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Nepal Humanitarian Assistance; Urgent Search Underway to Find Workers Missing in Tunnels; Deadly Switzerland Rave Shooting; Deadly Attack on Ukraine; Israel: Airstrike in West Bank Kills Hamas Member; About 90 U.S. Citizens Missing After Disaster; Iceland Rejects Plan to Restart E.U. Membership Talks. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 30, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London. Let's go straight to those headlines.

Rescue efforts grow more frantic as the death toll rises from the catastrophic Nepal-China flooding. We're on the ground in Nepal with the latest. And the need for humanitarian assistance is dire. I'll speak with an aid worker on the current conditions and what people need most right now. Plus, Ukraine is reeling from one of the deadliest incidents since Russia launched its war. We're going to explain why President Zelenskyy has started a criminal investigation.

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN Newsroom with Salma Abdelaziz.

ABDELAZIZ: Rescue teams are right now racing to find survivors following that devastating flash flooding along Nepal's border with China. Right now, an urgent search is underway for workers who might be trapped in hydropower tunnels.

The death toll does continue to climb and authorities are struggling to cope with the mounting number of bodies. Workers are now preparing a mass grave. This is to bury hundreds of unidentified victims. 734 people are confirmed dead in Nepal and at least 16 others in China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHISIR KHANAL, NEPALI FOREIGN MINISTER: Our immediate priority remains clear to save lives, locate missing persons, rescue them, provide urgent relief to survivors, and ensure that affected Nepali as well as foreign nationals receive appropriate assistance and support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: Teams from India, China, and South Korea are now joining the response, bringing critical expertise and resources. About 3,000 people are still missing, but a sweeping rescue effort has saved the lives of nearly 3,000 more. There is dramatic new video now that shows one of those rescues. It's a young girl trapped under a collapsed building. Take a look. In the meantime, Chinese officials say that a barrier lake has formed by a landslide near the flood zone and has now overflowed, but they say the situation is stable, adding that the possibility of a complete breach is for now relatively low. CNN's Hanako Montgomery made it into a devastated village as the search for those survivors continue. And as you're going to see in her report, Hanako witnessed just scenes of heartbreaking destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in Nepal's Devigat, destruction stretches for miles. Daily life has grounded to a halt here, replaced instead by a steady stream of police and dogs sniffing for any bodies.

MONTGOMERY: And actually, just moments ago, they did find one. We, of course, can't show it to you, but they told us that because it was so badly decomposed, they couldn't even identify who it was.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Downstream, workers are digging a mass grave for the hundreds of bodies that have washed ashore, delivered by the truckload. Some are so heavily waterlogged. Workers struggle under their weight.

And among these bodies is this five-year-old girl. Serina's family said she was on her way to school when the flood swept her bus away. We spoke to her father, Rajkumar (ph), by phone. He barely survived and is now stranded with help out of reach.

MONTGOMERY: When did you learn, sir, that your daughter was missing?

RAJKUMAR (PH) (through translator): I was working, and I called immediately after I escaped. I was still hoping that my daughter was alive. One of the girls who tried saving her told me she wasn't able to hold her, and the flood swept her away.

MONTGOMERY: I can't imagine the pain you must be feeling right now. How are you dealing with this immense tragedy?

RAJKUMAR (PH) (through translator): My dream was always to educate my daughter so she could be successful in life. That's why I worked so hard. But my dream for her hasn't come true.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): But Rajkumar (ph) says he can't identify her body, with no money or means to confirm that his only child is now gone.

Numbers can't describe the human cost of this tragedy, a pain shared by too many here. Sadiq Nepal lost his business in the flood and his home, the one he's lived in for years.

[04:05:00]

MONTGOMERY: How long do you think it's going to take for you to rebuild all of this?

SADIQ NEPAL, SURVIVED FLOOD: I think it is not possible to stay here. I think we are to leave this place.

MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Sadiq barely made it out alive when he saw the flood rushing toward his town, he said, like a tsunami. He ran up a nearby mountain where he filmed these videos. He said all he had was a t-shirt and sandals. But luckily his whole family made it out in time. He shows us inside his home, where furniture and a bathroom once stood are now tree branches, ropes and animal carcasses that the river brought in.

Now, more than three days after the flood swept through the valley, the chances of finding trapped survivors alive are getting slimmer. Many of these operations are now becoming search and recovery, amounting to a toll of heartbreak for thousands of families.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Nepal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: For more on those search and rescue operations, we're joined now live by Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. As we heard there from Hanako Montgomery, the chances of finding someone alive are becoming slimmer and slimmer, and the challenges for rescue workers keep on mounting. What are you learning right now? About 3,000 people, I believe, that are still missing, still unaccounted for?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Yes, Salma. I mean, we are days after this disaster took place on Wednesday, and yet the death toll is rising. Thousands of people remain missing. The search operation continues for yet another day in the disaster zone, and authorities are struggling. They're struggling to reach remote areas, including those tunnels under those hydroelectric plants, where scores of workers are believed to be missing. They are struggling with very adverse weather conditions, like rain, like fog, like rising water levels.

And, of course, you have the sheer scale of it all. 750 people at least are dead. Some 3,000 people are missing. Among those, around 900 are those missing hydroelectric workers. And we have this video that we obtained earlier today from the army in Nepal, and it shows rescuers inside a tunnel of one of these hydroelectric plants. They were able to access that tunnel and undertake that rescue operation.

But elsewhere, they're trying to create a link to the tunnels and other hydropower plants. And, one, they're pumping air down. They're sending food down. They're trying to drill a manhole, so they can go down into the tunnel and send additional teams to look for any survivors. We got some clarity on these rescue operations late on Saturday night from an official in Nepal.

Let's bring up the statement for you. This is from Nepal's minister of energy, water resources and irrigation, who shares this, quote, "That there has been some success in the ongoing rescue efforts at the Trishuli-3 A hydropower project tunnel, which was buried under mud and sludge following the flood," unquote. So, there was progress there. But at that tunnel, they have yet to establish communications with any of the trapped workers there. Now, families of the victims, they are stuck in this agonizing limbo, just waiting for answers. We also know that survivors, they are waiting for desperately needed supplies, like food, clean water and hygiene projects, products that have not been able to reach them, because the roads are impossible.

And meanwhile, rescue workers, they're trying to clear the roads, especially the roads between Nepal and Tibet. And they are addressing the challenge at hand. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WU XIN, COMMANDER, RESCUE TEAM, CHINA ANNENG (through translator): The biggest challenge today is that the roadbed is completely gone, and we're operating in a very confined space. So, we've been using excavators to dig out the silt and relay, while reinforcing the foundation with large rocks. So, far, we've repaired about 150 meters of roadway, excavated 12,000 cubic meters of silt, and repaired 100 meters of washed-out roadbed. We've reopened the first curve, where the roadbed had been entirely destroyed. That gives us a solid footing for the next phase of rescue and relief work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, the finance minister of Nepal told Reuters that the country needs $4 to $5 billion U.S. dollars to rebuild. They need tunnel experts, they need technical training, and they also need the funds, the aid to be able to rebuild their communication lines, as well as their transport links, including all of those fallen, destroyed bridges and roads. Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Kristie Lu Stout, as you're speaking there, we're looking at those images of the attempts to rebuild, reconnect these communities, and it's just gut-wrenching when you think about the so many people that are still missing and the families that are waiting for those answers. Thank you so much for joining us.

[04:10:00]

I want to go next to Kathmandu, where we are joined now by Suraj Sigdel. He is the Nepal country director for the organization, the humanitarian organization, Mercy Corps. Thank you so much, first of all, for joining us in the middle of what I know is a very complex and ongoing situation. This is an area, of course, that is familiar with flooding, that is familiar with natural disasters, but you've said this catastrophe is unprecedented. It's on an entirely different scale. Why is that? Explain that to me.

