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More Than 780 Dead, 3,000 Missing After Floods Along China- Nepal Border; Ranchers Angry About Pause In Tariffs On Imported Meat; NASA Launches "Discovery Machine" Into Hidden Universe; Trump Calls On FCC To Take Action Against NBC's Kristen Welker; Americans Sound Off On Lake America Versus Lake Ontario. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 30, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:36]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

Breaking news now, in the Grand Canyon 15 people may be missing after flash floods, according to park officials. Urgent search and rescue efforts are underway right now, as well as evacuations after flooding in Bright Angel Canyon, the most popular hiking trail into the canyon, as well as the Phantom Ranch area. Park officials say nearly all foot bridges across the Bright Angel Creek have been destroyed.

Dozens of people have been evacuated. Thankfully no injuries have been reported just yet. The National Park Service is asking anybody who knows of hikers or backpackers who may have been in these areas to contact their tip line.

And tonight, search and rescue in the flood-ravaged areas along China's border with Nepal after this week's flash floods and landslides continue. In some cases, entire villages were wiped out. Nepal officials say at least 780 people have died there, and Chinese authorities have reported at least 16 deaths. Thousands more are still missing, including 85 Americans.

The daughter of one of those missing, a man from Arizona, spoke with CNN earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAMYA TADIPATRI, FATHER MISSING IN NEPAL: At 8:42 was -- we received a message from my dad and he said I will have some issues near the Trishuli River, which was that river that was flooded. And my mom asked what issues and then it was a communication blackout that was the last we heard. And then two minutes later was that video, that showed the flood hitting that port, that very same port.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Families have been flying into Nepal from around the world to search for loved ones. Here you can see hundreds of missing person posters lining a hospital wall in Kathmandu, another grim reminder of the personal toll these catastrophic floods and landslides have taken on this region of the world.

CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley has more now from Kathmandu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So we continue to hear stories from people who just barely survived this massive flood, perhaps by just seconds. And one of the couples that I spoke with today is an Italian couple who actually were at that border checkpoint that saw some of the most severe damage. They saw tour groups, other tour buses full of people essentially just wiped away.

And we're now learning that bodies have been turning up sometimes hundreds of miles from the initial spot where they were initially washed away, just to show you the strength and the violence of the water. Authorities also believe there are many bodies yet to be discovered that are buried beneath multiple layers of quicksand all along the flood route. So it's a very grim situation with so many people, 3,000 people missing.

But there are some here who believe that the number of missing could actually be far higher than that because a lot of cases have been so far unreported. But I want you to hear about this couple's story. Stefano and Valentina, they talked to me earlier about how they managed to survive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALENTINA PICCININI, ITALIAN FLOOD SURVIVOR: Everybody turned right, only me turned left. So that's the point. I don't know why, but in my mind, I can -- I don't know, I cannot explain. I cannot see anything, anybody around me. I cannot hear my name because they are only -- everybody is saying my name. But I was not able to hear them. So I just following Hernan and he showed me the only way I could follow to survive. The only way. Because if I'm going straight on, for sure I would not be here.

RIPLEY: Did you know it was water that was coming when you saw the big black --

STEFANO LUTUMOLO, ITALIAN FLOOD SURVIVOR: No, we couldn't know. Like I just seen the immigration point. It was the beginning. And we just saw something crashing into buses 30 meters in front of us. It was very big like it was crazy. The sound, it was unbelievable.

PICCININI: I felt that everybody of them, they were alive. I don't know why, but my heart can tell me, OK, don't worry. They are all alive. So first, start to think about you, start to run. Think on survive. And then somebody somehow, universe, God, Shiva, whoever, will find a way to bring you back to them or bring them to you.

[18:05:02]

RIPLEY: And you said the healing power of the Nepali people has kept you here and helped you heal from this experience. LUTUMOLO: We were together. They were not different between Italians,

Nepali. We were just human beings, survivor, and we just try. Also the night time celebrating life. And they lost everything. They lost everything. People, houses. They have nothing. They had nothing left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: They know they are the lucky ones when there are just so many people and so many families who are wondering what happened to their loved ones who were also lost in this flood and have yet to be seen or heard from.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Will Ripley reporting there from Kathmandu.

