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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Concerns Raised Over New USPS Mail-In Ballot System; Markey Defeats Moulton In U.S. Senate Primary; More Than 1,000 Dead, 4,400 Missing From Catastrophic Nepal And Tibet Floods; U.S. And Iran Exchange More Airstrikes, Fuelling Fears Of Wider Return To Hostilities; Lindsay Clancy Judge Tells Deadlocked Jurors To Return For Fifth Day Of Deliberations; Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Pleads Guilty To Collusion With Foreign Entities; Wong Pleads Guilty in Second National Security Case; Russia Escalates Strikes as Putin Claims Openness to Peace; Germany Blames Russia for Drone Attack in Leipzig Airport; Six Flags Coaster Linked to Serious Brain Injuries, Death. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired September 02, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Father of three sons who dedicated much of his life to teaching and mentoring young people. Juiceti's (ph) family remembered the comic book fan as a real life superhero for his commitment to helping others and as a husband and devoted father of three daughters.
Park officials are still assessing the full scope of the damage from those floods.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Edward has weakened to a tropical depression, but it is still dumping heavy rain on parts of Texas and Louisiana.
The storm made landfall earlier packing sustained winds about 60 miles an hour. As you know, that's no joke. Right now, sustained winds are about 35 miles an hour. All coastal tropical storm warnings have been discontinued, but a level 3 of 4 threat of flooding rain will continue tonight for a part of southeast Texas.
According to poweroutage.com, power is still out for nearly 75,000 homes and businesses across three Texas counties.
It is the top of the hour. Thanks for watching the first hour of The Story Is. The next hour starts right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.
MICHAELSON: I'm Elex Michaelson live in Los Angeles, where it's 10 pm. Coming up this hour on The Story Is, people in Nepal are searching for their loved ones as the death toll from last week's dead flooding groves. CNN on the ground with the latest. Iran striking back after the U.S. launched a round of attacks against
the country. What President Trump had to say about the renewed hostility.
And no verdict yet in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial. What the jury had to say after four days of deliberations and how the judge responded.
Those stories in a moment.
But first, an anonymous whistleblower is revealing a potential crisis at the United States Postal Service, which involves a new digital system that screens mail-in ballots before they are sent to voters, a process that's been described as rushed and untested.
The whistleblowers report was released by U.S. Senate Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. It says that sweeping new system was developed on a tight timeline and with so much confusion. It warns that millions of American voters may not receive their mail-in ballots this election cycle in a timely manner or receive them at all.
The most shocking part may be how little room there is for error. If just one barcode doesn't check out, thousands of other ballots from the same batch could get pulled even if there's nothing wrong with them until the problem is fixed.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Postal Service from enforcing these new requirements and the Trump administration is appealing. So, it's not clear if they will actually be in effect for the midterms, which of course, some ballots go out within a few days.
But the whistleblower says that the Postal Service was secretly working on this system even while an earlier injunction was still in place. And all this started when President Trump signed an executive order back in March giving the agency an unprecedented role in screening ballots. Multiple secretaries of state accused the Trump administration of setting the Postal Service up to fail and ignoring the law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CISCO AGUILAR, NEVADA SECRETARY OF STATE: This president is tearing a trusted organization that was loved by Americans apart. They are making them the failure that they're going to be in this upcoming cycle almost. I'm not surprised that they're not following the rule of law. When has this administration even considered a law or looked at the law before they made a decision?
JENA GRISWORD, COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE: It should be abundantly clear that Trump is laying the groundwork to try to reject the results in November if they don't go his way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: A Postal Service spokesperson says the agency is reviewing the whistleblowers concerns but has compiled at all times with court orders. And the Postal Service wants Americans to have confidence that their election mail will be handled securely.
Now to Massachusetts, speaking of elections, where we are once again seeing progressives and moderates sparring over the ideological direction of the Democratic Party. And we're also witnessing a generational battle in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate.
CNN projects that incumbent Senator Ed Markey will once again get the nomination. In his victory speech, Markey hailed what he called the power of the progressive movement fueled by young people. But Markey stands apart from other progressive candidates because he himself not very young. The 80-year-old has served in the US Congress for half a century.
