- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.
- And thanks for joiningus for CBN Newswatch,
I'm Heather Sells.
Schools and businesses acrossVenezuela remain closed
as a massive power outage has crippled
the Latin American nationfor a fifth straight day.
Much of the country plungedinto darkness Thursday,
making what has already been challenging--
a challenging few monthseven more difficult.
Opponents of Nicolas Madurosay 17 people have died
as a result of the blackout.
The government blames the U.S.for launching cyber attacks
on Venezuela's electric grid
but experts say it is theoutcome of years of neglect
and underinvestment.
Tempers are boiling overas pro and anti government
demonstrators took to thestreets of the Capitol
in dueling marches.
United States and about 50 other countries
are urging Maduro to step down.
And joining me now is CBN SeniorInternational Correspondent
George Thomas.
George, what do we knowabout how Venezuelans
are coping with this outage?
- Yeah, well we just saw images of people
all trying to get theircell phones connected.
Just imagine, you have no electricity,
it's about 70 degrees onaverage this entire week.
People are frustrated,the schools are closed,
businesses are closed,hospitals are closed,
the oil industry's not pumping out oil.
Keep in mind Venezuela hasone of the largest reserves
of oil in the world,second to Saudi Arabia.
Nothing is functioning in this country.
There is no food, no medicine,and this was the case
before all of this and now just imagine,
now keep in mind, you know,you had rolling blackouts
very common in Venezuela over the last
10, 20 years, it's verycommon two, three hours
of power outages but now,
there is like, no lights on.
I mean, it would come on, flicker--
- And it's not just an inconvenience.
I mean, we're talkingabout people dying here
so this is really serious.
- Oh, absolutely.
And the opposition says about 17 people
lost their lives as a resultof the blackout but this is
huge, I mean,
there is so much frustrationon top of the political
impasse between Maduro and Guido,
you have this process of no electricity
makes life all the moremiserable for the Venezuelans.
- And now the presidentMaduro is blaming the U.S.,
is there any credibility to that?
- No.
(laughs)
I mean, no.
Because you know why?
This is a country that has dealt with,
you know, sanctions on one hand but also
the lack of investmentin basic infrastructure
from roads, to electricity, to water,
their electrical grid is an aging one.
They have not invested money in it.
A lot of that money wassiphoned off for other projects,
for personal
benefit so this is, you know, sort of a
cascade of events that's taken place
and in the process,
crippled the electrical grid in Venezuela.
- How do you evaluatethings overall right now?
It's been six weeks sincethe opposition leader,
you know, presented himself and still,
it seems like things arereally at an impasse.
- Very good word and that it is.
That's what it is.
It is a stalemate in essence.
Today, the U.S. Treasury Secr--
or the U.S. TreasuryDepartment slapped sanctions
on a Russian based bank.
Accused the Russian bankof circumventing the
sanctions that have been in place,
imposed on the Venezuelan government.
But this is what we're at, Heather.
We are at an impasse, astalemate, call it what you have.
You have both sides havethese dueling protests
almost every day but there'sno traction and it seems that
again, it comes down to the military.
It's very, very difficult to pry
the military from theMaduro regime because
it has been entrenched
in the Venezuelan fromthe days of Hugo Chavez.
They made a pact with the military
and today, the military ispretty much filtered through
the entire ranks of the government.
And to pry them and to say,
"Listen, you give up Maduro
"and you take Guido as the new leader,"
it's a very, very difficult divorce
that the U.S. and Guidois trying to force.
And it's very difficult.
- And we know that the U.S.is trying to get aid in
via the border.
Do we know if that is at all helping?
Where things are at?
- Yeah, well they delivered their seventh
plane load of relief supplies.
Right there, you see itlanded today on the border
of Brazil and Venezuela but no,
the aid is just piling up.
They're getting ready,obviously they're positioned
but no, no aid is gettinginto the country thus far.
They were hoping thatabout two, three weeks ago
there would be this dramaticmoment at the border,
that they would be able toget to aid across the border.
That didn't happen again,we're at an impasse
and the United States istrying all kinds of things.
The political pressure, the sanctions,
and the outcry from some 50countries around the world,
Maduro, he's
in there for a while.
- Yeah, so much concernover the suffering.
George Thomas, thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Well here at home,President Trump is reviving
his border wall budget battlewith Democrats in Congress
and he's asking for eightpoint six billion dollars
for the wall in his new budget request.
