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Trump: More Talks with Iran Expected This Week; 5 Men Held on Suspicion of Terror, Explosives Offenses; Two of China's Giant Pandas Arrive at Zoo Atlanta; Protestors in Madrid Demand Relief from High Housing Costs; Investigation into F-35 Parts Mistakenly Sent to Hong Kong; 10 Months of Drought is Devastating Honduras. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 28, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.

[00:00:38]

Coming up on the show, Donald Trump is now talking about a return to talks after turning down Iran's latest offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. What this means for the war as it enters its seventh month.

An 8,000-mile journey, a massive security detail, and a whole lot of bamboo. Meet the panda diplomats making their American debut.

Plus, thousands are taking to the streets of Madrid, demanding solutions to Spain's housing crisis. How one woman's eviction kick- started a movement

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome. We begin with the tensions in the Middle East and the U.S. war with Iran.

President Donald Trump says he expects Washington and Tehran to resume talks this week. His comments to Axios come one day after he rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran, for its part, says it's still waiting for a definitive response to its offer.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told our Jake Tapper why President Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The bottom line is they were asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk. And I'll remind everyone: once we got to the MOU from just a few months ago, the Iranians immediately violated it by attacking international shipping, in violation of international law; and 146 nations have joined us in condemning Iran for those attacks. So, just -- the president's just not confident that the Iranians are

coming in good faith and that will truly negotiate the end of their nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Meanwhile, Tehran's top diplomat says Iran won't back down from the U.S., even in the face of an apocalyptic war, but is ready to make peace. Have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: They care about our national interests. We are ready to negotiate as much as we are ready to face any challenge. We stand firm in the face of any challenge, any -- any aggression. Sorry. We stand firm in the face of any aggression against us, even if it comes to a doomsday war. At the same time, we are ready for diplomacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: CNN's Julia Benbrook has more for us from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump is now saying that he believes there could be talks with Iran in some form this coming week.

He said this in an interview with Axios over the weekend. And I want to pull part of that up for you now.

BENBROOK (voice-over): He said, quote, "I expect more talks with Iran. They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand."

Now there, he seems to be referring to a recent proposal from Iran that they said would lead to the swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for some long-standing demands it's had of the United States.

Trump says that he has --

BENBROOK: -- rejected that proposal. In fact, he called it unacceptable.

Now, the details of what's in it are still scarce. But Iran's foreign minister said that it did nothing more than what was included in the memorandum of understanding, that agreement that was signed by both the United States and Iran back in June, but was scrapped shortly thereafter.

All of this taking place --

BENBROOK (voice-over): -- just days after Trump gave remarks at the United Nations General Assembly. And he focused a good portion of that on this conflict. He said that he was in deciding mode when it comes to Iran.

He said that he believed that there could be an agreement coming shortly after the midterms --

BENBROOK: -- suggesting that Tehran is working to put some political pressure on him.

But in that same speech as he says that he could make a deal in a matter of weeks -- the midterms are not that far away now -- he also said that he could choose to annihilate Iran.

He said that he could drive them into, quote, "he'll, with no chance of survival."

This as this conflict reaches the seven-month mark. It has gone on much longer than he originally predicted.

Julia Benbrook, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Meanwhile, in Yemen, the Houthi-run Health Ministry says seven people were killed and 40 injured, including children, in a strike on a market.

[00:05:04]

Reuters reports Yemen's internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi forces, says it was targeting a Houthi military camp.

Iran's president previously denied that the Yemeni militant group is receiving orders from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are ready to help resolve the problem, not to fuel the conflict. We are prepared to sit down and help Saudi Arabia and Yemen resolve this issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Alex Plitsas, CNN national security analyst and director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council, joins us now with all the latest insights and developments.

Good to see you, sir.

President Trump has now rejected Iran's proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. But he's also saying that he expects more talks this week. Is diplomacy actually still alive here, or are we heading back towards some sort of escalation? ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Both can be true at the

same time. So, unfortunately, I think, if the Iranians don't change their position and move a little bit, we are potentially headed towards another round of conflict. We are certainly looking at some diplomacy this week.

