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Elon Musk Suspends High-Profile Journalists From Twitter; Airlines Pulling Back On Perks As Travel Demand Surges; FIFA Rebuffs Zelenskyy's Request To Share Peace Message; NBA Draft Pick Retires From Basketball, Citing Anxiety; SpaceX, NASA Launch Satellite To Survey Earth's Water. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 16, 2022 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

OLIVER DARCY, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: And what Elon Musk is doing is really contrary to the spirit of a free press.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You really hit the nail on the head about why this matters more broadly, especially for people who aren't on Twitter.

I know you've been living and breathing the story for the past 24 hours and beyond, since Musk came in and said he was going to buy Twitter. Then since he bought it, what he's been doing.

Could you back up for a second on this most recent move? Because when we talked about him claiming there was, you know, violation of doxing. He claimed this was about safety for his own family. Right?

Was there any merit to those claims that they were posting anything that could have been putting his family at risk?

DARCY: It gets very confusing. There was an account that posted the location -- used public information to post the location of where his jet was.

So if it took off from California and went to Texas to the SpaceX plant or whatever or Tesla plant, it would post that his jet was in the air.

He did not like this account. It got under his skin for years. And eventually, he just changed the Twitter rules this week to ban that account.

And what these reporters did is they reported on him banning this account. And then that seemed to trigger Musk and so he banned them as well.

And I think it's interesting to note, he put up a poll on Twitter saying, should I restore these accounts, and if so, when?

And last night, the people who said they should be restored immediately won on that poll and he said, basically, I'm going to redo this poll. Which is interesting because this is the exact same kind of poll that he had done before to bring back Trump, to bring back -- to grant general amnesty, which brought back white nationalists, anti-Semites onto Twitter.

It was OK then but, in this case, he says he wants to redo the poll. And now it's rerunning on Twitter. We'll see what happens. But just not a good development.

CABRERA: OK, thank you. Keep us posted on where this twist and turn takes us next.

Thank you, Oliver Darcy.

New rules and fewer perks. Some of your favorite airline benefits might be flying away next year. Or they might be a lot harder to get.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins us now.

Pete, just as travel is really revving up, these major U.S. airlines are cutting back on certain programs?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, it's because airlines are seeing numbers they've not seen since before the pandemic.

But the flip side to all of this is they simply aren't trying as hard, experts say, to reward passengers.

The equation here is pretty simple. The numbers are up. That means airlines are devaluing your loyalty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Stephanie Obogu (ph) is a proud frequent flyer, now frequently frustrated by the airlines.

STEPHANIE OBOGU (ph), FREQUENT FLYER: They wanted us to take advantage of travel, and then we finally do, and it's like, oh, wait, wait, wait. Now, it's too much.

MUNTEAN: Stephanie is just one of Delta Airlines loyalists, fuming over new rules.

Next year, the company is making it harder to get into its more than 50 Sky Club lounges at airports worldwide.

Delta cites customers upset over lines outside and crowded seating inside, telling frequent fliers, "We have made the difficult decision to implement new policies that we believe will preserve the experience our guests deserve."

SCOTT KEYES, FOUNDER, SCOTT'S CHEAP FLIGHTS: I think this is the sort of a trend.

MUNTEAN: Scott Keyes, of Scott's Cheap Flights, says airlines are cutting back on perks now that travel numbers are back near pre- pandemic levels.

United Airlines is anticipating end-of-year holiday travel even bigger than this past Thanksgiving. Next year, it will raise the bar on earning frequent flyer status, making it harder to get free upgrades and fees waived.

KEYES: It's going to be much more difficult to get into lounges, much more difficult to renew elite status, and much more difficult to redeem their frequent flyer miles for a free trip.

MUNTEAN: A Delta flight from LAX to JFK over spring break would typically cost you 25,000 frequent flyer miles for an economy seat. Now, Scott's Cheap Flights says it will cost more than twice that, 52,000 miles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think we are at a tipping point.

MUNTEAN: Consumer advocates say earning miles has never been easier, thanks to airline credit cards. But now, redeeming miles is getting tougher.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You enter these programs in good faith and you invest in them for years and years. And you find that the goalposts are a lot further away than they were when you started.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Airlines there, they're missing the mark here. I hope that they listen to the consumer and they really think about some of the decisions that they're making at the top level.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MUNTEAN: Travel experts say there are real here, Ana. The winners are those with airline credit cards, with mega status already. The losers are those right on the cusp of earning airline status.