If he completes his next term, he'll be 86, which is younger than Chuck Grassley and some other senators. Markey defeated U.S. House Democrat Seth Moulton, who is 47 and had argued that it's time for new leadership. Markey will now advance to the general election as a favorite in Massachusetts, a reliably liberal state. He is predicting a blue wave in the November midterms, but also warns President Trump will try to steal the election.
[01:05:00]
You see the numbers just coming in still, Markey ahead by 30 points. Let's talk about this with our political panel, Melanie Mason, California's politics bureau chief and Peter Hamby, the chief national correspondent with Puck News. Hi, Peter. Melanie also here with us as well. Hi, Melanie. Thanks for being with us.
Let's hear from Ed Markey at his victory campaign event tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ED MARKEY (D-MA): If Trump tries to steal the election this year, and he will, we're going to need to turn civic action into civil disobedience. Marshal your friends and neighbors. Take to the streets, sit in protest, withhold your labor. Do not agonize. Organize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Agonize, I think is more of the Massachusetts way of saying it.
MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: I mean, he is so Massachusetts through and through. And I think honestly the results, a 30-point win, I think sort of, you know, it just shows goes to show that when you're an institution in politics, it might cut against you in a year where there are all these generational battles. But it also sometimes really helps you out. And so I think that he is, he is such a Massachusetts resident and stalwart. And I think that that's what you saw in the election tonight.
MICHAELSON: Well, we're also seeing some of the voters who turned out in this primary, kind of a different demo than what we saw in Michigan where they Abdul El-Sayed was nominated, somebody much more progressive.
PETER HAMBY, CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK NEWS: Yes. Actually my friend John Della Volpe, who's a Harvard youth pollster, great pollster in Cambridge, Mass, he tweeted tonight the polls were accurate in Massachusetts, like dead on compared to Michigan, where there was a huge polling miss in that Democratic primary down the stretch.
My hunch is that in Massachusetts, you didn't see a ton of, you know, next gen exciting candidates in these House races or the Senate primary bringing in new low propensity voters. Massachusetts Democrats also tend to be older than Michigan, for example, whiter than Michigan, more educated, far more educated and more engaged.
So, an easier to poll demographic, I think. So I think that's important to note in a cycle where we've seen so many polling misses. We've been talking about generational change, by the way, and progressives tonight, Elex. I want to point out in Massachusetts 4th district, Jake Auchincloss, a moderate incumbent young guy, smoked a DSA opponent. In Massachusetts 6th District, which is Seth Moulton's old district on the North Shore, Biden administration alum Dan Koh, another moderate, beat back progressive challengers won by a lot.
And so the young candidates who won in Massachusetts tonight aren't progressive, which again, defies some of these narratives that we've been seeing in other parts of the country.
MASON: Well, especially in terms of defying a narrative. I mean, Dan Koh really ran as a Biden administration official.
MICHAELSON: Yes.
MASON: He really bear hugged the former president and former vice president.
HAMBY: Yes.
MASON: And I think there's been so much talk in the last couple of days of if these vulnerable candidates, these Democrats in red states want to campaign with Kamala Harris, if they want to see Joe Biden. In this case, we saw somebody who was very enthusiastic to have Joe Biden's endorsement and he won.
MICHAELSON: One place where they probably don't want to have Joe Biden is in Texas, where the Democratic candidate James Talarico is trying to win in a state that has been a Republican stronghold for many, many years. We know that the Republican candidate there is Ken Paxton, not John Cornyn, the longtime senator after President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton and not John Cornyn, which a lot of folks in the Senate were not thrilled about.
I want to put up this headline from CNN right now based off an interview that my colleague Manu Raju did. Texas GOP congressman accuses Senate leaders of imperiling Paxton's bid. This is a congressman named Nehls who is on his way out and clearly feels free to speak his mind. He doesn't feel great about what's happening with Ken Paxton right now. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TROY NEHLS (R-TX): John Cornyn has always been about himself and my opinion, John Cornyn would like to see Taralico winning. He goes to bed, he's thinking, I need Ken Paxton to lose because then I can look into the cameras and tell the voters of Texas, I told you he wasn't electable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Peter in my opinion.
