store. could a series of smash and dash robberies keep people away? good morning and welcome to a special thanksgiving friday edition of "early start." i'm christine romans. laura jarrett has the day off. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. we have reports this morning from hong kong, california, france, istanbul, capitol hill, rome and virginia as only we can. but we start with breaking news this morning from johannesburg. serious concern about a new coronavirus variant detected in south africa. scientists worried because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people. remember, lower vaccination rates allow the virus to mutate more easily. every unvaccinated person is a host for a new variant. this morning infections in south africa are dramatically up. markets ricochetting around the world. tokyo, shanghai, all down sharply. europe has opened up down sharply as well. in the u.s. stock index futures pointing to a very dim session here in the u.s. david mackenzie is live on the ground in johannesburg with the latest. david, what do we know? >> reporter: well, christine, here's what we know, and it's important to stress what we do not know. what we know is this variant which hasn't yet been designated as a variant of concern is very troubling, say scientists. it has many mutations, more than 30 of them on the key spike protein of the virus, which means some of them are known to scientists, some of them are not known to scientists. there are early indications here in south africa and in the region that this is rapidly taking over the delta variant. south africa is currently in a pretty good part of its pandemic, but this alarm was rung very quickly because of the potential danger of this variant, which we do not know, is whether it can escape immunity. there are some worrying signs it could. and more importantly possibly whether it can escape the efficacy of vaccines. at this stage the scientists here saying they believe vaccines could be effective in stopping severe disease, but they don't know yet. and it could take several weeks of lab tests before they know that. already countries around the globe are shutting their doors to this region. the uk putting several countries in southern africa on its so-called red list. parts of the european union, and now asia also shutting the door because of the possible risk this vaccines will pose. there are plenty -- that this virus will pose. there are plenty of vaccines available in south africa, but uptake has been slow. scientists stress that vaccines are important and that people need to take them. the next few days will be critical to see how this transmits through this region and around the world. israel, the latest country, saying that travelers from malawi did go to that country and test positive for the variant. so critical hours and days ahead. christine? >> absolutely. all right, david mackenzie, we know you'll stay on it. very important there is a lot we do not know about this variant. so it is the uncertainty that is what is really roiling global markets now. global markets -- thanks, david. it is a shortened trading session in the u.s. because of the holiday. that could exacerbate some of the response here. you've got u.s. stock index futures down sharply here. they had been down as much as 5%. now they're off that just a little bit. markets in asia you can see and europe all tumbling on this news. again, markets hate uncertainty. financial markets tend to fall when there is uncertainty and there is nothing more uncertain than what goes forward here with this variant found in south after kafrmt we'll continue to keep an eye on that this morning. meanwhile, the federal government is sending military doctors, nurses and respiratory therapists to michigan to help the state cope with one of the worst outbreaks of covid in the entire country. two teams of 22 health professionals each are on the way. right now 4,000 adults are hospitalized with covid in michigan. that the up 8% from a month ago. a group of lawmakers defying china and meeting with government officials in taiwan. this comes after another congressional delegation made an informal trip to the contested island earlier this month. cnn's will ripley joins us live with the latest. will, nice to see you. taiwan is a key facet in the deteriorating relationship between washington and beijing, china made no secret that it does not like this, you know, recently showing aggressive force around taiwan. what do we know? >> reporter: well, you're absolutely right, christine. taiwan is in this kind of difficult position where they're, in the words of one diplomat i was speaking with, at risk of being loved to death by the united states. with each door that the u.s. opens it potentially pushes taiwan closer to a dangerous situation where beijing feels some red line has been drossed and they take more drastic option. they never ruled out taking back taiwan by force if necessary to complete their vow of reunification which they say is not just a matter of if it's going to happen, but when. so when these lawmakers are visiting showing support for taiwan, those gestures are welcomed by the taiwanese government. all parties have be to be sensitive here. there are five u.s. lawmakers on the trip representative elissa slotkin, democrat of michigan, tweeted her office received a warning from the chinese embassy when news of this trip broke urging them to call the trip off. she said, of course, obviously they didn't call the trip off. they had just come from south korea where they were celebrating thanksgiving with the u.s. trooptz. she