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Death Toll in Nepal-China Floods Now More Than 1200, Close to 5000 Missing; Russian President Speaks at the Eastern Economic Forum, Donald Trump Wants Summit with Putin if the Peace Deal with Ukraine is Ready. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired September 03, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And to our viewers around the world, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and ahead here on "CNN Newsroom."

President Trump warning that he is prepared to launch more strikes on Iran as we learn new information about that latest flare-up which Iran is saying about the President's death.

And a race against time. Rescuers are searching for survivors in Nepal as the death toll continues climbing.

Venezuela welcomes an oil deal with the U.S. as Chevron pledges to double production in that country. Could it help the U.S. replenish its depleted stockpiles?

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: And we do want to begin with new details on what happened during the latest round of strikes between the United States and Iran. Those attacks, they came amid renewed escalation in the region after weeks of military silence.

Two U.S. officials are now telling CNN that American forces hit nearly 60 military targets around Iran, but they also escorted 40 commercial oil vessels through the Strait of Hormuz at the same time. U.S. forces reportedly fended off a range of attacks from Iranian forces by both air and sea. This also comes in addition to other strikes that were launched into neighboring countries by Iran.

President Trump saying that the U.S. was specifically targeting Iran's radar systems. Their hope was to stop their military from observing ships that were moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, the fighting continues to claim lives. Iran's health minister reporting that at least 18 people were killed in U.S. strikes overnight on Tuesday, and more than 100 others were injured, according to state media. U.S. Central Command denying that troops targeted civilians in Iran.

Let's go live to Abu Dhabi now, where CNN's Paula Hancocks is standing by with more. So, Paula, what else are we learning?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, it's Thursday morning here in the Gulf, and it's certainly been, or appears to have been, a quieter night when it comes to the kinetic activity.

We have heard from Kuwait authorities there saying that they did have to engage missiles and drones, or at least their air defense systems were sounding. That's the second night in a row that that country has dealt with that.

But we are hearing more information from two U.S. officials about what exactly happened Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Now, this is when we did see the most significant escalation in strikes between the U.S. and Iran that we have seen in well over a month.

We did see and understand from these officials that what they were doing specifically was trying to target along the Strait of Hormuz, so taking out radar systems so that the Iranian authorities were unable to detect vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the U.S. military said that they did manage to get 40 commercial vessels through the strait.

Now, of course, many of these, in fact, the vast majority of them, would have had their transponders switched off. So it is very difficult to verify that with the immediate facts. But they also say that some 80 million barrels of oil were able to get through the Strait of Hormuz as well.

Now, what we're hearing from these U.S. officials is that the military expects to continue having to carry out these attacks to take out the military assets alongside this critical waterway in order to be able to aid the naval blockade, stopping Iranian vessels and other vessels going into Iranian ports and also to allow other vessels to transit the Strait.

Now, what we're hearing is that Iran has demonstrated an ability to be able to rebuild after the war earlier this year. And the fact that there have been several weeks of relative calm has allowed them to rebuild some of those military assets. And this is what the U.S. military, according to this official, is expecting, that they will have to continually try and degrade that ability.

We also heard from the U.S. President when he was talking about the attacks Tuesday into Wednesday. Let's listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We hit them hard last night, very hard. They gave a little love tap, but we hit them very hard last night. We took out all of the new equipment that they tried to build along the Strait of Hormuz, some defensive, some offensive.

It was a very heavy attack last night, and we're prepared to do another one any time we want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So, at this time, we do hear that both the United States and Iran claim to have control of the Strait of Hormuz. Polo?

SANDOVAL: That's CNN's Paula Hancocks reporting from Abu Dhabi. Thank you so much for those updates.

An update now on rescue crews that are working in the aftermath of last week's catastrophic flood along the Nepal-China border.

Officials are saying that the death toll has now climbed to more than 1200 in Nepal, with more than 4,700 people still missing, and that includes 75 Americans. Across the border in China, officials there are reporting just 21 people that have confirmed dead there. With concerns that that number likely to grow, rescue crews are battling mud and debris as they try to reach workers that are feared trapped inside Nepal's hydropower tunnels.

And officials are saying that around 900 workers are missing across projects along the river. And it's still unclear how many were actually inside those tunnels when the water and the mud poured in.

The search is being slowed, however, by bad weather, thick mud, damaged roads, and destroyed bridges and other infrastructure. And that's making this already desperate rescue effort even more difficult.

And the critical road to the China-Nepal border, it is now largely reopened after floodwaters wiped out a key crossing. Chinese state media reporting that the route should allow more rescuers, supplies, and also some of that heavy equipment into the areas that have been cut off. That way they can begin that work.

As for some of the emergency work that's already been happening to repair the road, that's been difficult due to the constant rain, rockfalls, other challenges, including those ongoing threats of more possible flooding.

