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Earthquake Hits Central Italy; ISIS Reportedly Executes Iraqi Officers; Latest on Syrian Civil War; FBI Reviewing Newly-Discovered Huma Abedin Emails. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired October 30, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: 5:00 AM on the East Coast, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. We are following breaking news this hour here are CNN, a strong earthquake in central Italy. I'm George Howell at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

The U.S. Geological Survey says this is a 6.6 magnitude quake that struck central Italy about 68 kilometers, or 42 miles east of Perugia. At this point, there are no reports of casualties or injuries, but we're staying in touch with officials there.

Keep in mind, earlier this week two strong quakes hit the very same region near the town of Visso. Journalist and CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau is on the phone with us live from Rome following developments. And Barbie, first of all, let's talk about what you're hearing from officials there with this earthquake happening after another series of strong quakes, all within the same week.

BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well you know, one of the bright sides of all this is the fact that those earthquakes last week were so strong, caused a lot of people to evacuate, so you're not gonna see -- even though it's a little stronger, you're not gonna see a lot of casualties because people just weren't there, people weren't in their houses.

A lot of these structures though, that were damaged last week, that may have had fissures in the facades, they may have had some, you know, bits of the ceiling, or outside of the buildings or balconies that were damaged, that completely collapsed in this stronger earthquake.

We see much more damage reports right now than we did last week, but that's -- you know, these buildings may have been 100-200 years old, or many or some of them even more recent that don't have anti-seismic measures in place, just can't handle these serious three earthquakes like that in a row.

But like I said, a lot of people had evacuated to a safer place. There are lots of people up there, about 5,000 people outside of their homes from last week's earthquake. A lot of those people are along the coastline in hotels that are being paid for by the government, just to keep them in a safer place. So at least that's the bright side, people weren't in their homes to

the same extent we had last week. But again, last week in those earthquakes, there were no -- very few small injuries, no loss of life, because people had evacuated largely from the very devastating August earthquake in the area.

And you know, this is a seismic zone, they're very accustomed to seismic activity in the area, but it's just unheard of to have this many strong earthquakes in a row. The people are extremely nervous, don't want to stay in their homes, don't want to be anywhere near there. That's obviously a plus when it comes to the loss of life. Who knows if people will go back, if they'll want to rebuild, it's just, you know, unnerving for those people, George.

HOWELL: Barbie Nadeau pointing out the good news in the sense that many people had already evacuated. Barbie also saying that many of these buildings are older, and Barbie, if you could take a look here, I want to show our viewers of a side-by-side image of the basilica at Norcia.

You get a sense of just how strong this earthquake is, let's -- if we can take a look at this. I think we have the image, we may not be able to pull that image up at this point, but again, we're working on it. We see the basilica on one side, I can explain the image, one side where it's before the earthquake, and then on the other side after you can see a great deal of damage.

And we also have news here -- there's the image, yeah. And you get a sense here, and so that's before, and Barbie, if you are able to watch and see, this is after, this image coming in from Norcia. We also understand that the Basilica of San Benedetto has been damaged but not entirely leveled by this earthquake.

But we are, you know, starting to see some of the damage coming in, the visuals of what happened, with this 6. 6 magnitude earthquake. Barbie, you touched on this, but again, this is a seismic region, but it is a beautiful part of Italy, with so many older, historic buildings. Is there a sense that people will want to return and restart their lives there after this very strong series of earthquakes?

NADEAU: You know, I think there's a sense that people have really just had enough. Maybe their homes have been so damaged they don't want to spend the money to rebuild them. A lot of people don't have any sort of insurance for natural disasters like this. There's going to be that aspect of it, people just can't afford to go back and rebuild their homes.

The other aspect of it is people are terrified. You know, we spoke to a number of people last week when we were up there, that just said this is it, no more, we can't shake the fear of these constant earthquakes. You know, we're talking about these three strong earthquakes, but in between them there are a series of cascading aftershocks that really hit the area.

You may not feel them as strongly, but it's still the ground -- we felt it last week as well, just seems to constantly be moving and shaking. There's just no sense of calm, and that's obviously very difficult, especially for some of these elderly people who may be in wheelchairs, who may have trouble walking, it's just a really difficult situation. Lots of people say they're leaving for good.