said there are a lot of critical issues she and her c constituents care about in taiwan. the semiconductors, chips that power everything from our cars to phones. it is a car and auto production hub. there is another u.s. lawmakers from south carolina, nancy may, she's a republican. i have a tweet on my phone. we might be able to pull it up on my screen. after they landed, she tweeted, just touched down in the republic of taiwan. it is very important to note there is no republic of taiwan. it's called the republic of china. they call it taiwan as a colloquialism. the republic of taiwan would be tantamount to a formal declaration of chinese independence which beijing has warned that is a red line that if taiwan were to cross they could very likely intervene militarily. so there is now a kbig debate happening on the island of taiwan whether this u.s. lawmaker meant to say republic of taiwan or whether it was an uneducated quickly rushed out tweet which we know lawmakers tend to do from time to time. this visit comes just one day after president biden invited taiwan to join its summit for democracy happening next month. another action by the united states that has infuriated beijing. so you have tensions escalating once again on the diplomatic front. what we haven't seen and what we need to watch for is whether that moves to the military of front if beijing once again sends war planes to fly over taiwan. christine? >> a lot of major american companies are careful about how they label taiwan on the maps, on their websites, in drop-down men you -- menus. bough they don't want to anger them with words. nice to see you, will ripley. with that in mind fareed zakaria looks at china's leader, iron fist of xi jinping. sunday night at 9:00. 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they're hoarding. stores like walmart and costco have been chartering their own ships and bypass clogged ports. others are leveraging long-term relationships to get what they need. it rose 11%, target's inventory levels increased 18%. a growing issue hangs over retail shopping this friday morning, of course. those smash-and-dash robberies. there's been a series of them lately especially in california. cnn's camilla webernal takes uso one store target in santa rosa. >> reporter: christine, investigators a number of investigators in california are having to go over hours and hours of surveillance video trying to if i can out who was responsible for these crimes. here in santa rosa we know four people walked 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's extremely concerning in this case, and also in the cases in southern california, including the nordstrom where we know that one of the security guards was pepper sprayed. at least five people were able to come out of that store with a number of expensive purses. >> very disturbing because now i'm reluctant to come to nordstrom's or even the mall for that matter, to come and make my purchases. >> it's unfortunate because these -- the people that are here are just trying to shop for the holidays, you know, shop for their families. we deployed extra officers here. it just so happens this is one part of the mall where they were able to get in and get out even with our officers being deployed here. >> reporter: the police department in los angeles is saying they are going to increase patrols and it's a similar situation here in the bay area. in san francisco we're seeing more and more police officers outside of these luxury stores, but the reality is that for some of them it is too late. we saw this happening at the louis vuitton, at the nordstrom, the bloomingdales, even pharmacies like walgreens. the chief of police in san francisco promised to hold these people accountable, to continue these investigations, and even promised future arrests. but the reality is it then gets handed off to the district attorney, and in the case of san francisco, he is a controversial figure. he has vowed to keep people responsible or accountable for this, but also said that it's the responsibility of the judges who will decide whether or not these people remain in jail. so you're seeing essentially people handing off the responsibility and the blame, but the reality is that these in the meantime continue to happen. christine? 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no way around it, yeah it's the most joyous time of year. especially at t-mobile! let's go to dianne. i got the awesome new iphone 13 pro and airpods, and t- mobile is paying for them both! and this is for new and existing customers. upgrade to the iphone 13 pro and airpods both on us. this week only, at t-mobile. that the u.s. is emerging from the covid pandemic era. the tsa reporting more than 2.3 million passengers were screened at airports on wednesday. more than double last year's travel numbers. cnn's pete muntean has more from regan national airport. >> reporter: christine, we have seen a new pandemic era air travel record. 