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Pentagon Takes Responsibility for Air Strikes on Hospital; Growing Concerns over Russian Military Escalation in Syria; Missing Cargo Ship's Crew Knew Hurricane Was Coming; "Politico": Biden Fueled Speculation on Presidential Run; Trump Slipping in Polls; Largest Refugee Camp at Kenya Somalia Border; Former U.N. President, 5 Others Charged for Bribery; ISIS Used Rape as Weapon of War; Wildlife Thrives in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 07, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:13] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: A U.S. general now says the bombing of a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan was a mistake.

ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, the U.S. defense secretary says Russia's air strikes in Syria are like pouring gasoline on a fire.

CHURCH: Later, a stunning collection of wildlife. But this isn't a zoo. It's Chernobyl, the site of one of the worst nuclear meltdowns in history.

BARNETT: A big warm welcome to viewers in the states and those watching from all around the world. We are here for the next two hours. I'm Errol Barnett.

CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. Thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

And we begin with mounting challenges to the U.S. military on two fronts. The Pentagon takes responsibility for the deadly air strikes on a hospital in northern Afghanistan. What went wrong is under review along with U.S. troop level recommendations.

BARNETT: Now there are growing concerns about Russian military escalation in Syria as well. An intense round of Russian air strikes is hitting the Syrian provinces of Hama and Idlib at this moment. That's according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. U.S. officials believe the Russians have been targeting anti-regime forces and not ISIS.

Also, at a hearing in Washington, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said the air strikes on the hospital in Kunduz Saturday were a mistake. 22 people were killed, including three children. Three separate investigations are under way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. JOHN CAMPBELL, COMMANDER, U.S. MILITARY, AFGHANISTAN: To be clear, the decision to provide aerial fire was a U.S. decision made within the U.S. chain of command. A hospital was mistakenly struck. We would never intentionally target a protected medical facility. I must allow the investigation to take its course. And therefore, I am not at liberty to discuss specifics at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we have team coverage with Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona in Oregon.

BARNETT: And we first, we begin with Sune Engel Rasmussen, a reporter for the U.K. newspaper, "The Guardian." He joins us from Kabul.

Sune, the U.S. version of events has changed a few times since the attack. What do Afghans in Kunduz think of the U.S. and Afghan government response to everything so far? Because the fear is, no matter what the excuse, it will scare away aid workers who are desperately needed in so many places in Afghanistan.

SUNE ENGEL RASMUSSEN, REPORTER, THE GUARDIAN: That's right, Errol. There's a lot of elements to the story here in Afghanistan. One thing you mentioned a disaster for the civilian population in Kunduz, MSF, one of the best hospitals where fighting continues inside the city. The first week of fighting in Kunduz, MSF treated 400 patients. Now the city is without a proper hospital to take care of injured. That is a real disaster.

But when it comes to Afghan opinions, people are a little split. The Afghan government officials say that the Taliban were fighting from inside the compound. The American military haven't said that. MSF sharply rebuked that, saying there are no weapons inside the compound. Some Afghans think the Taliban have the main responsibility for this attack. There's also Afghans that say this is solely a U.S. responsibility that this hospital was destroyed. Anger, especially in Kunduz, where anger is mounting towards international troops and government troops as well because their allied with the U.S. in an area where there is a lot of animosity towards the government.

BARNETT: Locals, in many ways, spreading the blame. But as we have seen, an improved relationship between the U.S. and Afghanistan, thanks in large part to the country's new president, Ashraf Ghani. Has this incident put a strain on that relationship at all as far as you can tell?

RASMUSSEN: It is difficult to tell. The Afghan government had a pretty muted response to this incident. It doesn't seem to have had profound effects, in large part, it owes to the relationship between the Afghani president and U.S. military. As you know, the relationship with former President Hamid Karzai became strained for the international coalition here. And Ghani, one of the first things he did when he came to office, was to sign a bilateral security agreement, which Karzai refused to sign. That agreement allows the U.S. to conduct air strikes if it's needed and when the Afghan forces are in trouble on the ground. So that I think has a lot to do with the response of the Afghan government. Whether it strains our relationship remains to be seen. I doubt it will -- that it will endanger the relationship. Let's put it that way.

