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CNN International: Ukrainian Passenger Train Struck By Russian Drones; Oman: Iran-Gulf Talks on Reopening Of Hormuz Postponed; Trump Dismisses A.I. Concerns As CEOs Call For Slowdown; Trump Shrugs Off A.I. Warnings, Citing China Competition; 129 Missing After Indonesian Ferry Capsizes In Rough Seas. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 14, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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[04:00:30]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And we're so grateful you can start your week with us. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York.

And ahead here on "CNN Newsroom," a Russian drone strikes a Ukrainian train car, not long after one carrying foreign dignitaries pulled out of the station, sparked these fires over the -- and some fears, I should say, over the possibility of even more serious attacks.

Plus, a debate around A.I. ramps up, as experts warn of catastrophic risks if the technology outpaces our ability to control it.

And a little later, South Korea's once vibrant corals are collapsing along its coast. And it's worrying some divers and some private scientists alike. We'll be speaking with an expert about efforts to save this vital marine ecosystem.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: Let's begin this hour in Ukraine where former world leaders and security advisers narrowly escaped a Russian drone strike. And that attack had happened on Sunday near the country's border with Poland.

Video from social media taken at the train station shows passengers running from an explosion and some rising smoke. The train car that was hit had already left the station, though earlier than expected.

An operator for Ukraine railway says that it's quite likely that Russia was deliberately targeting the area, especially given the potential passengers who were on board.

You see, there were more strikes on Sunday across Ukraine as well. Residential buildings and cremators (ph) also took massive damage from a round of attacks.

And local officials are saying that emergency workers helped pull at least two women out of the rubble here. They say another attack in the same area killed at least two people.

Let's get more now from CNN's Clare Sebastian who's live from London. So, Clare, what are authorities in Poland and perhaps other parts of Europe saying about this?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I think people are seeing this in the context of the general escalation that we see in this air war.

At the moment, Russia has not only been increasing the ferocity of its attacks, but also broadening the scope of the targets.

And I think the idea that trains carrying foreign dignitaries could be targeted really puts us in potentially a new stage right now, even though, of course, we have to emphasize, no one was hurt. There were, in fact, no casualties among any train passengers.

They managed to evacuate trains in this station border area before this drone hit, and it ended up hitting a stationary train locomotive that was parked, as I say, in this border area.

This is where people pull up and get their -- their I.D.s checked and all that before crossing over into Poland, a very well-used station.

And obviously, Ukrainian railways has prided itself on being a symbol of Ukrainian resilience of keeping going throughout this war.

So, look, we know not only that there was a train that was carrying former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other European officials that had crossed the border just before this attack, but we now know that former CIA Director David Petraeus was actually on a train in that area when it hit. He told the "Financial Times" that he was evacuated from his train, so a pretty close call for him.

And again, as you -- as we say, Ukrainian railways has come out and specifically said that it's quite likely the diplomatic train, that's the one carrying the former British prime minister, was the target because it had departed ahead of schedule. Obviously, things move around because of the security situation here.

So, we're seeing a pattern, not only in terms of the broadening of targets, but border crossings coming under attack, not only when it comes to the Polish border, but we've seen in recent weeks attacks on the border with Moldova, on the border with Romania. And I think this is really starting to concentrate minds in Europe.

Take a listen to the Polish Prime Minister speaking about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TUSK, POLISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The escalation of the actions from the Russian side is becoming a reality, and its examples are getting closer and closer to our border.

We have had information, both our own and through our services, but also from allied services, including in recent days directed to me personally, about a possible ongoing escalation. As you know, the attacker attempt to paralyze border crossings is not the first such event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEBASTIAN: So, look, this is one of the ways in which Russia is trying to reduce Ukraine's ability to function as a normal country.

Essentially, if you can't have foreign dignitaries and people come in and attend these kinds of conferences, that, again, as I say, puts us in a new phase, and the foreign minister, Ukraine's foreign minister, saying, this is Putin's terror knocking directly on the doors of the E.U. and NATO.

[04:05:09]

We are going to see European leaders gather over the next couple of days in Finland for an Arctic summit. So, it seems pretty likely that this will be on the agenda as well. Polo?

SANDOVAL: CNN's Clare Sebastian with that live report from London. Thank you, Clare.