2.3 million people screened at airports across the country on wednesday by the tsa. that number is significant. it's the highest we've seen since march of 2020, double than this time a year ago. 88% where we were back in 2019. so these numbers keep going up and up, and the tsa anticipates that a total of 20 million people will take to the skies for thanksgiving. what's so interesting is there was a lot of concern airlines couldn't handle this onslaught of people. remember they got smaller during the pandemic. just check flight aware. no big cancellations either on tuesday or on wednesday. it seems that the airlines were ready for this and ahead of the tsa david pitkosky tells me they were ready. >> we work with carriers and the airports and collectively we're ready for the thanksgiving holiday. our goal is to make it as safe and secure and as enjoyable for people as we possibly can. >> reporter: we're only part way through this megatravel period. it is typically the sunday after thanksgiving where the numbers are the highest. that's when the tsa says everyone who left for the holiday will begin coming home all at once. united airlines is anticipating 450,000 people that day on its airline alone. christine? >> all right, pete, thank you so much for that. members of congress are home for the thanksgiving holiday. they'll return to a full dance card with some critical deadlines ahead. cnn's daniela diaz is live for us this thanksgiving friday on capitol hill. so nice to see you. they have a lot of work to do when they come back. >> reporter: christine, that's exactly right. you know, this week they are in their home states enjoying the holidays like most americans, but when they come back next week they're going to have to deal with an array of issues before the end of the year. of course, the first being government funding. right now the funding for the government is set to expire on december 3rd. now, senate majority leader chuck schumer said they plan to address this with a short-term funding bill to buy themselves time to address this problem, but in the meantime they're going to have to work on how they're going to fund the government. now, what could be probably a bigger problem for congress is the deadline for the debt ceiling. the nation is currently set to expire -- excuse me, default on its debt by mid december, according to treasury secretary janet yellen, which means congress needs to address this as soon as possible. now, while senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has said again and again, he would not help senate majority leader chuck schumer address the debt ceiling, there was a breakthrough in these negotiations before they left for the holiday. they had a meeting about this. now, while there was no agreement reached or announced at least, it does seem that senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is now negotiating with schumer on how to address the debt ceiling before the nation defaults on its debt. now, there is also, of course, the build back better act, a major priority for the biden administration in the hopes -- they hope to pass this before the end of the year. this would, of course, would expand the national safety. this must pass defense department. it's a major bill that needs to be passed. they are also going to have to work on that, and of course also voting rights. these are all priorities for democrats before the end of the year and they are going to have to see how they work with republicans to pass some of these issues so we expect an incredibly busy next couple of weeks. christine? >> absolutely. we know you'll be covering it for us early every morning. thank you so much. nice to see you, daniela. all right. 25 minutes past the hour. programming note. during the 1920s, the osage people in oklahoma were some of the richest in the world. that wealth made them a target. watch all in this is life with lisa ling sunday night at 10:00 on cnn. ♪ [laughing and giggling] (woman) hey dad. miss us? (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. it may not be the supply chain to blame. between 3 and 400 fedex packages were discovered in a ravine in blount county, alabama. the local sheriff says it appears they were tossed into the ravine. >> we won't have a final count until they get them all scanned so they can get us a list of everybody who was supposed to have a a package delivered that didn't get one. this morning the guys that are loading it up and picking up the packages found the date on one from the 18th of this month, but that was at the botd tom of the hill. this is more than one truck of packages dumped. we believe this is something that happened two or three different times. >> fedex says it is cooperating with law enforcement and taking steps to get packages where they need to be as quickly as possible. "early start" continues right now. ♪ ♪ good morning. this is "early start" this friday morning. i'm christine romans. just about 30 minutes past the hour. breaking this morning, a new coronavirus variant detected in south africa and it is triggering a lot of concern among health experts and investors because of its high number of mutations and rapid spread among young people. remember, the virus meutates moe quickly in populations with lower vaccination rates. this morning covid infections in south africa are way up and stocks around the world are way down. david mackenzie is live in johannesburg. david, what are we hearing now about travel bans? this thing really escalated overnight. >> reporter: well, christine, yes, the travel bans are happening and they are hard to keep up with. all over the world, including the united kingdom, parts of europe, countries in asia are starting to ban or red list parts of the african continent because of this worrying new variant. here's what we know. this variant, which doesn't yet have a designation by the w.h.o., the science is just so new, shows many mutations, more than 30 in a key spike protein of the covid-19 virus which could be worrying. scientists say they worry it could be more transmissible, that it might breakthrough some level of immunity. at this stage they believe that existing vaccines should be effective against severe disease and death, but