And so, what do we mean by that? Well, the U.S. and Iran are allegedly going to talk. There hasn't been a formal agreement that that is going to happen yet.

And the discussions now are almost identical to where we were right before this round of conflict kicked off. This latest round, that is. And that is that the United States and Iran had sort of come to an agreement in terms of that 14-point plan, that memorandum of understanding that was going to time sequence when sanctions would be lifted, and there would be some financial relief tied to Iranian behavior.

The Iranians have come back, and as the -- our ambassador to the U.N. Said, they're demanding everything up front, which so far doesn't work.

So, negotiations at this point are largely going to focus on the sequencing of events and whether or not the Iranians are willing to move.

HUNTE: Well, give us a bit more detail on that. Iran says it is still waiting for a formal U.S. response and insists that it won't soften its conditions.

But what is Tehran trying to achieve right now, and what would it absolutely need from potential talks?

PLITSAS: So, there's two things that Iran is trying to achieve almost simultaneously. And I think we'll take either as it comes.

So, the first is that they are hyper-focused on the U.S. midterm elections. They believe that that is the political Achilles heel for the president and that, if they put enough pressure, one of two things will happen.

Either he'll cave in before the election to try to alleviate some of that pressure on him so he doesn't lose the midterm elections. Again, this is their viewpoint.

Or that they need to make sure that he loses. So, that way that he will have less power afterwards or less ability to wage war. At least that's the perception that I'm hearing is held in Tehran.

So, while that's going on, you've got competing factions. You have the civilian government, which would effectively try to reopen if it could. And elements of the security apparatus that are still digging in their heels, trying to punish President Trump over the war since it started and haven't come to an agreement.

And at this point, they're going to have to come to an agreement on the sequence of events. The president is not willing to give in at this point, and I think the Iranians are misreading the situation.

HUNTE: Of course, Hormuz remains the biggest piece of leverage in this conflict. If Iran refuses to reopen the strait without conditions being met, what options does the U.S. actually have?

PLITSAS: There are several options that are on the table. I'm told by -- by sources within the Department of War that it is crystal clear that they are able to conduct additional military operations, should they need to. They are ready to do so upon order from the president of the United States.

So, they're still in waiting with the -- with the ability to wage war. But what does that look like?

Well, the ceasefire was declared, at least during the conflict here, or a pause in the hostilities in the middle of the U.S. bombing run. There were still thousands of targets that were left to be struck.

So, effectively, the president could continue finishing those bombing targets; any additional ones for sites that have recuperated since the bombing began; and then potentially hit, you know -- he keeps mentioning Pickaxe Mountain, one of the nuclear sites.

If he were to do that, what does that look like? Well, if he hits the mountain to the point where you can't get in there or he's able to damage facilities further with new weapon systems; and then on top of that, he's able to take out enough of the drones and missiles, which at this point, it looks like is the case anyway, that he could make the claim that it's no longer an existential threat to the United States or Israel. You'll never get every missile or drone. And then effectively set a condition where he can walk away.

The Strait of Hormuz, at this point, oil is flowing out under U.S., you know, support for navigation. It's not -- it's not quite at pre- war levels yet, but it's ticking up that direction.

So, the Iranians still have options in terms of militias and other things to create additional problems and continue to try to get the price of oil to rise. But the U.S. does have some options available to it.

HUNTE: Mm-hmm. And then, of course, there's Yemen. We are seeing the Houthis launch more missiles and drones towards Saudi Arabia, while Saudi-backed forces are fighting back on the ground.

How dangerous is this second front becoming?

PLITSAS: It's dangerous in the sense that we've already seen the militias in Iraq fire on the East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia and that disruption, what it did to the oil markets and disruption of shipping oil to -- to Europe for refineries. And that was just the militias in Iraq.

Then on the ground, obviously, the Houthis punched through to the coast in Yemen with the ability to choke off the -- the Bab El-Mandeb, which is the other strait on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula that we don't talk about as much as we talk about the Strait of Hormuz, which would then feed up into the Red Sea and the Suez Canal into Europe. So that also could create another choke point.