[02:05:41] BARNETT: Sune Engel Rasmussen, with "The Guardian" newspaper, letting us know that fighting continues in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Thank you for joining us from Kabul today.

Rosemary?

CHURCH: We want to turn to retired Colonel Rick Francona, a CNN military analyst. He joins us live via Skype from Oregon.

Thank you for joining us, Colonel.

I want to take a closer look now at the attack on the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital. Given what we know right now, what went wrong here? A mistake according to the U.S. commander, but one that lasted 30 minutes. How does that happen?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That is a really good question. That's what is going to come out in the investigation.

It was interesting today when the General Campbell was testifying in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He mentioned a few things that give us insight into what went wrong. He said he's ordered the immediate retraining of all the people involved in the air strikes and in calling in close air support on the rules of engagement and proper protocols how that is done. So I take from that that something went wrong in the -- in the chain of command, between the request for the air support and delivery of the air support. Something went wrong and this A.C. 130 hit this hospital. Following up on what Mr. Rasmussen said there in Kabul, I think most people realize this has to be a mistake. The United States was not going to go after a hospital.

CHURCH: Yes.

FRANCONA: So I think everybody realizes this was a tragic error. Now we have to figure out how we precede from here.

CHURCH: Yeah, how a mistake could happen and finding a way to stop this from ever happening again.

I want you to stand by, Colonel.

We do want to move to Syria now. And NATO and U.S. officials have both said that Russia is stepping up its involvement in the country. They cite an increase in Russian forces inside Syria, including ground troops. That's what we have been reporting, a new intense wave of Russian air strikes in the provinces of Hama and Idlib.

The U.S. is not happy about Russia's choice of targets. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: By taking military action in Syria against moderate group targets, Russia escalated the civil war, putting at further risk the very political resolution and preservation of Syria's structure of future governance it says it wants. This approach is tantamount to pouring gasoline on the fire of the Syrian civil war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All right, strong words there.

Let's go back to CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona.

Colonel, as we heard, the growing concern that Russia is targeting ISIS as it claims to. Concern also growing over the ground troops in Syria and what their intentions might be. What's your reading of what's happening on the ground in Syria right now?

FRANCONA: The Russians are striking anti-regime targets. They've hit a few ISIS targets, to be fair. But the overwhelming majority of sorties are going against the moderate and also the al Qaeda elements present in the Syria. I know Secretary Carter was basically reiterating the U.S. government stance. But the Russians have a goal there and that's to prop up Bashar al-Assad. They're doing that. If you look at operations ongoing, they're being quite effective. The operations tempo that the Russians have done with just that, those three squadrons of aircraft at one air base, is really impressive. They've mounted sortie after sorties. They're dropping weapons all over the country. They are causing a lot of civilian casualties, a lot of collateral damage. But it has really escalated things. And it has put a dent in the moderate rebel's operational capabilities. So if their goal was to shore up Bashar al-Assad, they're doing a fairly good job at that. Now, if they introduce ground troops -- and we see every day this numerous flight of Russian aircraft, this air bridge that goes from Russia into that air base in Latakia, so we don't know what is coming next. But they have dropped leaflets all over central Syria saying the ground offensive is coming.

[02:10:12] CHURCH: Yeah, of course, concern there. Concern also whether Russian incursions into Turkish airspace. There are so many problems here and so many concerns to cover.

But we would like to thank Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, joining us there. Many thanks.

BARNETT: We move our focus to the states now, where the rain has stopped in South Carolina. But at least 11 dams have breached or failed following days of heavy downpours. The death toll from historic flooding in the state has risen to 15. Two others were killed in North Carolina.

CHURCH: More than 800 people are living in shelters right now. Officials warn some rivers may not crest for another two weeks, which could cause more flooding.

Federal safety investigators are now looking into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the cargo ship "El Faro." The U.S. Coast Guard says the ship sank during a storm with 33 crew members on board.

BARNETT: Officials are still searching for survivors. So far, though, only one of the life boats has been found along with a single victim.

Our Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us now to talk about this.

