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State Funeral for Former President Jimmy Carter Set for January 9; TSA Expected to Screen 40 Million People Over the Holidays; Ringing in the New Year Down Under. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 31, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Five people have been charged in connection with the death of Liam Payne. The former One Direction singer died in October after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires.
Three people, including Payne's manager, have been charged with manslaughter. Two others have been charged with supplying Payne with drugs during his hotel stay.
And an Indian-made rocket blasted into space on Monday, carrying two satellites on the country's first ever space docking test flight. The test of the docking technology is expected to take place in a week.
We have some new information on the preparations for former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's funeral. The former president will lie in repose at the Carter Center in Atlanta on January 4th. His remains will then be transferred to the U.S. Capitol, where he'll lie in state. Carter's official funeral service will take place at the National Cathedral in Washington on the 9th, where President Joe Biden will deliver the eulogy. More now on Carter's legacy from CNN's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening. The U.S. embassy in Tehran has been invaded and occupied by Iranian students.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The American hostages in Iran, inflation and a weak economy and energy crisis, too. It all confronted and confounded President Jimmy Carter during his single term in office.
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We attest once again to the honor and spiritual strength of our nation.
FOREMAN (voice-over): But in recent decades, historians and pundits alike have taken a second look at his presidency and are finding a legacy of success that does not lie in predictable political metrics.
SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: It was Carter's personal integrity, his morals, his values, partially why we're going to be celebrating his extraordinary life over the next couple of weeks is for that reason.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Legislatively, the Democratic maverick and Washington outsider faced stiff opposition from both sides of the aisle. Yet, he racked up a largely winning record for his issues in Congress, for example, promoting job security and energy policies.
When gas lines formed and consumer prices soared, he steadily worked to improve the situation without pandering to voters.
CARTER: All of us must learn to waste less energy.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Through shrewd negotiations, Carter personally brokered the biggest, longest lasting Mideast peace deal of modern times between Israel and Egypt.
CARTER: All of us owe them our gratitude and respect.
FOREMAN (voice-over): He vowed to bring every hostage in Iran home alive and at Ronald Reagan's inauguration, he learned he had done it.
CARTER: The aircraft carrying the 52 American hostages had cleared Iranian airspace on the first -- first leg of a journey home. And that every one of the 52 hostages was alive, was well and free.
FOREMAN (voice-over): After his presidency, Carter worked endlessly alongside his wife, Rosalynn, building homes for poor families, teaching Sunday school, and striving to eliminate health threats in Africa.
CARTER: We believe that in the next 2 or 3 years, well have zero cases of guinea worm in Sudan.
KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It wasn't about the amount of money that they could make with paid speeches and sitting on boards. It was about really helping people. It sounds like a cliche, but I mean, it's absolutely true about the Carter's.
FOREMAN: All of this is making some historians rewrite their own history books to say Jimmy Carter, far from being the failed president that many people have imagined him to be, may be one of the more important presidents of modern times.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson facing a tough fight as he works to keep his job, but it's unclear if he has enough support, despite an endorsement from Donald Trump.
The president-elect voiced his support for Johnson on social media, writing: Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hardworking, religious man. He'll do the right thing, and we will continue to win. Mike has my complete and total endorsement.
In an appearance on Fox News, Johnson spoke about what's ahead. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To become speaker again or to remain speaker, it's not a matter of biology or chemistry or art. It's math. Do you have the votes?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: I think we do, Kellyanne. I'm really humbled and honored to have President Trump's endorsement for speaker again. He and I work so well together, so closely together, and we have a lot of big things to do.
He recognizes that what we need right now, I think my colleagues recognize this as well, this could be the most consequential presidency and Congress of the modern era, because we have to fix everything, and it has to start on day one, so we can't waste any time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: With a historically small majority in the new Congress, Johnson can only afford to lose one Republican vote on Friday when the House gathers to pick its next speaker.
[04:35:00]
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a close call from last week at the main Los Angeles airport, LAX. A Delta Airlines flight taking off nearly collided with a chartered plane that had just landed, which you can see on the ground on the right there.
The Key Lime Air chartered jet was carrying the Gonzaga University men's basketball team, who were in town for their showdown against UCLA. The air traffic controller urged the charter plane to stop before crossing the rundown, and it did, but not a moment too soon. A Delta spokesperson said its flight operated as normal.