The latest airline to tweak its frequent flyer program, American Airlines. In March, it will knock up the level to what you can get out of the "Gold Status" there, 40,000 is what you'll need now. It was 30,000 miles, Ana.

That makes it harder to get a free checked bag and free upgrades.

CABRERA: The business travelers are the winners because they keep racking up the miles. They may have corporate accounts and it's all connected so they benefit.

[13:35:05]

But it's like the family who wants to go on vacation from time to time and is trying hard to hold on to those rewards to pay for a trip, it's just unfortunate that it makes it more and more difficult for people to afford to fly.

Pete Muntean, appreciate your report. Thank you.

Another thing that might complicate your travel plans, at least this weekend, a powerful storm system that's just hammering the northeast right now with heavy snow and ice.

This is part of that same monster system we've been tracking all week long that caused the deadly tornadoes in the south, the ferocious blizzard conditions in the Midwest.

Let's check in with Jennifer Gray in the CNN Weather Center.

Jennifer, millions of Americans are under winter storm warnings right now. What do we need to know?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They are. It's mainly interior sections of the northeast, the New England area, interior sections there.

We're dealing with heavy snow across Upstate New York and see in interior sections of New England.

All the big cities, it's all rain, cold, miserable rain, and windy condition. Winds are blowing at 25, 30, 35 miles per hour in some locations.

So the rain will start winding down in the coming hours for New York City. Later tonight, it will end in Boston.

The snow continues, though, across interior sections. Winter storm warning, you see right there, those areas in pink.

And then here is the forecast radar. You can see the rain wrapping up this afternoon, ending in Boston tonight. And then the snow will finally leave by the time we get into tomorrow as well.

So we have one final push of this for today. And then we'll finally say good-bye to the storm system deadly across the country.

Snow totals across some of those higher elevations really impressive. We could see two feet of snow across interior sections of New England for the mountain areas -- Ana?

CABRERA: Thanks so much, Jennifer Gray.

FIFA rejecting the Ukrainian president's request to share a message of world peace before the World Cup final. Why?

And a pro basketball player retires from the game citing anxiety. He's calling it, quote, "the darkest times" of his life. That's ahead.

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[13:42:02]

CABRERA: The World Cup final is on Sunday. More than a billion people are expected to tune in to see France and Argentina face off.

And Ukraine's President Zelenskyy wants to use that gigantic platform to share a message of peace in a video before kickoff. But CNN has learned FIFA rebuffed that request. CNN sports senior analyst, Darren Lewis, joins us live in Qatar.

Darren, good to see you.

Throughout the tournament, FIFA and Qatar have tried to sidestep political rights, human rights issues and other things. Where do things stand on Zelenskyy's proposal?

DARREN LEWIS, CNN SENIOR SPORTS ANALYST: Well, you know, Ana, it's a warm, wonderful night here in Qatar. It's shortly before 10:00. It's been a warm, wonderful World Cup.

And in keeping with that, as you've been saying, Zelenskyy wanted them to round it off with this message, this very poignant message. But as you say, FIFA continued to sidestep issues if they're not on their agenda.

And they've said today, in a press conference, the president here, that when the players take to the field they are players. They are not heads of state.

The trouble is, Ana, that's at odds with what he did himself on November 15th when he addressed members of the G-20, calling for them to push for a cease-fire in Ukraine.

So it does appear to be an inconsistency in his message. And lots of people don't understand why the Grammys could accommodate President Zelenskyy and the G-20 could accommodate him and that message.

And yet, the president of the world football governing body doesn't see fit to include that in the messaging ahead of the biggest match on the planet on Sunday afternoon.

Very strange, indeed -- Ana?

CABRERA: It doesn't make common sense. Doesn't seem like there would be any reason or disadvantage for FIFA to allow Zelenskyy this opportunity. In fact, it seems like it would boost FIFA, good optics and be good P.R. for them.

Thank you, Darren Lewis, for your reporting. We'll see if anything changes.

Back here in the U.S. now, a young pro athlete drafted by the NBA and played in the league is retiring from basketball, citing the intense anxiety the sport has caused him.

Tyrell Terry is calling it "the darkest of times," saying, "it was even hard to take normal breaths."

CNN's Andy Scholes joins us with more.

Andy, this was an emotional post from Terry. I'm sure it took a lot of courage to share this.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Certainly, Ana. You it had to be one of the toughest decisions of his life. Making it to the NBA is incredible. Something very hard to do.

And Tyrell Terry, he was one of the best basketball players of anyone at his age.

