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Young Bomber Strikes Kurdish Wedding Party; Young Boy the New Face of Syria's War; Canada's Stolen Daughters; Closing Ceremony Marks End to Rio Games; ISIS Militants Kill 36 in Iraq; Inside Philippine's Quezon City Jail; People Return Home in Flood-Damaged Louisiana; Steve Wynn Talks Wynn Palace Casino in China. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 22, 2016 - 01:00   ET

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


[01:00:23] NATALIE ALLEN, CNN ANCHOR: A weekend of horror in Turkey compounded by reports the killer of more than 50 people at a Turkish wedding party may have been as young as 12.

A heartbreaking image of an orphan child in Honduras is highlighting the country's murder epidemic. That's his father he is sitting next to.

And many feared the worst. But Rio celebrating the end of two weeks of sporting success. We're live in the Olympic host city for you to reflect on the games and the big finish.

It's all ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

Turkey's president says the suicide bombing at a Kurdish wedding this weekend was carried out by a child. The blast killed 51 people and wounded dozens. Many of the victims buried Sunday. Saturday's bombing is the deadliest in a year of terrorist attacks in the country.

Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman has this report for us, and to talk with us about the young attacker.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is coming from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said that the bomber was somebody between 12 and 14 years old. He also said he either detonated the bomb himself or the bomb was detonated remotely. We don't know at this point. We do know that Turkish prosecutors who went to the scene, found what they said are the remains of a suicide vest. But as far as actual bomb at this point, that's all we know.

Now the video coming from moments after that bombing, it happened at about 10:50 last night is absolutely horrific. We have some of that video but we must warn viewers, it is graphic.

I spoke to a man who lived just around the corner when that bomb went out. He told me he came rushing out. And what he saw in front of him was just a carpet of the dead, the dying, and body parts. The bomb went off right in front of where a band was playing. People

were dancing in the street. And where it went off where was this so- called women's section in this conservative Kurdish neighborhood, people in the neighborhood telling us that at the time there were anywhere between 400 and 500 people cramming in to the streets there.

It was a wedding celebration in the streets of that neighborhood. Now we are coming to you from Gaziantep's main cemetery. I'm going to just step out of the way for a moment. What you can see here are the freshly dug graves, 43 people out of what is believed to be more than 50 people killed in that late Saturday night bombing have already been buried. And we were here for the last funeral of the day. That was a funeral for 14-year-old, Nirgin Gurboz (ph), a student. And we have the opportunity to speak with her mother, who was here with many relatives. And she said that -- she was crying, she said my daughter was simply too young to die. In fact, one of the youngest of victims from this blast was a mere three months old.

Now we understand that the bride survived. She has come out of the hospital. But as she came out of the hospital, she told Turkish reporters that our wedding day has been turned into a bloodbath.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Ben Wedeman for us in that horrific story there in Turkey.

Now in Iraq, 36 people have been hanged for the massacre of up to 1700 military recruits. A provincial governor says the executions took place Sunday and more will follow. ISIS killed the recruits two years ago near Tikrit at the former U.S. military base known as Camp Speicher.

The war in Syria is being defined for many now by the picture of yet another boy. Remember the one in Greece? This little boy covered in dirt and blood, dazed after surviving an air strike in Aleppo. But he is only one of millions affected by this conflict, including his older brother who did not survive.

Here is Amara Walker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMARA WALKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This image of 5-year- old Omran Daqneesh has given a new face to the Syrian war. That of a child who shows no reaction to the blood he wipes from his face, who has seen nothing but war in his short life.

By many accounts Omran is lucky. He lived through the air strikes that decimated his neighborhood and his home in Aleppo last week. His older brother did not.

[01:05:02] 10-year-old Ali Daqneesh's photo did not go viral but his face is also one of the Syrian war. Ali suffered critical injuries in last Wednesday's air strike. And after days in the intensive care unit of an Aleppo field hospital, he succumbed to his injuries. DR. ABU RASOUL, ALEPPO MEDICAL CENTER (Through Translator): His

condition got worse and worse from the first day because of the bleeding and the traumas to his liver and kidney. His heart stopped three times and we resuscitated him three times. But unfortunately, he passed away.

WALKER: Some 450 people have been killed by fighting in and around Aleppo this month alone, including at least 100 children. 100 children whose photos like Ali Daqneesh's will not go viral on social media. Children who will not see the end to war in their homeland.

