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China To End Quarantine Requirement For Inbound Travelers; Ukraine Calls For Russia To Be Excluded From U.N.; Blackouts Put Ukrainians With Medical Device At Risk; Aid Groups Suspend Work After Ban Of Female NGO Staff In Afghanistan; South Korea Jets, Fires Shots After North Korean Drones Cross Border; China Renames COVID an 'Infection' as Zero-COVID Crumbles; Uncertainty Looms Over Thousands of Migrants Seeking Asylum; 'Citgo 6' Member Recounts Years of Imprisonment in Venezuela; Top Business Stories of the Year in the U.S. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 27, 2022 - 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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LAILA HARRAK, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of our viewers watching from around the world. I'm Laila Harrak.
Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, China's about face on COVID-19. The government rolling back yet more pandemic restrictions, even as new infections appear to be skyrocketing.
Plus, the frequent blackouts that roll across Ukraine, already making life harder for civilians. But for some of the country's most vulnerable, losing power could be a matter of life or death.
And a deadly arctic blast slammed the United States. How communities currently buried under snow are trying to dig their way out.
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Laila Harrak.
HARRAK: China is one -- is taking one of its biggest steps toward reopening its borders even as COVID cases surged nationwide. The country has announced that from January 8th, it will no longer require inbound travelers to quarantine. They'll still have to test negative before they arrive but authorities say they will streamline the process.
Going forward, China will also call COVID an infection instead of pneumonia, saying that's more in line with the characteristics and danger level of the disease.
Well, despite this, the country is still facing a massive wave of infections, which is leaving hospitals overwhelmed.
To turn things around, the president says they'll need a new approach. CNN's Selina Wang reports. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): China's leader Xi Jinping is calling for a more targeted health strategy to protect people's lives as China faces an unprecedented COVID outbreak. This is one of the first public statements she has made about Chinese COVID situation ever since the country abandon his signature zero COVID policy. And it also comes as information about China's COVID outbreak is getting even more opaque.
The country's National Health Commission announced it will no longer publish daily case numbers, health authorities haven't said why but the decision was made after widespread criticism over how unreliable the data was.
In the first 20 days of December, health authorities publicly reported less than 63,000 COVID cases. But reports from Bloomberg and the Financial Times said that leaked documents from China's top officials showed very different internal estimates that almost 250 million people may have caught COVID in the first 20 days.
If correct, that estimate which CNN cannot independently confirm, it would mean this is the largest COVID outbreak to date globally.
But that information again was not made public and China has only also reported a small handful of COVID deaths for the whole month. Yet, when I visited a crematorium in Beijing, body bags were piling up and those scenes are playing out in major cities across the country.
The medical system is under a huge amount of pressure. Even the capital Beijing, which has some of the best medical resources in the country, doctors say they're overwhelmed with elderly patients with COVID symptoms.
A doctor at Beijing United Family Hospital said there was no preparation for this wave of COVID cases, no stockpiling of medicine. Fever and cold medicine are nearly impossible to get at drugstores.
Beijing has just announced it's going to start distributing Paxlovid to community health centers in the coming days. This is a very big deal because it's been extremely hard for people to access antivirals.
In mid-December, an online health care platforms started selling Paxlovid, but it immediately sold out.
Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now with more. Kristie, China turning the page, ends quarantine for international arrivals. This is a major move toward ending three years of isolation.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Absolutely, Laila. Look, this unprecedented outbreak is still raging across China. But this is very welcome news for scores of Chinese who have waited three years for a chance to travel overseas, three years for the opportunity to reunite with their loved ones abroad.
You know starting January the eighth, China will lift all quarantine restrictions for inbound travelers. Inbound travelers will still have to take a COVID test before arriving in China but they no longer have to submit it to a Chinese Embassy or Consulate for it to turn into a code.
And there's a lot that still remains to be unclear. We still don't know how easily Chinese travelers will be able to travel overseas. We also still don't know how many flights will be allowed into the country.
[00:05:10]
But the excitement is palpable. In fact, according to Ctrip, this is a popular online travel booking website in China, within 30 minutes of this policy being announced, searches for popular overseas travel destinations jumped to a three year high.
Let's bring up the graphic for you. According to Ctrip the top 10 Search destinations include Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the United Kingdom.
Separately, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has finally made his first comments in the midst of this unprecedented outbreak. Also, in the midst of the sudden U-turn from China's zero COVID policy.
According to state run broadcaster CCTV, let's bring up the statement for you, "Xi Jinping emphasized that our country is currently facing a new COVID outbreak situation and new responsibilities. We need to conduct our patriotic health movement in a more targeted manner."
