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Aftershocks Making Rescue Efforts Difficult; Glimmer Of Hope Amid Devastation; Evacuations Begin In Long Besieged Daraya; Lavrov And Kerry Talk Syria In Geneva; Turkish Military Targets ISIS Inside Syria; Activists: Barrel Bomb Kills 15 In Aleppo; Peshmerga Gain Ground Against ISIS Outside Mosul; U.S. Medics Volunteer In Anti-ISIS Battle; French Court: Mayors Cannot Ban Burqinis; Africans Migrants Help Relief Effort; Mediterranean Becomes Deadliest Migration Route; Truck Bomb Kills 11 In Southern Turkey; Trump's Shifting Immigration Policy; Clinton: Trump Taking Hate Groups Mainstream; Trump: Clinton "Is Totally Bigoted". Aired 10-11a ET

Aired August 26, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead at the "International Desk". Aftershocks hampered the rescue efforts in Italy. A French court put a stop to the

burqini ban. And Donald Trump's mixed messages on immigration.

Hi there. Welcome. I'm Robyn Curnow. And it's been 60 hours since the earthquake in Italy struck. And the three-day window to find survivors is

quickly closing.

Wednesday's major quake has taken more than 260 lives and left hundreds more injured. This aerial footage shows the devastation in and around

Amatrice which is the worst-hit area. Crews are continuing to dig through mounds of concrete, brick and stone as aftershocks continue to rattle those

in the quake zone.

Well, Fred Pleitgen joins us from Italy.

Now, hi there, Fred. As we know, these first 72 hours are crucial. It's running out this window. Is there any hope on the ground there that

survivors could be found?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Robyn. Yeah, well, unfortunately, that hope seems to be fading very quickly here

on the ground. It really has been a while since the rescue workers here in Amatrice have been able to pull people from the rubble here. So their

morale, they say, is still very high. They're still working at a very high pace but of course they know with every moment that goes by, the likelihood

of them finding people still alive continues to dwindle.

One of the reasons is because the destruction is so big. You know, we have some before and after imagery of this town of Amatrice that was devastated

so badly. And you can see the vantage point where I am which is close to square of (inaudible) is just an area where a lot of the buildings have

been completely destroyed.

And if we also pan around a little bit, you can see that buildings here have just collapsed, almost like cardboard houses in an instant. And one

can really see how people would not have been able to escape if those go down very quickly, which they did, at around 3:30 in the morning when many

people were asleep.

Down the streets is really the center of town and also the center of the devastation where a lot of the oldest buildings here of this city are.

There's the iconic church tower which, for some miraculous reason, did not come down. However, the church itself did. That clock tower now standing

a little bit crooked.

And you certainly do see a lot of the rescue crews working around that area, having a very hard time sifting through that rubble because of course

those very old houses in this town, some of them are thousand years old, they were built before even bricks were used. So they're built of stones

and mud. And those stones are very difficult to get through and they simply just crumble into one big pile, almost impossible for anybody who

was in any of those to have survived this earthquake, Robyn.

CURNOW: Yeah, the historic old center there in a way becoming a death trap for those who were asleep in their beds at 3:30 a.m. Tell us about

aftershocks and what it feels like and also what it means for these rescue workers.

PLEITGEN: Yeah, you're absolutely right. You know, I would say, Robyn, that the aftershocks that we've been dealing with here in Amatrice and the

other areas as well has probably been the single biggest and most dangerous issue for the rescue workers but also for the people who have survived this

earthquake. They happen -- intermittently the Italians say that they've had hundreds of aftershocks already. We ourselves witnessed one that

turned out to be more than 4 magnitude. And it really was very violent.

And what happened was there was a building that had already been damaged and then absolutely collapsed. And every time that happens, the rescue

workers, they have to evacuate the area immediately because well of course, all that rubble that's already on the ground, that continues to shift again

and it can bury the rescue workers themselves.

And then there's another big issue that the mayor of this town talked about as well. He said, "Look, because of the strong aftershocks that have been

occurring, two of the access roads to Amatrice and to the mountain town, there's not that many access roads to begin with. Two of them have already

been destroyed and made impassable by those aftershocks." He says if one more access road goes down, this town will be completely cut off.

Now, the Italians will probably find a way to get around that. They still ferry supplies in here and of course also rescue workers, but it will

become a lot more difficult. So the aftershocks, a major problem for the rescue efforts here and also of course a major fear factor for the local

population as well.