Thousands more have been killed since the war began in 2012. Large sections of Aleppo, Syria's largest city have been reduced to rubble and the International Red Cross has said the city is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Survival is often determined by sheer luck, if one can call it that.

RASOUL (Through Translator): Omran, his photo went viral in the Western media and affected many people, but still alive. And God willing, and he will continue his life in better conditions than the ones he is living in now. Whereas his brother, whose photo was not taken, no one mentioned him. He died and he is by God's side now.

WALKER: For families likes the Daqneeshes, it is every bit a humanitarian crisis.

Amara Walker, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: And another heartbreaking image of a young boy also witnessing tragedy is going viral. This happened in Honduras. A child saw his father murdered in broad daylight.

Here is senior Latin American affairs editor Rafael Romo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR (voice-over): It's the image that has shocked a whole country. A young boy who authorities say is no older than 10 kneels by the body of a man in the town of Choloma, Honduras. The murder victim shot several times is the boy's 42-year-old father.

"This child was traumatized, witnessed violence and death and became an orphan in just a matter of seconds," this Honduran psychologist says. "His life will be forever altered."

Local authorities say father and son were on their way to get a haircut when the man, an employee at a water purification plant, was shot. The image has gone viral in Central America, filling many people with indignation. It's become emblematic in Honduras, a country where 14 people are murdered every day in a place that has been called the murder capital of the world.

"Respect for life in Honduras is being lost," a security analyst says. "Criminals didn't think twice about killing a father walking on the street with his son by his side."

(On camera): There has been at least 15 multiple homicides in Honduras so far this year. Earlier this month, two massacres left 11 people dead in the Central American country, including a 5-year-old girl. In the most recent case, the father and his son were only a few blocks away from their home when the attack happened.

(Voice-over): Government officials are pleading with the public. They say they need people to step forward and provide them with crucial information to investigate violent murders so that they can put criminals behind bars. But Hondurans seem to be paralyzed by fear, the same kind of fear that stopped people from assisting this young boy as he kneeled crying inconsolably moments after his father was shot to death.

Rafael Romo, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Our ongoing "FREEDOM PROJECT" explores the problem of sex trafficking. And now we turn to Canada's indigenous communities. They have been hit hard by this. And authorities have adopted new plans to help fight it.

Our Paula Newton has more from Winnipeg, where an elite police unit seeks to help Canada's stolen daughters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KIRK CHAPKO, WINNIPEG POLICE DETECTIVE:: So here is this guy talking to her.

DEBBIE CUMBY, COMMUNITY OUTREACH WORKER: 3:00, 4:00 in the morning I'll see them out here.

CHAPKO: A lot of the people here, they struggle with many different things.

CUMBY: You'll see many older men just sitting in cars idling.

CHAPKO: Nobody wants to be out here doing what they have to do.

CUMBY: There. How you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Words of comfort and support. They echo most nights through streets of Winnipeg.

CUMBY: Did you sleep yesterday?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

NEWTON: Debbie is a community outreach worker.

CUMBY: Be safe. I'll see you later.

CHAPKO: Do you want a ride home or anything? No? You OK? You need anything else?

[01:10:01] NEWTON: Kurt Chapko is a police chief, part of an elite unit trying to counter sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

CHAPKO: This is our regular route. We drive in this area and the other areas that have high levels of exploitation.

NEWTON: They are both leading a transformation, a new way to fight human trafficking. The approach firmly focused on victims. And most of the ones they meet here come from Canada's minority indigenous community.

CHAPKO: Two females on the south side of Notre Dame. They're walking westbound. They're going to be at the crosswalk shortly.

NEWTON: We ride along with Detective Chapko and observe as undercover officers meet with two women they believe could be trafficking victims.

CHAPKO: The passenger door is closed and they are going to be heading westbound.

NEWTON: What's different here than in past years? The intent. They are not out to prosecute but to protect, trying to understand how and why these women are being sexually exploited.

CHAPKO: It's the misconception that a lot of people have is that, you know, they -- they want to be out there. But they truly don't want to be out there. It's --

CUMBY: They don't have a choice?

CHAPKO: They don't have a choice.

NEWTON: Law enforcement officials acknowledge a history of bias and racism that prevented police on the streets from truly understanding how and why indigenous women are vulnerable and at risk.