[00:10:17]

So, there's still a lot of risk there. So far, the Houthis have said they're not going to go after U.S. or international shipping. That's really been focused on Saudi Arabia, which is why the U.S. has not taken military action in support of the Saudis, because they don't want to have that second waterway really come under -- under fire and potentially held at risk, just like the other one is.

So, that's in itself. There's a lot of international damage that could still be done from an economic perspective, if the Houthis continue to fight.

We -- we have seen no indication that they're willing to lift it. And while the Iranians are denying the fact that they're -- that they're helping or that they're sponsoring, there are IRGC officers that are on the ground in -- in Yemen, providing coordination with the Houthis. They are a well-known and well-established proxy. They do operate independently to a certain extent, but they do take orders from Tehran when it matters.

HUNTE: OK. We'll leave it there for now. Alex Plitsas, CNN national security analyst and director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council. Thank you very much.

PLITSAS: Thank you.

HUNTE: U.K. authorities are keeping five men in custody on suspicion of terror and explosives offenses. They were arrested in England on Sunday near an air base used by U.S. long-range bombers in the war against Iran.

The men have not been publicly identified, nor has a possible motive been disclosed.

Dozens of nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution as army bomb disposal units continue to sweep the area.

CNN's Nic Robertson visited the air base's perimeter and brings us a closer look at the ongoing investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The five men were detained in the early hours of the morning, and it does seem to be as a result of a tip-off from somebody who lived very local to the air base here.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Now, villagers have been telling us that the air base had been on a lockdown. That's what they believe for the past week or so, because there were -- there was nobody, they said, coming off the base into the village. And they're used to seeing people, you know, as service personnel in the village all the time. ROBERTSON: And when I asked a local councilor here who was involved in

the evacuation of those 85 families who live close to the base, close to where these five men were arrested --

ROBERTSON (voice-over): -- and these three white vans seized. And then investigated by the army bomb squad.

When I asked him about the base being on lockdown, he said yes, that there was extra vigilance. There had been extra security around the base.

In fact, he said that the IRGC, the Iranian high military command, had actually threatened RAF Fairford base by name just five weeks ago.

Now, certainly the police are not saying that this is linked to Iran. They're not saying the five men are linked to Iran at the moment. They are saying that they're being held on suspicion --

ROBERTSON: -- of terrorism offenses. But the local council are framing it this way: that it was very good that somebody in the village had been perceptive enough and had actually called in to the police when they -- when they saw something that was out of the ordinary.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The investigation's going on. And because these five men are now being held on suspicion of terrorism charges, they can be held for up to two weeks.

While we've been standing here now, I heard what sounded like a controlled detonation coming from the direction of the air base, but there's very little information about the nature of the explosives that the police believe that they seized from the vehicles, or the five men who've been detained.

But it does appear --

ROBERTSON: -- as if the security of this base was helped by one of the local villagers spotting something out of the ordinary in the early hours of the morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly traveled to the United Arab Emirates and met with the country's president on Sunday. That is according to an Israeli source.

The meeting apparently focused heavily on the Iran war, an issue over which the two countries have deepened cooperation. But it also comes just one month ahead of Israel's key elections, when Netanyahu is facing growing political pressure.

Recent reports allege that he had been warned by the UAE and Egypt about a major Hamas operation just days before Israel was attacked on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli prime minister's office denies those claims and has yet to officially confirm Sunday's visit. There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including a pair of

giant pandas have landed right here in Atlanta. Details on their 15- hour journey from China and their new home just ahead. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:19:20]

HUNTE: Welcome back. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are finally here in Atlanta.

The male and female giant pandas arrived from China on Sunday morning, part of Beijing's panda diplomacy. They will live at Zoo Atlanta for the next ten years, home to the most successful panda breeding program in the U.S. Seven cubs were born at the zoo between 2006 and 2016.

Our Rafael Romo tells us about their transfer, and when visitors can go and see them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After landing at Atlanta's Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport, each panda bear was transported in a separate FedEx truck showing a panda bear image on the side of the cargo area.

ROMO (voice-over): Each truck carried a crate inside that served as the panda bear's transportation unit, as they were escorted by police for the ten-mile trip between the airport and the zoo in the same containers used for their entire trip from China.