CURNOW: Yeah, and as we're looking at those aerial shots, the devastation just unimaginable. Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Now, despite all of the tragedies, we have seen some glimmers of hope emerge. But each of these stories also tampered by tragedy.

We told you about this lady, remember her? She survived the falling concrete at her home. She was pulled from the rubble. She's now

recovering in hospital. But we also know her daughter who lived with her did not survive.

And this dramatic rescue. Eight-year-old Giorgia spent 16 hours in the rubble before she was pulled out. We now know her oldest sister who was

right next to her did not make it. Giorgia is reportedly doing well after surgery.

[10:05:12] And also, the first funeral for one of the victims has been held in Rome. Italian National Police say the victim was the son of a police

official.

All right now, thousands of civilians and hundreds of fighters are being evacuated from Daraya in the suburban Damascus area. The operation comes

under an agreement reached Thursday between rebels and the government. It marks the apparent end of one of the longest standoffs in Syria's civil

war. Syria's army has had Daraya surrounded since 2012 cutting off supplies to rebels and civilians alike.

Well, the evacuations come as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov meet in Geneva. They're trying to

finalize an agreement on fighting Islamic militants in Syria.

Well, the talks come as the Turkish military strikes at ISIS inside Syria. Our Ben Wedeman joins us now on the border.

This is a very complicated conflict. But let's start with Daraya and the implication it has in this Syrian civil war.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daraya, Robyn, is really a microcosm of the tragedy of the Syrian uprising. It was there

in 2011 when there were the -- some of the first protests against the regime, peaceful protests. It quickly descended into an armed conflict.

And from November of 2012, the city, which had hundreds of thousands of people, was put under siege.

At this point, there are only about 7,000 to 8,000 civilians left inside. Now, according to the agreement worked out between the rebels and the

Syrian government, somewhere between 400 to 700 of the fighters will go with their families, provided safe passage on buses to Idlib in

northwestern Syria. The rest of the other civilians, 6,000 or 7,000 will be taken to centers where they will be received in government-held areas.

Now, this is a huge symbolic victory for the government in Damascus, which as I said, has been besieging, bombarding brutally this suburb of Damascus.

It's also significant because what this means is, this will basically free up a lot of the Syrian army that's been stationed around Daraya. Perhaps

they will be able to move northward to Aleppo which is expected to be the next decisive battle in this seemingly endless blood bath. Robyn?

CURNOW: What we did see though was a new phase on Wednesday morning when Turkey directly entered this war for the first time. So the question now

is, as you stand on that border, how long will these Turkish-backed rebels be on the ground in Syria?

WEDEMAN: Well, the Turkish-backed rebels are Syrians. They're Turk men and Arab supported by the Turks. They are going to be there as long as

they can. The question is how long are the Turkish forces going to be in there. There are Turkish special forces and Turkish tanks that entered and

show no sign of leaving at this point.

We heard senior Turkish officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying they're going to be there, in there, in this area along the border

as long as it takes to ensure 100 percent that the inhabitants of southern Turkey are safe. We did hear from one senior Turkish official who

requested anonymity that the plan is to set up what he called a terror-free zone along the border. That means that they're going to be, in some form

or another, have to be Turkish forces inside and their presence could be open ended. Robyn?

CURNOW: OK, thanks for that, Ben Wedeman there.

Well, as the fighting continues in Syria, there was a terrible attack in a rebel-held area of Aleppo. Activists say a barrel bomb killed at least 15

people, most of them children. They say these two boys survived the strike but their brother did not.

CNN has chosen to show the video you're about to see of the mother speaking to her dead child, because the scenes of loss and violence like this one

play out every single day in Syria. Now, the images are extremely disturbing, unsuitable for all audiences. Jomana Karadsheh now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: "This is my son, Hassan. He's gone," she says. She wants a last picture with her son. What follows is pain and

anguish that doesn't even need to be translated. Once again, she tries to wake 12-year-old Hassan up.

[10:10:02] This is one mother. More than 100 children have been killed in Aleppo this month alone according to a Syrian monitoring group. Reports

say two barrel bombs dropped by the regime on this besieged rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo killed women and children. There's been no comment

from the regime.

As rescue workers search underneath the rubble for wounded and lifeless bodies, this distraught man sobs. "Don't step on them," he says. "There

are children underneath the rubble". These scenes a little over a week after this image surfaced of five-year-old Omran Daqneesh. An image and a

story that captured the world's attention and some hoped would pressure world powers to enforce a ceasefire in Aleppo even if just for 48 hours to

get desperately needed humanitarian aid in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That has taken more time, frankly, than I thought was needed. I thought everybody would help us make it happen. We're very

hopeful that it would only be a very short time until we can roll and we can help the people of -- long-suffering people of Aleppo.

