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
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.</s>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.</s>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</s>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.</s>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?</s>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.</s>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?</s>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.</s>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.</s>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. 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.</s>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.</s>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.</s>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.</s>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.</s>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.</s>TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes.</s>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.</s>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.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Twenty African-Americans from Austin, Texas. How many times democrats do we have here?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was nine.</s>TUCHMAN: OK. Nine democrats. How many republicans? Five. Five republicans. The rest, independent. All watching Donald Trump's rally with us.</s>TRUMP: Every African-American child in this country...</s>TUCHMAN: Most not happy with what they were hearing.</s>TRUMP: A good education with a great paying job, that's success.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just so easy, you know.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not saying anything.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fish in a barrel, baby.</s>TUCHMAN: But among republican supporting Trump, like these two people...</s>TRUMP: We're going to cut taxes and create millions and millions of new jobs.</s>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.</s>NATHALENE MATTHEWS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I'm just a republican and I'm going support the republican candidate, whoever that person is.</s>TUCHMAN: Other Trump supporters look past this controversial cam and look forward to a more hands off government.</s>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.</s>TUCHMAN: But those who were among the nicest things said about Trump here.</s>TRUMP: I say this to the African-American community, give Donald Trump a chance.</s>TUCHMAN: Richard Franklin is an independent leading towards Jill Stein. Would those words persuade you perhaps to give him a chance?</s>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.</s>TUCHMAN: And then there are other democrats. He doesn't convince you of anything?</s>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.</s>KEITH HENRY, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I thought his rhetoric was rancorous and nonsensical.</s>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.</s>TUCHMAN: But what about Trump's approach over the last week to focus parts of his speeches and making African-American's lives better?</s>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.</s>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?</s>MARILYN JACKSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Not necessarily if it is the truth.</s>TUCHMAN: Democrat Latreese Cooke disagrees.</s>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.</s>TUCHMAN: Mr. Trump has 76 days and counting to try and change her mind. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Austin, Texas.</s>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.