we begin with david mckenzie in johannesburg with more on the emerging variant. david, what more are you learning at this hour about this variant and how effective vaccines may be against it here? >> reporter: isa, we just don't know what the impact on vaccines will be. it's just way too early to tell. it does speak to the quick reactions from south african scientists who have used a quirk in this particular variant that allows it to be picked up by regular pcr tests, to notice that it is increasing rapidly in this part of the continent and also possibly in several other parts of the region. now, it must be stated that it's not so much about where the variant is. it's about who has the capability the it's very early days, but this is a concerning variant amongst several that have been identified. we'll have to watch it very closely. and in the meantime, these travel bans have been put in place and it seems are increasing towards this region. isa? >> indeed. and i know you'll keep on top of this story for us as soon as more developments, david, do bring it to us. david mackenzie in johannesburg. bobby, as you heard david say there, countries are already suspending flights from some african countries. we had the european commission tweeting, let's show our viewers, the eu commission will propose in close coordination with member states to activate the emergency break to stop air travel from the southern african region to the variant of concern b-1-5-2-9. it seems european countries are starting to really get worried to try to prevent the spread of this variant. talk us through the restrictions they are considering here. >> reporter: well, we've already got several countries, including italy and germany who have banned travel from anyone who has been in that region the last 14 days. of course, the number of cases are rising so rapidly all across italy, they just want to stop a new variant from making that worse. we haven't seen travel bans now for six months. they were lifted duringed summer for the most part. so it's really, really -- shows you i think how serious this is. once again, here we are deja vu, starting with the travel bans. that's how this started when the pandemic really kicked off. country by country we're going to see these restrictions from south africa and then, of course what's next? will there be restrictions from countries where the other cases are growing and vice versa? that is, of course, where we're headed, isa. >> and bobby, do we know when these restrictions come into effect for italy and germany here? >> immediately. effective immediately. so, you know, it's worrying. it's completely worrying, especially in germany where the case numbers just keep rising astronomically there. >> yeah, we've seen the numbers rise for several -- for several days, consecutive days in germany. of course, vaccination rates not as high in some places, some parts of europe. i know you'll stay on top of this story. it's a developing story this hour. bobby for us in rome. thank you very much, bobby. the new variant in south africa is markedly different as we heard from the top of the show because it carries an unusual marker. sonoma county spoke with cardiologist about what sort of dangers this new variant could cause. take a listen. >> the big question now is will our immune response from vaccines or prior infections be blunted by this variant. if it proves to be one that interferes with our immune response, that isn't clear yet. those are the lab studies that have to be done in the days ahead. and so we're grateful to the south african scientists who are on this. but the main thing here is we have ways to defend against it, against all variants. but we don't know yet whether it's going to really challenge our vaccines, which have already had the issue of the waning, which is what you got to the european situation where there is a lack of vaccinations, plus the waning at six months and beyond. >> dr. erik topol there speaking about the new covid-19 variant. well, the rise of cases and variant is rocking stock markets. let me show you the picture in europe. markets opened an hour ago. ftse down 3%. zetra dax down 2 1/2. 3.5%, red arrows right across the board here in europe. in terms of stocks, if we stay with that, european stocks airline stocks down 15%. iag 17%. lufthansa 11%. that is the fear, of course, for airliners as you see the cases rise and this new variant. we look at u.s. markets, they are expected to open lower when trading begins in a few hours. dow jones down 2% expectations, nasdaq, s&p also, really rattling markets, the news of this new variant and what it may mean for the economy, for airline industry, and so forth. if we look at asia, asia-pacific region, we have seen steep losses there, too. so really, a fear of contagion from asia, which is wrapping up its day to europe and as we just saw there, potentially to the united states. well, despite markets falling, it is a big day for the u.s. economy. many stores across the country are now open for the biggest shopping day of the year. that is black friday. with the supply chain shortage due to pandemic and fears of inflation, shoppers might find higher costs and some empty shelves. vanessa has more for you. >> reporter: it's been a block buster season for retailers. sales rose by 1.7% just last month, beating expectations. >> the consumer is shopping earlier and they've