i'm george howell. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. >>> 4:00 a a.m. on the u.s. east coast. in just about 90 minutes time in italy, a state funeral is set to begin for some of the victims of wednesday's powerful earthquake in the central part of that nation. you're looking at live images this hour. it is 10:01 there where you see the service is about to start. 281 people were killed. rescuers there are hoping to find more survivors trapped in the rubble. but as each day passes, that hope is fading fast. in the meantime, thousands of people are living in camps until the civil protection agency can find them housing. cnn's atika is live at the state funeral where this is happening. if you could just tell us what is happening right now. >> reporter: that's right. i'm just near the gymnasium where that funeral will be taking place. scouts and police have formed a corridor for family to enter the gymnasium. that is where many of the coffins have been laid out, along with flowers. a total of 49 people died in

i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. aiming for the gold, new records have been set in rio on this first day of competition at the olympic games. a big win for hungary. katino hossu broke the world record or the women's 400 meter individual medically, winning the gold. christina mcfar legion walks us through the highlights of the first day of competition. >> it was a busy opening day here in rio where the 31st olympiad got under way with 12 olympic gold medals across seven disciplines. the first of the day went to the united states. 19-year-old jenny flasher in the 10 meter air rifle, pulling off a surprise upset to beat the 2004 athens gold medalist. just days after 273 russian athletes were finally cleared on take part in the olympic games after state-sponsored doping, russia got gold in the had 60 kill low graham judo competition. >>> perhaps the most dramatic event of the day, however, was the men's road race after italy's vincenzo niobili crossed out greg to take gold on the closing

i'm george howell. >> it is friday. i'm christine romans. 4:00 a.m. in the east. donald trump like we have never seen him before. the republican nominee in north carolina last night making his first appearance since the campaign reboot. his speech did unveil a new trump, but not the way many expected. instead, after hiring new campaign executives famous for being combative. trump came as close to he ever has to an apology. also making news is a last minute schedule change. adding a stop in louisiana to tour areas devastated by flooding. this as republicans try to paint obama as out of touch for sticking to his golf schedule in martha's vineyard. more from jason carroll. >> reporter: christine and george, this was a different donald trump in charlotte with the rally speech. after it was over, i spoke to a number of people who were here. one woman told me donald trump in her words was not just running his mouth. he sounded more presidential. he had more substance. another man telling me he seemed to speak

i'm george howell. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. >>> let it be known around the world history has been made. usain bolt has his triple triple. he won the 4 x 100 meter replay along with his fellow sprinters for team jamaica. three golds, three event, three straight olympics. in addition to the re-lakers the lightning bolt this year's 100 and 200-meter races and said rio will be his final olympics. usain bolt fans celebrated wildly about his big win. let's go live to rio and hand off to christina macfarlane. good morning to you. what an exciting day of on competition. >> what an exciting day, george. the tri logy is complete. i'll tell you what, it was actually neck and neck for some time into the race until it got to the anchor leg. he had the baton passed on to him and he took over. at that point jamaican were level with the united states and japan as you can see. from this point here, usain bolt took about four steps to get into his stride. then he powered through the 100 meters like we see him do

i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. 4:00 a.m. on the east coast, in italy, people are struggling with loss and sadness as they bury victims from the earthquake wednesday. they held a state funeral saturday which was also a national day of mourning. it reduced one town to rubble and badly damaged another. it is the human loss that is most painful in these communities. nearly 300 dead and many more are missing. atika shubert has more now on the service. >> reporter: a school gymnasium turned makeshift chapel fit for a state funeral. 35 coffins each with a bouquet of flowers and a picture of the person lost in italy's devastating earthquake. beside them, family members, many survivors themselves, their broken limbs in casts, faces bruised and bandaged, their eyes red and swollen from crying. italy's prime minister and president attended offering condolences to those who lost loved one, thanking those who pulled survivors from the rubble. a bishop led the service mentioning victims by name i