CNN witnessed the moment just before 7 this morning when FedEx Flight 9756, dubbed FedEx Panda Express, landed at the airport after a more than 15-hour flight from Chengdu, China's provincial capital, where the bears are from, and where a Chinese panda bear breeding program is located.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Thursday during his remarks at the White House that China would send two panda bears to the United States, calling the bear species an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans.

ROMO: We asked a couple of visitors here at the zoo if they think this goodwill gesture matters, and they told us they believe it's one exciting and fuzzy step in the right direction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it matters for families and people who want to visit the zoo. As far as our relationship with China, I don't know; it's hard to say. We'll have to see.

ROMO: It's tough, right? It is tough.

Ping Ping, the male panda's name means "peace," the same name given to the bear China gave to the Soviet Union in 1957. Ping Ping was born in March 2020. Fu Shuang, the female panda's name means "double blessings" and was

also born in 2020. But in October, seven months later than the male panda.

Zoo Atlanta said that the public won't be able to see Ping-Ping and Fu Shuang right away, because they will be housed in a bio-secure area for a routine quarantine period of around one month.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. We'll dive into the outrage over housing costs in Spain and how the plight of an 87-year-old woman sparked massive protests. In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:35]

HUNTE: Welcome back. We're turning now to one of our top stories.

Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are finally here in Atlanta. The male and female giant pandas arrived from China on Sunday morning, part of Beijing's panda diplomacy.

Joining us now is Ho-fung Hung, a professor in political economy at Johns Hopkins University.

Thank you so much for being with me.

The pandas have now arrived in Atlanta, just days after Xi announced them at the White House. How significant is this moment between China and the U.S.?

HO-FUNG HUNG, PROFESSOR, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY: Definitely, it is a good gesture on the part of China to send the pandas --extra two pandas to -- to the U.S., as China has a long history of panda diplomacy, to actually loan the panda to the U.S. zoos and zoos around the world for free.

And in the past, it has been kind of a beneficial to both sides, the host and China. Because China can get kind of a rental fee of pandas and use it for conservation and research. And then the zoos can increase visitors.

But in recent years, when China-U.S. relations has been kind of deteriorating. So, there's a lot of discussion about whether the pandas are renewed, like in the D.C. zoo, that they sent back to China and then went back to D.C.

So, this time is a kind of a good development that two extra pandas being sent to the U.S.

HUNTE: As you mentioned, China has used pandas as a symbol of friendship for decades now. Does panda diplomacy still have the same soft power impact that it once did, though? What do you think?

HUNG: I think the -- the return in terms of soft power of China has been diminishing, because back in the '70s, back in the '80s, there's a lot of curiosity on the part of the U.S. about these cute animals. So, it generates a lot of publicity.

But nowadays, China is not short of other means of soft power, from the Labubu to -- to -- to coffee chain to A.I. models and all that stuff.

And so -- so the pandas no longer draw that many crowds, because many more zoos in the world also have pandas. So, financially, that -- particularly during the pandemic, there has been a lot of zoos struggling to covering the cost of hosting panda and paying China.

So not only in the U.S., but around the world, a lot of zoos are actually thinking about whether it is still financially sound. But this time around that Atlanta zoo definitely is very excited. We will see how it goes.

HUNTE: We have seen China's panda loans become more complicated as relations with Western countries have deteriorated. How were you feeling about this news? Were you very surprised that these pandas did suddenly get announced, that they were moving to America?

HUNG: I think that it is -- it speaks a lot about Xi Jinping and Donald Trump's summit. Because the panda renewal, the loans, like in this zoo and other zoos in the world and -- and also the sending the pandas back to D.C.

So, they are usually done a lot in this kind of a leader-to-leader level.

But this time around that Xi Jinping and -- and Trump has a lot to talk about. But it seems that the fact that they put pandas in the kind of announcement after the summit that, as kind of a highlight, show that actually that the summit itself doesn't have a lot of deliverables. So much so that these pandas were put into the announcement and highlighted.

[00:30:14]

So, it shows that this summit is actually didn't achieve a lot of concrete things. But the panda is a good thing in the end, but it is not quite appropriate, I think, compared to other summits before, to be highlighted in the -- kind of as a result or achievement of the summit.