KARADSHEH: The Syrian state news agencies reporting eight deaths on Thursday in the regime-held part of Aleppo. The people of Aleppo stuck in

this death trap where living through one day doesn't mean surviving the next.

Jomana Karadsheh CNN, Amman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Hard to watch, isn't it?

Well, Iraq -- in Iraq, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are gaining ground against ISIS to the north and east of Mosul. They're playing a key role in

the advance on the city which the Iraqi army has vowed to liberate by the end of the year.

Our Arwa Damon met two Americans who are using their medical training to save lives on the front line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's early morning and the Kurdish Peshmerga are launching a major push into ISIS-controlled villages.

JON RIETH, U.S. VOLUNTEER MEDIC: We're looking for a place to set up our medical triage area.

PETE REED, U.S. VOLUNTEER MEDIC: Five dead, people wounded.

DAMON: Jon Rieth and Pete Reed are two Americans on the medical frontline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, we have two casualties. Let's treat them appropriately. Stop laying with leverage. Get him on. OTA. OTA.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Black box. Black box.

DAMON: It's a chaotic frantic effort on this day, compounded by a language barrier, different culture, and significant lack of resources.

RIETH: I need four plastic. (Expletive deleted) plastic.

DAMON: Jon, a trained emergency medical technician from Syracuse, New York, is volunteering. Pete of Bordentown, New Jersey, is a former marine

turned medic who works with a nonprofit providing medical training and assistance.

There is no advanced warning when a casualty is coming in. No time to prep before the next one arrives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The toughest thing about being out here as a combat medic is when your patients don't live.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, man, stay with us. Come back to us, man. Come on.

RIETH: Sometimes, you know, we can't fix everything. So I think that's the hardest part for me personally, you know, you want to save everybody

but you can't.

REED: There's a breakdown in communication between us, coalition forces, Peshmerga. It's difficult when you're trying your best to work on someone

but the rest of the system isn't there or it's not working properly.

DAMON: They both say they had comfortable happy lives at home. Was it guilt?

REED: I don't know, guilt or sense of purpose. Sometimes those overlap somewhere in the middle.

RIETH: I can help people at home, for sure, and I do and I feel, I feel good for what I do there. But here that feeling is much greater.

The Peshmerga need significant help. They need training. They need actual combat medical unit. People are throwing ammunition and guns at this place

all day long. But that's not saving lives.

REED: When I think of ISIS, I think of, you know, Khmer Rouge, the Nazis. I mean, there are very few times in history when there's such a black and

white, good versus evil situation. They've been carrying this war in this region on their backs with not nearly enough support. And people back home

are upset about shootings and things like that and ISIS is involved there. And they don't have a clue what it's like a day here, or a day in Baghdad,

or in Syria. It's really horrible.

[10:15:02] DAMON: Arwa Damon, CNN, Khasib, Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Great piece there from Arwa.

Well, coming up, a burqini ban in France is overruled. A top court weighs in on the controversial policy against the swim wear. We're in Paris with

the details.

Plus, one desperate day at sea. What happens when migrants try to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean? We have this report. That's

next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CURNOW: Now, to France where the top administrative court has just come down with a ruling saying French mayors do not have the right to ban

burqinis. Well, Jim Bittermann has more from Paris.

Hi there, Jim. What did this court rule?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, basically, it ruled in the case of one particular town Villeneuve-Loubet which tried

to issue a decree. The mayor tried to issue a decree suggesting that anyone that weared -- wore a swim wear that was -- on to the beaches that

was suggestive of religious affiliation would be ticketed for that and face a fine. And in fact, the court ruled that the mayor was beyond his bound.

Basically, the court is an administrative court. It looks at what all the administrations in France do, and whether what they do is legal or illegal.

It suggested that the mayor had stepped beyond his bounds. And the suggestion is that this will also be applied in the 30 other villages and

towns that have proposed similar bans where the mayors have done similar decrees.

And the question now is, whether any of those other mayors may try, may dare to enact their decrees in a way that the mayor of Villeneuve-Loubet

did. And if they do, they of course face again the same kind of action we saw here which was a consorted action by an Islamic federation and the

League of Human Rights in France to contest this ban. And that, with the jurisprudence of this one case, it's very likely that the case will be

applied in the other cities.

