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Trump Calls Latest Hormuz Strait Proposal Unacceptable, Expects More Talks with Iran; Bangkok's Disaster Zone Declared in 50 Districts Following Massive Floods; New Batch of Pandas Arrived in the U.S. as Panda Diplomacy Continues. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 28, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: And welcome, I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and ahead here on "CNN Newsroom."

President Trump now says he expects more talks with Iran after calling their latest Hormuz proposal unacceptable. What Iran is saying about the back and forth.

British police arrested five men Sunday on suspicions of terror and explosives offenses near an airbase used by the U.S.. That's what we know about the incident.

And we'll look at the history of Panda Diplomacy and the role it's played in bringing China and the U.S. closer through the years.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kristie Lu Stout.

LU STOUT: And 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 after he rejected Iran's latest proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Global crude oil futures are still high as talks remain on pause. And now, seven months into the war, President Trump still claims a U.S. victory is imminent and that a nuclear free Iran is well worth the cost of this conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're going to win this war very soon and as soon as we win it, it's going to go, the oil will go down, way down to what it was before the war. And the key is Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That's the key to the whole thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Iran's President says Tehran is ready for talks on its nuclear program and other issues but would not accept bullying or coercion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MASOUD PEZESHKIAN, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Of course, we agree. We had already reached an understanding on this in our previous talks.

They struck it down. We're not supposed to develop nuclear weapons.

In the framework of the NPT and the other existing frameworks, all of these issues are matters that can be agreed upon.

Unfortunately, they are disregarding the rights that international law grants to all countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Abu Dhabi with the latest. And Paula, Trump's rejection aside, Iran is awaiting a definitive U.S. response. Give us the latest on efforts to reach a deal.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Kristie, we're hearing from the Iranian foreign minister that even though President Trump on Saturday said that the deal they had suggested was unacceptable, we're hearing that they are still waiting for that definitive answer through the mediators specifically.

The reason that Abbas Aragchi actually said this was he said that Trump says many good things, he says many contradictory things, and they're really waiting to see where he lands, which is an indication of just how confusing the rhetoric from the U.S. President can be at times when he is speaking about Iran.

Now, of course, we heard him at the U.N. General Assembly saying he may make a deal, he may decide to annihilate the country. And what we're hearing now is that he has told Axios he believes that talks with Iran will continue this week. We have been seeing talks on the sidelines of the UNGA, talks which a U.S. official tells CNN were productive, they were positive and constructive.

But we're also hearing from the U.S. that they're not in a rush to try and reach a deal. So this proposal Iran had talked about was effectively that they would open the Strait of Hormuz within a week if the U.S. were to agree to certain conditions, are actually saying that they were nothing more than what had already been agreed in the Memorandum of Understanding back in June, which both sides have effectively ignored for the past few months. Let's listen first to the foreign minister of Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We 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 aggression, sorry, we stand firm in the face of any aggression against us, even when it comes to a doomsday war. At the same time, we are ready for diplomacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:07]

HANCOCKS: So we're hearing something similar really from both the U.S. and Iran, that they are ready for both eventualities, whether it is diplomacy or whether it is a return to the hostilities that we have been seeing in this region. Now we heard from President Trump saying that this proposal that Iran had suggested would potentially have been something the U.S. would have agreed to a year ago, but that Iran has overplayed its hand.

We're also hearing on Sunday from the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and he had said that Iran is asking for everything up front with a promise that they would then talk, also pointing out that the U.S. once guarantees that whoever they are talking to does speak for the Supreme Leader, really alluding there to the differences of opinion that we are hearing from within Iran itself, and he wants to know who exactly is calling the shots. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Yes, Paula Hancocks there reporting on the mixed signals from the Trump administration as well as mixed prospects for peace talks. Thank you, Paula.

Now, for more on all of this, we're joined now from London by Jasmine El-Gamal, a former Middle East adviser for the U.S. Defense Department. She's also the founder and CEO of Averos Strategies. And, Jasmine, thank you for joining us here on the program.

After Trump's rejection and those mixed signals, Iran is insisting that only diplomacy can resolve the conflict. But how much common ground is there to reach a deal to end the fighting and to reopen Hormuz?