SURAJ SIGDEL, NEPAL COUNTRY DIRECTOR, MERCY CORPS: I mean, it was my first -- I think it was my first interview on the second day. So, what we saw and what people felt of the size of disaster, it was never happened in Nepal. Nepal is a mountainous country, a country with so many glaciers, and we do have this flash flooding regularly, and Nepal is gradually preparing with the early warning systems and making the people aware about evacuation, early identification, and all that. However, this one was, you know, like, even we were talking in our team, it even surprised the early warning system, you know, like early warning system was hit in such a way that they could not even warn others. So, even our, the mechanical technical part was also not successful to, you know, like relay or channel the message to the people. So, that's how big it was.

And, you know, like, we generally, when we talk about, when we listen about tsunami in different coastal areas, we used to think that Nepal is a landlocked country. So, we might not have the tsunami, but looking at this catastrophe, it was, I mean, like, equal to, if not more than any tsunami. So, what we have lost is not just, it's like lives we have lost. We have lost the infrastructure.

And Nepal, you know, like, we are developing a nation, and we have, you know, like, built all this infrastructure in a very gradual, slow motion. And now, you can see everything is gone. So, the road connection is gone. Communication is gone. The power is gone. So, that's why I call it unprecedented.

ABDELAZIZ: And as you're describing how the roads are gone, communications are gone, it seems right now that the main means of getting people out is, of course, airlifting them via helicopters. Can you tell me what is the priority list? Who gets evacuated first? And where are they taken once they are evacuated for treatment and for help? And is that process now working several days into this tragedy?

SIGDEL: It's -- I mean, like, they have the priority. So, if someone is evacuated and having the health issues or, like, other priorities, they are brought to Kathmandu, and they are directly taken to the hospitals for health, you know, like, checking and all that. And those who only need evacuation from the danger zone, they are, like, brought to their district head office or in the self-area. So, that is how the evacuation has been done.

Is it enough? No, it is not. Because, you know, like, we have limited helicopters. I think 20, 20-plus helicopters are being used right now. And that's all our capacity is. So, there are still many inaccessible areas, more in the Rasuwa district, who are still waiting for them to be rescued and identified. So, yes. I mean, government needs to boost up the rescue mission even further.

ABDELAZIZ: Only 20 to 20-plus helicopters, you estimate, that are ferrying people out, the most vulnerable, the ill, the wounded, many who are still there and need to be rescued. Talk to me about how things are getting into the disaster zone for those who are trapped there. How are you getting aid and supplies and whatever people need there on the ground? Because we understand, of course, food, water, all of that right now is in dire need on the ground. Do you have enough? Is it getting there quickly enough?

SIGDEL: Right. So, thanks to all the donors who have supported so far. At least people are joining hand. So, they're like national, international communities coming together to provide supplies, water, food items, emergency center and hygiene supplies. They are coming. So, government has planned to do the one door system. So, there are like collection centers in Kathmandu and in different part of the impacted areas. So, where people and the communities and the NGOs are depositing it, and it's being distributed through the government mechanism. That has been the case.

[04:15:00]

Again, is it enough? No, it is not. At least not to the Rasuwa district where people are scattered in different areas, and they are not accessed by any means. So, they are still being left out. However, the gradual supplies are being taken to Nuwakot, which is fairly a bit better, but to the Rasuwa which is more hard hitted, it needs further, you know, like supplies.

But the problem is, again, the transport, the road is gone. And the, you know, like the alternate road that was linked to Nuwakot which is quite narrow. So, we cannot take the big trucks. So, we need to go with the small minivans. So, which has a limited capacity. So, that is why also it is taking some time to reach out to the people.

And then, you know, like today itself, our one of the main highway, which is being closed again. It was closed for three days. It was open from yesterday. And today, because of the, you know, like hard hit by that water and mud, it is gone now. So, we are struggling with the access part.