HAMBY: Elex. Troy Nehls is exactly right. Of course John Cornyn wants Ken Paxton to lose. He wouldn't say that publicly, but Donald Trump came in, endorsed Ken Paxton in the runoff. Kill John Cornyn's Senate career. And John Cornyn has been very public that he's cranky about that.
Troy Nehls has a point. Texas is very expensive to run a campaign in statewide, what, 8 million bucks a week or something? It's probably more than that. No outside groups have come in.
Now, Trump's MAGA Inc., his super PAC, is sitting on a ton of cash.
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Maybe they're waiting until this post-Labor Day stretch to start spending money. But the NRC and the Senate Leadership Fund, they're looking to the Trump people in terms of where they should spend because the Senate map is all over the place right now. You've got Maine, you've got Georgia, you've got North Carolina, you've got Alaska, you've got Iowa.
Texas is really competitive and really expensive. And Talarico's run a very good campaign. The polls have it tied. But there's a lot of uncertainty about where to spend money on the Senate map right now.
MICHAELSON: And of course the Cornyn argument would be if I was the nominee, you wouldn't need to spend any money because this would already be done and you could spend your money in a place like Iowa or Ohio or other states. How do you see the state of the race right now when it comes to the Senate?
MASON: Well, look, I think that it's actually kind of telling that you hear sort of, you know, a MAGA Republican saying that the establishment wants MAGA to lose so that they can prove a point. In some ways you're actually hearing the same thing from the left in Michigan where you'll hear people say, well, Chuck Schumer wants Abdul El-Sayed to lose so that he can prove that his theory of what is the more electable candidate will win.
So, it goes to show the suspicion, I think, of these factions within the parties is at an all-time high. And I think, you know, to Peter's point, when you have to make these decisions, when there's so many different places to spend your money, I think that that's really where the rivalries come out. And I think that the lack of trust is just fomenting this even further.
MICHAELSON: Yes, I mean, don't you think Chuck Schumer would rather get the majority?
MASON: I mean, yes, I think that's absolutely true/
MICHAELSON: Have Abdul El-Sayed win.
MASON: But I do understand the point, which is that, look, Chuck Schumer really did throw in with Haley Stevens because he had a theory of what's a more electable Democrat. Nobody likes to be proved wrong, but I'm sure he'd be happy to do that if it meant majority.
MICHAELSON: I think there are moderate Democrats who would like to see Abdul El-Sayed lose and see Democrats get the majority somehow so that it doesn't empower progressives going into 2028. The math may not be there to be able to do both of those things at the same time.
Melanie, Peter, thank you both for all your insights. Great talking with both of you.
Rescue efforts are still underway nearly one week after a massive landslide triggered deadly floods across parts of the Nepal-China border. For many, including these women and children, narrow escapes to safety were decided by just a few split seconds as raging waters washed away entire communities.
The United Nations estimates that the disaster has left behind more than 2.4 million tons of debris. International aid agencies are racing to reach some of the hardest hit flood zones that have been cut off by damage to major infrastructure.
Authorities say more than 1,000 people have been killed between the two countries and at least 4,400 people remain unaccounted for. Those who survived are still grappling with the devastating aftermath, the scale of the destruction making it difficult for many families to learn the fate of their loved ones. CNN's Will Ripley is in Nepal and brings us a closer look at the reality many people there are facing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On this unfinished rooftop of a small municipal building In Vidur, Nepal, 50 men left homeless by the flood. Try to sleep. But the nights are long and cold. And Subba Tamang says, full of tears and fear.
SUBBA TAMANG, LOST 8 FAMILY MEMBERS: This place is not also safe.
RIPLEY: So you're afraid the floods could even come up to this roof. How do you sleep at night? Are you able to sleep?
TAMANG: No, we could not. Because many people cry because they lost their family members too. So many people cry here at night remembering their members. And every day is good like that.