been shopping earlier. and we think that they'll continue that pattern throughout the holiday season. >> reporter: the biggest shopping day of the year is still black friday. >> thank you so much. >> reporter: but lowe's has been running sales since october, trying to capitalize on the 46% of shoppers who plan to buy earlier than normal this year. >> we're seeing consumers really move up their holiday shopping time line, not just for this historical trend, but also because of some concerns around supply chain disruptions and inventory issues. >> reporter: and there's no indication 30-year record inflation is stopping shoppers from spending. >> we are expecting for the overall holiday shopping season that retail sales will grow somewhere between 8.5 and 10.5%. which is certainly much higher growth than the level of inflation. >> reporter: and it is an not just growth, but record spending. up to nearly $860 billion in the last two months of 2021. 2 million more people are expected to shop from thanksgiving day through cyber monday this year compared to last. >> the trends we're seeing relates to how the shopping patterns happen at lowe's right now. >> the total is $34.56, please. >> reporter: but the surge in holiday shopping is overwhelming some smaller retailers. >> having people come early was making me a little nervous. >> reporter: the owner of the little apple in philadelphia said supply chain issues delayed key holiday merchandise. >> two of my large orders i ended up having to cancel. >> reporter: and while she said she's having to raise prices to offset higher freight costs, she said shoppers are still buying and is expecting a larger than more malcrowd on black friday. >> people are still coming to shop small on black friday as well, a new phenomenon that started in the last couple years. >> reporter: there may be another phenomenon this early season. something that can't be defined by a number or economic indicator. >> the holidays, of course, bring people together and that's the spirit that, you know, people are trying to capture. by coming out and shopping and buying gifts, things that are special, thinking of their loved ones, people have been craving that so long. now they finally feel comfortable to do it again. >> reporter: vanessa yerkovich, philadelphia, pennsylvania. airports across the united states saw a sky high number of travelers this thanksgiving holiday. the transportation administration is said it hit a high wednesday. pete muntean breaks down the rush and what to expect for the journey home. >> reporter: we continue to see huge numbers at airports across the country. the tsa just said there were 2.3 million people screened at airports across the country on wednesday. that is a new record of the pandemic, the highest number we have seen since march of 2020. doubled in the number this time last year. 88% of the number from 2019, back before the pandemic. it seems we are on pace to meet the tsa's projection that a total of 20 million people will take to the skies for thanksgiving. there was a lot of concern that airlines simply could not keep up with this big onslaught of people. remember airlines got a lot smaller during the pandemic. just check flight alert. no major cancellations on tuesday or on wednesday. and tsa administrator david pitkosky tell me the agency and airlines have been coordinating on this for months. >> we're ready. we've looked at passenger volume projections. we worked with the carriers and with the airports, and collectively we're ready for the thanksgiving holiday. we want to make it as safe and secure as we can. >> reporter: the tsa said sunday after thanksgiving is typically the busiest. that's why when everybody who left home for the holiday will begin coming home all at once. united airlines anticipates 450,000 people on its airline alone on sunday. pete muntean, cnn, regan national airport. >> well, u.s. president joe biden's getting a little rest and relaxation over the long holiday weekend. he and first lady jill biden met with members of the coast guard on thursday, wishing them a happy thanksgiving. cnn's jeff zeleny has more on what's ahead for the president. >> reporter: president biden, first lady jill biden and their family spending a long holiday weekend on nantucket, an island off of massachusetts. returning here to a place where the biden family has been going for more than four decades. of course, the first-time president biden coming as commander in chief. he made a brief visit on thanksgiving morning to a u.s. coast guard facility here who met with service members virtually all over the world from all six bran etches of the service, army, navy, marines, coast guard and indeed the space force. afterward, he had this to say about what the troops mean for america. >> i've watched these people. i've watched them in the south china sea, afghanistan, iraq, south america, wherever they are, people wonder what america is? they look and they see them. that's who they see. they don't see us here. they see them. that makes me proud. >> reporter: so the president scheduled to light the christmas tree here on nantucket friday evening before spending the rest of the weekend here, returning to washington on sunday. of course, has a busy december ahead, trying to get his agenda passed. but for now, at least, a thanksgiving respite here on nantucket. jeff zeleny, cnn, nantucket, massachusetts. >> thank