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Connect the World
Rescue Efforts Intensify After Floods Hit Nepal, China; "Butcher Of Bosnia" Ratko Mladic Dead At 84; Closing Arguments Underway In Murder Trial; Scientists: Collapsing Glacier Contributed To Flood Disaster; CNN Meets The U.S. Ambassador To Italy. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired August 27, 2026 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:01:24]
ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to the second hour of the show from our Middle East programming headquarters here in Abu Dhabi, where the time
is just after 6:00 in the evening. CNN is on the scene of the catastrophic flash flooding that hit China and Nepal on Wednesday as the death toll
climbs and more than 1,000 are missing. I'm going to get you the very latest, including a new threat of severe weather.
Ratko Mladic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serb army, infamously known as the Butcher of Bosnia, has died while serving a life sentence for
genocide. And jurors are hearing closing arguments in the trial of the mother who killed her three young children, a case that has sparked a
global conversation about postnatal mental health.
Well, happening now, a rising death toll and an urgent search for survivors after what was that catastrophic flooding that swept through a mountainous
region along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday. And we should warn you, some of the video from the hardest hit areas is extremely disturbing to
watch. In the town of Bidur, a torrent of water ripped this bridge from its foundations and completely swept it away. Scientists believe a glacial
avalanche may have triggered the flash floods.
At least 356 people to date are known to have been killed and more than 1,300 are still missing. Those are the official figures, so very likely to
go higher. CNN's Hanako Montgomery is in Nuwakot district of Nepal. That is at the heart of the disaster. She filed this report a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm walking down one of the main roads in Nepal and this entire place used to be covered in mud. They've
cleared part of it now. And I want to show you some of the damage that we've been seeing. This house, I mean, its first floor is completely
submerged in flood water. You can see some of the windows and doors just caked in mud. This house over here, I mean, its walls have completely
collapsed. It's unlivable.
And down here is a gas station. And again, just completely inaccessible and totally destroyed by this flood water and the mud and debris that are
brought with it. Now, the Nepali government has said that several hundred people have been confirmed dead, several hundred more still missing. And
they are afraid that the death toll could tick up in the coming hours and days as they are still trying to find any remaining survivors.
And this village that we're currently in is actually several dozen kilometers away from the worst of the damage. So you can imagine if you get
higher up in the Himalayan Mountains, just how many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods and their loved ones. And now they're left with
very little, trying to find any remnants of hope, any remnants of their family members as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, say there's Gage Goulding following the story for us as well. He is currently in Hong Kong. Let's get the very latest as we
understand it from you, Gage. What are you learning?
GAGE GOULDING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're learning right now is that we're seeing that death toll continue to tick up, but we're also
hearing little slivers of, I want to say happiness, because we're hearing people being rescued. The latest that we just got from the Nepal Tourism
Board, 31 foreign nationals, including two from the USA were rescued today.
[10:05:00]
So the number of folks that were stranded, unaccounted for, unable to be contacted because there's been a significant delay and problem with both
power and telecommunications. We're starting to see some of those numbers increase on the survival side, but also on the other side, there's a grim
new website that the Nepal police have published just recently, basically for family and friends to look and try to identify their loved ones.
The photos are very gruesome, very graphic, very difficult to look at. I can only imagine what that would be like for a family member, but that's
the stark reality of this is they're trying to bring closure to loved ones. Becky?
ANDERSON: Yes, and what's the forecast at this point?
GOULDING: Well, the concern now is that there's more rain on the way. I'm hearing up to about three days of rain coming to the area in as this all
developed, right? It started with this kind of glacial avalanche, if you will, in simple terms, it formed a new lake. At least that's what we're
being told. And there's going to be a lot of water rushing into that. So there is a concern that there could be future, you know, breaches in
significant water flows.
