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Rescue Crews Continue Working in Italy Following Earthquake; Aftermath of Myanamar Earthquake; Trump and Clinton Clash over Minorities; Attack on American University in Kabul Leaves 12 Dead; Colombian Government Reaches Deal with FARC Insurgents; Syrian Rebels and Turkish Troops Capture Important Border Town. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 25, 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 NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: A rising toll of rescue crews work through the night in central Italy as the death toll from Wednesday's powerful earthquake nears 250.

A biggest or taking hate mainstream. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clash over minorities in America.

Also ahead, burkini brouhaha with supporters pushing back against bans on the controversial swimwear. We will talk with a woman who invented the clothing.

Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. And this is CNN newsroom.

As rescue crews in central Italy do the dangerous of trying to find earthquake survivors, the grim toll of victims is rising. At least 247 people are confirmed dead after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake. That number is expected to rise.

Strong aftershocks are a threat to recovery efforts and frightening the more than 1,000 people who are displaced. But there are happy moments, like this one, when rescuers pulled a girl out of the rubble alive. Incredible.

And Fred Pleitgen has more on the frantic search for survivors.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: With the death toll rising and time running short, scenes like this throughout central Italy, a woman trapped and covered in chunks of concrete.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Rescue workers and search dogs are combing through rubble looking for anyone still alive. Many of the steep roads are blocked with debris, making access to the hardest hit areas more difficult.

The epicenter of the 6.2 magnitude earthquake was just outside Amatrice in central Italy. It struck at a very shallow depth which amplified its power.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The house was trembling and shaking. It got more and more intense. Absolutely a pulling noise clinking, thundering, sort of rumble. It felt like someone had put a bulldozer to the house to try to knock it down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): I took my wife by the hand and in the dark, we tried to find our way out. I felt debris under my feet, I felt rocks, pieces of broke furniture and overturn furniture under my feet.

As we got out, we saw all the people outside. There was shouting and crying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PLEITGEN: The initial quake was followed by a 5.5 magnitude about an hour later. The jolts felt as far away as Rome, nearly a 100 miles to the south. Racing against time and nightfall, rescue teams with mobile medical units performed triage on the spot so they can be transported to hospitals.

CHURCH: Fred Pleitgen reporting there. And CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau has been on the story from the very start and she joins us now from Saletto.

So, Barbie, sadly we are cruising the death toll rise as the rescue and recovery effort continues. What are authorities saying about the likelihood of finding any more survivors under that rubble?

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN ROME CONTRIBUTOR: Well, they are still very hopeful about finding survivors especially because they don't have some of the challenges you might have another disaster situations like weather. You know, it was chilly last night. But someone could survive in a pocket of air they say for, you know, as much as another 12, 24 hours probably.

Given the circumstances, we're not dealing with extreme heat, we're not dealing with extreme cold or rain or anything like that. That gives them a lot of hope in terms of the rescue operation and they're still calling it a rescue operation.

Everything is moving along a lot faster now that they're able to move in the heavy equipment. Yesterday we saw convoy after convoy of big, heavy machinery coming in finally because the roads have been cleared and secured enough to get that equipment in. That has really, really, really helped speed things up quite a bit.

They've set up also a tent camp for many of the residents who lost their homes, whose homes are now rubbles like you see behind me. With so many people we see are actually sleeping out in the rough in gardens and neighbors, you know, bon fires and things like that.

They don't want to leave their homes, they don't want to give up hope quite yet. You know, it's a difficult situation, obviously, psychologically as well as physically for these people and logistically for the rescue workers, Rosemary.

[03:05:01] CHURCH: Yes. And, Barbie, you mentioned those survivors of the earthquake now, of course, are left homeless. You mentioned those tents, what other help and support are they receiving?

And of course you mentioned the roads, as well. When we talked 24 hours ago there was no access. Now you're saying you're seeing this heavy lifting equipment come through. So, what more is coming through those open roads now?

NADEAU: Well, you know, they've been able to use helicopters from Saletto protection to bring in basic food supplies. Every one that is in the tent camp has food, has water, has access to hygiene and things like that.

The problem is of course getting the people to leave the areas near their homes and going to the tent camps. They've also set up centers for information, people who are waiting to hear from their loved ones, who are waiting and holding vigil outside the rubble.