I want to bring in now Nate Mook, the head of All Hands and Hearts disaster relief organization.

And Nate, your group was already in Nepal when the floods and landslides hit. And ever since this tragedy happened, we've been talking about how difficult the terrain is. How has your group's knowledge of the region helped you to react?

NATE MOOK, CEO, ALL HANDS AND HEARTS: Yes, absolutely, Brian. So we've been operating in Nepal since the big 2015 earthquake, rebuilding schools and clinics, and so we had our local team in Nepal ready to go, jumped into action on day zero. But it is very difficult. Even in the best of times these areas by the border are difficult to reach by road. And right now it's monsoon season so that adds to it.

And then of course so many bridges and roads have been washed out by these huge floods. And so access is incredibly difficult. Some areas are only reachable via army helicopter. We've been delivering aid to the authorities here so they can bring it to some of those areas that are unreachable by road. And then some of the other towns are just becoming reachable now to get across the river is very difficult.

And now we're starting to see the devastation today. Our teams were visiting some of the communities and the scale of the destruction was simply apocalyptic.

ABEL: You just shared with us some of the difficulties. Can you also share with us some of the differences between this and the earthquake, more specifically about the kind of aid that All Hands and Hearts has been able to offer in these initial days, and the difference in need?

MOOK: Yes. You know, right now there's sort of two tracks that we're focused on. The first is supporting the search and rescue efforts. So this was getting supplies to the folks that were going into these areas, you know, to dig through the mud, to reach people that were maybe trapped. So supporting those rescue efforts were key, especially in the first days.

The second piece is supporting the families. There are so many families that have simply lost everything. Survivors are located in a number of displacement centers around the region. And, you know, they ran from their homes with essentially nothing. And so, you know, even things like flip flops and blankets and new clothes we've been delivering. Some of these centers it's very, very hot right now. It is monsoon season. So today we were delivering fans and other supplies to help some of these families that are living in these displacement centers.

So right now, in this early stage, it's a lot of sort of that immediate emergency support. In the weeks and months ahead, it's going to be a lot of cleanup and a lot of recovery. And we know from our work during the earthquake that this is going to take time. It's going to take resources, and it's going to take a lot of support from the international community to really help these communities rebuild.

ABEL: And, Nate, you mentioned there earlier about dropping off aid so that the helicopters can take it in. Can you just walk us through, paint a picture for us of what that coordination and collaboration with local governments and other aid groups have looked like so far?

MOOK: Yes. So in the Nuwakot region, the army, the Nepalese army has set up sort of a base of operations where they're working from. And so from there, they've been coordinating. There's a disaster coordination center in Nepal that's kind of managing the different groups so they can share what the needs are. That way, you know, NGOs like ourselves aren't showing up with things that may not be useful.

And then so we're directly coordinating with them. And then we come and we're able to engage and deliver at this centralized location. From there, it's nonstop helicopters that are going out throughout the region. You know, it's, you just -- it's one takes off, another lands, another takes off. And so, it is really just a nonstop effort to get those supplies in. We've been sourcing a lot in Kathmandu and our teams have been bringing trucks up and trucks in, and we're also working to get to some of these other communities that really have not been reached by very much aid yet.

And of course, having our Nepal team that's very familiar with the area, we've built schools and clinics there, they know how to navigate this. And so were obviously trusting them, but we have to be careful because, you know, as has been reported, there's additional flood warnings.

[18:10:04]

There's some lakes that they're concerned about that have been formed by this glacial water that has come down the mountain. And so, you know, it remains a very tricky and dangerous situation, but it requires a lot of coordination. We're also working together with a lot of other NGOs that are starting to arrive as well. And like I said, this is going to be a long, long process ahead to support these families.

ABEL: And Nate, aside from the lives lost and other lives impacted by this, I'm sure it's also heartbreaking for you all to likely see schools that you have built in the wake of that earthquake now destroyed as well with this landslide. UNICEF says -- flooding rather. UNICEF says at least 17,000 children are affected, Nate. Many may have

lost their parents, 18 schools destroyed, 20 more damage. Your group does specifically focus on helping children return to school after disaster. So how do you look at that particular part of this challenge right now?

