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South African Officials Frustrated By Travel Bans; Countries Rush To Contain Omicron; Authoritarian Trends In Latin America; Stores Boost Security After Smash And Grab Crimes; Afghan Refugees Celebrate First Thanksgiving; Microsoft Celebrates 20 Years Of Xbox. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired November 28, 2021 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): A warm welcome to our viewers, right around the world, I am Paula Newton.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the Omicron variant causing concern around the globe, as the list of countries with confirmed cases grows even longer.
Voters in Honduras, head to the polls.
But is democracy losing ground in Latin America?
A look back at this year's elections.
Plus, we have all seen this photo from the cover of "National Geographic." Now 36 years later, we speak to the man who captured the image about where is the Afghan girl now?
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weight At this, hour countries around the world, are struggling to get a handle on the new COVID variant called Omicron. In recent days, it has already spread from southern Africa and has been discovered in Italy, Germany, the U.K. and the Czech Republic. And, just now, we are learning that Australia has two cases.
And, more suspected cases, right around the world. The variant is being studied extensively, of course, and it's not known whether it is any more deadly or whether it can blunt vaccine efficacy or natural immunity.
But scientists fear, it could be much more contagious. Dozens of countries, already, banning or limiting travel from parts of South Africa and several of its neighbors, where there are confirmed cases of the variant.
Governments, also, scrutinizing travelers as they land inside of their borders. Australia, urgently, testing people who enter the country.
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SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It is a fast-moving issue but we will continue, as we always have, sensible, balanced, guided by the best possible medical evidence, and medical expert advice, that is what has enabled Australia to be so successful, through the course of COVID, to open safely and to remain safely open.
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NEWTON: At least 2 cases of the Omicron variant, have, been discovered in the U.K. That is prompting immediate action from the British government. CNN's Nada Bashir with more, on Downing Street's reaction.
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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.
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.
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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.
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NEWTON: As we are saying, cases are popping up across Europe, with even more suspected. We are now joined by CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau.
Barbie, the issue here is that we've learned in the last few weeks, that once again, Europe is the epicenter of this pandemic. And now they are dealing with this new variant.
How seriously are they discussing, you know, more restrictions?
I say more restrictions when some restrictions were only lifted in the last few weeks or months.
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's very, very serious. With rising cases over the last several weeks, with that, Europe is already panicking. So the idea of a new variant that could be more deadly or more dangerous, more contagious, which we don't know yet -- that's very troubling.
And the European countries, they are scrambling to save the holiday season. They don't want to have to lock down or ban travel. But until or unless everyone is fully vaccinated or has their boosters, it's going to be very difficult to try and control or to mitigate the spread of the virus without further restrictions.
And these governments are really struggling. They don't want another blow to the economy. NEWTON: That's a big issue, the economies. And also, people's mental
health, especially as many people were looking forward to at least being able to gather with family this holiday season.
Barbie, there are vast differences in the rate of vaccination in many European countries. Italy has a higher vaccination rate, as do Spain and Portugal. And yet, a lot of problems in places like the Czech Republic and Austria.
Is the E.U. speaking more forcefully now about if they can do something about that and if they intend to?
NADEAU: A lot of countries are taking it upon themselves to mandate vaccines in one way or another. Whether that's limiting what the unvaccinated can do, going to work, entertainment, restaurants or things like that.
In early February this year, everyone has to be vaccinated. The European Union can't make a country do that. It has to let individual countries decide what to do. But when you take into consideration that the European Medicines Agency just authorized vaccinations for children 5 to 11 years old, we're pretty far behind on vaccinating the entire population.
NEWTON: Some people have wondered as well, not just about the vaccinations but there is a big debate about boosters, whether it's been too slow or whether it's been too fast, given that some people around the world have not even had one dose.
Barbie, thank you for that update.
Meantime, in Israel, that country is barring foreigners from entering over fears of the Omicron variant. The move, starting Sunday night, makes Israel the first country to completely shut its borders in response to the new variant.
Israel is also imposing strict quarantine rules, such as forcing residents to quarantine if coming from abroad. Israel has a red list that includes most of Africa and those returning will be required to isolate for 7 days in a government designated hotel.
A flurry of travel bans has also prompted swift outcry in southern Africa, where the variant was first discovered. Officials there say the bans are unjustified and unfairly target one part of the world.
For more we're joined by Larry Madowo. He joins us from Paris.
