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Nepal-China Flood Claims 616 Lives, 2,500+ Missing; Trump Administration Appeals Order Pausing Vote by Mail Restrictions; U.S.- Israel War with Iran Hits Six-Month Mark with No End in Sight; Federal Court Says Stats Can Regulate Prediction Markets; Trump Executive Order Creates U.S. Space Academy; Grand Ole Opry to Honor Dolly Parton with Tribute on Saturday; Sir Anthony Hopkins Shares Passion for Music and Composition. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 29, 2026 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and a very warm welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to those headlines.
Desperation grows in the search for survivors following the deadly Nepal flooding. We'll have a live report for you with the latest on those rescue efforts and the widespread devastation.
President Trump is touting a deal with Venezuela to control billions of barrels of the country's oil reserves. We're going to look at the details and the potential impact on Americans.
Plus the latest on the legal battle over president Trump's new mail-in voting restrictions as the midterms draw closer.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Salma Abdelaziz.
ABDELAZIZ: We begin with that catastrophic flooding all along Nepal's border with China. Police in Nepal say the death toll has risen to more than 600 people and 2,500 people are still missing across both sides of the border, including hundreds of foreign nationals who were visiting the area.
The flooding and landslides have wreaked havoc across the region, destroying buildings, washing away bridges and burying towns under feet of mud and debris. Authorities are closely monitoring two new lakes that were formed by Wednesday's disaster.
More rain is expected in the region this weekend, adding to the growing concerns about further flooding and landslides. Search and rescue efforts are underway again. A Nepali army official says seven military and seven civilian helicopters rescued some 900 people on Friday. But the remote locations in the Himalayas and the very difficult
conditions are complicating those relief efforts in some of the hardest-hit areas. Take a look at this video.
It shows a massive flash flood raging through a town on Wednesday. Now miraculously, one house withstood the flood waters, with people seen there on the balcony. The U.N. says tens of thousands of people are in urgent need of food, water and other aid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANE DUJARRIC, U.N. SPOKESPERSON: We're starting to get a better sense of what are immense needs of the population. Our partners working on food security estimate that at least 20,000 households across the Nuwakot and Rasuwa districts may need food assistance.
Over 50,000 people require emergency water, emergency sanitation and emergency hygiene support. Partners working on nutrition estimate that some 17,000 children, 1,500 pregnant and breastfeeding women and 9,000 adolescents need immediate nutrition support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ABDELAZIZ: The first shipment of American aid has arrived in Nepal for flood victims. The U.S. embassy in Nepal says aid groups are working to deliver food, blankets, mosquito nets and other supplies for hundreds of people sheltering at two schools in the region.
CNN's Mike Valerio joins us now from Beijing. He is tracking developments.
Good morning to you, Mike. Thank you so much for being on with us. I want to ask specifically about the 2,500 people who are still unaccounted for, still missing. And among them, of course, are dozens of Americans and other foreign nationals.
What are you learning about the efforts to rescue them, to find them?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's staggering. And we can report here in the afternoon in Asia, Salma, the two people have been rescued in this control room. Let's put up the video disaster zone in China.
This is the core of the region the Chinese rescuers are concentrating on right now. Remember that video of the customs house being hit by that black wall of water and debris, well, now nothing there that we're able to see from the latest video that CNN has gotten is also on our live story on cnn.com.
There you go. You just see it's the river. And then that layer of mud, sand and debris that came cascading down.
But we want to get to two sound bites. This is from the other side of the border on Nepal. We're first going to listen to a woman who is still searching for the rest of her family. She says she may be the only one left. And then you'll hear the second sound bite. [04:05:00]
A woman whose baby was found and she'll describe what she was feeling leading up to that moment before her baby was found. Let's play those two sound bites. We'll talk more on the other side, Salma.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANI GUPTA, FLOOD VICTIM (through translator): We have even put up photos but we don't know anything. Nothing is known over there. It has been three days. There has been no update about any of my family members.
When will I be able to meet them?
No other family members are left in my family. I am the only one who's here now. I don't know where to go and I don't know what to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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MATTI MAYA TAMANG, FLOOD VICTIM (through translator): I had completely lost hope that I no longer have my children. I was going through a period of grief and I couldn't even control myself and thought that there was no point in staying alive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALERIO: So we've seen that rescuers have been able to access many towns in Nepal. But the difference from what we're watching from our newsroom here in Beijing and what we're seeing from Chinese state media and social media is that, now, Salma, crews have been able to reach where that port crossing was.