They want to be in a safer place, they want to be able to be provided with some psychological help in a situation like that. But people, you know, waiting all night long, you know, in their pajamas, still many of them waiting for, you know, while they're trying to dig through the rubble.

That's difficult for the survivors, that's difficult for everybody and the rescue workers as well, as they're digging through the rubble, you know, at finding bodies and bringing them out. They've been holding up heat to cover, you know, the bodies when they bring them out, and to give some dignities to those people who died and who, you know, who are being pulled out in these situations.

Now lots of people who have very serious injuries, as well, broken bones, you know, major, major cuts and bruises, people in the area hospitals. There's been a call, a continuing call that even today for people to donate blood so that they don't deplete the supplies here.

Because, you know, there are over 350 people who are considered to be seriously injured right now. And, you know, if they find more survivors, those people are going to be -- there is also possibility that there are people in the outlying areas that they haven't heard from yet, or they haven't been able to access yet.

People in even more remote villas out in the countryside. Those people are still, you know, they've been flying around with helicopters but they haven't been able to access some of those areas.

So, the situation even 20 -- even more than 24 hours later is still very fluid and we still don't have a solid number of people that are missing. And the death toll is still not -- we're seeing the death toll is going to rise. It is at least 247 right now. That's what the authorities are telling us, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. That is very sad news. Barbie Nadeau joining us there from Saletto. It's just after 9 o'clock in the morning. Many thanks to you.

And you can help those affected by the earthquake in Italy. Just go to cnn.com/impact where you will find a list of groups that are working in the area.

Well, an earthquake in central Myanmar has killed at least four people, including two children. The 6.8 magnitude quake rattled the country on Wednesday night. Myanmar's state-run media reports the shaking damaged almost 200 ancient pagodas.

Officials day the earthquake was felt across much of the country.

Well, 12 people, mostly students, are dead after an attack on the American University of Afghanistan. Thirty other students were wounded.

Police say the siege ended about 10 hours after gunmen stormed the campus in Kabul on Wednesday. Two militants were killed and another died when he set off the car bomb.

Our Alexandra Field joins us live from Hong Kong with more on this story. So, Alex, the American University of Afghanistan is actually for Afghan students. Talk to us about the makeup of this university and what some of those students have been telling you about how they escaped this attack.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, it is largely attended by Afghan students, but it's really a symbol in the region of cooperation between America and Afghanistan. While there are a lot of Afghan students, many of the professors are foreign nationals.

And the students we spoke to, the ones who ran for their lives during the course of this 10-hour attack says that this was an attack that was obviously carried out by an enemy of Afghanistan but it was an attack on the next generation, the future generation of leaders in that country, an attack on education itself.

Of course, this being an American institution in Kabul, students say that it wasn't unlikely to them that their university, their campus could one day become the target of such an attack.

There have been previous threats to this campus before. One student said the classes had been suspended for a couple of days last year in the face of threats. And very recently campus operations were suspended after two professors were abducted at gunpoint.

Their whereabouts are still unknown. But even with all of that, professors and students had returned to campus for the first week of the full semester when this hideous attack was unleashed on their campus.

I spoke to one young man who says he was sitting in his classroom when the first explosion literally rocked the room blowing out the windows, shattering glass, injuring one student.

[03:10:04] But he says that he and his class makes were able to get to safety because they had practiced; they had done the safety drills at this campus before. They were ushered into a hallway.

They waited when they felt that they could, they were led by a security guard, they ran across campus, sometimes ducking under a hail of bullets until they reach a U.N. compound where they could shelter themselves.

I spoke to another young man who said that he had also been part of safety drills and safety procedures that had been ongoing on this campus. He says that he joined about 100 other students who all ran towards a university tower, they climbed up that tower, they jumped off the back getting to safety, some of them injuring themselves in the process.

Not all the students of course were able to evacuate. There are about 750 students at the time that three attackers approach the campus. Some of them had to hunker in place during this 10-hour siege.

We're told that some of them were actually in a safe room that was inside the campus gymnasium that ultimately all came to an end when police were able to shoot the two surviving attackers. The third attacker had died in an initial blast in a suicide bomb in a car.