you, jeff. well, five u.s. lawmakers are in taiwan meeting with government officials despite warnings from beijing to call off their trip. it comes as beijing has been stepping up the pressure on the self-governing island to reunite with the mainland. cnn's will ripley joins me now from hong kong. will, will this visit, do you think, by u.s. lawmakers drive potentially an even bicker wedge between china and taiwan? the relationship hasn't been great so far. >> reporter: it certainly doesn't help, isa. in context, it's not like this doesn't -- you know, this is not that unusual. there was another visit, another delegation of u.s. lawmakers just a matter of weeks ago. so they've had two visits like this now in the past month. this visit by five u.s. lawmakers, including representative elissa slotkin, a michigan democrat, who said on twitter when news of the visit broke, she actually -- her office got a message from the chinese embassy telling them to cancel the trip. and they didn't call off the trip, and there could potentially be repercussions theoretically. they are there to talk about issues that are important. her district is an auto making district. they want to talk about the chips used to power automobiles. taiwan is home to tsmc, leader semiconductor. it is one. issues the lawmakers are going to discuss. it is a usnstive time. any time lawmakers show up in a u.s. government plane -- they didn't fly in a military plane like the last lawmakers in a previous congressional visit where you have this -- images of military aircraft that landed in taipei that infuriated beijing. we saw huge numbers of chinese war planes in the defense identification zone when that happened back in late september, and the war planes came in early october. but it's a time that the u.s. lawmakers really have to be careful here. because, yes, taiwan is one of those rare issues in the united states that unites lawmakers across the aisle, rub cans and democrats seem to be rallying in support of taiwan and shared disdain for china which is becoming an increasingly assertive and aggressive, some might say, competitor and also has had a lot of bad p.r. as of late, and the saga of the tennis star who is believed to have been disappeared and silenced, peng shuai, even though she is paraded around in what are propaganda videos. taiwan is a red line for china, isa, which makes this tweet from representative nancy mace upsetting. i'm on twitter. we couldn't get it to load. it said, just touched down in the republic of taiwan. there is no republic of taiwan. it's called the republic of china. it's known as taiwan colloquially, but when you say republic of taiwan, that would be tantamount to taiwan declaring its formal independence which even though it has its own military and democratically elected government, they have never gone so far as to formally declare their independence from the mainland because in the eyes of beijing that could be tantamount to an act of war. so these u.s. lawmakers representing the united states and taiwan need to be a little more careful about the things that they say regarding a very sensitive issue of cross strait relations. >> i'm pretty sure that's going to ruffle some feather in baze jing. will ripley there for us in hong kong. thanks very much, will. good to see you. i want to bring you some breaking news coming into cnn now. israel has recorded its first case of the new b.1.1.5.9 virus. at the top of the show, it's been discovered in south africa. the country announced seven southern africa countries placed on the red list. this follows as we told you at the top of the show, not just israel's decision, but we now have italy and germany and europe potentially looking at doing the same. now, this variant that has been discovered in south africa as we told you in the breaking news about 20 minutes or so ago, researchers believe it is much more transmissible, and we do not know at this hour whether it can evade vaccination and whether vaccinations will still be able to protect us. a huge concern. we have seen countries acting fast. we've seen stocks taking a plunge this hour. and european stocks, asian stocks, and u.s. futures also down as well as airline stocks. we'll stay on top of this breaking news for you this hour. now, a group of executives known has been detained for years now in venezuela. ahead we'll hear from one family who says american leaders aren't doing enough to bring him home. >> u.s. government has failed us. in the english channel france invites britain for a key meeting. we'll explain. now, two days after dozens of migrants died in the english channel and despite vows of cooperation, the french interior minister said he will no longer meet with his british counterpart in calais on sunday. the upcoming talks were france's idea. both sides are bickering about who is to blame for the tragedy. they sent a letter asking france to take migrants who cross the channel. a french government spokesman is now calling that letter totally inappropriate and poor in substance, their words. cnn's arwa damon standing by. first jim bittermann in paris. jim, this has always been a political hot potato. this crisis has escalated with both sides blaming each other here. >> reporter: a real bitter exchange this morning, isa. in fact, the french government spokesman said that the letter that boris johnson sent to