The mayors may be liable for counter lawsuits by organizations down the line. The administrative court here made that suggestion today that the

woman involved in Villeneuve-Loubet could in fact bring action against the city. So the other mayors will look at it and say, well, maybe we

shouldn't enact these decrees after all or they could individually try to test things.

CURNOW: So that's the legal issue. In one hand, slightly more clarity there, but politically, and also in terms of French public support over

this ban, I mean, that's still very much there.

[10:20:02] BITTERMANN: Absolutely. And this issue has not gone away. In fact, ex-President Sarkozy made it clear that he believes that national

identity is going to be a centerpiece of the political campaigns this fall leading up to next spring's elections in France. And he certainly is going

to stick his thumb into it because he said that he thinks that if he were elected president, he would enact immediately a ban on the so-called

burqinis in beaches all over France.

And the administrative court today, while it rule on this one case, did leave it open that if the national government were to take some kind of

action, they would have to rule on that separately and likely that they might not rule the same way. So, that's another whole thing that's coming

down the line. So, politically, this has become a real hot potato. Robyn?

CURNOW: Jim Bittermann, thanks so much there in Paris for us.

Well, a group of African migrants has been lending a hand to the earthquake relief effort in central Italy. The volunteers helped clear a field for

tents and a helipad in a town devastated by Wednesday's quake. The migrants all seeking asylum in Italy. Many said they've never experienced

an earthquake before even known what one was. The volunteers said they felt a deep sadness for the loss of life.

Well, migrants like these Africans, those Africans helping in Italy are taking desperate risks to find a better life every day. We want to tell

you about a piece that's getting a lot of attention on our website. It profiles the dangerous journey that refugees and migrants take across the

Med to get to Europe.

That journey has cost so many lives, but the crossings continue despite the awful risks. More than a quarter million people have so far made it across

this year but more than 3,000 others have died trying. And it's only August.

CNN's Moni Basu tells the story of one rescuer and his desperate day at sea. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to die. We're going to die.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to keep everyone alive. You're all safe, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down. Hey, get going.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They might not trust us and their concern is they might be attacked by pirates or get arrested again by the Libyan authorities.

All we were just hearing is people dying, dying, dying, boats capsizing. The Italian Coast Guard, the Maltese Coast Guard, they cannot cope. We're

talking about mass migration. We have to do something.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They called one of my cousins. And they said if you do not bring $2,000 he will be dead by evening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I get outside from the misery. Yeah, they are treating people like an animal.

JOHN HAMILTON, DEPUTY OPERATION OFFICER: These people that we come across are really desperate. They're coming from countries that they're tortured,

they're beaten.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They choke me with knife when they ask me money. Nigeria is too hard. Light, there's no light. They are killing. You have

money, you don't have money, they are kidnapping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The time now is 20 past 7:00. We've started early, since 4:00 in the morning. Now we're up to another boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They do know about this journey before. They know exactly what it's going to be. Maybe they got two choices. Either you

will die in the sea or you are getting across the sea. These are the two choices that we have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: Well, CNN digital reporter Moni Basu joins me now to talk about what it was like putting that piece together. I mean, you were on that

boat for a week. What was it like? And also, what's important here is that there are a lot of private companies doing these rescues.

MONI BASU, CNN DIGITAL REPORTER: Yeah. The organization I was with is the Migrant Offshore Aid Station. And it was started by an American

millionaire who felt that European nations were not doing enough to rescue people at sea because thousands of people were dying crossing the

Mediterranean. So he started this organization a couple of years ago and it's funded solely through donations.

[10:25:19] And there are a couple of other private groups like that working on the Mediterranean, like Doctors Without Borders. But -- and they work

in tandem with the coast guards of various nations. But the private organizations are quite impressive in the efforts that they're making.

CURNOW: And every little bit of help counts here. What you've done and I supposed what is just so powerful about your reporting is that you just

followed the journey of one man.

BASU: Yes. I got on the boat and I decided to follow the search and rescue leader. And then when they actually rescued the migrants, I chose

to follow a man from Sudan. And he had been -- he'd left, fled Sudan after the Arab spring protest because he felt he was targeted. And went to Egypt

and then made his way through Libya.

He had a harrowing experience in Libya which is a country that has fallen into anarchy and is one of the reasons why there's so many people going to

Libya because human smuggling has become a big business.

And so he had already had this harrowing experience, and then he paid more money to smugglers who told him that a big ship would be waiting for him to

take him to Italy. And when they got to the beach, all he saw was an inflatable rubber dinghy.