Let's go now to Henry Asplin. He's a community liaison for the U.K./E.U. at the Isha Foundation. He's joining me live from London.

Henry, good morning to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us.

HENRY ASPLIN, COMMUNITY LIAISON FOR U.K./E.U., ISHA FOUNDATION: Good morning, Polo. Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Henry, can we begin with just telling our viewers how your foundation has been affected directly by last week's deadly floods, but also how the foundation is in turn giving back and helping all of those people who've been affected by this? ASPLIN: Of course. So I'm from the Isha Foundation. We're a non-

profit, volunteer-run organization operating globally.

Every year we organize a journey for people to go and visit the Kailash Mountain, which is in Tibet. We've been doing this for 21 years, and this year one of our groups was at the Girong border crossing. We just saw some footage of it there.

We had 80 people at the crossing when the floods hit. So far there haven't been any indication of any survivors at the border crossing. So it's been a tragic and devastating time for us and for our whole community, and of course for the families that are waiting to hear about their loved ones.

SANDOVAL: We continue to think about the families of those affected, and as you mentioned, some of those who haven't been seen again. In conversations that other members of your organization or your foundation have had with people there, the survivors, what are they telling them about the way they're basically trying to heal from the shock and at the same time, I imagine, not even knowing what comes next with much of what they have basically gone?

ASPLIN: Yes. I think anyone watching could imagine the shock, imagine your whole community in some cases washed away. Our group, members of our group that weren't affected by the floods at the Girong port were speaking to some of the local sherpas and guides.

Some of them had lost up to 20 members of their families. This has affected tens of thousands of people across Nepal and Tibet. It's beyond tragic.

On our side, we're just trying to support the families of those affected as much as possible. Many of them are, in our case, spread across the world. We had 19 different nationalities in our missing group.

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So just being with them, in many cases, our volunteers are going in and bringing them food, anything we can do just to support them in this time. They're like family to us and the people in the missing group are also like family. So yes, it's been unimaginable.

SANDOVAL: Henry, I've heard from many people who are like you, very familiar with the area, describe it as beautiful and really just an ideal destination for those who are on a spiritual journey or considered sacred by many religions as well. So can you just speak to the hope of this part of the world once again, eventually being seen as just that and drawing people from all over the world as part of the healing from last week's tragedy?

ASPLIN: Yes, absolutely. Thank you for saying that Polo.

It's one of the key things that our organization has wanted to stress in this time is that Nepal is a beautiful country as is Tibet. The people there are some of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet. And although this is an unimaginable, completely unexpected crisis, we feel very much that it's not a reason to not go and experience the beauty of the culture of that landscape and of its people, certainly.

SANDOVAL: Henry Asplin, we're thinking about all the members of your foundation, especially the families of those who are missing. Do stay in touch and come back anytime with further updates.

ASPLIN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: All right, we do want to now shift gears and turn to some of this anger over the migrant crisis that's boiling over in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. Thousands of people gathering on the streets on Wednesday. They're frustrated that the government has yet to resolve the crisis, they say.

The vast majority of migrants who stormed across the border with Morocco in late July, they have returned home, but thousands still remain there, staying in makeshift camps on streets and beaches. And some protesters say that the situation has reached a breaking point.

And Pedro Sanchez is addressing that country's parliament about the government's response to the crisis. He's speaking after some of these nationwide protests on Wednesday in solidarity with that community's frustrations. Let's go ahead and listen in for just a few moments to listen to the Spanish leader.

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PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): -- in the light of this exceptional influx. So, on the morning of the 30th of July, the situation radically changed. There was a mass, a welter of social network messages.

And there was also the ruling by the Supreme Court of Spain, which we know about. Numerous groups of young Moroccans started flooding in. And young people.

As many as 40 people swam to Ceuta on that day. So, our dilemma was to either let them in or to or to shoot them. And that would have obviously triggered a terrible catastrophe.

And unfortunately, 41 of them, including two, did die. Our agents, our police had to take a decision in very few moments whether they should shoot or whether they should try and save lives. I think this is very important, ladies and gentlemen.

Very important. Because I want to say to all the citizens of Spain that as Prime Minister of Spain, I affirm that we did the right thing.

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Because we responded with humanity. We saved those lives. And I also want to say that all Spaniards, or the immense majority of Spaniards, are very proud of that decision.

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SANDOVAL: 9:15 in the morning there in Madrid, Spain, as we listen to Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, speaking to that country's legislative body, recalling the events from earlier this summer when we saw that rush of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.

We heard from the Prime Minister there essentially defending the actions of security forces. He said that they showed restraint, holding their fire as we saw those large crowds of people. And as the Prime Minister put it, quote, I affirm we did the right thing, responding with humanity.