He went to Stanford and he was so highly thought of, he was the first one-and-done player at Stanford. Only played one season and then he moved on to the NBA and was the first pick of the second round in 2020.

[13:45:07]

But that first year with the Mavs, he did take time away from the team for what they called "personal reasons."

And he, in this Instagram post, chronicled the struggles he went through, calling it the "darkest times of his life" the last few years.

And he posted he "had intrusive thoughts, waking up nauseous and finding myself struggling to take normal breaths because of the rock that would sit on my chest that seemed to weigh more than I could carry."

"This is just a brief description of the anxiety that this sport caused me. And while I'm grateful for every door that's opened for me, I can't continue this fight any longer for something I have fallen out of love with."

Now Terry played 13 games over the last three seasons. Ana, he wasn't in the league this year.

And in this post, he says people might think I'm a bust and he apologized for all the people he let down.

But you got to think, the incredible courage it must have taken for him to finally come to this resolution that he needed to retire to have a better life.

And he says he is looking forward to finding his identity outside of basketball.

CABRERA: What a wise, wise young person. And we all wish him the very best. Very cool that he was willing to share that and be vulnerable.

Thank you, Andy Scholes.

We have liftoff. SpaceX launches a new mission. But this isn't about studying space. It's all about the water back here on earth.

And a giant aquarium burst in Germany. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of water spilling onto a major road. We're talking 1,500 fish. One bystander said it felt like an earthquake. Yikes. That's ahead.

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[13:51:08] CABRERA: A 2-year-old boy is alive today after one of the most dangerous animals on the planet nearly swallowed him whole. We're talking about a hippopotamus.

According to police in Uganda, the boy was playing at his home near a lake when the hippo grabbed him and swallowed half of his body.

But thanks to a quick-thinking neighbor with a stone and an amazing arm, a direct hit forced that hippo to spit the boy out and then it returned to the water.

According to "National Geographic," hippos can weigh up to four tons and snap a canoe in half with their jaws.

Thankfully, the boy was treated for just minor injuries. He was given a rabies vaccine and has fully recovered.

Now listen to this. The world's largest free-standing aquarium in Berlin, which was home to about 1,500 exotic fish, exploded earlier today spilling more than 264,000 gallons of water into a hotel lobby and onto a nearby street.

The aquarium was 46 feet tall. Officials say all of the fish are dead. Two people were also injured. Right now, it's not exactly clear what caused this, but officials say there's no indication of any attack.

Now to a climate crisis mission that's taking matters into space. SpaceX this morning launching NASA's first satellite that will survey nearly all of the water on the earth's surface.

CNN's Kristin Fisher is joining us.

Kristin, this mission has a few goals to help scientists and everyday people better confront climate change. Tell us more.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a spacecraft called SWOT, S-W-O-T, Ana. You know how NASA loves acronyms. This spacecraft stands for the Surface Water Ocean Topography.

The bottom line is that NASA has had satellites up in space and they've been studying and monitoring the oceans for many years now.

What makes this spacecraft different is this is going to be the first global survey of earth's freshwater systems from space. So we're talking things like lakes, rivers and coastal communities, all areas that will be heavily impacted by climate change.

It's also going to be able to measure the height of these waters in these systems for the very first time.

This is really going to allow scientists back on earth to do a few things.

It's going to allow them and it's going to provide insights into exactly how the ocean influences climate change, how a warming world affects rivers and lakes and other freshwater systems.

And then it's also going to help communities who are vulnerable to climate change, help them better prepare for both floods and droughts.

Now this spacecraft launched early this morning on top of a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It was a very successful launch. You can see it right there. Only delayed by one day.

And initial telemetry reports show the spacecraft is in great health after that launch. It's now going to undergo a series of checks and calibrations before it starts collecting science data in about six months.

That's when we can begin to expect to get some of that first data back.

And, Ana, just to put into perspective for you just how significant of a development this is going to be for NASA and scientists all over the world, right now, freshwater researchers are only able to have the data for a few thousand lakes around the world, the water heights for a few thousand lakes around the world.

With SWOT up in the air monitoring all of this, that will push the number into the millions. A very big advancement for the scientists on the ground trying to monitor and combat climate change -- Ana?

[13:55:00]

CABRERA: Wow. It's just amazing what technology and engineering abilities that we have now can do, the kind of information that we can hopefully get very soon.

Thank you, Kristin Fisher, for that reporting.

That does it for us. Thank you so much for being here. I'll see you back here on Monday, same time, same place.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Enjoy Friday. Enjoy your families. For those traveling, safe travels to you.

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