CURNOW: Yeah, imagine what goes through your mind then. Tell us also about the Med. I mean, the statistics in a way lose their impact when you

repeat them over and over again.

BASU: Yeah.

CURNOW: But just so many people are dying in that patch of sea.

BASU: Yeah. More than 80 percent of all migrant deaths worldwide are occurring on the Mediterranean. And a majority of them now are happening

in the central Mediterranean.

The trip from Libya to Italy is the most treacherous because it's a long distance. It took us on the MOAS ship, which is a big ship, it took us

more than 50 hours to reach southern Italy. And .

CURNOW: After this rescue.

BASU: After the rescue. And I could tell from the faces of the migrants once they realized how long a journey it was on a big ship like that, you

know, the realization set in that there's no way they would have made it in a dinghy.

CURNOW: OK. Powerful stuff and it's really getting a lot of traction online and justifiably so. Great reporting there.

BASU: Thank you.

CURNOW: Well, you can find Moni's piece right there at cnn.com. Do go click on it.

Still ahead, racism and bigotry at the forefront of the U.S. presidential election. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton swap accusations on the

campaign trail. All that, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:30:20] CURNOW: Welcome to the "International Desk". I'm Robyn Curnow. Here's a check of the headlines.

Evacuations are underway to end one of the longest standoffs in Syria's civil war. Thousands of civilians and hundreds of fighters are leaving

Daraya under an agreement reached between the rebels and the Syrian government. The army has had the Damascus' suburb surrounded since 2012.

In Turkey, a truck bomb killed at least 11 officers at a police checkpoint in the south of the country. It happened in a town near the Syrian border.

Nearly 80 people were injured. There's been no direct claim of responsibility but the provincial governor is blaming the Kurdish militant

group PKK.

The rescue mission to find earthquake survivors in Italy is in its third day. It is just barely within the crucial 72-hour period when a

possibility of survival is the greatest. The death toll is now at 267. Despite aftershocks, rescue workers are digging frantically through the

rubble hoping to find anyone alive.

Well, it's been hard trying to get in track -- to try and keep track of Donald Trump's position on undocumented immigrants. The U.S. Republican

presidential candidate's once hardline stance has taken on several reiterations this week. This, as Trump and Democratic rival Hillary

Clinton trade new accusations on their views on race. Well, our Jason Carroll now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no path to legalization unless people leave the country. Well, when they come back in, if they

come back in, then they can start paying taxes.

JASON CAROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump struggling to clarify his immigration stance now telling CNN's Anderson Cooper he's ruling out a

pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants in the United States.

TRUMP: There is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and come back.

CAROLL: This, after indicating earlier this week that he was open to the idea.

TRUMP: They'll pay back taxes. They have to pay taxes. There's no amnesty as such. There's no amnesty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

TRUMP: But we work with them.

CAROLL: Trump sending mixed messages.

TRUMP: There's certainly can be a softening because we're not looking to hurt people. Well I don't think it's a softening. I think it's .

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: But 11 million are no longer being deported.

TRUMP: I've had people say it's a hardening, actually.

COOPER: But 11 million who have not committed crimes .

TRUMP: No, no. We're then going to .

COOPER: There's going to be a path to legalization. Is that right?

TRUMP: You know it's a process. You can't take 11 at one time and just say, boom, you're gone.

CAROLL: Some Trump supporters insisting their candidate cannot flip-flop on his central campaign issue. Sarah Palin warning in "The Wall Street

Journal," there would be massive disappointment if Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions. His reversal also provoking criticism from

former rivals.

JEB BUSH, FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: All things that Donald Trump railed against he seems to be morphing into. It's kind of disturbing.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

CAROLL: This, as Hillary Clinton launches a blistering takedown of Trump.

CLINTON: From the start, Donald Trump has built his campaign on prejudice and paranoia. He is taking hate groups mainstream and helping a radical

fringe take over the Republican Party.

CAROLL: Clinton accusing the Trump campaign of merging with the alt-right, a movement linked to white nationalists.

CLINTON: A man with a long history of racial discrimination who traffics in dark conspiracy theories, drawn from the pages of supermarket tabloids

and the far dark reaches of the internet, should never run our government or command our military.

CAROLL: Trump defending his campaign accusing Democrats of what he calls their oldest play in their play book.

TRUMP: When Democratic policies fail, they are left with only this one tired argument. You're racist, you're racist, you're racist.

