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Brazil Mourns for Three Days; Bill That Could Silence Prayers; Havana Bids Farewell to Fidel Castro; Unending Bombings in Syria; Tennessee Wildfires; Modern-Day Slavery in Greece. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired November 30, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Brazil announces three days of mourning after a plane carrying a football team crashed in Colombia.

Plus, thousands of people rally in Havana to pay tribute to Fidel Castro.

And later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're heading out with the Norwegian border patrol toward their frontier with Russia. A presence on the ground being vital for them in ensuring nothing untoward happens with their large, at times unfriendly neighbor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN rides along with U.S. marines during military exercises in the Arctic.

Hello and welcome to our viewers from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, and this is CNN NEWSROOM.

Football fans around the world are grieving the loss of a Brazilian team after many of its members died in a plane crash in Colombia. Fans gathered in the Chapecoense stadium on Tuesday to pay tribute to the players. The team had climbed the ranks in recent years, and they were set to play their biggest match in club history.

Only three players survived Monday's crash including the team's goalkeeper. Doctors have amputated his right leg, and he is currently in intensive care.

In all, at least 71 people on board the plane were killed. The flight recorders have been recovered, allowing investigators to reconstruct the final moments.

CNN's Shasta Darlington reports.

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A devastating turn of events for the small soccer team from Brazil, Chapecoense, on their way to compete in the South America Cup final for the very first time, but their plane crashed into the mountains here outside of Medellin.

Seventy one people were killed. There were six survivors. But they are in critical condition, including two here at the hospital behind me.

In part because it was so difficult for the rescue workers to reach the site between the fog, the dark, the driving rain, they were initially turned back. They were eventually able to get through, get through the wreckage, find and recover bodies, and also these six survivors.

Three of them soccer team members, two are crew and one a journalist. A national tragedy in Brazil where the president declared three days of mourning. Hundreds of fans poured into the stadium in Chapeco in southern Brazil, the home town of the team.

There was an outpouring of grief. Just people in shock. Especially in such contrast to the recent videos we've seen of this little team that could, celebrating its victories.

A couple of years ago, nobody had even heard of them. But they clawed their way to Brazil's top soccer league.

Here in Medellin the investigation continues. Authorities say they found both black boxes, they're in perfect condition. In the meantime, the soccer teams and supporters will be holding a candlelight vigil in the stadium where Chapecoense was going to play their game in the tournament.

Shasta Darlington, CNN, Medellin.

CHURCH: And I want to bring in Geoffrey Thomas now, editor in chief at Airlineratings.com. He joins us live from Perth, Australia. Thank you so much for being with us again, Geoffrey. Now as we mentioned, there as we saw in the report...

(CROSSTALK)

GEOFFREY THOMAS, AIRLINERATINGS.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Hello, Rosemary.

CHURCH: ... the flight recorders have been recovered. They will of course soon reveal what happened. But given what we've learned so far, what do you think went wrong here?

THOMAS: Yes, it's a very intriguing tragedy, this one. There are several factors. We've heard about the electrical problem problems. We've heard no more detail about that from any official whatsoever, just that there were electrical problems. And that's of concern.

What we do know also is that this particular route they were flying from Santa Cruz from Bolivia was at the limit of the range of this aircraft. It's about 3,000 kilometers, or 1,800 miles that the flight distance. And that's the limit of the range of this airplane.

And what we also know is there's no sign of fuel in the wreckage and there was no fire whatsoever, which possibly supports the theory, as has been suggested, that this aircraft ran out of fuel. And certainly the flight profile. It was in a holding pattern at about 20 -- 20 to 19,000 feet doing some orbits short of the airport, and then suddenly plunged about 4,000 feet to impact the mountain at 15,000 feet.

[03:05:06] So, a fuel starvation appears more and more likely to be the cause of this terrible tragedy.

CHURCH: But how is it possible that the plane would be low on fuel?

THOMAS: Well, there could be a miscalculation by the crew in the first instance. They might have encountered stronger head winds than they expected. I mean, aircraft running -- aircraft running out of fuel is, while rare, is not unusual. It has happened.