At this point, it doesn't sound like it could be anything that we previously saw, but there is a warning for people that are near the
riverbed that are performing the very, you know, really, it's going to be a gruesome job to try to find the victims of this in any survivors. So
they're already in a dangerous situation. Now, quite literally, there's another danger looming over their heads. So days of rain are going to make
it even more difficult.
ANDERSON: And I'm sure those on the ground are well aware of that racing to get things done. Gage, we'll leave it there.
I'm joined now by Rosalind Hansen-Gabriel. She's the National Director for World Vision International Nepal. Good to have you. Thank you for joining
us. Let's start with how your team is doing on the ground. What's the situation like for you there?
ROSLYN HANSON GABRIEL, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, WORLD VISION INTERNATIONAL NEPAL: Yes, as you just heard, it's extremely difficult on the ground and getting
access to the communities is an ongoing challenge for all humanitarian organizations. So our team is on the ground, they're assessing, they're
looking to see which communities are at greatest need and then how we can be coordinating with the government and with other humanitarian actors to
make sure we can get aid to these families as soon as possible.
As you can see from some of those images, the shelter is an urgent need for many families. Food, wash, water and sanitation, clean water are very
urgent issues which we're looking to address. So we have declared this as an emergency. We are responding. We're working with our partners and the
local government to try to get support to these communities as soon as possible.
ANDERSON: And how many members, team members, have you got on the ground?
GABRIEL: So we are working through our partners. So we have a small group at the moment that have gone into the ground. The initial team has gone in
and then they're connecting with our partners and the local government authorities that are there. So the numbers, I mean, we were trying to get
in, as I said, so the numbers that we have on the ground at the moment are relatively small, around probably about 10 to 20.
ANDERSON: Got it. OK. And we are hearing glimmers of hope. As Gage was reporting there, some of those who were missing, and there are some
foreigners included in these numbers, have actually been rescued. So I'm interested, which is great news, but there are still many, many others who
are listed missing at this point. And we do expect those numbers to rise. And the death toll is likely to go higher at this point as well. I'm
wondering, what's the feedback from those who are currently deployed, and your team members currently deployed in Nuwakot, as to the challenge that
the authorities have in the search and rescue efforts?
GABRIEL: Yes, there are a lot of challenges, as I said, with access. So the lower roads where the communities are most impacted are just impossible.
You can get to the point where I'm sure your team is, and my team is, and beyond that, you cannot go anywhere with the road. So it's helicopters that
are having to go in and out, and this is why it's taking some time to conclude the search and rescue, because they're having to do everything
through helicopter at this stage. So it will take some time.
And our concerns remain with children. We know that there are children who have been separated from their families. The number of bridges across the
river that were taken out, basically all of them, have been destroyed. And therefore, children who are at school on the other side of the river to
their homes are not able to get back to their families. So we have dire concerns for reconnecting children with their families, as well as meeting
those communities' immediate needs.
[10:10:20]
ANDERSON: And you've talked about the work that you're doing with your partners on the ground. And for those who haven't been involved in these
emergency efforts before, and I've seen in myself the work that organizations like yours do on the ground when it comes to logistics and
how important this work is. But oftentimes, the challenge is that coordination. Are you finding that this time?
GABRIEL: Coordination has been good with the government. It is very good and well-structured in Nepal, between the different humanitarian agencies.
So we are talking constantly. We are mapping who is doing what where. And we are tapping into the different logistic channels that are available so
that we can get things out to the communities as soon as possible.
In this kind of situation, we want to reach as many people as possible, but not to duplicate. So that coordination is vital. And our team has been
working closely with the local government, with the national government, and with other agencies to make sure that we're able to reach everybody
over a period of time.
ANDERSON: World Vision Nepal, I know, has released $100,000 for relief distribution. I know that the U.N. has, in the first instance, released
some $2 million. There will be significant funding gaps, of course. Where can additional help come from? What do you make -- you say that the
coordination actually has been good, which is really good to hear. What do you make of the government effort so far in and of itself?
