fact some degree of vaccine escape is likely.
BASHIR (voice-over): After suspending flights from several southern African countries on Friday, Johnson says, new targeted measures are necessary to contain the new variant.
All travelers to the U.K., will have to take a PCR test, within two days of their arrival. And, quarantine, until they get their results. All contacts of positive Omicron cases must quarantine for 10 days, regardless of their vaccination status.
Face coverings will be mandatory in shops in public transport and the government is looking to expand the booster program. Top U.S. health expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, says that the new variant, is likely, more widespread than it's known.
And tightening COVID-19 measures, like the U.S. move to restrict travel from some countries in Africa, starting Monday, is a way to buy critical time. DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: The
issue of blocking travel, from a given country, is to just give us time to assess it better. That is the reason for doing that. Not any reason to panic. But we want to give us some time to really fill in the blanks of what we don't know right now.
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BASHIR (voice-over): Some experts say it is not surprising the Omicron variant first took root in Africa, with only 7.4 percent of the continent's population fully vaccinated.
LILY CAPRANI, ADVOCACY FOR HEALTH AND VACCINES, UNICEF: This, time last, year we were all sitting here hoping for a vaccine. And science did what it does, it comes up with solutions. They were available and now the world has billions of vaccines a year's -- this short time later.
The problem that we haven't solved is to equally distribute them. We still have got most people in Africa have never been offered their first shot yet. They are dangerously and protected.
BASHIR (voice-over): A problem that, is increasingly, becoming a global one as more countries confirm their first cases of the Omicron variant -- Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Many countries, tightening their borders over fears of the new variant, including South Korea. For more on that, I'm joined by CNN's Paula Hancocks. Live, in Seoul.
There, Paula, nations seem to be bracing for the worst and acting accordingly, even before much is known about this variant. Tell us about the reaction, where you are in South Korea.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, South Korea has done what many countries, around the, world have done, which, is to ban all travelers, from eight southern African countries. They have suspended giving visas to people in those countries as well.
Korean nationals, if they are coming from those eight countries, have to quarantine here for 10 days, in a government facility. Really it is what we are seeing in many different countries, trying to stop travelers coming in from those that they believe too be the most affected.
Israel, for example, is banning all foreigners for, potentially, about two weeks, going into the country. It has created some criticism from South Africa, for example. Officials here say, these rules are draconian and they're criticizing how quickly these rules were put in place.
But we've heard from other officials, like in the U.S., for example, saying that they are really just trying to buy themselves time to figure out, exactly, what they are up against. We know that scientists are trying to figure out some very key answers to key questions.
For example, is it more transmissible?
Can it evade the protection that the vaccines or prior infection offer a particular individual?
And, whether or not, it could mutate anymore, is it possible, it could produce more severe disease?
These are the questions that we don't know the answers to. At this point, officials and some scientists say, it could be one, week to three weeks, before we have a better idea of what, this particular variant, does. We have heard suggestions that it is more transmissible.
We haven't heard that for sure and, as I say, we don't know if this does create a stronger reaction in people at this point. But there has been a kneejerk reaction, from many countries, just wanting to make sure that they can prevent, potentially, this new variant coming in.
And it comes at a time, Michael, when everybody was starting to open up. There was the motto, "living with COVID-19," so many countries, around the world, have started to do that. South Korea is one of those countries. But now, we see the door shutting once again as theses countries don't know what they're up against, with this new variant.
HOLMES: Yes, looking for answers. Paula Hancocks, there in Seoul. Thank you.
Meanwhile, frustrations over the new travel bans are mounting in southern Africa, where the Omicron variant was first discovered. Officials say, instead of being applauded for their discovery and their transparency, South Africa and its neighbors, instead, are being punished. CNN's David McKenzie, reporting from Johannesburg.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More and more countries, confirming cases of this troubling variant. Particularly across Europe. Now several of those people, confirmed to have the Omicron variant, have traveled from southern Africa where I'm sitting.
Scientists here have been angry at the swift travel bans being put in from across the world, including the U.K. and, on Monday, the U.S. There was a discussion between the secretary of state of the U.S., Antony Blinken, and his counterpart here in South Africa.
Blinken praised South African scientists, saying that their swift description and alert of this variant should be a model for the rest of the world.
But the South African government says that, in some way, they are punished because of their, quote, "excellent scientists."
There is now a race to figure out how bad this variant is.
Will it have breakthrough infections with the vaccine?
Will it go through immunity from previous infections?