RIPLEY: You got the helicopters always flying over. RIPLEY (voice-over): Every day the choppers fly out searching for
survivors. Every night they fly back. And those he lost are still gone.
TAMANG: And I lost my eight family members here.
RIPLEY: You lost eight family members?
TAMANG: Yes. I lost my uncle, aunt and my siblings.
RIPLEY: I'm so sorry.
TAMANG: This one also.
RIPLEY: This is your brother?
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY: How old is he?
TAMANG: He's two years old.
RIPLEY: What's his name?
TAMANG: His name is Sagar Anjanan.
RIPLEY: How old is Anjanan?
TAMANG: He's three years old. Her name is Dolma Tamang.
RIPLEY: So she's your aunt?
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Camera phone pictures are precious commodities for Subba and his cousin Kopila Tmanag. They have little else left.
KOPILA TAMANG, LSOT 17 FAMILY MEMBERS: When he was born, I took his phone.
RIPLEY: You took this one?
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY: How old?
TAMANG: One month. She is first daughter, second daughter. My mom is third one. This also lost my mom and my two siblings also, two cousins. Auntie and her daughter.
RIPLEY: Both were lost?
TAMANG: Yes, both lost. This is my sister. She also lost. This is my grandma.
RIPLEY: She was also lost. TAMANG: She also lost. She's so innocent. She love me so much.
RIPLEY: Everyone in this picture is gone.
TAMANG: Yes. These all are gone.
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TAMANG: They are like my children. When I came home, they always come back with me and call me Fupu. So I miss them.
RIPLEY: 17 family members?
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY: That's really hard to even wrap your head around.
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY (voice-over): The 2015 earthquake destroyed her old family home. Back then, everyone survived. This time, the wall of water consumed her family's new home in Rusaba, leaving nothing and no one behind.
RIPLEY: So you were trying to call --
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY: -- your dad, your mom? Nobody --
TAMANG: My relatives. There is no answer.
RIPLEY: Because all of them were gone.
TAMANG: Yes.
RIPLEY: What's keeping you strong?
TAMANG: I have one small brother. I have to take care of him. Now I'm the mother for him, so I have to be strong. When I cry, he will also cry.
RIPLEY: Hello.
TAMANG: He's my brother.
RIPLEY: What's your name?
GOGUN TAMANG, KOPILA TAMANG'S BROTHER: Gogun Tamang.
RIPLEY: Gogun Tamang. Nice to meet you.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Time passes slowly here. Most people are still in a state of shock, with only the clothes on their backs. About 100 women and children sleep in this yoga center. They tell me every time there's a rumor of another flood, everyone runs up this nearby hill and hides. The rumors often come late at night. They say.
There are no showers and everyone shares a bathroom. They get their drinking water from a truck or fill their bottles at nearby waterfalls.
Children like Regina and Rosita Bhuta can't go to school because it was also destroyed.
RIPLEY: So what happened when you're on the bus going to school? We could see the water chasing us from our window, she says. Everyone started crying and shouting. The driver drove very fast and took us to a safer place. I was extremely scared. We thought the flood would not be this big, but when we saw how huge it was, we were terrified.
Her dad, Rajendra Bhuta, says the bus driver saved his children's lives. He saw dozens of houses being washed away, along with a bridge and a road. The raging water dragged this bus hundreds of feet.
RIPLEY: Did you ever think you'd see a flood like this? No. I've never seen this type of flood, he says. Not just me, but my father and grandfather also never witnessed such a devastating flood in their lifetimes. I think a large number of school children may have died. Since some of their parents may also have died, there's no one to ask about their whereabouts.
RIPLEY: You really gotta watch your step. This is quicksand, probably about 20ft deep. Some of these guys out here said they've stepped in it and it went right up to their neck. That makes recovering bodies very difficult and dangerous.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Nobody knows how many bodies are buried beneath or when or where it'll be safe to rebuild. All the homes, all the lives swept away. Will Ripley, CNN, Bidur, Nepal.
(END VIDEAOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: And that as a reality. Will Ripley, thank you for that.