GABRIEL: No, the government has to be applauded for the work that they're doing. And they are working hard to make it possible for organizations to
get in and support. They are also making sure that they're protecting the systems they have in place. But they are doing well in that area. We've
released an initial $100,000, which we predict is going to be gone before a few days.
It is expensive to support these kind of relief efforts, and it's critical that we get this support in as soon as possible. And it doesn't end with
this first initial life-saving support. These families need to rebuild livelihoods. We need to rebuild schools, homes. There's a lot of work that
has to happen after this initial kind of clean-up and response effort, so that the recovery is going to be long-term.
ANDERSON: Yes. OK. All right. It's good to have you, and I'll let you go, because I'm sure you're extremely busy. I'm glad that you got people on the
ground, and we will continue to report on this as we get more detail. Thank you very much indeed.
All right. Ratko Mladic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serb army and infamously known as the Butcher of Bosnia, has died at the age of 84.
Mladic was serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity, arrested in 2011 after 16 years on the run. My colleague Nic
Robertson looks back at Mladic's career and his downfall, and joins me now. Just talk us through the significance of this moment.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, look, this was the first major war in Europe since World War II, so I think that kind of sets
it in its place. It began 1992 to 1995 in Bosnia, and that was when Yugoslavia was breaking up. You know, the Berlin Wall had come down, the
Iron Curtain had fallen, and it was rippling across Europe. But this war was like no other that Europe had witnessed in a generation. The slaughter
was on a huge scale.
Hundreds of thousands of people killed, and Ratko Mladic was the military commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, who really had most of the military
hardware at the beginning, who had the upper hand. They had the capital surrounded in a medieval-style siege. It was like a city Sarajevo in a
bowl, and on the sides of that bowl, the mountain sides there in amongst the trees, Ratko Mladic's forces were aligned.
They had tanks, they had howitzers, they had mortars, they had snipers, and they mercilessly picked off the civilians in the city of Sarajevo, and they
went around, his forces went around Bosnia and cleaned out, if you will, the ethnic cleansing was the term that was used at the time, and it's still
absolutely valid. Ethnically cleansed Bosnia's Muslims and Croat population in some areas from parts of Bosnia.
[10:15:06]
The biggest atrocity that Mladic will be remembered for will be Srebrenica, and that was in the summer of 1995, and this town had become a desperate
last refuge under U.N. protection even at that stage for thousands, tens of thousands of Bosnia's Muslims in the east of the country that fled there. I
remember going there in the winter of 1992, and it was so desperate then, they were ripping up sheets in a makeshift hospital that was inside the
city or the town library. That was 1992.
1995, Ratko Mladic led his forces past the U.N., overrunning the city, telling the men and the boys there that they'd be OK, taking them away on
buses and then killing, executing more than 7,000 of them. Then, of course, eventually it catches up with him, and he ends up at the International War
Crimes Tribunal in the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands, and that's in 2011. He goes on trial and is convicted of these war crimes, crimes against
humanity, genocide.
That's in 2017, and he's been serving his sentence there in a U.N. detention facility ever since. These trials were set there to try the
biggest and the smallest of those convicted -- those suspected of atrocities inside of Bosnia during that three-year civil war, 1992 to 1995.
You had the president of Serbia, who was there, Slobodan Milosevic.
You had the political leader of the Bosnian Serbs as well. They all mostly wound up there, and most of them ended up dying while they were held there.
Now, Ratko Mladic's lawyers say they had appealed to the court in this past week because his health was deteriorating. They wanted him to be released,
but he has passed away now in detention there. We don't know what he suffered from and what he passed away from. He was previously reported to
have had, you know, heart issues.
ANDERSON: Got it. All right, Nic, thank you for that.