Larry, you are actually right now under some kind of restrictions yourself. I understand you are lining up for a COVID test. And I want to talk to you about countries, like France, that have determined, look, they are going to act fast. And they are saying that even if a travel ban doesn't work in the long term, it is a good way to buy time.
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is correct, Paula. The way the French look at it is that the European Union standard, is applying this until they understand about this new variant.
The French initially suspended flights from Africa for 48 hours and just announced in the last few minutes that they're extending that ban for another 48 hours, until Tuesday night.
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MADOWO: So still, they're trying to figure out exactly how serious this variant is.
And, can it be handled with monoclonal antibodies, with convalescent plasma?
How does it react to the vaccines and all of that.
So first thing, I flew in from Nairobi, which is in Kenya and not in southern Africa. Then, I got an email from the French health minister saying, I need a PCR test, as a precaution.
This is the French public health authority's approach, to this virus, making sure it does not spread in the general public. You can see, I came here about an hour ago, there's about 100 people ahead of me, another hundred who showed up since I've come here.
Let me switch the camera very quickly. There are many people trying to make sure they get tested here, because they're traveling or they've recently traveled and this is also a requirement of the French authorities, to make sure they are protected.
NEWTON: I know that there is quite a long line and you are not in quarantine but you are actually out in public. Larry, normally, you are based in Africa.
I want you to explain how frustrating the bans have been there and in southern Africa, especially since, that is where the scientists, who worked so diligently, on surveillance, surveillance that has benefited the entire world.
MADOWO: There is a lot of concern and anger, in South Africa. South Africa, specifically, because they said the only reason why the world knows about the Omicron variant is because South African scientists worked hard and they have an advanced genomic sequencing schedule.
That is why they can identify variants faster and faster than any other part of the world. The fact that they are being punished and, in the words of government officials, being punished for being scientifically advanced and telling more of the world about this new variant, does not work well with solidarity.
The phrase used to be, at the beginning of this pandemic, we're all in this together. But South Africans do not feel that the whole world is with them in this. That, because they warned the rest of the world about this variant, now, they can't travel.
People were scrambling to leave South Africa. Friends and family in South Africa, who were in another part of the world and if they didn't, leave it was because they were, possibly, nobody was habitually work or where they live.
That is something the government feel strongly about. Public health experts in South Africa, epidemiologists all saying, this is not the way to do it.
NEWTON: So just last hour, we had on a health official from Africa, who was very blunt and, said he felt that this was all racist.
Larry, just before I let you go there, in terms of what effect do you have, in terms of restrictions, coming off the airplane in terms of what you are doing now, are your movements, actually, restricted?
Or are they just counting on you to do the right thing?
MADOWO: There is an honor code, which is they expect you will do the right thing, because this is a precaution. You have to do the PCR test. To be in the European Union, you are either vaccinated or have a negative test.
And my vaccination card from the U.S. is not recognized here and had to be converted. But the extra precaution of people recently flying into the country, you have to do the PCR test and then isolate until you get the COVID results.
For the PCR test, it means going to a lab like this and that is why I'm on the street. As soon as I'm done with that, I have to isolate, until I get that negative test.
NEWTON: To see this happen to you, in real time, especially as you did just fly in from Kenya. We wish you well and certainly hope you test negative and we'll catch you on the other side. Appreciate it.
Next on CNN, the diplomatic spat between France and the U.K. over migration in the English Channel is escalating and quickly.
Plus, recent elections in Latin America paint worrying pictures for the future democracy in the region. Some experts say, there is still hope to hold on to.
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NEWTON: We return to our stop story. That new variant, now menacing everyone around the globe, as we try to understand more. We turn to Dr. Catherine Smallwood She is senior emergencies officer at the World Health Organization, joining, me live, from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Thank you for joining us. A lot of people are desperate for better information here. At a certain point in time we, just don't have it. But I want you to help us distinguish between prudence and panic. It has been difficult to understand if the actions that the governments are taking are necessary or if they won't make much of a difference.
DR. CATHERINE SMALLWOOD, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Thank you, Paula, good morning. And, yes, there is certainly no cause for the panic at this stage. What we are looking at is a variant that is, just recently, identified, with a set of mutations that have the, potential, to pose a significant risk to public health.
We don't know that for sure yet and we need to do the tests, the studies, that will enable us to get a better hold of what this variant might do. Now countries are being cautious and they're putting in place some precautions.
