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First Move with Julia Chatterley
South Korea to Expedite Launch of Military Drone Unit; Southwest Airlines Cancels more Flights amid Major Meltdown; Zandi: Most U.S. Households have done well Managing Debts; High Heating Costs in UK Spark new ways to keep warm; Flight Carrying Family of Iranian Football Star Forced to Return; Chopra: We will see the Next Extinction if we don't Address Climate Change. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired December 27, 2022 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: Welcome to "First Move" from London, fantastic to be back with you. As we begin ripping out the old and
bringing in the new Investors of a challenging year consumers certainly did to the big question for next year will global inflation subdue. Mark Zandi
may have a clue Moody's Analytics Chief Economist joins later for his thoughts on the outlook for next year.
And a new year brings fresh hopes for a more just and peaceful world too. Meditation expert and bestselling Author Deepak Chopra has urgent advice to
Russian President Putin and other world leaders. Nine rules they can utilize to help resolve conflicts.
Deepak obviously says no time to wait and we agree my special interview with him coming right up. And from hope is for a more peaceful world to at
least some green arrows unfurled, European stocks were getting the holiday shortened trading week higher. As you can see there U.S. futures a little
unsettled the NASDAQ, a touch lower now but hopes for a legendary Santa Claus rally this year spring eternal with the Wall Street bulls hoping to
break a three week losing streak in fact.
U.S. sentiment getting a little bit of a boost I think from solid holiday spending numbers up by a stronger than expected 7.6 percent. Thanks in
large part to a reservation rush at restaurants. It's all about the services sector. Yes, that remains one of the most resilient segments of
the U.S. economy right now.
Now news too, that China is further lifting zero COVID policies adding to the sentiment boost Asian stocks all closing higher. Beijing announcing
that it will drop quarantine requirements for all international passengers entering the country beginning on January the eighth. Other countries are
reacting with something you would expect some caution so far, Japan and India are now imposing testing requirements on travellers entering from
Mainland, China that said oil prices are reacting positively.
Investors assuming I think that this will help support broader global growth and therefore energy demand along with it. Be careful however, what
you wish for Higher Chinese crude consumption could further boost inflation in the New Year of course, if supplies tighten. And that is where we begin
today's show in China, where some families who have been separated for three long years are looking forward to reuniting in the New Year. Selina
Wang has all the details from Beijing.
SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: China is making a major move towards ending the country's nearly three years of isolation. China is dropping quarantine
for all international arrivals from January 8, and promising to gradually restart outbound tourism for Chinese citizens. Inbound travellers still
need to get a 40 hour negative COVID test before boarding, but they dropped all of the other cumbersome requirements to understand why these changes
are such a big deal.
We have to look at what the reality has been in China during the pandemic. The country has been severely limiting who can go in and out of the country
with strict border controls. Flights have been very limited and expensive. All arrivals have to go through quarantine and government facilities.
I went through multiple quarantines myself, including 21 days earlier this year. And we're talking about harsh quarantines, no choice and where you
get sent. No opening your door except for food pickups and COVID tests.
All of that is now going away. This new change would effectively also end the ban on Chinese citizens from going overseas for non-essential reasons,
but the timing is still unclear. Authorities have not said when they'll restart issuing tourist visas are allowing foreigners to apply for business
study or family reunion visas.
But finally, people are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Online searches for popular international travel destinations on China's travel
booking site. See tripped jumped 10 times within an hour of when this announcement was made.
I've also spoken to a few Chinese citizens who've been stuck overseas for years, they are overjoyed and relieved that finally there's a way for them
to see family. But there's also some bitterness over how long this has taken. They've already missed so many important moments, family deaths,
births, reunions, but in response to this change, other countries are starting to issue restrictions on travellers from China.
Japan announced travellers from the country will be tested for COVID. Upon arrival, Japan's Prime Minister also said the country will restrict plans
to increase flights in and out of China. India announced similar COVID testing guidelines. Authorities in India said the guidelines are aimed at
ensuring COVID does not spread as quickly as it has been in China. Selina Wang, CNN, Beijing
CHATTERLEY: And to South Korea now, where the government says it will accelerate the launch of its military drone unit in response to actions by
North Korea. Pyongyang flew five drones into South Korean airspace on Monday. One of them even flew over the capital Seoul and Paula Hancocks is
there and has the latest.