The relatives are so upset. It turns out they knew the storm was coming. It was dangerous at the time the ship set sail.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: At the time it set sail, absolutely, it was forecast to become a hurricane. Where some confusion was -- and you would imagine with experienced crew on board, certainly the forecast would be up to date when they left. Just three hours before is when it was upgraded it would become a hurricane and it would track into the area of the vessel going to be traversing through. Go back six hours before departure, it was supposed to be a tropical storm, not in the same region. It all changed quickly. Again, three hours leeway to know exactly what was going to happen. And the storm continued to strengthen after they departed Jacksonville, Florida. That was what really was a concern over the region.

We'll show you the GPS coordinates of the vessel and what happened. 5:00 in the morning, Tuesday, they departed Jacksonville, northeast coast of Florida. Look at the forecast. At this point, only expected to be a tropical storm. Expected to stay north of the Bahamas. Their track would have taken it south by 11:00 p.m., three hours after they depart. Forecast bumped to a category 2. It brings it further south, to the Bahamas. It remains a couple of days. Again, they had departed portions of northern Florida. Put the GPS coordinates of the vessel as it traverses, put the satellite imagery. Take you through to Wednesday afternoon, they're now about 100 miles away from the center of the storm system. Now approaching what is a category 1 hurricane, aware it is there. They have time to turn back. What they did that we noticed different there between this particular trip and a trip a week ago across the same route, but they divert it to north- northwest, about 50 to 70 miles. Not enough to get out of the storm's path. They continue their journey. That brought them into the storm at this point into the follow morning. Talking category 3 major hurricane. They go directly into the storm. We know propulsion failure occurred over this region as they entered what would be a category 3 storm. Wave height estimations for the last known location somewhere around 35 feet, over 11 meters high. Again, the track continues to take it into what eventually would become a category 4 after they lost contract with Florida. And look at the center of circumstances of the storm system. Certainly crosses towards the eye wall of what would be a category 4 beyond the point before the storm meanders over the region several days. We looked into the ocean depth over this read, and we're talking somewhere around three miles down, more than 15,000 feet, or 4.8 kilometer towards the bottom of the ocean here. Very deep part of the ocean. Water survival, if any one were to get out, the top of the screen shows you water temperatures, close to 80 Fahrenheit, 26 Celsius. That would be indefinite. So water temperatures, we've seen people survive, four, five, six days. Now we are approaching a week. That is the only kind of glimpse of hope that we have is we know this is the warmest waters in the world. If anything, this would give them some chance to survive long term.

BARNETT: And the relatives need that.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: That's exactly what they need.

(CROSSTALK)

CHURCH: Let's hope.

JAVAHERI: Yeah.

CHURCH: Yeah. OK.

Pedram, thank you so much.

BARNETT: See you later.

CHURCH: Well, questions for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden about whether he played the sympathy card to gain support for a presidential bid. We'll have that next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[02:16:49] PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Patrick Snell, with your CNN "World Sport" headlines.

Liverpool appears to be closing in on the prize signature of one of the game's most sought-after managers, Jurgen Klopp. The Reds are hoping to complete negotiations within the next 48 hours before naming the 48-year-old as Brendon Rogers' successor. It's been reported Klopp would want to bring in two as part of his coaching staff.

The race to become the next FIFA president has taken another twist after one of the candidates, the South Korean Chung Mun Junn (ph) reveals he's facing suspension from the ethics committee. Chung, who is a former FIFA vice president, said he is charged with violating six articles from FIFA code of ethic, in connection with support for South Korea's 2022 World Cup bid and the proposal to launch a global football fund and the confidentiality rule. FIFA yet to make any statement on Chung's case. The 63-year-old denies all claims made against him.

And at the Rugby World Cup on Tuesday, Romania making their own piece of history. They took on Canada. Even giving them a head start as well. North Americans were 15 points to nothing up in this one. That fueled their opponent's hunger, who then rattled off the next 17 points for a famous win. Number eight went over for two tries before a penalty sealed it.

That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Patrick Snell.

(END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BARNETT: Welcome back, everyone. A news article suggests the U.S. vice president is fueling speculation about his own possible run for the White House.