The holiday travel season does have some busy days ahead. Come Thursday, the TSA expects to have screened at least 40 million people, would you believe, in a two-week span. CNN spoke with travelers dealing with airport delays amid one of the busiest days for holiday travel on Monday. They were surprisingly hopeful about the potential holdups.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not bad so far. We just get all the bags checked. So hopefully security doesn't take too long and we'll be all right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm OK about it. Things happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK, if it's only an hour. If it ends up being five or six hours, then, you know, you lose the day in Arizona. But you know what? It's vacation. So no complaints.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FOSTER: Well, today, there are already nearly 300 reported flight delays in the United States, according to the tracking website FlightAware. CNN's Whitney Wild was in Chicago on Monday in the thick of that holiday travel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is another very busy travel season, especially here in Chicago area airports. The Department of Aviation here in the city says that between O'Hare and Midway, which is the other local airport here, they expect to process around 3.6 million passengers between December 20th and January 2nd. That is a big jump from the number that they processed in 2023.
Here at O'Hare, for example, they think they're going to process around 3 million passengers, a more than 7 percent increase from the same travel season in 2023. So obviously a very big jump. Throughout the day we have seen big crowds. We've seen thin crowds right now. We're in a bit of a lull here.
So you can take a look. You can see it's not exactly shoulder to shoulder. There are, you know, groups of people, but it's definitely not packed. Certainly not as packed as we often see at O'Hare.
The good news is security has been running pretty smoothly. I mean, at most we've seen today, you know, five minutes through security, 15 minutes through security. We really haven't seen those security times increase that much.
What we know is that nationwide this can look very different depending on where you are. So nationwide, there have been thousands of delays, at least 105 cancellations within the United States, into and out of the United States.
So for some people, it is a little bit tricky out there. But for the most part, the people that we've spoken with are keeping good spirits. I mean, we spoke with one family who said that they were on their way to Scottsdale, Arizona. They were delayed, but they said, look, it's vacation and keep a positive attitude no matter what. That's what makes it fun. So good attitudes, certainly making the journey part of the destination.
Nationwide, again, another very busy travel season. On December 29th alone, TSA processed about 2.8 million people. So that is a big jump from that same number that they processed, that same date from 2023.
So again, December 29th, 2.8 million passengers, a big jump from December 29th, 2023. This has been a record-breaking holiday season, beginning in Thanksgiving, running all the way through New Year's. The hope is that this smooth process, these, you know, pretty minimal cancellations, you know, somewhat minimal to moderate delays, don't extend much farther, because that is the last thing you want is to end your holiday weekend with a major travel delay.
But so far, like I said, people we've spoken with are in good spirits.
Whitney Wild, CNN, Chicago.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Just ahead, our Lynda Kincaid is in Sydney, Australia, back home, getting ready to ring in the New Year.
LYNDA KINCAID, CNN ANCHOR: Happy New Year, Max. We are excitedly looking forward to a spectacular display here. We'll have all the details in just a moment.
[04:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: Cities across the world counting down to 2025 already. Let's go live to Lynda. She's in Sydney, Australia. They're wrapping up the final hours of 2024. You always get in early there.
KINCAID: Happy New Year, Max, from my spectacular hometown of Sydney. As you can see, we are awaiting the 9 p.m. fireworks in just a moment. And this year is going to be bigger and better than ever.
There is a record number of fireworks, nine tons in total. And for the first time ever, there'll be 80 new firing positions from this side of the bridge. And we have a prime view here at Luna Park.
Right around the foreshore, about a million people have gathered, some staking out their positions since midday yesterday. And here at Luna Park is a ticketed event. There are plenty of fans of yours, Max, and friends of CNN here from Peru, from Italy.
I want to welcome in a couple who are joining me from London. Pamina (ph) and Mandy. Happy New Year.
PAMINA (ph), LONDON RESIDENT: Happy New Year to you and happy New Year to everybody out there.
KINCAID: So this is your first time celebrating in Sydney and what a spot.
MANDY, LONDON RESIDENT: I know.
PAMINA: We're seeing this every year, you know, watching it on the news and the BBC and stuff, but this year we're going to make a special trip.