ABDELAZIZ: Suraj Sigdel, they're talking about the struggle to access those who need this humanitarian help. And they need it now. By your estimate, it's only 20 plus helicopters are around that number that are ferrying people in, bringing help on the ground. It is simply not enough, though. Thank you so much for explaining the logistics behind that to us.

Now, very far away from the tragedy in the Himalayas, Nepali communities around the world are praying for the dead and missing. In Sydney, Australia, more than 100 people gathered for a candlelight vigil. One man whose friend is missing says the losses have really hit home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAGENDRA ADHIKARI, HUMANITARIAN WORKER: We are sad for his family. We're still hoping for the good news. Not only that, some of my cousins, some of my relatives, their beloved are also missing. It's a huge disaster, and we are facing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: And here in London, a worship ceremony for a Hindu festival took a somber tone because of the devastating floods in Nepal. But it also doubled as a fundraiser, since many attendees have ties to that region. Organizers say they raised more than $8,000 for relief efforts and hope that they can collect more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NARENDRA KANDEL, CHAIR OF COMMITTEE AT SHREE PASHUPATINATH TEMPLE: This is the temple, you know, where we always come together in difficult times. And people talk, you know, they try to support each other. And I mean, emotionally and at the same time, financially as well, you know, people have been very generous to support Nepal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABDELAZIZ: And in New York, Nepali communities gathered as they waited for news of relatives, friends and neighbors gone missing in those floods. They say the vigil was a way to share their sorrow together. For more information on how you can help the victims of this disaster, please visit cnn.com/impact.

I want to go back to our breaking news now. We first reported it last hour. Police in Switzerland say one person is dead and five others are injured. This is in a shooting at a dance party early Sunday. A manhunt is still underway in Aarau. This is a scenic town in northern Switzerland. Police say that the incident unfolded at a horse racing track where a rave was being held. Authorities added that the shooter's motive and the exact circumstances remain unclear.

Now, Switzerland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe, but violent shootings like this are rare and gun control laws in the country are extremely tight. We're going to bring you more information as we get it here at CNN.

And there's much more to come, including an attack near Kyiv that killed tens of people, but much of the damage appears to actually be not from those Russian drones or missiles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Ukraine's president says a criminal investigation is underway. This is after one of the deadliest attacks in the Kyiv region since the start of the war. Russian drones hit an ammunition warehouse. This was on Saturday, and it likely set off the ordinances that were stored inside. It led to a series of explosions that lasted for hours and killed at least 38 people and wounded dozens more. Many of the nearby buildings were damaged, and now President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to know who is responsible for storing that ammunition so close to civilian homes.

For more on all of this, we're joined by Barbie Nadeau. She comes to us live from Rome. So, Barbie, President Zelenskyy is saying, look, someone is going to have to answer for this. What are you learning about the investigation so far?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes. You know, I mean, this is an incredibly disastrous situation, but it's the second time in recent months that the damage has been caused by the destruction of an ammunitions warehouse. And so, President Zelenskyy is looking into opening a criminal investigation, not into Russia, obviously, for launching this attack, but into his own military, and whoever made the decision to store this ammunition so close to a residential area.

And they're still -- more than 24 hours later, still trying to get through all of that rubble. And we've been hearing just horrible accounts from residents in that area about what they went through. Let's listen to this woman and what she went through that Saturday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HALYNA HORODETSKA, 70-YEAR-OLD LOCAL RESIDENT (through translator): A wall of fire was coming toward us. My son dropped to his knees and shouted, Mom, get down. So, I dropped to the ground and started crawling home on my knees. It was impossible to walk because the wall of fire would have engulfed us, so we crawled on our knees.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:25:00]

NADEAU: You know, that's just a horrifying situation for that woman and for her son and for all of those residents, of course, and people who've lost loved ones. This comes in the midst of a very violent, ongoing attack for these jet-powered drones and missiles over the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding areas. For the last couple of days, we've got reports of multiple air raid sirens basically just stopping the city and those suburbs, people on their tracks, going down into bomb shelters, closing schools and shopping malls and banks and businesses.