CHURCH: On Tuesday, the website "Politico" reported that Joe Biden leaked details to "The New York Times" columnist, Maureen Dowd, of his son's dying wish that his father run for president.

BARNETT: Now the article says Beau Biden told his father the country would be better off with Biden family values. A Biden spokesperson slammed "Politico's" report, calling it, quote, "categorically false and offensive." Beau Biden died earlier this year from brain cancer.

CHURCH: In less than a week, CNN will host the first U.S. presidential Democratic candidates' debate for this election. Joe Biden is not participating, but is still considering a run for commander-in-chief.

BARNETT: One source close to the V.P. says there will be a family conversation this weekend that could help seal his decision.

Jeff Zeleny has more on the current and potential Democratic candidate's running for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Thanks to all of you.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton back in Iowa today, finally playing offense.

CLINTON: Wow.

ZELENY: Taking to the airwaves seizing on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy's suggestion the committee investigating the Benghazi attacks is designed to bring down her candidacy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable. We put together a Benghazi special committee. What are her numbers today?

[02:20:07] ANNOUNCER: Republicans have spent millions attacking Hillary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: It's the first national television ad of her campaign, taking on Republicans, but not overlooking the Democratic race that is tougher than she imagined.

(CHEERING) ZELENY: With Bernie Sanders catching fire with liberals and Vice President Joe Biden waiting in the wings, Clinton is trying to hold on to her claim as the Democratic front-runner.

CLINTON: Now I am back on the campaign trail.

ZELENY: Day by day, she's putting distance between her position and President Obama's. She is saying yes to Syrian no-fly zone. She is saying no to the Keystone XL Pipeline. She is speaking out forcefully against U.S. deportation.

In an interview with Telemundo, she outlined her biggest split with the president, saying, "I think we have to go back to being a much less harsh and aggressive enforcer."

But it is Vice President Biden who is captivating the party's interests as he nears a decision about the 2016 race.

(CROSSTALK)

ZELENY: Biden kept out of public view today holding a weekly White House lunch with the president. But speculation about his political future raged.

In Iowa today, those lining up to see Clinton had Biden on their minds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Competition is always good. That's his choice. He needs to decide that.

ZELENY: Several Democrats hope Biden stayed on the sidelines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pretty satisfied between Hillary and Bernie. I like both of them.

ZELENY: Few people are eagerly awaiting an answer more than Clinton. But today, she played it cool, joking about her star turn on "Saturday Night Live."

CLINTON: You know, I have been trying out different possible careers. And --

(LAUGHTER)

-- you know, I kind of like the bartending idea.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENY: A Super PAC supporting the Clinton campaign has started to do opposition research on the vice president, looking at the voting record from all the years in case he jumps in. This could be a messy primary if he challenges Hillary Clinton.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Davenport, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BARNETT: Our CNN political analyst, Josh Rogan, joins us from Washington, D.C., to talk about what is happening in the very early presidential race.

Josh, thank you for your time.

First, I want to know what you make of the claim by "Politico" out now that Vice President Biden himself leaked the detail that his son's dying wish was for him to run for president. That would and does establish a powerful narrative. What do you make of that?

JEFF ROGAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the timing of the leak is what most people are focused on. Seems the Biden camp is nearing its decision. The vice president is expected to make his decision either this week or next week. The "Politico" article was disputed by Biden's office. The bottom line, there are a few number of people who would know what happened in a private discussion between the vice president and his son on his deathbed, so it's plausible this story at least came from Biden, if not Biden, people close to Biden. The bottom line is the narrative of Biden's run is affecting the race already. And if he doesn't run, then a lot of people are going to be surprised.

BARNETT: We still sit and wait for the official announcement.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton seems to be having a good week. A humanizing performance on "Saturday Night Live," "SNL," and now an attack ad playing off the gaffe Kevin McCarthy made tying Benghazi to Clinton's slipping poll numbers. Is this a surprise, Clinton's good week?