The students say they haven't been told when the campus could reopen and some of them say they aren't sure if they are going to return, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes. Terrifying experiences there for those students and incredible stories of survival as well. Alexandra Field joining us from Hong Kong, where it is just after three in the afternoon. Many thanks for bringing us up to date on that story.

Well, one of the world's longest running conflicts is finally coming to an end. Colombia's government and Marxist rebels known by the acronym FARC had reach a peace deal to end 50 years of bloody insurgency.

Hundreds of thousands of Colombians were killed, disappeared or displaced during that half century. Under the deal, FARC soldiers will give up their arms struggle and become part of Colombian society and the political process.

The agreement still needs to be approved by a majority of Colombians in a referendum later this year.

More blistering rhetoric on the U.S. presidential campaign trail on Wednesday as republican nominee Donald Trump courted minority voters and challenged his democratic rival on her trustworthiness.

Hillary Clinton counterpunch. In an exclusive interview with CNN and here is just a sampling of their war of words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She sold favors, she sold access, and wait until you see when it's revealed all of those people. Now it looks like its 50 percent of the people that sought her had to make contributions to the Clinton Foundation.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I made policy decisions based on what I thought was right to keep Americans safe and to protect U.S. interest abroad. No wild political attack by Donald Trump is going to change that.

TRUMP: The media ignores the plight of Americans who have lost their children to illegal immigrants. But spends day after day pushing for amnesty for those here in total violation of the law. We can't allow that.

CLINTON: We need to believe him when he bullies and threaten to throw out every immigrant in the country and certainly when he changes his position three times in one day, it sends the message that it's just a desperate effort to try to land somewhere that isn't as, you know, devastating to his campaign.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes.

CLINTON: He is taking a hate movement mainstream. He's brought it into his campaign. He's bringing it to our communities and our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And a source close to the campaign says Donald Trump plans to visit African-American churches and neighborhoods soon as part of his outreach to minority voters.

Well, CNN's Gary Tuchman talked to people who listened to Trump's appeal in Austin, Texas this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Twenty African-Americans from Austin, Texas.

How many times democrats do we have here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was nine.

TUCHMAN: OK. Nine democrats. How many republicans? Five. Five republicans. The rest, independent. All watching Donald Trump's rally with us.

TRUMP: Every African-American child in this country...

TUCHMAN: Most not happy with what they were hearing.

TRUMP: A good education with a great paying job, that's success.

[03:15:06] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just so easy, you know.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not saying anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fish in a barrel, baby.

TUCHMAN: But among republican supporting Trump, like these two people...

TRUMP: We're going to cut taxes and create millions and millions of new jobs.

TUCHMAN: A different vibe, more content. None of the Trump supporters here say they love the man. What they tell us is that he and the GOP reflect their values.

NATHALENE MATTHEWS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I'm just a republican and I'm going support the republican candidate, whoever that person is.

TUCHMAN: Other Trump supporters look past this controversial cam and look forward to a more hands off government.

MIKE LEE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I don't care what he says. I don't care what he or any other white man says or what they do. All I want them to do is stay out of my way. I don't want them to give me anything. Just stay out of my way. Don't put anything in my way. Let me be what I can be.

TUCHMAN: But those who were among the nicest things said about Trump here.

TRUMP: I say this to the African-American community, give Donald Trump a chance.

TUCHMAN: Richard Franklin is an independent leading towards Jill Stein.

Would those words persuade you perhaps to give him a chance?

RICHARD FRANKLIN, INDEPENDENT VOTER: I don't know what that means. Give him a chance to do what? He didn't state what he was going to actually do. He was just some heat their conversation and he had nothing at this point.

So, no, I wouldn't give him a chance to hurt me, no.

TUCHMAN: And then there are other democrats.

He doesn't convince you of anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He hasn't convinced me of one thing at all, of anything he's convince me, he's a liar and a deceiver.

KEITH HENRY, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I thought his rhetoric was rancorous and nonsensical.

JAMAR BROWN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: He's not just been disrespectful to African-Americans. He's been disrespectful to people throughout the course of his campaign.

TUCHMAN: But what about Trump's approach over the last week to focus parts of his speeches and making African-American's lives better?

AKIL FRANKLIN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, he's not speaking to us. He's speaking to his base. He's trying to pivot now and come off as though he's not a racist and not a bigot, but we know who he is.