And of, course that all comes amid a backdrop of Delta which is very serious, especially in the European region, where I am, right now, where we're seeing 2.6 million cases a week and 30,000 deaths a week due to Delta. So yes, countries need to be taking actions but there is no reason to panic at the moment.
NEWTON: Certainly glad to hear you say that. There is a lot of pandemic fatigue, though, right around the globe. What is interesting to some and perhaps, hopeful to some, is this variant, apparently, so far, has only caused mild illness. I know there is a very few cases that are even confirmed.
Is that something that gives you hope?
SMALLWOOD: Well, we don't know that yet. What we know is that the variant has been spreading quite quickly, in one province of South Africa. The large number of cases have been mainly among young individuals, school outbreaks and students.
So we need to understand better the transition dynamics in South Africa before we can make those types of determinations.
NEWTON: You make a good point there, because the way this variant might affect younger people is not the way that it will affect those who are over 60 and those with comorbidities.
I want to talk to you about the all important vaccine escape. Again, something that we don't know.
What will your organization, what will the WHO be looking for, in the days to, come to figure out whether or not the vaccines that we have will offer protection against this new variant?
SMALLWOOD: We will be looking at two things and there will be lab studies ongoing looking at the neutralization assays, basically test to look at how the vaccines perform against the variant.
But we will also be looking, in real life, at the epidemiology and with the vaccination status of people who are infected with the Omicron variant. But what is clear, is that vaccines work and their primary role is to save lives.
And they're doing a fantastic job at that. Likely, they will very likely be protective, against the new variant, even if, as we fear, there may be a component of immune escape to this new variant.
NEWTON: So I understand you, even if there are breakthrough cases, if you are vaccinated, you are still hopeful and scientists are hopeful, that means, even if you get COVID and the new variant, there will be some protection against severe disease and death.
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SMALLWOOD: Yes. And we've seen that in other variants that have also had some of the similar mutations that Omicron has. So Beta was one variant that had a significant degree of immune escape. It never took off globally but we did see a reduction in efficacy of the vaccines. But they were still protective against severe diseases and deaths.
Right now, this is the main message. If you haven't yet got your first or second doses of the vaccine, now is the time to get it.
NEWTON: You said first and second; you know that some countries that have excess vaccine on hand are now speeding up the rollout of the booster. The WHO had called for a pause on boosters.
I spoke to a WHO official last week. He reiterated that he wanted countries to slow down on boosters. At this point, however, Doctor, you know that those countries are looking at boosters as the best offense right now against the new variant.
Are they wrong?
SMALLWOOD: We are looking at some degree of waning immunity against infection, with people who have been vaccinated, up to six months earlier. But in terms of the general population, we're confident we don't need a third dose or a booster.
However, in the case of vulnerable groups, people at risk of severe COVID-19 and at risk of developing complications from the disease an additional booster dose may be required.
In the European region, given the current epidemiologic situation at the moment, that is the advice we've given. Vaccine equity is a major issue and it needs to be solved. These new variants, arising in a country where vaccination rates are low, just goes to show, if we don't do more to improve vaccine equity around the world, we will continue to see risks pop up on one side of the globe and, then resulting in what we could describe as some level of chaos around the world.
NEWTON: There definitely has been a bit of that. Certainly, it has rattled many, right around the world. Dr. Catherine Smallwood, I thank you for your insights. Appreciate it.
SMALLWOOD: You're welcome, thank you.
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NEWTON: This week's mass drowning in the English Channel has sparked renewed concerns and anger over migrants fleeing Europe for the Middle East and Africa. France will host an emergency meeting with most neighboring countries, in a few hours, trying to discuss the escalating crisis.
Meantime, what you are looking at there is a makeshift camp, along the coast in France, where aid workers are providing food, clothing and other emergency supplies to migrants.
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 track over crossings like the English Channel, despite those risks.
France, in the meantime, excluding the U.K. from attending the emergency meeting over the migrant crisis, which is slated to start very soon. CNN's Jim Bittermann is covering that part of the story for us.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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NEWTON: Voters in Honduras, heading to the polls in just 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 potential 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 are two of the biggest issues for Hondurans.
Right now, more than 50 percent of the population live below the poverty line. There are, of course, also concerns of potential unrest if the victor does not win by a clear margin. The vote in Honduras is the latest in Latin America.
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NEWTON: As authoritarian trends spark concerns that democracy is being eroded, right across the region. CNN's Matt Rivers, with more.
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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. 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.