MANDY: Yes, we've always wanted to come and this year we both turned 60.
KINCAID: Happy birthday.
PAMINA: Thank you. Thank you.
KINCAID: So this is our big trip.
PAMINA: Yes. MANDY: So we're so happy to be here.
KINCAID: What a way to celebrate. Do you think you'll end up coming back here for another New Year's Eve, having secured such a great spot this year?
PAMINA: I think so. I think we'll probably be back again. We've done a bit of traveling about as well now. So we've literally just flown in back in from Auckland today to be here especially for this.
KINCAID: And what's your wish for the year ahead?
PAMINA: I think with everything that's going on, I just want everybody in the world to just come together and just be happy. Sounds a bit corny, but let's just love each other.
MANDY: Yes.
PAMINA: That's the way to do it.
KINCAID: Well, we wish you a happy 60th birthday and a happy New Year. Enjoy the spectacular fireworks, which, as I said, Max, are going to be record-breaking this year.
But before we get to the fireworks, I have a special interview. You probably know Men at Work.
PAMINA: We do. Yes, we do.
KINCAID: Men at Work, a popular band all over the world. I interviewed Colin Hay, the lead singer-writer and musician. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KINCAID (voice-over): It's an iconic Australian song. Around the time Down Under hit the airwaves in the 80s, Crocodile Dundee was saying --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you.
GROUP SINGING: Come on, say, hey, hey, hey, hey.
[04:45:00]
COLIN HAY, SINGER AND SONGWRITER: It was a great fascination with Australia.
KINCAID: Your record, Business As Usual, went to number one in six countries. That must have been mind-blowing.
HAY: And tell me, America, what would you like to hear?
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
HAY: We did what very few people have ever done, you know, on their first record. Sold millions of records. It's phenomenal in the true sense of the word. KINCAID: Down Under is practically our national anthem. Beloved in Australia, but around the world.
HAY: People claim it from everywhere.
KINCAID: They love it.
HAY: You know, people in Bolivia love it. They don't really know what a Vegemite sandwich is, for example. Not very many people do, but it's basically, at the end of the day, a song about celebration.
KINCAID (voice-over): Born in Scotland, Colin Hay moved to Australia aged 14 and practically grew up in his parents' music store.
HAY: When I went to Australia, I had a good year, so I would go out in the street just to assimilate. I would start speaking like an Australian bloke, you know, just to not get into any fights.
KINCAID: You've still got it.
KINCAID (voice-over): Follow-up album, Cargo, went triple platinum.
KINCAID: So your parents introduced you to the Beatles as a young'un, and all these years later, you've had the chance to perform with the drummer Ringo Starr. What was that like?
HAY: Well, quite surreal, really. The novelty never wears off. You turn around and you're playing, and Ringo's playing the drums. So it's -- he was in the Beatles. It's extraordinary.
HAY: Where are yous two heading?
KINCAID: Colin Hay made appearances on film and television.
HAY: I come from a land down under --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that's what that song's about.
KINCAID (voice-over): Right now, he's touring the U.S., his wife Cecilia on percussion.
HAY: These are all my little babies here. They make me feel very secure.
KINCAID: Do you have a favorite?
HAY: Well, I love them all. I do love you all.
KINCAID: Do you have a favorite song? The Land Down Under? Can you sing us some of it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no.
KINCAID: Will you be singing in the aisles tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh boy, probably. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were teenagers when Men at Work was very hot
in Canada, too.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
KINCAID (voice-over): Singer-songwriter Sia, well-known for her hit Unstoppable, calls Colin Hay her inspiration.
SIA, SINGER, SONGWRITER: And I just remember watching it and seeing Uncle Colly go up and accept an award and thinking, this seems like a pretty good life.
HAY: I remember she came to stay with us in New York when she was 11. I remember trying to get her to, you know, bribe her by saying, listen, if you have a shower and clean your room, you know, you can watch David Letterman tonight and have Haagen-Dazs ice cream. And I remember watching her when she was on David Letterman, many years later.
And so I was weeping uncontrollably in my lounge room watching her on David Letterman.
KINCAID: What's on the cards for you in 2025?