And this is certainly a new development.
So what's going to happen in the next couple of hours?
They, the rescuers who are working from the Chinese side, they want to be able to cut a road into that sludge and debris to try to get more equipment there.
Because, as I'm sure you'll see in some of the video, there are drones that have been shipped in from all parts of China that are starting to, deliver supplies to the rescuers who have been able to get there.
And also, you know, we have a quote from one of the battalion leaders, who's, you know, said to Chinese central television, the state media outlet, that's one of the two outlets there on the ground with Xinhua news, that the buildings within this mudslide impact zone, they're all gone.
So certainly miraculous that, what we were talking at the top of this segment, that two people were rescued. But they are going to search every square meter of this sand to just make sure that they have left no stone unturned and that could there perhaps be somebody under a bus, under a piece of debris.
They're going to search every square meter and they are nowhere near done yet, Salma.
ABDELAZIZ: Mike Valerio there, with the heartache, the pain, the anguish of waiting as those rescue efforts are ongoing. Thank you so much for those updates.
I want to bring in now Srijana Gurung. She is joining us from Kathmandu. She is the interim country director with Plan International in Nepal.
Thank you so much for being on with us. While all of this is ongoing, I want to specifically ask you about the aid efforts, because the United Nations says that there's tens of thousands of people that need this aid urgently.
But, of course, as you heard there from our colleague, the terrain is extremely difficult. There is the threat of further landslides and flooding.
Can you give me an update on the efforts to get help to those affected communities?
SRIJANA GURUNG, INTERIM COUNTRY DIRECTOR FOR NEPAL, PLAN INTERNATIONAL: Thank you. What we are currently seeing is very tragic and beyond words. And the scale of destruction is simply enormous, not something that anybody can comprehend with.
But Nepal government, along with international and national organizations, are working very hard to make sure that whatever is required at the ground level is being reached. What makes it more difficult is that the flood happened in one of the most remote part of the country, where the only access is through roads.
And in this flood, the roads, bridges, all were damaged. Gradually government is making really hard effort to make sure that the roads are back on track, even if it is like small vehicles having access.
Only yesterday evening, by the end of yesterday, we were -- we got the information that what part, Rasuwa, which is hit hardest by this flood, there has been access has resumed and -- but however, only small vehicles can go there, not large trucks.
So it is definitely difficult to reach the area (ph) but every effort is being done, including by various organizations, including Plan International Nepal, to make sure that we save lives, we provide what is the requirement at this time, which is food, water, shelter.
And for the government --
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ABDELAZIZ: And as you're explaining -- if you don't mind me asking, as you're explaining all of this, of course, we're seeing the images of what that disaster zone looks like. And I mean, entire villages wiped out.
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Homes simply turned into mud.
Can you give me a sense of what help is actually on the ground right now for the people who are caught in that disaster zone?
Where are they sleeping?
What are they eating?
Do they have access to clean water and medical care?
GURUNG: Especially in the areas where the access is really difficult and the reach is only through the helicopters, a lot of people, what we understand, the information that we have received on the ground, is they are taking shelters with their relatives.
But there's only so much somebody can provide. So even if they have the shelter, temporary shelter, the (INAUDIBLE) still there. And, for those who have been evacuated, government has holding centers.
But there is definitely a need for food, immediate need for food, for wash and water. And a lot of, as you can see in the --
(CROSSTALK)
GURUNG: -- and this is a lot of people ...
ABDELAZIZ: This is such a global disaster that you're describing here. Of course, you say it's difficult to fathom what's happening on the ground. But this is something that touches so many countries. It's happened along the border of China and Nepal.
But it also is a place that attracts tourists, that attracts pilgrims. We know that many foreign nationals are caught up in this crisis.
Does that mean, as an aid group, that you're seeing an outpouring of assistance?
Or are you simply not getting all the help you need?
What is lacking right now?
GURUNG: I think everybody is doing their best, whether it's an individual level, whether it's organization level, government level and also from the international community.
It is really difficult that a country like Nepal, which produces less than 0.1 percent of global carbon emission, have very minimal contribution in the climate change, has to suffer this level of result. And it is one of the countries which is at the highest risk.