And, you know, we're talking about four years into this war, looking at another long, hard winter ahead for those people, and now it seems that these, you know, ammunition warehouses are really causing a threat for people who are living in these areas, Salma.

ABDELAZIZ: Barbie Nadeau there, reporting from Rome, in such important context that this has happened recently. Thank you.

An Israeli airstrike has reportedly killed three people in the occupied West Bank. The IDF says it was targeting a Hamas militant who was joined by two accomplices. This is in the northern city of Jenin, and it happened on Friday. Now, Israel claims the militant had international ties with Hamas members and was linked to attacks on Israeli citizens and security forces.

Hamas condemned the attack but did not claim the alleged operative who was targeted. Palestine Red Crescent medics say they were briefly detained when Israeli ground troops later raided the strike zone, and they were prevented from transporting victims to the hospital. The IDF has yet to respond to those statements.

Now, to Venezuela, where the interim president there says a new oil deal with the U.S. is set to last for 25 years. The agreement gives the U.S. control over about a fifth of Venezuelan reserves, that's 65 billion barrels. Washington says the move is going to double America's oil reserves and lower gas prices. Caracas says the deal will help revitalize Venezuela's economy by transforming energy reserves into resources for social and housing programs.

Still to come here on CNN Newsroom, after a failing glacier triggered devastating floods in Nepal and China, families around the world are waiting for news of their missing loved ones.

And an update on a father and son who were detained by ICE in Texas, what their family has to share about the situation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

The death toll from those devastating flooding along China's-Nepal's border has now risen to 750 people killed, and more than 3,000 people are still missing. The vast majority of them are in Nepal, and rescue workers are right now searching for any remaining survivors. Residents whose homes were buried in mud or were washed away are waiting for aid. And Nepal's foreign minister told the Reuters news agency that the country needs foreign specialist help for tunnel rescues, DNA testing, and restoring transportation and communication after the disaster. Hundreds of those missing in the disaster area are foreigners.

Some come from the U.S., and families are, of course, anxious to hear from their loved ones or simply find out what happened to them. CNN's Rafael Romo brings us some of their stories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to the U.S. State Department, there are about 90 Americans missing after the devastating flood that hit Nepal's border with China on Wednesday. One of those missing Americans is Anil Goel from Virginia. According to his family, Goel, an avid hiker, had planned a multi-day trip to hike Mount Kailash near Nepal's border with China as part of a tour group.

But his son, Anurag Goel, told CNN this morning that the family hasn't heard from his father or the group since the day before the disaster. Anurag Goel says the last communication from the group happened less than an hour before the flooding happened in that area around the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANURAG GOEL, FATHER ANIL DURAG MISSING IN NEPAL WITH TOUR GROUP: They were known to last be at the Nepal side of the Nepal and Tibet border. That's called Gyirong Crossing. And they were last known to have received their departure stamp on their passports around 8:35 a.m. to depart Nepal, enter Tibet. And there were also some messages through WhatsApp exchanged around that time. So, that was roughly 45 minutes before the flooding took place in that area.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMO: Goel also told CNN that, quote, "There's been a large lag in communication from the affected region that has made it even more difficult for families like his who are desperate for any news about their loved ones."

Last night in Hicksville, New York, people came together for a solemn vigil. Leaders from the Long Island Nepalese Society organized the vigil to gather in solidarity, prayer and hope, as CNN affiliate, News 12 Long Island, reported. A man who worked as a teacher in Nepal and now lives in the United States told News 12 he lost several people he knew, including former students and neighbors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIAWAKAR PANDE, NEPALI COMMUNITY LEADER: I was the teacher in there. I lost my three students in there. One, my neighbor people, I lost in there. A lot of the people I lost in this time, in this incident.