Right now, the USS Abraham Lincoln is in Thailand after spending more than eight months at sea. This is the aircraft carrier's first port of call, ending a marathon stint in the Middle East. Its long deployment raising concerns about the crew's well being. CNN has reported it led to morale issues, supply shortages. There was at least one possible suicide attempt among the crew of 5,000.
President Trump had dismissed concerns about the lengthy deployment, saying that it was, quote, not nearly long enough. But now that ship is headed home to its home port of San Diego.
Meantime, there's been a new series of strikes between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. Central Command says the strikes were prompted by, quote, attempted attacks on commercial shipping in the strait and American service members in the region. U.S. officials say they targeted air defense sites, radar systems, communications sites and more.
The strikes come after the first escalation over the Strait of Hormuz in a month, which happened just days earlier. Iran says that it launched missiles towards Jordan in retaliation. This video from social media shows what appears to be an Iranian missile exploding in southern Jordan.
The Jordanian armed forces confirmed it has intercepted at least two 10 missiles launched from Iran and another three fell in remote locations.
Earlier, I spoke with political scientist Benjamin Radd about the conflict. Here's part of our conversation from the last hour here on The Story Is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST: Activity is what we've seen in the last 48 hours. Rockets being fired, both sides taking shots at each other. The facts haven't changed, meaning the stalemate is still there. The blockade is in place. The Strait of Hormuz is still constricted.
[01:20:02]
Those facts haven't changed. So this exchange of fire doesn't necessarily tell us that anything is moving in any direction in the big picture.
MICHAELSON: So for movement, you said there's three things we want to focus on.
RADD: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Iran, China and Russia and the Gulf state. So let's go through them. Let's start with Iran, including the leadership within Iran.
RADD: Right. So the president, Pezeshkian, was at a regional conference in Kyrgyzstan where he made a statement indicating that they're willing to go back to the June MoU. The memorandum, the terms that were in place, that they're willing to do that if the U.S. agrees to meet those conditions. That's an interesting shift.
In that audience, you have President Xi, you have Putin, who are there indicating that maybe the Russians and the Chinese are also pushing for a resolution based on those June terms. And then on here in the United States, the situation basically is that, you know, the president has been pushing the economic angle here.
We saw Secretary Bessent's comments last week, increasing sanctions, increasing economic pressure there. And then you have the Gulf states. Are they willing to tolerate what we saw the last 24 hours, additional incoming fire? Is their tolerance for that diminishing? Are they willing to strike back even harder? So those are all things we want to watch for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Ben Radd and our studio last hour. Oil prices are surging amid the new U.S. strikes in Iran. Oil futures climbed another 2 percent on Tuesday morning after a jump on Monday. Let's take a look at where the oil markets are trading right now.
You can see Brent crude, the global benchmark, up the not good news to see Green up almost 1 percent there for the first time on record. Gas prices have stayed above $4 a gallon every day in August, according to AAA. President Trump met with nearly a dozen oil executives at the White House on Tuesday. The White House official telling CNN that they discussed expanding U.S. refining capacity. And the president emphasized that he wants to see lower gas prices for consumers.
Still ahead on The Story Is, the latest on the Lindsay Clancy trial and what could happen if the jury does not reach a verdict.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MICHAELSON: Jurors in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial are expected to start their fifth day of deliberations in a few hours after failing to reach a verdict on Tuesday. Clancy's defense argues that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and is not criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023.
The 12 jurors deliberated for about six hours on Tuesday and still couldn't come to a decision. Jean Casarez is in Massachusetts tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Tuesday morning, the jury had been deliberating for about 45 minutes when Judge Sullivan in open court made the announcement that the jury had a note. As jurors filed in, our producer in the courtroom noted that a female juror was looking at the defense table and the defendant and then the prosecution table.
One male juror was rubbing his face with his hands. The judge proceeded to read that note and to talk to the jurors, saying, I understand you cannot reach a verdict. Let's listen to that moment in court when Judge Sullivan addressed the deliberating jury.
JUDGE WILLIAM SULLIVAN, PRESIDING OVER CLANCY TRIAL: Members of the jury, I've got your question. And the question is, after many hours of deliberation, we are unable to come to unanimous decision. I brought you back out because I know that this was a long trial. All right?