It has happened in countries like the United States. There's been a couple well-known cases of it where the pilots were distracted by another problem and were all doing -- were circling trying to fix the problem and the next thing is they ran out of fuel.

So, it might well have been an electrical problem they were circling for, to sort that out, and then ran out of fuel.

CHURCH: I did want to ask you about something you mentioned there. You said there's been no more detail on the electrical problem and that is a concern. Why do you say that?

THOMAS: Well, in many cases with air crashes particularly in countries where English is not the first language, quite often comments are picked up and mistranslated. And this possibly could be the case in this -- in this tragedy.

We've seen it before quite a few times where a comment or two comments are completely misinterpreted. So, the fact we've only heard there are electrical problems, we've heard no more detail from air traffic control, because normally if the pilots were reporting a problem like this they would give a bit more details than they have.

There would be dialogue with air traffic control, what do you need, what's your problem, what's the nature of the issue. There would be more dialogue than we've heard typically in this sort of scenario.

CHURCH: All right. Geoffrey Thomas, thank you so much for joining us there live from Perth, Australia.

THOMAS: My pleasure.

CHURCH: Hopefully the data recorders will reveal more and we will understand what exactly went wrong here. Many thanks.

Well, tens of thousands of Cubans are mourning Fidel Castro. They attended a huge rally in Havana on Tuesday. The former Cuban leader died Friday at the age of 90. World leaders and diplomats paid tribute to him in nearly four hours of speeches.

Our Robyn Curnow and Havana bureau Chief Patrick Oppman are in Cuba's capital.

ROBYN CURNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're in Revolution Square, the place where Fidel Castro would speak to the Cuban people. Now the Cuban people have come here to listen to others saying good-bye to a man who defined their lives for over 50 years.

With me is Patrick Oppman, CNN's Havana bureau chief. And we've been trying to assess how many people are here. And there are hundreds of thousands.

PATRICK OPPMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know it is absolute capacity. This square can fit a million people. In the beginning days of the revolution you would have close to a million people here hanging on every word Fidel Castro said. I covered three papal visits here, when they brought Che Guevara's body back. This seems as full if not more full than those events. Most of Havana's is probably here tonight.

CURNOW: Certainly. And what do you think about the atmosphere?

OPPMAN: It's very somber. During the papal visits you had moments of cheering. It does remind me a lot of Che Guevara, there sort of sadness of saying good-bye to somebody, but also much more profound because there's bit of sadness and uncertainty what the future means.

So many of us and so many people here wonder what will happen to Cuba after Fidel Castro dies. Even though he wasn't president he is such a potent symbol here, and now that the day has come there are lots more questions than answers.

CURNOW: All these people around us as they look to this uncertainty in the future, how are they remembering Fidel Castro?

OPPMAN: I think for the people who are old enough who spent so much of their youth in this plaza absolutely entranced by this man, a master orator, a man who could just slowly put the entire room, the entire plaza in the palm of his hand, keep people on their toes waiting for more, a man who took this country and completely changed the destiny and the destiny of everyone who lived in it, changed every Cuba Cuban's life, where they stayed or they left, for better or for worse.

And I think no one will ever replace him. People do not love Raul Castro in the same way. They respect him because of course he was always with Fidel Castro. This is a much feasible culture. And this is a man who came down the mountain with Fidel Castro, Raul Castro the gun in his hand and that earns respect in Cuba.

The people who follow Raul Castro in a year when he steps down do not have the same credentials, Robyn, and they will not be able to fill this plaza as Raul Castro and as Fidel Castro have filled the plaza tonight.

[03:10:04] CURNOW: OK. Patrick Oppman, thank you so much. It is certainly a moment of history here, a man who has defined not only Cuba, but in many ways the divisions of the 20th century Cold War era. He is gone. People are saying good-bye to him. Fidel Castro will be buried on Sunday.

I'm Robyn Curnow in Havana.

CHURCH: All right. And the Islamic state is claiming the student behind an attack at Ohio State University as their soldier. Sources say authorities believe Abdul Razak Ali Artan was inspired by ISIS propaganda and a former Al Qaeda leader. But they say he acted alone.