frankly they don't know. and over the next few weeks they'll be working around the world at labs to try and test whether the vaccines will be effective. but because of the worry of the possible impact of this as it spreads quickly from a relatively low base here in south africa is these bands coming in. the next thing that needs to happen is to really get a sense of how bad this variant is. is it the big one or is it something that is going to end up being a false alarm? south africa will have meetings with the world health organization later today, an urgent meeting to likely designate this as a variant of concern. it's been seen in several countries across the continent. we don't know if it comes from south africa. it was discovered here because of the strong surveillance of covid-19 in this country. israel has said they have at least one positive case tested at the airport, and so we will get a sense in the coming days how widespread this is and how fast it is spreading across the world. christine? >> yes, certainly scientists are alarmed and all the uncertainties here. got to learn a lot more about this thing. thank you so much, david. global markets sliding on the news. uncertainty of course is the enemy of investors. u.s. stock futures dropping as many as 700 points because of the new variant. pairing losses from 5% earlier to now about 2%. airlines, travel and hoe tech stocks in asia simply hammered. markets in asia falling, tokyo, that was the worst day for tokyo stocks in months. in europe those mashlgts have opened lower, sharply lower. more on this throughout the day. as david mentioned, countries in europe moving quickly to impose new travel bans on south africa over this new variant. global health officials were already warning about infection spikes across europe which they caution could be a window into the future for the americas. barbie nadeau joins us live from rome. these developments overnight, obviously this news developing rapidly here. you can see health officials working quickly to figure out how to contain this. >> reporter: that's right. we're seeing country after country now banning anyone who has been to south africa or traveling from some of the south african regions and it's because the caseload here in europe is just climbing every single day. we are seeing newer cases. we have lots of different reactions from around the european union, you know. the european medicines agency just approved the pfizer vaccine for ages 5 to 11. but the booster program isn't really widely available to a lot of people yet so it's going to be interesting to see how each country handles that, if they're going to go for the boosters first or inoculate the children first. there are new restrictions in france in terms of mask mandates. new restrictions in italy. it's no longer going to be accepted to have a negative covid test to enter some venues. you have to be vaccinated. the pressure here is to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible. we still have a lot of people holding out here across europe. >> barbie nadeau, thank you so much for that. less than 24 hours after 27 migrants died in a boat tragedy trying to cross from france to britain, the leaders of each countr country spar over who is to blame while they dispute over one of the worst migrant tragedies in the english channel, one survivor sums the situation up this way. >> translator: in any case, this is our only route to england. so we'll always try even if there are disasters, always. we have no choice, you know. we don't know what god will do. not everyone will die in the sea. some people will make it, some will die. it's up to god to decide all that, so we have no choice. >> all right, cnn's cyril vanier is live near calais at a small migrant camp focusing your camera there right now. cyril, what are you seeing there? >> reporter: yeah, i want to show you around a little bit because this tells you about the human tragedy that's unfolding right here in europe, one of the richest parts of the world. we are near calais in northern france. this is one of the numerous spots where migrants congregate. they come, they spend a short amount of time and then they try and cross over into england. so look around me. this is, first of all, it's freezing cold. it's wet. you see these people living in these tents just behind me. i don't want to linger too much on that, but just behind me under that tent, you see the people getting warm by the fire. you see that child? he can't be older than 3 or 4 years old. i've seen children as young as 2. i've seen a 5-year-old, an 8-year-old girl. and these are families that are coming from iraq, that are coming from iran. i've met afghans as well, minority afghans who have fled their country. all these people are either fleeing war or economic insecurity, and they want a chance at a better life in england. so why do they go to england and why do they try this treacherous journey? we know that 27 people died crossing the english channel the other day. i tell them, i say you have a chance of dying. why risk it, including with children? they say, they have multiple answers, but they say it's better to die in the uk than die in iraq was what the last person told me. you see a food delivery there. now, there are many groups, aid groups that come and handout bread, give them a pair of socks. it's a band aid on what is just human misery here. these are people who have traveled 10,000 miles from where they are in the middle east and as far as they're concerned, the last leg of the trip that would take them to england, look at these tents here. look