Especially it is the -- this community is also one of the communities who had to undergo similar crisis in 2015 earthquake. So not just once but twice. Communities, children, young people having to go through this level of devastation, shock after shock, time and again is really frustrating.
But we do believe that there is help coming. There is -- government is strongly working on rescue and on relief. Various international organizations have extended their support.
Even Plan International globally is providing as much support in terms of reaching to the affected communities, whether through different food, shelter or other requirements, lifesaving requirements.
ABDELAZIZ: Srijana Gurung there on the challenges to get help to those who need it right now in that very remote part of the country, where this disaster zone, this crisis continues unfolding. Thank you so much for your time.
Survivors of the deadly flooding say that they're still processing and coming to terms with what they witnessed in this crisis. Some of them spoke with our Will Ripley about the traumatic experience. A warning: his report does contain distressing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANJANA RAJA, AMERICAN FLOOD SURVIVOR: Violent, it was aggressive, aggressive with anger. That's how I saw the water come. So I really asked him, I mean, why is God so angry with us?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anjana Raja and Pattabi Ventakassen came to Nepal from Northern California for a spiritual journey but not one like this.
PATTABIRAMAN VENTAKASSEN, AMERICAN FLOOD SURVIVOR: Just seeing so many people die, I think that's -- going to last for a while, it's going to linger for a while. I don't know if we will get over it anytime soon.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They were on a tour bus near the China-Nepal border about to cross into Tibet when people outside started running and screaming.
RAJA: There was no time to think our reflexes needed to be so fast. I saw something coming really brown up there, going up like 60 to 70 feet, something coming brown our way.
At that point, I didn't know whether it was water or whether it was dust. So the way it came is came just like a tsunami. It just came going all the way up and just like a tsunami, the how it sweeps, going like a row.
It just took the buses, the vans.
VENTAKASSEN: Houses.
RAJA: Houses, people, everything. We saw people just getting sucked in the water. It was so traumatizing to see that. People are screaming but, of course, water doesn't hear anything. It just kind of sucked them in.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They shared this photo showing what's left of their tour bus.
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RAJA: It's very hard to express in words, a lot of turmoil inside. It was nerve-wracking, especially when you see death just five seconds away from you. I thought about everybody who lost their lives there because there were dead bodies within sight.
Bodies where there were only half bodies, just hands, just legs, just face, just head. Bodies like that lying around.
VENTAKASSEN: He's a lifesaver.
TASHI TAMANG, TOUR GUIDE: Yeah.
VENTAKASSEN: My brother.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Their tour guide, Tashi Tamang, guided them up the mountain with just seconds to spare.
TAMANG: How can running, you know?
RIPLEY: Just running. Just running.
TAMANG: Just running. Ten seconds is finished.
RIPLEY: Ten seconds, everything's underwater.
TAMANG: Yeah.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
RIPLEY (voice-over): After running to higher ground, they spent the night huddling in the woods with a small group of survivors.
VENTAKASSEN: There are about 70, 80 people in that little area. We got to put our bags, sit on the bag in. That's about it. You know you. We had like two-inch wiggle room.
We couldn't move more than two inches because it was so full. Water all night, little or no food. We had to share water. Whoever had water.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Finally, a helicopter came to rescue them.
RIPLEY: And here you are now and you have your temporary passport. You're going to go home and see your daughter and your son.
RAJA: I can't wait. I can't wait.
RIPLEY: What do you want to say to them? What are you going to do when you see them? RAJA: I'm -- I'm going to hug them and cry because I am an emotional mama. I -- yeah, I am going to hug them and cry. And I'm just thankful to God that I'm alive and there for them.
I'm going to tell them, take life seriously and be ready for whatever comes. This is a learning. Things could happen to anyone. It could happen to us again. So be ready. I'm going to tell them that.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They're among the handful of lucky ones. At one of the largest hospitals in Kathmandu, we watch as the number of registered missing people grows from 1,200 to more than 1,600 in just a few hours.
RIPLEY: People are signing up names of their loved ones who are missing. They're registering them. Hoping that they'll be brought to this hospital.
But as the day goes by, no new names are added to this handwritten list of 31 survivors.
Jenisha Thapa came here searching for her uncle.
JENISHA THAPA, NIECE OF MISSING FLOOD VICTIM: His name is Razuli. He's not included in this list.
RIPLEY: How often have you been checking?
THAPA: Minute, minute.
RIPLEY: Minute by minute.