Eleven people were wounded when Artan rammed his car into a crowd and slashed others with a knife. He was shot dead by a police officer.

Well, conditions in Aleppo, Syria are dire. The Aleppo media center says air strikes and artillery shelling killed 53 people in the eastern part of the city Tuesday.

Up to 16,000 people have fled the fighting but nearly 200,000 others are believed to be trapped. And those left received some food but aid supplies are nearly drained and there is not a single working hospital in the city.

Regime forces have made significant gains against the rebels in the last few days. Syrian state news reports the army took over the scientific research housing district in eastern Aleppo.

And Muhammad Lila is following developments. He joins us now from Istanbul. So Muhammad, what more are you learning about the situation in eastern Aleppo, and what will likely happen to the 200,000 or so people who are still trapped in the city?

MUHAMMAD LILA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, we know that just this morning there are reports that even more air strikes in eastern Aleppo. At least three neighborhoods we've been told have been hit by air strikes from the Syrian regime.

All of this comes as the U.N. humanitarian chief is warning of a massive disaster. He says there are no more fully functioning hospitals in the eastern part of the city. He also says that official food stores have been completely depleted.

And just to give you a sense of just how dire the situation is. If you recall there's an organization in the eastern part of Aleppo called the Syria Civil Defense teams the so-called White Helmets, the ones that go and rescue victims. And we've all seen that dramatic footage of them rescuing victims from the rubble.

Well, the Syria Civil Defense teams now say if they don't have enough fuel to drive the ambulances to go to those locations where have been air strikes to rescue those victims.

So this group that is basically renowned around the world for trying to save lives in eastern Aleppo have come out and said they're no longer in a position to do that because of the blockade and because of the military choking off the eastern part of Aleppo.

There's a massive shortage of food and medicine and food and because of that even the Syria -- even Syrian White Helmets can't get in there to do their job and save lives.

CHURCH: Yes. And it is certainly horrifying seeing what is happening there on the ground in Aleppo. And of course, some 16,000 or so civilians have already fled the fighting in that city. What has become of them?

LILA: And that's a very good question. We know that up to 16,000 civilians have fled their homes in eastern Aleppo and there is some dramatic footage of a lot of those civilians leaving the eastern part of the city. Some have gone into the regime area, some have gone into Kurdish controlled areas and some stayed in eastern Aleppo.

But in other parts away from their homes that they think might be a little bit more safe. On the western part of the city which is controlled by the government the U.N. says that around 90,000 people have been displaced from their homes.

Now the question is what happens to all of these people who were displaced especially in eastern Aleppo where there are no more fully functioning hospitals left.

Well, Russia and Vladimir Putin specifically has ordered a field hospital to be sent to the government-controlled parts of western Aleppo to help with some of the injuries.

But of course, if you've been living in eastern Aleppo it's very difficult thing to go to a hospital that's being run by the same people that were bombing your homes and bombing your neighborhood. It remains to be seen just how effective that Russian field hospital will be in treating some of the civilians and many of those who have been injured in this conflict.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to you, Muhammad Lila, monitoring the situation there in Aleppo, in eastern Aleppo. Many thanks.

Well, Donald Trump is set to name some new cabinet nominees but he's making headlines for a totally different reason. His controversial comments on flag burning. That's next. Do stay with us.

[03:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, Mitt Romney lost the race for the White House in 2012, but he could be the next U.S. secretary of state. Romney had dinner with Trump in New York Tuesday. During the 2016 campaign, Romney was a harsh critic of Donald Trump. But he had nothing but praise after their dinner date.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I had a wonderful evening with President-elect Trump. We have another discussion about affairs throughout the world. And these discussions I've had with him have been enlightening and interesting and engaging. I've enjoyed them very, very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: And U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is set to announce two

key cabinet posts. An official says former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin is Trump's pick for treasury secretary. Mnuchin was Trump's campaign finance chairman and he's a Hollywood producer whose movies include "American Sniper" and the Lego movie.