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FOUNDER AND CEO, AVEROS STRATEGIES, FORMER MIDDLE EAST ADVISER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT, AND HOST, "THE VIEW FROM HERE PODCAST": Well, good morning, Kristie, and thank you so much for having me.

It's clear that both sides actually do want this to be resolved diplomatically. You hear that language again and again. There are threats, there are attempts to try to gain leverage over the other party, but at the end of the day, the mediators are still talking, trying to get the two sides together to bridge that gap between them.

And the two sides do realize that diplomacy really is the only way out of this. But the problem here, Kristie, is that after everything that's happened over the last seven months, neither side wants to be seen as having done all of this for nothing, as having come out of it a loser, relatively speaking, to the other party. So the problem now is what the Iranians have offered in the last few days, this seven-day timeline, doesn't really differ from what the MOU had held earlier. And President Trump doesn't want to return to a deal that he had a few

months ago that fell apart when he believes that he has more leverage than ever over Iran because of these economic sanctions. So he wants to squeeze Iran a little bit more. He wants to see the impact of the sanctions. The secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, said Iran has two weeks left, and then they'll have nothing left to trade.

So they're expecting something in the next two weeks, on the American side at least.

LU STOUT: So, Jasmine, the good news is the two sides are talking to each other, but they're also talking past each other at the same time. I want to ask you about this seven-day countdown mechanism, because, you know, this was mentioned by Iran's foreign minister as a way to pause the fighting and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. You know, from a crisis management standpoint, is that even possible, especially given the involvement of the Houthis?

EL-GAMAL: Well, it's an interesting question. And even the way that you phrased it, the way the Iranians are phrasing it, is a bit outdated from the perspective of the Americans. The Iranians keep saying, you know, let's make a deal, we're going to reopen the Strait, whereas you hear Scott Bessent and the Americans saying, hey, listen, the Strait is already open, by the way, there is oil coming out, and there is indeed oil coming out.

The Saudis have ramped up their production again after the east-west pipeline was struck from Iraqi territory, the Emiratis are exporting, the Iranians are not getting their oil out. So from the American perspective, time is on their side.

The problem here, Kristie, is that once the Americans start to squeeze Iran more and more and keep using this language, you know, they're trying to ram them back to the negotiating table through this extreme pressure. If there is not a pressure, a release valve at the end of that or coupled with that pressure that allows the Iranians to save face and say that we came to a dignified deal with the Americans, then the worry here is that the Iranians will feel so trapped that they have no choice but to re-escalate in the region in order to gain back some of that leverage.

LU STOUT: And, Jasmine, I want to ask you about the U.S. timeline for escalation and the midterms, because no doubt you saw that report in The "Wall Street Journal."

[03:10:04]

President Trump told his staff that he sees a renewed bombing campaign after the midterm elections. That's just over 35 days away from now. How is Iran calculating that? Is Iran waiting to see what comes out after the midterms?

EL-GAMAL: Yes, it's interesting you mention that, because Secretary Rubio spoke directly to this on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly when he said, speaking to the Iranians, he said, don't think that after the midterms that we are going to be squeezed or the President is going to be squeezed. He said that even if the makeup on the Hill is in favor of the Democratic Party, that doesn't really have an impact on the President's ability to conduct military strikes abroad.

And he is right to an extent, Kristie, because the President does have these national security privileges. When it comes to using force, he can cite national security interests to do so. And unless it's a declaration of an act of war, Congress does not have much leeway to get in his way, as long as there are targeted military actions.

So the message from the Americans to the Iranians is don't get comfortable. We can get back to this bombing campaign, if you like, after the elections. Before the elections, we will decide when to do it.

So it's obviously a bit of a game of chicken here. But I'll come back to the point that both sides realize that diplomacy is the only way to get out of this, but they both want to be able to sell it as a dignified deal and not a capitulation.

LU STOTU: Yes, diplomacy is a way out, but a brokered peace still remains elusive. Jasmine El-Gamal, thank you so much for joining us. Jasmine, joining us live from London.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, secretly traveled to the United Arab Emirates and met with the country's President on Sunday. That's according to an Israeli source. Now, 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, where Netanyahu is facing growing political pressure. And recent reports allege that he had been warned by the UAE and Egypt about a major Hamas operation days before Israel was attacked on October the 7th, 2023. The Israeli Prime Minister's office denies those claims and is yet to officially confirm Sunday's visit.