We just don't know. There are some indications it's more transmissible and the cases are rising fast here in Gauteng province of South Africa.
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MCKENZIE (voice-over): But a lot is still unknown, as, more and more countries, shut this region off -- David McKenzie, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: There's a lot to unpack about this new variant, so let's turn to Professor Anne Rimoin with the Epidemiology Department at UCLA.
Good to see you, Anne.
What are your biggest concerns about the variant?
What do you still want to know?
ANNE RIMOIN, EPIDEMIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I think you have already discussed this in the segment, so far. But there are key things we need to understand.
The first thing is, how transmissible is this?
Is this a variant that will overtake Delta, now the dominant variant?
Is it creating more severe disease?
Is it more virulent?
So are people getting sicker?
Are they becoming hospitalized more frequently?
Are they dying more frequently?
We really need to understand this.
The third thing we need to understand, is it going to evade immune responses that have been generated by vaccines?
Or will it reduce the efficacy of some of the therapeutics that have been developed?
These are all three key things we need to understand, before we really understand the scope of the threat here. And we really don't have answers to these things, yet.
HOLMES: By all accounts, the symptoms that we know about those who are confirmed with it, aren't terribly severe. One thing that is interesting, is the U.S. does not do genomic sequencing of cases at a level anywhere near that of other countries.
How does that hamper tracking the variant in the U.S.?
We probably just don't know.
RIMOIN: You are exactly right. We need situational awareness. In the United States, we just haven't been able to do the same kind of genomic sequencing that has been done, so, well in places like South Africa, in the U.K., many other countries, really, focusing on genomic surveillance.
And they're doing a large percentage of the samples, that come in, to, really, understand what variants are circulating. It's not that we're not doing any genomic surveillance here; it's that we're doing a much lower percentage of the number of samples that are being generated.
And we do have a lot of cases here in the United States, on a daily basis so we don't have the same kind of situational awareness that South Africa has or the U.K..
HOLMES: Yes, a lot of other countries are doing it routinely, the U.S. sort of haphazardly. Africa, let's talk about that. You have a lot of personal experience in Africa and it's a continent that is less than 7 percent fully vaccinated.
South Africa, doing better but less than 25 percent total population, despite having vaccine supply. Clearly, global distribution is a huge issue here but also willingness to be unvaccinated in South Africa and other parts of the continent.
Why is that, in your experience?
RIMOIN: I think there are a number of reasons and it's going to be very difficult to distill it down to one single thing because we're talking about an entire continent. We are talking about many, many different cultures, many different reasons.
And the first thing I think that we have to address here is this issue of vaccine equity. The vaccines have taken a long time to get to Africa. It makes a very big difference when you, are actually, offered vaccines, in a timely manner, along with some of these other countries.
I think that the delays have created a very big issue. Now of course, there are many of the same issues that we are getting across the globe. There is an issue of misinformation. I think that is critical.
I'm running a study and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with colleagues and we're finding that misinformation is very important, certain to be a problem in South Africa as well. It is a problem everywhere, that we have social media and communication.
So I think we have to be able to understand that vaccine hesitancy, it's not just a problem in Africa, we can't just say South Africa, it's a problem everywhere. We combat that right here in the United States, we combat it in Europe, everywhere. And when you couple that with very low access, poor access to the
vaccines and delayed access to vaccines, of course, you will see this problem.
HOLMES: We discussed this before and David McKenzie just reported on it, when it comes to these travel bans that, some experts, say aren't going to work anyway, in terms of spread, South African officials are saying, the country feels like it is being punished for its transparency, in revealing the variant.
Is there a risk that some countries may not put their hands up if they find a variant, if they think that they will be cut off from the world with all of the economic calm (ph) that can cause?
RIMOIN: Absolutely. You know, South Africa needs to be congratulated for the fantastic work they have done to be able to identify this variant.
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RIMOIN: And then to be able to raise the alarm that there is something concerning, that could be a global problem.
And I think we have to be very, very cautious. The idea of a travel ban, it is not really going to make a big difference in the long run. It might make some small differences on the margins. It might gain a little bit of time in a place like the United States, for example, or the U.K. or any of these other countries.
But it's not going to make an enormous difference. What would make an enormous difference is doing testing and quarantine. Those are things that really can make a very big difference. But of course, they do require a lot of logistics support and planning and other things.
So my guess is that some of these countries are putting in a travel ban just to be able to sort things out in the short term. But this should not be something that is considered for any length of time, because it really isn't going to make a difference anyway. The virus is everywhere. We're going to find it everywhere.