emanuel macron was totally inappropriate, not so much that the letter was inappropriate, but also that it was published, that it was leaked out to the press. it was supposed to be a letter between the two -- between the prime minister and the president, and there it was in the press. so that's really irritated the french, and the government spokesman said this morning it's a letter that's poor in substance because it does not respect all the work that's been done by our coast guards, by our police, by our rescuers at sea who on a daily basis mobilize themselves. it's a very bitter exchange. in fact, the government spokesman said that the home secretary who was supposed to come to this meeting with france and its european partners about this subject, the home secretary has been disinvited from this meeting. so quite a bitter exchange this morning. i think we haven't seen the end of this exchange yet. there's been no reaction from the british government. just another thing here, isa, this morning is that we heard from some of the people who are involved trying to rescue those immigrants out there two days ago, the ones that were drowning at sea. and quite dramatic testimony from fishermen, carl mckeon who was out in his ship, his boat, trying to help, but to no avail. here's what he had to say. >> a horror movie. it's simply a horror movie to see so much death next to us. it's really a horror movie, shocking. people dead, children. i don't know how to explain the rest to you. just horror, flarankly horror. screams i've never heard before. they'll stay in my head forever. >> reporter: and mckeon said what will stay with him also is the idea that if only he had arrived on the scene ten minutes earlier, maybe he could have dunmore. ace? >> jim bittermann for us in paris. thank you so much, jim. i want to go to istanbul where arwa damon joins us now. as they bicker, we forget those making this treacherous journey, you have covered the migrant crisis for us at length. help us understand what has changed? why are we seeing an increase in migrants, mostly iraqi kurds risking it all to make this journey. what has changed? >> reporter: well, isa, it's not necessarily that something has changed per se, but perhaps that focus shifted away from the migrant and refugee crisis following the peak numbers that we saw taking place a few years ago. but even though europe and a number of other countries have put measures into place to shutdown borders, to make the various different crossings more challenging for migrants and refugees, people never really stopped trying to get towards what they perceived to be -- will be a better life. and a lot of this is still being driven by the same factors. it's violence. it's economic depression. it's a lack of opportunity. it's a lack of hope and faith in one's own homeland that is really driving families, individuals to try to move toward something better because that's in our human nature. a parent is always going to want to provide better for their child, be able to feed their child, educate their child. and when it comes to the story of the iraqi kurds, that is very much at the core of it. the kurdistan region of iraq -- and this is perhaps one of the biggest tragedies of it all -- was known as the other iraq. that is how it was being marketed because it wasn't plagued by the widespread violence that the rest of iraq has seen. the economy there was booming. oil companies were tripping over each other trying to get a slice of the pie. but that only lasted until about 2013 when a number of factors kicked in to include disputes between the capital of iraqi kurd kurdistan and bag dad's. when widespread corruption took control, a number of measures of the government of the kurdistan regional area began to remove certain subsidies that the population was highly reliant on. when unemployment reached sky-high numbers. when oil took a big hit during the height of the covid-19 pandemic. and all of this has resulted in middle class families in iraqi kurdistan really feeling that economic bite and really beginning to feel as if their own government, because of the various different bickering, arguing factions, because of the tensions that exist, because of the government, feeling the crux and feeling that their own government is no longer going to be able to provide them with a sustainable realistic future that they can believe in. but really, isa, no matter what the factor is that drives people to make this journey, unless those factors themselves are addressed, nothing is going to change. >> absolutely. until you get to the heart really of the issue, we're going to continue unfortunately to see tragic incidents like we have seen in the last two days. arwa damon for us in istanbul, turkey. thank you very much, arwa, good to see you. still ahead right here, cnn investigation into the citgo 6. how venezuela arrested and imprisoned this group of oil executives. that is coming up. plus, new restrictions -- go into effect trying to end the violence on solomon islands. we'll have a live report on that. you are watching "cnn newsroom." zero heartburn. because life starts when heartburn stops. take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. with directv stream, i can get live tv and on demand... together. watch: serena williams... wonder woman. serena... wonder woman... serena... wonder woman... ♪ ♪ ace. advantage! you cannot be serious! ♪ ♪ get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. introducing directv stream. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. welcome to "cnn newsroom," everyone. i'm isa soares. if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour. concern is growing over a new coronavirus variant that researchers fear can evade immunity and may be more transmissible. the variant was first detected in south africa and in the last half hour, israel has reported its first case of this variant. now, all of this is prompting the uk to suspend flights to six african countries adding it to the travel red list. germany and italy are taking similar measures. the eu sector propose all member states do the same. of course, we'll continue to bring you all the developments across the day right here on cnn. now, five americans and a u.s. resident have now been detained for four years in venezuela, convicted of corruption in a closed door trial. all were executives at citgo, the u.s. subsidiary of venezuela oil company. a cnn investigation has established that the men known as the "citgo 6" were louured t go to venezuela and tried on trumped up charges. here's my report. carmen clings to a photo of her husband. >> this was the last picture i took of him. >> the same way she hangs onto his every word. this voice mail, the very first time the world is hearing from him. since he left on a business trip to venezuela, yet to return. >> after four years i think that, yes, that u.s. government has failed us. >> he and his colleagues left houston on november 19, 2017. called to a meeting caracas by citgo's parent company. as they gather in a conference room, venezuela's feared military intelligence sweep in and arrest the five americans and a u.s. resident. j general manuel christoffer was a senior intelligence officer, very close to president nicolas maduro until he turned on him and fled to the united states. he says the "citgo 6" were set up. >> translator: it was a well prepared trap to arrest them. there was no arrest warrant. >> initially the six were held at a prison controlled by the agency he was part of. now in the united states, he tells us he takes responsibility for his actions. >> translator: i feel responsible not just for them, but because i was part of that nefarious structure that today is destroying our country. >> their families and lawyers tell us they are being kept in overcrowded cells, no windows and in unsanitary conditions. they have to buy everything from food to water, tooth paste, even toilet paper. have a listen to what toledo asked for just a few weeks ago. early this year the "citgo 6" were moved to house arrest. only to be thrown back in prison in october hours after maduro ally was extradited to the united states. throughout president nicolas maduro has accused them of theft and embezzlement. of taking kickbacks from an illicit deal. >> translator: a few days ago as head of state, i requested an urgent investigation given the serious claims that i was made aware of, of embezzlement of our company citgo. >> the main accusations against the six that they had tried to renegotiate the citgo debt without consulting with maduro. the military office behind their arrest, caught the venezuelan authorities had received information from its intelligence sources in the u.s. but offered no proof. cnn obtained documents showing that the board of citgo's parent company pervesa explicitly authorized negotiations. in addition, look closely. only one of the six, jose pareda was part of the conversations. the deal, by the way, never went ahead. and the company that was mediating the refinancing move, mangora sol, said no money was exchanged. still, they were convicted. the arrest of the "citgo 6" took place after protesters began pouring onto the streets in 2017. venezuela's once booming oil industry was on its knees. the country under a mountain of debt. and sanctions imposed by president trump crippled pervesa's ability to move profits from citgo back into venezuela. as the flow of cash dried up, the regime blame and strategy kicked in. >> translator: they're saying this is all part of an internal struggle. what internal struggle? this is corruption, corruption of the most rotten kind. >> former venezuelan oil minister rafael ramirez, ran pervesa under chavez. once an ally, he became a threat to maduro's challenge and a threat to the presidency when the leader and mentor hugo chavez died suddenly in 2013. he fled into exile when he received word maduro wanted to arrest him on corruption charges, charges he denies. >> translator: the arrest order and the way they were detained is an instruction by maduro to spread terror to generate fear. >> so they were set up. >> translator: yes, of course. this spread fear throughout pervesa throughout the country. a feeling of fear and terror with regards to the security forces started to grow around the country. >> a scene that only increased with the purge of pervesa employees. 