MYAM JIRI, LONG ISLAND NEPALESE SOCIETY: It's very heartbreaking to all of us to see our fellow country people losing their lives and their houses in a matter of a few minutes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: A State Department spokesperson told CNN the United States government is sending aid to Nepal, including food, and that the first trucks carrying assistance are on the way. The United Kingdom has pledged nearly $6.8 million in assistance, and the European Union said it would provide $2.3 million in aid.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: OK. We have breaking news coming in to CNN just now. Voters in Iceland have rejected a nationwide referendum to resume talks to join the European Union. While we are still waiting on the final results from only one constituency, the Icelandic national broadcaster reports it would not affect opponents' majority lead. They argued the measure would threaten Iceland's sovereignty and fishing rights, while those in favor said E.U. membership could offer more security, especially against Donald Trump's threats.

[04:35:00]

Now, to the U.S., where the family of a father and his five-year-old son deported from the United States are speaking out after authorities said the pair are now back in Mexico. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say the pair will be back in Mexico U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Victor Martinez Nieto and his son Liam in Texas. The video of them being detained was posted to social media and went viral. Martinez Nieto's family says he had very little choice but to be sent back to Guanajuato with his son. CNN's Valeria Leon has this report for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 19-year-old Fatima Martinez was working in the fields in this remote town in central Mexico when she learned her older brother, Victor Martinez, had been detained by ICE in Texas.

FATIMA MARTINEZ, VICTOR'S SISTER (through translator): It makes you said. You start crying. It's painful to see your siblings suffer.

LEON (voice-over): The moment of Victor's arrest was caught on video, showing him in chains with his five-year-old, Liam, crying by his side. Facing the possibility of being separated from Liam, Victor agreed to be deported to Mexico.

LEON: Victor Martinez and his son Liam were sent back to his parents' home here in this small town in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, surrounded by mountains. Most of the people here harvest corn, and this is the exact place where Victor decided to leave to the U.S.

MARTINEZ (through translator): It's good to see him again, but at the same time it's sad because they only go there to pursue their dreams, but they don't let them.

LEON (voice-over): Fatima is the eldest of 12 siblings. Four of them are still in the U.S. Victor had crossed the border earlier this year, a journey his family says came at a very high price. Fatima told CNN he still owes $15,000 to the smuggler who helped him cross into the U.S.

MARTINEZ (through translator): Here, we basically survive by working in the fields. We're a little forgotten.

LEON (voice-over): Getting to Puerto de Tablas, where the family lives, is not easy. After driving through curbs, rocks, and dirt, we arrived at the community. There, we met Victor's aunt, Guadalupe. She knows what it means to have a family leave. Two decades ago, her eldest son left for the U.S. When he was just 15, she says he never came back. For Victor, she hopes things will be different.

GUADALUPE MARTINEZ, VICTOR'S AUNT (through translator): Poor thing. I hope he finds a job here, something that helps him move forward. Because there's nowhere to work here.

LEON (voice-over): Now, Victor is back in the place he once left, searching for opportunities elsewhere.

Valeria Leon, CNN, Guanajuato, Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ: U.S. midterm elections are just over two months away, and control of Congress hangs in the balance. Experts say the Trump administration is staking out extreme positions on White House secrecy to fend off any possible future attempts by Democratic lawmakers to investigate him. In a Justice Department memo and legal filings, the Trump administration argues that the president can not only keep conversations with his advisers' secret, he can also hide his dealings with individuals outside the government.

During his second term, Trump has relied on business moguls as well as close friends for some key decisions, and in a letter to the White House earlier this week, Democrats demanded a list of those outside advisers that the administration believes presidential privilege applies to.

Coming up next on CNN Newsroom, countries are rapidly building more infrastructure in the Himalayas. That is despite the growing risks from natural disasters. We're going to get a live report for you from Beijing up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:40:00]

ABDELAZIZ: The flooding along Nepal and China's border was of course not caused by infrastructure but it does highlight a very stark reality in the Himalayas and that is the risk of natural disasters which are growing in the region due to climate change. But at the same time, there are countries that have been ramping up infrastructure projects there. They've been rapidly expanding dams, tunnels, highways, railways and bridges as they aim to harness the region's vast hydropower and potential resources.