HOLMES: Exactly, and by the time a variant has been discovered, it probably is already everywhere.
I wanted to ask you this too because it's important in the context of vaccine equity, too.
In the places where there aren't enough vaccines, getting that sort of rampant spread, how likely is it then, given the spread in various regions of the world, that a variant, even if it's not this one, is going to emerge, that defeats the vaccines?
RIMOIN: You're absolutely right. This goes right back to the issue of vaccine equity. We have talked about this numerous times over the past almost two years. And what I've said to you from the very beginning is that an infection anywhere is potentially an infection everywhere. And we are seeing that happen right now with this variant; as well as
we have seen across the board. If you don't have the world vaccinated, you have large swaths of the population that are unvaccinated, then you are always going to be at risk for more of these variants.
What happens is, when this virus is able to spread to another person, it has the opportunity to replicate. When it has the opportunity to replicate, it will be able to create the opportunity to create mutations.
These mutations, over a period of time, can end up -- most of them will be inconsequential but some will be important. And you'll end up with something like Omicron or Delta or Alpha or Beta or any of these other variants that we have seen.
And we are playing a dangerous game here. The more that this virus has the opportunity to mutate, the more likely we are to end up with one that's going to give us a real headache.
HOLMES: Exactly. Great analysis, as always. Anne Rimoin, thank you so much.
RIMOIN: My pleasure.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We'll take a quick break here on the program. When we come back, recent elections in Latin America paint a worrying picture for the future of democracy all across the region. But some experts say there is still hope to hold on to.
Also, the diplomatic spat between France and the U.K. over migration in the English Channel is escalating and fast. We will have that and more, when we come back.
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HOLMES: Welcome back, everyone.
Voters in Honduras head to the polls in a few hours. And the country's national party, mired in allegations of corruption and drug trafficking, could lose power for the first time in more than a decade.
There are 13 presidential candidates but polls show the race is between the right-wing national party and the left wing liberty and refoundation party. Corruption and poverty the two biggest issues.
Right now, more than 50 percent of Hondurans live below the poverty line. There are also concerns of potential unrest, if the victor does now win by a clear margin.
Now the vote in Honduras is just the latest test facing Latin America as authoritarian trends spark concerns that democracy is being eroded across the region. CNN's Matt Rivers reports.
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MATT RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you are a fan of democracy, November has been a very bad month in Latin America. The latest example, Venezuela, which held local and regional elections on Sunday. President Nicolas Maduro claiming victory for his party, which won 21 of 24 state governorships. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): He says the result is because of our hard work and our honesty. Critics, though, and the outcome was already determined. The vote can't be trusted, they say, in a country where Maduro controls state institutions.
Allegations of course, to voting and violence against opposition members, during yesterday's vote have already surfaced.
And then, there is Nicaragua, where, on November 7th, president Daniel Ortega won another term in what can only be described as sham elections. His regime unleashed a campaign of political terror back in June, arresting any prominent would-be opposition candidates and tossing them in jail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).
RIVERS (voice-over): Those in jail are sons of (INAUDIBLE) of the imperialist Yankees, he says. They're no longer Nicaraguans.
We even tried to get into Nicaragua ourselves to see what was happening there. But authorities deported my team and me after just a few hours. In his victory speech, Ortega spoke about journalists like us.
"These scoundrels want to come cover the elections, we already know they're employees of the American intelligence agencies."
So Ortega wins a fourth consecutive term and Nicaraguan democracy is on life support.
RIVERS: But it's not just those three countries that are having problems. This is a map from Freedom House, a pro-democracy research group. And each country is given a score that measures it's liberal democracy.
Green, means an improving score and, as you can see, there's not a lot of green on this map. From 2019 to 2020, nearly every country in Latin America and the Caribbean either became less free or stayed the same. There are signs of creeping anti-democratic norms all over the place.
RIVERS (voice-over): Like in Latin America's largest country, Brazil, led by right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro, who, earlier this year, reminded many of the country's dark days of military dictatorship.
He had approved a military parade on the same day that lawmakers were voting on a controversial change to the country's voting laws. The law didn't pass but Bolsonaro has since suggested he won't respect next year's election results.
"From what I see," he says, "I will not accept any election results that do not declare me the winner. My mind is made up."
A dictatorial declaration, the kind of language, some say, is also coming from another country, El Salvador. Currently run by "the world's cruelest dictator," Nayib Bukele -- not my words, of course. He wrote that himself on his Twitter bio earlier this year.
