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Despair and Frustration at Budapest Train Station; Photo Shows Stark Reality of Migrant Crisis; China Flexes Muscles with Military Parade; Arrest Warrant Issued for Guatemala's President; Obama Secures Votes to Uphold Agreement with Iran; U.S. Using Drones to Take Out Top ISIS Targets; President Obama Wrapping Up Historic Trip to Alaska; Thousands of Refugees Make Their Way to Germany; The Awkward Moment of a Handshake Snub; WORLD SPORT Highlights. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 3, 2015 - 00:00   ET

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


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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Despair and frustration: thousands of migrants spend another day in Budapest, hoping to board trains for Northern Europe, but with no luck.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Show of force: China holds a huge military parade to mark the end of World War II in Asia. But many of its neighbors stay away.

VAUSE (voice-over): And the U.S. president takes time out from his push on climate change in Alaska to bust a move.

CHURCH (voice-over): Hello and welcome. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church.

VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. The first hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins now.

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VAUSE: The migrant crisis in Europe is growing more urgent with each passing day, with huge numbers of desperate people arriving.

CHURCH: The foreign ministers of Germany, Italy and France are calling for a revision of European Union asylum laws; for a second night hundreds of migrants are sleeping outside the train station in Budapest. Hungarian police have refused to allow them to board trains to Western Europe.

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VAUSE (voice-over): The migrants protested as riot police lined up on the other side of the square. Police eventually ordered the migrants to report to refugee camps or face expulsion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE). CHURCH (voice-over): The migrants don't want to go to the camps for fear they'll never reach Western Europe. Hungary's prime minister plans to meet with European Union members Thursday to discuss the crisis.

Meantime, a government spokesman told Hala Gorani the migrants have to have proper documentation.

ZOLTAN KOVACS, HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: Not until we are able to establish identity we can't call these people refugees because we simply don't know who they are, so they are illegal migrants. They have to go through the registration process and identification process that is required by all European countries, that is, European laws.

That's going to happen to them in Austria; that's going to happen to them in Germany anyhow. Current European legislation requires all migrants, illegal migrants, arriving to the European Union to be registered.

HALA GORANI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: OK, so clearly you're calling them illegal migrants, which means that you are not accepting the idea that they are refugees until they can prove to you that they are. But -- I mean, you know, if you flee a war zone you rarely have, you know, files and passports and things like that.

And some critics of the way you've handled this situation in Hungary are saying this is just an extremely unsympathetic and callous approach to desperate people.

How do you respond to that criticism?

KOVACS: Well, you really have to keep one thing in mind: a small minority, rather less than one-third of those who are coming through the Hungarian green borders, 3,000 a day, reaching 160,000 as of today, are coming from Syria or claim to come from Syria.

As a matter of fact we don't know where they're coming from, because we simply don't have the means to establish that.

The name of the game is that they come without papers; they throw away, they get rid of the papers because they want to misuse the existing legal environment.

Again, it is important to establish identity. We are receiving even by claim over 100 countries' migrants and that's a clear indication that what we are facing here is not a refugee crisis but a major mass migration crisis.

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CHURCH (voice-over): As that plays out, the Italian navy rescued 90 migrants from a dinghy in the Mediterranean Wednesday. Reuters reports over 1,000 people have been pulled from the sea in the last 24 hours. VAUSE (voice-over): The International Organization for Migration says more than 350,000 people made the crossing this year; more than 2,600 died trying.

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CHURCH: And we have followed the refugee and migrant story unfold for several months now. For many, as we just mentioned, the journey begins with a dangerous trip across the Mediterranean.

VAUSE: Thousands have survived the trip but others have not. The images you are about to see are disturbing but we're showing them because we feel they emphasize the tragedy which is now unfolding across Europe.

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VAUSE (voice-over): This one powerful image is now a symbol of the horror of Europe's refugee crisis: a little boy found dead early Wednesday, face down on a Turkish beach, neatly dressed in blue shorts and a red shirt, brown shoes with Velcro straps, the kind for young children who still can't tie their laces.