i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now. >>> good day to you. in milwaukee, wisconsin, things are calming down at this hour after a night of violent protests sparked by a police shooting. an officer shot and killed an armed man during a foot chase. during the protests, one officer was hit in the head by a brick thrown into his squad car. police then moved in to clear the streets as you see here, but they say protesters set four buildings on fire. milwaukee's mayor spoke about the shooting. >> he was hit by two bullets, one in the chest, one in the arm. that individual was a 23-year-old man, has died. the officer was wearing a body camera. it is my understanding that the body camera was operating. because it involved the milwaukee police and because an individual was killed, the investigation is being led by the state of wisconsin so the state of wisconsin will be the one that will have access to that film from the body camera and is the one that is now undergoing the investigation. as you all

i'm george howell. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. >>> the music just gets you excited. the rio olympics. the games have begun. summer games officially under way. there was the parade of nations. every time you would expect the world's best athletes proudly marched together in the opening statement at rio's maracana stadium. former olympian bronze medalist took that honor. you see the image there. beautiful moment there. the theme of the ceremony was rebirth and regeneration, perhaps fitting you could say, given problems brazil has faced leading up to these days. a different scene before the games began, rye on on the police used tear gas against protest tphers rio. so much to talk about with this opening ceremony. shasta darlington live with the latest in rio. shasta, good day to you. >> reporter: good morning, george. it was a spectacle that was done on the 10th of the budget, raising hopes that rio can finally turn the page on what was a troubled lead-up. telling the story of brazil's indigenous roo

i'm george howell. cnn "newsroom" starts right now. >>> good day to you. day seven of the rio olympics and another list of winners to tell you about from friday's events. u.s. swimmer katie ledecky, did you see this? she broke her own world record winning the 800-meter. >>> and this is singapore's first ever olympic medal. the u.s. women's football, a major upset when sweden knocked out the defending champions in the quarterfinals. let's go live to rio for the latest. shasta darlington live with us this hour to walk through all the highlights. good to have you with us. katie ledecky breaking her own record, and michael phelps falling short of the gold. >> that's right, george. as you said, it was his 27th medal in the olympics. it wasn't meant to be gold. he was given a schooling by joseph schooling who beat him out in the 100-meter butterfly. but he did win the silver. he tied with two of his rivals, including south africa's chad le clos. schooling, on the other hand at a press conference, went on to s

i'm george howell, it's wednesday august 31st. 5:00 a.m.n the east. >>> and breaking overnight -- donald trump announcing that he will meet today with the president of mexico. that meeting set to happen just hours before trump delivers a hotly anticipated speech, laying out the details of his immigration policy. a sitdown between trump and the mexican president is surprising to say the least, given trump's repeated vows to build a wall along the mexican border and make mexico pay for that wall. last month, mexico's president enrique pena

i'm christine romans. >> i'm george howell. 31 minutes past the hour. breaking news to share with you from the olympic games. brazilian police pulling two american swimmers off their plane and seizing their passports. attempting to serve a warrant on ryan lochte. only to discover he already left brazil and police are trying to find another teammate. james feigen. his exact whereabouts are unclear. authorities say they want to question all four olympic swimmers about their report they were robbed by gunmen who they say were dressed as police officers. investigators also questioning the truthfulness of the report based on inconsistent statements. and on surveillance video purporting to show behavior after the alleged robbery. let's bring in cnn's nick paton walsh in rio. >> reporter: christine and george, this remarkable story has another extraordinary turn to it. two swimmers who have not been questioned by brazilian police involved in the remarkable instance sunday morning where they said they were robbed by men dressed as police. the two individuals ha

i'm christine romans. >> i'm george howell. 30 minutes past the hour. donald trump is hoping to reboot his campaign this morning after giving a major speech explaining his plan to take on and defeat isis and safeguard the u.s. trump went on promising a global clash on islamic terror. he called for the testing of values of all would-be immigrants. trump vowed to keep guantanamo bay open. he also slammed hillary clinton and president obama this time without again calling them the quote founders of isis. trump blamed the terror group's rise on the policy decisions. listen. >> we cannot let this evil continue. nor can we late the hateful ideology of radical islam. oppression of women, gays, children and non believers be allowed to reside or spread in our country. any country which shares this goal will be our ally. we cannot always choose our friends, but we can never fail to recognize our enemies. if i become president, the era of nation building will be brought to a very swift and decisive end. hillary clinton lacks the judgment, as said by bernie sanders