The Millennial president might have been joking but his attacks on democratic institutions and the opposition are no laughing matter. Some have concerns that he could be Central America's next strongman. What's happening in these places might not stay there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The recent threat of contagion, of diffusion of these authoritarian trends --
RIVERS (voice-over): Across 18 Latin American countries, only 49 percent of people said democracy is the best form of the government, according to a late 2020 poll by Latinobarometro.
MARTA LAGOS, LATINOBAROMETRO: The next four years, yes, you might get very worried, because things can get very worse. You know, we will have all these monsters that work here and there.
RIVERS: What Marta Lagos also told me is that she's actually really hopeful about democracy in Latin America, that so many people actually still support democracy, even after all of the corruption and economic hardship and even violence that so many countries in this region have dealt with recently.
As one expert told me, where it's bad, it's really bad.
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RIVERS: But with thriving democracies in places like Costa Rica and Uruguay, if you are a fan of democracy, he says there is still a lot of hope to be had -- Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: This week's mass drowning in the English Channel has sparked renewed concerns and anger over migrants fleeing to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.
France will be hosting an emergency meeting with most neighboring countries in a few hours to discuss the escalating crisis.
Meanwhile, take a look at fresh video of a makeshift camp along the coast in France, where aid workers are providing food, clothing and other emergency supplies to migrants. French officials try to routinely dismantle camps like this one in an effort to discourage migrants from crossing the Channel into Britain.
But tens of thousands of migrants fleeing wartorn countries and poverty, have shown, year after year, that they are determined to make the dangerous trek over crossings like the English Channel, despite the risks.
France, meanwhile, has excluded the U.K. from attending that emergency meeting over the migrant crisis, which is set to start soon. CNN's Jim Bittermann is covering that part of the story.
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JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT: The immigrant tragedy has contributed to some pretty undiplomatic words between France and Britain. After the broken submarine deal earlier this fall and a dispute over fishing rights, the finger-pointing over the migrant deaths in the English Channel has added to the acrimony between the two countries.
After British prime minister, Boris Johnson, tweeted out a letter addressed to French president Emmanuel Macron, Macron was said to be outraged and showed it at a press conference yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EMMANUEL MACRON, PRESIDENT OF FRANCE (through translator): I am surprised at the methods, when they are not serious. We do not communicate between one leader, to another, on these issues by tweeting and writing letters and making them public. We are not whistleblowers. Come on, come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BITTERMANN: Macron's interior minister has disinvited the British home secretary on Sunday to discuss ways of dealing with the refugee issue. Meantime, a spokesman for the prime minister said Johnson had no regrets about posting the letter on Twitter and that both Britain and France have a shared recognition of the urgency of the situation -- Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, watching and waiting, as countries try to keep the Omicron variant from crossing their borders. Some experts say it might be too late to stop it from spreading around the globe.
We will be right back.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: Welcome back, I'm Michael Holmes, you're watching CNN
NEWSROOM.
Our top story, countries, around the world, racing to curb the spread of the new COVID variant, called Omicron. It was first detected in South Africa but now, cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong, the U.K. and other European nations.
Governments, already starting to act, imposing new restrictions and travel bans, as they try to get ahead of the spread. Meanwhile, scientists are still trying to figure out how dangerous the Omicron variant might be, including, whether it could evade existing vaccines or natural immunity.
Italy, one of the European countries trying to ramp up its defenses against the Omicron variant but officials, already, say it has reached their shores. Barbie Nadeau, in Rome, with the latest developments.
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BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Saturday, Italy's health ministry confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant in the southern region of Campagna, where Naples is. The first confirmed case is in a man who arrived in Milan from Mozambique.
Authorities said when he arrived in the country or disclosed his nationality. He tested positive for arrival at the airport. Analysis of the test result, finding the Omicron variant. He and his family members are said to be currently isolating.
Italy was one of the first European countries to ban flights from South Africa and neighboring countries, on Friday, where news of the new variant emerged. But Italians remember back to March 2020, when Italy was the first epicenter of the pandemic, outside of China.
Many countries, starting to block flights from Italy and stop people who had traveled here. Something, we now know, didn't actually do much to mitigate the spread of the original virus -- Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: With several countries, now, confirming their first Omicron cases, the question is, has the variant already reached other nations that have not yet, officially, detected it?
The U.S., for example, has not confirmed a single case, so far though, as we've been discussing, it does not do genomic testing or sequencing, as much as other countries. On Saturday, its top infectious disease expert was asked, if Omicron could already be in the country.