We will certainly continue to follow and continue to monitor those remarks coming out of that legislative body, out of Parliament in Spain, and certainly bringing any developments as this once again is prompting many Spanish residents in that enclave to become even more frustrated about what happened just a few months ago.

And there's also much more ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," including Russia's presidents speaking at a major economic forum in the Far East. I'll have a live report and tell you what he said.

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SANDOVAL: Hi, welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval, in New York.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin is addressing a gathering on economic cooperation in the Far East. Right now officials from 80 countries are attending the Eastern Economic Forum. That's according to the Russian state news agency.

Some live pictures there coming out of Russia. Now, before his speech, Mr. Putin met with China's vice premier on the sidelines of the forum. And China's official news agency says that the Chinese official praised what he called broad and promising opportunities for cooperation in the Far East.

And this event comes as Moscow and Beijing expand their economic and military ties.

Clare Sebastian is watching for developments there out of Russia and joining me live from London. Clare, good morning to you. As we watch these pictures, someone in Washington likely watching closely as well. That's Donald Trump.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Polo. Look, another high-profile event and another high-profile speech from the Russian President. The second time we've seen him really out on the global stage this week, talking up Russia's strength, emphasizing its international partnerships.

And he has appeared increasingly confident in recent days, which I think is, on the one hand, jarring, given that we know that Russia's economy is really feeling the strain of this war, partly because of increased Ukrainian attacks. We know that there's evidence of mounting public discontent and fatigue with the war. And frankly, even as he was speaking, Russia was fighting off another barrage of more than 400 Ukrainian drones, including targeting Moscow and the Moscow region.

So that is on the one hand. On the other hand, though, he has had this international spotlight. The meeting today with the Chinese Vice Premier was the second with a major Chinese official in the past week.

He's met with Xi Jinping as well on the sidelines of the Shanghai Corporation Organization Summit earlier in the week, neither of whom, as far as we know, put pressure on him to end the war. And of course, his finance minister was welcomed back into the G20 at a meeting in North Carolina also this week.

And then, of course, on Wednesday, we had this comment from President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Is there any hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin would do another summit with you in the near future?

TRUMP: Oh, he'd do it if I wanted it. But I want to do it when we're ready to do a peace deal. I want to do it.

You know, we want to have a good relationship with Russia, Ukraine, with everybody. Be great for business. Russia's got great land and very valuable land, a lot of good things happening.

But no, we could do one. I bet I could do it immediately. I want to do it when that war is ending.

And I think we will.

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SEBASTIAN: So, I mean, there's some nuance there. Of course, he's not offering another P.R. coup like we saw last August with the Alaska summit, but he's also not doing what the Europeans are now trying to do, and that's ramp up the cost on Russia for this war.

Even as we see attacks escalate, Kyiv has been under near constant bombardment over the past week. And Europe is really trying to open a new chapter by attributing the drone attack on the Leipzig airport in Germany, the E.U. and NATO now coming out and promising increased pressure.

And I think also jarring, perhaps, given that we saw President Putin as part of his sort of international tour this week sit down with the Iranian president and talk about providing him with the necessary goods, even as that war with the U.S. escalates.

Did that come up when the CIA director visited Moscow last week? We don't know. But whatever happened, it certainly doesn't seem to have dampened Putin's mood.

SANDOVAL: Yes, the CIA not releasing a whole lot about last week's meeting. CNN's Clare Sebastian, as always, thank you so much for your reporting live from London.

Let's move on now to the European Union's foreign policy chief, who says an attempted drone attack on a city in Germany has the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism. And this as Germany blames Russia for that incident.

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And those comments, as the E.U. is looking to ramp up pressure on Russia while increasing support for Ukraine. Foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas also said that Europe needs to coordinate on what more can be done in light of the escalation of Russia's attacks on Ukraine. And she said several ministers again raised the idea of using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine.

And on Tuesday, the German government accused Russia of being involved in a foiled drone attack on an airport in Leipzig. That happened last month. French President Emmanuel Macron says that the incident is a new example of Russian interference in Europe.

The E.U.'s foreign policy chief having this to say.

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KAJA KALLAS, EUROPEAN UNION'S FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: What happened in Leipzig was not an isolated incident. Since 2022, we have seen systematic attacks across Europe. Sabotage, cyber attacks, espionage are becoming more frequent and more brazen.

The E.U. stands in full solidarity with Germany. We have summoned the Russian representative to the E.U., and we are moving ahead with more sanctions.

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SANDOVAL: And you are watching "CNN Newsroom" live from New York. And still ahead, violence flares in the West Bank, leading to Palestinian teens' debt. One reaction from Israel's president to this.