i'm christine romans. >> i'm george howell. it is 4:31.ration among republican leaders upset and disappear pointed with their presidential candidate. in the trump campaign, staffers are baffled how to keep trump on message and out of trouble. the campaign has reached out to chris christie and newt gingrich and other trump advisors looking for help to keep their nominee on the rails. >> what's truly frustrating here is you have a very talented businessman who might actually become a historic figure, but he has to -- every morning he has to say the only two people i'm fighting with are hillary clinton and obama. you have to win the argument of whether or not this has been good. other than those two people, every time he talks about anyone else, it is an unforced fumble, if you like or interception, as i would have said. it is clearly a mistake. >> one adviser tells cnn trump himself seems surprised by the negative public reaction to the battle with the gold star family of the muslim-american soldier. he is taking advice of leaders reaching o

i'm george howell. >> i'm christine romans. let's begin with president obama taking one last parting shot at donald trump before taking off on summer vacation. in a news conference, the president delivered a troubling assessment on isis and shot down the allegations that the u.s. paid $400 million to iran for four hostages. he spoke about the claims that the election is rigged. >> i don't know where to start on answering this question. of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? the federal government doesn't run the election process. states and cities and communities all across the country, they're the ones who set up the voting systems and voting booths. if mr. trump is suggesting there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country including in places like texas where typically it's not democrats in charge of voting booths, that's ridiculous. >> now that $400 million cash payment the u.s. made to iran, the president says there was no ransom and no scandal there. he says his administra

. >> i'm george howell. good to be with you. live from cnn world headquarters in atlanta, "cnn newsroom" starts right now. ♪ >>> just from the graphic it looks exciting. the rio olympics four days away. the excitement continues to build. but also the questions are building as well. there are concerns over the readiness of the infrastructure. even health concerns for the athletes and spectators that threaten to spoil a smooth start. >> that's not even counting what else is happening in the streets of rio. on sunday brazilians demonstrated against suspended president dilma rousseff. they want her out for good. that's all adding to a flurry of existing issues that brazil is hoping to put its problems aside to host a successful olympics. our christina mcfarland joins us live from leo. we see the beach of copa cabana behind you there as the countdown continues, four days to go, so many challenges for the coast nation. what is the mood there and what's being said about all these problems and challenges and whether these games will ind

i'm george howell. the u.s.n, but they say the $400 million was held up and used as leverage to make sure the prisoners were set free. a spokesman claims the iranians would have gotten the money because it did belong to them. house speaker paul ryan says president obama owes the american people a full accounting of his actions and tries to mislead the public about it. >>> a close call for military advisers in northern syria. they were nearby on thursday when war planes launched an attack on the kurdish ypg. this is the first time the kurds have been targeted in the province. about 300 u.s. military advisors are in the area. >>> twitter has suspended 235,000 accounts in the last six months for promoting extremism or terrorism. the company is expanding the department that reviews the questionable accounts. twitter is widely used by extremist groups. daily account suspensions are up over 80% since last year. >>> chicago's police superintendent plans to fire seven officers accused of lying about the shooting death o

good morning, welcome to "early start" i'm george howell. >> nice to see you, george.mans, it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's begin with a political story, breaking overnight, another huge shake-up in the trump campaign. trump naming steve bannon as poll sister. and kellyanne conway is now campaign manager. bannon is a critic of

good morning, welcome to "early start" i'm george howell. >> nice to see you, george. i'm christine romans, it's 5:00 a.m. in the east. let's begin with a political story, breaking overnight, another huge shake-up in the trump campaign. trump naming steve bannon as poll sister. and kellyanne conway is now campaign manager. bannon is a critic of paul join and mitch mcconnell. paul manafort remains chairman but his power, many are say, is likely diminished with the new moves. much more on that. all of that taking the spotlight off of trump attempting to focus on policy. last night trump making a pitch to african-american voters in a place near milwaukee. he called for more police, more police in poor communities. he targeted hillary clinton agency anti-cop. cnn's jason carroll is there. he has more from wisconsin for us. >> reporter: christine, george, make no mistake, this was a law and order speech in west bend but it was also an attempt to reach out to the african-american community. donald trump when he took the stage talked about the violence plaguing the innercitie