We don't know --

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VAUSE (voice-over): -- his name or where he came from but he is a victim of war, of displacement, of Europe's refugee crisis. Officials say he was among 12 refugees who died that were in a small rowboat, trying to reach the Greek island of Kos.

There were survivors but once swept out to sea, a child this small stood no chance. His body gently lifted by rescue workers and carried up the beach.

The waters from Turkey to Greece are considered one of the safest routes for refugees, seeking sanctuary in Europe. But for the youngest, even those so-called "safe routes" are deadly.

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VAUSE: Yes, well, for some who survive the perils of crossing, life on land doesn't provide a lot more security.

CHURCH: Arwa Damon brings us the stories of two Syrian families stranded in Budapest.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They almost drowned crossing the Aegean after their dinghy sprung a leak. For 21 days, this Syrian family pushed, carried and, at times, dragged Mahmud (ph) across Europe, mentally and physically disabled from work, his face scratched up from the journey. His 60-year-old mother, Farija (ph), who refuses to leave his side, is exhausted. Baby May's (ph) antics still bring about a smile, albeit a tired one. And he has had diarrhea for days.

Shadin (ph), his mother, is in her last week of pregnancy with his younger sibling. She started cramping up and is terrified she will end up giving birth in the street.

We first met the family in front of the Budapest train station's main entrance.

"We couldn't make ends meet in Turkey. We can't go back to Syria. Our house is on the front line in Aleppo," Shadin (ph) told us.

"We just wanted a future, access to a good education for the children."

But now, they are doubting the decision to take this journey. Farija (ph) says they can forget everything they have been through, but not being left to languish like this.

"We hope you will save us," she pleads. "I beg you, save us."

DAMON: They have nothing left literally nothing. They have the clothes that are on their back. For the baby, they have a pair of warm pants and a jacket that they are putting on him at night because it has gone quite cold. And then they have a backpack full of diapers and a little bit of baby formula, but that's it.

They lost everything back home and then they lost everything throughout different stages of the journey.

DAMON (voice-over): Another family, another story, echoes of the same misery. Mahmud (ph), a chemical engineer, was a successful businessman. His 4-year-old son's face scratched up when he fell during the commotion crossing into Macedonia.

"It is too hard for me to see my family like this," Mahmud (ph) says.

Mohammad (ph), the eldest, 17, so bright, he graduated ahead of his class and should be starting university.

Rams (ph) shows all that she has with her from home, three tiny photos of the kids when they were younger, before life turned into this. She misses her parents still in Syria the most.

"I just want to see them," she says.

She just wants her mother to hug her and reassure her all is going to be OK -- Arwa Damon, CNN, Budapest.

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VAUSE: To China now, also there are some ways you can actually help out with those migrants.

CHURCH: Yes. You can find out what you can do. Just head to our website, cnn.com/impact.

VAUSE (voice-over): And now we will turn our attention to China where there has been a big military show of force. The country's been marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II with a military parade in Beijing.

President Xi Jinping has presided over the celebration, which included 12,000 troops and 200 fighter jets.

CHURCH (voice-over): Earlier Xi announced that China would remain committed to peaceful development and pledged to cut 300,000 military personnel.

So we do want to turn now to CNN's Will Ripley in Beijing. He is following the activities in China.

So, Will, China has never marked the end of World War II like this before with all this pomp and circumstance.

So why are we seeing this now?

What are we to make of the timing of this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really unprecedented, Rosemary, not only on the date of September 3rd but also just the scale of this. This is the largest military parade in Chinese history, much bigger than the one back in 2009. And we saw on display today 80 percent of the weapons that were shown had never been seen in public before. That's according to Chinese state media and also significantly this is the first time that a lot of these -- pretty much all the --

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RIPLEY: -- weapons being put out there have been made here in China. So China, one, announcing to its people and the world its massive military arsenal, its military might, if you will; also putting on a showcase of wares, of weapons that they intend to export and sell, because China's weapons export business continues to grow.