TUCHMAN: But Trump supporter Marilyn Jackson told us, it's time to get real. He said the other day, war zones are safer than living in some of our inner-cities that are run by democrats, referring to places where African-Americans lives. Do you find that disparaging?

MARILYN JACKSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Not necessarily if it is the truth.

TUCHMAN: Democrat Latreese Cooke disagrees.

LATREESE COOKE, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: And to come to Texas where we have many problems with racism and say the things that he says and make appeal to or try to make an appeal to black people is a joke. He is funny. I wouldn't support him to do anything for me.

TUCHMAN: Mr. Trump has 76 days and counting to try and change her mind.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Austin, Texas.

CHURCH: And we'll take a very short break here. But still to come, Syrian rebels and Turkish forces say they have pushed ISIS out of a border town. Just ahead, what prompted Turkey to send tanks into Syria.

Plus, debate over France's burkini ban intensifies after police on a French beach force a woman to remove some of her clothing.

[03:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Syrian rebels backed by Turkish forces have captured a key border town from ISIS. This counts off the city ISIS claims as its capital.

Ben Wedeman has more from Turkey.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Syrian rebel forces are now in full control of the town of Jarablus just on the other side of the Turkish/Syrian border, the operation didn't take very long, less than 24 hours, and it appears there was very little in the way of ISIS resistance. Only one rebel fighter was killed. Three were injured.

Now, of course, they were supported by Turkish F-16s and coalition aircraft. However, what is significant here is that Turkish tanks also took part in the operation entering Syrian territory for the first time since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March of 2011.

Jarablus is important for a variety of reasons. For one, it was the last ISIS stronghold on the Syrian border, on the Syrian/Turkish border and this means that Raqqa, the de factor capital of ISIS is essentially cut off from the rest of the world. And it was through Jarablus that many of the foreign fighters went to

join ISIS or those who went -- some of them went back to Europe, so cutting off that channel is very important.

Now, what is unclear, however, is what are Turkey's intentions at this point? We heard from a senior Turkish official who requested an anonymity that the goal of this operation or one of the goals, is to set up what he called a terror-free zone.

Many people think it's actually a buffer zone. Turkey is also very eager to prevent the spread of control of territory by the YPG, the so-called people's protection unit which is actually the biggest and most powerful Kurdish Syrian militia which is also supported by the United States.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Ankara.

CHURCH: The U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey hours after the offensive began. His visit was a show of American support for Turkey after a failed military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The United States of America, the people of the United States of America abhor what happened and under no circumstances would support and even remotely approaching the cowardly act of the treasonous members of your military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Vice President Biden is also in Turkey to ease tension over the country's extradition request for a Muslim cleric. The Turks blame the coup attempt on Fethullah Gulen who lives in Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden explained why the U.S. can't just hand Gulen over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: I suspect it's hard for your people to understand, as powerful as my country is, as powerful as Barack Obama is as President, he has no authority under our Constitution to extradite anyone. Only a federal court can do that.

Nobody else can do that. If a president were to take this into his own hands, what would happen would be that he would be impeached.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And earlier, I spoke to Omer Taspinar, he is a professor at National Defense University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and I asked him whether U.S. Vice President Biden achieved his goal.

OMER TASPINAR, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION SENIOR FELLOW: Well, Fethullah Gulen has been in United States since 1999 and the extradition process is going to take a long time. This is a judicial process and no one exactly knows whether the Turkish government will be able to produce concrete evidence so that the judicial system will agree to his extradition. So, this is an open process right now.

CHURCH: Right. Now, of course, this visit came on the same day that Turkey sent tanks across the border vowing to crush ISIS and stay there until the job is done. Is it likely that that will happen that that could be a very long time?

[03:25:00] TASPINAR: Well, actually, the Turkish tanks that rolled to northern Syria were primarily Kurdish forces who have basically conquered the significant amounts of territory in northern Syria.

Turkey is very much opposed to the emergence of a Kurdish state in northern Syria. And the region that the Turkish military has answered together with the free Syrian army is now in the hands of a Turkish militia.

So, the situation in northern Syria is very complex. The fight is not primarily against ISIL at this point because in the eyes of the Turkish government, the Kurdish question and Kurdish groups in Syria are as dangerous as the Islamic state itself.