MOOK: Yes. As you said, you know, this is a major, major disaster and we may not even know the full scale of it. This is why the numbers are going up every single day right now. So, you know, we expect there to be a lot of need to help get these children back into safe schools, safe places to live. You know, it is very possible. Some have lost parents. And so it is a very, very fragile situation right now. And actually many of our team members who lived through the 2015 earthquake, you know, they speak about how they have lived at these displacement centers where many families are living right now.

And so, you know, they're able to go in and talk to these families. They're sort of, you know, they've been through this trauma before. But, you know, they're working night and day to serve and support their fellow Nepalese. And so, you know, we're doing everything we can, but it is -- it's going to be a very -- it's a very difficult moment for sure.

ABEL: I know you have your work cut out for you. Our thoughts are certainly with you and all the aid organizations helping out there.

Nate Mook, with All Hands and Hearts, thank you.

MOOK: Thank you.

ABEL: If you want to help the people in Nepal affected by this disaster, you can go to CNN.com/Impact or scan the QR code that's right there at the bottom of your screen.

Well, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, President Trump is trying to fix his beef with cattle farmers following a clash over his plan to lift tariffs on hundreds of thousands of pounds of imported beef. Plus, NASA launches a space telescope to explore hidden parts of the universe. We break that down with an astrophysicist ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:22]

ABEL: President Trump says he'll make it easier for American ranchers to process their own meat. Trump says he aims to break up what he called a nasty monopoly of meat packing companies. But will that be enough to settle the beef between him and American cattle ranchers? Trump infuriated many of them by saying that to bring beef prices down, he'd lift taxes on ground beef from other countries.

John Boyd, Jr. joins us now. He's the president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association.

John, thank you for taking the time. You've called the president's import plan an in-your-face betrayal. Is this new announcement enough? JOHN BOYD JR., PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS

ASSOCIATION: It is. And, you know, the president wants to bring in 300,000 metric tons of beef where many say is coming from his friends over in Argentina. And when CNN asked him about this, he immediately defended Argentina and said that they need help and the farmers there were hurting. But what about America's farmers who are hurting from his tariffs? We're hurting from his war in Iran in high input costs and diesel fuel and fertilizer and all of these things.

So this has been a rippling effect. And then the president says, OK, well, I'm going to do this 300,000 metric tons at 25 percent below the market. And I went to the market this week, and the prices are significantly down. And that doesn't help America's farmers. And it's not putting America's farmers first. When you immediately speak in support of Argentina versus farmers who are facing foreclosure here, we are losing 77 farmers every day in the United States.

And in the National Black Farmers Association we have nearly 400 pending farm foreclosures. And this administration hasn't done anything. So I think it's very disrespectful to hear the president speak out in support of Argentina farmers and what's going on there, and then after that, don't do anything to help us who are facing foreclosures. I've been on CNN and asked for a farm moratorium to stop farm foreclosures, and it's been a radio silence from this president.

So we are at a crossroads. And, you know, it's election season that's coming up in midterm election. And I hope farmers will vote their pocketbook and their situations that we're facing right now.

ABEL: John, how could the president and this administration rectify this situation in your eyes right now?

BOYD: Well, you have to invest in new and beginning farmers and ranchers, and invest resources here at home. You know, the president invested $40 billion in Argentina.

[18:20:03]

Think of what impact that would have made on those 77 farmers that are going out of business every day. That's the kind of investment that we need. You know, we are facing the lowest cattle count here in the United States since 1951. So we're not producing a lot of beef here. And the reason is, is because we're not investing real resources into America's farmers. So the president comes out and he makes all these wild statements.

Well, I'm just going to let the farmers process their own beef. OK. Well, we have the packing station. We have the cooling facilities and things that we need to complete that process. So he makes these statements with the open-end but there's never any real support for America's farmers at the end of that statement. And that's the problems that farmers are having right here at home.