I know there were over 80 witnesses. There were over 300 exhibits. But because of that, I'm going to ask you to go back out, keeping in mind all of the instructions that I gave you to go out and to continue your deliberations at this time. All right.
And so with that, I'm going to ask you to go back out. Like I said, keep in mind the instructions I gave you reviewing the evidence, and I'd ask you to resume your deliberations at this time. CASAREZ: At that point, the jurors were excused. They went back to the deliberating room. They deliberated for the rest of the day. There was not another note.
There was no communication that we know of from that jury. But they did ask to leave at 3:30 in the afternoon, which was a bit earlier than yesterday and actually one hour earlier than they can deliberate. Tomorrow they will reconvene in court right here in Plymouth County, Massachusetts. For more deliberation in Plymouth County, I'm Jean Casarez for CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: And if there is a verdict, we will bring it to you live as it happens here on CNN. Of course. Now that is an if there is a possibility there could be a hung jury.
Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong faces more time in prison after pleading guilty to foreign collusion in his second national security case. The 29-year-old was a leader in Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy protests. He is already serving nearly five years in prison after pleading guilty in a landmark subversion trial in 2024. He could face an additional three to 10 years behind bars or possibly life in prison. Joining us now with more on all of this is Ivan Watson, live in Hong Kong.
Ivan, what more can you tell us about what happened in court?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Well, this again is about Joshua Wong. And he became famous as a teenager for leading pro-democracy protests here in Hong Kong. He was even on the cover of Time magazine at one point.
And he appeared in court today.
[01:29:39] .
He's been in jail for years for another charge. And a judge announced that he would be pleading guilty to a crime under Hong Kong's National Security Law of collusion with foreign forces.
So we heard details from the prosecutors who accused him and accomplices of meeting with foreign officials, such as then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, then-Senator Marco Rubio, and lobbying them not only in these meetings but also over social media to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong government officials. And the U.S. did impose sanctions on some of those officials in past years.
So they're saying that amounts to collusion with foreign forces.
Now, the attorney for Wong, he says that Wong has had a lot of time behind bars to think about his actions. He urged the judge to reduce what could be a ten-year sentence to half that, so that it wouldn't crush Wong's hopes for some kind of a future.
Now, Wong got arrested after what had been a very turbulent year in Hong Kong. This is back in 2019 where you had huge pro-government protests. Wong was often at those, and some of them, many of them, devolved into clashes between demonstrators and the Hong Kong police. There were clouds of tear gas almost every weekend.
That came to an end in 2020, when Beijing, Mainland China, imposed a National Security Law on Hong Kong, and that led to the arrests of dozens of pro-democracy activists and opposition lawmakers. They're almost all behind bars or have fled into exile.
The authorities here say they've restored stability here. And there's a statement about Wong's case from Hong Kong government spokesperson saying, insisting that freedom of speech does continue to exist here. And that, quote, "the lawful exercise of free speech must not be conflated with taking actions to collude with a foreign country to impose sanctions to harm one's own country."
Western governments, human rights groups, they have criticized the prosecution of activists here. And I might add that there are civil liberties that seem to have --, that don't exist anymore.
The protests and demonstrations that used to be ubiquitous in the city haven't happened in years. Independent media outlets that used to function were shut down by the authority authorities, many of them after the National Security Law was imposed.
So the city does in many ways feel different from how it had felt prior to this crackdown, Elex.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting perspective from Ivan Watson, live for us in Hong Kong. Ivan, thank you.
Next on THE STORY IS, Russia's president claims he's open to substantive peace talks as his forces continue to batter Ukraine's capital with deadly airstrikes.
[01:32:58]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: Ukrainian children are starting the new school year in bomb shelters. One school in Kyiv has moved its classrooms underground, so students will no longer have to run to safety during Russian air assaults.
Russia's relentless attacks have killed at least 53 people in the Kyiv region alone since Thursday.