[09:05:00]
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just one day after North Korea sent drones over the border into South Korean airspace. South Korea's President
Yoon Seok Yeol says that they are speeding up the launch of a drone unit. Now the President said that this was already in the works. They had been
planning this, but what had happened on Monday had shown that the military was not ready for this kind of threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOON SUK YEOL, SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT: I think are people have just witnessed how dangerous it is to have North Korean policies solely relying
on the North's goodwill and military agreements?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: So the South Korean Military started tracking a drone at 10:25 in the morning on Monday. Now according to the military, they say these drones
were less than two meters long and they tracked them for some five hours. So we've been told that five came across the border one approached the
Capital Seoul, and then four of the others were flying around Ganghwa Island, which is just off the West coast of the Peninsula.
Now South Korea's reaction was that they scrambled fighter jets and attack helicopters. In fact, one of those fighter jets did crash, but the Defense
Ministry say there was no injury to the crew itself. And also what they did from the South Korean side is that they sent reconnaissance assets aircraft
into North Korea, as well as some just along the inter-Korean border. But some went into North Korean airspace and filmed and photographed military
installations.
So a tit for tat response to what North Korea had done as well. The spokesperson saying it's a clear provocation and an invasion of our
airspace by North Korea. Now, it is unusual for this to happen but it's not unprecedented.
The last time that a drone was detected by the South Koreans was back in 2017 and that is when they discovered a crashed North Korean drone. And at
that time, the military said that they believed it had been photographing a U.S. built missile defense system in the country. Also a similar situation
back in 2014, when they also discovered a crashed drone from North Korea.
Now this has been a concern from the South Korean side but it is also coming at a time and historic time when North Korea has been continually
firing missiles and launching missiles throughout 2022. Never in its history have we seen what we have seen this year and it also comes at a
time when relations between the two Koreas are particularly bad. Paula Hancocks, CNN Seoul.
CHATTERLEY: Attending to the war now in Ukraine and an ultimatum from Russia's Foreign Minister late Monday. Sergei Lavrov threatened Kyiv saying
Ukraine must accept Moscow's demands, which include giving up territory Russia now controls, or he said it will be decided on the battlefield.
Lavrov's comments come just one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations aimed at ending the war on his terms, and
advisor for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Monday that any peace talks coming from the Kremlin cannot be trusted.
CNN's Clare Sebastian joins us now on this. Clare, I think President Putin has made it very clear and will reiterate it there that any peace
negotiations that he's foreseeing have to be on his and on Russia's terms. It's perhaps no surprise it's being met with deep-skepticism both in
Ukraine and beyond.
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, he uses the word negotiation, Julia, but it's clear that he's not prepared to negotiate
because there's no we're not prepared to compromise on Russia's red lines. Again, as you say, we heard from the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in an
interview with the Russian news agency TASS.
On Monday saying that the proposals by Moscow which Ukraine needs to meet in order to end this are the demilitarization and de-Nazification, he says,
of the whole of Ukraine and the elimination of security threats to Russia.
And that includes he says those four illegally annexed territories Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which of course Russia doesn't even
fully control. So Ukraine, on the other hand, wants to return to its 1991 borders, which include Crimea, those are red lines on both sides. So it's
really unclear at this point, how they would come together?
I think a key question is why would Vladimir Putin say that he wants talks if he doesn't really want to compromise? Perhaps, to nudge Ukraine's allies
in the West to sort of push Ukraine towards some kind of ground giving some kind of compromise to try to end this? We know there are concerns in some
quarters in the West about how long this is going to go on?
How they will continue to arm Ukraine said perhaps that's what he's trying to do? But Ukraine for its part, the Foreign Minister, in an interview with
the Associated Press, saying that he wants peace talks in February, but only if Russia admits to a war crimes trial. So again, not much ground, no
media, no real chinks of light and how that could actually work? Julia.
CHATTERLEY: I think your point is a very important one. And we were having the discussion a couple of weeks ago with Ian Bremmer of GZERO media on the
show.
[09:10:00]
CHATTERLEY: And the risk that perhaps Putin did step forward and say, OK, we're ready for some form of negotiations and to your point with the spill-
over effects of this war and the pressure that it's putting on countries all over the world.
Perhaps the pressure would then turn back on Ukraine to say, look, guys you need to look for avenues perhaps of compromise here in order to be able to
reach some form of resolution. The message I think, was very clear when Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in the United States that any negotiations that
take place will be determined and decided by Ukraine alone. And I think this is very important for Putin to understand at this moment, too.