Targeted is the key word here because it's trying to ends years of its punishing zero COVID policy. We see cases, infections, even deaths anecdotally surging across the country. Hospitals and hospital workers are absolutely overwhelmed.
And we did hear from the National Health Commission that said it would consider bringing back some pandemic restrictions, including lockdowns in nursing homes if the outbreak worsens. Back to you Laila.
HARRAK: Kristie Lu Stout reporting from Hong Kong. As always, thank you so much, Kristie.
STOUT: Thank you.
HARRAK: Well, later this hour, I'll speak with an expert about Beijing's continued dismantling of its zero COVID policy and how resurgeons of the virus will affect China. Stay tuned for that interview right here on CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is describing a difficult situation in the Donbas as his forces are locked in fierce battles with Russian troops. Among the city seeing ongoing fighting is Bakhmut in the Donetsk region. Mr. Zelenskyy says Ukrainians must be prepared for any possible
Russian attacks or provocations and had this update on the frontlines.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Bakhmut, Crimea and other areas in Donbas that require maximum strength and concentration now. The situation there is difficult, painful. The occupants are spending all the resources available to them. And these are significant resources to squeeze out at least some progress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: And as the fighting rages on, Ukraine's foreign ministry is calling for Russia to be excluded from the United Nations Security Council and from being a U.N. member.
In a tweet, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called Russia's presence at the U.N. illegitimate, saying the country bypassed a procedure set by the U.N. Charter 31 years ago.
Meantime, Ukrainian security service says it has neutralized more than 4,500 cyber-attacks this year. One official says energy and military facilities and government databases are among the typical targets.
And we're getting new video of the moment that Russia says it shut down a Ukrainian drone as it approached a military airfield deep inside Russian territory.
Russian state media citing the Defense Ministry said three Russian servicemen were killed in the Saratov region in the city of Engels. That's more than 800 kilometers south east of Moscow.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson didn't claim responsibility, but did suggests the attack was the consequence of what Russia is doing.
All this comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted an informal summit in St. Petersburg of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
Among those in attendance, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Well, joining me now is Matthew Schmidt. He is a professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven. A very good day, Professor.
I want to start off with this storyline that's coming out of Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is quoted as saying that his country wants to hold peace talks at the U.N. in February.
But for Russia to participate, it first needs to face prosecution for war crimes at an international court. Very hard to see that happening right now. How do you see it?
MATTHEW SCHMIDT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAVEN: Russia does need to face trial for war crimes, right? Putin and other commanders do. Ukrainian has said over and over again, especially since the massacres in Bucha, that war crimes, war trials are essential and that Russia has to remove its troops from Ukrainian territory and that's not going to happen.
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HARRAK: And earlier, in a related development, Russia message that it was ready to negotiate at the same time launching 14 rocket strikes against Ukraine on Christmas Day. What's the thinking in the Kremlin? What's their perspective?
SCHMIDT: Well, I think we have to understand that Putin isn't crazy, we often use that terminology. But he's not crazy.
However, he does see things really differently than we do and we have to try to get inside his head. And he sees this war as an attempt to bring together two brothers Slavic countries, Ukraine and Russia. And he sees the thing that is causing all of the death and the destruction and requiring those missile shots as being the United States and the West.
And so, when he's talking about negotiating, if you look at his speeches internally, what he's saying is, we need to stop the bloodshed, we need to stop killing Russians, by which he means Ukrainians in the east, right?
And therefore, we need to come together, Ukraine and Russia, agree to stop the war, and then -- and then pit ourselves against the West than ourselves against America diplomatically in order to do this.
He's not talking about stopping the war, because he's losing.
HARRAK: So, do you feel that he thinks time is on his side?
SCHMIDT: That's an interesting question. I think he knows that things are going badly. I think he thinks that time is on his side in the sense that the story we don't talk about is that the Ukrainian economy is in dire shape. That's part of the reason Zelenskyy came to the U.S. when he did. Zelenskyy understands that a long war, that goes on another year or more is going to be bad for Ukraine, it will be very hard for the economy to sustain itself, and very hard for the European and the American allies to continue to supply at the rate that they're doing, and to keep the political alliance together.
So, Putin thinks that that time is to his advantage, yes. But he does see that right now the battlefield is against him in the short term.
HARRAK: Now, looking ahead, we are inching closer to the one year anniversary of Russia's war on Ukraine. Ukraine is believed to have launched a drone attack at an airbase deep within Russian territory, they're not confirming or denying their involvement. But if we for a second belief that this did happen, what does this signal to you?
SCHMIDT: Well, it signals that Ukraine is a technically advanced military, that they're able to do this. It also, however, signals that this is a limited attack, this is an attack that signals we can reach deep into your country. And it signals that we sort of are willing and possibly capable of extending this war deep into your country on a higher level of intensity. Right?