You know, these are areas of Italy that are sparsely populated, these aren't, you know, major cities. But there are a lot of little enclaves where people have built homes together, several generations of families may live in the mountains in that area, and these are, you know, those characteristic hilltop towns that you see in postcards that are just being destroyed in these earthquakes, there's just really nothing left of some of these beautiful villages.

And of course that's going to be difficult for them going forward. These are very popular tourist areas, lots of Italians, you know, travel to these areas to enjoy the countryside and the -- and the fresh air. You know, all of -- all of that is going to be gone with the -- with the disappearance of some of these beautiful towns. And you see these villages, some of them are completely gone after these three earthquakes, George.

HOWELL: A magnitude 6. 6 earthquake that happened a couple of hours ago, and now we're starting to see some of these images come in here to the CNN Newsroom of some of the damage. Journalist and CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau was on the phone with us there. Barbie, thank you for the reporting, we'll stay in touch with you.

Let's now bring in our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, who's tracking the damage, the reports that we're getting in to the Newsroom. Derek, you were explaining earlier to our viewers around the world that there were -- these are four shocks that we've seen, this 5. 5 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, then a 6. 1 magnitude earthquake, the second quake that same day, and now this.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, this is an extremely active -- excuse me, I should just say a very active fault line across central Italy, and what we're working with here is the potential that this is the earthquake, and the previous earthquakes earlier this week could potentially be foreshocks.

But I think the important idea here is that we don't want to get lost in the technicalities of this. The fact is that this area continues to be plagued by strong shaking in the ground, and what I've done, just to kind of put this all into perspective and give you an idea just how active this fault line actually is, I've put together a graphic which you see behind me of all the recent earthquakes that have struck central Italy.

Today being a magnitude 6. 6, this earthquake occurring at roughly 7. 40 in the morning local time across central Italy, and take a look at the other magnitude earthquakes that have occurred at least of magnitude 6. 0 or higher. Remember back in August a 2 - 6. 2 took place, that's where nearly 300 fatalities took place, there were 298 fatalities officially.

Now we look back just four days ago, on the 26th of October, and a magnitude 6. 1 and 5. 5. So what we're going to point out here is again, because the magnitude was actually less than today's earthquake, we are considering these foreshocks, this would be the main earthquake.

Again, let's not get lost in the details there, but the point is that this is a shallow earthquake, and the potential for serious damage is definitely there, 10 kilometers deep means that there's not much bedrock, there's just not much rock between the surface of the earth, and where the epicenter of the earthquake actually took place.

So no dampening can really occur from the shaking and the ultimate ripple effect that protrudes out from the center of the shaking area. Now look at this, we're looking at the plate tectonics that lie (ph) basically parallel with the entire central Italy region, this is called a subduction front, and these are moving at roughly 24 millimeters per year, and that's the equivalent to what your fingernails grow on your hands, or on your toenails.

So it just gives you a perspective on how slow these plates are actually coming together, but that is just enough movement to create so much build-up of pressure, that eventually they slide, they break, and we see earthquakes like this unfold.

So what you're looking at now is the U. S. Geological Survey's kind of a shake map is what this is called, and we're going to zoom in to the epicenter, and kind of give you an indication of who has felt the worst shaking.

So there's the epicenter with that dark red. The yellow dots there are actually earthquakes or foreshocks that have occurred within the past week, the red would be within the past hour, the orange would be within the past day.

And we've had several dozen, if not hundreds of these foreshocks, or aftershocks, depending on what finally is realized here, and the point being is that the Norcia region, where we're seeing some of the first visuals, which is located right here, is only about six kilometers outside of where the epicenter actually took place.

So the amount of population that felt this earthquake, you can see strong to very strong shaking, at least for roughly 200,000 people. We had weak shaking felt as far south as Rome. That's includes -- inclusive of 13 million people.

And you can see just how active the fault lines are across this area with the historic earthquakes all being plotted out here with this shades of red, a very active fault line to say the least, and we do anticipate the potential for damage and fatalities going forward, but the good news, as Barbie has mentioned, is that so many people have left their homes already because of the shock waves that came through the region earlier in the week, and only roughly two months ago.

