Return to Transcripts main page

The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Aid Convoy Helps Cuba Amid Energy Crisis, U.S. Oil Blockade; Trump: Summit Postponed by Iran War Now Set for Mid-May; Power Storm to Hit Middle East with More Heavy Rain, Winds; NY Yankees Crush SF Giants 7-0 in MLB Season Opener. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired March 26, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: You can't go there without it. Good luck, everybody with opening day. We'll be talking more about opening day in our next hour, really breaking down all of that. But let's start. Our next hour of The Story Is with breaking news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles. The Story Is with Elex Michaelson. And welcome to this hour of The Story Is. I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. We continue to follow that breaking news from the Middle East, the war with Iran and the U.S. efforts to end it through diplomacy.

It has now been nearly a month since the U.S. and Israel launched strikes. And the U.S. Central Command says it continues to target Iran's military infrastructure and capabilities. At the same time, the White House says talks with Iran are proceeding and they're productive. But Iran's foreign minister denies any negotiations, saying there's only been an exchange of messages. Here's how President Trump phrased it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they're afraid to say it because they figure they'll be killed by their own people. They're also afraid they'll be killed by us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Two sources tell CNN that Trump administration officials are working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off ramp to the war. The current plan has Vice President J.D. Vance traveling to Pakistan, but officials caution that the timing, location and who may attend all that is still fluid. CNN's Ivan Watson is live in Islamabad, Pakistan. He's ready for all of this. Ivan's feed just went down, but when we get it back, we will go back to Ivan live in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Meanwhile, sources tell CNN that Iran is preparing for a possible U.S. operation to take control of the Kharg Island. The key island handles the majority of Tehran's oil exports. We are learning that Iran has been laying traps and building up the island's defenses in recent weeks. The administration is considering a ground operation there to try and coerce Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian military source warns that Tehran could open additional fronts, including around another key strait near the Red Sea, if the U.S. undertakes military action.

Two U.S. Marine Expeditionary Units and amphibious ready groups have recently deployed to the Middle East. CNN's Paula Hancocks looks at what those thousands of additional service members may now be preparing for.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what an amphibious assault looks like. A U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit or MEU storms a beach with the forces and equipment needed for battle. This was a joint exercise with South Korean Marines three years ago. An actual assault is more likely to take place at night. Two MEUs like this are on their way to the Middle East officials tell CNN.

Their mission not revealed. And the skies above this drill, attack helicopters, osprey transports and F-35 stealth fighters 30 nautical miles out to sea. An amphibious assault ship, the USS Makin Island, bringing together all the components needed for a self-sufficient attack.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-NC): And as to this commander in chief --

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Some within President Trump's circle are pushing for the U.S. military to take over Iran's Kharg Island to force the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, a tiny island off the coast of Iran that 90 percent of the country's oil exports passes through. Considered its economic lifeline. The U.S. says it has attacked its military defenses, the oil infrastructure remains intact.

If President Trump does decide to take Kharg Island, a Marine Expeditionary Unit would be ideal. Around 2200 marines and sailors prepped for ground combat and air combat with a logistics command considered the Swiss army knife of U.S. military capability.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Thanks to Paula. U.S. Senate failed once again to agree on funding for the Department of Homeland Security and end a partial government shutdown. Republican lawmakers thought that Democrats had accepted their offer to fund the DHS except for certain operations handled under immigration and custom enforcement. But Senate Democrats sent a counteroffer, sticking to the demands that they'd been wanting since the start of the shutdown. The White House had already agreed to some concessions last week as part of broader talks.

However, that counteroffer was dismissed by Republicans as, quote, "rehashing old ground." Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security reports at least 480 TSA officers have quit since the shutdown began and more than 3,000 TSA employees didn't show up to work on Tuesday. Some are working alongside ICE agents who continue to get paid. President Trump suggests the assignment may be changing public perception of the agency.

[01:05:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I first sent him in two days ago, I looked and they were wearing masks and I think they have to because a lot of people are up. But in an airport, no. I said, fellas, do you mind taking off your masks in the airport? And they took them off and people said, wow, these are nice guys. And they're helping the people with their bags.