So, that's really I think what the importance of that attack is rather than anything that target that was hit -- you know, in it.
HARRAK: I want to get your quick take on Patriot missile battery is now expected to be ready and operational in less than six months. This is according to Ukrainian foreign minister. Will it be a game changer?
SCHMIDT: It will when it starts. It's the kind of system that if there are enough of them, and if there are capable operators of it, that they could really launch Russian long range missiles and those attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure.
But six months is a long time. And Russia has the missiles and will use them to good effect between now and then. The pressure is going to be on Ukraine to go on the offensive as soon as they're capable.
HARRAK: Matthew Schmidt, thank you so much for taking our questions.
SCHMIDT: My pleasure.
HARRAK: Russia's relentless strikes on Ukraine's energy system are putting patients with medical devices at risk. They have to find power sources wherever they can. And for some, it's a matter of life and death.
CNN's Will Ripley reports now from Kyiv.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Christmas in Ukraine, even the air raid sirens don't get a break.
So, when the lights go out? You use this. How does -- how do you turn on -- oh like that.
12-year-old Sebastian (PH) has an arsenal of battery powered lights for the blackouts so he can play with his small army of toy tanks.
Unfortunately, this doesn't run on batteries.
RIPLEY: Oh, you use it as a weight. So that's how you stay strong.
Sebastian has cystic fibrosis, a rare lung disorder. He needs a nebulizer to inhale medicine. It keeps him alive. He could die without inhalations. We can't miss them, his grandmother says.
The first time we had a blackout, we took the machine and ran around looking for a generator. We found a shop where people charge their phones. We did it there.
[00:15:01] His grandmother shows us their small portable nebulizer. When the lights go out, it gets the job done, barely.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's machine number nine and --
RIPLEY: This is 1,319.
Patients like him rely on help from SVOI Foundation, a nonprofit in Kyiv. They've helped more than 6,000 people with breathing problems. The situation for many, dire.
What happens to people if the machine doesn't work?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They die.
RIPLEY: They die.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
RIPLEY: When there is no light for 20 or 30 hours, you have to go to the hospital, she says. We have patients who went from the apartment to the car for two days because they charged their device with a cigarette lighter.
The sound of a blackout even more terrifying than the sound of sirens for Olena Isayenko (PH).
The sound is like a flatline, she says. She's living with respiratory failure on the 15th floor. Blackouts mean no elevator, no way to get to the bomb shelter downstairs.
We you can't cook, when there is no heat, you can live with that. But when you can't breathe, it's your life.
Her portable respirator barely lasts two hours. It takes more than an hour to charge. Each blackout puts her life at risk.
For so many, victims of Russia's constant cruel bombardment, this is life, if you can call it that.
Will Ripley, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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HARRAK: The family of one of Iran's most famous sports figures has been prevented from leaving the country. That's according to Iranian news outlets.
They say a plane carrying the wife and daughter of football legend Ali Daei was forced to return to Iran while on its way to Dubai. Ali reportedly ordered off the plane because they were supposed to tell authorities if they were leaving the country, but they were not arrested.
Daei has been a vocal supporter of the antigovernment protests in Iran, which broke out in September following the death of Mahsa Amini. In Japan, heavy snow is responsible for at least 17 deaths across the
country while this according to an official in the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, while more than 90 others have been injured over the Christmas holiday.
Japan's West Coast has been hit particularly hard. Once city reported more than 80 centimeters of snow or about 2.6 feet. And parts of the Northeastern U.S. are trying to dig out from the deadly winter storm that's been tormenting the region for days, the blizzard blamed for the deaths of at least 27 people in Erie County, New York bringing the nationwide death toll from the severe weather to 49.
More than 100 centimeters of snow are smothering areas of western New York and the U.S. president has issued an emergency declaration.
And there's so much snow even some of the rescuers need rescuing. Plows had to dig out ambulances over the weekend. Lots of vehicles have been abandoned on impassable roads and thousands of people were without power over the Christmas weekend.
Warmer temperatures are expected later this week. But the New York Governor warned more snow is coming.
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GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): The storm is coming back. We're expecting another six to -- six to 12 inches. And in the south towns of southern part of Erie County, little bit south of here. They had 30 to 40 inches of snow overnight.
So, anyone who declares victory and says it's over. It is way too early to say this is a completion -- or maybe the severity is downplaying now and right now it's not as bad as it had been over the last couple of days but it is still a dangerous situation to be out.
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HARRAK: According to Flight Aware almost 4,000 U.S. flights were canceled on Monday and more than 8,000 others were delayed.