DANNY SMYTH, DEPUTY CHIEF, WINNIPEG POLICE SERVICE: There is bias in the police service. We recognize that there is implicit bias. We certainly have taken steps to try to address that in a myriad of ways. We have a team that is dedicated just to outreach, just to being out there and trying to get to know who is out on the street, trying to establish a relationship with them.

CUMBY: Lots of kits for tonight. Hopefully it will be a busy night.

NEWTON: To do that they teamed with community workers like Debbie, once a trafficking victim herself. She explains outreach is neither quick nor simple.

CUMBY: We're controlled by, you know, our traffickers. A lot of people call them their boyfriends or drug dealers. And, you know, you owe money. And you have a choice. You get beaten or killed or you go out and work.

JENNIFER RICHARDSON, TRACIE'S TRUST: We'll get started. I think we have about 68 kids that are missing this morning.

NEWTON: The new approach on the streets of Winnipeg is supported by the government. Jennifer Richardson runs Tracie's Trust, Manitoba's strategy to combat sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of children.

Crucially, the provincial government has committed more than 10 million Canadian dollars each year to fund it. A huge sum for a population of only about a million people.

This groundbreaking endeavor focuses on prevention, intervention, and legislation. While trying to tackle the issue of why indigenous people, a small minority of the population, represent more than 3/4 of all human trafficking victims in Manitoba. Both independent and government studies have detailed poverty, addiction, family violence, and sexual abuse as key factors.

RICHARDSON: When you look at the context of their environment and what is going on in the sex trade, the level of violence, the level of drugs, it's almost like mental terrorism. The kids are just acting out what they're engaged in.

NEWTON (on camera): And they've been terrorized?

RICHARDSON: Right.

NEWTON (voice-over): Back with Detective Chapko, we've learned the two young women they've approached are indigenous. Police will now follow up with social agencies.

CHAPKO: OK, copy that.

NEWTON: And that's what's different and revolutionary about the approach here in Manitoba. A first in Canada, it uses targeted funds, but also words, deeds, and training to help fight human trafficking in a whole new way that prioritizes the needs of victims.

CUMBY: So you be safe.

NEWTON: Paula Newton, CNN, Winnipeg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Next here we go inside one of the Philippines' most crowded jails as the president's war on drugs packs more people behind bars. You will not believe their conditions.

Plus Rio waves goodbye to the Olympics. We look ahead to 2020 in Tokyo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:18:29] ALLEN: We're going to miss that samba music. Rio sent the Olympics off with a flourish a few hours ago. The closing ceremony had all the pageantry you could ask for as more than two weeks of competition came to a fitting end. The city alongside the fans and athletes waving goodbye to the games.

Joining me now, Christina Macfarlane live in Rio, the lucky one who's been there two weeks, and Will Ripley in Tokyo where the summer games head next in 2020. And we'll see you there then, Will.

But first let's go to Christina. Christina, talk us through the highlights of this night. It's been just really an amazing end to a -- an Olympics that pulled off despite a few issues.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It absolutely did, Natalie. It was a riot of color and music this evening. And what was the biggest samba party in the world, this closing ceremony.

Now I was lucky enough to go to the opening ceremony as well. And I would say that this actually topped it this evening, would you believe. I think the standout moment was at the end of the ceremony when we saw 200 dancers come out and a truck containing 12 carnival queens parade around the stadium. But throughout it all, some two and a half hours, the athletes were there completely enjoying themselves, even though they were getting soaked from head to toe.

You can probably see the weather behind us this evening has been terrible. But there was no one more popular in the middle of the stadium tonight than Simone Biles, the standout star of the USA team in the gymnastics. She was getting stopped every five minutes for athletes asking for her autograph and for selfies. We even see -- saw team GB outshine team USA, would you believe, by wearing sneakers that lit up in the colors of the Union Jack, blue, red, and yellow.

[01:20:09] But by far and away, I think the star of the show came not from Brazil, would you believe, but from Japan. Japanese prime minister popping out of the middle of the Maracana dressed as Super Mario, would you believe? The popular video game character during the ceremonial handover from Rio 2016 to Tokyo 2020. And then the organizers used a torrent of fake rain to extinguish the flame that was simply spectacular, however, not really needed this evening with the weather we've been asking.

I think the only disappointing aspects of this is perhaps the fact that the stadium wasn't completely full. It was some 60 percent full, a problem that we have seen littered throughout these games. But it didn't dampen the mood or the spirit. And I'll tell you, everyone was up dancing in the aisles at the end.