A border wall has been oneof his biggest promises
since he ran for the White House in 2016.
- The wall and it has to be built.
And we wanna build it fast.
- But Democratic leaders inCongress warn the president
this will lead to anothergovernment shutdown.
House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi
and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
said in a statement,
"Congress refused to fundhis wall and he was forced
"to admit defeat andreopen the government.
"The same thing will repeat itself.
"We hope he has learned his lesson."
But White House Advisor,Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow
says the president will not back down.
- So yes.
He's gonna stay with hiswall and he's gonna stay with
the border security thing.
I think it's essential.
- So the stage may be set foranother government shutdown.
Our team in Washington,D.C. will have more
on the latest in Washingtonon tonight's Faith Nation.
You can catch that righthere on the CBN News Channel.
Well the Trump Administrationis working on a proposal
that would require othercountries to pay the full price
of American soldiersdeployed on their soil.
Officials say nationshosting American troops
would also pay 50% ormore for the privilege
of hosting them.
It's called the Cost Plus 50
and this plan would costfive or six times more
for countries like Germany,Japan, and South Korea.
Bloomberg reported that Trump's advisors
have pushed back against this idea.
Joining us now with more is David Maxwell
for the Foundation forDefense of Democracies.
Thanks for joining us.
- Thank you.
- Tell us, some see thisrequest for cost sharing
as a real game changer andthinking about how we view
our relationship with ourallies and troop deployments.
How do you see it?
- Yes, I think it really,
it illustrates the transactionalnature of foreign policy
that President Trump
has really embarked on.
And I think it,
it really kind of goes against
the reasons that we deploy troops.
Not to defend these countries.
We deploy our troops andstation our troops overseas
to serve our nationalstrategic interests and
the benefit to the hostcountries is purely secondary.
- That's such an interesting perspective.
There's concern among criticsthat this will be viewed
as an ultimatum
by countries that havelong resisted U.S. troops
like Germany and Japan
and that they might decidethey don't want U.S. troops.
Do you see that as a possibility?
- Absolutely.
I think that you know, this Cost Plus 50,
you know, could be a realdeal breaker for some
and then of course, if acountry asks us to leave,
one thing the United Statesis very good at is leaving.
If a country doesn't want us to stay,
then we do go home.
And so I think
you could see us leave certain countries,
which could really impactour strategic ability
to project power, to conductoperations around the world.
In effect, these basesaround the world allow us
to be a global power and without them,
we will not be the America thatwe have known for the last,
you know 70, 80 years.
- What do you see as the motive behind
the Trump Administration's request here?
What would our interest be in this?
- Well I think it's purely financial.
It seems to me from listening,
and I don't know the president,
I've never spoken withhim but listening to him
and reading his tweets,
he feels that we are providinga service to these countries
and they are not adequately funding
our presence.
I disagree with that, you know?
Again, we are there forour strategic interests
and the benefit to thesecountries is secondary.
And furthermore,
if we were to remove our troops from
these countries overseas,
right now, we have no place to base them.
The Base Realignmentand Closure Commission
really has optimized our
CONUS base or ContinentalUnited States based
posts and installations forthe force structure we have
in the United States.
So to bring back, youknow, some 165 troops,
fighter wings,
the Seventh Fleet from Japan, for example,
we don't have the space to base them
so we either eliminatethat force structure,
weakening our military orthe burden is gonna be placed
totally on the U.S. taxpayerto build the facilities
to house these troops if we wanna maintain
that force structure.
- What do you predictis gonna happen next?
Do you think the U.S. mightpotentially back down?
Do you think some countries will back out?
- Well, I think fromreading The Art of the Deal,
I think this is an extremenegotiating position.
I think it's clear President Trump wants
countries to pay more
and so I think thathe's probably, you know,
laid out this Cost Plus50 percent as an extreme
bargaining position and Ithink what will happen is
all the countries will pay some more
but not this much.
And I think that, youknow, it's a negotiation
and President Trump is adeal maker and I think he's,
you know, he's showing ushow the game is played.
- Alright, David Maxwell, thanksfor your time and insights.
- You're welcome, thank you.
- Well in other news today,Covington Catholic High School
student, Nick Sandmann's attorney
plans to sue CNN.
Attorney Lin Wood toldFox News host Mark Levin
that CNN's reporting onSandmann at the March for Life
in Washington in January was quote,
particularly vicious.
And the suit will be forat least $250 million.