I want to bring in now our senior China reporter, Simone McCarthy. Hello Simone, thank you so much for joining us. This is really fascinating to hear because of course this massive catastrophe has really spotlighted how vulnerable this area is to climate change, how prone it is to these types of natural disasters. But your reporting has found that there's actually been a massive building boom in the Himalayas. What are you learning?

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: That's exactly right, Salma. I mean, the Himalayas are one of the most seismically active regions in the world. They're prone to natural disasters and those risks are growing but also becoming more unpredictable as a result of climate change. But at the same time there really is this boom in the region when it comes to developing all different kinds of infrastructure and China is really leading the way in that when it comes to the most ambitious and advanced projects from an engineering perspective but that's also India as well as to a degree Nepal.

A big part of this is the hydropower build-out. Now, countries are seeing increasing demand for electricity. They want to be able to reduce their dependence on coal and so what they're doing is they're looking to these powerful rivers that span the Himalayas and thinking about how to tap those in order to produce electricity.

China currently is building $168 billion hydropower project which is not far from its disputed border with India. The way that project works essentially, Salma, is that they're blasting a tunnel through a mountain in order to divert a river and harness the power of that river. So, these are incredibly technically advanced projects but it's not just China. India also has its own ambitious projects. Nepal of course has also been building out hydropower. We saw rescue efforts today are very much focused on hundreds of hydropower workers who are missing with search efforts trying to locate them and find information about the situation within those hydropower projects across rivers in Nepal.

[04:45:00]

So, this is very much you know as you said it's not that in any way that this, that this disaster was caused by infrastructure build out. But what it is doing is that it's spotlighting the risk of this infrastructure build out if these projects are not able to cope with natural disasters, if they're not -- and if they're putting more people at risk here.

Now, one of the things that experts are also talking about is whether or not we -- you know, how we can adapt some of the early warning systems. This incident happened on a border. That raises questions as well about, well, we can't really silo the ways that we're monitoring risk. We need to expand all of the areas that we're monitoring and find ways to share data.

Now, countries are already doing that. China and India just next month are having a meeting about transboundary rivers.

But there have been frictions around data sharing in the past. The question too is also how do we plan these projects? Now, this is not just hydropower. It's also because of economic development. There are border frictions. China and India both want to project their own power on the border through infrastructure. But there's questions about how do we make sure these projects are the right size, that they're in the right place, and that there's the right mitigation efforts and surveillance put in place. So, I think those are all of the issues that we're going to be watching going forward.

ABDELAZIZ: CNN's Simone McCarthy there on a building boom right along that border, of course, has nothing to do, again, with the catastrophic flooding, but so interesting that it's taking place in such a vulnerable corner of the world. Thank you so much for your reporting.

Still to come this hour, it's a symbol of staggering wealth, how the owner who officially represents the United States while sailing Italy in this $450 million yacht.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:50:00]

ABDELAZIZ: Last year, a new U.S. ambassador to Italy was appointed, 69-year-old Texas billionaire Tilman Fertitta. He is the owner of the NBA team, the Houston Rockets, as well as being a reality TV star. Our Becky Anderson traveled to Italy to meet him on his $450 million yacht called The Boardwalk.

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TILMAN FERTITTA, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ITALY: I've always been a little humble, and I don't like using the word yacht. So, I just say my boat.

ANDERSON (voice-over): In the industry, they call it a giga-yacht. This vessel, with swimming pools, spa, putting green, and two helipads, worth $450 million.

ANDERSON: Hello, Becky Anderson. How lovely to meet you.

FERTITTA: Nice to meet you.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Its owner is Tilman J. Fertitta.

FERTITTA: How often do you get to have a playroom and a boat?