Now the U. S. geological survey has the ability to compare previous earthquakes of similar magnitude and similar depth, and this is what they would anticipate in terms of economic losses. They have a - the highest percentage of probability of economic losses between $10-100 million, so that's less than 1 percent of the GDP of Italy.

So it kind of puts it into further perspective of what they would anticipate with this size of an earthquake. So very busy day for central Italy, it's going to be several hours before we get a full extent, George, of the magnitude of this particular earthquake, and how far the damage has actually gone.

HOWELL: Derek, you know, getting a sense of the damage there as you showed us, but you know, the good -- the good news I guess as Barbie has explained to our viewers, is that many people in that region they'd already left, but you know, obviously we'll have to stay in touch and hear from officials to find out if there are reports of major damage, of injuries, of fatalities from this earthquake. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much.

Let's recap for our viewers here in the U. S. and around the world. The breaking news following this hour here on CNN, a magnitude 6. 6 earthquake that struck central Italy very close to Perugia there, about 42 miles to the east of Perugia.

There have been no reports of casualties, no reports of injuries at this point. Keep in mind earlier this week there were two other very powerful earthquakes, the second stronger than the first. The first earthquake a 5. 5 magnitude, the second a 6. 1 magnitude, and now this, a 6. 6 magnitude earthquake that has hit central Italy. Of course we'll continue to follow this story and bring you details as we learn more.

Other news that we are following around the world this hour, Iraqi forces are getting closer to the city of Mosul. We will take you to one Christian town that was recently liberated, and show you the damage that was left behind by ISIS.

Plus, the United States has a warning for some of its diplomats in Istanbul, to get your families out of that city now. A live report ahead here, on CNN Newsroom.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom, I'm George Howell, and we continue following the breaking news out of central Italy, a 6. 6 magnitude earthquake that struck near Perugia. And these images that you see just coming in, you get a sense of the significant damage that has been done to one particular home here.

There have been no reports of casualties or injuries at this point, but we're staying in touch with our officials, our sources and reporters on the ground there. On Wednesday, two powerful earthquakes hit that very same region, weakening a number of structures. Again, stay with CNN as we continue to follow this breaking new story, the 6. 6 magnitude earthquake that hit near Perugia.

Here's the thing, there were other earthquakes earlier in the week. The first was a 5. 5 magnitude quake, the second on Wednesday a 6. 1 magnitude quake, and now this 6. 6 magnitude earthquake that has hit central Italy. We will of course bring you developments as we learn more from officials on the ground.

The fight to retake Mosul, ISIS has reportedly executed 75 Iraqi officers in that city. A witness says the men were among 600 people detained after gun battles earlier in the week. ISIS released many of the civilians. In the meantime, Iraqi forces are moving closer and closer to Mosul.

Officials say that they cleared out ISIS fighters from a town to the south of the city. Around 35 ISIS militants were killed during that battle. The United Nations is also worried that ISIS will use civilians as human shields against Iraqi forces.

Our senior international correspondent, Arwa Damon, is live in Irbil, Iraq, following developments thish our. Arwa, it's good to have you. What more can you tell us about the news we're hearing, these executions by ISIS?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well they reportedly took place, as you were mentioning there, after ISIS detained them, after fierce gun battles did break out, and ISIS went around trying to round up as many individuals as it possibly could.

Now this is not the first time that we're hearing reports of ISIS carrying out mass executions. In fact, since this push towards Mosul began, the United Nations is saying that ISIS took people from villages on the outskirts of the city trying to move them into the city, presumably to use as additional human shields on top of the upwards of 1. 2 million people already inside Mosul.

Some of them were trying to resist, and according to an intelligence source, on more than one occasion, on more than one day, ISIS executed hundreds of men and boys who were reportedly trying to resist it. There's also that report of about 20 men being strung together, and then collectively electrocuted to death, their bodies being left out for the public to see, that also to send a message.

Now along the various different fronts, there are different levels of progress. To the east we are seeing more sweeping operations happening in the sense that the front lines more or less holding at this stage as the Kurdish and Iraqi forces try to go back and move through areas that they have already cleared.

To the west of the city you have the predominantly Shi'a paramilitary force making relatively-speaking quick progress as they move up from the west trying to eventually block off a key ISIS supply route from Syria into Mosul, but also moving towards the city of Tal Afar, which could potentially cause a lot of problems, given that Turkey has issued a very stark warning not wanting to see this paramilitary force inside Tal Afar, or even partaking in this battle.