ROGAN: It is a long campaign. There will be good weeks and bad weeks. This is after several bad weeks for the Clinton campaign. It is the result of a gift from McCarthy, the presumptive next speaker of the House. Right now in Washington, McCarthy is being interviewed by his own caucus along with two candidates, Jason Chaffetz and Daniel Webster, for the job of speaker, which should be his. He performed an unforced error, gave the Clintons talking point, it's costing him in his race. The Clintons are taking that ball and running with it, as well they should. It is really the first bit of good luck they have had in quite a long time.

BARNETT: Let's turn around and look at what is happening more on the Republican candidates' side. Donald Trump still leading in polls. He is slipping. This, as Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio make gains. How concerned should the Trump camp be right now?

ROGAN: Well, the Trump camp was always working under the assumption that they would have a limit for how much support they could achieve inside the Republican caucus without breaking into the larger mainstream audience. They failed to do so. That is a major problem for the campaign. This was always going to be a long race. Trump said he is in it for the long haul. Doesn't have a money problem. He can stay in as long as he wants. But there is a growing realization around Washington, especially in the early states, that the Trump peak may have come and it may be all downhill from here. [02:25:00] BARNETT: It is interesting to see the political landscape

shift and change as time moves on.

Josh Rogan, our political analyst, thank you for your insight today.

ROGAN: Thank you.

CHURCH: Just this reminder, you can see the first U.S. presidential Democratic candidates' debate right here on CNN. Viewers in the U.S., watch or set your DVR for next Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. eastern time.

BARNETT: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, it was supposed to be a temporary solution for Somalis fleeing their country's civil war. Coming up next, we check back in at northern Kenya's refugee camp.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Let's update you on our top stories right now.

The U.S. military is vowing to hold people accountable for the deadly air strikes in Afghanistan. The commander of U.S. forces told U.S. lawmakers the Afghan forces requested air support in Kunduz and the air strikes were a mistake. 22 people were killed at the Doctors Without Borders hospital.

CHURCH: In Australia, police arrested four people in connection with the fatal shooting of a police department accountant. Curtis Chen was shot outside New South Wales' police headquarters on Friday. Police killed the 15-year-old gunman at the scene. Investigators believe the suspects, who were all under age 22, have terrorist ties.

BARNETT: New York's attorney general looking into the hugely popular fantasy sports companies, Draft Kings and Fan Duel, after a "New York Times" report that a Draft Kings employee may have used inside information to win $350 on Fan Duel.

[02:30:09] CHURCH: The world's attention has been focused for several months now on the refugee crisis in Europe --

02:30:00] ERROL BARNETT, CNN ANCHOR: New York's attorney general looking into the hugely popular fantasy sports companies, Draft Kings and Fan Duel after a "New York Times" report that a Draft Kings employee may have used inside information to win $350,000 on Fan Duel. ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The world's attention has been

focused for several months now on the refugee crisis in Europe, but the world's largest refugee camp is 100 kilometers or 60 mile from the Kenya/Somalia border.

BARNETT: Hundred of thousand of refugees live there. Only 1,200 are relocated each year.

Our David McKenzie reports that those who have to stay must endure drought and contagious diseases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even in the best of times, the refugee camp is unforgiving. We have come back four years after the devastating famine of 2011.

(voice-over): So we think he's here in K-1 section. He looks very familiar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

MCKENZIE: Looking for a man whose story deeply moved us. We met Adunuid (ph) Ibrahim as he carried Atikah (ph), his dead child. Ibrahim fled war and starvation but he could not afford the $1 it took to take Atikah (ph) to hospital so she died of hunger.

Today, in the maze of tents, we find Ibrahim's family. They're still struggling to survive. Adiadin (ph) says her husband left the camp in desperation.

"He felt so ashamed," she says, "that he couldn't provide for our remaining children. He went to Somalia to try to find some work. The agencies have abandoned us."

Like everyone here, their food rations have been cut by 30 percent.

(voice-over): The camp was set up 20 years ago as temporary refuge for Somalis fleeing the civil war. Now there are more than 300,000 people living here, the biggest refugee camp in the world.

(voice-over): The camp is one of Kenya's largest cities, but remains a maze of temporary structures built by a population that needs permission to leave.

Two-third of refugees globally, more than 14 million people, live in protracted situations like this.