This date, of course, significant because it does mark the defeat of Japan and the end of World War II and on state media the only programming that has been allowed for days has been historical dramas and documentaries, talking about what happened to the Chinese and how they overcame Japanese imperialism and of course ending with the defeat of Japan. That is what this celebration is all about.

But it's also a very important moment for President Xi Jinping. It's his first military parade since he took office in 2012. And it is coming at a time when, frankly, a lot of things in China are slipping in a sense out of the tight control that he and the Communist Party would like, the economy is slowing down, the stock market has been very volatile. There have been a host of industrial accidents, including Tianjin, where nearly 200 people or perhaps more than 200 people confirmed to be dead.

And so this parade and all of the fact that the pollution has been turned off; 2,000 factories closed, the city locked down. This did go off perfectly and this was -- this was President Xi's message, that he is firmly in control, firmly in power. And that China is stronger than ever -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Yes, certainly being heard loud and clear.

But, Will, all of China's military hardware on display, as you say, and this show of force but at the same time, the country's president, Xi Jinping, just announced the army will be cut by 300,000 troops.

What's the significance of that?

RIPLEY: Well, I tell you, it's 300,000 troops from a standing military force of 2.3 million, still by far, even with the troop reduction of 300,000, they'll be the largest in terms of manpower in the world, second largest in the world in terms of spending, just behind the U.S. with an annual budget that has increased in the last 20 years by double digits every year, right around $150 billion for 2015.

And that spending is only expected to go up. It's just that now you see China, instead of perhaps putting resources into boots on the ground, they're investing more in this high-tech weaponry.

And one of the things that analysts have been watching very closely, of course, these carrier killer missiles, these missiles that can be launched and have a range of more than 1,400 kilometers, which of course could potentially threaten U.S. ships that are stationed in either the East China Sea or the South China Sea, which are both locations where China's involved in territorial disputes.

So there's a clear message here, domestically and also internationally, that China is a force to be reckoned with, if you will, and that's a message that Xi Jinping will take with him when he goes to Washington later this month -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Many thanks to our Will Ripley, reporting there live from Beijing.

VAUSE: Well, for more on the big parade in Beijing, let's turn to Yvonne Chiu in Hong Kong. She's an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong.

So Yvonne, square this circle for me. China wants to show the world just how peaceful it really is by showing off its latest military hardware with 12,000 troops goose-stepping through the capital.

How does that work?

YVONNE CHIU, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG: Well, China has recently been sending a lot of mixed messages, right. They want -- they keep talking about the peaceful rise but at the same time as you point out, are somewhat aggressive in the South China Sea and now especially with this parade.

And it's all about deterrence, right, you want to be able to -- you're targeting particular audiences, especially the U.S., which has announced its pivot to Asia. It wants to stay active in the region and China wants to prevent that.

But you can't deter a major power unless you have significant military capability.

So they're trying to send both messages at the same time. This is intentional. It's not an accident that they're sending these mixed messages.

VAUSE: OK. So we've had the troop reduction, which was announced as kind of a bit of a surprise, really, no one was expecting that on a day like this, Xi Jinping will get up and say they'll cut numbers by 300,000.

I'm just wondering how significant that is, though, because from what I understand, they have been trying to reduce the military numbers for quite some time, making a much more professional military war alliance like the United States.

CHIU: Yes. So it's 300,000 troops, sounds like a lot. But I think it's actually not that significant, as your reporter mentioned. They have a standing army of over 2 million. And most of those are really badly trained conscripts, who are not -- they're not career professional soldiers. They are just doing their time and getting out.

So they really don't need a military that big in order to project the force capability that they're interested in.

So for Xi Jinping to make this announcement is a really costless gesture for him. It falls in line with the message he was sending today --

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CHIU: -- about how China is -- intends to be peaceful; they don't seek to oppress anybody. They're not interested in hegemony. But at the same time, it's not actually going to affect any of their planned military capacity.

VAUSE: They've gone to great lengths to say this is not an anti-Japan rally; they don't want to foster those feelings but yet they call it the victory over Japan's aggression.