We'll look at the travel headaches later in the program. But first, a rare move by North Korea put South Korea on high alerts and drones were involved.
Plus, more international aid organizations are joining the protest against the Taliban's decision to ban women from working for NGOs.
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The global outrage is growing over the Taliban's decision to ban women from working for nongovernmental organizations. At least half a dozen major international aid groups have now suspended operations in Afghanistan. They're demanding the decision be reversed and that both men and women be allowed to work equally. CNN's Nada Bashir has more.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice over): Yet another blow to women's rights in Afghanistan, this time targeting aid workers. NGOs across the country have been ordered to stop their female employees from coming to work with immediate effect. It's a decision taken according to the Taliban, in response to violations of the group's so-called Islamic Values.
But the move has sparked widespread international condemnation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeting that he is deeply concerned and warning that the decision could disrupt vital life-saving assistance to millions in Afghanistan.
Taliban officials, however, were quick to respond, telling the U.S. not to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
Now, a number of aid groups say they are suspending their operations in the country, without reach made near impossible without female aid workers.
DAVID WRIGHT, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, SAVE THE CHILDREN: We need our female colleagues to help us get access to women and children because you can't access young mothers or young children in education if you don't have female staff.
BASHIR: Since the Taliban's takeover in August of last year, the rights and freedoms of women and girls have been eroded on multiple fronts.
In addition to the closure of secondary schools, the Taliban has now suspended university education for all women, triggering protests across the country.
Women seen here in Herat, chanting education is our right.
PASHTANA DURRANI, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LEARN AFGHANISTAN: They still are learning these Taliban and they still think that women should be only limited to homes. And that's what they're doing right now.
BASHIR: The stakes here are incredibly high, with the country already facing a crippling economic crisis.
But this latest edict could push families even further into poverty.
JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY-GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: People are hungry, people are without shelter. That's why we are there to help them with female and male employees. So, when they tell us to take away one-third of our able committed humanitarian workers, we cannot operate.
BASHIR: The U.N. says it has called directly on the Taliban to reverse the ban on female NGO workers. But hope in Afghanistan is dwindling as the Taliban continues to chip away at the rights and freedoms hard won by women over the last two decades.
Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
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HARRAK: The man arrested for an alleged bombing attempt at Brasilia International Airport over the Christmas weekend says he wanted to "create chaos and prevent next week's presidential transition". That's according to a written statement given to police, which CNN has seen.
It says the plan was to create a siege state in Brazil so incoming President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva could not take power.
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Police say an explosive device was found in a tanker truck near the airport and that the suspect had more devices, numerous guns, and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition at his home.
The South Korean president says his country will speed up the launch of its military drone unit which will monitor North Korean military installations. The added urgency comes after the North flew several drones into South Korean airspace on Monday.
CNN's Paula Hancocks is in Seoul with further details on the South Korean military's response.
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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): South Korea scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters on Monday, as North Korea sent drones across the border into South Korean airspace.
Now, we understand from the defense ministry that there were five North Korean drones in all, they believe one that was in the vicinity of the capital Seoul and the others were flying around Ganghwa Island, just off the west coast of the peninsula.
Now, the military says that they did fire at these drones but they can't confirm at this point whether or not they managed to hit any of them.
We're hearing from a Defense Ministry Spokesperson saying "This is a clear provocation and an invasion of our airspace by North Korea".
Now, Seoul also sent reconnaissance aircraft in retaliation to the inter-Korean border area and some of those they do confirm went into North Korean airspace and filmed military installations there.
Also, the two main airports in and around Seoul, Gimpo and Incheon Airport, had takeoffs postponed for an hour that was dictated by the military as this was going on.
Also, one of those South Korean jets that was scrambled to deal with this did crash. We understand from the defense ministry but there were no casualties in that accident. So, this is not unprecedented to have these drones coming into South
Korea, but it is unusual. The last time it happened was back in 2017.
At that point, the defense ministry say that they found a crushed drone in South Korean airspace and it appeared that it had been gathering intelligence on a U.S. built missile defense system in the country.
Similarly, in 2014, there was a crash drone found as well. Now, they were fairly crude drones with effectively a camera strapped onto them. We don't know if the technology has improved. We haven't heard from the Ministry of Defense at this point exactly what these drones look like.
But it comes at the end of an historic year for North Korea. Never in their history have they fired so many missiles and tensions are fairly high between the two Koreas.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Seoul.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRAK: Still to come, the end of China's zero COVID policies. I'll ask an expert about the real impact of Beijing's move to ease restrictions.
Plus, the U.S. is scrambling to keep up with a growing number of asylum applications. As more and more migrants come into the country every day.
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LAILA HARRAK, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: More on our top story now.