Now, 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 airbase used by U.S. long range bombers in the war with Iran. Now the men have not been publicly identified, nor has a possible motive been disclosed.

CNN's Nic Robertson brings us a closer look at the ongoing investigation.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Seated, hands behind their backs, the men believed at the center of a suspected terror plot at a military base in the U.K. used by the U.S. Air Force. According to President Donald Trump, they'd been under surveillance.

TRUMP: We had them under view for a long time and we got them.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): By early morning, the base secured by military police as bomb disposal teams searched three suspect vehicles.

RICHARD OCONE, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE POLICE: A 400 meter cordon has been put in place around the vehicles while the army's explosive ordnance disposal unit examined them. As a precaution, around 85 households have been advised to evacuate while these examinations take place.

ROBERTSON: RAF Fairford has been used by the U.S. as an air force base for years. It's home to the global strike command and was recently used for long range bombing missions against Iran.

Iran has recently threatened it with attack.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The base that today had U.S. Air Force B1 Lancer bombers near the perimeter fence had been on alert for the past week, according to local residents. Police say one of them spotted something unusual.

OCONE: Well, around 12:45 a.m. today, Sunday, the 27th of September, police received a call relating to three suspicious vehicles traveling towards RAF Fairford. Armed officers responded.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Some of them evacuating 85 nearby families to a local leisure center. As concerns grow, who was behind the alleged plot?

TRISTAN WILKINSON, COTSWOLD DISTRICT COUNCIL MEMBER: We did have a direct threat from Iran about six weeks ago. So they called RAF Fairford specifically. So I think the community have been, as well as the security services, have been on an increased level of vigilance.

I think that seeing people getting out of vans at the dead of night in a very quiet place where that's unusual is going to trigger something. So I'm incredibly grateful to whoever called the police and didn't decide to ignore it.

[03:15:02]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): For now, the police investigation will focus on the possibility of explosives and the five men in custody. They will have two weeks before they need to charge them.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Fairford, England.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: There is much more to come right here on "CNN Newsroom." A powerful nor'easter is losing steam on the northeastern coast of the U.S., but the threat isn't over yet. A look at what's ahead in the forecast.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, Pope Leo XIV has just arrived in northeastern France. It's on the last leg of his four-day trip to the country. It is the first official papal visit to France in nearly 20 years, and later he will hold meetings and celebrate mass. He's due to return to Rome late on Monday.

Now, Pope Leo spent a 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.

[03:20:09]

Now later, the pope spent two hours speaking with a group of abuse survivors and told them that he was committed to ending childhood abuse by Catholic priests.

Now, the brutal nor'easter that has hammered parts of the U.S. East Coast is slowly starting to ease up, but it is not over yet. This 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 of up to 70 miles an hour.

Those conditions are likely to bring more headaches for air travelers into Monday. Flight delays are expected in parts of the northeast as the storm continues to lose power.

Melissa Nord has more from the World Weather Center.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is satellite from space on Sunday. You can see the nor'easter churning off the coastline and it reached its lowest pressure point, 986 millibars, as it was starting to move on the Jersey coastline, moving inland eventually.

And from here, the pressure is increasing, meaning this storm is weakening. And with that, the winds are also coming down.

They have been. They will continue to come down. But they were intense over the weekend.

Some of those peak wind gusts topping hurricane strength, peak wind gusts 81 miles per hour there. A lot of moisture as well. We saw a lot of that moisture working on shore for places like New York City during the day on Sunday.

Well, look at Monday morning. Still a really wet and messy commute there. That moisture working northeastward into Boston.

Now, some of this rain may be on the lighter side, but there's going to be embedded pockets that could be heavier and that could lead to some nuisance street flooding, isolated flash flooding as well. That rain by Monday afternoon clearing New York City and also Philadelphia, still a wet evening commute for Boston. And then by Tuesday morning, the last of the rain just in Maine and everybody else gets to dry out and bring back a little bit of that sunshine.

Wind gusts have been coming down. We go from those peak wind gusts that we saw over the weekend of 60, 70, even 80 miles an hour. Well, at this point, our peak gusts are more in that 20 to 30, maybe 35 mile per hour range through Monday morning.