i'm george howell. >> i'm christine romans. 32 minutes past the hour.id to be upset and disappointed with donald trump. their own candidate for president. inside the trump campaign, staffers are baffled over how to keep the candidate on message and out of trouble. sources revealing that the campaign has reached out to chris christie, newt gingrich and other valued donald trump advisors for help in keeping the nominee on track. >> what's truly frustrating here is you have a very talented businessman who might actually become a historic figure, but he has to keep -- every morning he has to say the only two people i'm fighting with barack obama and hillary clinton. you have to win the argument of whether or not this is good. other than those two people, every time he talks about anyone else it is an unforced fumble, if you like, or interception, as i would have said. it is clearly a mistake. >> one adviser telling cnn that trump himself seemed surprised by the public negative reaction by the battle with the gold star muslim-american family. now he is heedi

. >> i'm george howell. first up, the issue over president obama paying iran $400 million for the release of hostages. the president denied that charge and calling the process open and transparent. he seemed most anxious to discuss donald trump's recent claim that the presidential election in november could somehow be rigged. listen. >> i don't really know where to start on answering this question. of course the elections will not be rigged. what does that mean? the federal government doesn't run the election process. states and cities and communities across the country, they are the one whos who set ue voting systems and booths. if mr. trump is suggesting there is a conspiracy theory that is being propagated across the country, including in places like texas where typically it's not democrats in charge of voting booths, that's ridiculous. >> as for that $400 million cash payment, the u.s. made to iran, the president says there was no ransom and no scandal. insisting his administration has been transparent a

i'm george howell with the headlines. this hour, a terror attack at a wedding celebration in southern turkey. the death toll has risen to 50 people dead according to local officials. dozens of others are wounded there. this explosion happened near the syrian border. turkey's president says he believes isis is likely behind the attack. no one claimed official responsibility. >>> u.s. swimmer, ryan lochte, admitting to matt lauer that he over exaggerating the story about him and his teammates being robbed at gunpoint. the ioc and u.s. swimming will review it for disciplinary actions. >>> boxing fans have reason to celebrate after two back-to-back golds. ramirez won the men's ban tom weight final ond lopez took middle weight. cuba has 11 golds in rio. in afghanistan, an official says security forces have retaken a district from the taliban. earlier on saturday, militants there briefly took over the district near the key city of dunduz. it was a major victory for that group. we have a sad story to update you on that has drawn

i'm george howell, it's wednesday august 31st. 5:00 a.m. on the east. >>> and breaking overnight -- donald trump announcing that he will meet today with the president of mexico. that meeting set to happen just hours before trump delivers a hotly anticipated speech, laying out the details of his immigration policy. a sitdown between trump and the mexican president is surprising to say the least, given trump's repeated vows to build a wall along the mexican border and make mexico pay for that wall. last month, mexico's president enrique pena nieto told cnn there's no way mexico will pay for it. >> there's a way to have mexico pay for the ball but the decision is a decision of its government. >> but under no circumstances would mexico pay for that wall? >> there is no way that mexico can pay for a wall like that. >> trump has also drawn fierce attacks in mexico in the hispanic community for his sometimes heated rhetoric. cnn's phil mattingly has the latest in the campaign. >> reporter: good morning, george and christine, we knew there was goin

i'm rosemary church. >> i'm george howell.g the situation in milwaukee, wisconsin, after another night of protests and unrest in that city. a police officer has been taken to the hospital after rocks were thrown through his car windshield. authorities say they've made multiple arrests there. the national guard also has been activated and will be deployed, if necessary. >> demonstrations first broke out saturday after police shot and killed an armed man during a foot chase. people set several buildings on fire and threw bricks at police. 17 people were arrested saturday night. >> earlier on sunday, vigils were held for the man who was shot and killed by police. in an emotional moment, his sister spoke out about what it's like to lose her big brother. >> he's my brother, my protector. somebody that's supposed to be there for me. a facebook friend, status, maybe a like at the club. i lost my brother. i can't get him back. never. never. that's pain. that's real hurt. i can't look my brother in the eye and say i love you. i didn't

i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right

i'm george howell. "cnn newsroom" starts right now.