CNN's chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour confronted Mladic in Bosnia in 1993. In this piece you're about to see, she looks back on how he
oversaw the massacre of Bosnian Muslims during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s crimes against humanity for which he was convicted at the Hague.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RATKO MLADIC, BUTCHER OF BOSNIA (through translator): We'd be poor without the Muslims. It's good to have them around, but in a smaller concentration.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): Shilling words from the man they called the Butcher of Bosnia, General Ratko Mladic.
The snide humor masked his killer instinct. It defined Mladic, and it made him an uncomfortable man to confront. And we'd see this preening smile
again and again as the war unfolded.
AMANPOUR: Indeed, the Muslims, the Bosnian government says --
AMANPOUR (voice-over): I'd been covering the Bosnian war for more than a year by the time I met him, living in this shelled, sniped and besieged
city of Sarajevo. A year of witnessing the ferocious war machine that the Bosnian Serb commander had unleashed, and he did not like my reporting.
MLADIC (through translator): What's the lady's name?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christiane.
MLADIC (through translator): I like Kennedy's Christina. It won't be difficult for her to understand because when I saw her first reports from
Sarajevo, I was very angry.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Mladic was commanding the Bosnian Serb military mission to carve out their own ethnically pure republic and join it into a
greater Serbia. This was a daily occurrence, dodging bullets as we covered the unfolding tragedy. For the Bosnian Muslims, the villain was clear.
AMANPOUR: There are, you know, your own people and your soldiers, to them, you're a great man, you're a hero. To your enemies, you're somebody to be
feared and somebody to be hated. How do you feel about that?
MLADIC (through translator): Very interesting question. Both things you say are correct.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Prosecutors say what Mladic believed to be his greatness was, in fact, ethnic cleansing and genocide. It would reach its
climax with the massacre at Srebrenica, July 11th, 1995, more than three years into this brutal war. It was meant to be a U.N. protected zone for
Muslims, when Mladic's forces overran U.N. positions and invaded the tiny enclave, they handed out candy and General Mladic promised the townspeople
they would be safe.
[10:20:01]
Of course, they were not. His soldiers slaughtered more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys who tried to flee. Hurem Suljic was one who miraculously
survived the massacre. I tracked him down in the Bosnian held town of Tuzla four months later.
HUREM SULJIC, SREBRENICA MASSACRE SURVIVOR (through translator): The Serbs said, don't look around. Then I heard a lot of shooting and bodies fell on
top of me. They were the people standing behind me. I fell too.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Here, he says, he saw Mladic one last time.
SULJIC (through translator): He stood there and waited until they killed them. When they killed them, he got back in his car and left.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): After that massacre, the U.S. led a bombing campaign against Bosnian Serb military positions and peace negotiations that
eventually ended the fighting. Mladic became a wanted man and soon went into hiding. I never knew if I would see him again, the man with whom I'd
stood on a Bosnian hilltop at the height of the war. But it was with deep satisfaction that I watched Mladic stand in the dark at the Hague to
finally face the justice he so brutally denied others.
AMANPOUR: America has called calls him a war criminal. And under any kind of U.N. tribunal, he may have to be prosecuted. What does he think about
that? And it's a tough question, but he's a tough man and he can answer.
MLADIC (through translator): Yes, I can take it. I've taken more rough ones. I can take hers too. I defended my people and only my people can
judge me. And there's no greater honor than defending your people.
AMANPOUR (voice-over): Some twisted definition of honor.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: You're watching Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. Still to come, a jury hearing closing arguments in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial.
We'll get you the very latest on that up next.
And a little later this hour, Microsoft founder Bill Gates makes the comparison between the A.I. debate and the nuclear debate. What he said to
CNN is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, this hour, a judge is set to consider whether online influencers, Andrew and Tristan Tate, should remain in federal custody
while they challenge their extradition to the United Kingdom. They are facing a combined 59 sex crime charges in the U.K. They have not entered a
formal plea, but they've repeatedly denied the allegations. The pair have been held in a U.S. federal prison in Miami, Florida, since July.
