- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.
- And thanks for joiningus for CBN Newswatch.
I'm Heather Sells.
The attacks were a colossalintelligence failure,
the words of a top SriLankan government official
admitting today that hisgovernment had intelligence reports
warning of a terror attackbut failed to act on them.
Now, more than 24 hoursafter Islamic militants
struck militant targetson the island nation,
Sri Lankans are strugglingto come to grips
with their nation's worstterror attack in a decade.
CBN's InternationalCorrespondent George Thomas
joins us with the latest.
George?
- Heather, with 290 deadand more than 500 injured,
Sri Lanka is blaming thelocal Jihadist group,
National Thowheeth Jama'athfor Sunday's horrific attack
on churches and hotels,
though no group hasclaimed responsibility.
According to governmentofficials, Sri Lanka's
Chief of NationalIntelligence wrote a report
on April 4th warning of anattack and even mentioned
that the targets would bechurches and tourist destinations.
Five days later, onApril 9th, the country's
inspector general ofpolice was given another
intelligence report with even names
of the suspected terrorists,
yet authorities did nothingto prevent the attacks.
On Easter morning, around 8:45 local time
seven Islamic suicide bombersin a near-simultaneous
and coordinated attack,struck three churches
and three luxury hotels
in and around the capital city of Colombo.
One of the largest explosions ripped
through St. Anthony's Catholic Church
just as congregants were filling the pews
for Easter service.
39 foreigners were also killed
including at least four Americans
and eight British nationals.
This morning Sri Lanka's health minister
apologized to his countrymen for failing
to prevent the attacks
while the Arch Bishop ofColombo demanded answers.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Translator] If therewas prior information
why weren't steps takento prevent this incident?
It's a huge question for all of us,
why it was allowed to happen.
- A very important question.
In the meantime, SriLankan security forces
as you can see there,are still carrying out
searches across the island tofind those behind the bombing.
So far 24 people have been arrested.
Meanwhile, the terror suspects
were reportedly planningeven more carnage.
Sri Lankan police discovered87 bomb detonators
at the main bus station in Colombo.
And a van parked near one ofthe churches bombed on Sunday
had three explosives in it.
This morning, PresidentTrump called Sri Lanka's
prime minister to offer his condolences.
This was Sri Lanka's deadliest bombing
since a devastating civilwar ended a decade ago.
Heather?
- Thank you, George.
And joining us now with moreis our Senior International
Correspondent Gary Lane.
Gary, you've traveled to Sri Lanka.
And you've over theyears, watched persecution
against Christians there butit hasn't come from Muslims
in the past.
So talk more about the difference
with this particular attack.
- Well, this surprised everyone
because there's only about10% of the population
in Sri Lanka that is Muslim.
But most the people, 70% are Buddhist,
a very small minority, only about one,
one and a half percent are Christian.
Now, Christians being a minority of maybe
only about 30,000 people, Heather,
have been attacked in thepast by militant Buddhists
who don't like them convertingBuddhists to Christianity.
But they don't do bombings.
They generally will goin and ransack churches,
they're threaten Christiansand a lot of the threats
also come from family members of Buddhists
who convert to Christianitybut rarely from Islam.
- So why do we think now, whyare the Muslims striking now
and on Easter Sunday?
- Well, that's a good question
because look, therearen't that many Muslims
in that country, 10% as I said.
But a pastor that I talked to today
told me that one concern that there is
is the radicalization ofMuslims in the mosques,
that there's been alot of talk about Jihad
and things like that.
In addition to that,they've been free to go
and travel overseas, also to places
in India like Kashmir, Pakistan,
places like that, where thereare very militant Muslims.
So were they influencedby these militants?
Now, some people will say
look, this was a verysophisticated operation.
It had resembled more ofISIS and their tactics.
So were they influenced by ISIS?
Were there ISIS agents also involved?
We don't know at this point.
That's being investigatedbut it is a possibility.
- Yeah, lots still to investigate
and we know this is happeningacross southeast Asia,
really, persecution of Christians.
Want to ask you too, aboutthe mainstream media coverage
here in the US.
It seems that our coverage is perhaps,
different from theirs.
Talk about that.
- Well, our coverage is different
because we will call it like it is.
I noticed within about 24 hours,
there was a hesitancy from thepart of the mainstream media
in America to call this Islamic terror.
And now, maybe that'sbecause they didn't know
but I think they just say, oh,this is an act of terrorism.
As far as the Christians, they rarely say
these were Christians worshiping.
This is sectarian violenceor this is just people
worshiping at Easter time.
- Right.
And I want to ask you too, it seems to me
that we really have seenthis before on Easter,
other religious holidays.
Is that indeed a trend?
- Yes, it is a trend.
It happens regularly in placeslike Egypt and Pakistan.
Remember in Egypt backin 2016, just before
Christmas time, there wasa bombing at the cathedral
in Cairo, another bombing inEgypt at Palm Sunday in 2017.
That was in Alexandria,another one in Tanta.
That claimed almost 50 lives there.
And then also Heather, often in Pakistan,
we remember just a couple of years ago
a Palm Sunday bombings, twinbombings of churches there.
And then the following year, at a park
when Christians were celebrating Easter
after their services.