SEBASTIAN: And yet, we hear repeatedly Julia, from both Putin and from his Foreign Minister this week, and other Russian officials that they feel that
they are fighting, not just with Ukraine, but with the West as well. Now, this is something that I think plays well to audiences at home. It makes
their military defense look less humiliating, but certainly that makes coming to the negotiating table more difficult because they continue to
paint Ukraine as a sort of pawn of the West.
And this kind of narrative flipping is really part of the playbook here. There was another comment from Sergey Lavrov and then to you that he said,
as far as the length of the war is concerned, the ball is in the court of the regime. And Washington which stands behind it either they can at any
moment stop the senseless resistance worth pointing out, of course, that all of this began because Russia invaded Ukraine, not because Ukraine
resisted.
CHATTERLEY: I'm continuing to point out that they see this as a war against NATO and not just Ukraine itself, war in inverted commas. Clare Sebastian,
thank you so much for that. OK meanwhile, blackouts are posing potentially deadly risks to Ukrainians who need Power for Life Saving medical devices.
CNN's Will Ripley has been investigating.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RILPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Christmas in Ukraine, even the air raid sirens don't get a break.
RIPLEY (on camera): So when the lights go out, you use this. How does it turn out like that?
RIPLEY (voice over): 12 year old Sebastian has an arsenal of battery powered lights for the blackouts. So he can play with a small army of toy
tanks. Unfortunately, this doesn't run on batteries.
RIPLEY (on camera): 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.
LYUDMYLA KAMINSKA, GRANDMOTHER: 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.
RIPLEY (voice over): His grandmother shows us their small portable nebulizer and when the lights go out, it gets the job done barely. Patients
like him rely on help from SVOI Foundation, a non-profit in Kyiv. They've helped more than 6000 people with breathing problems, the situation for
many dire.
RIPLEY (on camera): What happens to people if the machine doesn't work?
IRYNA KOSHKINA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SVOI FOUNDATION: They die.
RIPLEY (on camera): They die?
KOSHKINA: Yes, when there's 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 charge their device with a cigarette lighter.
RIPLEY (voice over): The sound of a blackout even more terrifying than the sound of sirens for Olena Isayenko.
OLENA ISAYENKO, PULMONARY INSUFFICIENCY PATIENT: The sound is like a flat line she says.
RIPLEY (voice over): She's living with respiratory failure on the 15th floor. Blackouts mean no elevator, no way to get to the bomb shelter
downstairs. You can't cook on there's 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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: To the United States now, a new travel chaos is looming as thousands of flights are grounded. Most of the cancellations are Southwest
Airlines flights which have been struggling to cope with severe weather. Just listen to this PA announcement at an airport in Houston.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PA ANNOUNCEMENT, HOUSTON AIRPORT: Unfortunately, our next available seats for rebooking are for the 31st and beyond. Once again, our next available
seats for rebooking customers at this time are at 31st and beyond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHATTERLEY: Gabe Cohen is at an airport in Baltimore for us. Gabe, great to have you with us I think for any traveller listening to that, I think your
stomach and your heart falls through the floor, quite frankly.
[09:15:00]
CHATTERLEY: And why have they been so good disproportionately badly hit. Is it bad luck? Is it bad management or a combination of the two?
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, it depends who you ask. But that is the million dollar question right now why is Southwest, being hit so
much harder than any other airline. They have largely blamed that huge winter storm and yet they're the only U.S. airline that still dealing with
this massive fallout.
Just take a look behind me at this board cancellation. After cancellation Southwest has already cancelled more than 60 percent of today's flights.
Most of that was done last night and they've already could gone ahead and cancelled more than 60 percent of tomorrow's flights.
The company telling me they're only going to fly about 1/3 of their scheduled flights in the coming days, as they try to regroup. Take a look
behind me at just how many stranded lost pieces of luggage there are here in Baltimore as there are right now in so many airports because of all
these flight issues and cancellations. Again, Southwest has said, this is largely because of that winter weather, because of the storm.
And yet their pilots union, the union that represents Southwest pilot says this is not about a winter storm. This is about outdated processes, and
outdated IT and CNN actually did obtain a video message or transcript of a video message sent out by the CEO of Southwest to the company on Christmas
acknowledging that they were having issues. And it was largely because of issues where they needed to modernize their operations where they were
having those operational issues.
So we're waiting to get more information from Southwest but it's, really little relief for the tens of thousands of passengers who are just left
stranded right now. They can't reach customer service many are waiting hours and hours. And as you said right before my hit here, many people
can't get booked until close to New Year's Eve.