CHURCH: That could be problematic, though, couldn't it? When you're looking at these actions if they do impact U.S.-backed Kurds fighting in Syria, will Turkey just be going after ISIS? Your sense is that the Kurds will get called out in the mix, as well, then.

TASPINAR: Well, the United States needs to play a major role here. The U.S. supports the Kurds and the Turkish government, a NATO ally of the United States, considers the Kurds of Syria as part of a group.

So, in the eyes of the Turkish government, the United States is supporting a terrorist group in order to fight another one. And Joe Biden, today, had to reassure his Turkish counterparts and the Turkish President that the Kurds will not declare basically independence in northern Syria and that they will not move west of the Euphrates River, which is a commitment that the Kurdish militia made to the United States.

Yet, the credibility of the United States is questionable at this point because the Kurds in the past have made many promises and they have not kept them. So, in the eyes of the Turkish government, there is a credibility problem and the military and Kurdish to northern Syria is partly a product of this credibility problem of the Kurds and the U.S. government.

CHURCH: Just very quickly, sir, President Erdogan may be heading to Tehran soon. He's already met with President Putin, what does this signal, where might this all leave Turkey's relationship with NATO?

TASPINAR: I don't think the relationship with NATO is really at stake at this point. We should focus on what this means for Syria. The Turkish government is changing its position vis-a-vis the Damascus regime, the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

And Turkey is aligning itself more and more with Moscow and Tehran. And I wouldn't be surprised if in the short run we see a Turkish position that's basically OK with al-Assad staying in power as long as the regime in Damascus will cooperate with Turkey on fighting the Kurds.

So, once again, the Kurdish question will dictate Turkey's policy and its cooperation, Turkey's cooperation with Russia and Tehran.

CHURCH: Interesting. Omer Taspinar, thank you so much for talking with us. I appreciate it.

TASPINAR: Pleasure. Thank you.

CHURCH: Towns destroyed and hundreds of people killed, up next, more on Italy's powerful earthquake, including some of the lucky survivors pulled from the rubble.

And one Canadian safe house is tackling the effects of a horrible crime and hoping its residents heal.

CNN's Freedom Project is next.

[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: A warm welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Time to update you on the main stories we're following this hour.

At least 247 people have been killed in Italy's powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake. Rescuers have been racing to find survivors in the rubble. Small towns at the quake's epicenter are the hardest hit. There have been a series of strong aftershocks in the region, leaving many people afraid to stay indoors.

North Korea's leader is declaring his country's latest missile test, the greatest success. State media just released these photos of Kim Jong-un overseeing and celebrating the launch on Wednesday.

He reportedly boasted that it puts North Korea in the front rank of nuclear military powers.

Twelve people, mostly students, were killed in an attack on the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul. Thirty were wounded. The attack ended about 10 hours after gunmen stormed the campus.

Two militants were killed. No one has claimed responsibility, but the Taliban have recently increased attacks across Afghanistan.

Well, there have been some lucky ones in the earthquake aftermath. People pulled out of their toppled homes.

Erin McLaughlin has more on these stories of survival.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Buried beneath the rubble, a string of life. "Are you able to breathe, a rescue workers asked?" "Only a bit," the response. "A bit? OK. The important thing is to stay calm. Police officers are now on their way."

These are the lucky ones, young and old, the survivors of Wednesday's deadly earthquake. As they make their way to safety, the look of shock is all too apparent. The quake struck this holiday region in the dead of night. Many were sound asleep in their beds.

Jean Carlos says his house in the town of Amatrice collapsed.

(FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (TRANSLATED): I have never experienced anything like this, more tremors, yes, but nothing this big. This is a catastrophe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: And the immediate hours after the quake, an Italian journalist was among the first to arrive, and found a local priest desperate for help.

"I don't see the rescue operation taking place," he says. "We need more people to help. We need everything to deal with this emergency. As you can see, there is not much happening here."

The typography of the region compounds the rescue efforts. Remote villages dot the mountainous landscape, they're difficult to access in the best of conditions. This is where Italians and tourists go to escape the summer heat, Emma Thacker was one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMMA THACKER, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR: The house was trembling and shaking. It got more and more intense. It's absolutely of pulling noise clinking, thundering, sort of rumble. It felt like somebody put a bulldozer at the house to try to knock it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLAUGHLIN: In Amatrice more help arrives. The wounded carried away on stretchers. Gold foil is held up and their respect for the dead. The village's 13th century clock tower is one of the few structures still standing.

