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Thousands Stranded By Southwest Airlines Cancellations; China to End Quarantine Requirement for Inbound Travelers; Law Enforcement Warns of "Pig Butchering" Crypto Scam; Putin Hosts Informal Summit in St. Petersburg. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired December 27, 2022 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you are just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.

At least 49 people are dead in the aftermath of a deadly winter storm over the holiday weekend. Officials near Buffalo, New York, say that number could rise as emergency crews continue search and rescue efforts.

And that winter storm is causing travel chaos nationwide. More than 2,700 flights have been canceled today in the U.S. the majority of those by Southwest airlines which reported significant operations setbacks on Monday, too. Southwest has canceled around 2,500 flights so far today -- according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Speaking with CNN, a spokesperson for the website says the airline should have taken more precautions to avoid the chaos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN BANGS, SPOKESPERSON, FLIGHTAWARE: Southwest has had a great reputation and known for really outstanding customer service. So, I'm sure this really hurts them hard. But we have to look at the last worst day of cancellations in 2022, the day that broke the record -- until last Friday -- for 2022 was February 3rd. Nonholiday -- why people don't remember it. But the airlines canceled because of a weather event then, they knew a major ice storm was coming across the U.S. airports like Dallas Fort Worth shut down. Airlines canceled thousands of flights preemptively. And what helped them, is that people didn't get stranded.

The problem with what's happened now is we also knew again that a horrific weather event was coming and it was going to be almost nationwide. But the airlines didn't really cut too many flights. Southwest cut a few, similar airlines had a few cancellations. But they tried to maintain those holiday schedules for the obvious reason, that the one thing passengers won't forgive you is if you don't get them where they want to be.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: She goes on to say Southwest flight operations and outdated systems have made navigating the issues even more difficult.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BANGS: They also have a point-to-point network. They're not hub and spoke like American and Delta. They're more of a short haul, short and medium haul.

[04:35:00]

And that means basically that when those pilots leave on a given day like to Minneapolis. They go to Midway, to Kansas City, down to Houston, to Dallas, to Phoenix, switch crews and then they're off to Ontario for the night. The issue with that is it's very difficult once those crews, once those planes get out of position to rejuggle the whole system. It's a little bit easier than a point and spoke. And that's a different system than how southwest operates.

One of the things southwest said is that they recognize they've had technological challenges especially with what appears to be their crew scheduling system. It's probably updated and that is going to need some work. Because we have pilots, we have crews and flight attendants ready to fly and we got airplanes, we just don't have them in the same location together. And that's definitely a problem that they've been looking into solving.

The D.O.T. as you mentioned has already gotten on board with this. The D.O.T. just months ago launched that airline traveler consumer dashboard to try to get the airlines, you know, to give better customer service and to give passengers an outlet to find out, OK, what am I owed if I'm stranded someplace exactly? So, I think we'll look to see more government involvement in getting this issue straightened out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: China is taking a major step towards reopening its borders, even as COVID cases surge uncontrollably. The country has announced that from January 8th it will no longer require inbound travelers to quarantine on arrival. China also said it will COVID an infection instead of pneumonia. Saying that's more in line with the characteristics and danger level of the disease. Despite this, the virus continues to spread like wildfire. It's infected so many people hospitals are getting overwhelmed with patients.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me from Hong Kong with more on this. Kristie, China finally easing more of its COVID restrictions. But tell us more about the impact that this is having on public health in China.

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, COVID-19 cases at the moment are skyrocketing across the country, and yet news of the international quarantine is very much welcome news to scores of Chinese who have waited close to three years to have the opportunity to travel abroad, to have a chance to reunite to see their loved ones overseas. You know, starting January 8th China will lift all quarantine restrictions for international arrivals. International arrivals will still have to take a COVID test before entering China but they no longer need to submit the result of that test to a Chinese embassy or consulate to get a code.

Nevertheless, there's still some elements that are unclear. We don't know how many international flights will be able to enter China. We also don't know how easy it will be for Chinese travelers to travel overseas. But there's a lot of excitement building. And we've seen that excitement build online especially on trip.com. This is a very popular Chinese online travel booking service. And according to the company, it said within 30 minutes of this policy being announced online searches for popular overseas travel destinations reached a three-year high. The top ten included Macao, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the U.K. but the outbreak remains serious.