Despite that, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, claims Moscow is open to what he calls, quote, "concrete peace talks".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Of course we want it as well, but not to freeze (ph), to end the war and achieve lasting and complete peace throughout Ukraine and Europe.
And we are ready to engage in this negotiation process with anyone who is willing to do so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELSON: Ukraine's president says his country is ready for peace, adhering to U.S.' requests to pause strikes on Moscow and Saint Petersburg in late August.
Russia's military is showing no sign of backing off of its war goals. It launched a deadly air assault in the Kyiv region overnight on Tuesday, with a barrage of jet-powered drones and ballistic missiles.
Germany says it is taking measures against Moscow in response to a drone attack against Leipzig Airport last month. German officials say Russia was behind it.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Germany is holding Russia responsible for a drone attack at the Leipzig Airport that happened in early August, when an explosive-laden drone flew onto the premises of the airport in Leipzig, but then failed to explode.
Now the German interior minister and the German foreign minister came forward in a press conference and squarely laid the blame on Russia.
The interior minister saying that the make of the drone, the explosives, but also the way that this operation was conducted, pointed to a high degree of sophistication. And he said that German law enforcement, as well as German security services, have come to the conclusion that the Russian government is to blame for this drone attack.
Now, the Germans are also saying that they believe that this is part of a wider hybrid campaign by the Russians against Germany. In fact, the interior minister saying he believes that all of this will continue.
ALEXANDER DOBRINDT, GERMAN FEDERAL MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR (through translator): The federal government sees the need for appropriate and necessary action in this regard.
The federal government is responding to this hybrid attack in Leipzig in a proportionate and measured yet equally resolute manner.
[01:39:50]
DOBRINDT: Let me make it clear, we are not at war. But we are the daily target of hybrid warfare.
PLEITGEN: Now the Germans then announced a flurry of measures against the Russian Federation. On the one hand, they say they are going to close a Russian consulate in the western city of Bonn, and also a Russian cultural institution here in the city of Berlin. They also say they're going to restrict further Russians ability to
enter here into Germany and also continue to go after what they call the "Dark Fleet", which is, of course, a fleet of tankers that the Russians allegedly move to illicitly move oil despite international sanctions against the Russian Federation.
The Russians themselves have also come out and responded to all of this.
I managed to get in touch with the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, Maria Zakharova. She obviously denied all of these allegations. She accused Berlin of seeking a pretext.
She also said that Berlin itself, the Germans themselves, are deeply involved, as she put it, in stoking the war in Ukraine, and also, she claims, responsible for harming Russian civilians.
The Russians also came out and warned that any, as they call anti- Russian measures, will be met with a response.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAELSON: Fred, thank you. You're watching THE STORY IS.
For international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. For our viewers in North America, I'll be right back with a CNN investigation into multiple brain injuries, allegedly from a popular theme park ride.
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MICHAELSON: A CNN investigation has uncovered years of reported brain injuries and even two deaths linked to a Six Flags roller coaster here in California. Two of the injured riders were hurt just six days apart in July.
CNN's Kyung Lah investigates. A warning: her report contains some graphic images.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Six Flags calls this their cutting-edge, break-all-the-rules roller coaster. But these two riders never imagined minutes after getting off the ride this summer, they would end up in the same hospital the very same week with similar brain hemorrhages and they're not the only riders who say they've been hurt.
A CNN investigation finds more than a dozen people who rode the X2 Roller Coaster at California's Six Flags Magic Mountain suffered serious injuries and hospitalizations over nearly two decades, including a 22-year-old who died. And the latest cases happened just weeks ago. PAMELA GUILLEN, INJURED ROLLER COASTER RIDER: It was seconds. You go in as yourself and then when you come back, you're in a medical emergency.
LAH: This was from a roller coaster?
GUILLEN: Exactly.
LAH: Pam Guillen was at Magic Mountain with her daughter, Camille, celebrating her 16th birthday on July 5th. They boarded X2.
CAMILLE MARQUEZ, PAMELA GUILLEN'S DAUGHTER: We got off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless, not a thought behind her eyes, nothing.