And in the United States, a jury is hearing closing arguments for the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the woman who was charged with fatally
strangling her three children. CNN's Ivan Rodriguez catches us up on the case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[10:25:07]
IVAN RODRIGUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than three years ago, a tragedy and high profile murder case unfolded inside a home in Duxbury,
Massachusetts. Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children, five year old Cora, three year old Dawson and eight month old, Callan. Clancy then cut
herself and jumped from a second story window. Surviving, but left partially paralyzed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She always wanted to be a mother, have many children, and it -- I felt it was the best thing that ever happened to her and she
would do anything for her children.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Prosecutors argue Lindsay Clancy sent her then husband Patrick out for medicine and takeout, giving her time alone with
the children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, where are the kids?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what was her response?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said, they're in the basement.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff testified he believes Clancy could appreciate the difference between right
and wrong when she killed her children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was able to drive to the pediatrician's office and then back. The day was really one of significant control. The activities
that she engaged in that day, spending time with her children with Play- Doh, taking them outside to, to build a snowman. RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In the months before the killings, Clancy sought repeated treatment for anxiety, insomnia, and other mental health issues,
including a nearly five-day stay at a hospital weeks before she killed her children. Her defense team argues she should not be held criminally
responsible because she was in the midst of a psychotic episode stemming from postpartum mental illness.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's so easy for us as a society to say in a troubling case like this, oh my God, she's guilty, throw away the key, put her in
jail and just be done with it because it makes everybody feel better.
RODRIGUEZ (voice-over): In Plymouth, Massachusetts, I'm Ivan Rodriguez.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: All right, CNN's Brynn Gingras has been following the case and the closing arguments for us from New York. So what's the latest that
you're hearing from the court at this point?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Becky, right now we are hearing from Kevin Reddington, the defense attorney for Lindsay Clancy.
He is giving his closing arguments. We know that he has up to an hour to give those arguments. He's probably about 20 minutes or so in. I can tell
you at this point, he's emotional. He's fighting for Lindsay Clancy. There's jurors who are actually wiping away their eyes as he's giving these
closing arguments. I want you to hear one of the things that he said to his jurors, the jurors in this moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN REDDINGTON, LINDSAY CLANCY'S DEFENSE LAWYER: How does this turn into this? How? Because of the damn medicine and the lousy medical care that she
got. You can troop as many paid experts as you want to come in here and tell a jury, oh, well, she didn't say that she heard voices inside her
head. She said she heard voices from outside her head. She said she was making chicken McNuggets. There was a bowl on the sofa. She wasn't making
chicken McNuggets. She said something as I as I think and I muse and I try real hard to tell you what my opinion is that this woman was acting in her
right mind.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: Of course, Reddington, they're fighting, believing that Lindsay did not kill her. She was not in her right mind. Basically, when these
killings happened, that's what he worked to prove over the last four weeks. Up next, we are going to hear from the prosecution. They're going to give
their closing arguments. And listen, Becky, the jurors can decide once they begin deliberating in this case, they need to decide again, was she
criminally responsible for these killings?
And they can decide first degree murder. They can bring it down to second degree murder. They can also bring it down to manslaughter. So they have a
lot to consider here, not to mention the tons of evidence that was brought forward in this case. And, of course, they can also find her completely not
guilty, which then she would likely be committed to a mental institution.
But again, this is a very emotionally charged moment in court with these closing arguments. We're going to hear from the prosecution next, and then
jurors will begin deliberating in this case.
ANDERSON: And Brynn this case has really sort of raised the issue of postpartum mental health, hasn't it? Can we just discuss before I let you
go, you know, how that has resonated as this case has continued now, because it's been weeks since they've been in court. Of course.
GINGRAS: Yes. I can tell you, Becky, that there were people standing outside the courthouse today at 2:30 in the morning. Most of those people
whether if they were reporters who were trying to get inside, but people who weren't, there were women. That room is full of women. There are times
during this trial, on certain days where there were women outside with signs supporting Lindsay Clancy.