Well, candidate Trump promised to drain the swamp to get rid of career politicians and Washington insiders, but his administration is stocking his cabinet with some familiar faces.

CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT-ELECT: Can you hear me OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After campaigning as the ultimate outsider, Donald Trump reached inside the beltway to fill his cabinet today, tapping Elaine Chao the former Labor Secretary under President George W. Bush and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead the Transportation Department and GOP Congressman Tom Price as secretary of Health and Human Services.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This amendment, Mr. Chairman requires some...

ACOSTA: A doctor from Georgia, Price has led the republican charge on health care in the House with proposals to transform Medicare into a voucher program for seniors and dozens of attempts to repeal Obamacare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PRICE, GEORGIA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: This law is not only harming the health of so many Americans in many ways across this country but the health of our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Democrats vow they're ready for that battle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK SCHUMER, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: It's clear that Washington republicans are plotting a war on seniors next year. Every senior, every American should hear this loudly and clearly. Democrats will not let them win that fight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Inside the transition the real fight is over secretary of state as the president-elect met with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, Bob Corker, a top candidate for the post pushed by advisers who were aghast at the prospect of that job going to Mitt Romney. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB CORKER, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: I know he has a number of outstanding individuals that he's talking with but I was glad to be here and.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: In addition to staffing his new administration Trump is igniting new constitutional controversies on Twitter insisting that nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag, if they do there must be consequences, perhaps loss of citizenship or a year in jail.

[03:20:04] While his vice president passed on that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President, should flag burning be outlawed?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Vice President-elect, what's on the agenda today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to be a busy day. Stay tuned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Trump's one-time model for a Supreme Court justice the late Antonin Scalia once told CNN flag burning is a protected free speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIN SCALIA, LATE U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: If I were king I would not allow people to go about burning the American flag. However, we have a First Amendment which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged, and it is addressed, in particular, to speech critical of the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Trump's spokesperson disagrees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, DONALD TRUMP'S SPOKESMAN: I think most Americans agree with me that flag burning should be illegal. It's completely despicable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Trump is slashing out at the news media over stories he doesn't like, tweeting "I thought CNN would get better after they failed so badly in their support of Hillary Clinton. However, since election they are worse."

The incoming president also re-tweeted complaints about fact checking reports from CNN and others, poking holes in Trump's baseless claim that millions of fraudulent votes went to Clinton, which simply did not happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're starting to get very nervous, the press. The dishonest media, world's most dishonest people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: A sign that Trump's media-bashing days from the campaign are far from over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATTY MURRAY, UNITED STATES SENATOR: President-elect Trump is going to keep doing everything he can to distract people. It's called watch the birdie. And then over here do something else that's very dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All right. Jim Acosta reporting there.

And Scott Lucas is a professor of international politics at the University of Birmingham in England. He joins us now via Skype. Thank you so much for talking with us.

So, President-elect Donald Trump says people who burn the flag should be prosecuted or lose their citizenship. But that's not constitutional, is it? The First Amendment protects free speech including the burning of the flag as just the Supreme Court and (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

[03:25:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

SCOTT LUCAS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM SHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS PROFESSOR: I mean, you call the appointments establishment republicans. But it's an interesting meeting. For example, two of the picks that have just been announced or are about to be announced, Wilbur Ross at commerce is one. Steven Mnuchin is another as treasury secretary have long-standing business links to Trump.

Ross helped get Trump out of trouble over his casinos when they suffered losses in the 1990s. Other picks are playing to let's say the tea party side or the hard-line side of the Republican Party. They expect the appointment of Tom Price, for example, the Representative from Georgia who's likely to be house secretary.

There are a couple of picks which might be, quote, "establishment." You know, we're still talking about Mitt Romney as secretary of state, but what we're seeing from Trump is really a mix of hard-liners and people who have business connections with him who are going to make up his cabinet.

CHURCH: All right. Scott Lucas, many thanks for you joining us from Birmingham in England. It is nearly 8.30 in the morning there. Thank you so much. Well, wildfires are scorching thousands of acres in Tennessee. Just

ahead, the main concern for crews fighting those flames. We're back in a moment with that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:29:59] CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. I want to update you now on the main stories we've been following this hour.