[03:35:00] Hands, frozen in time, 3.36 a.m. The exact moment when the first quake struck, the exact moment so many lives would never be the same.

Erin McLaughlin, CNN.

CHURCH: All this week, CNN's Freedom Project is looking into sex trafficking in Canada's indigenous communities. Many young people who fall victim to traffickers come from remote villages.

In our latest report, CNN's Paula Newton travels to a healing lodge in the province of Manitoba to find out how one teenager is recovering from her painful experiences. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The location is hidden. This is meant to be a safe house. An actual setting evokes peace and a sense of freedom. For months, this rural, healing lodge has sheltered Lauren Chopeck and cradles her with the love and protection she still needed.

LAUREN CHOPECK, SEX TRAFFICKING VICTIM: It was really important. If I didn't come here, I probably would have died or something. I remember waking up some mornings like -- just really thankful that I'm not in a crappy, unsafe place in the city somewhere, that you can, like, look outside and hear all the birds and peaceful.

NEWTON: Just 14, when she arrived Lauren had already survived a lifetime of pain. An emotionally troubled child, Lauren would at times run away from home. Eventually, she felt victim to sexual exploitation and trafficking on the streets of Winnipeg.

The breaking point came when Lauren went missing for nine days, lured to a hotel by an older man.

CHOPECK: People used to believe me when I said I was 20 years old. Now, when I think about that, I was only 14. I looked like a freaking child.

NEWTON: So, only now, five years later, that she realizes how vulnerable she was.

CHOPECK: When you experience sexual abuse, it's -- it's really confusing. You never know if it's your fault or is it theirs.

NEWTON: Lauren blamed herself and that made healing that much more difficult.

CHOPECK: Before I move here I used to blame myself, and even during the time I was living here I used to blame myself for everything. I would say I let them do that to me. I am dirty. It's all my fault.

CHOPECK: But here at the healing lodge named Hands of Mother Earth or HOME, Lauren says she truly came to understand that she was a victim. HOME helped her connect with indigenous culture and promoted a spiritual path to healing that no one had ever shown her before.

CHOPECK: When you look at yourself and all you see is bad and someone else will look at you and all they see is good. This feels like my safe place. The staff are like my family.

NEWTON: Diane Redsky is the executive director of Ma Mawi, the charity that conceived of and runs the home. She says the fact that indigenous youth comprise the majority of sex trafficking in victims in Manitoba, means the rehabilitation programs need a special cultural and spiritual focus.

DIANE REDSKY, MA MAWI WI CHI ITATA CENTRE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The indigenous community is really rising up and has been the leader in the forefront on the healing that needs to happen on looking at the prevention pieces and supporting victims.

And there is a very unique way to support victims. It's not to criminalize them anymore or to victimize them any more than they already have been. It really is, as we say, loving them back to health.

NEWTON: When she was here, Lauren embraced a traditional indigenous spirit name. She is striking eagle. And she says she's starting to believe in what that name stands for, a person who will leave a mark on this earth.

Paula Newton, CNN, in rural Manitoba.

CHURCH: And tomorrow, you will hear from a prosecutor and others fighting for justice for the victims of sex trafficking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no question that this is a very difficult area to prosecute for a whole number of reasons.

NEWTON: This year, she successfully prosecuted 46-year-old Darrell Ackman, sentenced to 15 years for leaving off the veils of prostitution, making child pornography and sexual assault. Seven victims came forward, five of them children. Two committed suicide before a verdict was even reached.

[03:40:04] CHURCH: More tomorrow on our Freedom Project series, Canada's Stolen Daughters only on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The burkini ban on some French beaches is both rousing support and provoking outrage, particularly after armed police forced a woman to remove some of her clothing.

Hala Gorani looked at the burkini.

HALA GORANI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Moments earlier, she had been napping in the sunshine. New pictures from Nice, France, show a woman being ordered by police to remove some of her clothes and forcing a new controversial law that bans burkinis from the beaches of the several French cities.