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SANDOVAL: Hey, welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

The sources are telling CNN that U.S. forces were able to escort 40 commercial oil vessels through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday while under fire from Iran. The U.S. was able to fend off those attacks while also hitting 60 Iranian military targets. President Trump says that troops were targeting Iran's radar systems to limit their visibility within the Strait of Hormuz.

And in Nepal, rescuers are racing against time in their search for survivors after a deadly flood along the Nepal-China border last week. Officials now say that the death toll has climbed to more than 1200 in Nepal, with more than 4700 people still missing. And across the border in China, state media reporting at least 21 people are dead.

Russian President Vladimir Putin just addressed an annual economic gathering in the Far East. He spoke at the Eastern Economic Forum that's underway until Friday in eastern Russia. Officials from 80 countries are there attending the event, according to Russia's state news agency.

Now to violence appears to be flaring up in the occupied West Bank. Local authorities are saying that two Palestinian teens were killed on Wednesday in a village near Ramallah. Officials say Israeli settlers and army troops are responsible.

And the Israeli military says that it is investigating this incident, but also stated that its forces opened fire after having stones thrown at them. And the killings coincide with a spate of violence from Israeli settlers.

A siege in the West Bank village of Khusra last month triggered international condemnation. The U.N. says that 23 Palestinians have been killed in settler violence this year, and that far surpasses the previous record of 16 killings.

And Israel's President is telling CNN that the surge of settler violence must be handled as forcibly as possible. He says that up to 12 suspects have been arrested in recent days.

Also, some officials are condemning the settler violence and demanding their government do more to stop it. Demonstrators, many of whom are women you see here wearing blindfolds, staged a protest in Jerusalem on Wednesday. And the U.N. and many countries deem the Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law.

Still ahead on "CNN Newsroom," a warning sign for investors as bond yields are surging. So what's driving this bond sell-off? I'll break it down for you after the break.

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SANDOVAL: Hey, welcome back. And here are your business headlines.

The future of prediction markets in the U.S. could rest in the hands of the Supreme Court. New Jersey has asked the justices to shut down sites including Polymarket and Kalshi, that's in their current form, at least. They're structured as financial derivative markets, not gambling; but a number of states say that they are skirting gaming regulations to protect consumers and raise billions in state revenue. Hiring in the U.S. private sector seems to be slowing. ADP reporting

employers added just 38,000 jobs in August, that's well below expectations and the fewest that we've seen in seven months.

Health care and construction added workers, but the retail, manufacturing and tech sectors all lost jobs. Economists are expecting Friday's government jobs report to show 65,000 jobs were added last month.

And Chipotle Mexican Grill is bringing its burritos to East Asia for the first time. That fast, casual chain food actually set up a shop in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday. Chipotle says it's hoping to stand out in Seoul's crowded food scene by providing locally sourced meats and produce. Well the company is planning to open more spots in South Korea as well as Singapore.

Global bond yields are up sharply in recent weeks as investors are selling off government bonds at a way faster rate than usual. The U.S. Treasury yield rose above 4.8 percent on Wednesday, hitting its highest level since 2023.

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CNN's David Goldman has more on how this works and what's contributing to this global sell-off.

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DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Think of the bond market like a scale, okay? So when you lend money to the government, you're going to want to return on that investment and that's what we call the yield.

So the price of the bond we're going to be representing here with this scale here and the yield is the other side of that scale. You can think of it like an balance scale.

On my example, we've got the little pointy thing here, right, which goes up and down. So a lot of things are weighing down on the price. So we've got all of that government borrowing and you've got a lot of A.I. spending competing with the government borrowing and you've got inflation coming back and you can see that yield is coming all the way down to the other side. It's much higher now and so your question is probably going to be, well, what do we do about this?

Well, to combat inflation, the Federal Reserve wants to raise rates probably maybe this month, maybe in another six weeks. But, you know, getting that down to two percent, I don't really know what the current plan is for that. It's going to be very difficult because if you raise rates, the obstacle is going to be, you know, how does the government start spending, you know, in a fiscally responsible way, reducing that $40 trillion in debt that we have.

That's a really difficult thing. This is not a problem that's easily solved.

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SANDOVAL: David Goldman, thank you. And extra points for getting his hands on some of those money bags.

So if you can't make it to a galaxy far away, maybe a trip to a museum in Los Angeles may just, may actually do. The George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will be featuring a green space and a 28,000 square meter building. It will be including several galleries, two theaters, a library, plenty of places to eat, and also a retail space.

It won't be all "Star Wars" though. The museum's collection includes works by comic book artist Jack Kirby, paintings by Norman Rockwell, and street art by Banksy. Also, the museum's CEO says that it will be an institution for many generations to come.

It opens to the public on September 22nd.

Thank you so much for joining me in the last about 42 hours of news. "World Sport" is coming up next and I'll join you again at the top of the next hour with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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