ABEL: And John, separate but related potentially food safety. It's a big issue after the summer cyclospora outbreak, right? The National Cattlemen's Beef Association posted weakening federal meat inspection and food safety standards isn't the answer. America's cattle producers have earned consumer trust in U.S. beef over generations. That trust and the gold standard food safety system behind it shouldn't be put at risk for a short-term political fix.

What's your take on the argument that this is bad for meat safety?

BOYD: We need a couple of things here. One, we need labeling because Americans deserve to know where this beef is coming from. And the president hasn't told us where this beef is going to come from. The agriculture secretary, when CNN asked her about it, said that she couldn't, wasn't at liberty to talk about that. So we need a labeling. That's the first thing we need. And also we need an immediate congressional inquiry from Congress.

Congress needs to get up off their butt and do something here and enforce the power that they have. They can ask the agriculture secretary to come to an immediate hearing and answer questions about where this beef is coming from, and it's really a national security risk here to bring that kind of beef where we have -- we have an issue with screwworms. It's been recalled. Argentina beef has been recalled in states like Florida and Texas for 30,000 metric tons.

And even China doesn't want this beef. So the president wants to feed the American people some beef that even China doesn't want. And, you know, where's the outrage from this?

ABEL: All right, John, we do have to leave it there. John Boyd, I appreciate you sharing with us your experience and insight. Thank you.

BOYD: Thank you so much for having me.

ABEL: It is the beginning of a journey that could mark a significant shift in our understanding of the universe. We explore NASA's latest telescope launch next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:27:18]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five, four, three, two, one. Ignition and liftoff. Go Falcon heavy and go Roman space telescope.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And liftoff of NASA's Roman space telescope --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: A beautiful sight. This morning NASA launching a massive telescope that scientists say could answer questions about some of the biggest mysteries in the universe. The telescope is named for NASA's first chief of astronomy, Nancy Grace Roman. Over the next five years, it will explore the cosmos, potentially revealing answers about dark matter, dark energy, and even allow astronomers to spot previously unseen galaxies.

Let's bring in professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester, Adam Frank, to talk about all of this.

Adam, what excites you about this launch?

ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Well, the telescope itself, it's the fact that we're going to get these incredibly new views of the universe that can answer fundamental questions like the one I'm -- you know, it's really close to my heart is exoplanets. We're going to get new views of planets orbiting other stars, which we didn't even know whether there were any 20 or 30 years ago.

So, you know, and that's all taking us closer to understanding whether there's life in the universe. So this telescope, which was a long time coming and has an amazing back story is really the next generation of instrument to sort of answer fundamental questions about the universe.

ABEL: You're already previewing a question that I have coming down the line here, Adam. So hold on about that life in other areas of the universe for a second.

First, how could learning more about dark matter and dark energy help us down here on earth?

FRANK: Well, you know what? It's not so much that, like, you're going to get some kind of, you know, dark matter energy ray or dark energy ray. It's that the precision. In order to investigate this, you have to push current optical technologies. Current, you know, artificial intelligence technologies beyond anything that would happen if you didn't -- if you weren't trying to encounter this problem.

So the whole history of the space exploration, you know, cell phones wouldn't exist if it wasn't for all the technologies developed by NASA. So time and time again, it's the need to go beyond the limits of current technology that space exploration requires, then just feeds back, you know, times 100 in terms of, you know, prosperity and safety here on earth.

ABEL: Because you never know what you may find. You know, there's plenty a movie that tells tales of be careful what you search for. Do you have any concerns about what they might find out there?

[18:30:02]

FRANK: No, no, no. I mean, you know, these -- the planets that we're looking at are hundreds of light years away, right? There's -- you know, the distances between the stars are so vast, it's really hard to wrap your mind around, right? So like if the nearest star is so far away from us that the fastest thing we've ever invented, the fastest spacecraft, would take 100,000 years to get there. So like, yes, no, there's no danger coming from there.

But if we saw life, if we eventually get to the point where we can see other planets with other life, that would radically transform how we understand ourselves.

ABEL: And how much does this telescope increase those chances of finding that?

FRANK: Yes. So the thing people need to understand is that science is a long game, right? You know, you got to do things piece by piece. You take each small step and verify that step so you're not fooling yourself. And then the next step goes on. So what the Nancy Grace Roman telescope is going to do is going to actually allow us to see a whole other class of exoplanet that we haven't been able to identify before to get a good idea of the census, of what kind of exoplanets are out there.