They're moving things along. It's a beautiful thing to see. People are starting to say ICE, you're nice guys.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: It's still unknown whether sending ICE agents to some airports has actually improved security line wait times. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Texas starting to warn travelers that they may end up missing their flight due to extended wait times. Some people waiting there for five hours.

Other big news today, California jury has found YouTube and Meta liable in a landmark case about social media addiction. The companies were accused of intentionally getting a young woman addicted to their sites and harming her mental health. The jury found Meta and YouTube negligent in the design of their platforms and they were ordered to pay a total of $6 million in damages. YouTube and Meta are planning to appeal. But this case could be a watershed moment for social media companies and how they operate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK LANIER, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: These social media companies make their money off what they call the attention economy. They're selling the time we spend on their platforms and that's fine if they want to do that business, but they must do it responsibly. They can't take advantage of young pre developed minds and purposefully engineer addiction into their platforms so that those children spend more time than they should just to profit the companies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: That was lead plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier last hour joining me on The Story Is. Now we go to CNN's Clare Duffy who has more on how this case could mark a crucial moment for social media companies and accountability going forward.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: This case was brought by a now 20- year-old named Kaley and her mother accusing Meta and YouTube of intentionally designing addictive features that got her hooked as a young woman and caused mental health challenges like anxiety and body dysmorphia. And the jury sided with Kaley on all counts. In this case, they found that Meta and YouTube knew that their platforms could be harmful to young people, failed to warn users of these risks and played a substantial role in Kaley's mental health challenges. The jury has awarded a combined $6 million in compensatory and punitive damages. And look, $6 million between these two companies is sort of a drop in the bucket when you're talking about companies as big as Meta and YouTube.

But this is just the first step. This case now potentially creates a roadmap for lawyers to follow in hundreds of other cases that have been filed against these two companies, as well as TikTok and Snap, which settled Kaley's case just before trial. If these tech companies continue to lose in these hundreds of cases, we could see them potentially on the hook for billions of dollars in damages and also forced to make changes to their platforms. Parents and advocates who for years have been raising concerns about online safety issues for children are also certainly hoping that U.S. lawmakers are watching this decision closely, watching the evidence that came out in this trial and that that could motivate them to create more comprehensive online safety legislation.

Now, Meta and YouTube do say they plan to appeal. They say they respectfully disagree with this decision, that could drag out this case for months, if not years. But in the meantime, we will see these other cases starting to go to trial. So this is an important moment and just a first step as we potentially start to see a shift in how we think about who is responsible for the safety of young people online. Back to you.

MICHAELSON: Clare Duffy, thank you.

Still ahead, international efforts to help Cuba as the country grapples with an energy crisis and U.S. oil blockade. I'll speak with an activist who was part of a humanitarian convoy to the island. He joins me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:13:52]

MICHAELSON: Back to our top story. The war with Iran and U.S. efforts to end it through diplomacy is increasingly looking like Pakistan could play a key role in making that happen with a possible summit in Pakistan this weekend. CNN's Ivan Watson is following all this. He has now arrived live in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Ivan, why Pakistan? Why is Pakistan so important here?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well, Pakistan has a border, shares a border with Iran, and has relatively friendly relations with Iran as well as with the Trump administration. So Pakistan has delivered from Washington a 15 point list of expectations that the Trump administration would want for some kind of a deal with Iran as this war continues to rage in its 27th day, with reports of Israel claiming to have carried out a fresh wave of bombing attacks on targets in Iran, with reports of explosions around several Gulf countries from presumably what are incoming Iranian ballistic missiles and drones that may or may not have been intercepted. So the fighting very much continues, but there is this flurry of mediation efforts going on at the same time where not only has Pakistan delivered this, these kind of Trump administration points of discussion, but also two senior U.S. Trump administration officials saying that they -- there could be talks here in Pakistan as early as this weekend with the possibility that the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance could attend those discussions.