You can see some of those highest gusts. Boston, they saw a lot of airport delays and cancellations for flights on Sunday. We could see even a few more of those lingering delays for Monday morning, Monday afternoon.

Those winds are coming down a lot. Rainfall, additional rainfall possible in some places may only be a half inch to an inch, but there could be a few isolated spots at sea more than that. But I think a lot of folks are ready to say farewell to this early season nor'easter.

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LU STOUT: And still to come right here on "CNN Newsroom," severe weather has triggered widespread flooding across parts of Thailand. After the break, we're joined by the governor of Bangkok for a closer look at relief efforts there.

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LU STOUT: Welcome back. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong, and let's take a look at today's top stories.

Iran says it is waiting on a definitive response to its latest proposal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, despite President Trump rejecting the offer. Under the -- critical waterway within a week and resume nuclear talks if the U.S. met certain conditions, President Trump called that deal unacceptable. However, he did say that he expects talks between Tehran and Washington to resume this week.

Now that powerful nor'easter that hit the U.S. East Coast this weekend will keep impacting parts of the area. Flights in the north -- since Logan Airport are likely to see more delays today. As the storm delivers its final round of strong wind and heavy rains from New York up the coast.

And in Nepal, severe weather warnings are in place as the Himalayan nation suffers more deadly flooding. At least 14 people have been killed in floods and landslides, and 11 others are missing separately; at least four bodies have been recovered at a remote base camp where an avalanche hit on Sunday. Sherpas report that at least six Nepali nationals remain missing there.

Now, devastating floods have also hit Thailand, where the capital, Bangkok, has been declared a disaster zone. Major roads throughout the city are completely underwater after a weekend of intense rainfall. And people have been wading through water up to their waists just to navigate the city and thousands are now taking shelter in evacuation centers.

Now the military has been setting up those shelters, along with temporary kitchens for those in need. Supermarkets have been crowded with people trying to get whatever supplies they can, and residents are being asked to avoid any unnecessary travel. And those living near Bangkok's many canals were advised to head to higher ground if possible.

Now joining me now from Bangkok is the city's governor, Chadchart Sittipunt. Sir, thank you so much for joining here in the program, especially now at this critical moment. After Bangkok was declared a disaster zone, what have you been seeing across the city?

CHADCHART SITTIPUNT, BANGKOK, THAILAND GOVERNOR: Okay, I think we got hit by the rain in this weekend, like maybe four times the normal rain, you know, so it's over the capacity of the canals. So, but in effect, about 10 percent of the area of Bangkok and some of the residential area.

So maybe about 100,000 people got affected, mainly in the area close to the canals, which is full to its full capacity. So it takes some time to drain the water from these canals and situation will get better.

LU STOUT: Well, Bangkok has been hit with an epic amount of rain and in the hardest hit areas, as you said just now, more than 100,000 people were affected. And we know that thousands have also been trapped in their homes for days, some without food. So what kind of support are these displaced residents getting?

SITTIPUNT: Okay, we have emergency support for them, so we provide shelters for the people in need, so maybe around 7,000 people move to the shelters, the rest can still in their house, but we support them with food and water and drinking water and medicine and our medical support. So I think it will take a few days to drain the water from the canals.

[03:30:08]

And I see -- we see improvement in certain areas already. So I think in about a week, the situation will get much better.

LU STOUT: It's good to hear that you're seeing improvement, but we've been watching these videos and seeing these images of people in Bangkok forced to wade through waist high, even chest high water. I mean, these are very dangerous conditions. So what caused this severe flooding? And is climate change a factor here?

SITTIPUNT: Yes, I think the climate change can be the cause of the problem because we see unusually unusual amount of rain in Bangkok. You know, it's not like a very heavy rain, but it's continuous rain for two days. You know, water amount is about 300 millimeters of rain in about one and a half day. So usually we have maybe 60 or 70 millimeters of rain. But the picture that you see is not all in Bangkok.

Only maybe 10 percent of Bangkok got affected. In the CBD, I think most of the area are safe and no flooding in CBD of Bangkok. So in certain area, for the eastern part of Bangkok, that's where the low area and close to the canals got affected.