HUNTE: That's a really interesting point, actually.

There is also a very practical side to this, because zoos have to commit a significant amount of resources to hosting pandas. How sustainable is this model for zoos in 2026?

HUNG: I hope it will work out this time, because during the pandemic, a lot of zoos were really struggling because the visitors have been down, but they can have to continue to pay for maintaining the pandas. They are high maintenance costs.

And also paying the fees to China that reportedly that is up to like 1 million U.S. dollar per panda per year.

So -- and also many environmentalists are starting to argue that, actually, it's best to keep the pandas in their original habitat and let people go there to see them, rather than travel them, transport them around.

So, during the pandemic, really, there was a lot of talk about this kind of panda loan should end. But right now that, after the pandemic, that visitors to zoos are going back up, that I hope and I pressed -- I think that I wish the Atlanta Zoo good luck to -- to -- to make it both -- attracting a lot of visitors and also financially viable in the long run.

HUNTE: Give me your thoughts on this. Does the ten-year agreement suggest that Beijing sees its relationship with Atlanta and the U.S. As something it does want to maintain for the long term? And what potentially happens if this relationship breaks down in any way?

HUNG: Definitely, a lot of things can go wrong. That probably, panda is the least likely thing to go wrong. That, despite all the controversy during the pandemic or the debate during the pandemic.

And of course, that Taiwan is still a dicey issue. It's interestingly, during the summit -- before the summit, that there's a lot of reports saying that Xi would want Trump to make some announcement against Taiwan independence and even stop the arms sales to Taiwan.

But it turned out that it is not being talked a lot. And it is not even an announcement. So that panda was put in the announcement on the Chinese side, but not Taiwan.

So, it seems like that this -- at least this dicey issues is put aside in this summit. But definitely in the long run, in the near future, even, that is something that can go wrong and hurt the relation between the U.S. and China.

HUNTE: Makes sense to me. OK, final question then. When are you booked in to come and see the pandas in Atlanta?

HUNG: Well, actually, I -- I have some upcoming trip to Atlanta. If I have time, I definitely want to see it.

HUNTE: Yes.

HUNG: Hopefully, that it won't be too cold for them.

HUNTE: Yes, hopefully not for me either. Ho-fung Hung, professor in political economy at Johns Hopkins University. Thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

HUNG: Thank you for having me.

HUNTE: The elderly Spanish woman who was forcibly evicted from her Madrid apartment this week is urging supporters to fight so they can avoid her fate.

Over the weekend, protesters filled the streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities, too. They were demanding solutions to the country's housing crisis.

CNN's Pau Mosquera shows us more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No signs of backing down in Spain. Protesters are pitching tents in central Madrid and demanding housing reform. They say skyrocketing rents are pricing them out of their homes.

SERGIO RECALDE, PROTESTOR (through translator): They want people to realize that houses are for living in, not for speculation or making a profit.

MOSQUERA (voice-over): Some protesters say they will stay in this encampment until the government takes action to protect tenants and ban evictions without alternative housing.

Demonstrators filled the streets on Saturday. The crowds, galvanized by the eviction of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal, who could no longer afford her apartment, after living there for seven decades, when an investment company tripled her rent to more than 1,600 euros a month.

It reflected a reduction from the company's initial ask, but it was still too much on her pensioner's salary.

In a video posted by the Madrid Tenants Union, which organized Saturday's rally, Maricarmen encouraged people to join the protests from her hospital bed, where she was taken after she was removed from her home on a stretcher. Her plight has struck a nerve in Spain.

[00:35:02]

NATALIA NAVARRO, PROTESTOR (through translator): I'm here because the housing situation is unsustainable. Because there are many people who, even with the minimum wage, cannot afford a room in cities like Madrid. People looking for work, working-class people who just need a place to lay their heads. And because they have just been evicted an elderly pensioner.

MOSQUERA (voice-over): Analysts say factors like corporate investment, tourism, and immigration have increased demand in Spain's housing market.

But it's not just older people who are suffering. The average age for leaving home in Spain is 30. Many young people say they simply can't afford to live on their own.