[01:15:34]

An Iranian officials saying they do not want to talk to the previous American interlocutors, that's President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, the real estate magnate who were involved in negotiations with Iran a month ago, two days before the U.S. and Israel launched their surprise bombing campaign of Iran. Now, the Iranian government has sent some very mixed signals. It does say that it is receiving some messages and exchanges of messages with friendly countries like Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Oman, all involved in mediation efforts between Tehran and Washington. But also take a listen to what the Iranian foreign minister just had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): I will explain that there is no negotiations but the fact that the enemy who sought our unconditional surrender now talks about negotiations, requests talks and mobilizes its highest officials to negotiate with the Islamic Republic. This means accepting defeat. So far, the people of Iran, our armed forces and all segments of the nation are truly the winners.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Now Iran State funded Press TV has published five conditions from Iran for any possible deal and they would include a complete halt to aggression and assassinations, the establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure the war in Iran does not resume, a guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war reparations and damages, and end to military reparations across all fronts and for all Iranian proxies in the region. That would presumably include Hezbollah, the militia in Lebanon, and quote, a guarantee that Iran can exercise sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. And that's really important because before this war the sticking points were about Iran's nuclear program, its ballistic missile program.

Since the bombing campaign of Iran began, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz and has now imposed conditions for any ships to go through and made it clear that it is willing to incur tremendous costs on the global economy with soaring energy prices due to this chokehold as while the U.S. and Israel continue to pound and bomb and Iranian targets across its country. So that is the leverage that Iran is imposing, leverage that did not exist before Israel and the U.S. began their joint bombing campaign. Very unclear whether or not these negotiations will in fact move forward, but a sign of the increased stakes since the bombing campaign began, you know, now that we're in the fourth week of this war. Back to you.

MICHAELSON: Well, Ivan, you mentioned Israel. How does Israel feel about this? And what's Israel's relationship like with Pakistan?

WATSON: Right. Pakistan has no relations whatsoever with Israel. In fact, if you have an Israeli visa on your passport, you're not allowed really into this country. So Israel would not be theoretically any part to any possible negotiations. And I have to caveat this, that we're not confirmed yet that this meeting could -- will, in fact, take place.

And there are other locations where it could also be held if it does, in fact, go ahead, Turkey being a possibility as well. Israel has -- and the Israeli government have much more popular support for this war than the U.S. where the war is, you know, being battered in public opinion polls. So there's a completely different kind of approach. Israel also has much more directly on the line since it's taking incoming hits from Iranian missiles and it's currently engaged in ongoing fighting with Hezbollah. And it's also made clear that it wants to continue the fight in Lebanon to try to change the complete equation on the ground with seizure of territory in southern Lebanon as well. And there are some differences, clearly, between what the U.S. government is trying to do right now with Iran and what Israel is doing as well.

[01:20:10]

So this is a complicated picture, but the important point to note here --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

WATSON: -- is that people are continuing to die. The costs are continuing to go up across the region and across the world, with countries across Asia imposing austerity measures on energy usage because they're feeling the pinch already with liquid petroleum, gas and petroleum, and crude oil as well.

MICHAELSON: Yes, of course, Israel views Iran as an existential threat. Iran has also funded all of these proxies in the region that have attacked Israel over and over again. And every Israeli citizen living there has been there for one of those attacks. So it's a very different political dynamic than the United States, which literally feels an ocean away and a world away from that conflict for many people.

Ivan Watson, live for us in Islamabad. Ivan, thank you so much.

Now to this. Four people are dead after the latest U.S. strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command says Wednesday's attack hit a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization. More than 160 people have now been killed since the U.S. launched these strikes in September. The Trump administration has shown little evidence that the boats being targeted were carrying drugs or that those on board had ties to cartels.

In the coming hours, Venezuela's ousted president will appear in a New York federal court. Attorneys representing Nicolas Maduro and his wife will argue that the U.S. government is interfering with the defense of their clients. Lawyers say the Treasury Department has revoked a license that allows Venezuela to pay their legal fees, and they say that violates Maduro's constitutional right to defend himself. Prosecutors say the couple can still use their personal money to pay for their defense. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to charges related to drug trafficking, money laundering and corruption.