And the Communists are really rewriting history here. The nationalists for the Japanese during World War II, the Red Army were cowering behind enemy lines regrouping.

CHIU: Yes. And it's interesting that the -- so this was not emphasized in the parade today. But in the leadup to the parade, China has been engaged in this concerted effort to partially rehabilitate the reputation of the Kuomintang. So every since the Communists won, the story has been the Kuomintang hid behind the lines; the Communists did all the fighting. And they really emphasized that today in the parade when you're going through all the accomplishments of each of the troops.

But recently, there's -- and this has everything to do with wanting to be more conciliatory towards Taiwan and to reassure Taiwan that they're -- that it would be safe to rejoin China, right.

And so they've been starting to acknowledge more the role of the KMT; now they're talking about how the victory against Japan was a joint effort and apparently now there's -- you often find sympathetic KMT figures in Chinese programming or movies.

And it's an interesting move because, in fact, actually most people in Taiwan have no great love of the KMT, either. They feel oppressed by the KMT as well. So it's interesting that the Chinese have chosen this particular tactic to try to placate Taiwan. It's not clear that it's going to be particularly effective.

VAUSE: Yes. There are so many things, so many different things in play when you look at what's happening in China; it's never as clear- cut as you think it might be. But Yvonne, we appreciate your being with us and trying to work through some of all of this -- Yvonne Chiu with the University of Hong Kong, thanks so much.

CHIU: My pleasure.

CHURCH: And we'll take a very short break here. But still to come, the U.S. launched a new campaign against militants in Syria. The technology special forces are using to track and take down suspected terrorists. We're back in a moment.

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CHURCH: This just in to CNN: an arrest warrant has been issued for Guatemala's president; investigators say Otto Perez Molina and some of his close aides were paid bribes in exchange for lowering taxes for companies that wanted to import products. Guatemala's congress voted to strip the president of his immunity on Tuesday.

The president denies the charges and suggests he is the target of a plot by his political enemies. The scandal comes at a delicate time in Guatemalan politics; the country is scheduled to hold presidential elections on Sunday.

VAUSE: French farmers are about to unleash traffic chaos in Paris with a huge tractor protest. More than 1,000 tractors are expected to invade the city soon. The farmers are protesting falling food prices and cheap imports, which they say are threatening their livelihoods.

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CHURCH (voice-over): Lawmakers agreed to an emergency relief package in July worth more than $670 million but the farmers say that's not enough.

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CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama now appears to have the support he needs to ensure the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

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VAUSE (voice-over): The Democrat from Maryland became the 34th senator to endorse the agreement and that gives Mr. Obama enough votes to sustain his veto should Congress vote down the deal.

And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, America's lead negotiator with Iran, blasted those who oppose it.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Critics tell us over and over again, "You can't trust Iran."

Well, guess what?

There is a not a single sentence, not a single paragraph in this whole agreement that depends on promises or trust, not one. The arrangement that we worked out with Tehran is based exclusively on verification and proof.

CHURCH (voice-over): But critics say the deal does precisely what it's supposed to prevent: give Iran a pathway to a nuclear weapon. Many Republican presidential candidates say if they're elected, they would try to scrap it.

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VAUSE: A car bomb in Syria has exploded in a stronghold of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

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CHURCH (voice-over): State-run media says at least 10 people were killed in Wednesday's attack in the coastal city of Latakia; 25 others were wounded, five of them critically, according to a human rights group. No one has claimed responsibility for that attack.

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VAUSE: The U.S. is using a new tactic to take down suspected terrorists in Syria. Drone strikes are now targeting senior ISIS leaders and the operations have been successful in recent weeks.

CHURCH: Our chief U.S. security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, reports on the collaboration between the CIA and special forces.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. intelligence on ISIS inside Syria and Iraq is greatly improving across the board, a U.S. official tells CNN. A combination of more human intelligence on the ground and surveillance aircraft in the air.

The result: a series of successful strikes against senior ISIS leadership. Junaid Hussain, the ISIS online mastermind and recruiter, killed in Raqqa, Syria, last week; Haji Mutazz, ISIS' second in command, killed outside Mosul two weeks ago.