LU STOUT: Understood. And also, how have international tourists and travelers to Thailand been affected? And should they reconsider their plans to travel to Bangkok right now?

SITTIPUNT: Yes, I think the tourists have minimal effect because as I said, the CBD and all the tourist locations are very smally (ph) affected and mostly recovered already. Maybe at the beginning, there is some delay at the airport due to the shortage of staff and maybe certain road closure.

But now I think the situation is getting better in the CBD area. So I think the tourists will have minimal effect. But maybe check your hotel before coming.

But I think most hotels that tourists come are okay, not in the flooded area.

LU STOUT: Well, it is encouraging to hear that the situation is improving. But of course, as you mentioned, number of people still getting help, relief efforts underway. We wish you and your team the very best with those efforts. Governor Chadchart Sittipunt, joining us live from Bangkok. Thank you for your time.

SITTIPUNT: Thank you, Kristie.

LU STOUT: You're watching "CNN Newsroom" and still to come, a look into the outrage over housing costs in Spain and how the plight of an 87 year old woman sparked massive protests.

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[03:35:00]

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LU STOUT: Welcome back and here are your business headlines.

Now, President Trump announced plans to welcome Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to the White House for a private meeting on Sunday night. It calls for industry experts and 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 that he won't give up economic gains made by the industry to resolve public concerns.

Now Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is also sounding a warning about artificial intelligence. In fact, he's joining the call for federal regulation, saying A.I. could potentially cause, quote, "a billion deaths." Speaking with CNN, Gates warned of complacency toward the technology, saying it's unlike any tool we've had in the past.

Bodybuilders may soon see a price hike in whey protein thanks to the global trade war. In fact, Canada has just imposed a 50 percent tariff on American whey products. This comes after the U.S. announced a similar 50 percent tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods and later a specific 50 percent duty on dairy products.

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. They were demanding solutions to the country's housing crisis.

CNN's Pau Mosquera reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN 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, PROTESTER (through translator): We 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 16,000 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 post 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.

NATALIA NAVARRO, PROTESTER (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 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 living home in Spain is 30. Many young people say they simply can't afford to live on their own. BIANCA, PROTESTER (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.

[03:40:03]

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)

LU STOUT: Now the World Skills Competition had builders and makers from around the globe in Shanghai this weekend, and this team in the horticulture category had to design and build a garden from scratch. Everything had to be made by the two competitors, including wood, stone, brick elements used in the design.

And the Chinese team, they took just 22 hours to create this beautiful, detailed garden. Now this year marked the 48th World Skills event, 64 very different types of skills are featured in the competition, from creative arts and fashion to construction, transportation and logistics.

Now, for international viewers, "World Sport" is next. And for those of you here in North America, I'll be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a quick break.

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[03:45:00]

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LU STOUT: Welcome back.

Now, people along the northern Pacific coast of Mexico are getting ready for the arrival of Hurricane Polo. Now the storm is expected to make a landfall in Baja, California Sur, on Monday night.

It will bring winds of more than 100 kilometers an hour to the popular tourist hotspot. Now forecasters expect Polo to drop 10 to 20 centimeters of rain across the region, potentially causing life- threatening flooding and mudslides.

Now the El Nino effect has devastated much of Honduras. A drought has lasted 10 months, that's twice as long as usual. As Isabel Rosales reports, food is disappearing, animals are dying and crops can't grow.

And we do want to warn you, this story includes images that many will find disturbing.

(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 Alvin 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 four or five 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 2800 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 on to the little bit we have.

ROSALES (voice-over): 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.

CARLOS MARTINEZ, APACILAGUA, HONDURAS MAYOR (through translator): Honestly, we've never experienced anything like this here. We've had 10 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 10. 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 rain crops. UNKNOWN (through translator): There was no harvest for many of the

cornfields 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 GOZALEZ, DROUGHT-AFFECTED RESIDENT (through translator0: 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.

LENA SAVELLI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, U.N. WORLD FOOD PROGRAM (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 what we ask for. Lord, have mercy. We call on all of us to unite in prayer so we ask our Heavenly Father to have mercy.

ROSALES (voice-over): With reporting from CNN's Alvin Sandoval in southern Honduras, I'm Isabel Rosales.