But speaking of the villages that have already been cleared, George, a number of them, dozens of them in fact, Christian villages, and we visited one of them where the destruction was very evident and painful for those who once called it home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAMON: Father Bin Hamlellou's (ph) voice echoes through the blackened shell of his church. He has loved this place ever since he was a child.

FATHER BIN HAMLELLOU (PH) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): I was 7- or 8-years- old, and I used to sit in the first row. The deacons and priests would be praying. I'd sit looking round the church. I never thought the day would come that the church would look like this.

DAMON: He knew ISIS were cruel, but could never imagine this.

BIN HAMLELLOU (ph): How can they come into a church, a house of worship, and do this, with peaceful and loving people? We don't want enemies.

DAMON: But they had no choice. Throughout this once sleepy town, ISIS defaced and destroyed all symbols of Christianity, and the battle to liberate Bartella left entire streets in ruins. Gravestones pock- marked with bullet holes, homes with the warning 'mufakhakh', booby- trapped, and only traces of the life before. We met Father Lallu (ph) two years ago, before the horror began, when this was a tranquil sanctuary.

FATHER LALLU (PH) (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): When you were here, I told you ISIS would come, and we asked them what they wanted. We didn't know ISIS was this ugly, this destructive, this evil. They want to send the world to the dark ages.

DAMON: But Father Lallu (ph) is ready to forgive.

LALLU (PH): We even pray for them, so that God can enlighten them, and they leave this road. How can someone blow himself up, or kill just because they're of a different faith?

DAMON: Bartella was liberated on the father's 49th birthday. But half his congregation has already left Iraq. He prays the rest will stay.

LALLU: We're trying, we are trying as best as we can to bring back hope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAMON: And George, that sentiment that you heard the father expressing there, the one the need to restore hope, that's not just applicable to the Christian community, but to so many others that have been suffering under ISIS' brutal rule.

And there is very little doubt in anyone's mind that Mosul will eventually be liberated of ISIS. Of course the great question afterwards is how does this country rebuild itself, and what happens next?

HOWELL: Arwa, we've obviously been following your reporting and the reporting of our teams on the ground about the fighting, the offensive that is taking place as we speak. But your reporting there, and to show the nuance of before, and then to show after, it is haunting to see the extent of the devastation that is taking place.

At the same time you say Father Lallu (ph), ready to forgive. Arwa Damon live for us in Irbil, Iraq. Arwa, thank you for the reporting. We wish you and our other teams continued safety as you do so.

Airstrikes on a prison in Yemen have killed at least 43 people. The Houthi-controlled government says the bombs targeted Hudaydah, a port city under rebel control. Their defense ministry blames the Saudi-led coalition, which has yet to comment on that assault. The U. N. says 10,000 people have died in Yemen's conflict so far, and that the country is on the brink of mass starvation.

Now we move on to the brutal civil war that has been taking place in Syria. An activist group says at least 21 people there have been killed in Aleppo since Friday. The group says government forces backed by Hezbollah militants are trying to put down a new rebel offensive.

Our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, is live in Istanbul, and following developments. Ivan, what more can you tell us about the situation there across the border?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Syrian rebels are trying to expand their toeholds that they achieved, to capture in southwestern Aleppo when they launched a brutal offensive on Friday. The fighting has been raging off and on since then over the last 48 hours, and it appears that the rebels have expanded the front that they're attacking government lines on.

They're coming from pretty much the entire western side of the city, and this is an effort, the rebels say, to try to break through government lines, and to try to end the months long siege of rebel- held eastern Aleppo, which has endured months of Russian and Syrian government aerial bombardment, which the Russian government insists has been suspended now for nearly two weeks.

The rebel offensive has been accompanied by indiscriminate shelling from rockets, artillery, mortars, onto government-controlled western Aleppo, which caused dozens and dozens of civilian casualties. The rebels have also sent armored suicide car bombs against the government front line, some of them just having devastating results.

So this is a battle very much underway, and from what we are hearing from some, anecdotally, some residents of western Aleppo, and their internet apparently is cut off right now, many of them are taking the opportunity to flee right now to escape the ongoing killing and fighting there. George.