at how they're living. as far as they're concerned, that's just the last small step. we're about 30, 40 miles from england, and they feel they've been through worse. they've already accomplished harder, many of them have already been through a worse sea crossing. and they feel this is the easiest thing for them left to do in their journey. >> so, cyril, who is responsible for securing that border, then? is it france that should be patrolling its own shoreline? is it the uk which should be doing more to tell people, don't come here, we're going to send you home? what can they do? >> reporter: yeah, france is the party that is responsible for securing the border. by virtue of a deal that they have with the uk and have had since the early 2000s, which effectively places the uk border right here on the french coast line. so, yes, according to that deal, france is responsible for securing. but what is it that they're doing? they're trying to prevent thousands of people who desperately want to get to the uk from leaving the country in which they do not want to be. so you immediately understand that's kind of a tough spot to be in. and we've seen these policemen patrol the beaches. we're talking about a 200 kilometer stretch of coast line. frankly they're under resourced. they told us as much, they don't enough personnel to have eyes on every stretch of beach at every moment. so they can't physically prevent all these boats from going. and the other thing is that they're just -- the migrants know that this is a route that is successful, so they will send many boats at the same time in the knowledge that some will be prevented from leaving by law enforcement, but others will make it across, and thus the trade continues. >> try and try again. all right, cyril vanier, thank you so much for showing us what's happening near calais. all this hardship for men, women and children mostly kurds trying to flee northern iraq, many of these desperate migrants originated there. about a thousand were sent back home from belarus remember that standoff at the border as they tried to cross into western europe? senior international correspondent arwa damon is for us live this morning in istanbul. arwa, explain to us, give to us the core here of the plight of these people, why they are risking everything to leave kurdistan. >> reporter: well, when it comes specifically to the iraqi kurds that we have been seeing fleeing in numbers, the vast majority of which are believed to be the nationals that did end up drowning in that horrific incident that cyril was just reporting on, it really is about the economy. but that can seem like a fairly desensitizing way to put it when we talk about the economic plight of a population. to further sort of explain it, what this actually means is that families that used to be able to feed, clothe, educate their children can no longer do so in iraqi kurdistan. and remember, this is a part of iraq that was thriving. it used to be promoted as the other iraq, the iraq where you don't have all this violence. there was so much investment. oil companies were tripping over each other trying to get a piece of the pie. but then in about 2013 that all began to change for a number of different factors. there were disputes that were happening between erbil and baghdad. government salaries weren't being paid. people saw their salaries slashed 50%. the economy took a nose dive. items that were subsidized like electricity and such were no longer being subsidized by the government. over the course of the years, the vast majority of middle class and lower class income families just saw everything that they had worked so hard for completely evaporate, and they also lost hope in their own government. and their own government's ability to actually alter the trajectory of their lives. and that's why you see them taking onto this desperate journey. none of this is going to change unless the core issues are addressed. >> absolutely. all right, arwa damon for us in istanbul, thank you. the afghan girl made famous, remember, by this iconic 1985 national geographic cover has been granted refugee status in italy. sherbat gula is her name. now in her late 40s, she was back in afghanistan and trapped there when it fell to the taliban in august. the italian government says it accepted an appeal on her behalf from nonprofit groups working to get afghans out of the country, making her a refugee once again. we'll be right back. this is the tempur-pedic® breeze° and its mission is to make sleep...feel cool. so, no more night sweats. no more nocturnal baking. or polar ice cap air-conditioner mode. because the tempur-pedic breeze° delivers superior cooling... from cover to core. helping you sleep cool, all night long. save up to $500 on select adjustable mattress sets during the tempur-pedic black friday event. learn more at tempurpedic.com the xfinity black 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more than 2%, 800 points, markets in asia tumbling. in europe markets opening sharply lower here. more on this throughout the day. all right. this may be the final holiday shopping season for two iconic brands. sears and k-mart, which could be why sears is offering 50% off everything while k-mart is offering 40% off this black friday. the two chains emerged from bankruptcy two years ago, a shell of what used to be a combined 3500 stores nationwide. president biden and jill biden greeting service members on thanksgiving day in nantucket, massachusetts. they visit theed u.s. coast guard station where all six branches of the military were represented. cnn's jasmin wright