year s eve in times square. and in washington, a house committee investigating the january 6 insurrection is looking at a possible criminal referral for former president trump. the fallout if sitting house republicans refuse to cooperate. as we near the one year mark since that dark day. plus happening just moments from now, a historic space launch that could change our understanding of the universe as we know it. we ll bring you the moment nasa s new james webb telescope blasts off into space and explore what it means for humankind. and joyful gesture sending love across a string of lights. meet the man whose random acts of kindness inspired his entire neighborhood. good morning, merry christmas. it is saturday, december 25th. i m lindsey reiser. and we have a team of reporters following the latest for you. and we begin with the travel headaches. if you got where you wanted to be this morning, consider yourself lucky. covid cases have slammed airline pilots and crew
erin, you re the woman on the panel so i m curious what you watch every holiday season. first of all, merry christmas to you, tiffany, and shoutout to you for looking like a whole christmas centerpiece up here. i am loving the holiday look, honey. so look, this is an important time to remind people that diehard is 100% a christmas movie. if there is a young person who does not know that, you are failing them as a parent, grand parent, aunt. home alone and a christmas story did pair christmas with guns and violence. only in america, i guess. that s a good point. i noticed this this year and was like, hmm, maybe explains why we ve seen some folks on the twittersphere making that connection. brilliant point. but you brought up something very controversial that is diehard being a christmas movie. some people say no, some people say yes. i have to agree with you, it is a christmas movie. but i have to tell you i was talking to one of our producers who was working o
alaska airlines canceled some flights as well. there s been disagreement in the industry on how to handle this new pandemic surge as air travel rebounds to pre-pandemic levels. cnn s pete muntean has the latest from regan national airport. reporter: christine, paula, things are getting busier by the moment here at regan national airport. some of the numbers we have seen are already higher than where they were back in 2019 before the pandemic. the tsa screened 2.08 million people at airports across the country on wednesday. that number actually higher than the same day back in 2019, 1.84 screened back then two years ago. just a bit of context here, though. that same wednesday two years ago, that was christmas day itself when passenger loads are low, but even still we have seen numbers at or near 2 luis palomino per d 2 million per day. there are long lines to get tested for coronavirus. this one at b.w.i. thurgood marshall airport, there was a line for testing either earth b
when they return to work. that s a change out of necessity that we ll probably see more cities and states follow. think about it. as hospitals fill up, what happens when so many doctors and nurses get infected themselves? there aren t enough health workers to keep up. in the same vein, airlines have had to cancel some 2 million flights worldwide because of shortages. the biden administration will lift restrictions on eight african countries on new year s eve, given that the variant has now spread around the world. omicron cases, numbers are blowing past anything the u.s. saw with delta, more than 250,000 cases yesterday alone. that number is sure to be higher today, and by some estimates, we could see a million u.s. cases every day before the end of the year. i m joined now by gadi schwartz at lax, kathy park in times square, and josh letterman at the white house in washington. gadi, dealing with holiday travel is stressful enough. now that people are dealing with fears aroun
chemical riot. we want to welcome our viewer here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. announcer: this is cnn breaking news. we begin with the breaking news. on the fda s authorization of the first pill to treat covid-19. let s go straight to our athena jones in new york. top health officials say this could be a game changer as the omicron variant rips through the country right now. reporter: that is right. a potential game-changer in this new pill that is highly effective against hospitalization and death. the key thing here is that you have to take it within the first five days of having symptoms so ma means focusing on tests and getting tests back to people. in a season of setbacks, a glimmer of hope. the pfizer team has a v promising and now authorized tempe treatment for those at risk. reporter: the fda granting pfizer s new anti-viral pill paxlovid. folks who tax paxlovid early, within three days of