I was talking to her. Mom, mommy, please wake up. Mommy, mommy, it's ok. We're here. She had a brain bleed. My mom had a really, really bad brain bleed.
LAH: An ambulance rushed Pam from Six Flags to the hospital where surgeons discovered what's called an acute subdural hematoma with brain compression. Surgeons cut her skull open to relieve the pressure on her brain.
MARQUEZ: I was shocked. I was just, this is not ok. It wasn't ok for me to see my mom like that. It's like -- it's my mom.
LAH: How large is the incision?
GUILLEN: It's pretty long.
LAH: While Pam Guillen fought in this hospital bed, X2 kept running. 25-year-old Naomi Greer Wilkinson had no idea what had just happened.
Six days after Pam's injury, Naomi got on the X2 Roller Coaster. She collapsed after she got off the ride.
LAH: What had happened to her brain?
JOSHUA WILKINSON, FATHER OF HOSPITALIZED RIDER: The jarring had damaged part of her brain and it had begun to bleed.
LAH: She was rushed to the same hospital. Joshua Wilkinson and Artemis Greer are Naomi's parents.
ARTEMIS GREER, MOTHER OF HOSPITALIZED RIDER: I do remember one of the surgeons storming through the ER and yelling how many is it this month? They've got to shut that ride down. He was furious.
LAH: This Is Naomi. And just like Pam Guillen, she had emergency brain surgery.
GREER: They sat us down and said she is at the end of life and I just -- I didn't have any thoughts. I was totally blank. We leaned over her and said, Naomi, and she fluttered her eyelid.
WILKINSON: We looked at each other, like she's in there, like she's there.
LAH: Naomi, a healthy, vibrant young woman who loves cats and the arts, remains in the hospital with an uncertain future.
GREER: Naomi should have never --
WILKINSON: No.
GREER: -- ever in a million years even had the option to get on that ride. It's absolutely insane.
LAH: Why did they leave it open?
WILKINSON: Revenue. There's no other explanation.
LAH: Six Flags says what makes X2 different from other roller coasters is this. The seats spin 360 degrees forwards and backwards independently around the track. Riders plummet 200 feet at speeds up to 76 miles per hour with two so-called raven turns, or half loops that turn into sheer drops.
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LAH: Doctors who treated both Naomi and Pam say the severe brain injuries were the result of a traumatic, rapid acceleration- deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride.
Court cases alleging serious brain injuries from X2 date back years. Christopher Hawley died after riding the X2 four years ago. A coroner's report found he died of blunt head trauma during a park ride accident.
Six Flags didn't answer CNN's questions, but the company's court filings have stated the ride went through daily inspections, and a normal rider using the ride as instructed would not have traumatic brain injury.
CHRISTOPHER BULONE, ATTORNEY FOR INJURED RIDERS: It's greed that keeps this thing going.
LAH: Lawyer Christopher Bulone represents both Naomi and Pam's families.
BULONE: No ride should ever be dangerous enough for anyone that they're coming off of it with severe intracranial bleeding.
LAH: More than three million people visit Magic Mountain each year. But on this day, we find X2 is temporarily closed. Six Flags tells us it hasn't run since shortly after Naomi Greer Wilkinson was hurt.
LAH: You're looking at a very long road.
GREER: It could be six months. It could be two years. It could be five years. I don't know. This is the hardest thing a human being could go through. GUILLEN: I remember everyone so excited that I could walk. I have headaches every day, fatigue after doing simple things. I won't be 100 percent because it's brain damage.
Sometimes I just feel really down because I'm not me anymore.
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MICHAELSON: Kyung Lah with that extraordinary reporting.
We'll be right back.
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MICHAELSON: Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke has reached an agreement to buy the Los Angeles Angels baseball team. The deal would end Arte Moreno's 23-year-tenure as owner of a club that has struggled for the last decade.
The Angels haven't posted a winning record since 2015, and are currently tied for the worst record in the American League. The sale is expected to become official in 2027 pending approval.
Kroenke also owns the Denver Nuggets in the NBA. The Colorado Avalanche in the NHL and part of the Arsenal in the Premier League.
I'll see you tomorrow.
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