Flight recorders from the plane which crashed in Colombia Monday night have been recovered and investigators say they are in perfect condition.

Seventy one people died in the crash. Only six survived. The plane was carrying members of a Brazilian football team who were due to play their biggest match in club history.

Thousands of Cubans filled Havana's Revolution Square to honor Fidel Castro. The former Cuban leader died Friday at the age of 90. The crowd chanted "Viva Fidel" at Tuesday's ceremony. His funeral will be held Sunday with a mix of world leaders, royalty, and Hollywood stars on the guest list.

Tens of thousands of South Korean union members are striking to demand that President Park Geun-hye resign. On Tuesday, the embattled leader who's accused of leaking state information offered to step down if parliament decides she should.

All right. We do want to go back to our top story. Monday's deadly plane crash in Colombia. On Tuesday night, football fans gathered in the capital Bogota to pay their respects to the 71 victims.

These are supporters of the team Chapecoense. It was due to play, that team Atletico Nacional is asking that the Brazilian club be awarded the biggest title in its history.

A team reaching the pinnacle of its 43-year existence. Just last Wednesday, Chapecoense players celebrated the win that would put them in the finals of the Copa Sudamericana. What was to follow sent shock waves far beyond their home country of Brazil.

Monday night's plane crash in Colombia robbed Chapecoense of almost all of its squad. It also robbed the small city of Chapeco of a dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): There are no words to describe it. Everyone was dreaming for something beyond for Chape. It's over, isn't it? The whole team left us in such a way. There's nothing to say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: One catastrophic event. Countless heartrending stories. This is the moment one week ago when player Tiago da Rocha Vieira Alves found out from his teammates he was going to be a father. Tiaguinho as he was known scored one of the goals in Chapecoense's Cup semifinal win.

Goalkeeper Marcos Danilo Padilha, considered by many the team's standout player, made it out of the aircraft alive, but the 31-year- old later died in the hospital.

In stark contrast to the locker room elation at Chapecoense last Wednesday, this was the scene as players who did not board the plane sat speechless at the news from Colombia. The members of this team may not have been household names before Monday's tragedy but some of the world's most famous footballers gathered in silence to mark their passing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would like to send my support and the support of my club to all the family and friends of the people that died in this accident in Colombia and also of course to the club Chapecoense and all of their supporters. We are very sorry for what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A team with so much promise dashed in one moment of horror. Back in Brazil the club supporter's page changed its bright green logo to black in recognition of its darkest day.

Such a loss for that country, and indeed for the football world.

I want to turn back to U.S. politics now. And as a candidate, Donald Trump was very critical of NATO and questioned its relevance. His comments worry some member nations fearful about the threat from Russia after its actions in Ukraine.

CNN went to Norway to see how U.S. marines are helping to reassure some nervous allies.

WALSH: War just got very cold again, freezing (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

[03:35:00] (TECHNICAL PROBLEM)

CHURCH: A dozen raging wildfires have sent thousands of people scrambling to evacuate to resort towns in eastern Tennessee. National park officials believe someone started the initial fire. The flames have damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes in just 24 hours.

At least three people were killed. Rain is expected to bring some relief at least, but the Gatlinburg fire chief is worried that high winds could start new spot fires.

And our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now to talk more about this. And Pedram, the rain has come but the worry is that there are still a lot of problems here.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There's a lot of problems here. Yes. And you know, when you think about this region of the United States, Rosemary, it resonates with people. This is the Great Smoky National Park area, it draws about 10 million people per year. This twice as much as the other parks, the Grand Canyon being the second place when it comes to how many people visit this region.

So it is an iconic landscape. But the amount of rain it takes to suppress the fire from spreading is about 10 to 15 millimeters or about half an inch. You get up to two inches or about 50 millimeters you can actually completely take these fires out.

CHURCH: All right.

JAVAHERI: And we've picked up the lesser amount of it so that the fires are not spreading but of course the winds could pick up embers as you said and spread them down stream.

