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Study Finds at Least One in Four Former NFL Players Who Died From 2016 to 2021 Had CTE; At Least 157 Killed as Catastrophic Flooding Hits Nepal-China Border; Meta Reaches Landmark $18 Billion State Child Harms Settlement; Officials Expose Major Alleged Chinese Cyber-Espionage Campaign. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired August 26, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

DR. DANIEL DANESHVAR, CHAIR OF PHYSICAL MEDICINE & REHABILITATION, MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM: -- this study so different. In this study, we weren't just looking at how commonly the disease process occurred amongst the people who donated their brains. We looked at it amongst everybody who played, even a single game, who passed away.

And so when we came up with that low number of 25 percent, what that number means is it's assuming that only the individuals whose brains we directly looked at were the ones that had CTE. So the people who died, the 16 percent of people who didn't donate their brains but died with dementia so severe it was written on their death certificate as one of the causes of death, those people we assumed were normal for that 25 percent.

The people who are diagnosed with CTE at other brain banks, we're assuming they're normal as well.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Wow. I wonder what your message would be to parents who are deciding to put their kids now into sports and are considering having them play football.

DANESHVAR: Well, one of the easiest things that we could be doing is decreasing that cumulative force to the head that all of our athletes are experiencing. So for example, at the NFL level, NFL players have less than one contact sport practice per week.

If we were practicing at the collegiate, high school, and youth level in the same way as the pros are playing, then we'd be eliminating up to 70 percent of the head impacts that occur. That would significantly reduce the likelihood of problems later in life.

SANCHEZ: Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, thank you so much for joining us.

DANESHVAR: My pleasure.

SANCHEZ: A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A catastrophic flash flood hits the Nepal-China border. At least 157 people have been confirmed killed and that's a death toll that is likely to rise. Hundreds of tourists, including foreign nationals, are still missing.

A cyber espionage campaign allegedly carried out by China. U.S. officials are accusing hackers of using a Chinese tech company to burrow into agencies like NASA, the Federal Reserve, and even the Senate.

And Dolly Parton's music made her a legend, but her commitment to teaching kids to love reading is another huge part of her legacy. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: We start with the Breaking News. Catastrophic flooding and mudslides devastating parts of China and Nepal, crushing waters, ripping through villages in an instant, leaving many unable to escape. Officials just updated the confirmed death toll a moment ago. At least 157 people have been killed. Hundreds more, though, remain missing.

The U.S. State Department says it is aware of Americans impacted by these floods. Bridges and roads completely washed away, also complicating efforts to get into those areas and locate survivors. CNN's Hanako Montgomery has more on an unfolding disaster and we should warn you, some of the video you're about to see may be disturbing.

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HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dozens of people begin to run. What comes next in this surveillance video is hard to imagine. A mountain of mud and water taller than the building crashes down, wiping out everything in its path, like something from a disaster film. But this is a border crossing between China and Nepal.

It's the result of a deadly flash flood that swept through Himalayan villages on the Nepal-China border on Wednesday. Its enormous force destroying homes and buildings, including in Nepal's Rasuwa district. Aerial footage captured from a helicopter over the district shows the immense barrage of water flooding the valley below.

It's a popular area for hiking holidays. Hundreds of tourists, including foreign nationals, have been reported missing, according to an initial assessment by Nepal's Tourism Board. Nepalese army helicopters are helping rescue citizens from rooftops in the flood- affected areas.

The Red Cross is also deploying an emergency team with relief supplies. And in Tibet's Gyirong Port, China's President Xi Jinping has ordered all-out search and rescue efforts to find those who are missing after a mudslide caused major casualties, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. The mudslide has cut off the region's roads, communications and power, Xinhua said.

Nepal's foreign minister said the deadly flash flood was caused by an earthquake, triggering a large landslide, which blocked the Bhotekoshi River. The full scale of the devastation is yet to become clear.

Hanako Montgomery, CNN.

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KEILAR: Today, those behind a historic court settlement with Meta are saying that it will fundamentally make social media less dangerous for kids.

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Attorneys general in 52 states and territories have reached a nearly $18 billion agreement with the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, calling it the largest BigTech settlement ever. This ends the federal trial of Meta which was accused of intentionally addicting teens to its apps. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was on the list to testify.

Meta's billions will now go toward youth online safety programs. The sides also say Meta will implement new restrictions on users of its apps who are less than 18-years-old and eliminating publishing the number of likes and reactions. Last hour, the Attorney General --

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KEILAR: Let's talk more now about this landmark $18 billion settlement With Meta with Child Safety Advocate, Jim Steyer. He is the Founder of Common Sense Media.

Jim, thank you so much (inaudible). 52 states and territories reached (ph) a settlement that we saw. We saw a lot of changes, right? We saw cigarette smoking drop. We saw you smoking drop. It (ph) got more expensive to smoke, that deterred people. There were these warnings on cigarettes.

JIM STEYER, CHILD SAFETY ADVOCATE & FOUNDER, COMMON SENSE MEDIA: Right.

KEILAR: So when you're thinking of what this actually looks like for social media and if it really is the big tobacco moment, what does it look like?