HOWELL: Ivan, let's also talk about the city where you are presently reporting for us, there in Istanbul. Obviously Turkey sharing a border with Syria, Turkey has seen a series of terror attacks, of suicide bombings. There was also that failed coup a couple months back.

And now, you know, we've heard continued warnings from the United States to its citizens, now word that the U. S. has ordered civilian family members of the U. S. consulate staff in Istanbul to leave the country now. What more can you tell us about that?

WATSON: That's right, it's a very unusual warning that came out Saturday night here. The state department ordering dependents, essentially family members, of U. S. diplomats that work here at the consulate in Istanbul, to leave for their safety.

That warning has not been extended to the U. S. embassy in Ankara, to the U. S. consulate in the city of Adana, or to dependents at the air base in Incirlik. So presumably there is some intelligence about threats to family members to staff here in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey, the commercial and cultural capital as well.

I can presume that this is related to the ongoing military offensive against ISIS across the border in Mosul in Iraq. Perhaps also linked to threats that the U. S. has made against the self-declared ISIS capital of Raqqa across the border in Syria.

The Turkish embassy here has put out -- the U. S. embassy in Ankara has put out a warning thanking Turkish authorities for their help in this matter. It is very clear that ISIS has been active here in Turkey. Throughout the last year alone, with the suicide bombing in Gaziantep, a suicide attack here in Istanbul at the airport in June, a suicide bomb not far from where I'm standing in March, and then a suicide bombing in Istanbul's old city in January of this year.

So not only is ISIS active on the other side of the border, but there -- it is very clear that there are some Turkish operatives that are active with ISIS, and the Turkish authorities have been trying to crack down on them. There have been several, one of them a deadly raid on suspended -- suspected ISIS operative in Turkey in the last two weeks, who then detonated himself and killed several Turkish security officers.

So the ISIS war across borders is something that has very much been exported here to Turkey, and has taken root here, and presumably that's part of why U. S. diplomats are worried right now here in Istanbul. George.

HOWELL: Our senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, reporting from Istanbul this hour. Ivan, thank you for the reporting. Moving on now to Australia, where refugees arriving in boats could be banned from ever settling in that country.

That is the new legislation being proposed by Australia's prime minister. Malcolm Turnbull says that he wants to send an unflinching message to people, people smugglers who prey on migrants and refugees. Still ahead here on Newsroom another very powerful earthquake strikes central Italy. The breaking news coverage continues this hour with the latest on the damage. Stay with us.

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HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. You're watching CNN Newsroom, and we continue following the breaking news this hour. A very strong earthquake to hit central Italy. It is the third in the past few days alone, this quake the largest, measuring 6. 6 magnitude.

And the video you see coming in to CNN shows very significant damage. So far though, no reports of casualties. Two very powerful earthquakes hit the very same region on Wednesday, weakening a number of structures.

Our journalist and CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau is live by phone from Rome, with the very latest. Barbie, are you hearing anything new from officials on the ground about the extent of damage, any reports of injuries or possible fatalities from this earthquake?

NADEAU: Well we still don't have any reports of fatalities at this point, but we are getting some reports about injuries, and about some of these outlying areas, small little towns that are being -- and little enclaves where people live being cut off because of damage to the road.

We've had reports that they've had to use a helicopter to lift some people to safety. That's not necessarily because they were so badly injured, but it's because they just couldn't get an ambulance up to them to check out the situation.

The civil protection authorities, fire, police, and all the people you would expect in an emergency like this are in action. They've been there since Wednesday, so that there are a lot of people on the ground already.

One thing that I think is the silver lining in this, is it's so many people evacuated during those earthquakes that you mentioned last week, so we're not going to see probably a lot of widespread loss of life, just due to the fact that people weren't in their houses.

So many of these homes were damaged during those earthquakes last week, and have fallen to the ground as we've seen in the incredible images just from this very strong earthquake this morning. And this has been a real blow to the cultural heritage of that area.

As you mentioned, the churches that have -- you know, there's some beautiful churches that were standing last Wednesday that are now, you know, in complete rubble this morning, and that's also a blow to the area.

It's not just loss of life in a place like this, or casualties or loss of homes, it extends to really the loss of the communities. We've seen places that will never be the same again, they're completely wiped off the map in some cases when you've got little villages that just are in rubble, you know.