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[03:50:01]

LU STOUT: Now in the United States, Ping Ping and Fu Shuang, they have made it to Atlanta. The male and female giant pandas arrived from China on Sunday morning as part of Beijing's panda diplomacy. Now China's leader, Xi Jinping, said the pandas serve as a symbol of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans.

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RAFAEL ROMO, CNN U.S. NATIONAL 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. Each truck carried a crate inside that served as the panda bears transportation unit as they were escorted by police for the 10 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 seven this morning when FedEx flight ninety seven fifty six dubbed FedEx Panda Express landed at the airport after a more than 15 hour flight from Chengdu, a Chinese 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. 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.

UNKNOWN: I think it matters for families and people that 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?

UNKNOWN: It is tough.

ROMO: 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 Pingping and Fuxuang right away because they will be housed in a biosecure area for a routine quarantine period of around one month.

Rafael Romo, CNN Atlanta.

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LU STOUT: Now CNN's David Culver has more from behind the scenes of the bears' transfer to the U.S. and the history of Beijing's panda diplomacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So it might have felt like a last minute overnight operation, but the arrival of this giant panda pair was months in the making, negotiated through layer after layer of bureaucracy on both sides, really. The deal was announced in April. Quarantine for the pandas began about a month ago. And with the guidance of Chinese advisers, Zoo Atlanta has been retrofitting their new panda home for more than a year.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping just picked the moment to say it out loud. And then all of this follows. And that's really what panda diplomacy is.

Officially, these are envoys of friendship. That's the phrase both governments tend to use. But neither side tends to highlight that these pandas are on loan.

China owns them. Any cubs born here eventually go back and zoos pay about a million dollars a year.

Now in Chengdu, where these pandas come from, it's their native home space. Tens of thousands of folks every single day will line up just to see giant pandas.

And I've stood in that line at six in the morning. It's packed. And then the gates open and folks will sprint towards their favorite giant pandas.

It gives you a sense of just how beloved these creatures are in China. In 1972, Pat Nixon saw pandas on a cigarette tin and she said that she loved them. Only a couple of months later, pandas arrived in Washington and those really were a gift.

But since then, they've become this strange barometer of the U.S.- China relationship. A decade ago, there were about 15 pandas in the U.S., but by late 2023, there were fewer and then it looked like they were going to be zero.

Then Xi Jinping said he was going to send more. And obviously, part of this is part of the science. They help with conservation and that's what some of the money goes towards.

But there's also politics here. Pandas are one of the few things that China can actually insert into a tense relationship and it tends to generate usually a warmer response.

And even though certain issues remain, from chips to rare earths to Taiwan, none of that went away this past week. Pandas, though, do create this different kind of moment. And maybe that's why some of this still works.

I've seen folks on both sides of the Pacific stand in front of these creatures and you look at their faces and they sense the unhurriedness. They sense the quiet, the stillness.

And in a relationship that's often defined by competition and tension, perhaps that's what still tends to be relevant, that folks are drawn towards the calm, the tranquility, maybe even the peace. That's rarer these days than even giant pandas.

[03:55:10] David Culver, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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LU STOUT: And now to Germany for Munich's legendary Oktoberfest celebrations.

Organizers say nearly four million people have already visited the world's largest beer festival at the halfway mark. And the party ends on October the 4th. City officials say beer consumption is down slightly so far, but the number of stolen glass beer mugs to date, oh, that's strong, at 52,000.

And visitors say they are having a great time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): The best thing is that we're all getting together.

UNKNOWN (through translator): We simply meet up and we do that on a Sunday morning because it's simply nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Okay, the southern hemisphere is not a place you typically find large populations of people with red hair. But for a few hours in Santiago, Chile, on Sunday, the redheads ruled the road. It was part of a three kilometer fun run celebrating the redhead community.

Whether naturally red, dyed, spray painted, be wigged, nearly 1000 participants running the streets of Chile's capital got to experience a taste of life as a redhead.

Now, the fall harvest ushers in folk traditions across the globe, including this Russian festival. It's known as the Battle of the Giants.

And it is the pumpkins that are huge. These massive gourds are being turned into boats. And then the race is on for paddlers in costumes to row swiftly across a pond in Moscow.

Thank you so much for watching, I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. I'll be back with another hour of "CNN Newsroom" after this quick break.

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