And a late-night raid killing Abu Sayyaf, a senior leader and financier for ISIS, capturing his wife and a treasure trove of information.

How is it happening?

According to "The Washington Post," the CIA is significantly expanding its role in the drone campaign, identifying and locating senior ISIS leaders for strikes carried out by U.S. --

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SCIUTTO (voice-over): -- Special Operations command.

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: You have to look at the drone program is all we have right now. The Free Syrian Army doesn't exist.

They can track I.P. addresses. They can track all sorts of ways -- wi-fi, mobile wi-fi -- and run these people down.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The expansion of the drone program is based in part on growing concern among U.S. officials over the ISIS threat.

However, it runs counter to the administration's stated goal of reversing the militarization of the CIA and returning it to a solely intelligence role, an effort supported even by many Republicans.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: That's why they're called the intelligence agency. That's why we call the armed forces, the -- obviously, the people that are supposed to be carrying out military operations.

SCIUTTO: The balance the administration is attempting to strike is to tap the CIA's ability to identify targets but let the military take those targets out. The remaining challenges that those drone strikes have yet to change the situation on the battlefield -- Jim Sciutto, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: U.S. President Barack Obama is wrapping up his final day in Alaska, where he has pushed the strong action against climate change.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Mr. Obama was on the beach, inspecting the day's salmon catch in Dillingham, the town is located on Bristol Bay, said to be the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.

CHURCH (voice-over): Mr. Obama has spent much of his trip underscoring the effects of global warming on the region. He says America must lead the way for change.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If another country threatened to wipe out an American town, we'd do everything in our power to protect it. Well, climate change poses the same threat right now. And that's why I care so deeply about this.

If we do nothing, temperatures in Alaska are projected to rise between 6 and 12 degrees by the end of the century. That means more melting, more fires, more erosion, more thawing of the permafrost, more warming after that. And that threatens all of us with hardship, not just people up north.

VAUSE (voice-over): Wasn't afraid to bust a move. He joined in on a traditional Alaskan dance with some kids from a middle school. Not embarrassing at all.

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CHURCH (voice-over): No, that's a good move.

He encouraged the students to keep their traditions alive, even when they leave home.

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VAUSE: Let's go to break here on CNN. When we come back, thousands of refugees who have arrived in Germany hope it is their last stop. Ahead, we'll tell you how some Germans are trying to make them feel welcome as the refugees await word on asylum.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

And I'm Rosemary Church. It's time to check the headlines for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (voice-over): Hungary's prime minister plans to meet with other members of the European Union in the coming hours to address the migrant crisis. Hundreds of migrants are spending another night outside Budapest's main train station. The government won't let them board trains without proper documents.

VAUSE (voice-over): China has been showcasing its military might with a huge parade in Beijing. The event marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. President Xi Jinping announced China remains committed to peaceful development and plans to cut the size of the military by 300,000 troops.

CHURCH (voice-over): An arrest warrant has been issued for Guatemala's president, Otto Perez Molina and a group of his close aides are accused of receiving bribes in exchange for lowering taxes for companies seeking to import products into the country. The president has denied the charges.

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VAUSE: The foreign ministers from Italy, Germany and France are calling for a united response to Europe's migrant crisis. The E.U. ministers will meet Friday and Saturday.

CHURCH: Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants are waiting outside the main train station in Budapest. The Hungarian government says they need proper documents before they can leave.

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KOVACS: The only real solution is if they themselves, illegal migrants, abide the rules. That is, they go to the shelters, to those places that have been assigned to them. And obviously, we are not going institutionalize an illegal situation that is at the railway station at the moment.

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CHURCH: A new poll shows people in France are for the most part are not in favor of new migrants and refugees in their country.

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VAUSE (voice-over): The poll conducted through our CNN affiliate BFM TV shows 56 percent say they don't want more people coming in and that includes refugees fleeing the war in Syria; 44 percent said they'd be OK with the move.