. >> i'm george howell. good to be with you. live from cnn world headquarters in

i'm george howell. >> thank you for joining us. this is "cnn newsroom." >>> 3:00 a.m. on the east coast, japanese emperor gave his first public address in years less than an hour ago pointedly. he expressed concerns about his advancing age and declining h p health. >> he came as close as he might within traditional bounds of propriority. and our will ripley is live in tokyo. the emperor appears to be preparing the people of japan for his gradual departure, but it may not be an easy manner. talk to us about what he had to say. >> absolutely. this is really listening to the emperor speak you get a sense of how things often work here in japanese culture where one might express a strong message without coming out and saying i want to step down. the emperor didn't say that, but he talked about the fact that his health has been failing. he had surgery for a heart condition and for cancer. he's 82. his wife is 81. they have already had to cut 100 meetings off their schedule. he wants the emperor to fully serve the people and wonders if in his advancing age he would be capable

i'm george howell. >> thank you for joining us. this is "cnn newsroom."

"early start" with christine romans and george howell begins right now. >>> donald trump laying out hislan to fight isis and terrorism around the world. some of the proposals coming under scrutiny. we will have a look. >>> donald trump under fire from the three best known democrats in the world. hillary clinton and president obama and vice president biden. all getting their digs in. >>> and a photo finish in rio. american allyson felix close to taking the gold in the 400 final. it is a finish that will go down in the history

let's begin with our george howell. >> good morning. donald trump at a rally in north carolina for the very first time surprising the audience there, saying something that people did not expect him to say. >> i've never been politically correct. >> reporter: donald trump doing what he refused to do throughout his campaign, expressing remorse for his controversial statements. >> sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. i have done that. and believe it or not, i regret it. >> reporter: a complete 180 from the unapologetic tone his supporters have come to expect. >> and i do regret it. particularly where it may have caused personal pain. too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues. but one thing i can promise you this, i will always tell you the truth. >> reporter: trump delivers prepared remarks, speaking for the first time since his campaign reboot and veering away from the brash persona that could doom him in the general election.

howell school road is going to close through september. highway one there's slowing because of an accident northbound on highway one near the roth bridge close to saint georges, single digit speeds north of biddle corner him. >>> a para glider was killed hitting a church roof in utah no one else was injured, the church canceled sunday's services. >>> freddie galvis wants protective netting expanded at citizens bank park. a fowl ball hit a young girl. she was taken to the hospital and is going to be okay. phillies netting covers behind home plate and stretches to the inner edge of the dugout. they will consider extending the netting. another woman was hit by a foul ball in yesterday's game. >>> crews in california are getting the up are hand on wildfires in lower lakes set by an arsonist. mandatory evacuation orders are issued for lincoln county that covers communities west of spokane. the national institute of health warns the zika virus could hang around the united states for another year or two, nontraveled related zika virus cases have been found in miami, they are the first places in the u.s. mainland where mosquitoes are transmitting the virus. texas an

george washington by dying. meanwhile, general gay choosing cards -- charge of the british -- general gauge -- who is in charge of the british soldiers inspired. it will be howell versus washington for most of the rest of the war. washington --s to massachusetts to assemble some of the continental army and almost has no guns. very little gunpowder as well. however, he also has a major british force in canada which he has strong concerns they will come down and break the siege of boston, which is their aim. so the cost of congress authorizes a new campaign into canada and personally i never learned any of this in elementary school. i had no idea canada was involved. they were invited to the continental congress as a 14th colony. colonel arnold, benedict arnold is one of the key men in the campaign and goes towards quebec city. richard montgomery goes and he has some sieges along lake champlain and up to montreal that ultimately meet benedict arnold are quebec city. i would not give everything away and the book but the battle of quebec city -- they fight during a blizzard on new year's eve. up to this point, the walled city of quebec has never been breached and t