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DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF COVID-19 MEDICAL ADVISER: I would not be surprised if it is. We have not detected it yet. When you have a virus like this, it almost, invariably, is ultimately going to go, essentially, all over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: For more on the U.S. response to the variant, here is Arlette Saenz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Biden administration, refraining from saying whether they would enact other travel restrictions or mitigation measures, due to the Omicron variant.
Even as the United Kingdom has announced some new steps that they are taking. President Biden, out shopping in Nantucket on Saturday, ignoring questions from reporters, asking about those possible mitigation measures.
But vice president, Kamala Harris, says they are simply taking things one step at a time.
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KAMALA HARRIS (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been briefed and, as the president has said, we will take every precaution. So that is why we take the measures we have.
QUESTION: Do you think there will be any additional travel restrictions?
HARRIS: We will take it one step at a time. But as of now, we've done what we believe is necessary.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Biden health officials are in contact with health officials worldwide, as they try to get a grasp about this new variant. Officials say, imposing new travel restrictions set to take place on Monday, will simply buy the administration more time to understand what this variant can do, such as the type whether it, can potentially, have severe illness that goes along with or, even possibly, evade vaccines.
But one thing the administration continues to push is vaccinations and booster shots, arguing, that is the way for Americans to protect themselves. The secretary of state, Tony Blinken, also had a phone call on Saturday with the foreign minister in South Africa, where he thanked them for their transparency in notifying the world about this variant.
Of course, South Africa has been critical about this travel ban that the U.S. and others, have put into place. President Biden returns to the White House on Sunday and we will see the further steps that they might announce, in the coming days -- Arlette Saenz, CNN, traveling with the president, in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: The pandemic has prompted a record number of Americans to quit their jobs this year.
So why the mass exodus?
CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich spoke to a few people, to understand why the pandemic was the right time to make a change.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A simple task: Kate Santangelo picks up her 7-year-old daughter, Grace, from school, something she's waited years to do.
Do you recall how often you were able to pick your daughter up from school?
KATE SANTANGELO, RETIRED SALES EMPLOYEE: Oh, my gosh, never.
YURKEVICH: But all that changed in April. She quit her 15-year career in sales to be home full-time with her kids.
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SANTANGELO: I was working endless hours and traveling a lot.
YURKEVICH: If COVID didn't happen, do you think that you still would have quit your job?
SANTANGELO: No. No, I think I'd still be there, yes, without a doubt.
YURKEVICH: She's one of millions quitting the work force in recent months, a record 4.4 million quits in September. It's being called the great resignation.
SANTANGELO: We have had so much time that we had to be sitting in our homes and spending time with, you know, people we live with and just shifting priorities.
YURKEVICH (voice-over): And she's one of 4.7 million business applications filed from January through October of this year, a 34 percent increase from the same time the period in 2019. She founded Monmouth Moms, a resource guide for parents.
SANTANGELO: It allows me to take off if I need to bring, you know, my kids to the doctor or, you know, offer more flexibility in terms of when I can even schedule appointments for them.
YURKEVICH: It's not just moms leaving the workforce. Americans are retiring in greater numbers too.
What am I looking at behind you guys right now?
SCOTT BANKS, EARLY RETIREE: That's our RV. Yes, that's our RV we have got in the background.
YURKEVICH: Scott and Mary Banks retired early this September at 57 and 59 respectively and are road tripping across the country.
S. BANKS: Packed up, strapped down, ready to head down the road.
YURKEVICH: Scott quit his finance job. Mary left real estate.
S. BANKS: I said what, would you think if we did it now instead of waiting three more years?
MARY BANKS, EARLY RETIREE: And I'm like I pushed all my chips in. I'm all in.
YURKEVICH: 1.5 million Americans were on pace to retire during the pandemic. Instead that number more than doubled to 3.6 million.
S. BANKS: It was just that thought of, gosh, wouldn't it be a tragedy if we spent all this time working for our retirement and then right near the finish line you catch a horrible disease and die and never get to enjoy your retirement?
YURKEVICH: So they capitalized on the hot housing market, sold their home and hit the road.
How is life on the road compared to the jobs that you left behind?
S. BANKS: Gosh, I wish I could say it was tough but no, it's great. I do not miss at all working right now.
YURKEVICH: The industries with some of the highest quit rates are transportation, education and leisure and hospitality. These are industries that were suffering from labor shortages before the pandemic and now they are feeling them much more acutely.