CAROLL: Trump also disavowing support from hate groups.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want white supremacists to vote for you?

TRUMP: No, I don't, at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLL: Trump says the vast majority of his supporters are not racists and he also says there's no alt-left, there's no alt-right. He says his

campaign is about common sense. He also says his campaign is one of love, love of country. Robyn?

CURNOW: Thanks so much to Jason for that. Ryan Lizza joins me now. He's a CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for the "New

Yorker."

[10:35:01] A lot of love to you this day, Ryan. We've also .

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, thank you for having me.

CURNOW: We've heard Donald Trump and seen Donald Trump veer all over the place on his immigration policy. Does it end -- does this week end with

any clarity?

LIZZA: It doesn't. I mean, until he comes out with a plan that is written down on paper with some specifics, we are in this very strange situation of

-- I've been comparing it to trying to read the entrails of goats, right? By my count, he's had three policies in the last 14 months. He has been in

favor of forcibly removing 11 million people and sort of that's the end of it. He has said that the 11 million undocumented immigrants need to go

back to their home country and then can perhaps come back in if they pay taxes, and then have a path to legalization. That's sometimes in the U.S.

policy debate called touchback amnesty.

And he's also said earlier this week that, well, maybe some can stay and have a path to legalization. So it's pretty confusing. Where he's ended

up in that clip you played from Anderson, it seems back to they have to leave but maybe they can come back and we'll do something for them.

CURNOW: OK. And also this talking about clips with Anderson, in that conversation Donald trump had with Anderson. Both Secretary Clinton and

Mr. Trump seem to be arguing about who is the bigger bigot.

LIZZA: Yeah.

CURNOW: But does Mr. Trump know what a bigot is? Because strangely enough, Anderson Cooper tried to push him exactly on that. Let's just take

a listen.

LIZZA: Yeah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She's totally bigoted. There's no question about .

COOPER: But it does imply that she doesn't -- she has antipathy, she has hatred toward, in this case, I guess, you're talking about African-

Americans, but I don't -- the words in your mouth.

TRUMP: I think she has been extremely, extremely bad for African- Americans. I think she's been extremely bad for Hispanics. You look at what's happened with her policies and the policies of President Obama and

others. Look at the poverty. Look at the rise in poverty. Look at the rise in violence.

COOPER: But hatred is at the core of that or dislike of African-American people?

TRUMP: Or maybe she's lazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: What do you make of that, Ryan?

LIZZA: I don't think laziness has anything to do with bigotry. You're bigoted or not. I think what's a little surprising about this is, you

know, Republicans throw a term like that around against Democrats occasionally and say, look, their policies are not good for minority

communities, for the following reasons. And, you know, that's a longstanding debate in American politics over which party is better for

those groups.

What I'm surprised about is that Trump didn't follow up with some of those arguments, right? He could have said that in the 1990s, the Clinton crime

bill which, you know, was her husband's obviously signed that, not her, but she supported it. She could have said that that was bad for African-

Americans. He could have said that she's too tied to the teachers union so she doesn't have a good plan for African-Americans who are in bad public

schools.

These are traditional arguments that Republicans make to sort of -- to start a conversation about why they might be better for non-white groups.

What's so amazing is he doesn't have that level of simple policy detail at his fingertips to sort of make a coherent argument so he's just at the

level of, oh, she called me a bigot, well, she's a bigot too. Almost like an elementary school yard taunt.

CURNOW: Yeah, it certainly hasn't been easy to trace the ins and outs of this campaign, and it's getting more and more complicated as we go on.

Thanks so much Ryan Lizza for trying to unpack it all for us. Appreciate it.

LIZZA: My pleasure.

CURNOW: Well next, she linked up with American runner in the Gobi Desert then vanished in China while awaiting approval to go home with him. Now,

we have an update on Gobi, the wayward dog, and her man.

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[10:41:14] CURNOW: Remember Gobi, the marathon running dog who went missing in China a couple of weeks ago? Well, we have an update and the

news is all good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Doggone lucky. Gobi, the little dog with a big heart and a global following, is finally back with her adopted human.

DION LEONARD, ULTRAMARATHONER: I don't even think we could have written that for Hollywood. It's that amazing.

CURNOW: Ultramarathoner Dion Leonard first bonded with the dog on a grueling week-long run across China's Gobi Desert back in June. The little

stray followed him for days tagging along for 125 kilometers all the way to the finish line.

LEONARD: I'm looking down and I'm thinking, this little dog's not going to stay with me all day, surely. But that's exactly what she did.