And then like the next mission, this mission called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which hopefully we'll be talking about in 10, 20 years, that one is the one that will actually be able to see these exoplanets and look for signs of life or even technology.

ABEL: And Adam, Trump, President Trump signed an executive order on Friday to create this U.S. Space Academy. Our executive producer of the show said -- called it Starfleet. How do you see this changing the space field?

FRANK: Well, I think, you know, we're undergoing -- it's just one piece of an ongoing transformation in how our understanding of space is, right? We've got all these commercial ventures. There are so many rocket, private rocket companies from SpaceX to, you know, Electron. There's just -- there's a whole space industry that didn't exist, you know, even 10 years ago. And so really, we're headed towards a place wherein, you know, 50 years, 100 years, there's going to be a lot of people working and living in space.

Certainly within a century, I could imagine hundreds of thousands of people living in space. And if you want to go just, you know, a few hundred years into the future, well, you know, you go 200 years back, nobody was even in trains. 200 years in the future, I could imagine millions of people living and working in space.

ABEL: That is amazing perspective, and sign me up.

Adam Frank, thank you, sir.

FRANK: Me too. Me too.

ABEL: For sharing your expertise. I'll see you there.

FRANK: Take care.

ABEL: The southeast is roasting right now under a massive heat dome that is feeding a threat of severe storms and flooding in the northeast and Great Lakes this week.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has more on what we can expect to see throughout the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Meteorological fall starts Tuesday, but it is certainly going to feel more like summer for much of the week. All of that heat that's really been focused across the southern tier is now going to start to spread eastward in the coming days. So take for example, the highs today around the triple digits still in Oklahoma, portions of Texas, 90 in Atlanta, 88 in Raleigh.

But these numbers right here are going to start to go up as we head into Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. Some of these areas looking at temperatures that are 10 to even 15 degrees above where they normally would be. And one of those places, Kansas City, the average this time of year is 85 degrees. We will spend every single one of the next seven days, 10 to 15 degrees above that number.

Now, the heat is also fueling a lot of showers and thunderstorms already starting to fuel some today. They will continue through the evening hours moving from the Midwest over into the northeast. So by the start of Monday, you're still going to be looking at some showers and thunderstorms for places like New York, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Buffalo, as that line of storms continues to spread eastward.

Then as we get later into the day Monday, the next round begins to come in, again, spreading from the Midwest across the Great Lakes into the northeast. It is going to be multiple days for a flood concern. Take New York City, for example. They have a level one risk of flooding Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and even going into Wednesday of this week. So it's going to be multi-day impact here thanks to back- to-back waves of moisture coming through much of this area.

And it's not just flooding, but there's also the potential for severe thunderstorms, mainly damaging winds, some small hail. But we can't rule out an isolated tornado. This would be for Tuesday. Again, you can see kind of the focus right there across the mid-Atlantic portions of the northeast, but it does stretch all the way back through areas of the Midwest. So certainly something we'll keep a close eye on in the coming days.

ABEL: Allison Chinchar, thank you.

President Trump launches another attack at the media calling for the FCC to rebuke or punish a major network anchor. But can the agency actually step in? We talk about it with Brian Stelter after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:36]

ABEL: Tonight, President Trump is lashing out at the host of "Meet the Press," NBC's Kristen Welker, after she talked about his track record on whether his political endorsements are winning elections. Welker said Trump has had mixed results in recent Republican primaries. Trump posted that he would report her to the FCC for, quote, "rebuke or punishment."

Let's talk about this. Joining me now is CNN's Brian Stelter.

[18:40:00]

And Brian, this is the president's most explicit effort yet to direct the FCC to carry out his wishes and actively shape news coverage he doesn't like. Has the commission responded yet to this?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: No, nothing yet. I did reach out to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a close Trump ally, earlier today. I have not heard back, but I have heard from Ana Gomez. She's the lone Democrat on the commission. She's outnumbered 3 to 1 at the commission. But here's what she told me. She said, quote, "The FCC has no authority to punish journalists that this administration doesn't like." Quote, "These threats to press freedom are dangerous. They undermine the foundation of our democracy, and they have no place in it."