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China's health authority has renamed COVID-19 an infection, saying the name is more in line with the virus's current threat level to the country. Beijing had previously called the coronavirus a type of pneumonia, and managed its outbreaks as a Class A disease.
But now, all efforts to contain the virus have been downgraded as Beijing removes the last traces of its zero-COVID restrictions. All quarantine measures for incoming travelers and patients testing positive for the virus have been dropped. Travelers only need a negative test from the last 48 hours to enter China.
The shift from one extreme to another has come with an explosion of new infections.
Well, joining me now is Yasheng Huang. He is a professor of international management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He's also the author of the upcoming book, "The Rise and the Fall of the East: Examination, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology in Chinese History and Today."
Professor, very good day.
Extraordinary times. Are you astonished by how authorities have been prepared to just completely abandon zero-COVID so abruptly, and witnessing this all unfolding in real time, this total reversal of measures that just months ago, were dogma?
YASHENG HUANG, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT, MIT: I think that surprises everybody, in part because zero-COVID policy was followed so strictly, and for such a long period of time, even though the policy was not really working, and there was widespread speculation that the policy was not even effective in containing the virus.
Most of us thought that the opening up was going to be a gradual phased one, rather than in this abrupt manner that it has been implemented. It surprises everyone, and I don't think this is really the right way to ease the policy.
HARRAK: The official COVID case count remains astonishingly low. You know, to your point, is it at all possible to know exactly what the situation is right now on mainland China, in terms of how the healthcare system is holding up? Do we know how hospitals are coping?
HUANG: Well, so, to know exactly what's happening is difficult, because the government is not really reporting the data. But what we can speculate is that China is not in a very strong position to prepare for this current surge.
The ICU beds per population, per capita, is lower than it is in Japan, than it is in Hong Kong, than it is in Taiwan.
Hong Kong had a very, very bad experience with the COVID virus surge, when they opened up. So now, if you take that into account, China is not as strong in terms of the health care and ICU beds, as compared with Hong Kong.
Now, they are facing with a similar situation, a situation in terms of mortality, in terms of the infection rate, are probably worse than Hong Kong -- that's what we can speculate.
And the other difference between mainland China and Hong Kong, is Hong Kong had a variety of vaccines made available for its population, including the vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer. Those are known to be more effective than the Chinese vaccines. Within China, those mRNA vaccines are not available.
So, we know, on the vaccine side, it's weaker. We also know, in terms of the health care situation, it's weaker, as compared with Hong Kong. And they are facing the same situation as Hong Kong faced earlier this year.
HARRAK Now, with no mitigation measures in place, help us understand the thinking behind this in terms of, you know, do they just want to get this over with, just let it rip, or was just no longer sustainable? HUANG: I think there are a number of reasons, and again, we are
speculating, because we don't really have the firsthand knowledge. There are a number of reasons.
[00:35:07]
One is that the economic toll of the COVID control was getting intolerably high. So, the authorities had to move to a different policy.
And the demonstrations in late November, early December, forced the hand of the authorities, maybe accelerated the schedule that they had planned to open up the economy, open up the society. So, that's one reason.
And the other reason is that the -- I think authorities may have relied on flawed information about Omicron variants -- virus. There are reports that Chinese medical specialists working for the government argue that the mortality rate is very low. Infection rate is very, very high.
That's true, but they are using the Western data to make their case for easing up control in China. The problem with that comparison is that the Western data incorporates the effects of the effective vaccines, such as Pfizer and Moderna. So you cannot simply apply that situation to China, when China doesn't have the more effective vaccines.
So, they may rely on the flawed information, and they may think that, because mortality rate is low, it's not going to cause big problems when they open up. That turned out to be false, I believe, because China doesn't have as effective vaccines as the United States, as Europe.
HARRAK: Professor Yasheng Huang, thank you so much for taking our questions.
HUANG: Thank you.
HARRAK: A boat full of Rohingya refugees has finally reached Indonesia. The U.N. refugee agency says it had been drifting at sea for nearly one month.
Officials say all those on board survived their treacherous voyage from Bangladesh, where about a million Rohingya are living in squalid conditions after fleeing ethnic violence in Myanmar.
The U.N. says another boat carrying 180 refugees on a similar route is still missing at sea, with all on board presumed dead.
A new study shows more than one and a half million asylum applications are pending in U.S. immigration courts, the highest number on record. An analysis of federal data by Syracuse University finds asylum cases increased sevenfold between 2012 and this year.
Well, meantime, the lines of migrants are growing longer at the U.S.- Mexico border, with a Trump-era immigration policy known as Title 42 still in limbo.
The policy, which allows border officials to quickly expel migrants to slow the spread of COVID, was due to expire last week. But the Supreme Court chief justice stepped in to put its termination on hold.