CURNOW: Gobi became a social media sensation. Leonard made plans to adopt the dog and bring her home with him to Scotland. Before that could happen,

Gobi had to spend time in quarantine in China. But last week Gobi disappeared, running away from her temporary home in Urumqi.

A heartbroken Leonard flew to China to try to find her. With the help of local volunteers, he spent several days searching the streets for his

missing dog. But Urumqi is a huge city of several million people.

LEONARD: You start to think to yourself, wow, this is really just a needle in a haystack times 10.

CURNOW: Leonard says, he was starting to lose hope. And then on Wednesday, a phone call, someone had found a dog that looked like Gobi.

LEONARD: So I walked through the front door of their lounge and Gobi sprinted across from the other side and land and straight up into my arms.

Basically, she literally ran up my legs. She's screaming and yelping and she was just delighted to see me.

CURNOW: Man and dog are now reunited, both overjoyed.

LEONARD: That was probably one of the best days of my life, last night, when we -- when I ran and walked through that door and spotted Gobi.

CURNOW: She hasn't left his side since. Leonard says other than a few nick and a sore leg, Gobi appears to be fine. He's getting the dog a

tracking chip and from now on walks will include a leash.

LEONARD: I wouldn't have needed the leash. She literally just sticks to my side, like she did in the race.

CURNOW: Next up, Gobi is off to Beijing for 120 days of quarantine. Leonard says he'll fly back to visit her several times while she waits to

join him in the U.K. But he says he can still hardly believe his furry best friend is back.

LEONARD: It was always a long shot. It was always going to be a miracle. And I just can't believe myself that it's happened.

CURNOW: If it all goes as planned, Gobi should join her new family in Scotland for Christmas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CURNOW: What a dog. Well, Leonard used a crowd funding site to raise tens of thousands of dollars to cover the cost of the search and to transport

his new found friend to his new home.

Well, that does it for us here at the "International Desk". I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks for watching. World Sport is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:36] RHIANNON JONES, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN World Sport. I'm Rhiannon Jones live from London.

A day after completing this year's Champions League draw, UEFA has announced some significant changes to the tournament. Europe's top four

domestic leagues, England, Germany, Italy and Spain will be guaranteed four places each in the group stages of competition.

Plus, financial distribution to clubs will be increased significantly. Those changes will come into effect in 2018-'19. UEFA Communications Chief

Pedro Pinto talked to me about it a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEDRO PINTO, UEFA CHIEF OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA: The amendments that were proposed today and were agreed are sounds. They are in the best

interests of European football. And they will make the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League stronger.

We work with the clubs. We don't work against them. And we feel that by making these slight amendments we are making the competition stronger. And

at the same time, it's important for us to keep a lot of factors into account. We have to look for sporting interests, the commercial interests

of the competition while making sure that we satisfy our national associations as well, keeping the tournament open to all. And that's

what's happens and we're very pleased with what we've been able to negotiate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: UEFA's Pedro Pinto speaking to me earlier. Well, let's show you some of the key highlights from first day's group stage draw in group F,

last year's winners and now 11-time champions, Real Madrid, will again face Borussia Dortmund. They'll also face Sporting Lisbon and Legia Warsaw.

Over in group C, Pep Guardiola returns home as Manchester City face his former club Barcelona. The new city boss won the competition twice with

Barca during his four years while he's in charge. They're also up against Borussia Monchenggladbach and Celtic.

And in group D, Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone reignite their fiery duels in this competition. Five-time champions Bayern Munich face up

against runners up Athletico Madrid as well as Dutch champ PSV Eindhoven and Russian side FC Rostov.

And over in group G, the fairytale continues for premier league champions Leicester City. Claudio Ranieri's men are about to make their Champions

League debut and their group could be a lot worse that has to be said, now will play Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen in Europe's elite

competition.

Now, as Rio prepares for the Paralympics next month, some news out of Brazil. Police there have charged Ryan Lochte for making a false statement

about being robbed at gunpoint during the Olympics in Rio. The police statement also recommends a summons for the gold medal winner. Lochte flew

home from Rio before he could be questioned about the alleged false claim. Our Shasta Darlington is live in Rio for us.

Shasta, what's the latest on this story from Brazil, please?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rhiannon, it just looks like this misadventure at the gas station won't go away, doesn't

it?