[10:30:12]
It has ignited the conversation about postpartum care and that is something that has really resonated with a lot of women. Of course, we're wondering
how is that going to be in the deliberation room with these jurors? Are they going to be considering this? But that's what Reddington, who's become
sort of an icon in some ways for these women, has been fighting is that she did not get the care she should have received after having those three
children and it spiraled into what we have now.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Brynn, good to have you and we will continue to monitor what is going on there in the courthouse. Thank you.
All right, let's catch you up, folks, with what's going on, on the stock markets. We are an hour into the trading day this Thursday. Shares of
Nvidia up sharply. That's a day after its latest earnings. They actually were just in line with analysts' forecasts but so big that the market seems
to have liked what they've seen. It wasn't until Wednesday's earnings call when Nvidia bosses revealed massive growth expectations for next year that
the share price actually took off.
It was a strong message of confidence in continued expansion of A.I. and Nvidia's role in it. You got Nvidia up some 7.5 percent in this trading
session, that helping to lift the NASDAQ, the entire market there, and offering a stark contrast to the message from Microsoft founder Bill Gates,
who issued new warning about A.I. and is now proposing limits on the technology, describing the A.I. debate as, and I quote him here, "1,000
percent bigger than the nuclear debate." He spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about A.I. in its current state and his thoughts on the future.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL GATES, MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER: Over the last year, these A.I.s have gotten dramatically more powerful, even faster than I expected, and they're
now capable of causing cyberattack risk, bioterrorism risk, psychosocial risk, and I have to say I'm kind of shocked that the exact criteria that we
review these models with and the actions we take to minimize the harms are really completely missing, and the broad dialogue we get all of society
talking about the trade-offs here, that's just not taking place.
The silence is what really drove me to speak out at this point because we have to get everybody's voice in this. You know, these are a set of
democratic trade-offs that have to be made, and, you know, people who think, OK, I'll block a data center, that really isn't going to slow things
down. Those data centers will show up somewhere. We have to take the A.I. issue, and it's the bads versus the goods on in a very explicit way.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Bill Gates speaking to my colleague Anderson Cooper.
Well, still to come on Connect the World, it is a race against time along the Nepal-China border where rescue efforts are ramping up after that
catastrophic flooding that devastated the region. We'll do more on that for you after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:35:50]
ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You're watching Connect the World, and these are your headlines this hour. Well, dozens of
foreign nationals have now been rescued as efforts to find flood survivors in Nepal and China intensify. Officials in Nepal say 31 tourists, including
two Americans, have been rescued in the past hours in the flood-hit district of Rasuwa.
The jury is hearing closing arguments in the Lindsay Clancy triple murder trial. Clancy pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Now the jury must
decide if she acted with knowledge of what she was doing when she strangled her three children or if she was suffering postpartum psychosis.
And Microsoft founder Bill Gates has described the A.I. debate as 1,000 percent bigger than the debate over nuclear weapons. Issuing a new warning
about A.I. in a 6,000-word essay, Gates is proposing limits on the technology or says the harmed humans will outweigh any potential good.
Well, returning to our top story now, international scientists believe a glacier avalanche may have triggered the flash floods that killed at least
356 people and left more than 1,300 missing on Wednesday along the Nepal- China border. For more on this, I want to bring in CNN's chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir. And Bill, I know, you know, if you look on social
and indeed if you look on CNN, there are lots of good sort of graphics and sort of illustrations of what we believe might have happened to have
created the sort of, you know, massive flash flooding that we saw yesterday in Nepal, on the Nepal side of the China border. What more do we understand
about what caused the disaster and indeed what role climate change could be playing here?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, we know that were no monsoon rains for the week prior. So this is not a typical flood event
caused by downpours from the sky. We do know that the rate of glacier melt in the Himalayas is been doubling in recent years. That part of the world
warming faster than the rest of the planet as a result of climate change and loosening it up.