CNN's Camila Bernal spoke with one migrant family.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMILA BERNAL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dream come true in the form of a hula hoop, toys their parents say they would not be able to afford in their native Venezuela.
An opportunity for his children, says 30-year-old Elvan Carascale (ph), who left this country more than three months ago with his partner and for children. In November, they made it to the U.S. and turned themselves in to immigration authorities.
"They sent us back," he said, and because they're not legally married, the two got separated. And after about a week in a detention center, they ended up in two different cities in Mexico.
Elvan's (ph) partner, Caroline (ph), says she was told they were being sent back to Mexico because of Title 42, which allows border agents to immediately expel migrants, citing COVID-19 concerns. And this is what they say led them to an illegal crossing 20 days later.
"I wanted to cross legally," says Caroline (ph). But as a family, they felt they had no other option.
It's a desperation felt by many here, and as a result, they end up on the streets during a cold front in El Paso. The city accommodates those who have documentation, taking more than 400 people into this makeshift shelter in its convention center over the holiday weekend.
Others ending up in Washington, D.C., outside of Vice President Kamala Harris's residence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The majority of them are planning to, you know, stay in D.C., or head up to New York.
BERNAL (voice-over): Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been busing migrants to Northern states since April. These migrants were bused from Texas to D.C. on Christmas Eve, some wearing only a T-shirt in 18-degree weather.
[00:40:09]
For Elvan (ph) and Caroline (ph), the final destination is Chicago. They say they want to apply for refugee status, find work, and provide for their four children.
BERNAL: And every single one of these migrants has a similar story. I've been speaking to them over the last couple of days, and most of them tell me that they're waiting to be able to afford a bus ticket to get to their final destination. In the meantime, many of them are out here and preparing, as the sun
sets, to sleep out on the streets, because the shelters are at capacity.
Camila Bernal, CNN, El Paso, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: We'll be right back.
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HARRAK: Freed WNBA star Brittney Griner was able to spend Christmas with family after being locked up in Russia for ten months. And she hasn't forgotten other Americans who are still detained abroad.
She took to her Instagram account and asked followers to write to Paul Whelan, a U.S. Marine veteran imprisoned in Russia. Well, Griner says the letters she received during her detention helped her not lose hope.
She isn't the only former imprisoned American speaking out. Our Isa Soares spoke with oil executive Jorge Toledo, part of the so-called Citgo 6, who spent five years jailed in Venezuela.
Here's that exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JORGE TOLEDO, FREED AFTER BEING IMPRISONED IN VENEZUELA: While being in the jet, it's like --
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jorge Toledo understands what it means to be held captive by a hostile foreign power.
TOLEDO: It's very close to a movie, but it seems that this is for real.
SOARES (voice-over): A member of the so-called Citgo 6, Toledo and five other Citgo executives were imprisoned in Venezuela in 2017 on baseless allegations, including money laundering, U.S. officials say.
SOARES: You finally were going back home. How did that feel?
TOLEDO: There was like a going from total darkness to a total illumination.
SOARES (voice-over): They were leaving behind an eerie and dark place. Five years of isolation, deprivation and torture, Toledo tells me.
TOLEDO: I spent 18 months with a very strong and intense light on top of me, 24 hours, seven days. So that means that, you know, you're not able to sleep.
SOARES (voice-over): CNN has been in touch with his family for the last few years. They tell us Toledo's health suffered. An athlete and marathon runner, he tells me he lost more than 50 pounds in his first year of incarceration.
Eventually, after months of back and forth between the U.S. government and the embattled regime of President Nicolas Maduro, Toledo and four of his Citgo colleagues were released in October as part of a prisoner swap.
[00:45:05]
TOLEDO: And we crossed with the two individuals that I didn't know who they were, but I assumed that they were the other human commodity that was being exchanged.
SOARES (voice-over): President Joe Biden signed off on the deal. In exchange, the U.S. agreed to release two of Maduro's nephews, themselves convicted in 2016 for conspiring to import cocaine into the U.S., nicknamed the Narco Nephews.
SOARES: How did you feel, Jorge, about that exchange? Do you think it ought to have happened?
TOLEDO: We need to prioritize lives, and then we fix the long-term issue, which is how are we going to deal with hostage diplomacy as a society?
SOARES (voice-over): Under Maduro, Venezuela has been pushed to the brink. More than 7 million people have fled the country in recent years, with the U.N. accusing the president of crimes against humanity.
But with the world's largest proven oil reserves, and as the West attempts to move away from its dependence on Russian oil, Maduro's oil supply is yielding some political power.