Americans that we spoke to who quit those industries say that they now are looking for better wages and more flexibility at work, just clearly showing how much this pandemic has transformed the way Americans are willing to work and what they are willing to do -- back to you.
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HOLMES: Our thanks to Vanessa Yurkevich there.
Still to come on the program, a group of executives, known as the CITGO 6, has been detained, for years now, in Venezuela. We hear from one family who says, American leaders are not doing enough to bring them home.
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HOLMES: Five Americans and a U.S. resident, have now, detained for four years in Venezuela. Convicted of corruption, in a closed-door trial, all were executives at CITGO, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil company.
But a CNN investigation has established the men, known as the CITGO Six, were lured into going to Venezuela and then tried on trumped up charges. Isa Soares reports.
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ISA SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Carmen clings to a photo of her husband, Jorge Toledo.
CARMEN TOLEDO, JORGE'S WIFE: This was the last picture I took of him.
SOARES: The same way she hangs on to his every word. This voice mail, the very first time the world is hearing from him --
JORGE TOLEDO, CITGO 6: Hello, my life. I was allowed to make a phone call, a friend ceded his time. And so I wanted to talk to you a little bit.
SOARES: -- since he left on a business trip to Venezuela yet to return.
C. TOLEDO: After four years, I think that yes, the U.S. government has failed us.
SOARES: Jorge Toledo and his colleagues left Houston on November 19, 2017. Called to a meeting in Caracas by CITGO's parent company PDVSA.
As they gather in a conference room, Venezuela's feared military intelligence sweep in and arrest the five Americans and a U.S. resident. General Manuel Cristopher Figuera was a senior intelligence officer, very close to President Nicolas Maduro until he turned on him and fled to the United States. He says, the CITGO 6 were set up.
GENERAL MANUEL CHRISTOPHER FIGUERA, FORMER MADURO SENIOR INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: It was a well prepared trap to arrest them. There was no arrest warrant.
SOARES: Initially, the six were held at a prison controlled by the agency Figuera was part of. Now in the United States, he tells us he takes responsibility for his actions.
FIGUERA: I feel responsible not just for them but because I was part of that nefarious structure that today is destroying our country.
SOARES (on camera): Their families and lawyers, tell us they are being kept in overcrowded cells, no windows and in the most unsanitary conditions. They say they've had to buy everything from food, to water, toothpaste, to even toilet paper.
Have a listen to what Toledo asked for just a few weeks ago.
TOLEDO: For the weekend we will need a bar of soap to shower. SOARES (voice-over): Early this year, the CITGO 6 were moved to house arrest only to be thrown back into prison in October, hours after a Maduro ally was extradited to the United States.
Throughout President Nicolas Maduro has accused them of theft and embezzlement, of taking kickbacks from illicit debt deal.
NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): A few days ago, as head of state, I requested an urgent investigation given the serious claims that I was made aware of, the embezzlement of our company, CITGO. The blatant and massive robbery at CITGO.
SOARES: The main accusation against the six is that they had tried to renegotiate the CITGO debt without consulting with Perfecto (ph) or Maduro, the military officer behind their arrest.
Setting quote, "the Venezuelan authorities have received information from its intelligence sources in the U.S. But offered no proof.
CNN obtained documents showing that the board of CITGO's parent company, PDVSA explicitly authorized negotiations. In addition, look closely, only one of the 6 Jose Pereira was part of the conversations.
The deal, by the way, never went ahead. And the company that was mediating the refinancing move says that no money was ever exchanged. Still they were convicted.
The arrest of the CITGO 6 took place after protesters had begun pouring onto the streets in 2017. Venezuela's once booming oil industry was on its knees; the country, under a mountain of debt.
And sanctions imposed by President Trump crippled PDVSA's ability to move profits CITGO back into Venezuela. As the flow of cash dried up, the regime's blame and fear strategy kicked in.
TAREK WILIAM SAAB, VENEZUELAN ATTORNEY GENERAL (through translator): They are saying, this is part of the eternal struggle.
What eternal struggle?
This is corruption. Corruption of the most rotten kind.
SOARES: Former Venezuelan oil minister, Rafael Ramirez, ran PDVSA for a decade under Hugo Chavez.
RAFAEL RAMIREZ, FORMER VENEZUELAN OIL MINISTER: What he cares about is being in control.
SOARES: Once an ally, he became a threat to Maduro's rise to power and a potential challenger to the presidency, when their leader and mentor, Hugo Chavez, died suddenly in 2013.