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NEWTON: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, countries around the world try to keep the new Omicron variant from coming to their shores. A live report, just ahead, on new restrictions in South Korea.
Plus, there are large groups of thieves are targeting retail stores in the United States, looking at what is behind the sudden surge of smash and grab robberies.
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NEWTON: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM.
Returning to our top story, countries around the world are racing to curb the spread of the new COVID variant Omicron. It was first discovered in southern Africa. Now cases been found in Hong Kong, the U.K. and several European countries.
Governments are imposing travel bans, in South Africa, neighboring countries but already Australia says that 2 people arrived from South Africa, testing positive from the variant.
In the meantime, travel restrictions angered scientists and officials in South African countries. They say, in a sense, they are being punished for detecting the variant and alerting the world.
The U.S. has not confirmed any new cases of the variant but the top infectious disease expert said, he would not be surprised if the variant is, already, in the country.
In less than 24 hours, new U.S. travel restrictions on eight African countries, going into effect. As Arlette Saenz reports, the White House isn't saying much about whether more restrictions could be in the works.
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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.
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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.
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NEWTON: Many countries are tightening their borders over fears of the new variant.
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NEWTON: I'm joined by Paula Hancocks joining us live, from Seoul.
Paula, you've been following this for months now. Given what is going on around the globe, how is South Korea handling this?
Asia has been strict in the way that they've handled this pandemic.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Paula, ironically, South Korea and other countries around Asia, were starting to lift restrictions. Just a few weeks ago, four weeks ago, there was a policy of living with COVID, unveiled, here in South Korea.
Now potentially, those restrictions are going to be walked back. We've at least heard from immigration, that they will be banning travelers from eight southern African countries. They won't be issuing visas for the time being.
That system that is suspended and Korea nationals, coming back from those countries, will have to go to 10 days in a government quarantine facility. Now this is something we are seeing from many countries around the
world, the U.S. included, the fact that they are putting extra restrictions on certain countries. There's been pushback from South Africa for example, other countries saying that this is too much of a kneejerk reaction.
Even the IATA, International Air Transport Association, saying, travel restrictions are not a long-term solution to control COVID variants. But we are hearing from officials, including from the U.S. they feel they need to buy time to know what they are dealing with, when it comes to this new variant.
Whether it is more transmissible, which it appears to be so, as we have heard from some scientists, some officials, whether not it can evade protection from vaccines or from prior infection and whether it does lead to more illness when testing positive from COVID.
But we are seeing certain countries in Asia and around the world, starting to shut down borders, which had been opening up once again. There was living with COVID, this perception that maybe we were coming to the end of dealing with this pandemic.
But of course, this variant now throws everything in the air again. Potentially, we could see further restrictions being eased, here in South Korea, that was the plan, phase 1 in the coming weeks was not lifting more restrictions.
But we are not dealing with record numbers, with record deaths and record critical cases. Paula?
NEWTON: Critical cases, also, happening among people with breakthrough cases, people who have been fully vaccinated. Paula Hancocks, appreciate the update.
As the holiday shopping season gets underway, so-called smash and grab robbers have been targeting retailers, across the United States. On Friday, dozens of people stole electronics from a Best Buy store, near Minneapolis.
Ten minutes later, another Best Buy store, about 25 miles away, was robbed. Police are investigating whether the two crimes are connected. Now it's just the latest in a series of recent robberies, where large groups target retail stores. More, now, from CNN's Nick Watt.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Oak Brook, Illinois, a coordinated smash-and-grab swarm overwhelmed security at a Louis Vuitton store, more than 100 grand in handbags and more were stolen. In downtown San Francisco this past weekend, another Vuitton store and more hit by a mob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not a problem limited to San Francisco.
WATT: Just outside the city, burglars, their arms filled with merch, made their getaway from a Nordstrom's Saturday night. An employees was pepper sprayed during the brazen raid.
BRETT BARRETTE, MANAGER, PF CHANG'S WALNUT CREEK: Probably saw 50 to 80 people, in like ski masks, crowbars, like a bunch of weapons.
WATT: They fled in 10 cars. Three arrests were made, two guns recovered. Sunday night another raid at another Bay Area mall.
CHIEF LERONNE ARMSTRONG, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: The thing that we are not used to is these groups' willingness to actually use firearms and shoot at people.
WATT: At the Grove down in L.A., a Nordstrom was hit Monday night; $5,000 worth of goods stolen, $15,000 worth of damage. This mall had beefed up security after the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd.