Mexico will continue with a medical program that allows Cuban doctors to work in the country despite pressure from the U.S. Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday. Her country will maintain its agreement with Cuba as part of the program. Thousands of Cuban doctors and specialists have deployed to Mexico to work in underserved rural or high crime areas, providing crime crucial services to those in need. But a number of other Latin American and Caribbean governments canceled their agreements with Cuba after the U.S. dialed up its pressure campaign on Havana.

Activists delivered humanitarian aid to Havana on Tuesday as Cuba reels from an energy crisis and U.S. blockade of oil. The ship brought food, medical supplies, solar panels and other aid.

Joining me now is David Adler. He is a political economist and general coordinator of Progressive International. He's also one of the organizers of Nuestra America Convoy that is bringing direct humanitarian aid to Cuba.

Thank you so much for being with us. What do you see on the ground and what most surprised you from what you saw on the ground?

DAVID ADLER, POLITICAL ECONOMIST: The situation in Cuba is dire. And the Nuesta America Convoy that we've organized from 33 countries, 650 delegates, is fundamentally a civil social response to that crisis. You've got people packing their bags with the medicines they're able to collect from their communities, running local fundraisers in order to find access to the food, the medicine that the Cuban people need right now. But ultimately, it should not be the responsibility of these citizens. It should not be the responsibility of civil society to attend to a crisis that's not just been aggravated by the U.S. blockade of Cuba, but really initiated by the siege of the island that's been imposed since the 29 of January executive order that declared kind of at the backs of the U.S. American public, Cuba, a so called unusual and extraordinary threat.

So what surprised me the most, being on the ground with the Cuban people delivering this material aid, was the sense of confusion and the sense of commitment not just to international cooperation with the United States, but a deep, enduring friendship with our country. A sense that what have we done to earn this designation as an unusual, extraordinary threat, when not just a decade ago, we were enjoying a period of such mutual prosperity and cooperation under President Obama as a result of the diplomatic that allowed not just for liberalization of perhaps economic reforms on the island, but also allowed for family reconciliation, for tourism, for even the Kardashians to go film an episode of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" on the island.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ADLER: So we've lost this sense of memory of what a golden period felt like for so many people --

[01:25:02]

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ADLER: -- on the island and what it couldn't for people in the United States.

MICHAELSON: You're quite the intellectual. You've gotten the Rhodes Scholar and the Fulbright Scholar. You're a citizen of three countries. You've thought about these issues deeply. What do you think is the desired outcome for you in Cuba? What do you want to see happen next?

ADLER: We want to see U.S.-Cuban policy reflect U.S.-Cuban public opinion. When we've conducted poll after poll for several years, I've been working on this issue. It was true during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, when there was ample evidence that U.S. sanctions were undermining the response not just by Cuba's health authorities to vaccinating their own citizens, but by the prospects for Cuba to vaccinate using its own biopharmaceutical technologies. Most parts of the poor world. We were seen a U.S, citizens don't support this embargo. And now if you look at the U.S. public opinion today, a tiny fraction of the U.S. population supports not just the fuel blockade, but the efforts by our administration to pursue a regime change effort at whatever human cost on the island.

So we believe that U.S. foreign policy should reflect the preferences, the public attitudes of the U.S. American people. And in that instance, the signal is very clear, U.S. Americans do not want another war. You don't want another evasion. You do not want Donald Trump to take the island and do whatever he wants with it. They want to engage in a relationship of a friendship, of mutual understanding.

And that's based on a principle of sovereign equality that we would demand in return. There is no country in the world that could survive one, two, three months --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ADLER: -- without access to fuel and electricity. And so what we're asking for is ultimately empathy. We want to see a more empathetic U.S. American foreign policy with respect to Cuba or any other country across the world.

MICHAELSON: But, you know, there are plenty of people, especially watching in South Florida right now, who think that the Cuban government was repressive, violent, and they want to see that regime gone. They claim that you're helping a repressive regime stay in power by even going there and helping. What do you say to those critics who say these folks should be out of power? ADLER: We would have three different responses to that criticism from South Florida. The first is that collective punishment is a crime. The Cuban people have done absolutely nothing to deserve the starvation from which they suffer, the access to critical medicines that come as a result of these sanctions. And so our efforts are, A, the Cuban. That's my first --

MICHAELSON: We're obviously having some connectivity issues from David Adler joining us from -- but we appreciate him sharing his perspective and we got most of it out there. Thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, President Trump will head to China in the coming weeks. We'll go live to Beijing for details on his newly rescheduled meeting with the Chinese president. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:32:43]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump's visit to China is back on. Originally set for the end of this month, the trip was rescheduled after the war with Iran started. The White House now says it's going to take place May 14th and 15th, and there will be a visit in Washington, D.C. later this year.