And as China reopens its borders, you have countries like Japan, like India now announcing earlier today in the last few hours that new arrivals from China must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test. According to Japanese officials, they say this is a policy that will be effective from December 30th. In Italy the officials in the Lombardy region are now saying that new arrivals from China must provide proof of a PCR test effective immediately. Back to you -- Bianca.

NOBILO: Kristie Lu Stout, live from Hong Kong. Thank you.

Hospital admissions for the flu in the U.S. have dropped for a second straight week. The CDC said almost all states are still seeing high levels of respiratory viruses and it may get worse as people gather for the holidays. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Bianca, while hospitalizations for flu are going down slightly, flu is still rampant in most of the United States. Let's take a look at this map. Any state in red or orange or purple, they have high or very high levels of flu. And you'll notice that's almost the entire country. Now as I said, flu hospitalizations are going down.

Let's take a look. Since the end of November, they've been coming down slightly but still they could change course and go up especially as people come back from holiday travel.

And speaking of holiday travel, extreme cold has gripped most of the United States. Here's some tips on how to stay safe in this kind of weather. First of all, dress infants warmly, more warmly than you would dress yourself. And check on elderly people who might be alone. That's because the very old and the very young, they have a harder time maintaining their body temperature.

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Also, avoid alcohol or caffeine. Too much of those can hurt your body's ability to deal with the cold. Also, remember that cold puts a stress on the heart and aggravates asthma. So, if you know anyone who has heart problems, who has lung problems, it very well could get worse in the cold. They need to make sure they have their medicines nearby.

Also, let's take a look at generators. Really terrible things unfortunately can happen when people try to use generators indoors. Never do that. You can have carbon monoxide poisoning, it can happen within minutes. It's odorless, it's colorless and very dangerous. Run the generator at least 20 feet away from your house and direct the exhaust away from your house. And don't use camp stoves or anything like that inside your home. Too much of a fire hazard -- Bianca.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: Elizabeth Cohen there.

No matter where in the world they live, no matter what their age, culture, religion or family, women are generally better at empathizing with other people than men. That's according to a new study from the university of Cambridge. Researchers found women excel at cognitive empathy which is when a person is intellectually able to understand what someone else may be thinking or feeling. The study focused on women and men in 36 countries. And in no country did men score higher than women in cognitive empathy. In 21 countries their scores were similar.

Just ahead, U.S. law enforcement officials are warning of a new type of cryptocurrency scam sweeping the country.

And later, Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting a summit in St. Petersburg. We'll have details of the event in a live report coming up.

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NOBILO: We are just four hours away from the opening bell on Wall Street. And investors are hoping to see the markets rise after a long Christmas holiday weekend.

[04:45:00]

And it is looking promising. All three industries all about half a percentage point or more rising. So, we'll check in and see how it's doing later in the day.

And in the U.S., 'tis the season to spend more money. Inflation forced consumers to pay more for retail goods and dining this holiday season according to MasterCard. Retail sales increased more than 7 percent from last year. American shoppers also spent more online with sales growing more than 10 percent from last season.

As the cryptocurrency market has grown, so has the opportunity to rip off investors though. Law enforcement officials are warning of a new crypto investment scam called "Pig Butchering" which has nothing to do with pork. CNN's Josh Campbell

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bianca, America has a "Pig Butchering" problem -- that according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. And the FBI isn't referring to farm animals but a type of scam involving cryptocurrency. Officials say the scam works like this. You receive an unsolicited text message from someone who attempts to strike up a relationship. Over time that person persuades you to invest in cryptocurrency. Going so far as to provide fake financial records. Showing that your so-called investment continues to grow. They continue to ask for more money.

JEFF ROSEN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA: This is where the fattening of the pig comes in. So first you do a couple thousand dollars and then over the course of a few weeks, wow, you made a 50 percent return.

CAMPBELL: Now while the initial approach of these scammers is quite rudimentary, a simple text message, officials say "Pig Butchering" operations are increasingly sophisticated.

FRANK FISHER, FBI: They are praying on your fear of missing out, FOMO. They will get you to keep investing. You won't get any money. And when you finally ask for your money, guess what? Your friend has disappeared.

CAMPBELL: The west way to not get scammed, don't respond to unsolicited messages authorities say and certainly don't send your money to anyone you don't actually know -- Bianca.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: In St. Petersburg, Russia, President Vladimir Putin is hosting the second day of an informal summit of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent states. The group includes Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko -- who Mr. Putin met with in Minsk more than a week ago.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is tracking these developments and she joins me now in London with more. Clare, where did these other post-Soviet states -- I think it's 11 of them other than Russia in this informal gathering. Where do they stand on Putin's invasion of Ukraine and supporting him in that.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's interesting, Bianca, because President Putin has devoted a lot of time in this space, the post-Soviet space, Central Asia, since the start of the war in Ukraine. For example, he's visited all five of the Central Asian countries since the start of that war. That is very unusual for him to do in the space of a year.