ALLEN: Well, you know, 60,000 stands, but my goodness, how many people around the world watching that. So that's good. From glowing sneakers to Super Mario. How will Mr. Abe ever topped that performance. But I do want to ask you, Christina, the IOC chief Thomas Bach was also of course there. It's been a games that of course have had a troubled buildup. A green swimming pool along the way. What was his overall reaction?

MACFARLANE: Yes, I think I've spent far too much time speaking about that green swimming pool. Thomas Bach, yes, he gave his final speech, bringing the curtain down on the Olympic Games today in the stadium. You know, the IOC and Thomas Bach in particular came under a lot of criticism over these games for their handling of the Russian doping crisis. But it's the spirit of the Brazilian people who have really carried these Olympics through and made it the success that it has become.

And he paid tribute to this in his speech this evening. He said the last 16 day, Brazil has inspired the world in difficult times for all of us with their irrepressible joy for life. And that is what we witnessed tonight in the stadium in this closing arena.

Everyone coming together, Natalie, in a games that has been marred in controversy and difficult times in the buildup but ultimately has been something that everyone who has experienced here will take away with a positive memory.

ALLEN: Those of us from afar could get it how much people were enjoying the Brazilians and their welcoming and their samba. No one else can do it like them.

But, Will Ripley, no samba in Tokyo in four years perhaps or maybe, but you're saying that the Olympics are going to look a lot different in Tokyo.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Shinzo Abe dressed like Super Mario, I don't know how Tokyo 2020 is going to top that one. But --

ALLEN: Yes, I know.

RIPLEY: It's true. The organizers of Tokyo 2020 are promising, Natalie, that this is going to be the most futuristic Olympics ever. And they have things in the works. But we were watching the closing ceremonies on HK Televisions near Tokyo station, which HK if you actually appear on television, the detail level a pretty scary thing. But certainly good for sporting events.

HK broadcasts super speed Maglev trains that travel almost 400 miles an hour, more than 600 kilometers per hour. Algae-powered aircraft, robot taxis, robots giving you directions, instant translation software. These are all things that Tokyo 2020 is promising on the technological side. Not to mention that they're adding five new Olympic sports including skateboarding and karate, baseball will be added. They're hoping to attract more viewers that way.

But the cost of the Olympics has been a big concern. There has also been a bribery investigation. The Olympic stadium design was scrapped because of a controversy not only over the design itself but also the cost of it. Two previous Tokyo governors had to resign because of funding scandals.

And so I actually spoke just a short time ago with one of the executive directors of Tokyo 2020, asking if Japan has been able to bounce back from all of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HIDETOSHI FUJISAWA, TOKYO 2020 EXEC. DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS: People are very much looking forward to Tokyo 2020. And with that, you know, positive wind back behind us, we are going to make the most enjoyable and most innovative games ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Winning the Olympic bid three years ago was supposed to really be a comeback for Japan, Natalie, after 2011 and of course the disastrous earthquake and tsunami and nuclear meltdown. And so the hope is that, you know, moving forward from this closing ceremony, particularly with the prime minister's shining moment there dressed as Super Mario that Japan can really turn this into a big win, even after a bit of a rocky start.

ALLEN: Yes. I'm just trying to figure out the cover of the Tokyo newspapers there. Good for him. What a good sport. Yes, who doesn't like being Super Mario for a moment or two?

This isn't the first time --

RIPLEY: I'd really like to know who convinced him to do that.

ALLEN: I know. I'm sure our investigative team will get on that one, like you. But this isn't the first time -- this is the first time that Japan has hosted. This will be -- they do summer or winter before?

[01:25:00] RIPLEY: Back in '64 it was also the summer games. And so because of that, there is actually a lot of existing infrastructure that is in place. That they will be able to reuse. They did tear down the national stadium and they're going to rebuild a new stadium. But a lot of the other facilities that are here in Tokyo will be repurposed, if you will. So they're hoping that that will cut at least some off of the multibillion price tag.

But still an expensive proposition hosting the Olympics. And when you have, you know, japans' national debt, essentially twice the size of its economy and a very expensive ongoing Fukushima cleanup, you can see why a lot of people here are really demanding that the government do what it can to keep costs at a minimum.

ALLEN: Right. And certainly understand that. We're watching Rio probably very closely to see how they pulled it off. Thanks so much. We appreciate you both, Will Ripley, Christina Macfarlane. Christina, happy trails getting home. Sorry, you got to leave now.