RIPLEY (voice-over): She says he was at the tax office when the flood hit.
RIPLEY: What happened to the tax office?
THAPA: It's swept away from flood.
RIPLEY: It was swept away by the water.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Photos of the missing fill this hospital wall just around the corner at the morgue. We find a very different photo wall.
RIPLEY: It's pictures of bodies from the flood zone and there are men there, there are women, it looks like there are children. They even photographed body parts with tattoos, anything that can be identified. It's just a really horrible scene.
RIPLEY (voice-over): And with each passing hour, things here are only getting worse -- Will Ripley, CNN, Kathmandu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: There's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. President Trump unveils a sweeping Venezuela oil deal, giving the U.S.
access to billions of barrels. We're going to have the latest details for you next.
Plus, a legal battle over mail-in ballots ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. The Trump administration is taking that fight to the next level ahead. What it could mean for voters.
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ABDELAZIZ: The White House is appealing a federal judge's ruling that temporarily blocks the U.S. Postal Service from carrying out an executive order from president Donald Trump.
Now it could limit mail-in voting in the upcoming midterm elections, the judge warned that plan would likely be found unconstitutional. CNN's Gabe Cohen has more for us.
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TRUMP: Hopefully, there will be no mail-in ballots. Mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt.
GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump, fixated on mail ballots and baseless claims of election fraud, has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to aid his crusade.
Following an executive order, USPS has published new vote by mail regulations, including a requirement for election officials to upload the names and addresses of every mail ballot recipient in the U.S. into a government portal, which could ultimately be shared with federal law enforcement and used for audits and investigations.
SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots?
DAVID STEINER, POSTMASTER GENERAL: Under our proposed regulation -- no, we would tell the state that we need the manifest.
COHEN (voice-over): That initiative still has large legal hurdles to clear but it's just one piece of Trump's power grab at the Postal Service with reports that he considered stripping the agency of its independence and shifting it under his Commerce Department.
Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick are also testing a plan to have USPS workers help conduct the U.S. Census.
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: The postman drives my house. We don't have to go in that house. Nobody lives there. They know where everybody lives. It's going to save us billions of dollars.
COHEN (voice-over): Sources tell CNN that the Postal Service has at least publicly played ball with the president, largely because of its looming financial crisis, which will require reforms from the administration and Congress.
STEINER: Let me be very, very, very, very clear. We are out of cash.
COHEN (voice-over): But soon, Trump may have even more control over USPS as he aims to reshape its independent board of governors.
Only one of the board's four current members is a Republican but the president has nominated four new Republicans who, if confirmed, could give him greater influence over the agency. Two of the nominees were asked specifically about mail-in ballots.
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Do you believe that mail-in voting now is safe and secure?
WILLIAM GALLO, USPS BOARD OF GOVERNORS NOMINEE: That's a very good question. I would say it's not -- under the proper guidance and monitoring.
[04:25:03]
Yes, I do think --
SLOTKIN: I mean, for instance, President Trump won my state in 2024 and there was a ton of mail-in voting. Was that voting for President Trump safe and secure or no?
GALLO: It was safe and secure.
COHEN (voice-over): And it's unclear if they'll fully back Trump's mail ballot claims.
SLOTKIN: Mr. Brodsky, have you voted by mail?
JEFFREY BRODSKY, USPS BOARD OF GOVERNORS NOMINEE: Yes, I have.
SLOTKIN: OK and presumably you feel the system was safe and secure, that we have one?
BRODSKY: It was a wonderful way to vote and I did it three times.
COHEN (voice-over): But on the central question of who won in 2020, at least one raised some alarm, writing in his Senate questionnaire, Joe Biden was certified as the president of the 2020 election. I have no information to reach a conclusion that it was free and fair.
COHEN: Just yesterday, a federal judge again blocked those new mail ballot regulations, ruling that they are most likely unlawful. The White House already appealing that.
And so we're expecting more legal action ahead on this, including potentially another trip to the Supreme Court. And again, the administration wants these rules in place for the midterms, even though ballots are going to start going out in the coming days.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: President Trump says that the U.S. has reached what he calls a historic oil deal with Venezuela. The announcement comes as the U.S. faces dwindling emergency reserves while the Iran war disrupts one-fifth of the world's oil supply.
President Trump says that the U.S. will get majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves and that will increase oil supply and presumably lower gas prices. He says the deal will also strengthen relations between the two countries. Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, is also praising the agreement.