Let's go to CNN's Mike Valerio standing by in Beijing. Mike, what do we know about this meeting?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, I hope you join us because it's a lot nicer to do your show, Elex, at noon or 1 p.m., as opposed to being a creature of the night.

MICHAELSON: I'd love to.

VALERIO: Tap into that CNN travel budget. But what we know what's going to be different is that -- please do join us -- is that this is going to be a meeting after the Supreme Court ruling that removed much of the president's emergency tariff authority.

So question one is, what kind of deal, what sort of agreement is going to be reached from this May 14th, May 15th visit.

And then furthermore, we were talking about this last hour, is that does this perhaps signal any kind of window into the president's thinking from his point of view, that perhaps, and we stress perhaps, major military combat options, according to the president's planning, could be over by the time this meeting happens.

It was postponed because he wanted to be in D.C. because so much of the oxygen would be taken out of the meeting when a war was going on at the same time.

Interesting back and forth between Karoline Leavitt and another reporter in the briefing room talking about the timing of this. Let's listen to it and we're going to talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Given that the president postponed his original trip to China because of the war, should we infer that the war will be wound down and concluded by the time of that May 15th, 14th visit?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And as I've said, we've always estimated approximately 4 to 6 weeks. So you could do the math on that, Mario. But we do look -- I know the president looks forward to going to China on May 14th and 15th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: And the math indeed lines up, according to the president's original post on Truth. You know, he wanted to delay it 5 to 6 weeks. So that indeed brings us to where the trip is going to be, at least right now.

[01:34:50]

VALERIO: So the meeting agenda, tariffs in the first Trump administration, China hopes that they get out of the picture because they are, from Beijing's point of view, harming Chinese businesses.

There's also the matter of advanced American chips to power A.I. China wants more of those chips. They're very restricted right now.

Soybeans, American farmers want to sell more of them to China. That is restricted at the moment. Are there going to be any investment deals? \

And then what is the future of relations between D.C., Taipei and Beijing? Beijing has been angered by the Trump administration selling a lot more weapons to Taipei because, of course, Beijing considers Taiwan as part of its own territory, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Mike, while we've got you, we've got some news about South Korea and Japan when it comes to dealing with the impacts of this war. What are you learning on that front?

VALERIO: So, you know, it's painful at the pump for friends and family back home in America. But on this, in our little neighborhood, so Japan is releasing 30 days of oil from its government strategic reserves. And that is adding to private release of oil from private strategic reserves.

If you don't want to get in the weeds of that story line, why this matters is because it's the largest-ever release of oil from Japan's reserves that started on March 16th.

Because when you think about it, Japan and South Korea, Thailand, a lot of these countries in our neck of the woods, they are so dependent on getting their energy from elsewhere, specifically the Middle East.

The government of Japan has advised people not to panic buy, especially toilet paper is the reporting from our Hanako Montgomery in Tokyo. And then in South Korea, President Lee Jae Myung, we were talking

about this the other day, has instituted a price cap on gas prices, which hasn't happened since the 90s, since 1997. This is the first major democracy to institute gas price caps at the gas pump. It hasn't happened anywhere else.

And then there's also the president of South Korea instituting an emergency economic response system, telling people to take the metro, don't drive as much, try to conserve electricity.

But we also have before we go, you know, I was talking to our friends in Seoul. People are starting to panic buy and hoard trash bags in the heart of prosperous Seoul.

Just think of like a convenience store in Yongsan or Gangnam, very ritzy neighborhood, Gangnam-style, people buying trash bags because they're made from plastic petrochemicals that could be in short supply.