So it is just a brutal situation messy obviously for the airline. The Department of Transportation says they're now going to examine if Southwest
did everything they could. But it's far messier for these passengers just left stranded.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, and if you've managed to get home and now you have to stay there until the 31st of December and I do hope you like your family to see
the sort of funny side of what is utter chaos sympathies with everyone involved. Gabe, great to have you with us thank you, Gabe Cohen there.
All right straight ahead what communities in the U.K. are doing to keep their spirits up as temperatures drop? And later questions are growing up
the family of an Iranian football legend were taken off a plane heading out of Iran. Stay with us, that's coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:20:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move". U.S. investors heading back to work after the long Christmas weekend release. Some of them are and the
holiday cheer, a lower gear. U.S. futures losing a lot of the gains from earlier on in the session word from China that it's relaxing international
travel restrictions and further reopening its economy is however lending some support, particularly across Europe where luxury names are higher on
hopes for more robust sales particularly from Chinese tourists.
The Bulls hoping to end the year on a high note too, but it has been a challenging 12 months overall for stocks and make consecutive Central Bank
rate hikes intended to bring down inflation and that's going on globally, of course, it's worldwide. The S&P 500 coming into the trading week off 19
percent year to date. The NASDAQ however, is the worst performing of the major indices falling 33 percent in 2022 so far.
The big questions, of course for Investors continue to include, can we avoid a U.S. recession? Will inflation continued to ease and at what pace?
And will the Federal Reserve make a market friendly pivot? Well, Mark Zandi joins us now. He's the Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, and he has his
crystal ball with him as always, at least I hope you do.
Mark, welcome to the show, and happy holidays as well. You're actually joining us for a reason because you are quite optimistic on the U.S.
economic outlook for a number of reasons. But you do believe that a more material downturn can be avoided. Explain why, please?
MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Well, Julia, I've got two or three crystal balls. I'm not sure which one is worse, but yes, I've got
a few of them. Well, it's all being optimistic is relative these days. I mean, obviously, when inflation is high, and the Federal Reserve is raising
interest rates aggressively.
Recession risks are, you know, uncomfortably high. So the optimism has to be put into some context. But I do think the chance to get through this, I
mean, key to the entire economic outlook is inflation and how fast that comes down from the high levels right now?
And at this point in time, we've been getting some pretty good news. I mean, oil prices are down gas prices, which peaked at $5 a gallon are now
down close to $3. Of course, it's the news out of China and the fact that the COVID restrictions have been relaxed.
Take a little bit of time before China gets up to full speed given that the lot of folks are getting sick there, but you know that feels like that
means supply chain should ease the rents have gone flat, which means housing costs should moderate.
And I do think the job market is starting to weaken sufficiently to get wage growth down to a place where the Fed won't be so concerned about
inflation. So I guess bottom line, just feels like inflation is moving in the right direction fast enough to allow us to get through this back going
into recession.
CHATTERLEY: Wow, there was a lot in there, but actually, what stood out to me is, I think something that's changed quite dramatically and it's a short
term thing. And the implications of it, I think we're all trying to analyze is the potential growth kicker that China provides to the whole world if we
do start to see reopening and more travelling, and it's very difficult to calibrate, at least at this stage. Have you made any changes to your growth
assessments in the United States simply because of what we're seeing now? Or hope to see I think?
ZANDI: Well, you know, no, not really, Julia. I mean, the U.S. economy is still very domestically oriented company. We obviously trade a lot with
rest of the world and China is our biggest trading partner. So what happens to China matters, but in the grand scheme of things, it's really about the
American consumer that's what drives the train here.
And you can kind of feel like, what's going on there by looking at Christmas sales. We got some data from MasterCard on sales during the
Christmas season. And it was, you know, OK, you know, it wasn't gangbusters, it wasn't off to the races, but it was, you know, indicative
of a consumer kind of hanging tough doing their part. And as long as that remains the case, then the U.S. economy should be fine.
And by the way, you're the American consumer is driving entire global trade. I mean, obviously, China has been flat on its back. And so it's been
the American economy kind of driving the global economy going at least over the last year or two.
CHATTERLEY: Yes, I think this is something that is pivotal to understand at this moment is this stability and the relative wealth of household finances
at this moment? We've seen stock markets fall which obviously is important for a particular proportion of the population. The Crypto market obviously
is seeing a shift to the downside as well.
But I think what is interesting to me is the proportion of income that people are spending on debt repayments on interest repayments.