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CHURCH: Britain is being urged to act to ease the migrant crisis but Prime Minister David Cameron says the crisis can only be solved at the source.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE (voice-over): He says, "We have taken a number of genuine asylum seekers from Syrian refugee camps and we keep that under review, but we think the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world. I don't think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.

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CHURCH: And thousands of refugees who have fled Syria and neighboring countries are heading toward Germany, where they hope to stay.

VAUSE: And now people are flocking to Berlin to help in any way they can, as they await asylum. Atika Shubert has our report.

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ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Papers in hand, they wait all day and hope they will be assigned a home or given a doctor; most prized of all, permission to settle in Germany.

Waiting to be called, they watch the numbers flick by, never quite fast enough. For thousands of refugees, this is the final destination on a long and dangerous journey. But for so many, it is also the most difficult wait.

SHUBERT: This is main registration center here in Berlin and as you can see, it is completely overwhelmed. One officials told me that up to 600 people apply here for new applications every day. That's on top of the 2,000 or so that come here with help for housing, health care and other social issues.

SHUBERT (voice-over): Volunteers weave through the crowds, offering snacks, coffee and tea; nearby, donations are collected. And every morning, new people arrive, asking to help anyway they can.

It's the first day for these volunteers.

TOM LIEBISCH (PH), VOLUNTEER: We have already seen some pictures, some images from here. So I was -- we knew a bit how it would be. But the huge mass of people who are just --

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LIEBISCH (PH): -- sitting, lying on the ground and it's all so hectic. And it's no real order. And this has surprised me, yes.

SHUBERT (voice-over): These friends use their own money to buy cold treats for the kids today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I see like this huge gap, politicians are saying stuff but it's not really happening. So they say they have everything under control and obviously it's -- nothing is under control.

SHUBERT (voice-over): When they met a Syrian family sleeping out here in the open, they pitched in to pay rent for a small apartment. This is her response to those worried that Europe will be overwhelmed with refugees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): You can be as rich as you want. But if you are poor in your heart, I think you live less quality life.

SHUBERT (voice-over): Ordinary citizens, stepping in to fill the gap that governments have been unable to fill -- Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Well, still to come here, one of life's awkward moments. You go for a handshake and then you get snubbed. We'll show you how a U.S. mayor was left hanging.

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VAUSE: Hello and welcome back, everybody.

An American soldier who helped stop a terrorist attack on a Paris- bound train is putting on his dancing shoes.

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VAUSE (voice-over): Alek Skarlatos is joining this season's cast of the hit TV show, "Dancing with the Stars."

CHURCH (voice-over): Skarlatos was on vacation when he and four other men took down a man with a rifle on a French train last month. The men were awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest recognition for bravery.

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VAUSE: "Dancing with the Stars" may be a little harder.

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VAUSE: OK. We've all been there: you're standing there with your hand out to shake -- oh, too slow -- and they --

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VAUSE: -- leave you hanging.

CHURCH: Yes. And that actually happened to Chicago's mayor this week. CNN's Jeanne Moos shows us that embarrassing moment and some other memorable handshake snubs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what a nice warm handshake looks like.

And this is the handshake from hell, the dreaded snub that happened at a raucous town hall meeting about Chicago's budget Monday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel extended a hand to a voter, who disagrees with his policies. The man reportedly said, "I don't want to shake your hand," and kept both of his firmly fixed on his phone.

Sometimes politicians snub each other; for instance, when the candidate in red reached out to shake the hand of San Antonio's mayor after a radio debate.

The mayor, Ivy Taylor, first ignored the hand, then gave her challenger a piece of her mind, angry about what she considered a personal attack on her family.

But more often than not, snubs are unintentional.

OBAMA: Well, it is --

MOOS (voice-over): President Obama didn't mean to ignore the Irish prime minister's hand.

But once he did, what could the prime minister do but inspect his nails?

MOOS: Sometimes folks get shook up over a perceived snub but an unshaken hand can be deceiving.

MOOS (voice-over): Case in point: the time President George Bush was hosting a summit, but other world leaders didn't seem to want to shake his hand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one with the cooties.