STEYER: It really is the big tobacco moment. It is a seminal moment. And what it looks like is, first, being Meta and ultimately other companies in the wallet, which is where they need to be held financially accountable, but also forcing changes on the product, like the time limits that you mentioned in the earlier segment, like the fact that they can't do notifications to our kids in the middle of the night, that they have to change some of the addictive design features and the algorithms.

This is a huge moment for parents and for young people and quite frankly, for all of us who've been concerned about the emotional and public health impacts of these huge social media platforms.

KEILAR: Are those operational changes enough, do you think? STEYER: They're a step in the right direction, Brianna. Look, we've been calling it, Common Sense Media, for these kind of changes for more than a decade and the public is behind it. This is not a partisan issue. But these are a major step forward. That said, we're also entering the important era of A.I. and in some cases, some of the A.I. platforms are basically social media on steroids.

So this is going to require continued vigilance and you know we're going to need important legislation like is proposed in California and New York right now. We're going to need the attorneys general to file cases like this and ultimately, we need the leaders of these companies to be accountable to the public and to their own children. Because this has helped create a mental health crisis in the country and these changes are long overdue.

So today is a very big victory.

KEILAR: So Meta is saying that it's going to pay out 70 percent of the settlement fund to states -- to the states and annual installments over the next decade and then the remaining 30 percent is paid only if YouTube and TikTok agree to also make payments to the states and similar changes to the apps. Do you think it's realistic that YouTube and TikTok will do that?

STEYER: I do, Brianna. I'll tell you why, the leadership of both TikTok and YouTube, we know well at Common Sense Media. Their parents too. They care about these issues. Actually, I think that the changes that are recommended to the products are very, very reasonable. They're basically common sense solutions.

So I would bet that both TikTok and YouTube will go along with this. But there's a bigger comment here going on, which is that parents and families here in the U.S. and globally really have been calling for major changes from these social media platforms for years. And so it's a watershed moment when you have this level of financial penalty, but the product changes. But we have to keep on this.

This is back-to-school time. We know that our kids don't need phones in school. We know they don't need to be on social media when they're supposed to be doing their English or History or Math assignments. So this is a continuing movement and today is definitely a watershed victory, really a tobacco moment for the social media platforms.

KEILAR: It's not the end though, right? Meta and other social media giants are still facing hundreds of lawsuits brought by individuals, families, school districts.

STEYER: Correct.

KEILAR: Do you see this as a damn breaking moment?

STEYER: That's right.

KEILAR: I mean, how much more are we going to see do you think?

STEYER: That's a great question, Brianna. I do think it's a seminal moment, right? Yeah, that's why I said -- we've referred to it as a tobacco type moment when the public suddenly realized, Oh my gosh, tobacco is really bad for our health particularly for young people. But no, I think over the next few years, there's going to be a continuous effort to put in strong and more thoughtful guardrails to protect kids and families and quite frankly, all of us.

You know, A.I. is going to be changing every school in America, every college campus too. It's going to be affecting all of our lives. We're going to need really important common sense guardrails there as well. So

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I think this is a major step in the right direction, but we're going to need the continued advocacy and the extraordinary bipartisan support that we see for this among the public. This is not something that parents on one side of the political aisle or the other are in disagreement about, and it's about time that the BigTech companies were held responsible.

And Meta has been the worst actor, so they are the people who should be in the crosshairs, and that's one of the many reasons why today's victory is such an important one, because they have been perhaps the worst actors of all on these very important issues.

KEILAR: Yeah, very big day and a lot of eyes watching it. Jim Steyer, thank you so much for being with us.

STEYER: Thanks as always, Brianna.

KEILAR: Coming up, U.S. officials uncover a cyber espionage campaign targeting multiple government agencies. The new details that we're learning about this major cyber attack, straight ahead.

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KEILAR: Today, U.S. officials are exposing a major alleged Chinese cyber espionage campaign targeting several government agencies. The Justice Department says U.S. Military networks, hospitals, power companies, and defense contractors were also targeted.

SANCHEZ: CNN Cybersecurity Reporter, Sean Lyngaas joins us now. So Sean, how widespread was this spying effort? How are U.S. officials responding?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, it was it was vast. Like a lot of things with China, it's a game of numbers, Boris, where they have the resources, the manpower to operate at scale. And in this case, the Justice Department alleges that the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the Ministry of State Security were using a tech company to try to cover their tracks, to blend in with normal internet traffic. And it worked for a while until the FBI and other intelligence agencies were able to unravel it, but it took many years of investigative work. And today, the FBI sees seized of the internet domains that this company was allegedly using. CNN tried to reach the company.

They haven't responded yet, but it appears to be one of many Chinese tech companies that ostensibly does cybersecurity, but in reality does cyber insecurity and helping hacking in this case. And like I said, it's vast. The victims include Department of Energy, National Laboratories. They definitely targeted the Department of Justice itself according to the court documents that we reviewed, and that's just what we know.

And a counterintelligence assessment is very likely being done or has been done, but we're unlikely to see that because of the sensitive nature of the activity here.