[09:25:00]
CHATTERLEY: And the proportion of people that we're now seeing tends to credit because the savings that they built up during the pandemic have run
out. Can you give us a flavor, where we are today relative perhaps to pre pandemic and history because it does feel like even into a slowdown? If we
do see one, we're in a far stronger position in terms of balance sheets, perhaps, than we have been in the past.
ZANDI: Yes, that's right. I mean, I'm sure we paint with too broad a brush. I mean, obviously, there's big difference between different groups, right?
I mean, low income households, they're getting crushed under the high inflation. They got to make some tough choices here.
What do I do? Do I fill my gas tank? Do I put groceries on the table? Do I pay my rent? And how do I juggle all that, and they have drawn down there
during pandemic, and so they are struggling? Middle income households that, you know, that's where the, you know, the bulk of this. In high income
households, that's where the bulk of the spending occurs in the economy pretty good shape.
You know, you pointed out a lot of excess savings built up during the pandemic, sitting in people's checking accounts. They've been drawing that
down to pay for the higher cost of goods and services because of the higher inflation but there's still a lot there. And leverage is low, you know,
there has been a pickup in borrowing by low income households to supplement their purchasing power, given the high inflation, but middle and high
income households have not borrowed.
And they've done a pretty good job of locking in the previously low record interest rates, you know, through various mortgage refinancing ways they've
been able to lock those in. So they're insulated from the run up and rate. So, you know, taking in its totality, looking at the American consumer
across the board, feels pretty good. I mean enough to be optimistic, again, that we can navigate through this without going into recession its, going
to be a tough economy, but doesn't necessarily mean a recessionary one.
CHATTERLEY: So tie this all together for me, then Mark very quickly, because you're saying, and this is a game that the underlying optimism. I
think that that we're reading is actually that the economy is in a far stronger position, despite the headlines and the fears of what may happen
and the recession risk.
How likely, is the Fed then to turn around and go actually, based on the direction of travel for inflation and the work that we've done and the
tightening that's still got to feed into the economy time to perhaps slow it down, stop and assess where we are today?
ZANDI: Yes, well, I think we're close. I mean, the Fed has laid out a script for us. They said, OK, we're going to raise rates, maybe another
quarter percentage point when we meet and in a few weeks, another quarter percentage point in March.
But my expectation that is by the spring, by March, April, May, the Fed will have enough evidence that inflation is moderating sufficiently and
they can, they can stop they can pause, take a look around and then make a judgment at that sometime in the summer.
And my sense is that will be the end of the rate hikes and if that's the case, then Julia with a little bit of luck, hopefully nothing else goes
wrong. We can have this conversation a year from now. And we'll feel like it was a tough year but year did not include a recession.
CHATTERLEY: That's a date - we'll assess the quality of your crystal balls. Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody Analytics, happy New Year sir. Thank
you so much for joining us more "First Move" after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move"! New York is waking up to sub-zero temperatures as a fierce winter storm continues to freeze large parts of
the United States. More than 49 people have lost their lives nationwide 27 of those in New York's Erie County.
You can see here the conditions residents of the town of Buffalo continue to grapple with. They've received hundred inches or around 250 centimeters
of snow since October. That is the snowiest start to the winter season ever.
Polo Sandoval joins us now from Buffalo, New York. Polo, what are people saying to you there about their current conditions. And is everybody
accounted for the emergency services in these kinds of conditions clearly struggling to?
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, sadly Julia, that death toll continues to climb. At last check the total number of weather of storm
related. That's just here in Erie County, New York alone were 27. And we're hearing that that number will likely continue to climb possibly in the next
hour.
You have to remember that what we're seeing here first responders just been able to get out in some cases and go door to door to some of these
communities outside of the City of Buffalo that were particularly hit hard and basically check in with residents.
And that is - those are the situations where they're encountering people that sadly did not survive this storm. Among the 27 dead, about 13 of those
individuals were found on the street, some inside of cars that became stranded on Friday and Saturday when visibility was down to zero.
Obviously, as you can see the situation here in Buffalo right now, the situation has improved. And so those plow trucks are able to get out
clearing the streets clearing the highways but nonetheless there is a driving ban that is still in place here in the City of Buffalo, which we
have to remind our viewers, was basically the ground zero of this massive storm that affected millions in many states.
And so now is the point where they're moving forward on recovery. And many people here are hopeful that today will be a significant improvement in
terms of clearing up the roads and also getting more resources and assets into the area.