I want to show you what we've dealt with across this region. And again, you hear that this particular fire indeed was sparked off potentially on purpose or you know, for nefarious reasons by a human. That is really unfortunate set up because the rain was coming.

It was just a few hours away and statistically 90 percent of all fire human induces. About 10 percent of them associated with lightning strikes, volcanic activity accounts for the other aspect of that as well.

But within that 10 percent that's about 6,000 wildfires every single year induced by say, thunderstorms and lightning. They alone can cause consumption of land over nine times the amount. This particular one again sparks by a human. But you take a look, amount of land the fires across the southeastern United States have consumed. Over 440 kilometers of land.

[03:39:58] That is roughly four times the size of the city of San Francisco. That is how much land we're talking from the southeastern United States with about two months of no rainfall across this region that has led to this disaster.

But there you go. Put up the thermal signatures of the fires and where they're located where the rainfall has come down so far. Notice the heaviest they kind of thread the needle in between the biggest flames. So, that is really what has hampered some of the operations here. We're not getting the heaviest amounts on the fires to put them out just yet, and of course thunderstorms bring in lightning strikes.

Past hour alone, 1800 lightning strikes across this region. And you get some of these that come in on a dry pocket of the storm itself you can certainly part additional fires. But the storms we think will pick up in intensity and actually it can really improve the conditions if we can get away with not having these powerful gusts that typically come from the storm.

So, again, you've got to get everything to align perfectly to put these fires out quickly but we haven't had any weather across this region of the United States in months. So this is as good as it gets right now.

CHURCH: Yes. And it is still so hard to comprehend that someone would light that fire on purpose.

JAVAHERI: Correct. And knowing how severe the situation is for someone to do that it's concerning.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Yes. A real concern.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

CHURCH: Thank you so much, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Thank you.

CHURCH: We appreciate it. Well, still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, some young refugees in Europe are paying for survival with their bodies. We have an exclusive look at what goes on after dark on the streets of Greece.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The European dream is becoming a nightmare for some young refugees who fled their war-torn countries. Many teenagers are selling themselves on the streets just to survive.

Arwa Damon has this exclusive report from Athens as part of CNN's Freedom Project to end modern-day slavery.

[03:45:02] ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is where the deals are made. Our camera is filming from a distance. With a mic on Tasos Mitropoulos (Ph).

Put the audio on the microphone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

DAMON: He's a social worker showing us Athens is prime shopping ground for illicit sex. Older men fold the square scoping their options, waiting for the right moment to approach.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look behind you. There is an old guy that massage the younger boy. You see?

DAMON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The game.

DAMON: The boys, who play to survive, are often unaccompanied minors, many from Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's shocking. Really it's shocking. You know, they are desperate. There is no way out unless they find money.

DAMON: Most we approached were too afraid, too ashamed to speak to us. But Ali, not his real name, agreed, in hopes it would somehow make a difference. He's 17 and has been here for nine months. The little money he had ran out a long time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): I said to myself, look what a mess you're in such bad luck just so that you can make some money. I think to myself where have you ended up. You have come to Europe but what is this that you're doing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: The act itself happens in a sprawling park a five-minute walk away from the square. It has long been a haven for drug users and in the sex trade, now exacerbated by the refugee crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): You've seen the park at the end of the day, some come to you. They pull their pants down so you can see their ass. Others talk to you and show you their money. It works like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Tasos (Ph) takes us into the park during the day so we can see the sheer scale of the situation. It's really quite disconcerting to be here even during the day and stepping back into one of these areas behind the bushes off the main path.

You just get a bit of a sense of what happens here after dark. There's condom wrappers all over the place. The cost varies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): Some offer 5 euros, some 100, some 60. But I don't go with anyone for less than 60 euros.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Some, he says, take the boys home. A chance to shower, sleep in a bed, eat a proper meal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): I am not doing this because I like it. I wanted to do something nice, I would date a girl. I was forced to do it because I had no money. Otherwise, I would stay with a girl instead of going with an old man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: The sickening trade is a result of a flawed European refugee policy and lack of preparedness. The Greek government's latest figures show that about 1,200 unaccompanied minors are on a waiting list for shelter.