MOOS (voice-over): Turns out, this was the snub that wasn't. Earlier that morning...

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Steven, how you doing?

MOOS (voice-over): -- President Bush had shaken and even held their hands.

Fewer see snubs where none occur, even on late-night comedy shows. The guest, Rob Riddle, dissed Conan's sidekick, Andy Richter.

Riddle wriggled out of it, calling it unintentional.

CONAN O'BRIEN, FORMER LATE-NIGHT HOST: Rob looks at Andy, like I'm going to give it to you, and then...

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS (voice-over): There's a big difference between a diss and a plain old miss.

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MOOS (voice-over): Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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CHURCH: Has it happened to you, John?

VAUSE: Often.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

VAUSE: (INAUDIBLE).

CHURCH: Oh, I love it. All right. Well, Serena Williams' march into the history books remain on track at the U.S. Open. Kate Riley will have details next in "WORLD REPORT (sic)." I'm Rosemary Church.

VAUSE: I'm John Vause. And I'll be back in the top of the hour with all the latest world news right here on CNN NEWSROOM.

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KATE RILEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is CNN WORLD SPORT. I'm Kate Riley. Welcome along to the show.

Serena Williams is now five matches away from a historic calendar year --

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RILEY (voice-over): However, her second round match at the U.S. Open against Kiki Bertens wasn't easy for the American. Williams struggled with her serve throughout and the World number finished with 10 double faults. But as always, Serena did manage to find a way to win there and she knocked off her Dutch challengers 7-6, 6-3 and kept her dream of a calendar Grand Slam intact.

This was now her 30th straight win at a major and (INAUDIBLE) in her third round match.

Now what about Serena's sister, Venus? Well, she survived a scare in her second round match but only just. The former World number up against another American this time, Irina Falconi. The two-time Flushing Meadows champion took the first set with relative ease.

And twice served for the match in the second; however, she just couldn't finish off her opponent, who forced a decider. Williams eventually won it 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 to face Belinda Bencic in the third round.

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RILEY: So the Austrian Haider-Maurer was standing in the way of Novak Djokovic and the third round of the U.S. Open. So Djokovic, a five- time U.S. Open finalist breezed through in straight sets, the first set was tied from no solid serving from both tires (ph). World number 1 then seized control of the second set, got past him, continued into the third as well, 6-4, 6-1. And you can see celebrations here with a fan -- look at that -- how did he find the energy (INAUDIBLE)? (INAUDIBLE) the third round was on him.

So did Rafa Nadal get on? Well, this was him up against Diego Schwartzman.

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RILEY (voice-over): The eighth seed there took an hour -- 2:41 to progress to a third round. This actually turned out to be Nadal's 750th tour level match when the (INAUDIBLE) 38 winners against Diego Schwartzman, Nadal surged ahead, though, winning the first three games.

It appears Nadal appeared to be in complete control; Schwartzman failed a charge at Nadal's lead, not enough. So 7-6, 6-3, 7-5 it ended.

So Wednesday marked the final match for America's Mardy Fish. He was beaten by Feliciano Lopez. It could have gone differently for the American, who was serving for the match in the fourth set. However, he struggled after that with cramps in the fifth. Fish had previously left the sport with heart and anxiety issues. But he returned from a brief cameo this summer.

His good friend, Andy Roddick, tweeted off the match, "Hell of an asset, my friend. I couldn't be prouder. Time for that margarita, #cheers."

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RILEY: Well, the Bryan brothers will go a year without winning a Grand Slam title for the first time in more than a decade.

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RILEY (voice-over): Defending doubles champions Bob and Mike are the dominant force of the doubles game and they won 16 major titles. The top-seeded twins will go without a title for the first time since 2004. Their country men Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey quickly went up a break in the decider and held on for the three-set win.

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RILEY: Well, away from tennis for a moment and professional golf tours are in competition with each other and they all want the best players at their events. So much so that they have a minimum expectation for golfers if they want to benefit from the perks and privileges.