Thank you, guys.

MACFARLANE: Thank you so much, Natalie.

ALLEN: Thank you. The number of inmates in an overcrowded jail in the Philippines is

spiking as the president continues to crack down on drug crimes. It is a story that is making waves around the world. We'll take you inside that prison, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. We appreciate it. Thank you for joining us. I'm Natalie Allen.

Our top stories now:

(HEADLINES)

[01:30:00] ALLEN: In Iraq, 36 people have been hanged for the massacre of up to 1700 military recruits. A provincial governor says the executions happened Sunday and more will follow. ISIS militants killed the recruits in 2014 after taking over Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base.

Our Arwa Damon reported on some of the mass graves later uncovered. Her story includes graphic images. She was given exclusive coverage in April 2015.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The work is delicate, the kind of excavation usually reserved for historic artifacts, now put to grim use to exhume the first bodies from Tikrit's mass graves. A pause for a brief ceremony to honor the dead. The Iraqi national anthem plays. The lyrics of unity float across the freshly opened ground.

(CROSSTALK)

DAMON: No one yet knows who the victims are. But it doesn't matter.

"I have been working on exhuming mass graves for eight years. But something like, this it's different because of the way they were killed", Mohammed says.

As many as 1700 here, army recruits, were marched to their death by ISIS when it swept through here in June what is now known as the Speicher massacre. At least eight mass graves have been identified within Saddam Hussein's old presidential palace alone.

(on camera): The captives were brought through here.

(voice-over): We retraced some of their last steps, brought down these stairs before they were shot in the head on the banks of the Tigris River, their blood still streaking the concrete.

This man survived.

"I swear, we were innocent. We didn't have weapons. You lied. You said you would not kill us." His voice shatters, overcome with waves of emotion. He screams out

for his comrade Abbas, who saved him, whom he had to leave behind.

(SHOUTING)

DAMON: Abbas's father, Fadil, has come in hopes of recovering his son's body.

(CROSSTALK)

DAMON: "We were told we were going home, Ali recalls. Then we were split into small groups and they brought us here."

Ali pretended he was shot and tumbled into a ditch. He crawled out at night, finding Abbas along a river shore.

"We saw each other, but we were afraid. We each thought the other was a terrorist," he tells Abbas' father.

But Abbas' ribs were broken. Ali could not carry or swim with him. They spent three days hiding together.

"I promised him I would come back for him, and I did. I will reach him, no matter what," he pledges again.

But not today. The road has not yet been cleared of explosives. And they cannot reach the area where Ali last saw Abbas.

We go back to the execution site. There a mourning song --

(SINGING)

DAMON: -- for the lives lost and the many tragedies here yet to be uncovered.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Tikrit, Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: The foreign secretary of the Philippines told reporters just hours ago the country has no intention of leaving the United Nations. President Rodrigo Duterte had threatened to leave after it criticized his war on drugs. They recently encouraged the government to put an end to targeted killings and extra judicial executions. Police have killed more than 650 people since he took office in June.

The president's war on drugs has also led to the overcrowding of the country's already crowded jails.

Senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, went inside.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

(MUSIC) IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a performance being staged for us at the Quezon City Jail in the Philippines capitol, Manila. We've been invited here to take a look at some of the exercises that this very overcrowded detention performs every day with its inmates. It's built to house around 800 people. There are more than 4,000 incarcerated here, awaiting trial. Take a look.

(SHOUTING)

(SINGING)

[01:35:33] WATSON: Now we're going to take a look at the conditions that the inmates here are living in.

(on camera): So sir, this is one of the cells?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

WATSON: Come on in here.

(CROSSTALK)

WATSON: Excuse me, sorry.

There is barely room to walk here.

Take a look at these incredibly crowded conditions. 85 adult males living in, sleeping in this small room. Tuberculosis is in this jail facility. There is a separate tuberculosis ward where there are more than 70 patients currently living in isolation.

This jail is so crowded that the guards tell me every single step is used as a place to sleep.

(SINGING)

WATSON: Hard to believe this jail is now accepting as many as 30 new prisoners a day. That's because the Philippines' new president, Rodrigo Duterte, launched a deadly new war on drugs. Since it started a month ago, police have arrested nearly 9200 suspects. Almost all of the hundreds of additional detainees brought here in the last seven weeks are facing drug charges.