A White House official says Rodriguez granted a private company a 100- year concession to develop the oil fields. It is a joint venture between the U.S. government and a private operator in Venezuela.
It's now been six months since the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran. Despite initial descriptions of the conflict as an excursion that would only take a few weeks' time, president Trump's goals still remain unfulfilled.
The U.S. has burned through weapons stockpiles, forcing some inventory originally intended for Ukraine or South Korea to be redirected. But Iran shows no indication that it will surrender or abandon its nuclear ambitions.
Nor does Tehran seem likely to reopen the Strait of Hormuz anytime soon. That means there is no immediate relief for the global disruption to oil gas and the fertilizer trade, along with the overall increase in consumer prices. CNN reporter Barbie Nadeau joins me now live from Rome.
Good morning to you, Barbie. It's lovely to have you on. So we've just reported six months now since the start of this conflict. The White House says there are currently no ongoing negotiations with Tehran. Help us take stock here.
Where do things stand?
BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, six months into a war that was supposed to be just an excursion of a couple of weeks is really disturbing for the global economy, obviously.
And what's really, I think, a pointed aspect of all of this is how the goalposts seem to be shifting. Now initially, the goal was to make sure that Iran did not develop a nuclear weapon. That hasn't happened.
The secondary goal, which is a result of the ongoing fighting, is to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is not open. It does not gone back to the capacity that it was before the war. But president Trump seems to describe it quite differently. Let's listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We don't want to speak to them. We're not looking to meet or anything. The strait is open. We're taking a lot of boats. Millions and millions of barrels of oil are coming out of the strait every day.
Other countries recognize that. Every once in a while they shoot some -- you know, they put some shots out. You know, we totally cleared the strait of -- we have the best minesweepers in the world.
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NADEAU: And Salma, when you listen to that, you know, wars don't end on the battlefield. Generally they end with diplomacy, with negotiations, with ceasefires. There's a process.
And if the United States is not even interested in talking to Iran right now to reach that direction, it really remains to be seen if this six-month war goes on another six months, goes into years. Just how this is going to end and what's going to happen in the meantime.
And, you know, especially obviously for the people of Iran, who are suffering greatly, the global economy, which is at its knees over this and nobody seems to want to talk, to try to sort out an end to any of this. So six months in, hard to see how this is going to end, Salma.
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And speaking of those shifting goalposts, president Trump declaring economic war on Iran in recent days but we still have no clarity on what those means -- what that means or what those sanctions look like. Thank you so much. Barbie Nadeau in Rome there.
Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, the search continues for survivors of a deadly flood at the Nepal-China border. But a newly formed lake is fueling concerns of even more flooding.
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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.
Let's go back to our top story in Nepal, where officials are monitoring a second newly formed lake near the flood zone. Concerns are growing that that lake could burst its banks with more than 2,500 people still missing.
Rescue operations resumed just a short time ago. More rain is expected this weekend, which could further complicate those rescue efforts. However, Chinese state media reports no signs of survivors at the border crossing that was engulfed by floodwaters.
The death toll does continue to rise, with police now reporting more than 600 lives lost. Some residents and visitors are learning the fate of their loved ones from lists and photos posted on the wall of a morgue. CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports on the rescue efforts in the hope of finding more survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It looks as though people are getting off, holding some kind of luggage. We can't tell if these people are survivors or whether these are people of loved ones who are trying to find any remaining survivors.
[04:35:05]
Look, another helicopter up in the sky there.
At this Nepali army barracks in Trishuli, helicopter after helicopter ferries people out of some of the hardest hit areas. This survivor walked off showing no obvious signs of injury. He told us he'd spent days trapped on the mountain, convinced he'd die of hunger, waiting desperately for help.
KAPUR SINGH TAMANG, LANDSLIDE SURVIVOR (through translator): There was no food or water with me. It was all swept away and there was nothing I could do. I thought that my life was over and that I would not be able to see my family again.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Across the disaster zone, there are other extraordinary tales of survival. Rescuers pulled over 100 people from tunnels inside a hydroelectric power plant in Rasuwa. Some emerged so completely caked in mud, it looked like a second skin.
But as the hours tick by, this rescue effort is now racing against time. The critical 72-hour window for finding survivors will soon run out. And here outside the army barracks, hope gives way to anguish.