Sandmann is the student who found himself
at the center of a controversyfollowing his school
attending the March for Life event.
Video of him standing face to face with
a Native American man went viral,
reports went out thathe and other schoolmates
were confronting the NativeAmericans and another group
who were at rallies that day
and Wood says Sandmann wearing a
Make American Great Againhat was falsely and directly
attacked by CNN.
Wood has already sued the Washington Post
for $250 million over itscoverage of the incident.
Ethiopian pilots and flight crews held
a morning vigil today for the victims of
an Ethiopian Airlines crash which killed
all 157 people on board.
The flight crashed on Sunday morning,
shortly after takeofffrom the Ethiopian capital
en route to Nairobi in Kenya.
The crash follows asimilar one involving a
Lion Air jet of the same model
in Indonesian seas last year.
That crash killed 189 people.
Boeing is sending atechnical team to this latest
crash site to help Ethiopianand U.S. investigators.
The plane's black box has been recovered
but it is damaged.
- You have to remember onething in a plane crash,
generally speaking,
an accident is not causedby some single event.
It's a chain of eventsthat lead up to that crash.
You're gonna be lookingat all those parameters
because when the NationalTransportation Safety Board,
after their investigation completes,
what they come up with is what they call
a probable cause.
They are going to list the
requirements that they feel necessary
to help prevent this from happening again.
- And in response to thecrash, all Chinese airlines
have grounded their Boeing737 Max eight planes
as a precaution.
A reminder to you tocheck out our CBN News
Daily Rundown podcast with Caitlin Burke
that deals with a behind thescenes look at a key story
in the news every day and you can find it
at CBNNews.com on the Show tab.
Click on its title tolisten and subscribe.
Coming up, a look at whatnew groundbreaking technology
that Israeli companies are creating.
(news music)
- [Announcer] CBN presentsthe I Wills of God.
Your path to overcoming fear and anxiety.
- We are going to talk aboutsome of the incredible promises
God has made to his children.
- [Announcer] In PatRobertson's newest teaching
you'll discover the I Wills of God.
I will rescue him,protect him, answer him,
be with him in trouble, deliver him,
honor him, satisfy him with long life,
show him my salvation,and see amazing stories
of God's promises in action.
- What I felt was loved and treasured.
- God spared my life twice in three days.
- The good Lord hadgiven me a second chance.
- [Announcer] Break freefrom stress and despair.
- [Pat] The Lord doesn'twant you to live in fear,
but to know the rewardsgiven to those who love God.
- [Announcer] Call 1-800-700-7000
or visit CBN.com.
The I Wills of God, yourpath to overcoming fear
and anxiety.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148 million orphans
in the world today?
148 million.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spentnearly a month immersed
in the daily activitiesof a Ukrainian orphanage
as we waited to adopt three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utterloneliness, the pain of rejection,
and the overwhelming desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever
and out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes,
they're being educated, andthey're learning life's skills.
I'm asking you to joinwith me and become family
to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
- Because of its groundbreaking technology
and competitive businessatmosphere, Israel has been called
the Start-Up Nation.
Israeli companiesshowcased that technology
at a conference last week
and CBN's Chris Mitchell shows us how
it is changing the world.
- Nearly 20,000 innovators and investors
from almost every country came to see
or signed up online forthe largest tech meeting
in the history of Israel.
The OurCrowd Global Investor Summit.
The summit brings togetherextraordinary technologies,
like Beyond Meat thatdeveloped a plant-based
meat substitute and many more.
Very good.
They make water out of air.
- We think that we found the solution
for the entire world for thenew source of drinking water.
- [Chris] They plan to connect the world
through micro-satellites.
- There are four billionpeople in the world
that are not connected.
They need to be able tochoose whether to connect,
to be connected.
- [Chris] And they help theparalyzed get on their feet.
- It's very innovative.
It's perfect.
It's so stable and when Iwalk down the aisle with it
it was a dream come true.
- [Chris] OurCrowd showcasedall these technologies.
Jon Medved is the CEO and founder.
- OurCrowd is the world'slargest investment platform
for investors to investin start-ups online
and in person at eventslike this OurCrowd Summit.
- At the summit,investors meet innovators.
OurCrowd democratizes capitalby giving smaller investors
an opportunity to investin cutting-edge innovations
just like the large venture capitalists.
After six years, OurCrowd is celebrating
one billion dollarsraised for 170 companies.