It's very unlikely a lot of these places will ever be rebuilt because of the difficulty in just who's going to pay for that, and the infrastructure, you know. You can't rebuild a medieval town, and you know, those are all concerns obviously people ask every time one of these seismic events happens, why do these buildings fall? Why aren't they stronger considering that this is an earthquake don't (ph) -- a heavy seismic activity all the time? But you know, this is -- you know, the questions continue to be asked, you know, whether lessons are learned of course, George, is a whole different thing. Will people now, you know, put in the anti-seismic measures, the anti-earthquake reinforcements, and things like that. That's obviously the next step, but that's the questions people are asking today as well.

HOWELL: Barbie, I wanna show our viewers here, stay on the line with us, but I do want to show them this side-by-side image of the Basilica of Norcia if we have that image to show our viewers, because you get a sense of these older buildings.

Look at the before here on one side of your screen, and then look at the after. This is after today's earthquake, this magnitude 6. 6 quake. Barbie, you point out very rightly, these are very older buildings, and the question is how do you rebuild, how do you restore such a historic part of that country, such a beautiful part of that country?

But the question many ask, Barbie, is given what's happened this week alone, not talking about the years past in this seismic region, but this very week alone, a magnitude 5. 5 quake on Wednesday, then followed by a 6. 1 quake, and now this 6. 6, is there a sense that people will even go back into that region, that they will want to rebuild?

NADEAU: Well we spoke with a lot of people in the area when we were there last week who just said this is it, enough is enough, you know, they can't -- can't even envision staying in a place like that. Because we're talking about these big earthquakes, the 5. 5, the 6. 1, the 6. 6, but in between all of those big earthquakes it's just cascading aftershock after aftershock, some every 20 minutes.

They just keep going, the earth really just keeps moving and moving and moving. And that's so unnerving to people, especially those elderly people who may be in wheelchairs. We've seen so many people being carried out of, you know, areas with their wheelchair.

And we saw in the shelters (ph) last week that they were primarily elderly people who have maybe spent their whole lives there, maybe don't really want to leave, but don't see how they could possibly stay. Those are the questions.

It's bewildering to a lot of people that maybe don't have the economic ability to go somewhere else. A lot of people don't have insurance for natural disasters for the contents of their house. So (ph) you know, there's a lot to consider here when you think about rebuilding.

And rebuilding in an earthquake zone, you know, you really have to think twice about that, especially when you see the -- you know, three earthquakes like this in the -- in the matter of three, four days is just terrifying for people who live in that area, George.

HOWELL: Journalist and CNN contributor Barbie Nadeau on the line with us from Rome, explaining the situation there. Barbie, we'll stay in touch as I'm sure you're speaking with your contacts and sources there on the ground to get more information about the extent of the damage, the possible casualties, the extent of injuries from this major earthquake.

Let's now bring in our meteorologist, Derek Van Dam, who is also following the situation there. And Derek, you know, we were just talking about last week, this Wednesday earthquake, but let's think back to August, that big earthquake in August, where nearly 300 people were killed, this earthquake near Amatrice, and now we're talking about strong earthquakes in central Italy. What more can you tell us?

VAN DAM: An extremely active fault line to say the least, whether or not these are foreshocks or aftershocks, the details there we don't want to get lost in, but you heard Barbie mention that how do you rebuild after something like this, these historical landmarks?

For instance, the Basilica of St. Benedict in the Norcia region, I mean this is the birthplace of St. Benedict, that church or basilica was built upon that particular location, and now that we're seeing at least partial destruction of that building, you know, there goes a piece of history.

I wanna try and put this into perspective for you. According to the U. S. Geological Survey, we can see the number of people, or population densities, that experienced weak shaking, was at least 13 million people. And I'm already seeing on social media videos of people posting of the inside of their homes in Rome actually having lamps shaking, some dishes falling off of their counters for instance.

But what's also interesting to note here is that there was a significant population that felt either strong or very strong shaking from this magnitude 6. 6. So let's put the latest earthquakes across this very active fault line into perspective for you.

So today is a 6. 6, we know that just outside of the Norcia region was the epicenter, about six kilometers away. But as George mentioned, look at this, back in August of this year, the 24th, that was a magnitude 6. 2, slightly weaker than today's earthquake, that's why we would consider this a foreshock, but 298 fatalities.