15 arrested since 2017, according to venezuelan ngo. >> it seems that they have been used as, you know, as bargaining chips. >> former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. bill richardson is navigating this mine field in an effort to win the freedom of the "citgo 6." he tells me what he believes maduro's intentions are. >> they don't want any further sanctions. they want sanctions lifted, but, you know, the relationship has been so poor in the last four to eight years that i'm the one that's talking to the venezuelans. the u.s. government doesn't talk to them. >> since he took office, president biden has said little on venezuela. its policy, some say, is in existent. different from president trump. the families of the other five in venezuela, the fight for justice has been lonely, with silence, they say, from the u.s. government. >> i always apologize to my dad for, you know, not having delivered is how i feel. i feel like i haven't delivered until he's home. and if he's not home, then i'm not applying the right kind of pressure or i'm not getting my mission accomplished. >> a battle that will continue as long as the "citgo 6" is seen as a valuable bargaining chip. for a regime that has few options left. thank you to the other citgo families for taking time to speak to me over the past year. now, in response to cnn, the u.s. state department said it continues to seek the unconditional release of the "citgo 6," and urges maduro to, quote, allow them to return to their families in the united states. a story, of course, i will stay on top of. now, a curfew is now in effect in the solomon islands after a third day of anti-government rallies in the capital. this is what parts of the city looked like after burning and looting spree earlier this week. police say some of the latest demonstrations were held outside the prime minister's residence. protesters are calling on him to step down as their anger boils over, a long list of political issues including the government's relations with china. blake essex joins us from tokyo. blake, what is the latest here? is the prime minister buckling under pressure here? >> reporter: no, it's unlikely that the prime minister will. but in an effort to regain the peace and stability in the country, a nightly curfew as you mentioned has been put into place, and police are trying to appeal to protesters by asking them to make the right choice and refrain from looting and burning valuable infrastructure. but so far the protests show no signs of slowing down as the people continue to take to the streets, demanding the resignation of the country's prime minister. today local police say protesters gathered at the prime minister's residence and as a precaution, police dispatched fire trucks. earlier this week 2 to 3,000 protesters started gathering with some setting fire to buildings and stealing from stores. this all started on wednesday as anger spilled over about several domestic issues, including unrealized infrastructure promises and the prime minister's lack of a response to a citizen petition filed months ago which included demands for the government to respect the rights of self-determination of the people and limit ties to china. now, china has publicly expressed concern, specifically rega regarding attacks over chinese and their businesses. the ministry foreign affairs added that all attempts to disrupt the normal development of relations between china and the solomon islands are just futile. now, because of the violent protests, the prime minister imposed a 36-hour lockdown and called on australia to deploy defense and police personnel. the lockdown is now easing, but a nightly curfew has been put into place indefinitely starting at 7:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the police commissioner says that anyone seen moving around, quote, will be dealt with. and because of the ongoing unrest, the solomon islands government has advised all public certificate vabts in the capital to stay home and make sure they have enough food until peace and stability can be restored. isa? >> blake essex for us there, thanks very much, blake. now, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of sudan to condemn the deal between the recently reinstated prime minister and the leader. they say he will need a transitional republic of democrats and share power with the military. the prime minister was deposed in a coup one month ago. women and allies marched against gender-based violence. those demonstrations turned into clashes. as you can see, the turkish riot police fired tear gas to break up the rally in istanbul square. this comes about five months after turkey exited global treaty meant to protect them. the turkish government saying local laws were enough. meanwhile, police in mexico also scuffling with demonstrators, it is not exactly clear why. lots of damage can be seen along the path. according to amnesty international, ten women and girls are killed daily in the mexican capital. and in bolivia protesters threw paint at a church. their out break at killing women and girls on account of their gender. bolivia has one of south america's highest genocide rates. now, the afghan girl who captured hearts everywhere after appearing on the cover of national geographic in 1985 you probably remember, has found ref ikeijima as an adult in italy. this striking portrait of the 12-year-old orphan with piercing green eyes and suspicious glare came to symbolize displaced people in afghanistan. it was a huge sensation by an entity that wasn't known until many years later. she has been granted refugee status in italy. according to the prime minister's office she appealed for help after the taliban took over in afghanistan in august. coming up on cnn, smash-and-grab thieves strike again. their