(CRYING)

MCKENZIE: Has the world forgotten about the camp?

JOHN KEUGORA (ph), PHYSICIAN: I think the one that has forgotten and gone to other, and like Syria.

MCKENZIE: Doctors like John Keugora (ph) continue to treat babies like one-day-old Nera (ph).

KEUGORA (ph): The baby is fine.

MCKENZIE: He says recent aid could cause malnutrition to spike.

(on camera): Why aren't things changing?

KEUGORA (ph): There's no long-term solution for the conditions here.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): When they fled Somalia, Adiadin (ph) says they never knew how long they would stay.

"We were running for our lives," she tells us.

She lost her child and now her husband.

"I'm heartbroken," she says.

Years later, the refuge she helped to find has only brought her struggle. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: David McKenzie joins us now from the refugee camp.

David, people think of camps as temporary. This one, as you pointed out, has been there nearly 25 years. What does that tell us? And what are the possible solutions to this situation being considered perhaps?

MCKENZIE: Well, Rosemary, a protracted refugee situation. Classic one the so many people around the world face a similar problem. This is not an acute crisis, it is a chronic one. More than 300,000 people are stuck in these camps behind me. And they have been forced to live in a temporary situation because the Kenyan government frankly does not want to acknowledge in some ways this is here to stay. That many people were born in the camps born to parents who themselves were born in the camps. The main fault is the situation in Somalia, people streaming in because of conflict and famine. I don't know what the solutions are here. People don't want to go back to Somalia, though they're pushing them to leave. People aren't allowed to move into Kenya and start normal lives because they're refugees. They have this kind of stateless status. It is a protracted situation and some aid officials tell me this is what the future will be, facing across the world, as the situations unfold.

CHURCH: It is extraordinary.

David, the Kenyan government says camps like this are a source of terror in Kenya. What are you learning about that? You visited this camp before. You visit other refugee camps. What do you see? You visited other camps. What to you see?

[02:35:00] MCKENZIE: I have to say the security situation has deteriorated since we were last year, Rosemary. Our movements, our strategy here is far more controlled. We have to be surrounded by gunmen protecting us and the same is the case for the U.N. agencies working here. Doctors Without Borders removed many of its international staff. This is at the highest, almost the highest level of the U.N. security threat assessment. The Kenyan government says the group from Somalia infiltrated the camp using it as a recruiting tool and trying to brainwash the youth that feel listless and unable to have a future here in the giant camps. Some experts I have spoken to say that assessment is overblown, a way for the Kenyan government to push people out. They threatened to close the camps, which they did after a horrific attack in the area earlier this year. The solutions, I have to say, are very challenging, but people say that these refugees are forgotten and the world needs to pay attention -- Rosemary, Errol?

CHURCH: Indeed, it does.

David McKenzie reporting from the refugee camp, a Camp has been there nearly 25 years. Unbelievable. Many thanks to you, David.

BARNETT: Other stories we are following for you, U.S. prosecutors have charged a former United Nations General Assembly president and five other people in an alleged corruption scheme.

CHURCH: A complaint filed in federal court accuses John Ashe of taking more than $1.3 million in bribes from a Chinese businessman.

CNN's Richard Roth has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just days after the hoopla of the 70th anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly, a former president of the General Assembly is arrested at his suburban home. The U.S. attorneys office says the John Ashe, or Antigua, Barbados, a former ambassador to the U.N. from that country also, was arrested and accused of trying to establish a U.N. conference center in Macau. That's why he took hundreds of thousands of dollars from people who were charged with bribery.

PREET BHARARA, U.S. ATTORNEY: What did the alleged bribers do for Ashe, then U.N. General Assembly President? First, they paid him money. Lots of it. From 2011 to 2014, they allegedly transferred over $1 million in cash and wire transfers to Ashe's bank accounts in New York, often in installments of $200,000 or $300,000 at a time. As alleged, Ashe spent this cash lavishly on himself and on his family, $59,000 on a single order of custom-tailored suits, $50,000 for a pair of Rolex watches and $40,000 to lease a new BMW.

ROTH: In all, prosecutors say Ashe accepted $1.3 million in bribes.