So watch this space. I know the crisis seems kind of far for a lot of people watching, and maybe not affecting you as much, but people are lining up at the gas pumps in Thailand and these are, you know, these situations are happening in South Korea, Japan.

Very interesting to watch from our perch right here, Elex.

MICHAELSON: Interesting. All the people that hoarded toilet paper, and now hoarding of the trash bags.

VALERIO: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And I was not predicting a reference to Gangnam style and PSY in that report. So thank you for bringing that back. Hopefully we can bring that in everybody's mind again.

Mike, great to see you.

A powerful storm is expected to barrel through the Middle East in the coming hours, adding more heavy rain, damaging high winds, possibly thunderstorms. Stormy weather has already brought heavy rains to that region this week.

CNN's Derek Van Dam has our forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The unusual stretch of unsettled weather across the Middle East continues. Look at the satellite loop and you can see the activity moving across portions of the UAE, into Saudi Arabia, even into Iran and Kuwait and Bahrain. These areas have been pelted by not only heavy rainfall but stronger storms, which are a rare occurrence, especially when you're talking about damaging winds and isolated tornadoes as well.

The rainfall has been impressive. Some locations, like Abu Dhabi, for instance, have nearly approached their yearly average rainfall, and it's only been about 48 hours with this accumulation. So really impressive stuff.

So what you're seeing here is a climatological breakdown, a month-by- month breakdown of how much rain Abu Dhabi typically receives. And you can see February to March are kind of the two rainiest seasons. And then we dramatically dry things out as we head into the summer months in the northern hemisphere.

When we're talking about 70 plus millimeters of rain in a two-day period, when we average 89 millimeters, that's a lot for a normally dry area.

And guess what? There's more rain to come for these locations. So we could easily exceed the yearly average rainfall totals for Abu Dhabi and other locations, as well as a more robust storm system moves in from the north and west.

Here's a look at the forecast precipitation. You can see right across the Persian Gulf. Here's the [overtalking]z, and you can see some of the northerly regions could have rainfall totals in excess of 50 millimeters on top of what's already fallen.

[01:39:52]

VAN DAM: So that is a concern for localized flash flooding. And some of these thunderstorms that move through with the passage of the system could have some strong gusty winds. This being a dry environment, we'll look out for the potential of some blowing dust as well.

So a very interesting weather setup to say the least across portions of the Middle East. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Derek, thank you.

A historic first in the Church of England's nearly 500-year history.

Sarah Mullally is the first female Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. She was officially installed on Wednesday in a ceremony mixing tradition with global symbolism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH MULLALY, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY: I solemnly commit myself before you to the service of the Church of England, the Anglican communion and the whole Church of Christ throughout the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Heir to the British throne, Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales, were some of the 2,000 guests who attended the ceremony. Archbishop Mullally is the spiritual leader of the 85 million Anglicans around the world.

Well, comedian Stephen Colbert has his next job lined up when his 11- year hosting gig ends. He will be developing and co-writing a new film in "The Lord of the Rings" franchise.

He made the announcement in a video with Peter Jackson, who led the Oscar-winning team behind the original movie trilogies.

Now, Colbert is a well-known JRR Tolkien superfan.

The final episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" will air on May 21st. Talk about a blessing in disguise for him, though. That is a real dream come true.

Thanks for watching THE STORY IS. For our international viewers, "WORLDSPORT is next. For our viewers here in North America, we'll talk about the very North American sport of baseball coming back.

[01:41:46]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Humanoid robot Figure 3 made its debut at the White House on Wednesday as part of first lady Melania Trump's "Fostering the Future Together" summit. Fellow first spouses from around the world were there to discuss ways to protect and educate children amid the rapid changes in artificial intelligence.

Look at this image here. Mrs. Trump described the moment as an inflection point for technology and for humanity, and offered her vision for products like Figure 3 to become permanent fixtures in U.S. classrooms.

Well, the boys of summer are back with booming bats and some hot pitching. The 2026 MLB season opened on Wednesday in San Francisco, with the visiting New York Yankees crushing the home team Giants 7 to 0.

The Yanks grabbed a big lead early, scoring five runs in the second inning, dominating the Giants, who were held to three hits the whole game.