That's Gomez's statement. But right now what we see is the president treating the FCC like it's his personal enforcement squad, giving directives via Truth Social. We have seen other agencies weaponized in the past year and a half. The Justice Department comes to mind. But this is an example of the media regulator being weaponized, or at least the president trying to do so.

In the past, Brendan Carr has been quick to respond to Trump's ideas. For example, one day after Trump called for ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel and ABC rejected that, Carr opened up an unusual license investigation of Disney's local station licenses. Those eight ABC stations are now being challenged by the federal government.

Carr has a similar investigation open at NBC's parent company, Comcast. There hasn't been a lot of attention around that until now. So the question now is that you have the president out there blasting NBC, complaining about Welker saying he's going to report her to the FCC, the question now is whether Brendan Carr will progress his investigation into Comcast and take some sort of action as a result?

So that is an unknown. But it's important to note here the FCC has very limited power. And its own Web site says that the agency cannot prevent any broadcaster from broadcasting any particular point of view. NBC has responded this afternoon defending Welker, putting out a statement saying, "Kristen is one of the best in the business and we stand by her." And maybe most importantly here, what she said on the air this morning was accurate.

She said that Trump has had a mixed result lately about his endorsements. That's true. Overall, almost everybody he endorses wins. Some of them would have win without his endorsement, some would not. But recently, Trump has had a mixed record with several governor candidates he endorsed losing in the primaries. And CNN has reported that just like NBC. So what Welker said was true but it offended the president, and he's trying to call in the FCC for help.

If there is any action by the FCC, it won't be against Welker individually, but it could be against her parent company, Comcast. And so that becomes the question, Brian. Will there be a follow-up, sort of retaliatory attempt against NBC's parent company? And we'll have to wait to see. ABEL: And if past history, as you pointed out, tells us anything, we

may soon know the answer to how Brendan Carr responds.

STELTER: Yes, that's right.

ABEL: Meanwhile, the "New York Times," Brian, is reporting that Trump's Treasury Department is barring some journalists from this week's G20 finance meeting? What are you learning about this?

STELTER: Right. The "Times" speaking out about this and also saying the "Wall Street Journal" and Bloomberg News have been excluded from the meeting. Now, Treasury says many other journalists, scores of journalists will be attending and covering the conference, but it does seem to be a form of retaliation against specific journalists who are on some sort of naughty list the government has.

Of course, by publicizing that, it is good to put that out in the public domain so that people know what the government is doing and in this case trying to take action against those reporters. These oftentimes have the effect of just amplifying what the reporters are working on and drawing more attention to it. So we'll see if that happens in this case, too.

ABEL: All right. Brian Stelter, for us. Brian, thank you.

STELTER: Thanks.

ABEL: Lake America or Lake Ontario? Canada or the U.S.? We track how Americans really feel about the trade war with our neighbors to the north. Harry Enten runs the numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:31]

ABEL: Over the weekend, Google Maps changed Lake Ontario to Lake America on its site for users in the U.S. following the executive order from President Trump amid his tense trade war with Canada. But are Americans on board?

Harry Enten runs the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: When it comes to weekends I like to play games. Baseball is usually my sport and maybe a little football as we enter autumn. But the game we're going to play today is name that lake. Of course, I am talking about the lake that has traditionally been known as Lake Ontario, but President Trump says it's now Lake America. But do Americans agree with him? Are they actually now calling it Lake America?

Well, the early signs are no, Americans do not, in fact, agree with President Trump. We can see it right here in the Google searches. OK. Search more on Google since Thursday. While I looked at the Google searches in all 50 states, and guess what? In every single one of them, all 50, a 50 state sweeperoo, more Americans are searching for Lake Ontario. That, again, is all the states, 50 states, than for Lake America, which gets zero, zero, zero, zero, zero and zero states more people are searching for Lake America than Lake Ontario.

Of course, this is not the first time that President Trump has tried to deal with Canada in a tough way, or at least a way that he sees is tough. But here's the thing. Canada has got a one up on him even amongst the American people.