It's clear he wants to cement his influence over this region, his sort of sphere of influence as a counterpoint to the sort of Transatlantic Western Alliance. You see him standing in the middle of that sort of family photo. Russian culture also on display. This morning there even touring the Russian museum in St. Petersburg. Putin telling President Lukashenko of Belarus -- who he has met with multiple times this year that he wants 2023 to be the year of the Russian language. But we have seen countries in this grouping wavering on their support

for Russia in Ukraine. Kazakhstan and yet for example the Ukrainian health ministry reports this week that it's received generators from Kazakhstan as Russia continue to shell and bomb its energy grid. So, the support has been sort of there but also not completely full throated.

Countries like Kazakhstan have tried to stay neutral. then this is crucial for Russia who wants to cement an economic ties on this day. Putin talked about trade, including about 6 percent in the first ten months of the year. Presumably, some of that displayed for Europe and security as well. Russia wants to be seen as the peacekeeper even as its war in Ukraine and the losses that its military have suffered there have tested that reputation.

NOBILO: Claire Sebastian, thank you.

In Japan heavy snow is responsible for at least 17 deaths across the country. This according to an official in the fire and disaster management agency. More than 90 others were injured over the Christmas holiday. Japan's west coast has been particularly hard hit. One city reported more than 80 centimeters of snow. That's about 2.6 feet.

And last week's major winter storm battled New York. A couple opened their home to a group of stranded tourists from South Korea. The that heartwarming story is just ahead for you.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NOBILO: For the second time this season the Miami Dolphins starting quarterback has been placed in the NFL's concussion protocol. It's not clear exactly when Tua Tagovailoa might have suffered a head injury during the Dolphins loss to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. He played the entire game. Tagovailoa did suffer a concussion in September after being sacked while playing the Bengals. The Dolphins currently sit in the seventh and final playoff spot in the American football conference just one game ahead of the Patriots.

And the Denver Broncos have sacked head coach Nathaniel Hackett just one day after the Los Angeles Rams crushed the Broncos 51-14 on Christmas day. Broncos owner Greg Penner said that the search for a new head coach would begin immediately. Hackett was in his first season as a head coach but the team had a disappointing 4 wins and 11 losses during his tenure.

And finally for this hour, an amazing act of kindness and generosity over the Christmas weekend. A couple in New York opened their home to a South Korean tour group who were stranded after their bus got stuck in the snow near Buffalo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER CAMPAGNA, HOSTED SOUTH KOREA TOURISTS DURING BUFFALO BLIZZARD: The storm had already been raging for about two hours when we got a knock at the door. And I assumed it was a stranded neighbor or perhaps my father-in-law who lives close by, maybe he was coming home from a quick last-minute trip to a store.

[04:55:04]

When I opened the door and it was people unfamiliar to me saying, we're part of a tour and we need shovels to try to dig out our vehicle, I thought, oh, no, this could be very serious and deadly.

Early on when our guests entered our house there was the belief that maybe this storm was about to blow over and they would just jump back in their vehicle and get on their way towards Niagara Falls, which is in the best weather about a 30 minute drive from our home. So, with the blizzard it may as well have been in another galaxy.

So, once they kind of came in the house and saw that they might be here for a while, I pulled out from our freezer all of our frozen chicken and a large pork shoulder that I had purchased on special a couple weeks ago and all of a sudden that food came in extremely handy and we had a couple of natural born cooks in the group who were happy to prepare some exquisite Korean entries.

ANDREA CAMPAGNA, HOSTED SOUTH KOREA TOURISTS DURING BUFFALO BLIZZARD: When I was going to try to find comfortable sleeping arrangements for everybody, we have a guest room. There's an office where I put an inflatable bed. Then I -- Alexander remembered we had sleeping bags and I then started to think of other ways, maybe putting people on the couch and just trying to make everybody as comfortable as possible. But we did have to get creative putting people in sleeping bags on the floor. But most everybody was very comfortable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NOBILO: The couple say they hope to visit their guests in South Korea one day. So sweet.

And that doesn't here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. And "EARLY START" with Whitney Wild is next.

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