With power lines down and communications cut, many families still have no way of knowing whether their loved ones are alive, so they come here in search of answers.
These are all relatives of people still missing and because they can't get in contact with them, they've come here to the army barracks to give their contact information, their names, trying to see if the people that the army are finding are the same people as their loved ones.
After scanning this list with hundreds of names, there's little left to do but wait and cling to the hope that their families will soon make it home -- Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Nepal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: Now those officials and rescuers in Nepal are facing numerous challenges, including those newly formed lakes that could burst their banks and the mud that was created by additional rainfall.
(WEATHER REPORT) ABDELAZIZ: Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM, prediction markets have allowed users to bet on anything from sports to political outcomes to the weather. Now that booming industry has taken a major hit in federal court. The details when we come back.
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ABDELAZIZ: The Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold its policy banning transgender Americans from U.S. military service. A federal court recently struck down an executive order that was signed early in Trump's second term, directing the Pentagon to ban transgender service members.
The administration wants the high court to reverse that ruling. A decision on whether or not to hear the case will likely come in the next few months. Trump targeted transgender Americans aggressively during his 2024 campaign and he's implemented multiple policies aimed at rolling back rights gained by trans people in recent years.
A federal appeals court has ruled against the prediction market, Kalshi, saying states can regulate the markets and that they should be subject to state gambling laws. It's a major blow to the moving (ph) industry, which allows users to place bets on the outcomes of real world events, from sports and weather to politics and beyond.
The decision does conflict with an earlier federal appeals court ruling and sets us up for a potential Supreme Court showdown. Kalshi is one of the biggest names in the prediction market industry. It has since announced that it will appeal the court's ruling.
Now CNN does have a partnership with Kalshi and uses its data to cover some major events. But editorial employees are not allowed to use the prediction sites.
Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, our Elex Michaelson sat down with Academy Award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins to talk about his lifelong love of composing music and his new recording project. We'll be right back.
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ABDELAZIZ: President Trump has signed an executive order creating a new service academy to train future members of the U.S. Space Force. Mr. Trump announced the move in Houston, Texas, while presenting the Artemis II crew with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.
The president said the U.S. Space Academy would train personnel for the Space Force and NASA, while also supporting the civilian space industry.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Given the rapid growth of the Space Force and the commercial space industry and the expansion of our ambitions to the moon and far beyond the moon.
It's clear that we will need to educate and train an entire generation of skilled service members, engineers and civil operators and everything else.
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ABDELAZIZ: Nashville's airport could soon carry the name of one of Tennessee's biggest stars. The state's governor is backing a proposal to rename the airport after Dolly Parton. This is just days, of course, after the country music legend passed away.
The idea has major public support, with some 150,000 people signing a petition for the tribute. And the tributes continue. Nashville's Grand Old Opry will honor Dolly with a formal tribute Saturday night. She was first introduced to that iconic venue at just 13 years old.
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Standing alongside Johnny Cash, no less, the beginning of a legendary career that spanned nearly six decades. A number of artists are slated to perform to honor the life and extraordinary legacy of the little girl from East Tennessee.
Sir Anthony Hopkins is one of the most celebrated actors of our time with a career spanning more than six decades in film, television and theater. But he's also passionate about another art form and he's launching a new career at age 88. Our Elex Michaelson sat down with him and shares the story.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sir Anthony Hopkins is listening to a performance of music he composed.
SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS, ACTOR AND COMPOSER: I'm sitting there thinking, where did that come from?
MICHAELSON: Where did it come from?
HOPKINS: From inside my soul.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Hopkins is perhaps best known for playing the cannibalistic killer Hannibal Lecter in several movies starting with, "Silence of the Lambs."
(VIDEO CLIP, "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS")
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The real-life Hopkins just released his first ever album of his own classical compositions.
MICHAELSON: Do you think Hannibal Lecter would like this album?
(LAUGHTER)
HOPKINS: It's a silly -- that's a question.
"Hello, Clarice."
(LAUGHTER)
HOPKINS: I like the -- Clarice, I ...
(LAUGHTER)
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The album is titled "Life Is a Dream."
MICHAELSON: What does "Life Is a Dream" mean?
HOPKINS: Exactly that. Life Is a dream. That is what I see it now at 88.5 years of age, going on to my 90s. I just see it as one long dream. I look back over my life. I think that's impossible.
How did I get here?