All right. Now, to a major diplomatic push in the Gulf which is now on hold, Gulf diplomats and Iranian officials were supposed to meet today in Oman without the U.S. at the table. They were hoping to discuss a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Well, that meeting, it has now been postponed indefinitely with Oman saying that more consensus is needed. And this comes after months of private talks over a possible legal framework that could allow Iran and Oman to collect fees for vessels to pass through that critical waterways. Something that the U.S. has previously said it would not entertain.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following all of these developments from Abu Dhabi. She joins me live -- now live, Paula. So, what is the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, that meeting between the top diplomats of many of -- of the Gulf nations and Iran and Oman is postponed. It's on hold at this point.

We understand from the Omani foreign minister. A Gulf official tells us that Saudi Arabia had asked for amendments to a -- a proposal, the wording of which it was concerned would actually change the status quo when it came to the -- the Strait of Hormuz. So, that's potentially one of the reasons it was postponed.

We also have three sources telling CNN that the Trump administration is keen to talk about the nuclear program in Iran and not just reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Potentially, that could have had an impact as well.

But we have seen Iran and Oman have been in talks for months now to try and -- and ascertain a -- a working -- a working route through the Strait of Hormuz, as you say though, that that could potentially have fees attached to it, something which Gulf nations of the United States does not support.

Now, in the Strait of Hormuz, we have also seen more activity over the weekend. Iran said that one of its vessels, a commercial vessel, was struck. One was killed, four were injured. This was near Qeshm Island, so an area very close to the -- the port city of Bandar Abbas, an area that -- that Tehran would use frequently for its -- it's oil export industry.

This is part of, we believe, the naval blockade the U.S. has put in place to try and prevent any ships reaching Iranian ports and being able to export that oil.

We have asked U.S. Central Command about this. There has not been a response as yet, but Iran is very much pointing the finger at the United States.

Now, when it comes to that blockade, we have heard from CENTCOM that 100 vessels have been diverted over the past 60 days as part of this naval blockade.

We saw last week more than half a dozen vessels were targeted by the -- the U.S. military. In fact, one of them, an Iranian vessel, was sunk near the Strait of Hormuz.

So, this is an ongoing process with CENTCOM saying that zero vessels have managed to transit the Strait of Hormuz without U.S. approval and U.S. knowledge, something which Tehran rejects.

They say that they have been able to get ships through. They also claim that the Strait of Hormuz is completely shut and will only reopen when the U.S. starts to -- to stick to some of its agreements from that memorandum of understanding, which does feel a long time ago now.

Polo.

HANCOCKS: Yes. We know what happened to that. Paula Hancocks, live from Abu Dhabi. Thank you so much for that.

Now, to the debate over how to keep us all safe from artificial intelligence is heating up here in the United States.

Over the weekend, the CEO of Anthropic, which is one of the leading A.I. developers in the world, called for an industry-wide slowdown due to the safety risks surrounding AI.

But lawmakers are now weighing his words as they prepare to return to Capitol Hill for this week's session.

And Republican leaders, including President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, argue that the concerns are overblown and that they remain secondary to winning the A.I. race against China.

But growing public scrutiny is prompting some Democrats to push for an emergency session to regulate this technology. For example, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, he insists that the need for congressional action is urgent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down. As the CEOs have recently acknowledged, slow down the pace of development in order to protect the American people and ensure that A.I. is proceeding safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:10:04]

SANDOVAL: And U.S. President Donald Trump, while in Ireland this weekend, dismissed concerns raised by A.I. leaders.

Here's CNN's Julia Benbrook traveling with the pre --

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JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump spent his weekend here in Ireland, but he is going to have a lot to deal with as he returns home. This was a two-day trip and there was a mixture of official meetings, as well as more personal endeavors like attending the Irish Open, which took place at one of his properties here.

But while he was on this trip, there have been growing concerns about artificial intelligence and the lack of regulations on it. A number of lawmakers, former A.I. employees and even A.I. executives are raising concerns about the rapid growth of this industry.

Some companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are even calling on Congress to put into place federal safety regulations to intentionally slow the pace of development.

Trump was asked about all of this as he walked the golf course on Sunday. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're leading China in A.I. We're the most sophisticated country in the world.

And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins A.I., wins. And we can put guardrails. We can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces into bringing it up that shouldn't be bringing it up and they're bringing up things that won't happen.