Martin Kaymer has just lost his PGA Tour card in America because he hadn't played enough in 2014. So the European tour was presented with a tricky case when they realized that the World number 1, Rory McIlroy, was going to come up short at the 13 events required for the membership and the right to play in a lucrative race to Dubai Series.

McIlroy was forced to miss several tournaments because of an ankle injury this summer and so far has played for nine weeks, freezing out the world's top player and the series leader for the finale would have been very damaging for the tour's image and sponsor relations.

So they've made special dispensation to let him in. It's on that condition that he play three more events, taking his total to 12.

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RILEY (voice-over): And the world's cycling elite now take on Spain but see why it's not just the grueling course when the athletes are to cope with next.

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RILEY: Only two men have ever won the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana in the same year. And it looks as though that exclusive club will not be accepting a new member anytime soon.

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RILEY (voice-over): Britain's cyclist Chris Froome was hoping to join Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault but somehow he crashed into a barrier. He was pedaling uphill just five minutes into the race. It pretty much brought him out of contention. He's begun day one just one minute and 18 seconds off the pace. He's now 7.5 minutes back.

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RILEY: Meanwhile, a second rider from the team, Tinkoff-Saxo team, has been forced to withdraw after colliding with a TV motorbike.

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RILEY (voice-over): Four days ago, Peter Sagan was forced to abandon the race on Wednesday; it was Sergio Paulinho who was taken to hospital for treatment on a badly gashed leg. He needed 17 stitches. They had already demanded a response from the UCI after the previous incident but are now really on the rampage, asking if the event organizers can guarantee a safe race.

More on this to come, I'm sure.

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RILEY: The transfer window closed earlier this week and hundreds of players all over the world are now contemplating a new life in a new city and possibly even in a new country. Football fans are used to hearing about multimillion-dollar transfer fees and the term of contracts signed.

However, known a little bit less about the human story behind it all. And that's under the story can't be critical if the player and/or his family are unable to settle. Now the transfer could be a dud as a result. And CNN's Don Riddell spoke to Jonathan Hopper and his company specializes in the relocation of international football stars.

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DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You hear this phrase fairly often: such-and-such a player didn't settle. Angel di Maria was a good example; man of the match in the Champions League final, a really miserable season at Manchester United. He didn't settle in Manchester.

When that happens, who's fault is it?

JONATHAN HOPPER, MANAGING DIRECTOR: There's definitely an onus on the club. And the clubs are aware of this and they have invested in player liaison offices and they're trying to make the transition as smooth as possible. But obviously they're looking after the welfare, the fitness and the effectiveness of a player on the field.

There's a whole raft of things that we don't see, which is obviously out of the public eye. And it's those other elements that are really critical. And just certainly things in terms of fitting in culturally, adjusting to a different way of life, the English weather is not for everybody. There's a raft of things that make it successful.

RIDDELL: Are there any particular anecdotes you can recall regarding a specific player, where it really was a challenge and you had to work very hard to get that player settled?

HOPPER: But absent of naming names, there is a Premiership player, stroke former England International, that we've assisted, where privacy was a key factor. And the player obviously naturally didn't want the threat of --

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HOPPER: -- paparazzi and people prying into his personal affairs and finding the matching property with the privacy in the right location was a real challenge. And that property search took quite a while to get the match put together. And in the end, we spent about 30,000 pounds on fencing and perimeters to actually create the privacy. RIDDELL: Can you give us an example of the kind of run-of-the-mill, day-to-day issues that can actually prove really unsettling for a player in a new location?

HOPPER: Everyone's associating with London. But if you look at some parts of the U.K., actually if you get out of the city, it becomes very rural very quickly.

And if you're used to living in a bustling sort of cosmopolitan area, and then you've transferred across to a U.K. club, but surrounding it is actually quite quiet, settling into the local area and football tends to be very private and they don't necessarily go and talk to the neighbors as soon as they've moved in.

But actually just feeling integrated and part of an area and able to relax and enjoy it and go to local restaurants and those sorts of things, all of that takes time and understanding.

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RILEY: And that brings this edition of CNN WORLD SPORT to a close. I'm Kate Riley. Thanks so much for watching.

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