And so one of the 50 to 60,000 glaciers in the Himalayas sheared loose. We've been using satellite analysis with the help of our expert partners.
And it looks like a side of a piece of ice, roughly 2,000 feet wide, 600 meters wide, sheared off at the same time as a similar bit of landslide,
whether they're connected, whether the melting ice loosened it together, but now there's a 3,000 foot, a thousand meter gash on the side of that
mountain, which then fell 7,000 vertical feet.
So the momentum, the physics of all of that mass going down and either it created a dam and then held back enough water to fill up and create it, or
just the sheer amount of volume of mass moving and water with it created that tsunami like wave of downstream, as you can see. So even high in
remote areas, Becky, as these ticking sort of dripping time bombs give way the effect of the communities that are built on riversides all the way down
into the Ganges Valley. You know, the Himalayas are the water towers of Asia.
They got to worry about drought and less snowfall. But on moments like this, the sudden just, you know, you can't outrun these sort of things. And
the glacier outlets, these glacier dam bursts, they're becoming more common. And there was no real obvious lake up there that gave way like we
saw last year up in the Himalayas, these glacier lake outburst floods. But, you know, the pictures are just gobsmacking when you see the volume of
water and mountain that came down.
ANDERSON: Yes, and sadly the risks are still there. Good to have you, Bill. Thank you.
[10:39:58]
All right, White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt has told "Fox News" that no negotiations with Iran are happening right now. Well, in the
region where we are, on the other hand, we have seen a steady stream of mediators traveling to Iran. Qatar's prime minister is in Tehran today.
He's set to meet with Iranian officials as a key mediator hoping to deescalate tensions as the U.S.-Iran conflict now nears the six-month mark.
Just a couple of days ago, Oman's foreign minister was in town. The two countries, of course, have been in talks about how to manage shipping
routes through the Strait of Hormuz.
And before that, at the start of this week, Pakistan's army chief meeting with senior Iranian officials. Pakistan has emerged, of course, as a key
mediator between Iran and Washington during the conflict. Well, all of this perhaps indicating that the Trump administration's loud talk of crippling
sanctions on Iran is meant to serve primarily as a pressure tactic to get Tehran to rejoin negotiations. And more, of course, as we get it. That is
the latest update and signaling that we are getting here in the region.
Well, to Syria now, where new milestones have been announced for the country virtually every day this week, showing signs of progress some 20
months onward now from the fall of the Assad regime. On Wednesday's show, we noted that the Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces, or the SDF as you
might know them, has dissolved, bringing its fighters under state forces. And that marked a significant win for the Syrian president, Ahmed al-
Sharaa's government, in solidifying its authority over the country, though the finer details of integration will likely still pose a challenge.
And earlier in the week, we discussed Syria's removal from the U.S. state sponsor of terrorism list, the last key step to fully reopening the country
to the international financial system. Well, in the light of that announcement, a new and highly symbolic moment, al-Sharaa making the
country's first visa credit card payment of its sanctions-free era. It's a MasterCard payment for coffee at a Damascus cafe, according to the
country's central bank governor, and it was posted on a newly launched X account called Syria Response, designed to present Syria's updates to
international audiences, mirroring the social media strategy of many countries around the world. The first post saying the account was launched
intentionally around Syria becoming sanction-free.
You're up to speed on what is going on around this region. Next up on Connect the World, two generations of ocean conservationists united by one
goal, protecting our oceans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:45:03]
ANDERSON: Call to Earth is CNN's commitment to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet along.
BIJAN HOSSEINI, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: One of the biggest global conservation targets is what's known as 30 by 30. It's an ambitious goal to protect 30
percent of the world's land and oceans by the year 2030. So with just a few years left to go, the clock is ticking. Here on the island of Moorea in
French Polynesia, conservationist Titouan Bernicot and his team of Coral Gardeners are doing their part to help rebuild and protect coral reefs.