Last month the U.S. ranted Chevron limited authorization to resume pumping oil from Venezuela, despite U.S. trade sanctions in place since 2019.
SOARES: Should the United States east sanctions on Venezuela?
TOLEDO: What I would say is this has to be revisited just to make sure that the sanctions are reentered (ph) toward the right direction. And not, you know, the direction of damaging the common people, causing shortages in the population, et cetera. So I think that we need to rethink the entire system.
SOARES (voice-over): In the footsteps of fellow Americans, released from overseas captivity --
SOARES: What does freedom feel like?
SOARES (voice-over): Toledo found a new appreciation for the meaning of freedom.
TOLEDO: The air had a different smell. I perceive, you know, a -- a wonderful, fantastic sweetness in that smell of the air.
SOARES (voice-over): A scent only those held captive can truly savor.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOARES: As 22 comes to a close, we're looking back at some of the biggest headlines. CNN's Christine Romans has the top business stories.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Crypto crashed. And streaming slowed. The recession debate raged. Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover. And the energy market turmoil raised the prices at the pump. These are the top business stories of 2022.
No. 10, Crypto crashed amid the downfall of its biggest exchange. Even flashy Super Bowl ads --
LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: I don't think so.
ROMANS (voice-over): -- couldn't hold off the chill of a crypto winter, as investors ditched risky assets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the bitcoin bubble finally burst? Part of a crash that has cost investors more than a trillion dollars.
ROMANS (voice-over): A downturn made worse by the implosion of the world's largest crypto exchange, FTX, over claims it misused customer money.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The $32 billion company that plunged into bankruptcy basically overnight.
[00:50:04]
ROMANS (voice-over): Leaving millions of customers scrambling to recover funds. A class-action suit for celebs who endorsed FTX --
TOM BRADY, PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER: I'm getting into crypto.
ROMANS (voice-over): -- and attracting government scrutiny.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: FTX is prompting investigation by federal prosecutors now.
ROMANS (voice-over): Disgraced FTX founder, Samuel Bankman-Fried, or SBF, saw his multi-billion-dollar fortune evaporate.
SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, FTX FOUNDER: I think that there might be $100,000 or something like that?
ROMANS (voice-over): Before being arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges. SBF's legal team says it's considering all options.
ROMANS: No. 9, America faces a housing crisis.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Americans are struggling to keep up with rising home prices.
ROMANS (voice-over): The pandemic altered the housing market. Delayed construction kept supply low, while demand spiked, creating a crisis of affordability.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Housing prices hit a record high in April.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prices are going up.
ROMANS (voice-over): Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve's inflation fight more than doubled mortgage rates.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mortgage rates now topping 7 percent, a 20-year high.
ROMANS (voice-over): Pricing out many Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many properties do you think you've explored?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thousands, thousands.
ROMANS (voice-over): Home sales dropped, while rental costs hit record highs.
ROMANS: No. 8, Wall Street soured on streaming amid a slowdown. 2022 ushered in a new era for streaming services.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Netflix lost 200,000 global subscribers. The last time Netflix lost subscribers was October 2011.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Growing losses at Disney+.
ROMANS (voice-over): Streaming stocks tanked as the days of meteoric growth seem to be over. So, Netflix introduced ads, a move it had resisted, and will crack down on password sharing, while Disney saw a leadership shakeup.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR Disney has ousted chief executive Bob Chapek after only two years on the job; replaced him with a familiar name. His predecessor, Bob Iger.
ROMANS (voice-over): But all the major players revised plans, cutting cost to create profitable business models, instead of relying on subscriber growth.
No. 7, a nationwide rail strike looms and is averted, not once but twice. The first came in September.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Some 60,000 engineers are threatening to walk off the job as soon as Friday.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: It would be the first nationwide rail strike in 30 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nearly one third of the nation's freight could come to a standstill.
ROMANS (voice-over): Rail workers, working nonstop through the pandemic, demanded better conditions as freight companies raked in record profits. Negotiations dragged on, threatening a fragile supply chain, so the White House stepped in, with the labor secretary brokering at 11th-hour deal.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Labor unions and rail lines reaching a tentative last-minute deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But now, this deal does go to the union members.
ROMANS (voice-over): But rank-and-file workers wanted paid sick time, not included in the agreement.
COLLINS: Workers at the biggest and most powerful rail union have voted down a tentative contract deal.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now you have four rail unions who have voted it down altogether.
ROMANS (voice-over): This time, Congress stepped in, passing a bill forcing workers to accept the deal --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The joint resolution has passed.
ROMANS (voice-over): -- and stay on the job.
No. 6, Americans returned to the skies in record numbers, but airlines couldn't handle the influx.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huge lines are greeting travelers at airports across the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experts are warning it's going to be a summer of travel hell.