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SOARES (voice-over): He fled into exile when he received word Maduro wanted to arrest him on corruption charges. Charges that he denies. RAMIREZ (through translator): The arrest order and the way they were detained is an instruction by Maduro to spread terror, to generate fear.
SOARES (on camera): They were set up?
RAMIREZ: Yes, of course. This spread fear throughout PDVSA, throughout the country. A feeling of fear and terror with regards to the security forces started to grow around the country.
SOARES (on camera): A fear that only increased with the purge of PDVSA employees, 15 arrests since 2017, according to a Venezuelan NGO.
BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: It seems that they have been used, you know, as bargaining chips.
SOARES: Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Bill Richardson is navigating this minefield in an effort to win the freedom of the CITGO 6. He tells me what he believes Maduro's intentions are.
RICHARDSON: They don't want any further sanctions. They want sanctions lifted. But you know the relationship has been so poor, in the last four to eight years, that I am the one that is talking to the Venezuelans. The U.S. government doesn't talk to them.
SOARES: Since he took office, President Biden has said little on Venezuela. Its policies, some say, is inexistent. A very different approach to former President Trump. For Carlos Anez and the families of the other five in Venezuela, the fight for justice has been lonely, with silence, they say, from the U.S. government.
CARLOS ANEZ, JORGE TOLEDO'S SON: I always apologize to my dad for, you know, not having delivered this how I feel. I feel like I haven't delivered until he is home. And if he's not home, then I'm not applying the right kind of pressure or I am not getting my mission accomplished.
SOARES: A battle that will continue, as long as CITGO 6 are seen as a valuable bargaining chip for a regime that has few options left -- Isa Soares, CNN.
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HOLMES: Now in response to CNN, the U.S. State Department says it continues to quote, "seek the unconditional release" of the CITGO 6 and urges Maduro to, quote, "allow them to return to their families in the United States."
We will be right back.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HOLMES: A group of female Afghan students graduated from a private university in Kandahar on Saturday. They were forced to wear veils due to a rule imposed by the Taliban. Before the Taliban takeover, an estimated 100,000 girls were attending universities. The graduates fear finding jobs might be difficult because of both the Taliban rule and the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.
Many Afghan refugees who fled to the United States after the Taliban takeover had their first Thanksgiving this week. Volunteers from a nonprofit organization in California opened their doors to Afghan families for the typically American holiday tradition. Natasha Chen went to one of those celebrations, with the details.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, how are you?
NATASHA CHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kiki Nagy was already cooking a Thanksgiving meal for a large group of friends.
KIKI NAGY, VOLUNTEER, MIRY'S LIST: Why is everything was so much harder after the pandemic?
I've forgotten how to do this.
CHEN (voice-over): But she also wanted to open her Los Angeles home to some of the country's newest residents.
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CHEN (voice-over): She volunteers for an organization called Miry's List, that helps refugees settle in the United States.
NAGY: I just threw it out to Miry, do you know any Afghani families who need to have a first Thanksgiving with an American family?
And so she said, "Yes, why don't you invite Wahid?"
CHEN (voice-over): Wahidullah Asghary tells us he was a translator and interpreter for the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He arrived in late 2020 with his four children under a special immigrant visa. His wife joined them five months later. This was the family's first invitation to a tradition Thanksgiving meal.
WAHIDULLAH ASGHARY, AFGHAN REFUGEE: Sometimes when they ask what turkey is, I say turkey is like a big chicken.
CHEN (voice-over): Nagy made sure there would be at least something familiar on the table.
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CHEN (voice-over): This experience wasn't just about new foods. It was also about learning the tradition of sharing gratitude. ASGHARY: We have more opportunities in our lives, in our hands, so, of course, the foremost example is this, that we are together with the family.
CHEN (voice-over): With his wife's visa delayed, he says they're lucky she arrived before the chaotic exit of U.S. troops in August. The scene of people trying to escape particularly resonated with fellow Thanksgiving guest, Tam Van Tran.
TAM VAN TRAN, VIETNAMESE REFUGEE: When I saw the photo of the Afghans in the cargo plane, it reminded me of very much of -- I was in the same. But it was a gigantic cargo ship.
CHEN (voice-over): Tran came to the U.S. as a refugee from Vietnam in 1975 when he was around the same age as Asghary's oldest children. He says he can offer a warm welcome.
TRAN: Brotherhood, a camaraderie.
CHEN (voice-over): And can imagine what they might be experiencing.