The full body and hair covering swimsuit worn by some Muslim women. The mayor of Khan, the resort made famous by its blitsy film festival described the burkini as, quote, "a symbol of Islamic extremism," imposing a 38 euro fine for anyone who wears it. The ban has sparked outrage for many, though, with one Algerian businessman offering to pay women's fines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHID NEKKAZ, FRENCH BUSINESSMAN (TRANSLATED): When I saw that a few French mayors were prohibiting and without any public debate peaceful women wearing the piece of clothing of their choice I understood that Muslims are going to have a difficult few years. I decided to pay for all the fines of women who wear the burkini in

order to guarantee their freedom to wear these clothes, and most of all to neutralize this oppressive and unfair law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GORANI: At the heart of the heated burkini debate is the French concept of laicite or secularism. The strict separation of religion from public life, a fundamental principle of the French Republic.

[03:45:05] But the issue has been complicated by the spate of recent terror attacks in France, including the truck massacre in Nice in July, which killed 87.

And some are accusing French politicians of exploiting the opportunity to stigmatize Muslims.

Back in 2011, France became the first European country to outlaw the public wearing of burkas and niqabs. Others have followed. Belgium has banned them, the Netherlands recently prohibited them from public buildings like schools and hospitals.

Now German lawmakers are discussing plans to do the same.

CHURCH: Hala Gorani reporting there. And all this publicity surrounding the burkini ban may be causing international controversy, but the woman credited with inventing the garment is reporting a business boom as a result of it.

So, let's bring her in now, Aheda Zanetti joins us live via Skype from Sydney. Good to talk with you. So, what's your reaction to this new law in France banning the burkini from some French beaches and what did you think when you saw that woman forced to remove her clothing?

AHEDA ZANETTI, BURKINI DESIGNER: When I first saw it, it was quite upsetting. As a Muslim, as a mother, as a mother, as a daughter, as you know, anyone that I feel should have the right to go and enjoy the water as they play.

And if they choose to wear a burqa cover top a swimwear, well, they should. I find that the French government or the French politicians have got a -- they have misunderstood. When we designed the burkini swimsuit, it was part of integration.

You know, it's not any type of Islamic dress or Muslim talk with the garment in any way. It was -- the veil itself was taken away and replaced by with a type of a hood. The burkini comes in a three-piece and this is why we called a burkini. Kini is, you know, it stands for the sweet piece that it has, and burka is just a word that I just found it.

It wasn't -- there was no meaning to it. It does not stand anything. It's not a symbol of some sort of Islamic term. It's just a type of garment that they usually wear as like an overcoat.

So, I just put the two things together, and I did that on purpose to actually, for integration for a voice among our Middle Eastern communities. You know, I wanted to wearer to make sure that she was not identified by any race or religion. She's just got a top with a pants and a hood. That's all it is.

CHURCH: Right. And despite that, though, the mayor of Cannes as we heard in that piece by Hala Gorani even go so far as to say that your bikini is a symbol of Islamic extremism. And he is imposing a fine on any woman who wears it. What do you say to that?

ZANETTI: Well, I've always thought that a burkini swimsuit should actually getting people out and about in fitness and health and enjoying the waters. I didn't think a swimsuit will encourage you to think of terror and hatred.

I think he's misunderstood the whole terms of it. He's misunderstood the swimsuit itself and he's misunderstood about the wearer, because he's targeting a group of -- he's targeting, once again, the Muslim woman and who thinks that she has absolutely no idea there.

I mean, you know, there are some criminals out there that have done things as a criminal act. It does not mean that they are standing -- you know, that they are representing me or representing any Muslim. In fact, they are not Muslim at all. They are just criminals.

Why should women be blamed for this? Why should women be judged upon this because of the choice of clothing that they wear?

CHURCH: All right. Aheda Zanetti who invented the burkini. Thank you so much for talking with us...

(CROSSTALK)

ZANETTI: Thank you.

CHURCH: ... and explaining the reasons behind your garment. We appreciate it.

ZANETTI: Thank you so much for having me on. Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, scientists make an exciting discovery a few light years away from our solar system. Details on earth's new celestial neighbor.

That's next here on CNN Newsroom.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A rather unusual weather day across the United States. Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri with you on Weather Watch for the Americas right now.

And your Wednesday was a rough one across parts of the states of Ohio and Indiana. Because between those two states, 35 tornados touched down a across that region. At least that's what the initial reports are from that region.