KEILAR: So where does this go from here?

LYNGAAS: This goes from here. Attorney General, Todd Blanche, was asked this morning on Fox News whether the President Donald Trump would bring this up with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, when the two meet next month. He sort of dodged the question. He said, I'm not going to tell the president what to do in terms of that conversation.

However, we've been telling them behind the scenes to knock it off. I know from following this for over 10 years that they've been doing that for a long time. They have not knocked it off yet. And to be fair, the Chinese government accuses U.S. intelligence agencies of doing their own cyber attacks, and they certainly have done. It's just a different flavor of that.

KEILAR: Yeah. Trump will often say that the U.S. does things too, when he's talking generally about different kinds of attacks. Sean, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it.

So much of remembering Dolly Parton today is about her charity work, and that includes something that she called her "Imagination Library." Dolly made it one of her many missions to help children read at a young age, and a few years back, she explained why.

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DOLLY PARTON, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER AND ACTRESS: My own father didn't get a chance to go to school. He couldn't read and write, and that hindered him a great deal because he was so smart, you know, and it really bothered him a lot.

But I started it because of my dad, and I got my dad involved in it. He helped me a great deal when we were putting it together, and he felt like he was doing something important. And so he took a lot of pride in that.

The kids started calling me the book lady, and my dad was so proud of that. He thought that was the cutest thing. He just was prouder of that than probably my great success in show business.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The book lady, I love that. We're joined now by Jeff Conyers. He's the Vice Chair and President of The Dollywood Foundation.

Jeff, thank you so much for being with us, and we're so sorry for your loss. Talk to us about how Dolly impacted so many young lives and the work that she dedicated to making literacy such an important cause.

JEFF CONYERS, VICE CHAIR & PRESIDENT, THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION: Yeah, Boris and Brianna, thank you for having me. It's been a couple of hard days, but I appreciate you having me on again to talk about all the great work that Dolly did. Children and Dolly's philanthropy were incredibly important to her, you know, arguably one of the most important things that she ever did.

And we were inspired by her daily and her love and how much she poured into this huge part of who she was.

KEILAR: Yeah. And in 1995, Jeff, this Imagination Library was born, and 300 million books later, it will probably be one of Dolly Parton's most lasting legacies. I can tell you here in D. C. where there has historically been a literacy crisis for our young folks here in Washington, this is something they benefit from, and it's really -- it's a really amazing thing that they get to take part in.

[14:25:00]

How did this, what was a local program, grow into an international movement?

CONYERS: Well, you know, Dolly always said that she never imagined this little idea that she had would turn into a global book gifting program. It was really intended to gift books to children in her hometown, but of course, Dolly being engaged and who she is, you know, word got out about what she was doing.

And it didn't take too long before we had communities across the U.S. and then even internationally reaching out to ask how they could participate in the Imagination Library. So, you know, 300 million books and over 3.2 million children currently enrolled in the Imagination Library and growing strong, and thousands and thousands of partners across the country is helping us do this.

It's really turned into a remarkable program that's impacted the lives of millions of children and families.

SANCHEZ: Over the last 10 years, Dolly has also donated to people who've lost their homes and livelihoods through fires and natural disasters. Talk to us about her impact on that front.

CONYERS: There's a lot of philanthropy that Dolly did that's public that you'll see and a lot of philanthropy that she did that's private and very personal. Of course, the Imagination Library may be one of the largest and most significant philanthropic efforts that she undertook, but there were the wildfire recoveries in her hometown in East Tennessee, the more recent flood recovery in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina that she supported.

And there's so much more over the years that have been incredibly moving to be a part of. She always felt it very important for her to do her part and take care of what she called her people. And that's certainly the people and communities in East Tennessee where she grew up, and her family and communities in Nashville. And she always believed that, you know, if you were in a position to help, you should help.

And she did just that and she got it true, as she said, that was very much a part of her experience as a little girl and the holler in East Tennessee.

KEILAR: Yeah. And like you said, the holler in East Tennessee coming from such humble beginnings. She really never lost touch with that. How do you think that really shaped her, growing up poor and her approach to philanthropy?

CONYERS: She, I think, carried the experiences as a little girl with her through her entire life. For folks who don't know, she was one of 12 children who grew up incredibly poor in a rural part of eastern Tennessee. They literally had -- didn't have, you know, two sticks to rub together, no running water and no electricity. It was some hard times.

And oftentimes people would bring food when they had extra by the house or scraps of clothes so her mother could make clothes for her brothers and sisters. And that's how they survived. That's how they got by. And that part of giving stuck with her and something that she carried forward.

And ever since she got the opportunity to begin sharing and giving back herself, when she became successful, she started and she never stopped.

SANCHEZ: And she never stopped. Yeah. And she set an example that now we can all admire. Jeff Conyers, thanks so much for sharing part of Dolly Parton's legacy with us.

CONYERS: Thank you for having me today. We really appreciate all the love and support.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, winning her primary runoff, thanking President Trump for backing her. Can she maintain that momentum heading into November? Her Democratic opponent will join us in just moments.

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