As we're leaving, I want to finish with one astounding statistic. At any one time, there are only 20 guards between the outside gates and the interior that are on duty for a population of more than 4,000 detainees.

Ivan Watson, CNN, reporting from the Quezon City Jail in Manila.

(SINGING)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: A bizarre story out of northern India. We mean bizarre. Surgeons operated on this man to remove 40 knives from his stomach. How they get there, he told a police officer he felt compelled to swallow them. Reportedly, he had been ingesting the knives for two months. He spoke with CNN and told us he is feeling better. Now I guess so. And said he didn't know why he swallowed knives, but compared to it an alcohol addiction. He also says he'll never do it again. The hospital's director says he jokingly told the man if he feels like he needs more iron in his body, try spinach. My goodness. Yes. Hope so.

Coming up here, Louisiana setting a record for flooding, a 500-year event. And now people returning home to see what is left.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:41:20] ALLEN: Here in the U.S., at least six large wildfires continue to burn across California. Authorities say the so-called blue cut fire here near L.A. is over 80 percent contained. But it already destroyed 96 houses. And then there is the 10,000 hectare chimney fire across San Luis Obispo County. That's between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and is threatening the Hearst Castle, a very popular, beautiful landmark overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

More than 60,000 homes have been damaged in the catastrophic flooding that has engulfed parts of southern Louisiana. People are now going home to sift through what's left of their belongings. And for many, there is just not much.

CNN's Polo Sandoval has more from the flood zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: This is where the kitchen was right here. The water got up to about 2.5 foot in the House.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Step through the door in the city of Gonzalez and you'll see what hundreds of homes in southern Louisiana look like today. A bare interior stripped of any comforts of home.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: We had to gut everything totally in house.

SANDOVAL: LeBlanc only saved what he and his son could carry out as the water approached his doorstep last Sunday. Most of it was left behind, had to be discarded and now sits soaked on the front lawn.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: It happened fast. And it's sad. You do what you got to do. We saved a lot. Thanks to him and my brother, they put everything adds high as they could.

SANDOVAL: LeBlanc saved his family and the small irreplaceable items, including his mother-in-law's album.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: Her stuff she kept in this blue tote. I said we're not going -- we need to get that. So I felt bad the next day. Because I didn't want to destroy it. And I said I'm going back. I don't care how deep it is to get her things that she wanted.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: This is a damn shame.

SANDOVAL: LeBlanc used his cell phone to capture that return home along with his son.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: I didn't remember it was his birthday because all the trauma that was going on.

(SINGING)

SANDOVAL: There was time for a brief celebration amid the heartbreak though.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: I sang "Happy Birthday" to him while we were standing in the water in the hall.

SANDOVAL: Dad fashioned a cake out of whipped cream and few cookies. Like many families on his block, LeBlanc has help from friends and coworkers and neighbors.

UNIDENTIFIED FLOOD SURVIVOR: I'm living in my camp. It's going to be rough for the next two months. But all of us are safe. We're alive.

SANDOVAL: Even with those helping hands, he says it will be weeks, perhaps months before he turns his house into a home again.

Polo Sandoval, CNN, Ascension Parish, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: Oh, Karen MaGinnis, the dad giving whipped cream birthday cake. It's so sweet. And people just trying to find a way to carry on.

KARIN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And bring their lives back together. We were talking. I had my home flooded about seven years ago almost to the day. And it's so devastating to try to pull yourself together. It's the equivalent of a fire. I mean, so many things are gone. And then in the end, you realize it's just possessions. But your life becomes so disrupted, so disrupted.

ALLEN: Right. Oh, look at that.

[01:44:43] MAGINNIS: All right. I want to show you what we can expect in this Louisiana area. You have to remember, it isn't just Louisiana. We saw some portions of Texas that were flooded as well there is kind of a short-term look at what we think the radar will indicate. And for the most part just spotty showers here and there. But there is an old weather system and a boundary that is draped right along the gulf coast region that will be the trigger mechanism for some of the showers and the storms could be occasionally heavy. We look out about three to five days. And then the forecast, well, sometimes they verify. Sometimes they don't. But generally speaking this time of year, occasionally heavy precipitation is possible. Nothing like the 30 inches of rainfall that we saw before. 30 inches. That would be about 1200 millimeters of rainfall.