joins us live with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. that's right, christine. president biden and first lady jill biden, they visited troop service members at brant fort. honoring a pre-pandemic, first thanksgiving as president. he met with service members and service members across the globe when he participated in a virtual call. now, after about an hour inside, he came out with about 20 service members as you see on the screen here. he greeted them, thanked them for their service, offered them challenge coins and, of course, posed for a group photo. take a listen to his message to service members yesterday. >> i've been all over the world. i've watched these people. i watched them in the south china sea, afghanistan, erik, 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 made me proud. >> reporter: so today we will see more of that. the message from the president, we just heard as he visits the annual tree lighting ceremony in nantucket where he is spending the holiday weekend. we will see him there over the weekend and then of course he heads back to d.c. sometime next week or on monday, rather, where he has a big task ahead of him trying to push through that social safety expansion package as well as government spending and debt ceiling that he will have to respond to. christine? >> all right, jasmin, nice to see you this morning. hope you have a wonderful day. thank you. it was a text that changed both of their lives. now known as the thanksgiving grandma, wanda dench is celebrating her sixth holiday inn mess a, arizona, with jamal hinton after she sent a text in 2016 by mistake. jamal was just 17 and since then they have celebrated birthdays and christmas, too. >> what if you had never done that? >> if i had never texted him, then -- i would have missed out on a wonderful relationship. i changed my view totally of the younger generation. and now that i reflect back on all these years, i didn't change their life, they changed mine. >> such a sweet story. this year was a much happier than last. last year dench lost her husband lanhee to covid after 43 years of marriage. a wrongfully convicted missouri man who spent 43 years behind bars is waking up a millionaire this morning. he was exonerated of a murder in the '70s he said he never committed. a gofundme fund is over $1 million and counting. there was magic in the air for some orlando basketball fans. that is shocked james bailey who learns his wife taylor is expecting on the kiss cam at the orlando magic game giving the couple something to be more grateful for this thanksgiving. >> when i looked up and saw the writing at the bottom, you know, that's why my jaw dropped. it was such a whirlwind of emotions at that point. >> there were some of my friends locally in town that were like, are you pregnant? are you at the game? no, you're on sports center. >> sports center. only bad news for the pair. magic lost, they are dead last in the eastern conference. a costly penalty dooms the dallas cowboys in an overtime loss to the raiders on thanksgiving day. coy wire has this morning's bleacher report. hey, coy. >> christine, the cowboys and raiders not thankful for one another nor the officials this thanksgiving. tempers reach a boiling point. after a punt in the third quarter placing it on the side line, the cowboys rookie kalvin joseph, they got into it. they got the worst of the scuffle. tom hill had a bloody chin. none bigger than a pass. he gets all in the chest of zade jones. 33 yard penalty puts raiders daniel carlson in position to kick the game winner and he does. that ends a three-game losing streak for the raiders. the nfl's only team without a win, the detroit lions. a second way from winning their first of the year, this is against the bears. but for the third time this season, they lose on the last play of the game. chicago kicker carlos sanchez enjoying a 28 yarder. christine romans a fan. team wins 16-14, snapping a five-game losing streak. all right. hey, hey, buffalo on bourbon street. bills fans showing up in droves to new orleans to see their team pour on the points on the saints like gravy on potatoes. knox caught two touchdown passes in this one. he's a former walk-on at ole miss. never even caught a touchdown pass there. but the tight end has caught seven now for the bills. the single season team record. he still has six more games to play. josh allen threw for four touchdowns. buffalo wins 34-6, new orleans's fourth straight loss. the match is back. it's the fifth generation of a charity golf event this afternoon. and this time it features one of the biggest rivalries in the game. brooks koepka and bryson dechambeau taking their long-running feud to las vegas for a 12-hole exhibition match. hall of famer phil mickelson, few-time winner, spoke to the guys ahead of the showdown. >> just know brooks and i have never been paired together in competition. on the pga tour or anywhere else. this is going to be the first time we're together playing against each other. you may see something pretty interesting in regards to the mental competition that we're going to play against each other. >> playing 12 holes is nice. it's better than playing 18 holes with bryson. anything to spend less time around him i'm happy to do. >> all right. the sparks fly. simulcast on true tv and hln. it's going to be a raiders/cowboys scuffle, christine. the there's going to be some friction. i don't think these guys like each other. >> coy wire, nice to see you today. >> you, too. >> thanks for joining us. i'm christine romans. 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