BIANCA, PROTESTOR (through translator): We, the youngsters, see the impossibility of leaving the nest and how politicians not only do nothing but make it worse. I think we came to a point where we're all so tired of this that we decided to put our foot down. MOSQUERA (voice-over): Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, has

pledged to take action on the housing crisis, invoking Maricarmen's case while urging lawmakers to back an emergency decree.

PEDRO SANCHEZ, SPANISH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): And I call upon the parliamentary groups to make one final effort to ensure it is ratified by the national Parliament for the sake of Maricarmen and the millions of Spaniards suffering from the housing crisis. Because this is not a matter of ideology; it is a matter of humanity.

MOSQUERA (voice-over): Sanchez's cabinet plans to meet on Tuesday. Protesters camped out in Madrid say they won't budge until the government delivers real change.

Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, resigned on Sunday, cutting short his second five-year term. His resignation comes seven months before his term ends.

According to Serbia's constitution, the speaker of the Parliament will take on the role of president for the time being.

Vucic's resignation comes amid parliamentary snap elections, which are to be held on October 25. It also now paves the way for early presidential elections.

Police in South Africa are on a manhunt to find suspects in three deadly shootings. The separate attacks happened on Saturday night.

More than 30 people are dead, and so far, no arrests have been made.

One of the shootings took place at a tavern outside Johannesburg. Seventeen people were killed, and 15 others were wounded there.

That same night, 10 people were fatally shot at an entertainment venue in the Western Cape. And another grisly crime scene with four deaths was discovered in the same area.

One police commissioner said a business dispute could be driving the violence. No suspects have been identified, but organized crime is on the rise in South Africa.

Pope Leo XIV is on the final leg of his whirlwind trip to France. He spent a very busy Sunday in the Southwestern town of Lourdes, celebrating an outdoor mass near a famous shrine to the Virgin Mary.

The pontiff also addressed the abuse scandal that has shaken the church's standing in France. In 2021, a report described the abuse of 330,000 French children by Catholic clergy over more than seven decades.

Pope Leo told the crowd that the church must have the courage to face its past and to heal the, quote, "deep wounds." Later, the pope spent two hours speaking with a group of abuse

survivors and told them he was committed to ending childhood abuse by Catholic priests. The survivors say the conversation left them feeling hopeful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND VIRIEUX, SURVIVOR OF CLERICAL ABUSE (through translator): His depth, his listening. It reconciled me with what I experienced at the time. Ten years ago, when we were speaking into the void, when we were not received by the pope, when we wrote to him, and he did not reply. I think that there has been a clear change, a major awakening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Pope Leo finished his day in Lourdes with a candlelit procession toward the famed Catholic shrine.

He is now set to travel to Metz in Northwestern France before returning to Rome late on Monday.

Australian and American investigators are trying to figure out how components of the world's most advanced fighter jet ended up in Hong Kong.

We are talking about the F-35 Lightning II.

Australia's defense minister says the parts were mistakenly rerouted while on their way to the U.S. for repairs. The potential security breach now has U.S. officials concerned that China could get access to military secrets.

CNN's Ivan Watson has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The F-35 Lightning II. A stealth fighter jet with the price tag of around $100 million used by the U.S. in recent bombing missions over Iran.

WATSON: Airplane manufacturer Lockheed Martin calls the F-35 the most lethal, survivable, and connected fighter aircraft in the world.

[00:40:08]

Then, how is it that some of this fighter jet's parts were shipped here to Hong Kong, only to then disappear?

WATSON (voice-over): This week, a Defense Department spokesperson confirmed the disappearance of some components to CNN, saying the Pentagon was, quote, "aware of a shipment issue of unserviceable F-35 Lightning II components."

The missing parts were being sent to the U.S. from Australia via a private contractor, and were apparently diverted. RICHARD MARLES, AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: We're obviously working

with the United States and with Lockheed in terms of how we can assist in -- in this investigation.

But this is ultimately a matter for the U.S. and for Lockheed as its prime contractor and the contractor, which is responsible for managing the global supply chain.