But whoever wins with A.I. wins, you know, it's an expression that I came up with and it's true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: So, some strong words from Trump on this. He is making it very clear where he stands. He said not once but twice, whoever wins A.I. wins. He has said that he wants the United States to be a leader on this. While speaking over the weekend to CNN, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that they need to be able to find a balance between national security and the immediate security of making models safe. He has said that he is open to a meeting with tight leaders in Washington to discuss this.

He said one potential issue he sees is that they may want different things when looking for those regulations. Johnson says he has spoken about this topic overall with Trump.

Reporting in Dublin, Ireland, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And President Trump says that he wants to avoid guardrails on A.I. developments that will impact the A -- the A.I. race with China.

An editorial in China state backed Global Times tabloid said that Dario Amodei's essay was full of containment measures that were aimed at China. And also that they read like a Cold War playbook for the A.I. sector.

CNN Simone McCarthy with more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SENIOR CHINA REPORTER: What we are seeing are Chinese officials really elevating how they're speaking about these A.I. safety risks.

I think a great example of that that we just saw in an article that was published earlier this week is coming from China's top intelligence chief. Let's take a look at what he had to say. This is Chen Yixin, the Minister of State Security. And he said, "We must properly balance development and security, accelerate the formulation and improvement of relevant laws and regulations, establish systems for technology monitoring risk early warning and emergency response to strengthen the assessment and prevention of potential risks arising from the development of A.I."

Now, obviously, that's bureaucratic speak. But what that's pointing to is that these same concerns that are being discussed in the United States are also being reflected in China.

And in China, that very much has a national security component in terms of the country being concerned about being the target of attacks from overseas A.I. It also has the component of national security in the sense of information control, misinformation here within China.

So, these conversations are very much happening. There was also another interesting comment, which came from a cyberspace regulator, which warned of the risks of extreme loss of control of A.I.

Now, China, for a long time, has been calling for A.I. global governance. This is something that Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, himself has spearheaded, just as recently as yesterday in New Delhi, when he joined a meeting of the emerging economies known as BRICS.

He also called for this A.I. governance. And a lot of that is about sharing the benefits of A.I., ensuring that there aren't technology controls, making sure that China has a leading role in dictating what the rules are for A.I. governance, but it does also absolutely talk about safety.

So, we can see from these various different aspects that there are areas of overlap between concerns in the U.S. and concerns in China.

But the question is, how much are the two going to be able to work together on that?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: In the last hour, I spoke with Elena Simperl. She's a co- director of the King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Also professor of informatics at King's College in London.

She talked a little bit about the precautions it could be taken to try to help reduce these risks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:04]

ELENA SIMPERL, CO-DIRECTOR, KING'S INSTITUTE FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: See, there is a range of measures. None of them would work on its own. But it's an approach that is working in public health and aviation. It's -- it's a so-called defense in depth model. And in fact, internationally, I say to report that was released earlier this year discusses this at length.

See, you don't necessarily need governments to convene the industry together. Companies could come together and they could set testing requirements before release.

Independent permanent third-party evaluation and auditing rather than self-reporting is really important. Mandatory standardized reporting of safety incidents like we have in other critical industries. And then as I was saying, basic testing hygiene.

The -- the cyber-attacks we've seen lately could have been prevented with just existing engineering practice.

As I said, none of them will work alone, but companies and governments both real -- both need to -- to understand what is possible with current models. And all of them need to understand that they need to invest in cyber defences because we will see more of these attacks happening over time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And there's so much more ahead here on "CNN Newsroom." Narrow result is shaping up in Sweden's parliamentary elections. We're going to bring you the latest picture so far as ballot counting continues.

And also rescue teams are still looking for more than 100 people who are missing after Indonesia Ferry capsized in the Java Sea. We'll bring you the latest there.

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[04:20:32]

SANDOVAL: Welcome back. To Sweden's parliamentary elections now where the country's center left opposition bloc currently holds a narrow lead with ballots still being counted at this hour.

So far, partial tally of Sweden's election districts has the bloc on course to win a slim one seat majority.

And given the closeness of this vote, the overall winner may not be known for several days. The current prime minister and the head of the right wing governing bloc says that it remains an open question as to who will govern in the coming years. A victory for the center left would mark a pause in Sweden's drift away from its liberal heritage.

Now to Indonesia where rescue teams there are searching for dozens of missing people after a ferry capsized in the Java Sea. Six people are known to have died, but at least 129 are still missing. The ship that you see, at least part of it there, it set sail on Sunday with 243 people on board, 30 of them crew.