And then we look back just four days ago, in a very similar close proximity, we had no fatalities, but another 6. 1 and 5. 5, just hours apart from each other, so a very active, active fault line to say the least. What concerns me here is that the depth was so shallow.

Ten kilometers deep really is a shallow earthquake, because if we had a deeper earthquake, we would just simply have more rock bed, more earth to absorb the shock wave of an earthquake. But when it's only 10 kilometers deep, there's just not enough there to really help absorb or dampen, let's say, the effects, the devastating effects of a strong earthquake like this.

Here's the Norcia village, or town. This is the epicenter. That is about six kilometers, or roughly three miles. And you can see just how mountainous this terrain is. So two fault lines coming together creating these mountains, but also creating a lot of pent-up energy, and that is why historically-speaking we have had hundreds, if not thousands, of earthquakes within this particular region, at least since the beginning of the century.

You can see the two plates really coming together, running parallel with the entire country of Italy, and they are coming together at 24 millimeters per year, which is roughly the same speed that your fingernails grow, just to put that into perspective.

Here's from the USGS, by the way, they can compare previous earthquakes of similar magnitude and similar depth. They would anticipate, they would forecast the highest probability of economic losses to fall somewhere between $10 million and $100 million, which by the way, George, is less than 1 percent of the GDP of Italy, but still a significant factor considering the amount of earthquakes that have already struck the region.

HOWELL: Derek Van Dam for us, and Derek, we'll stay in touch with you. Obviously we understand a very shallow earthquake, but at the same time very powerful, and we're starting to get reports now of the damage, and to learn more about people who may have been injured or possibly even killed. As we get those reports, we'll pass them along. Derek Van Dam, thank you so much. Stay with us, our breaking news coverage continues right after this break.

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HOWELL: Continue following the breaking news this hour in central Italy, a 6. 6 magnitude earthquake that hit east of Perugia. This is according to the U. S. Geological Survey, that earthquake struck at a depth of about 10 kilometers, or six miles. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam just described it as a shallow earthquake, the very same region was hit by two other earthquakes earlier in the week.

Also getting a statement from the monks of Norcia in Italy, Norcia I should say. They are looking for anyone who may need their last rites after this earthquake. This is according to a statement released by them. They say no reports of deaths or injuries at this time.

But I want to show you this image of the basilica at Norcia. You get a sense here of the before and after, the after this 6. 6 magnitude earthquake. You get a sense of the damage that has been done. And also, according to the monks of Norcia, there are reports of people trapped in the main square.

This is an area that links the town to the main roads, again, this according to a tweet on the monks of Norcia Twitter account. We're continuing to follow developments and get information from sources on the ground about what happened in central Italy, but again, a very strong earthquake that has struck the region. Stay with CNN as we continue following that breaking news.

America's choice 2016, the FBI's discovery of e-mails by one of Hillary Clinton's top aides was made public over the objections of the U. S. attorney general, this according to officials. The FBI director, James Comey, ignored those objections when he unilaterally uniformed Congress on Friday. In the meantime, Hillary Clinton on Saturday seemed to shake off the

bombshell announcement as she campaigned in Miami with pop star Jennifer Lopez. But she has been loudly complaining of Comey's timing, so close to this election.

Thousands of e-mails belonging to long-time Clinton aide Huma Abedin, were recently discovered during an unrelated FBI investigation of Abedin's estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. The revelation was red meat for Republican rival Donald Trump, who spoke about it greatly to his supporters. Here's what he had to say to them on Saturday. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, 2016 REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The only reason, the only reason that they did this action that you saw yesterday was very, very serious things must be happening, and must have been found, very, very serious things, very, very serious things.

(BOOING)

And you could also ask when they complain on the other side, why wasn't this evidence given previously? Why wasn't it given previously? And when you talk about instincts, I don't know if anybody saw my comments on Anthony Weiner?

AUDIENCE: Yes!

TRUMP: It's called instincts, folks.

(APPLAUSE)

I had no idea it was going to be that accurate, boy. That was right on the nose.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: As a matter of fact though, it is important to point out that not even the FBI understands what the contents are of these e-mails. All we know according to a source is that the e-mails were neither sent nor received by Hillary Clinton.