Also arrested, Francis Lorenzo, the deputy minister from the Dominican Republic, also accused on bribery related accounts.

The United Nations says it was shocked by the news and had no warning. Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said he was disturbed by the findings echoed by the current president of the General Assembly. MOGENS LYKKETOFT, PRESIDENT, U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY: I can only

agree with the secretary-general when he said that if proven, this is an attack at the very heart of the integrity of the United Nations. I'm shocked about it. And I think the United Nations and its representatives should be held to the highest standard of transparency and ethics.

ROTH: Several Chinese businessmen were also arrested, two accused of trying to bring over $4 million into the country and lying about it to Customs inspectors.

The U.S. attorney's office said if the charges are proven, it may show that there is a cancer also of corruption inside the United Nations.

Richard Roth, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The lawyer for Francis Lorenzo, the Dominican Republic's envoy also charged says his client trusted and relied on people surrounding him and acted in good faith.

BARNETT: CNN tried to get comment from the permanent U.N. missions of Antigua and the Dominican Republican but and our calls were not immediately returned.

CHURCH: This is CNN NEWSROOM. Coming up, the horrifying use of rape and slavery as weapons of war.

BARNETT: We'll speak with some Yazidi girls who endured trauma at the hands of ISIS. An exclusive CNN Freedom Project report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:43:14] CHURCH: All this week, CNN's Freedom Project is bringing you special reports that highlight an ongoing atrocity, the scourge of modern-day slavery. We are looking at the plight of the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria, exposing inhumane treatment of women and girls in particular.

BARNETT: Today's story focuses on the barbaric use of rape as a weapon of war.

We have to give you a warning here, the material is very disturbing and may not be suitable for younger viewers.

Here is Atika Shubert, who spoke with former captives of ISIS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The refugee camps are filled with stories like this, women and girls bought and sold, sometimes for money, given as gifts, bartered for weapons.

One of them was Noor (ph). UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We sat in chairs.

One man picked me. He was old, ugly, fat. I was scared. There were some of the ISIS fighters so I begged quickly to one of them, please take me anywhere and marry me if you want, but take me away from this one. So he did.

SHUBERT: Noor (ph) is not her real name. She and two others spoke to CNN. We are not identifying them for their safety.

Noor (ph) says she was not raped that day. Two days later, the fighter returned from the front line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): He showed me a letter. It said any captured women will become Muslim if 10 ISIS fighters rape her.

SHUBERT: Then, Noor (ph) says, he raped her. After that, he gave her to his friend. She says each one raped her.

(on camera): How many men did he pass you to?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I was passed to 11 others.

SHUBERT: That's very difficult for anyone to hear, man or woman.

[02:45:] (voice-over): Manira (ph) fidgets next to Noor (ph). She still remembers her father wearing her name on the arm, a home-made tattoo. She used a sewing needle and pen while waiting to be sold.

(voice-over): Do you know if they paid for you as well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I was given as a prize to another ISIS fighter. And the second time, I was traded for another girl.

SHUBERT: Bushra (ph) says ISIS was so intent on using rape and slavery as a weapon of war, that they brought their own doctors, gynecologists, to determine which women were virgins and which were pregnant. Bushra (ph) says she witnessed two doctors invasively examine the girls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): One of my friends was pregnant. Her child was about 3 months in the womb. They took her into another room. There were two doctors and they did the abortion. Afterward, they brought her back. I asked her what happened and how they did it. She said the doctors told her not to speak.

SHUBERT (on camera): Was she bleeding a lot?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Yes.

SHUBERT: Was she in a lot of pain?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): Yes, she could not talk or walk. SHUBERT: How many women did this happen to?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): She was the first. After that, they took the pregnant women and put them in the separate house.

SHUBERT (voice-over): Days later, Bushra found a bottle of pills and swallowed them all, hoping to end her life rather than become a victim of rape. But she survived.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): One day, there were 14 girls with me. They tried to kill themselves by drinking rat poison. But they took them to the hospital and cleaned their stomach. They told us, we'll not let you die so easy.