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Hopkins grew up as an only child in Wales. He'll never forget when his parents took him to see the classical music star Jose Iturbi.
HOPKINS: I went backstage and got his autograph but that's where my love of music started.
MICHAELSON: His favorite musical performance still bring Tony to tears.
HOPKINS: I can't even talk about it without getting choked up.
MICHAELSON: By age 7, Hopkins was playing piano. By 15, he taught himself how to write his own music but he didn't want to publish it.
HOPKINS: I was cynical. And --
MICHAELSON: You didn't think people would like it?
HOPKINS: I didn't believe in myself at all. That's why I became an actor because --
MICHAELSON: The legendary actor, Sir Laurence Olivier, believed in Hopkins' acting ability and became his lifelong mentor.
HOPKINS: I think he was taken by my pugnacious strength. I was a bit of a rebel. Bad boy. MICHAELSON: That bad boy would become one of the most celebrated actors of all time. He'd win an Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs and another for the father.
HOPKINS: I don't know what's happening anymore.
MICHAELSON: He'd earn Oscar nominations for the remains of the day, Amistad, Nixon and The Two Popes. But through it all, he never stopped writing music.
Do you feel is more of your passion than even acting?
HOPKINS: More so now than ever.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
HOPKINS: But it's been in me.
MICHAELSON: Hopkins' wife, Stella, encouraged him to compile his seven decades worth of songwriting into one album. Is there something though about it's never too late to try something new too?
HOPKINS: Never too late. And realization that this is it. So we better wake up and live.
MICHAELSON: Fellow actor Bradley Cooper suggested to Hopkins that he team up with world renowned Maestro Gustavo Dudamel. Dudamel taught Cooper how to conduct for his role in Maestro. Dudamel is now preparing to lead the New York Philharmonic. He recently conducted the halftime show at the World Cup final.
HOPKINS: Hey. Congratulations. How are you?
MICHAELSON: This is the first time these two have ever done a TV interview together. Dudamel recalling the first time he read Hopkins sheet music.
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL, CONDUCTOR LIFE IS A DREAM: And I was digesting all of that inside of me. All of the sound, I was completely in love. Immediately, say, like, wow.
MICHAELSON: Soon afterwards, Dudamel agreed to conduct the recording sessions in London.
HOPKINS: I'm sitting thinking, did I write that?
DUDAMEL: Yes. You did.
MICHAELSON: They performed their album live in Saudi Arabia. We met up with them at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles shortly before they appeared on stage together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations on this new album, Life is a Dream.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The two discussing the album's tracks, which are largely inspired by Hopkins' childhood.
[04:55:03]
They play the music for the audience. How would you describe Sir Anthony Hopkins, the composer?
DUDAMEL: The most generous person.
MICHAELSON: Dudamel says Hopkins' pure joy for living, evidenced by all the dancing videos he posts to social media is inspiring.
DUDAMEL: The most honest thing I believe is when somebody opens his heart, his soul and he shares that with you. This is generosity. Welcome to the Hollywood Bowl.
MICHAELSON: Dudamel just wrapped up his 17-year run leading the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. His final weekend, including a performance with the Foo Fighters.
DUDAMEL: Life changing experience.
MICHAELSON: And a collaboration with Coldplay's Chris Martin, raising money for earthquake victims and Dudamel's native Venezuela.
DUDAMEL: No. Music is not only entertainment. Music heals. And it heals the spirit and we need more of that.
MICHAELSON: A share of the proceeds from Life is a Dream will support earthquake relief in Venezuela. Why was that important for you?
HOPKINS: Well, was such a tragedy and my friend goes to Venezuela. And then the opportunity came, well, put all that in into the relief fund.
MICHAELSON: In less than a year, Hopkins and Dudamel have become good friends. Two men from different generations and different continents united by the universal language of music, something they both learned to love as little boys.
HOPKINS: We never grew up.
MICHAELSON: What do you mean by that?
HOPKINS: We're both kids.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
HOPKINS: We're both children.
MICHAELSON: Even at 88?
HOPKINS: Yes. He hasn't grown up, watched one on the podium conducting the other night. Yes. He's a child. That's what it's about. It's about the power of childhood.
MICHAELSON: Wow. HOPKINS: The child of enthusiasm. Absolutely. Passion.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Elex Michaelson, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ABDELAZIZ: Thank you so much for watching. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. I'll be back with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM, right after a quick break.