This is what Donald Trump was referring to in a tweet back in 2015, "it came out that Huma Abedin knows all about Hillary's private illegal e-mails. Huma's PR husband, Anthony Weiner, will tell the world. "

The FBI's investigation into Clinton's private e-mail server was closed last July, so its sudden resurrection so close to the election knocked the Clinton campaign back on its heels. The candidate has gone on the offensive, now targeting Comey for his timing. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON, 2016 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is pretty strange, it's pretty strange, to put something like that out with such little information right before an election.

(APPLAUSE)

In fact, in fact it's not just strange, it's unprecedented, and it is deeply troubling, because --

(BOOING)

-- voters deserve to get full and complete facts, and so we've called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table, right?

(APPLAUSE)

Now of course Donald Trump is already making up lies about this.

(BOOING)

He is doing his best to confuse, mislead, and discourage the American people --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Even before the e-mail controversy came back to life, new polls showed Trump closing the gap with Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post ABC poll released on Saturday has Clinton with just a two-point advantage. That is within the margin of error.

A week ago, Clinton had a double-digit edge in the very same poll. CNN's poll of polls, which averages the five most recent national polls, gives Hillary Clinton a five-point advantage over Donald Trump. That is a snapshot of where things stand right now. This is CNN Newsroom, we'll be right back after the break.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORT ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Patrick Snell with your world sport headlines, starting off with another hugely significant night for the Cleveland Indians, who have now taken a 3-1 World Series lead over the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs, remember, haven't won the Fall Classic in 108 very long years.

On Saturday, the Indians beat them (ph) to come 7-2 in game four, winning in Chicago for the second straight night, second baseman Jason Kipnis hitting a three run homer in the seventh, and his team never looked back. Cleveland now just one win away from clinching their first World Series crown in 68 years. Game five is Sunday night in the Windy City.

In other news round the grid, are the form (ph) team in Spain right now, another victory keeping them atop La Liga on Saturday, Real scoring four times on the road again (ph) to Alaves, a mixed game for Cristiani Ronaldo, he missed a penalty but still scored another from the spot. Ended up with a hat trick and a 4-1 win.

In the English Premiere, Leicester City's miserable away (ph) run is finally over, the reigning champs managing to draw one apiece at Spur (ph). It's their first away points of the season. Ahmed Musa was on target in the second half to make it a worthwhile day out in north London for the foxes (ph).

Tottenham remaining the only unbeaten team in the league, but they are now three points off the pace. Joint leaders Man City, Arsenal, and Liverpool all scored four goals each on Saturday. There you go, you are bang up to date. Thank you so much for joining us. That is a look at your CNN world sport headlines. I am Patrick Snell.

HOWELL: We continue following the breaking news this hour out of central Italy, another strong earthquake has struck, measuring 6. 6 in magnitude. We have some new video to show you here at CNN, showing the significant damage, this damage to a church in Norcia. So far there have been no reports of casualties or injuries, but we continue to stay in touch with our correspondents, our reporters, and the officials there are on the ground.

This is the third quake to hit that region in four days. Two quakes on Wednesday weakened a number of structures. Keep in mind the second earthquake on Wednesday was stronger than the first. The first earthquake was a 5. 5 in magnitude, the second a 6. 1 in magnitude, and now this 6. 6 magnitude earthquake.

Also want to show our viewers this side-by-side image to get a sense of how strong this earthquake was, the basilica of Norcia. You get a sense here before the earthquake, and then after this very strong earthquake hit. A great part of that building has been destroyed -- destroyed.

Our correspondent, rather our contributor, explained, Barbie Nadeau, that the difficulty comes in deciding how to rebuild such old historic buildings. There are also reports that people are trapped in the main square in an area that links the town to main roads.

This is according to a tweet on the monks of Norcia Twitter account, the monks of Norcia looking for anyone who may need their last rites after this 6. 6 magnitude earthquake hit the region according to a statement that they released. There are no reports of deaths or injuries according to the monks of Norcia, but they continue also to monitor the situation.

This is live breaking news coverage here on CNN, thank you for being with us. For our viewers in the United States, New Day is next. For other viewers around the world, the news continues here on CNN. Stay with us.

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