Let's take a look now at what's happening in Japan. Not one, not two, but three tropical systems have affected, will affect, or may eventually affect Japan. They've already canceled hundreds of flights out of Narita's airport. It has made landfall. It is Tropical Storm Medul. And it is moving towards the north and northeast. Just kind of tracks long across northern China. It is going to produce soaking rain. It's going to produce the potential for mud and landslides. In the past 24 hours, some reports coming out of central Japan. Honshu in particular has seen just about between 100 and 150 millimeters of precipitation. So a heavy surf, downed trees, downed power lines certainly a possibility. In the next 48 hours, take a look at Tokyo. 142 additional inches of rainfall. So definitely the potential for severe flooding here. But not just there. We go all the way up towards Sapporo. And we're looking at a continuation over the next several days of that moisture associated with what will at that point probably be just a tropical low. And then there is our other Tropical Depression Lionrock. And this is kind of meandering around. It's going to move towards the southwest. And then it should affect Okinawa. And at that point in time, after about the next three days, we think it's going to intensify. That is one crazy system we're looking at. We'll have to really watch that one closely.

ALLEN: Oh, all right.

Karen, thanks so much.

A $4 billion casino is set to open in Macau, and we'll talk with the gambling resort magnate, Steve Wynn, about it, as we push on here.

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[01:51:16] ALLEN: The doors to the Wynn Palace Casino opened Monday in Macau. It is the only city in China where casino gambling is legal. Behind the $4.1 billion property is American businessman and Las Vegas billionaire, Steve Wynn.

And he talked with our Mallika Kapur.

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MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you're investing heavily in Macau at a time when the Chinese economy is slowing down, when Chinese authorities are cracking down on the gaming industry. Revenues are slowing down in the gaming business. Which does beg the question why Macau, and why now?

STEVE WYNN, BUSINESSMAN & GAMBLING RESORT MAGNATE: The changes that have hit this community in 120 months have no precedent anywhere else. To expect that such change would not have political ramifications and political consequence would be naive and unsophisticated. So my attitude towards the political changes that you describe that affect business, generally speaking, the people that I've encountered in the last 15 years are intelligent. The government of China is a meritocracy. It tends to promote the smartest people within it upward. So in the long run, I think they get it. They do the right thing. My job is to keep my organization flexible.

KAPUR: You know, there are also signals from China that it wants Macau overall to become more sort of mass market friendly. And when we think of Wynn, we tend to think of VIP, of high rollers, things that are very elegant, beautiful, very luxurious. Does it -- how does that sit with you? Are you comfortable with the idea of mass market appeal?

WYNN: Every hotel we've ever built in America or China has tremendous mass market appeal. I have heard so many versions of what the government wants that it's unintelligible.

KAPUR: But you don't know what they want.

WYNN: No, no. It isn't anything like that. The government wanted Macau to develop broadly and to -- and differentiate itself in order to diversify its appeal, which means they wanted conventions and entertainment and a wide range of hospitality attractions.

KAPUR: Something like Vegas in a way?

WYNN: That's exactly what they wanted, because I was involved at the inception here.

KAPUR: Right.

WYNN: And then it was explained to me by the government directly.

KAPUR: Correct.

(CROSSTALK)

KAPUR: Without going through eight people in the middle.

WYNN: It's exactly what happened. Precisely to the point. The broad attraction of Macau as a destination resort is almost overwhelmingly clear. If you stop and look at the numbers, look at the facilities, look at what's happened, there is no point in saying what the government wants. What the government wanted took place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN: We want to take you now to the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington to send birthday wishes to panda cub, Bei Bei. The cub celebrated his first birthday. Look at that. I never had a cake that big, with a frozen treat and a traditional ceremony in which it is believed symbolic objects placed in front of the cub will foretell his future. The objects included peaches for longevity, bamboo for good health and habitat, and a red knot for luck and friendship. The cub's mother chose for him, selecting the red knot. He seems to be much more interested in his cake. Don't blame him. [01:55:12] Finally, pandemonium in Fiji as the country's gold-medaled

rugby team returned home. Fans cheered as the rugby sevens team attended a welcome ceremony at a park. A week and a half ago, the team crushed Great Britain, 43-7, in the sport's Olympic debut. And it's the first Olympic medal in Fiji's history. The Fiji government is marking the victory by declaring a national holiday. Why not?

Thank you for joining me this hour.

My colleague, Rosemary Church, will be with you coming up next.

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[02:00:09] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Mourning in Turkey.