Now, police have charged Ryan Lochte with falsifying this police report. They say they're going to give him notice in the United States so he can

come to Brazil and present his defense if he wishes. Of course, nobody really expects him to do that. He can legally also send an attorney. But

if a judge finds that he's guilty, the crime carries a sentence of between one and six months in prison. The judge could also decide to slap him with

a fine.

But, just remembering where this all came from, it was Lochte who went on T.V. and claimed that he and three others were pulled over, that some

robbers pretending to be cops held them up at gunpoint and took their wallets. Then police started investigating, and they discovered is that

this was a bit of an over exaggeration in Ryan Lochte's words or an outright lie in the police's words, that there had been an altercation at a

gas station after the swimmers had urinated in public and there had been vandalism and some armed security guards who tried to rein them in.

Well, since then, four of the swimmers have -- all four of them have apologized. In fact, Jimmy Feigen was still in the country. He ended up

paying a fine of over $10,000 to leave the country. Ryan Lochte wasn't.

[10:50:09] So this is where we go from here. The prosecutors can now decide whether or not to take these charges to a judge. And, but even if

he is found guilty, it's just very unlikely that Ryan Lochte would be extradited. In fact, it seems he's getting much more punishment from the

sponsors, Rhiannon.

JONES: Now, Shasta, do you think that Brazil is just making an example out of this story? Can we really expect Lochte to serve the time?

DARLINGTON: I think that is part of it Rhiannon. There was a lot of anger when the police came out with their allegations that this was one big lie.

A lot of people -- Brazilians felt that he'd been taking advantage of what is a known history of violent crime in Rio to try and cover up his own

misbehavior at a gas station. So there is a lot of anger.

They clearly don't want to let this go. They want to make it an example of him and that you can't file these false police reports. But I think they

also -- there was also a bit of hurt pride here, Rhiannon. They don't want to let this slide. They really want to carry it to the very end.

JONES: Shasta Darlington there for us in Rio. Thank you, Shasta.

Well, still ahead here on CNN World Sport, Lewis Hamilton starts from the back as Formula One returns. And Australian Open champ Angelique Kerber

tells us how she gets fit for the major.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JONES: Formula One wakes up from its four week summer slumber this weekend with Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton will start from the back

of the grids for this one after Hamilton to accept a 30 place grid penalty punishment. The sanctions been looming over the Brit since he encountered

a number of engine problems during the opening rounds of the season. The three-time world champ leads Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg in the title

race by 19 points.

Let's go now to the earlier practice sessions. And it was Dutch teenager Max Verstappen that top the time from the second of the day. The 18 year-

old Red Bull driver clocked the best lap at 1 minute and 40.085 seconds outpacing Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 2 seconds.

Nico Rosberg was the fastest in the first session. Third practice and qualifying is on Saturday ahead of the race on Sunday.

So, Formula One returns on Sunday and the U.S. Open swings into action on Monday. Serena Williams may well by the favorite yet again for this one,

but hot on her heels is Angelique Kerber. The German had her chance to overtake Serena as world number one last week, just missing out at the

Cincinnati Open Final.

Our CNN's Open Court has been with the 28-year-old who gave her tips for getting grand slam fit just in time for the final major of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:55:04] ANGELIQUE KERBER, 2016 AUSTRALIAN OPEN CHAMPION: First of all, when I step in the gym, I have my plan in my mind what I have to do with

exercises, how long it takes. And then when I'm starting, I'm actually enjoying it because it's always something different. I have a great team

and it's always fun, but also hard work.

For tennis, you must be focusing every single part on your body. It's important to do a lot of further things, your legs are important. Also the

stability in the back or like, also weights, cardio. So, for the tennis player it's important to do everything. So your body must be really fit

and also healthy, of course.

So let me take you to five of my favorite exercises, which I will show you.

It's really intense. For me it's always important to do like shorter workouts but more intense. You know, I'm going like to one hour or like

one and a half and really intense, doing my stuff.

A few years ago I was actually not so fit. I saw a lot of tennis players they're getting fitter and fitter. So I start to going in the gym every

day or like sometimes I went twice in the gym. I think it's change also because the tennis change, it's much more stronger, it's much more

athletic.

Serena is a powerful, strong player. And she's serving like 200 kilometers per hour or like hitting the ball so fast. So that's why you must be

really fit and trying to move in good to get all the balls. She is like hitting. And, I think, of course, she was showing us that fitness is one

of the biggest things in the moment in the tennis.

Right now I'm one of the fittest players in the world. It's strange, but it helps you really to reach your goals at the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: That's all for this edition of World Sport. "International Desk" with Robyn Curnow is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END