SHUBERT: As difficult as the stories are to hear, these are the lucky ones. They managed to escape. There are hundreds that still remain enslaved by ISIS. Noor (ph), Manira (ph) and Bushra (ph) told us they want their stories to reveal the truth about ISIS to help those left behind.

Atika Shubert, CNN, in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

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BARNETT: Now some Yazidi women are fighting back against ISIS, forming a volunteer force led by singer turned soldier. A preview of Thursday's Freedom Project report.

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SHUBERT (voice-over): The Sun Brigade is made of Yazidi women, a special unit of Peshmerga, Kurdish forces. Most have never even held a gun. But there is no shortage of volunteers.

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CHURCH: Remember, all this week, we are covering the Yazidi remarkable courage and resistance right here on CNN.

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PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know what that music means. It's "Weather Watch" time. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, talking talk about weather across the Americas.

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[02:51:47] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, the scene of the world's worst nuclear accident seems to have become a haven for wildlife. Nearly 30 years ago, a routine shut down of the Chernobyl power plant ended with a reactor exPLOsion that sent clouds of radioactive particles into the air.

BARNETT: More than 100,000 people were evacuated from the highly contaminated area, and an exclusion zone, a 19-mile, or 30-mile radius, was established around the plant.

Decades later, hardly any people live there. This population of wildlife has grown, and it appears all the animals there are thriving. So what's going on?

Let's talk about this with James Smith, earth and environmental sciences professor at the University of Portsmouth in England and co- authored the study. He joins us now.

Thanks for your time, James.

It's incredible to think that wildlife can thrive in a contaminated area so long as none of us are around. Are these animals more resilient, or are we more destructive to nature than we thought?

DR. JAMES SMITH, EARTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND & STUDY CO-AUTHOR: I think probably we humans are more destructive to nature than we thought or we're aware of. It sounds obvious, but when people live in an area, and do farming, hunting and fishing and are around in an area, it's worse for wildlife than a serious nuclear accident, it appears.

CHURCH: It is extraordinary. But I want to ask you -- because this is an intriguing situation -- what impact has the radiation had on these animals? Do you know? And how does this finding progress science?

SMITH: Well, we know that in the first few weeks after the accident there was severe impacts on organisms, on plants, animals, in the most contaminated parts of the zone where radiation were extremely high. We have to remember that now, 30 years on, the dose rates have dropped by about a factor of 100. They're 100 times less than they were then. That's still significant but they're not in the region where we expect to see big serious effects on animals. That means that when we study the population -- so we studied populations of elk, wild boar, wolf -- when we study the populations of animals, we don't see a difference between the more contaminated areas and the less contaminated areas.

BARNETT: We're seeing some of the images that were part of the study. All the thriving wildlife is amazing. I wonder if we might be missing something. By "we," I mean you, because you co-authored the study. From aerial views, it looks like the animals are healthy and reproducing in mass numbers. I know you were on the ground as well. But do we know for sure how mutated the wildlife is?

SMITH: I think mutation is a very difficult word. I prefer to say genetic change. We know that radiation damages genes. It's happening all over the world. Some areas of natural radioactivity that are almost as high as the Chernobyl exclusion zone. It's not something new. It's something animal populations have been dealing with throughout evolution. We know that's happening. We're questioning if that's really significant enough to have an impact on the population. And so from the study we've done, we don't find that it is.

[02:55:19] BARNETT: Wow.

CHURCH: James Smith, just a fascinating story. And presumably, for any of the young that are born to some of these animals, anything that is mutated would be left to die, I'm assuming.

SMITH: This is a question. There were reports -- and it's been the same after the Fukushima accident in Japan -- reports of mutations and animals born with five legs and so on. Those weren't really -- those weren't corroborated after Chernobyl. We think of mutations as severe abnormalities. We're doing work at the moment on fish in lakes in Chernobyl, including the cooling pond of the reactor, and we're trying to find other more subtle mutations in the DNA. As I said, even though there probably are, it doesn't seem to be affecting the populations of animals.

CHURCH: Amazing.

James Smith, many thanks.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM.

I'm Rosemary Church.

BARNETT: I'm Errol Barnett. Another hour of the world's biggest stories with us is next.

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