latest target plus what police are doing to catch them. that story next. i don't just play someone brainy on tv - i'm an actual neuroscientist. and i love the science behind 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unlocks* ♪ ♪ well, i can bust curfew-breakers in an instant. well, you all have xfinity home, with cameras to home security monitored by the pros. *laughs* learn more about home security or get our self-monitored solution starting at just $10 per month. now, brazen smash-and-grab thieves have struck again in california. groups of flash mobs burglarized several stores in the los angeles area making off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise. cnn has the latest. >> reporter: investigators in a number of police departments here in california are going over hours and hours of surveillance video trying to figure out exactly who is responsible for these crimes. here in santa rosa, we know at least four people were able to get into this mall in the middle of the day with shoppers and employees around, and they were able to come out with about $20,000 worth of apple products, and the santa rosa police department even saying that these are teenagers ages 14 to 18. so it is, of course, a concerning situation here and in southern california, where a number of these incidence are also being investigated, including one at a nordstrom where a security guard was pepper sprayed and at least five people were able to get away with a number of expensive purses. l.a.p.d. said they are increasing patrols and it is a similar situation here in the bay area. i've seen the extra police officers in san francisco outside of these luxury stores. but in some cases it's already too late because we've seen this happening at the louis vuitton store, at the nordstrom, bloomingdales, and burberry. the chief of police saying he will work on this and he is even promising arrests. but the thing is it then gets handed off to the district attorney. he is a controversial figure in san francisco. he has vowed to hold people accountable but also said the responsibility falls in the hands of the judges, and whether or not a judge will keep these people responsible in jail. so it seems like everybody is sort of passing on the blame and the responsibility. and in the meantime, we continue to see more and more of these incidents. cnn, santa rosa, can have. >> thank you very much, camilla. 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get published now, call for your free publisher kit today! let me bring you up to date with our break being stories, stories we've been covering, in fact, last 50 minutes or so. the worrying coronavirus variant that has been discovered in south africa. now, israel has recorded its first case of the new strain, and that's prompted it to place travel restrictions on seven african countries. now, travelers from those same countries are now banned from entering singapore as well. and that follows similar announcement from the uk, germany and italy, suspending flights from the region. namibia, botswana, and south africa. the e.u. commission is set to propose all member states do the same. the president tweeted this about 50 minutes or so ago. the e.u. commission will propose in close coordination with member states to activate the emergency break to stop air travel from the southern african region due to the variant of concern b 1529. the new variant discovered in south africa is markedly different because it carries as discussed at the top of the hour, a number of mutations. it can evade immunity and transmissible. hence we are seeing reaction from europe and elsewhere. now, the rise in cases and the new variant are rattling stock markets right around the world this hour. i will show you the picture here in europe. markets opened about an hour ago. if we stay on that, ftse down, gone down quite a bit, about a percent since i last told you 45 minutes ago. ftse down 2 over 2.5%. same picture with the dax in germany. not a great picture to end the week here in europe. if i showuous us markets, they are expected to open lower as well when trading begins in a few hours. you can see red arrows right across the board. the dow futures probably seeing potentially the steepest losses 2.2 of a percent when stocks do open. and in asia, further steeper losses, virtually right across the board. not as steep perhaps as the rest, but it gives you an idea of the fears. if we look at some of the biggest fallers, ryanair down over 6%. lufthansa down as well, 11%. easy jet down 11%, almost 12%. and iag down just over almost close to 11%. concerns, of course, about the impact this new variant may have on the economy and the airline industry. that does it for me. i'm isa soares. elise starr and christine romans on "early start." do stay here with cnn. have a wonderful weekend. bye-bye. supplement with vitamin c and b vitamins to help energize and replenish. dayquil severe is a max strength daytime, coughing, power through your day, medicine. new from vicks. don't settle for products that give you a sort-of white smile. try crest whitening emulsions... ...for 100% whiter teeth. its highly active peroxide droplets... ...swipe on in seconds. better. faster. 100% whiter teeth. shop crestwhitesmile.com. it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. what if i sleep hot? 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