You see Governor Kathy Hochul here in the State of New York basically calling on resources and communities around Buffalo to be able to come in
to assist with the plowing to assist with those door-to-doors, and also with food. You see there are many people here that have been hunkered down
us included for now five days.
And so there are very real concerns that in places like the warming shelters, fire stations where some of these first responders have been
working out of that they are running out of food. So they're also turning to communities around Buffalo to try to send in some of that so they can
keep going back to you.
CHATTERLEY: It makes perfect sense. We're just showing some video of that blizzard conditions. They're just astonishing. Our thoughts with everybody
there Polo, thank you for being there to report on this in Buffalo there!
SANDOVAL: Thank you Julia.
CHATTERLEY: Meanwhile, in Japan, heavy snow has claimed the lives of at least 17 people across the nation that's according to the Fire and Disaster
Management Agency. More than 90 others were injured over the past week. Japan's West Coast has actually been hit particularly hard. One city
reported more than 80 centimeters of snow around 2.6 feet.
Meanwhile, as temperatures fall in the United Kingdom and heating costs saw some are turning to so called "Warm Spaces" this winter. These are
community centers that offer a warm place for people struggling to pay high energy bills. CNN's Anna Stewart has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A hot drink somewhere to sit and chat. The Oasis Center in London is one of thousands of organizations
across the UK now running warm spaces for those struggling to pay their energy bills.
[09:35:00]
STEVE CHALKE, FOUNDER, OASIS TRUST: Being warm, helps a person relaxed. The more relaxed they are, the more logically they can think about all their
other worries and stresses. There are so many people, though that are cold because given the choice between being warm and eating, you've got to eat,
and you've got to feed your family. What's happening this year is that more and more people are being caught into that trap.
STEWART (on camera): Some people call these warm bangs, but you don't use that term?
CHALKE: We think that's really important, because it de-stigmatizes all of this. Once you're running a warm bank. If I come into your warm bank, I'm
admitting that I can't heat my house. But if you're running the living room, as we call it at the Oasis Center, well, actually you might be a
millionaire.
STEWART (voice over): Charity National Energy Action predicts over 8 million UK households will be in fuel poverty by April, almost double the
number since last year despite the government spending billions to subsidize rising energy bills.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've spent over hundred pounds in a few weeks on gas alone.
STEWART (voice over): Mama for Charlotte Hilton works at the center, but also uses its services to help support her family.
STEWART (on camera): Do you think there will come a point where you won't be able to meet all of your bills?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes, there will be. It will become a point because everything's going up - wages, benefits, all those things. And it's
not just affecting obviously, lower class people. It's affecting everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought what about if the health service just could prescribe people a warm home?
STEWART (voice over): The National Health Service is so worried about the impact of the cold on people's health. It's testing paying for some of the
most vulnerable is heating.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there will be thousand homes helped this winter as part of this winters trial. And there will be people at risk of being
admitted during the winter because they live in a cold home.
STEWART (voice over): It's a worrying new reality for so many. And the message here is that those who need help mustn't be afraid to ask for it.
CHALKE: People are scared of community. They're scared of being judged by others. I won't go to that warm bank in that church. I won't go along to
these events wherever it is, because I'll be judged. Venture out the world's full of wonderful people. You'll meet friends.
STEWART (voice over): Anna Stewart, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: OK, coming up here on "First Move" he's a football icon in Iran, but he's also been a vocal critic of the government. And now his
family has been prevented from leaving the country. We look what it means next stay with us.
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[09:40:00]
CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move"! Where your stocks are up and running for the first trading day of this holiday shortened week, just four
more days to go before we turn the page and begin a fresh New Year on Wall Street.
It's been a rough 2022 and a softer start. Now to the trading week two as you can see the NASDAQ almost off by 1 percent in early trade. Today's
stock laggards include Tesla once again its shares are falling after an 18 percent plunge last week. The big concerns today include news that
production will be cut at the EV firms Shanghai plant next month.
And shares of Southwest Airlines also grounded. Southwest far and away the most impacted of all the major U.S. carriers as we were discussing earlier
on in the show during this historic winter storm that continues to impact travel nationwide across the United States. Southwest plans to operate just
over a third of its schedule in the coming days that it attempts to reboot operations. It canceled some 70 percent of its flights on Monday alone.
OK, let's go to Iran now where the family of an Iranian football star was prevented from leaving Iran mid-flight according to an Iranian news agency.