But the bottom line is changing the world.
They call it the double bottom line,
making money and doing good.
- What's most exciting about today's event
is that we're focused on impact.
On how start-ups cantackle global challenges
and how can start-upsreally bring to humanity
a huge impact for the better.
- [Chris] Medved explainsit as an expression of
tikkun olam, the Jewishconcept of healing the world.
Betty Wu Adams believesChristians can play a role.
- God is our first entrepreneur.
He created this world out ofnothing the first six days.
I believe there's a callingfor us as Christians
to partner with OurCrowd as we invest
in companies that's gonnatransform and change the world.
- [Chris] Medved sees thesummit through the lens
of the Bible.
- It's a little bit Biblical today
because the nations are flocking to Israel
to see what we can do tohelp tackle global challenges
and how they can bring back those lessons
to their own countries.
- [Chris] Chris Mitchel, CBN News,
OurCrowd Global Summit, Jerusalem.
(upbeat music)
- [Announcer] Parents,the Superbook Bible App
is a great way to get yourchild reading the Bible
because in today's busyworld we can use some help.
The free Superbook Bible App has fun stuff
your kids will love.
They'll have a blast learning the Bible,
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- Did you win?
- [Announcer] Watching cool videos...
- Great, follow me.
- [Announcer] Discoveringheroes in the Bible.
They'll have fun whilethey learn God's word.
The Superbook Kid'sBible App, available now.
- [Announcer] Life.
It's meant to be lived fully.
Jesus said it.
I came to give you life.
Life to the fullest.
Life in your family.
Life in your finances.
Life in your body, mind,
and spirit.
Life in your everyday.
(soft piano music)
At CBN.com, we're takingwhat Jesus said seriously.
We're here to help you discover life.
(soft piano music)
Life.
Live it fully.
CBN.com.
(soft piano music)
- [Announcer] Discover the I Wills of God.
I will rescue him,protect him, answer him,
be with him in trouble,deliver him, honor him,
satisfy him with long life,show him my salvation.
- What I felt was loved and treasured.
- God spared my life twice in three days.
- The good Lord hadgiven me a second chance.
- [Announcer] Call 1-800-700-7000
or visit CBN.com.
The I Wills of God, the latestteaching from Pat Robertson.
- Covenants are viewed asthe most sacred and binding
of deals, an oath thatis never to be broken.
America's earliest settlersmade a covenant with God
to serve and proclaimhim throughout the earth.
These days however, Americansappear to have forgotten
this covenant and as Paul Strand reports,
that can have dire consequences.
- [Paul] Christian leader Dutch Sheets
explains how God's relationship with us
is set by sacred covenant.
- Even based
our salvation on.
I'm coming to bring a newcovenant through Jesus.
The shedding of his bloodratifies his covenant.
It is a binding together
that in him, is unbreakable.
- [Paul] Early English settlers in America
also wanted their new land toshare such a binding covenant
with God.
Christian historian, EddieHyatt says those who came
to Jamestown in 1607 put itin their Virginia Compact.
- To propagate, to expandthe gospel, the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ,and to take the gospel
to people who were lying in darkness
and had no knowledge of the one true God.
They said that's the reason they had come.
- [Paul] The pilgrimsstated the same in 1620.
- Having undertaken avoyage for the glory of God
and the advancement ofthe Christian faith.
- [Paul] John Winthropleading 700 Puritans
to Massachusetts in1631 said it like this.
- We have entered into anexplicit covenant with God
to be his people in this new world.
And they wanted to be that city on a hill.
They wanted to be a model of Christianity
for the rest of the world to see.
- [Paul] These earlycovenants pledged the signers
to each other and to obeying the laws
they'd form with God's guidance.
Such compacts became the modelfor the U.S. Constitution,
whose authors were also very much guided
by their Christian faith.
Historian William Federer.
- George Washington, at the beginning of
the Constitutional Convention, he said,
"The event is in the hand of God."
- So they saw theConstitution as being a very
religiously based document.
It was also a verycovenantal based document.
- [Paul] Sheets says themakeup of the government
was shaped by Biblicalpassages like Isaiah 33:22.
Writing in his book, Giants Will Fall,
"Our nation's form ofgovernment was actually taken
"from scripture.
"The Lord is our judge, judicial branch,
"lawgiver, legislative branch,
"and king, executive branch."
The founders put God first and foremost
in the Declaration of Independence.