ANDERSON (voice-over): And this summer, the boat is his family home and office.

FERTITTA: It's kind of funny when people think, oh, all you do is shake hands. It's a real busy job.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Fertitta is a new face in American diplomacy. Owner of the NBA's Houston Rockets and a sprawling hospitality empire, he's one of America's richest businessmen.

FERTITTA: I always said, you know, by the time I was 35, I wanted to have my first jet. By the time I was 40, I had already taken the company public and rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange.

ANDERSON: How long have you known Donald Trump?

FERTITTA: Believe it or not, our first deal was in 1999 when I did a rainforest cafe in the Trump Plaza Casino. Then the Trump Marina came due, and I bought that property from him in the early 2000s.

ANDERSON (voice-over): In the past, the ambassador has donated to Republicans and Democrats.

ANDERSON: What are your personal politics, Tom?

FERTITTA: I'm definitely a conservative and -- but if you go back and you look at Bill Clinton back then, he would have been a conservative. Politics has gone too far to each direction, but I'm very happy with a lot that our president has done.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Missives from President Trump are often hard for America's allies to hear.

GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: So, we are trying to do our best. But I think we can --

ANDERSON (voice-over): After an initial love-in with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni --

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: She's a beautiful young woman.

ANDERSON (voice-over): -- world politics and a personality clash have brought the long-standing alliance back down to earth. FERTITTA: He doesn't look at it as, well, I don't want to ruffle anybody's feathers in NATO, I want everybody to love me. He's looking at it as a business guy and saying, this isn't right.

ANDERSON (voice-over): When Meloni joined other E.U. leaders in refusing to join the U.S. war on Iran, Italian front pages spoke of a rift, even a divorce, between Italy and the United States. But Ambassador Fertitta says their partnership is as robust as ever.

FERTITTA: There has not been one thing between Italy and America that has been strained while all this is going on. We have an unbelievable military relationship with America and Italy, but our president is very upset with the majority of the NATO nations for not doing what he wanted them to do in this war. I think that if the United States calls, they should be there, because you know what? President Trump would be there for them.

ANDERSON (voice-over): In June, the spat got personal. Trump claiming Meloni begged for a photo with him at the G7 summit. Two weeks later, suggesting he needed a, quote, "restraining order against her."

FERTITTA: The president has a great sense of humor. When your family, and that's what we are with NATO nations, families bicker, and that's OK. But Italy's there for us, and America's there for Italy, and that's just the way it is.

ANDERSON (voice-over): This summer, Fertitta is on, quote, "a coastal diplomacy tour." The cruise around Italy's shores has included a stop in Cefalu, in Sicily, where his great-grandfather lived before emigrating to the United States.

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ANDERSON: Most people at least will perceive you as a pretty unconventional ambassador, and perhaps this sort of coastal trip has sort of fed into that narrative. You seem quite unapologetic about the sort of, you know, quite lavish lifestyle that you run.

FERTITTA: But I'm not doing this to show off. I'm doing this because it works for American and Italy relationships, and it works for Ambassador Fertitta's relationships with all the people in these little towns. And Italy loves having an ambassador that has a little cachet, that can get things done, and is different, and has an Italian heritage. I mean, they love that.

ANDERSON (voice-over): In choppy political waters, getting this job done could be Fertitta's toughest gig yet.

Becky Anderson, CNN, Livorno.

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ABDELAZIZ: Country music's biggest stage is honoring country music icon and humanitarian hero Dolly Parton. Nashville's Grand Ole Opry says Saturday night's show was dedicated to Dolly's life, her legacy and contributions to country music. Now, several country artists performed, including Carly Pearce, who began her career at Dollywood themed park. Parton was just 13 years old when she made her first appearance at the iconic event stage in 1959, introduced by the legendary Johnny Cash, no less. She became an official member by age 23. After she passed on Tuesday, her name was placed front and center on the venue's outdoor marquee.

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.

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