The flight was carrying the wife and daughter of Ali Daei (ph) who is a critic of the Iranian government and was forced to return to Iran after
setting off for Dubai.
Nada Bashir is in London with more. Nada what more do we know about this flight and just talk us through who this football stars is and where his
family is now if we know?
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well Julia, no official explanation has been directly offered by the authorities as to why this flight which was bound
for Dubai was turned around and why the wife of Iranian Footballing Legend Ali Daei were forced to remove - be removed from the flight at Kish Island
an Iranian island on the Persian Gulf mid-flight?
Now there are serious concerns around what perhaps they may face now upon their removal? But what we do know so far is according to state run media
Ali Daei's wife had a travel ban placed on her. This has reported this in a now retracted article, saying that she had been asked to inform authorities
of any plans to travel out of the country but failed to do so.
Now that article has now been retracted. But separately, the - Official Taslim News Agency has reported that Ali Daei's wife faced a travel ban
over participation in riots or so called riots in November and December across Iran.
Of course there is concern around whether or not this was targeted? Ali Daei, as you mentioned, there is a government critic very vocal in his
support for the protest movement. But he himself has said that he is not aware of any travel ban placed on his family or in particular on his wife
and has not been given a reason as to why they were removed from this flight?
CHATTERLEY: Can you tell me why he may have been targeted too? I mean, I saw some I was looking back over history and some of the social media posts
that he made, and some of them are pretty potent, pointing out that you should solve people's problems perhaps rather than trying more forceful
methods and repressing the people. He's vocal?
BASHIR: Yes, he is absolutely very vocal. And this isn't the first time we've seen the Iranian regime take a hardliner approach to cracking down on
notable figures, sports people, notable artists and political activists in the country in an attempt to quell these protests that are still ongoing in
the country.
They began in September, and despite the crackdown, they are continuing. And of course, Ali Daei himself has been a very vocal critic of the Iranian
regime in general, more so of course of the Iranian regime's crackdown on protesters.
He was recently refused an invitation to the World Cup in a show of solidarity with the protest movement. And he shared this post on Instagram.
I can read you just a quick bit from that saying instead of repression; violence and arresting the Iranian people solve their problems, a direct
message there to the Iranian regime.
He is a hugely notable figure in Iran and has taken a very clear stance in solidarity with the Iranian protest movement, the anti-regime protest
movement. The concern now was this could be another repercussion, faced by another notable Iranian figure for standing up to the Iranian regime.
CHATTERLEY: Nada Bashir thank you so much for reporting on that and any further details or information about his family, we will bring it to you
Nada thank you for now. OK still to come here on "First Move" is her path to peace in a world full of inner and outer conflict, my conversation with
Author and Meditation Guru Deepak Chopra after this.
[09:45:00]
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CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to "First Move"! As the year draws to a close we all get even just a brief opportunity to reflect on what's past and what
lies ahead and how we best address some of the world's biggest challenges?
I'm sad to say we've had to spend far too much time I think this year discussing conflict and the spillover effects all over the world whether
it's conflict in war zones between our leaders within our nations, the impact on finances and family, and even conflict within ourselves.
Which is why it's always useful to speak to Entrepreneur, Author and Meditation Guru Deepak Chopra? We discussed his latest book "Living in the
light: Yoga for Self Realization". But it was also about his message to world leaders about finding paths to peace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Deepak it's always great to talk to you. You're focusing on the origins of conflict and actually you have a message for
world leaders. Where are we with leadership today? What's happening?
DEEPAK CHOPRA, FOUNDER, CHOPRA GLOBAL: Julia, by and large world leadership is composed of gangsters. That's all they're interested in is cronyism,
corruption, power mongering, influence peddling and making money through whatever you know means they can. So if you want to resolve conflicts in
the world, I think even not by sending my message to world leaders, which got no response.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Gangsters, really, no one responded.
CHOPRA: I did get a response.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): You didn't put the gangster in the message, though, just to be clear,
CHOPRA: I didn't. But I did get a response from some people at the UN. So I will be speaking there at some point.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Really?
CHOPRA: But here's the basic idea if we can solve conflicts, personally, with people in our personal lives or personal relationships. If we can do
that, and if enough of us do that, and become the change we want to see in the world, then the world could definitely be more peaceful, more just more
sustainable, healthier and more joyful.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Where does it come from because you say it's sort of an outward manifestation of inner conflict I think?
CHOPRA: All conflicts and all violence is an outer manifestation of fear. The people, who are the biggest tyrants in the world, are also the most
fearful. They're addicted to power. An addiction to power is actually an addiction to fear literally that power because it's false power.