And across the globe, oceanographer Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue is working to protect some of the ocean's most critical places through a network of
hope spots. The two of them sat down recently to discuss what it will take to make 30 by 30 a reality.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TITOUAN BERNICOT, FOUNDER & CEO, CORAL GARDENERS: So Sylvia, we are in 2026.
SYLVIA EARLE, FOUNDER & CEO, MISSION BLUE: Four years.
BERNICOT: Yes, we have four years left. Do you think we're going to reach it?
EARLE: Depends on how you count. From my standard, we have about 3 percent of the ocean that is really protected.
BERNICOT: Right now.
EARLE: Now there are places called marine sanctuaries where you can drag a net across the bottom, but it's still called a protected area. I don't know
why anybody would think that's a sanctuary or a protected area. We don't have parks on the land where you can go cut the trees and shoot the birds.
So why would we call a place in the ocean a sanctuary if you can go fishing there? So if you include areas that are called sanctuaries, you can say
there's about 10 percent of the ocean.
If we do take serious action in the high seas, there's now a treaty that really provides a framework for protecting at least 30 percent of the high
seas. By 2030, it was an ambitious goal. But suppose, like you, you had an ambitious goal.
BERNICOT: Yes.
EARLE: You didn't let people tell you that it's impossible.
BERNICOT: Yes. You know, when I started Coral Gardeners, the goal was to revolutionize ocean conservation and try to create that global movement all
around the planet to revive the reef.
EARLE: And you're fortunate, I think, to be in French Polynesia where there's a government in place.
BERNICOT: Oh, yes.
EARLE: It seems to be determined to expand protection even beyond the goals of many to have at least 30 percent of the land and sea.
BERNICOT: Yes, yes.
EARLE: By 2030, and if you get this level of realizing, we can do this. And OK, can we get to 30 percent by 2030? Almost, it doesn't matter. If you can
get people on a journey, 30 percent is a milestone, but it's not the end point.
BERNICOT: But you know, that's the biggest challenge. It's that for the moment, saving the planet like conservation is too niche, doesn't reach
enough people, and this has to change. A lot of people don't care, but I'm sure there are ways. I'm going to try to find them in order to make that
movement more insightful, more exciting, more fun, like saving the planet. If not, they are not going to do it. We need to create an emotional
connection between people and the thing we want to protect.
EARLE: If you can get enough people to really understand that it's our life support system and it's the best chance we will ever have, it's about
protecting the ocean, but that means it's about protecting us. We have to live our lives in greater harmony with nature.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, the window for action is closing. There is still reason for hope. And for more, head to cnn.com/calltoearth. We'll be back with more
news after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:50:28]
ANDERSON: Well, this year, a new U.S. ambassador to Italy was appointed. In fact, it was last year. He's been in the job about, I don't know, 16 months
now, 69-year-old Texan billionaire Tilman Fertitta. He's the owner of the NBA team, the Houston Rockets, as well as being a reality T.V. star. And I
traveled to Italy to meet him recently on his $450 million yacht called the Boardwalk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
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 a company public
and rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange.
ANDERSON: How have you known Donald Trump?
FERTITTA: Believe it or not, our first deal was in 1999 when I did a Rainforest Cafe and 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, Tilman?
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, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's a beautiful young woman.
ANDERSON (voice-over): World politics and a personality clash have brought the longstanding 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 Maloney 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 that, 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, "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, "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.
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.
[10:55:04]
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.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Finally tonight, a big loss in the art world. The renowned Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, has died at the age of 97. Kusama became
best known for what she called her infinity mirrored rooms, which was installations that she built in cities across the world. And I had the
absolute pleasure of seeing her brilliant work, some of which is included in the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi collection. Much of her work was also
characterized by polka dot patterns featuring in paintings that sold for millions at auctions. May she rest in peace.
Well, that is it for Connect the World. Stay with CNN. One World is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:0000]
END