WATSON (voice-over): Australia's defense chief says he believes no sensitive parts were in the missing shipment, but it still comes as a surprise to this former Royal Australian Air Force captain.

PETER LAYTON, FORMER ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE CAPTAIN: I've been shocked that they've been diverted, and I suppose shocked me in that people are saying these are non-sensitive items.

WATSON (voice-over): Australia is one of 20 countries that are part of the F-35 fighter program.

Australia also hosts a facility that supplies F-35 spare parts to other allied air forces across Asia.

The U.S.'s Defense Logistics Agency has, in the past, tested commercial companies like FedEx and UPS to ship F-35 parts.

Three years ago, the U.S. Government Accountability Office urged the F-35 Joint Program Office to tighten control of its supply chain after reporting the loss of more than 1 million spare parts, worth some $85 million.

LAYTON: Lockheed Martin was called upon to fix it. So, it's a bit of a surprise now that this has -- has happened. And probably a bit embarrassing for Lockheed Martin.

WATSON (voice-over): Also embarrassing: sending pieces of an expensive weapon system to America's biggest rival, after the U.S. Air Force warned China is trying to copy American stealth technology.

The Hong Kong and Chinese governments are not commenting on the missing fighter jet parts.

As for F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin, it insists it manages, quote, "every shipment with the highest levels of caution and security."

Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. The super El Nino is affecting so many places all around the globe. Just ahead, we take you to Honduras, where drought has lasted almost a year now, and resources are disappearing. See you in a moment.

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[00:47:29]

HUNTE: Welcome back. The brutal Nor'easter that has hammered parts of the U.S. East Coast is slowly starting to ease up. But it is not done yet.

The storm is still dumping additional rain on parts of the Northeast, and it's not expected to fully leave the area for several more days.

A New York City man was killed by a falling tree during the storm. And thousands of people are still without power after heavy rain, flash flooding, and wind gusts up to 70 miles an hour.

People along the Northern Pacific coast of Mexico are getting ready for the arrival of Hurricane Polo. The storm is expected to make landfall in Baja California on Monday night. It will bring winds of more than 100 kilometers an hour to the popular tourist spot.

Forecasters expect Polo to drop 10 to 20 centimeters of rain across the region, potentially causing life-threatening flooding and mudslides, too.

The El Nino effect has devastated much of Honduras. A drought has lasted ten months there, twice as long as usual. As Isabel Rosales reports, food is disappearing, animals are dying, and crops simply can't grow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

YELSON REYES, CATTLE RANCHER (through translator): As you can see, there are various carcasses here. We have one, two, three, four, five of them. This is a consequence of the drought.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Yelson Reyes is one of nearly 250 cattle ranchers in the municipality of Apacilagua in Southern Honduras, who are watching their cattle die.

He tells my colleague Elvin Sandoval, the animals cannot withstand the high temperatures associated with El Nino.

REYES (through translator): In my case, I have lost approximately 12 or 13 head of cattle over a period of two months.

ROSALES (voice-over): Reyes says the lack of rainfall has left them without pasture or water sources to feed their livestock.

REYES (through translator): Our cattle are becoming dehydrated due to a lack of food and nutrients, and because of the high temperatures we're experiencing. The animals now have to walk 4 or 5 kilometers just to get water once a day. We're facing a historic crisis.

ROSALES (voice-over): In the department of Choluteca, there are around 2,800 cattle ranchers who, like Martha Garcia, choose to sell their animals before they die of dehydration.

MARTHA GARCIA, CATTLE RANCHER (through translator): When it used to rain, there was pasture for the animals. But in conditions like this, what are they going to eat? That's why we sell our animals: to buy what we need and to hold onto the little bit we have.

[00:50:02]

Apacilagua is one of the municipalities in the so-called Dry Corridor of Southern Honduras. According to its mayor, the area has gone nearly a year without rain.

MAYOR CARLOS MARTINEZ, APACILAGUA, HONDURAS (through translator): So, honestly, we've never experienced anything like this here. We've had ten months of dry season, whereas the dry season here usually lasts five months at the most. Five months is the maximum it might extend, but we've had ten. That is double the usual time.