[09:50:00]
CHOPRA: It's not self-power. Self-power is when you feel beneath no one but you're also responsive to feedback is where you feel beneath no one but
also superior gentleman. Real power is where you're fearless and where you can exercise that power at all times, irrespective of your agency.
So agency power is because of your official title, leader, President of the country, or you have lots of money, multibillionaire or you have influence
that agency power, it lasts only as long as the agency is there. But so far it is eternal; it hides behind self-pity or self-importance that egomaniacs
have.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): How do you find that power that power that transcends agency?
CHOPRA: Yes, well, you have to find your true self. You have to not sacrifice yourself for yourself. All these people mistake their selfies for
themselves. So, you know, there are certain rules--
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Take selfies for themselves, yes.
CHOPRA: Yes, we have sacrificed ourselves for our selfies. That's the world's condition.
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Yes--
CHOPRA: It's called the fearful, separate, self-sorrowful mind, self-pity, is the same as self importance. If you weren't feeling sorry for yourself,
you won't need to feel important. You know if you want to watch a genuine, authentic leader in the world, see how playful they are? See how much they
laugh? I haven't found a single leader recently, with even a genuine, authentic smile. Leave alone, playfulness, or humor--
CHATTERLEY (on camera): They this it is weakness.
CHOPRA: It seems weak to laugh or to cry seems to feel weak. But in fact, its ultimate strength, to be totally vulnerable is also to be totally
powerful in the real sense, because there's nothing to attack when you're defenseless. There's nothing to attack?
CHATTERLEY (on camera): I sort of go through all of those things that you just mentioned. And I map them back to what we're seeing in Ukraine, with
President Putin and I am fearful I'll be honest, for a resolution to that. What's going on with Putin? How do you --?
CHOPRA: You know from time to time - from time to time, there are people who emerge on national scenes that represent, at least for the moment, a
collective psychosis, a collective rage, the kind of rage we're seeing in Ukraine suggests a Freudian impotent rage that is seeking an outlet through
killing people.
But it's not just what is happening right now in Russia, it happened in Germany, it happened in many other places, Brazil, India, you see all this
extreme, fundamentalist rage coming out, out of fear of losing a particular ethnic or racial or gender identity, which is based on very false
constructs.
So that fear is emerging. And whenever there's that kind of turbulence, there's always also a desire for a collective creative resolution of
conflict as well. And I think we're seeing that right now. We're at a crossroads Julia. If you continue to behave the way we are, I think our
collective behavior suggests, frankly, speaking and insanity.
So what do you say of a world where we are killing each other? Where we are poisoning our food chain? Where we have extinction of species? Where we
have climate change, we have mass pandemics created because we have created this climate symbiosis?
What do you say of a species that is sleepwalking to extinction right this moment, we have a choice, either we sleepwalk to extinction, which could be
60 years from now, if we don't reverse or address climate change, which is directly or indirectly connected to mass pandemics, mass migrations, mass
fear, mass social injustice is all connected.
If we don't address that, we will see the next extinction. The last extinction was 65 million years ago, when a meteorite fell on this earth
and dinosaurs were wiped out. Thank God because we emerged, but nature might say the human species was an interesting experiment, but it didn't
work.
[09:55:00]
CHATTERLEY (on camera): I would say we were only meteorite, actually, at this moment, and my message would be, quite frankly, wake up. And we all
need to do that. Very quickly living in the light?
CHOPRA: My new book talks about how do you go beyond the hypnosis of social conditioning which is leading?
CHATTERLEY (on camera): Exactly what we were talking about.
CHOPRA: We're talking how do you go beyond that to find your true self, which is infinite possibilities, infinite creativity, and infinite love?
CHATTERLEY: That's what we want. Less selfies, more love, self-love. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHATTERLEY: And finally, on "First Move". I'm sure Deepak would be happy to see a lot more empathy around the world, perhaps he needs to enlist a load
of women. A new study by Cambridge University found that women really are better at empathizing with others than men in the largest analysis of
cognitive empathy ever done.
This was true apparently around the world in 57 countries. That means that location, cultural or family influences simply didn't make a difference.
Researchers couldn't find a single country where men scored better than women couple of boys.
That's it for the show. If you've missed any of our interviews today, they will be on my Twitter and Instagram pages you can search for at
@jchatterleycnn. "Connect the World" is up next. And I'll see you tomorrow.
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