RICK CARUSO, OWNER, THE GROVE: You saw these bad guys with 20-pound sledgehammers having a very difficult time to break a window because all of our windows have ballistic film on them.
WATT: Many more malls now beefing up security and Californian authorities promising action.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): These people need to be held to account. We need to investigate these crime, we need to break up these crime rings and we need to make an example out of these folks.
WATT: In Oakland this weekend --
ARMSTRONG: We will have tactical teams deployed throughout the city.
WATT: -- but as we saw what that San Francisco raid, even when cops are quick to the scene --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These (INAUDIBLE) ain't playing.
[03:40:00]
WATT (voice-over): -- with a mob, many will, still, get away.
Why is this happening right now?
Well, stores are fully stop for the holidays and there is also a market for stolen goods this time of year. Some experts tell us, the penalties for the sort of crime just aren't high enough. Here, in California, for example, if you steal goods worth $950 or less, it isn't a felony, it's a misdemeanor -- Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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NEWTON: Decades ago, a young orphan became a symbol for the plight of Afghan refugees. The Afghan girl as she is known now has a new home after escaping the Taliban. Coming, up my interview with the photographer who captured the iconic and striking image.
Plus, Xbox is one of the most successful gaming systems ever. We speak to the head of the company, on why gamers can't get enough. He challenges our Richard Quest to a game. We will all need to see that, right?
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NEWTON: Many Afghan refugees who fled to the United States after the Taliban took over, 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. Here's 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. 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.
[03:45:00]
ASGHARY: 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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NEWTON: The Afghan girl who captured hearts everywhere after appearing on the cover of "National Geographic" in 1985 has found refuge as an adult now in Italy. The striking portrait of the 12-year-old orphan with piercing green eyes and a searing glare, you may remember it, came to symbolize displaced people in Afghanistan.
It was an immediate sensation. But her identity wasn't known for years. Now in her late 40s, Sharbat Gula has been granted refugee status in Italy after some hard times.
A couple of years ago, the mother of four suffered from hepatitis, which killed her husband. She was briefly under arrest in Pakistan for using a forged Pakistani identity card, reportedly a common practice among Afghan refugees.
She retired to Afghanistan, where the former government gave her a new house. But according to the Italian prime minister's office, she appealed for help in leaving the nation after the Taliban took over in Afghanistan in August.
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NEWTON: Joining me now is the man who took that photo more than 30 years ago, award winning photographer Steve McCurry.
Steve, thanks so much for being here. It is quite a story. I do want to start with what you know of Gula's challenges since the Taliban took over. She had challenges, obviously, as a child in a refugee camp and now as a woman and a mother. She has really never been safe in her homeland.
STEVE MCCURRY, PHOTOGRAPHER: It started when she had to flee for her life after Soviet jets were bombing her village. Then she fled to Pakistan, where she lived in a refugee camp, eventually getting married.
And then we met again in 2002. Life was fairly peaceful. In about 2016, there was a sort of trumped-up charge that she had had false identity papers, which was never proven, by the way. She was put in jail. And then it became this sort of PR nightmare for the Pakistan government.
They released her; she went back to Afghanistan. The former president kind of welcomed her with open arms, gave her a home. And she was living there peacefully with her family until the Taliban took control. And I think that she felt unsafe and she requested to leave.
NEWTON: We are looking at video of her finally leaving again, leaving Afghanistan there.
Why her?
What's threat is she to the Taliban?
Why would they target her?
MCCURRY: Well, I think she's an international figure. It was her choice to go. Maybe she knew something that we didn't. So we just tried to help her in every possible way and various human rights and humanitarian organizations got together to try to help her, as they've been doing with tens of thousands of other Afghans.
I mean, her story -- yes, her story is -- there's tens of thousands of people that are worried, they're anxious. They want to go to a safer place. So that's -- and it's been like this for 35-40 years now in
Afghanistan.
[03:50:00]
MCCURRY: Literally, millions of Afghans have fled to Pakistan, to Iran, to central Asia, to Turkey. And this is an ongoing story. And there's no end in sight.
NEWTON: Still fleeing today.
I do want to ask you, you yourself, helped her, I believe, helped her to leave Afghanistan?
You felt it was her duty to help her to safety again?
MCCURRY: My sister and I had been working with her, with these aid organizations, to try and fulfill her wish to be in a safer place. So, yes, we took an active role in that.
NEWTON: And did she feel that she just wouldn't have any freedom?
Or did she just fear for her life?