Now, rescuers have been assisting -- had been assisted by dozens of vessels, including four Navy ships as well as several helicopters.

And as of Monday morning, at least 108 people were rescued. Survivors have been treated for injuries at a local hospital. And authorities are saying that the captain had reported some rough seas with waves of up to 10 feet before issuing that final distress call.

Now, one passenger says that the fairy had been leaning heavily to one side before eventually overturning within minutes. And then, of course, you see what happened.

Let's go live now to CNN's Mike Valerio who joins me live from Beijing.

Mike, does it seem that Indonesian authorities are -- are intensifying their search at this hour?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think that they have been completely intensified if we can use that phrase throughout the day. I mean, because time is of the essence. So, we haven't noticed any kind of increasing of the rescue presence.

They've been all out, Polo, because of that video that you saw in the beginning of the story with the hope that there could, and I stress could, be people who are still trapped in there, like an air pocket, for example. But let's go back to the video. This is the latest that we have in. It's a very isolated search area, of course, in the middle of the Java Sea.

So, the latest pictures that we have are people who have made it, who have survived, been brought back on land, and are being treated for their injuries. So, our team that was able to interview a couple of the people, courtesy of the "Associated Press," we're able to hear from one person. We're going to listen to him now talking about the moment where things started to go wrong, the ship, the ferry started to tilt.

And then we're going to hear from a woman whose husband was on board. She called him and then hasn't heard from him since. So, let's listen to both of those sound bites. We'll talk more on the other side, Polo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAISAL, SURVIVOR (through translator): After the ship lifted, people panicked and ran to the upper deck. Eventually the ship capsized, turning upside down, and there were 14 of us at that time.

PUTRI, SURVIVOR (through translator): Our last contact was 5:00 P.M. in the afternoon yesterday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And he was already at sea by then?

PUTRI (through translator): He was on his way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And what did he say in that last contact?

PUTRI (through translator): He said the signal wasn't very good. It kept going down. Then after that, there was no more contact. We couldn't reach him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): But did he report anything on the weather conditions?

PUTRI (through translator): He said it was bad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): And then nothing after?

PUTRI (through translator): No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: OK. So, Polo, what makes this more harrowing is the likelihood that this happened after sunset. We don't have a definitive time, but Indonesian authorities received their first report that an all-out rescue was needed, according to the "Associated Press" about the 2:00 A.M. hour of Sunday.

So, again, this happened in the middle of the Java Sea. If you go on vacation to Bali, for example, the starting port is Surabaya, which is about a seven -- seven and a half, eight, nine-hour drive, worst-case scenario, all the way west to that port. So, it's going from Java to the island of Borneo.

Another account from somebody who survived told reporters on the scene, quote, the women staying in the economy class cabins likely to not survive as the ship tilted rapidly. And there were no alarms, no announcements.

So, again, our reporting target, as we get into the evening hours here in Asia, Polo, is to see whether more of those 100 plus people who are still accounted -- who are still unaccounted for have been found.

[04:25:03]

It is an all-out effort to find as many people as possible to see if anybody is still trapped and alive inside that red part of the ship that you see in that video there, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yes, absolutely awful, especially those people who had no warning that this was about to happen.

Mike Valerio, do check back with us if there's any new information. Thank you.

Now, to the story of a rare survival -- survivor of Nepal's devastating glacier collapse that happened last month.

Mechanical foreman Sanjay Sah is finally returning home. He spent nine days trapped in a hydro tunnel before his dramatic rescue.

After spending a week in the hospital, Sah has been reunited with his family in their home village where he was able to reflect on what everything's been like for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANJAY SAH, NEPAL FLOOD SURVIVOR (through translator): In the tunnel, it was not just dark but it was like a black hole. Even light would not have been able to pierce through. It was very dark. It was not just darkness, but it was full of obstacles and hurdles like sand, glass, snakes, animals, dead bodies washed in from outside.

In that situation, my time in there was full of challenges.

(APPLAUSE)

I did not cry. There was no point in crying. I did not cry when I was inside. I stayed strong, strong. One should make the heart strong, motivate it and be positive. No matter what the situation, life is, after all, a struggle. We need to fight. We must never give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And still ahead, concerns about rising oil and gasoline prices followed President Trump on his trip to Ireland. Hear what he's saying about when prices may be coming down. Plus, the story of an American airman shot down behind enemy lines over Iran. His harrowing tale of survival and rescue when we returned.

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