HAY: I want to stay home a bit more and just be downstairs in the studio and messing around and just hang with Cecilia, my wife, and the dog. Simple, simple things.
KINCAID: Happy New Year, Colin.
HAY: Happy New Year, Lynda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KINCAID (on camera): And Max, in the coming hours, throughout our scene and special, we will have performances from Man at Work, including the iconic song Down Under. We'll also have performances and an interview I got with Sting when he was touring in Atlanta.
But right now, we're about 15 minutes away from the 9 p.m. fireworks, also known as the Children's Fireworks, which this year are curated by an Indigenous group known as We Are Warriors.
And then, of course, the grand finale at midnight, where the entire sky will be lit up for some seven kilometers, over four miles of fireworks, and the Harbor Bridge, the sails of the Opera House, skyscrapers, and, of course, some floating barges in the harbor -- Max,
FOSTER: One of the best. I love that idea of simple things as your sort of New Year's resolution. Absolutely brilliant. Lynda, thank you so much.
If your New Year's resolution is to save money, though, and look fabulous whilst doing it, consider accessorizing yourself with Walmart's Work In. It's not a Birkin, but you can laugh all the way to the bank if you buy one.
[04:50:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: In what's thought to be one of the largest ever thefts from a British home, police say a burglar stole more than $12 million worth of jewelry and designer bags from a house in London. It happened in the area of Avenue Road, one of the city's most exclusive addresses. Police say the thief made off with Hermes bags, handbags and custom- made jewelry, including a 10-carat diamond ring and a bracelet bearing the name Shafira. Police say most of the jewelry is unique in design and should be pretty easy to identify.
A Birkin bag made by Hermes is the kind of purchase that if you have to ask, you likely can't afford one. But Walmart has you covered with a knock-off, the iconic fashion accessory.
The retail giant's leather handbag, nicknamed the "Wirkin," has been a huge hit amongst financially conscious consumers. The Wirkin has a striking resemblance, let's say, to the Birkin bag from the French luxury goods maker. But while Wirkin can be found on Walmart's website for around $78, new standard-model Birkins cost more than $7,000 and usually go for a lot more.
One Los Angeles company has specialized Birkin bags priced as high as $400,000, would you believe?
Now, there are no Olympic Games and no Football World Cups coming up in 2025, but there is still plenty to look forward to in the sports world. Don Riddell has a look ahead to the new year in sport.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT (voice-over): In 2025, Novak Djokovic is hoping to make it 25. The Serbian tennis star has just had a quiet year by his standards, but if he can win one more major tournament, then he'll have more than anyone else in the history of the game.
Also going for history in this new year, the Kansas City Chiefs hoping for another Super Bowl and an unprecedented three-peat. It could be a tall order though, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have been riding their luck a lot this season.
Football's world governing body FIFA is breaking new ground in 2025, launching an ambitious expanded Club World Cup tournament. In June, 32 of the world's best teams will head to the United States, but it remains to be seen how popular the tournament will be with broadcasters and fans.
[04:55:00]
The United States will also co-host a new international ice hockey tournament in February. The NHL Four Nations face-off features the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland playing games in Boston and Montreal.
Women's sport will take center stage for much of the year.
India hosts the Cricket World Cup in August and September, while the Rugby World Cup will be played in England earlier in the summer. And England's football team, the Lionesses, will travel to Switzerland to defend their European title in July.
And expect there to be fireworks in September when the United States host Europe in the Ryder Cup. Europe are defending the famous old trophy, but they'll need nerves of steel in front of a famously partisan New York crowd.
Don Riddell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: We're getting ready. Hockey fans got an extra holiday treat at the LA Kings game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Los Angeles on Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILL FERRELL, ACTOR: How was school? Was it fun? Did you get a lot of homework? Huh? Do you have any friends? Do you have a best friend? Does he have a big coat too?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go away!
FERRELL: Ow!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: Will Ferrell showed up dressed as Buddy the Elf, his character from the iconic Christmas movie. Only Buddy appeared pretty grumpy, pretending to smoke a cigarette as he watched the game, unlike the jolly and energetic character we're used to in the movie. Ferrell's wife and their youngest son were with him, but neither were dressed in costumes, as you can see, so they left it to him.
Thanks for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. See you next year.
[05:00:00]