MCCURRY: I'm not exactly sure what her thoughts were. I think that she felt insecure, that something could happen, maybe due to the fact that she was living in this house provided by the former government. Maybe that had something to do with it.
But I personally haven't spoken to her; my sister has. But we just tried to help in every way we could.
NEWTON: Right. Your searing, iconic picture -- you know, it wasn't really a portrait that inspired pity. In fact, her eyes, the framing that you took, it really spoke volumes about resistance, about how fierce that look was.
Why do you think the photo has become an emblem for really, even, asylum seekers and refugees all over the world?
MCCURRY: Well, I think there's a dignity to her expression. I think there's a resilience as afforded to it; her head is held high. She is proud, despite the fact that it's clear that she is poor, living in a refugee camp, (INAUDIBLE).
I just think that she had this force in that gaze that said, I am not going to give up, I'm going to persevere. And I will do whatever it takes. I'm going to survive.
NEWTON: Yes, it definitely spoke to so many people around the world. She will need all that resistance and resilience and then some in the coming months as she settles into a new life. Steve McCurry, thanks for joining us.
MCCURRY: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: We will be right back with more news in a moment.
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NEWTON: You won't be surprised that the head of Xbox admits takes quite a bit of work trying to manage supply chains right now. That might explain why gamers are having a tough time getting hold of one of the Series X consoles.
The Xbox has been a dominant force in the gaming world since its debut 20 years ago, this month. CNN's Richard Quest, caught up with the head of Xbox, who challenged him to a game.
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PHIL SPENCER, HEAD OF XBOX, MICROSOFT: Race has started.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What?
SPENCER: Race has started.
QUEST: When?
That's not fair.
QUEST (voice-over): I think the last video game I played with any degree of fervor was Pac-Man and that was many years ago. I've barely picked up a Controller but Phil Spencer's a video game expert.
QUEST: Oh, this is, this is not fair. This is absolutely not fair. How many times have you played this?
[03:55:00]
QUEST (voice-over): He's worked at Microsoft since the company's start in gaming 20 years ago. At the time people were skeptical Xbox could compete in an Industry dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Now with games like Halo, the console brings in billions of every year for Microsoft.
SPENCER: Three billion people play video games on the planet. Most of those people are playing on devices they already own, that they might use for other phone calls, tablets, whatever. So at Microsoft we're putting the player at the center.
We're allowing somebody to play all the games, connect to all the community they want to connect to, regardless of what device they want to play on.
We're using the power of the cloud to deliver Xbox games that can run on consoles but also run on the cloud and come to players anywhere. And that's, I think, for us, our long-term vision is allowing anybody to play. When everybody plays, we all win.
QUEST: All right, come on. I'm on your tail. Oh, no, backwards.
What the (INAUDIBLE) did I just push?
SPENCER: I have faith in you. You're going to catch up.
QUEST (voice-over): This is called virtual humiliation.
How long did they take to create these things?
SPENCER: Being triple A games, three, four-year development cycles. Sometimes longer. Hundreds of people working on them, budgets often in excess of $100 million. I mean, they are the size of a Hollywood production.
And from a people standpoint, they can be larger because you have -- it's this unique intersection of technology, art, game design all coming together. And the viewer, if you think about it in the lens of like video or something, has agency in what happens on screen. So we can't script everything.
QUEST: Did Xbox make Microsoft just a little bit cool?
SPENCER: That's a hard one. That's in the lens of our customers. I will say from a team standpoint I think that the team inside of Xbox that works inside of Microsoft has a unique voice and a unique perspective inside the company.
QUEST: You are being so charitable. When I think of that Redmond compass and I think of all the people on Windows and all the other things, I think of the Xbox team, you must be like the cool kids at the candy store.
SPENCER: Well, it's a really fun place to work and I'm very proud of the team. It's our 20th anniversary of Xbox, which is crazy to think about.
QUEST: Yes.
SPENCER: but yes, if we can bring a little bit of cool into Microsoft, I don't think that's a bad thing.
QUEST: There we go. Here we go.
SPENCER: There we go.
QUEST: Here we go. Speeding up now. All over the shouting now.
QUEST (voice-over): In a company known for workplace software, Xbox brings high- flying graphics and a bit of dust, too.
SPENCER: I'm going to make this jump.
QUEST: Richard Quest, CNN New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: I am Paula Newton, Kim Brunhuber picks things up from here, with more CNN NEWSROOM, in just a moment.