In a statement to CNN, Greek police said that they have not had any cases reported of the sexual exploitation of unaccompanied minors from the parks we went to, but acknowledged the problem and say they are working to address it. One day hopefully you'll be able to bring your mother and you'll see

your mother and your sister again. Do you think you'll ever tell them about what you had to do to survive?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): I won't say that everything is good. But I won't reveal too much to upset her. My mum is sick. I am afraid if I tell her. God forbid something would happen to her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: Then his eyes filled with tears.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Athens.

CHURCH: And on Thursday, the CNN Freedom Project will introduce you to a new initiative to expose sexual predators hiding behind computer screens and cell phones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys get involved in this bad behavior, they start somewhere, right? So the hope is if the first time you go exploring buying a young person for sex if the first time you do that you realize, whoa, someone's watching and I'm going to be held accountable for this.

And law enforcement are paying attention, then that's the kind of message that we think will educate men to change their track real fast.

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CHURCH: More on how the system works and how law enforcement is using it. That's Thursday on CNN's special series Tackling Demand.

In Israel, the Muslim call to prayer could be silenced for part of the day if lawmakers pass a new bill. The details and why critics say this is dangerous politics.

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CHURCH: Israel's parliament is expected to vote on a controversial bill that could silence the call to prayer you just heard there at certain times of the day. The proposed legislation imposes limits on what it calls religious announcements. It doesn't specifically mention any one religion, but many say it targets Muslims.

And Ian Lee is live for us in Jerusalem. He joins us now. So, Ian, what is behind the existence of this new bill and what are critics saying about it?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, this bill overwhelmingly affects Muslims living here in Israel because of the time period that this bill stipulates that there will be -- that they won't be able to have any religious sounds, and that's from 11 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.

And predominantly this is the time when you have the call to prayer. That call goes out five times a day. Once very early in the morning. And people who support this bill say that it's necessary because it is so loud, it is so early, and people want to sleep and it disrupts them from sleeping.

Although you do have critics that say there's already laws that stipulate how loud things can be, there's a sound ordinance, and why don't they just enforce that instead of creating this new law. And the critics come from both the left and the right.

But we are seeing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a strong push to put this bill through. And he said that this isn't specifically going after one religion. But again, this does seem to be singling out Muslims.

CHURCH: So, Ian, how likely is it that this bill will pass? What do the numbers show us?

LEE: Well, right now it does seem likely to pass. Although there is a push from Israel's President to have this bill killed, there has been criticism that this is an Islamophobic bill and that there is no place for a country like Israel that says it promotes religious freedom to have something like this passed, which does single out.

And you're also getting criticism and condemnation not only from the Muslim community but also the Christian community coming out and saying they don't support this bill.

Some of the Arab M.K.'s, the members of Knesset, Israel's Parliament, have also said that if this bill does pass that they'll just ignore it and the call to prayer from the mosque will still ring out. Rosemary.

[03:55:08] CHURCH: All right. Our Ian Lee joining us live from Jerusalem. Nearly 3 o'clock in the morning bringing us reaction to this new bill. We appreciate that.

A steel shelter resembling an oversized aircraft hangar now covers the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine. Time lapse video shows the arch as it was slid into place over the past few days. Now it is designed to keep radioactive material from spewing out of the stricken reactor for the next 100 years.

Dozens of countries and organizations donated more than $2 billion to build it when the Chernobyl reactor blew up back in 1986, it was considered the world's worst nuclear accident.

More than 100,000 people were forced from their homes and authorities say it killed 30 people directly, but later estimates say thousands of cleanup workers also died.

Well, the world's oldest woman says eating raw eggs is why she has lived so long. Emma Morano celebrated her 117th birthday on Tuesday. She was born in northwestern Italy during the reign of King Umberto I. And she is the only person alive to have lived in three centuries. Morano also credits a longevity to separating from her husband before

divorce was even legal in Italy.

And thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. Remember to connect with me anytime on Twitter @rosemarycnn. The news continues now with Andrew Stevens in Hong Kong. And you have yourselves a great day.

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