- It says right in there,
"Appealing to the SupremeJudge of the world
"for the rectitude of our intentions."
So in this foundingdocument, we appeal to God.
We invited him to be a partof this American experiment.
- [Paul] The concept of thisbeing one nation under God
hearkens back to Jesus tellingJerusalem in Luke 13:34
that he wanted to hide you under my wings,
covering and protecting you.
What happens though is parts of the nation
don't wanna be under God, disregard parts
of the Constitution, and nolonger honor sacred oaths.
- We have walked awayfrom covenant with him.
- [Paul] And even the marriage covenant
with the divorce ratessoaring more than 300%
in the 20th century.
America, once the numberone exporter of the gospel
is now the number oneimporter of illegal drugs
and the number oneexporter of pornography.
Author Jerry Newcombe sums it up.
- A lot of the thingsthat we're experiencing
in America today arebecause we have disregarded
God's covenant.
- If America really is tobe the place from which
the gospel is spread to the whole world
then the salvation ofbillions hangs in the balance.
Sheets says there's hope
but only if Americans returnto honoring their covenant
with God because that makes us his family.
- If a kid across thestreet that I don't know,
if they do something that's evil or wrong,
I feel no responsibilityto try to bring them back
into the fold
because I'm not in covenant with them,
I'm not in that relationship.
God is the same way.
- [Paul] David Bartonpoints out the faithfulness
of the Lord.
- [David] I mean, we're told in Psalm 105,
he keeps his covenant fora thousand generations.
- I don't think there's astronger force in the world.
- [Paul] So there's a chancethe nation can still someday
completely fulfill the prophecy of destiny
Jamestown ChaplainRobert Hunt said in 1607
as he came ashore in Virginia.
- He made this declaration,which I believe was prophetic.
He said,
"From these very shores,the gospel shall go forth.
"Not only to this new world,but to all the world,"
and that was just not very far from CBN.
- It just takes getting back to covenant.
As Joel 2:13 says,
"Now return to the Lord your God,
"for he is gracious and compassionate,
"slow to anger, aboundingin loving kindness."
Paul Strand, CBN News, Washington.
(upbeat orchestral music)
- [Announcer] When you give,
smiles grow bigger.
When you care,
homes are happier.
When you comfort,
(upbeat orchestral music)
the hurt goes away.
When we all come together to love,
miracles happen.
- Hello, I'm Terry Meeuwsen.
Did you know there are morethan 148 million orphans
in the world today?
148 million.
But it was three littlegirls that taught me
about the plight of orphans.
My husband and I spentnearly a month immersed
in the daily activitiesof the Ukrainian orphanage
as we waited to adopt three sisters.
I saw firsthand the utterloneliness, the pain of rejection,
and the overwhelming desire to be loved.
That experience changed me forever
and out of it grew aministry from my heart
called Orphan's Promise.
Today we're helping orphansand vulnerable children
in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Thousands of childrenare now in safe homes,
they're being educated, andthey're learning life's skills.
I'm asking you to joinwith me and become family
to these children.
Will you call the numberon your screen right now?
Because every child deservesa chance to be happy.
- Hello?
Is this thing on?
Hey, kids,
do you love
games?
And do you love
discovering things?
Well do ya?
- [Announcer] Then you're gonna love this.
It's the new freeSuperbook Kid's Bible App.
You can play games, watch videos,
find answers to your questions,and a whole lot more.
The new Superbook Kid's Bible App.
Free downloads available oniTunes and Google Play now.
(upbeat music)
- I am Regent's firstROTC graduate student.
(upbeat music)
- Well American Idol haskicked off its newest season
and one audition inparticular got our attention.
Judges Katy Perry, LukeBryan, and Lionel Richie
broke out in song and wentto church in a spontaneous
rendition of Oh Happy Day.
Take a look.
♪ Oh happy day ♪
♪ Oh happy day ♪
♪ When Jesus walks ♪
♪ When Jesus walks ♪
♪ When Jesus walks ♪
- Listen to that.
♪ He washed my sins away ♪
♪ Oh happy day ♪
- But I remember--
♪ He taught me how oh he taught me how ♪
♪ To watch ♪
♪ To watch ♪
♪ Fight and pray to fight and pray ♪
♪ And be rejoicing ♪
- I'm so glad Katy's not touring!
♪ In every ♪
♪ Every day ♪
- Woooo!
- And that is all for today.
We hope that you will join us next time.
Have a great day.
(news music)