[18:50:02]

We can see it quite well right here. OK. Net ratings among Americans, confident in Trump on Canada-U.S. relations, look at the net confidence rating. It's 15 points underwater, 15 points underwater, way under, way under Lake Ontario. See? See what I'm doing? I'm bringing this whole segment together.

But take a look here. What's the net favorable rating of Canada? What's the net favorable rating of Canada among Americans? Well, it's a completely different ball game. Plus 48 points. My goodness gracious. Americans far more like Canada, dare I say love Canada, than like the way, or dare I say, they despise the way that President Trump is dealing with Canada. What is this? Do some quick math with me on the screen right here. 48-15, what is that?

That's a 63-point difference, Americans are far more likely 63 points more likely to say they have a net favorable rating of Canada than have net confidence in Trump to deal with Canada.

Now, I will say that sometimes I feel like it's deja vu all over again. You know, I mentioned baseball earlier on the segment, so I figure I'll bring up a Yogi Berra-ism. Deja vu all over again because I seem to recall that President Trump, when dealing with a country on America's borders, tried to play tough with them by renaming a body of water. Oh, yes. Yes. He wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of America.

But you know what? As we look at slide number one, as we're looking right now in the early days of Lake Ontario, more Americans Googling that than Lake America, I think that's going to hold. Why do I think that's going to hold? Because look, look at this. OK. Search more on Google in the last year. Now, we're not just talking a few days. We're talking a year's worth of Google searches.

Are more Americans searching for Gulf of Mexico, or are they buying President Trump has been saying, no, it's the Gulf of America. Look at this. It's again, a 50-state sweeperoo in favor of the Gulf of Mexico. Zero, zero, zero states are searching more for the Gulf of America than the Gulf of Mexico. And that's not much of a surprise because when you look at the polling, you can see it right here, I got the nugget up here. The net approval of the idea or the name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, 35 points underwater, way down there in the Gulf of Mexico.

So I don't think this Lake America name change is going to work out for the president. I think Americans are going to continue to call it Lake Ontario.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. Harry Enten, thank you.

Little bats, big stakes. Kids from around the globe are playing to win big. The latest from the Little League World Series ahead.

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[18:57:22]

ABEL: Golfer Justin Rose making an incredible shot during the final round of the PGA Tour championship. Let's take a look at it, from 208 yards out on the par three ninth at East Lake Golf Club here in Atlanta, a hole-in-one. Rose finishing tied for 18th. Scottie Scheffler winning the tournament.

Well, tonight the finals of the Little League World Series. Henderson, Nevada, facing Curacao in the championship game. Nevada leading two- zero early on. But Curacao took the lead for good in the fourth inning and went on to win 11 to 2. The island country was in the finals for the third time in five years, but wins for the first time since 2004.

Congratulations to them.

Earlier, the consolation game ended in an unusual way as Japan came from behind to beat Hamilton, Ohio, winning this way with a bunt. That capped a three-run final inning, giving Tokyo the 3 to 2 win.

Well, some of the biggest stars in the world of sports made their names back in the 2010s. Here's a preview of the new episode of "DECADES IN SPORTS."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Social protest was a characteristic of sports in 2010s, and it was part of social media creeping into the sports world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Social media made everything that was good about sports better and everything that was bad about sports worse. For fans, they could find out so much, but it was also a megaphone for every bad fan who used social media as a way to criticize the most elite athletes for their supposed shortcomings and failings.

KENDRA ANDREWS, SPORTS JOURNALIST, ESPN: But the positive side of it is that you can feel a certain connection to the athletes through what they are putting out themselves. And when athletes and other celebrities start to utilize it, you get to see certain parts of their life that you would never get to see before. What they like to do, who are they as people. So I can invest in them more as a fan now. And it just makes you feel closer to them. You can really support them because not only do I love the way that they play the game, I think they're a cool person.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ABEL: And be sure to tune in a new episode of "DECADES IN SPORTS" airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific on CNN and Monday on the CNN app.

The next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ABEL: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

Breaking news, the first U.S. strike tonight against Iran in more than a month.