Like at many holiday gathering, not everyone here practices the same religion or holds the same political beliefs. Despite that --
NAGY: There is something essential to the American experience that is rooted in gratitude, that is rooted in the volunteerism that you leave your country, you leave a situation and you come here, sometimes with very little, sometimes with nothing and you start over.
CHEN (voice-over): Asghary tells his kids to work hard to seize this opportunity.
ASGHARY: We are here for you. And the United States is here for you. And everything you have got in your hand, what are you going to do is you have to study. That's it.
CHEN (voice-over): Starting with what Nagy hopes is a lesson from their first Thanksgiving.
NAGY: I would want them to see that that kind of tolerance is really possible in the United States, that Americans are, at heart, really a generous people.
CHEN (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.
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HOLMES: Now one of London's most revered landmarks is about to show off its long-awaited makeover. The clocks on Big Ben there, inner workings, even the decorations on Elizabeth Tower, all painstakingly refurbished. And now, the famous bell is ready for its spectacular return performance. Bianca Nobilo with the details.
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BIANCA NOBILO, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Big Ben is getting ready to show a new face this year, with freshly restored dials appearing just in time to ring in the New Year, just as in years past.
London's iconic clock tower has been hidden from view for nearly four years. Hundreds of craftspeople have worked on the largest restoration project since Big Ben was built in 1859.
NICK STURGE, BIG BEN RESTORATION PROJECT MANAGER: We are at the stage now where we can start to bring the scaffold down from the building all the way to the ground, which is a massive milestone for the project and one that we are extremely proud of.
NOBILO: The team at Sir Robert McAlpine's Special Projects began dismantling the scaffolding Monday. It's a process that will take months. But by New Year's Eve, project manager Nick Sturge says all four clock faces on the tower will again be visible to the public.
STURGE: It's been quite a journey. We've replaced lots of stains. We've replaced all of the clock face glass. We've taken off all of the cast iron on the roof level and repaired it and put it back on.
NOBILO: The $107 million restoration is no small project.
ALEX JEFFREY, BIG BEN CLOCK MECHANIC: There is 1,000 parts in total, more than. The entire clock, including everything, weights, hammer work, cranks, to the better looking pieces, wheels and gears, it weighs over 11.5 tons.
NOBILO: All of those pieces restored to original colors and specifications. Clock hands and numerals have been repainted a bright Prussian blue, the clock's original color scheme, replacing the black details of recent years. The floral emblem symbolizing the four countries of the U.K. are also repainted, matching Charles Barry's original design.
The clock's gravity powered mechanisms are also returning to their roots.
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JEFFREY: We have to go back to how it was originally run. We want to. You know, it's a very impressive clock, well designed. So once we are ready to -- once the reassembly work has been complete, it will be gravity run again.
NOBILO: Those electric dials will be restored to gravity powered ones in the spring. When the great bell will resume chiming each quarter and striking every hour -- Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: NASA is on a test mission to defend the planet from a hypothetical killer asteroid. We know it sounds alike like the movie, "Armageddon," but unlike that movie, this involves an unmanned spacecraft, traveling millions of miles into space to knock an asteroid off course. Kristin Fisher reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one and lift off of the Falcon 9 and DART --
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: This launch of NASA's first ever planetary defense mission, instead of carrying satellites, telescopes or people, this SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is launching a spacecraft to test a technology that someday could save the world.
BILL NELSON, ADMINISTRATOR, NASA: It may be the way to save planet earth if there is ever an in-bound big, asteroid that could really challenge our existence as a planet.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what we call a global killer.
FISHER: Even NASA administrator Bill Nelson agrees it sounds like a scene out of the movie, "Armageddon."
BRUCE WILLIS, ACTOR: Guys, the government just asked us to save the world. Anybody wants to say no?
FISHER: But instead of destroying a killer asteroid with a bomb like Bruce Willis, NASA's DART mission, short for the double asteroid redirection test is using something called kinetic deflection. That's a scientific way of saying that this DART spacecraft is on a kamikaze mission to smash into an asteroid and try to push it off course.
NELSON: If it's successful, then if we had a real in-bound killer asteroid, we could do that with it and it would miss us.
FISHER: It would take the DART spacecraft 10 months to reach its target, the Didymus asteroid and its moonlet, which is about the size of the Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. It's so far away, that NASA says it would not create a dangerous debris-field in low-earth orbit like last week's test of a Russian anti-satellite weapon.
NELSON: The DART mission is creating an explosion and a debris field way out, millions of miles in space where it is not harming anything.
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HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @HolmesCNN. "LIVING GOLF" coming up.