The game was streamed exclusively on Netflix, and for the first time, the league is using robot umpires, a video system that lets players challenge balls and strikes a few times a game.

Yankee infielder, Jose Caballero, made the league's first challenge on a called strike in the fourth inning. The robot ump confirmed the human ump's call and so he got it right.

For more on opening day, we've got with us MLB reporter for ESPN, Alden Gonzalez on the phone with us right now.

Alden, welcome. What do we think of the Netflix experiment?

ALDEN GONZALEZ, MLB REPORTER, ESPN (via telephone): I think it's indicative of this new era of streaming that we're living in. We had Netflix on opening night. We're going to have NBC and Peacock on opening day. It's Apple on Friday. We got Fox on Saturday. Obviously, ESPN is going to have its games too. They pulled out all the stops. They spent a lot of money on top (INAUDIBLE) talent because they want to do big events. And I think it spoke a lot to just the bigger picture of the sport right now.

A lot of fans are obviously frustrated because they feel like in order to follow their local teams, they got to pay for so many different subscriptions, which is totally understandable.

But you know, entities like Netflix being involved in baseball just opens up the sport to a completely different audience. And if you take a step back, three years from now, at the end of 2028, MLB hopes to acquire not just all its national media rights, but all of, if not the majority of its local media rights. And they hope that streaming giants like Netflix and maybe others will bid on them.

And one thing that MLB is very bullish on, and the numbers, the attendance -- the attendance numbers, the ratings back this up. It's been a long time since this sport has been as popular as it is right now --

MICHAELSON: Yes.

GONZALEZ: -- domestically, globally, with young fans. And I think Netflix doing what they did on opening night, celebrating it the way it did is very indicative of that.

MICHAELSON: Well, you just have a moment where the Dodgers just won the World Series in seven games. Shohei Ohtani getting bigger ratings in Japan than even in America.

GONZALEZ: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And you just had this great success of the World Baseball Classic with record ratings all around the world. So baseball is having a moment.

Also technology having a moment. We saw the introduction of the robo ump tonight.

GONZALEZ: Yes.

MICHAELSON: What do you make of that and how is that going to change baseball?

GONZALEZ: Yes. Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero made history. The first player to challenge a call. He got run up for a strike. He thought it was a ball and he ended up being wrong.

But I think the important thing was that it went very quickly. It's very efficient. And I think, and this is something that players overwhelmingly agree on, this is a good trade off. It is not full ABS. It's not a robo ump. There is a real umpire behind home plate calling balls and strikes, dictating a game.

[01:49:51] GONZALEZ: And it's only going to be a handful of calls -- a small handful of calls every night. The big ones, the ones that could sway a win or a loss, that are going to be challenged.

And I think players like that, I think fans that might be hesitant to embrace it, especially the traditionalists, will come to do that because the technology is there.

They're going to get the call right and it's going to be done quickly. They even show a graphic on the jumbotron of the ballparks. And fans love seeing the ball cross through the strike zone. It's like a very dramatic moment.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

GONZALEZ: And look, a few years ago, the pitch clock got some pushback when MLB implemented it. It became one of the most popular things MLB has done in recent memory. ABS under the challenge system, two challenges per team, I think can be similar to that. I think a lot of fans are going to love it.

MICHAELSON: Well, baseball is an example of technology being used to improve the product. And you are seeing it with the ratings and attendance and everything else.

And we're going to see big numbers tomorrow, opening day at most ballparks around the country, including Dodger Stadium, where the world champs will raise their banner.

Alden Gonzalez from ESPN, joining us for the first time. Thanks so much. Hope to talk to you again soon.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: We'll be right back to wrap things up.

[01:51:04]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Now to our first glimpse of the new "Harry Potter" television series.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Potter. I think we can expect great things from you.

Let's see who you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: HBO, which shares the same parent company as CNN, has posted the first trailer of the new series, which also reveals that it is being filmed in London. It's set to debut at Christmas time this year. You think that's going to be a big hit, or what? Wow.

Thanks for watching THE STORY IS. I'm Elex Michaelson. I'll see you tomorrow for more news.

[01:56:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)