ROMANS (voice-over): Some days saw thousands of flights delayed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 2,100 are delayed.
ROMANS (voice-over): Or canceled, especially over holiday weekends.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Forty-five thousand flight cancellations nationwide since the first of June.
ROMANS (voice-over): One major reason, not enough crew members. Airlines trimmed staff during the pandemic, so any disruption like bad weather sparked chaos.
ROMANS: No. 5, a rough year for Wall Street amid a tech wreck. The breathless post-COVID rally ended this year.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: The S&P 500 has fallen into what investors call a bear market.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This was the worst day for the Dow since June of 2020.
ROMANS (voice-over): Investors reacted to rising prices and the Fed's aggressive campaign to fight them, raising the specter of a recession, while also hurting high-growth stocks like tech.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ANCHOR: Tech stocks have plunged since the start of this year.
ROMANS: 2022 was an awful year for tech companies. After years of unstoppable growth, profits declined, leading to hiring freezes and an alarming number of job cuts, laying off thousands of tech workers.
No. 4, the recession debate raged amid economic whiplash. COVID broke the economy, leading to a recovery full of conflicting signals. GDP shrank.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Alarm bells are ringing for the U.S. economy tonight.
TAPPER: The U.S. economy shrank for the second quarter in a row. That is the common definition of a recession.
ROMANS: While big business voices offered dire warnings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we're not in a recession right now, we're likely to be in one very soon.
DOUG MCMILLON, WALMART PRESIDENT AND CEO: Customers are more budget- conscious that have been under inflation pressure now for months.
JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JPMORGAN CHASE: I think policy makers should be prepared for the worst.
[00:55:03] ROMANS (voice-over): But despite the gloom of hot inflation and higher rates, the U.S. economy was resilient, with a labor market so strong companies were fighting for workers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are 1.9 open jobs for every unemployed person.
ROMANS (voice-over): And people kept shopping, driving growth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recession fears don't deter U.S. shoppers in a record-setting Black Friday.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: American shoppers shelled out an all-time high, $11.3 billion.
ROMANS: Wrapping up 2022 with the recession question still unanswered. No. 3, Elon Musk's chaotic Twitter takeover. The billionaire began
building his stake in January, becoming the largest Twitter shareholder before offering to buy the whole thing.
QUEST: Elon Musk makes a $41 billion hostile bid for Twitter.
ROMANS (voice-over): Musk wanted to unlock Twitter's potential. Twitter eventually agreed to sell itself before Musk did an about-face in May.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Musk is trying to back out of buying the social media giant, saying Twitter is withholding vital information.
ROMANS (voice-over): Then came months of legal maneuvering, complicated by revelations from a whistleblower.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The company's cybersecurity failures make it vulnerable to exploitation.
ROMANS (voice-over): Still, Musk eventually completed the deal instead of heading to trial. He immediately slashed jobs --
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly half the company's employees, now out of a job.
ROMANS (voice-over): -- while rolling out other changes, including trying to launch paid verification and reinstating controversial figures, including former President Trump.
ROMANS: No. 2, energy market turmoil raised prices at the pump. Russia's war on Ukraine threatened oil supply, sending global prices soaring.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE That's a seven-year hike. U.S. crude, in the meantime, multi-year hikes, too.
ROMANS (voice-over): That affected gas prices.
BERMAN: Gas prices here in the United States reached record highs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's up by a staggering 60 cents in just one week.
ROMANS (voice-over): Many Americans couldn't afford to fill up the tank. So, President Biden released oil from the strategic reserve and blasted U.S. oil companies.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The profits are a windfall of war.
ROMANS (voice-over): While also asking them to pump more oil. He did the same with Saudi Arabia during a controversial visit in July.
But OPEC+ did the opposite, slashing production in October. An attempt to boost oil prices finally weighed down by concerns over a global slowdown. Gas prices also fell, ending the year cheaper than before Russia invaded Ukraine.
No. 1, the Fed's aggressive fight to tame decades-high inflation. Americans paid high prices again this year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inflation in the United States, soaring to a new 40-year high.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Across the board, you're paying way more for just about everything.
ROMANS (voice-over): So, the central bank jacked up interest rates seven times to help, even rolling out bumper three-quarter-point hikes four times in a row. And the Fed isn't finished.
JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: We continue to anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate.
ROMANS (voice-over): Some worry the Fed's higher rates will spark a recession. They're already shaking markets and raising credit mortgage payments.
But, have they lowered consumer prices? There's no clear signal yet.
ROMANS: One thing is for sure: the effects will continue to work their way through the economy into next year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: I'm Laila Harrak, and I'll be back with more news in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