With 28 damaging wind reports, over 13 hail related reports, as well. In fact, that 35 number for tornados is the most that I counted back to since May 24th. So, again, that was peak season and now we've seen some activity flourish across this region.

But a few scattered thunderstorms left in place for the Midwestern United States will be going from Thursday and Friday. And that's primarily where we'll see some of the heaviest rainfall, potentially up to 150 millimeters. And a few spots there with flashfloods potentially remaining very high as well.

So, here is what it looks like around the western end of North American, San Francisco, Vancouver, should be in the low to mid-20s across that region. There is a heat advisory in place for the cities of Seattle and Portland.

Of course, we know some fire concerns here that prompted a red flag warning, as well. But a lot of orange over the next week. We will finally see some cool air coming in there across the Western U.S. come following in the next seven or so days, but at this point it looks like a long live trend.

OK. San Juan, Puerto Rico, will go to 31 degrees, a few showers, a little bit of wind. There is a tropical disturbance in this region that we're watching for the next several days.

CHURCH: Scientists say they have made a giant leap in space exploration. A rocky planet called Proxima B orbiting the nearest star outside our solar system. The planet is a third larger than earth, while it's closer to its sun than we are to ours. Its star is fainter.

So, Proxima B could be warm enough for liquid water to flow on its surface. That would make it a tantalizing target in the search for alien life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANSGAR REINERS, ASTRONOMER: It's not a gas ball or something. It's a terrestrial one that has a surface. So you can stand -- people for who else, maybe stand on it and not like in Jupiter, that's the point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: For more on this, we are joined by Tariq Malik, the managing editor of Space.com. Thank you, sir, for talking with us. So, what are we to make of this earth-like planet that's been discovered orbiting the sun's neighbor, just how exciting is this and how significant?

TARIQ MALIK, SPACE.COM MANAGING EDITOR: Well, Rosemary, it's exciting for kind of two big reasons. Number one, this is basically as close as an alien planet can get to our own solar system as there can be. It's the next star over Proxima Centauri.

And so, you know, just knowing that there's a planet there and kind of like the next street over, in our neck of the Milky Way is great.

And then at the same time, there's signs that it's potentially a kind of like a habitable planet, an earth-like planet, about the same size almost as our earth. It could be, you know, warm enough for water and possibly like. So, it's kind of like a twofer when it comes to finding these planets.

CHURCH: So, what happens now? What is the next step in finding out what this new planet is all about and if there's, perhaps, life like we know life?

MALIK: Yes, so kind of -- this is like the gate opening now for a flood of scientists that I would assume are really excited to kind of make an observation of this planet of their own.

They don't have a picture of the planet yet. They were able to detect it by its gravitational influence that it creates on its parent star. So, you can bet that a lot of folks are going to be training space telescopes, ground telescopes on earth to kind of hopefully catch this planet in the air.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a race that, you know, captured the first actual picture of this planet, too.

CHURCH: What will be the next step, though, in terms of sending something out there to go and investigate this? And how likely is it that there would be life like we know life, as humans, that sort of similar life there -- or you're talking something very, you know, something very basic.

[03:55:11] MALIK: Well, so, you know, on the question of life, if there's liquid water there, and it's still kind of an if -- if this planet is kind of an goldilocks zone the scientist call, where it's not too cold and it's not too hot for liquid water to be on earth, wherever there's water, there's at least some form of life be it microbes or, you know, us as humans.

So, there would be hope, there would be some kind of form of life if it does have that atmosphere. That's kind of the next step to detect that yes, it actually have an atmosphere. This telescope observations that will come to follow will prove that.

And at the same time, there is a separate project called Breakthrough Starshot, which was hoping to kind of build technology to send tiny little probes out to another nearby star, Alpha Centauri, which is a bit farther away.

And they were actually in on this announcement, saying, well, maybe they might want to redirect their plan to send these tiny little probes to another star possibly within 20 years whenever they can launch using laser beams.

And the idea would be that if they can make that happen, they can at least send close up pictures of whatever that planet may look like back to earth.

CHURCH: Very exciting stuff. Tariq Malik, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

MALIK: My pleasure. CHURCH: And telescopes are getting more powerful so we keep you

updated on this story.

Thanks for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. There is more news after the break with Hannah Vaughan Jones in London.

You have a great day.

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