ROSALES (voice-over); The lack of rain in the Southern region, caused by the El Nino phenomenon, is not only killing livestock, but has also damaged basic grain crops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There was no harvest for many of the corn fields here in the South. There was absolutely no harvest at all, because there was so little rain, and we've had a severe drought.

ROSALES (voice-over): Because of the drought associated with El Nino, food shortages are also beginning to appear in this area. Maria Gonzalez is experiencing this firsthand.

MARIA DEL CARMEN GONZALEZ, DROUGHT-AFFECTED RESIDENT (through translator): I have nothing. Look. Just this plantain I was given. I have it roasting over there. Someone gave it to me for breakfast.

This is God's punishment. I had never seen anything like this. I'm 88 years old. I had never seen this. It didn't rain for the first planting season, and it hasn't rained for the second one either. I had never seen situations like this. Just look.

ROSALES (voice-over): In late August, the Honduran government declared a red alert in over 100 municipalities due to drought. Official figures reveal that just over 1.5 million people across nine departments in the so-called Dry Corridor are at risk of a food crisis caused by the drought.

An American Latino.

LENA SAVELLI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME (through translator): In Latin America and the Caribbean, we estimate that an additional 16 million people could experience food insecurity as a result of El Nino.

ROSALES (voice-over): According to the Center for Atmospheric, Oceanographic, and Seismic Studies, the rainy season in Honduras typically runs from May to November. However, rainfall has been scarce this year, particularly in the Dry Corridor region.

REYES (through translator): That's why we ask for. Lord, have mercy. We call on all of us to unite in prayers. So, we ask our heavenly father to have mercy. ROSALES (voice-over): With reporting from CNN's Elvin Sandoval in

Southern Honduras, I'm Isabel Rosales.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including calls for government regulation on A.I. here in the U.S. But President Trump says he won't sacrifice progress over safety concerns. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

President Trump says he welcomed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the White House for a private meeting on Sunday night. It comes amid calls from experts like Gates and an increasing number of lawmakers wanting greater oversight for A.I.

Amodei himself has also voiced concerns about the rapid growth of the technology. But the president has made it clear he won't give up the financial gains made by the industry to resolve those concerns.

He is, of course, more concerned with outpacing China and says problems can be addressed along the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're leading, and we're building tremendous, you know, trillions of dollars' worth of places. And why should we give that up?

If something is bad, they have to fix it. And if they don't fix it, that's why you have the Department of Justice. And we've used the Department of Justice on two occasions to straighten out a company that we thought there was a problem with, and they immediately straightened it out.

But you don't give up $1 trillion or more, two or 3 or $4 trillion industry because you think something like that. We will straighten it out, if and when a problem occurs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[00:55:07]

HUNTE: Tech journalist Jacob Ward spoke to CNN earlier about the stakes going into this meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB WARD, TECHNOLOGY JOURNALIST: I definitely say it's pretty crucial, certainly for Dario Amodei, right? He is trying very hard to thread this needle between being, you know, the world's new Google and trying to not raise the ire of President Trump, who has shown himself to be a real thorn in the side of any tech company that he doesn't get along with.

You'll recall, Omar, that they came to loggerheads before, when Dario Amodei declared that his company would not provide the Defense Department a kind of open-ended, A.I.-powered targeting machine. And he said that they weren't allowed to use his A.I. product to mass surveil Americans.

That got him blacklisted for a time from doing any business with the Department of Defense at all.

So, the fact now that you've got these two guys coming together who clearly feel so differently about the future of A.I., President Trump, you know, openly saying he believes that the calls for slowing down are ridiculous.

And then president -- Dario Amodei basically saying we have to slow down for the good of humanity.

Honestly, I think by the time the appetizers come out, these guys are going to be at loggerheads. But I'm curious to see how this dinner goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The full harvest ushers in folk traditions across the globe, including this Russian festival known as the Battle of the Giants.

And it's the pumpkins that are huge. These massive gourds are being turned into boats. Let me have a look at this. Wow.

Then the race is on for paddlers in costumes to row swiftly across a pond in Moscow.

The festival also showcases more than 200 massive vegetables, shown off by very proud farmers.

All right. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll be right back with more of the top stories in just a moment. See you then.

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