- Yeah, really soberingto thing that Christians
need to be vigilant onEaster and on Christmas.
- All holidays and coming up, Ramadan.
That is also a time whenChristians need to be
on their guard.
- Alright, Gary Lane,thanks for your insights.
Well, in other news, more pressure
on the Iranian oil industry.
Secretary of State MikePompeo announced today
that the US will notrenew sanction waivers
for five countries thatreceive oil from Iran.
Pompeo says President Trump has decided
not to re-issue waiverswhich expire May 2nd
to Japan, South Korea,Turkey, China and India.
That means those nations will no longer
be exempt from US sanctions
if they're still importing oil from Iran.
Pompeo has been sayingthe goal has always been
to get countries to stopimporting Iranian oil entirely.
- We're going to zero, goingto zero across the board.
We will continue to enforce sanctions
and monitor compliance.
Any nation or entity interacting with Iran
should do its diligence anderr on the side of caution.
The risks are simply not goingto be worth the benefits.
I want to emphasize thatwe have used the highest
possible care in our decisionto ensure market stability.
- Pompeo also said the US does not expect
any significant reductionin the supply of oil here,
given production increasesby other countries.
And we will have more stories like this
from our Washington Bureau this evening
on Faith Nation and you can watch it here
on the CBN News Channel.
Well, the Supreme Court decided today
that it will wade into the thorny issue
of discrimination in the workplace.
It will hear a trio ofcases involving people
who say there were fired becauseof their sexual orientation
or gender identity.
At issue, whether the 1964Federal Civil Rights Law
that prohibits employment discrimination
also applies to sexualorientation and gender identity.
One of those cases involves
a male Michigan funeral home employee
who asked for permission todress as a woman at work.
Another involves a gayskydiving instructor
who challenged his dismissal
and a third case pertainsto a social worker
who said he was fired becauseof his sexual orientation.
Joining us now with more is Jim Campbell
with Alliance Defending Freedom, or ADF.
ADF represents the Michigan funeral home
that is defending its refusal to continue
to employ a male employee who identified
as a woman to dress in women's clothing.
Thanks so much for joining us, Jim.
- My pleasure, thanks for having me.
- Talk about he dress codewhich is very important
to the G.R. Harris Funeral Home.
Why is it so important?
- Well, it's important because
the primary goal of Harris Funeral Homes
is the grieving families that they serve.
And so they put in place these policies
to ensure professionalism, to ensure
that their employeesblend into the background
and to ensure that grieving families
can focus on each other and their grief.
- So why did the funeralhome not allow its employee
to dress as a woman?
Would it have allowed it if the employee
was fully transitioned?
- Well, in this situation,they have this policy.
It's a sex-specific policy.
Men dress a certain way,women dress a certain way.
And they put that in placeagain, in order to serve
the interests of their customers.
So, under these circumstances, the owner,
Tom Ross determined thatthe request of this employee
was not in the best interestof the grieving families
that they serve.
But nevertheless, he wanted to do right
by this employee so he offeredhim a severance package,
which the employee refused andinstead Harris Funeral Home
has been battling the EEOC forthe last, nearly, six years
because the federalgovernment's been targeting them
simply to make a political point.
- Why to you think thisSupreme Court decided
to take this particularcase and the other two now?
- Well, it's an importantquestion whether unelected
officials at the EEOC can unilaterally
redefine federal law in order
to bring about their political goals.
Here, we're dealing with aterm that's been in the law
for over 50, 60 years.
We're dealing with the word sex.
And taking the word sex and replacing it
with gender identity haswidespread consequences in the law.
For example, doing that would jeopardize
the dignity and privacy rights of women
by opening privacyfacilities like locker rooms
and restrooms and shower facilities
to men who identify as women.
It would also undermine educational
and sports opportunities for girls
by opening those opportunities to boys
who identify as girls.
So there's a number ofissues that are raised here.
And these are important question
that the people should beable to decide for themselves
and not have unelectedofficials decide it for them.
- Really, so much at stake here.
What is the timeline of thiscase, at this point in time?
What are we, when might it be heard?
What are you looking forward to?
- Yeah, the court willlikely hear arguments
in the fall, maybe as late as the winter,
but probably October, November argument.
And then the court willlikely decide the case
some time next year, in the spring
or even in the summer.
- Case, Jim Campbell, withAlliance Defending Freedom,
thank you for your time.
- Thank you.
- And a reminder to check outour CBN News Daily Rundown
podcast with Caitlin Burke.
She gives a behind the scenes look
at a key story in the news every day.
And you can find it at CBNNews.com.
On the show tab, click on itstitle to listen and subscribe.
Coming up, we speak withevangelist Franklin Graham
and hear what hisministry is doing to help
the crisis in Venezuela.
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- Welcome back.
We have been reporting for some time now
on what is happening inVenezuela as that country
continues to deteriorate, botheconomically and politically.
Amidst this there is newsthat many Venezuelans
are turning to faith astheir limits are tested.
Evangelist Franklin Grahamspoke this Easter weekend
to Venezuela refugees in the border city
of Cucuta, Columbia, andjoins us now with more.
Reverend Graham, thank you for joining us.
- Thank you, it's good to be with you.
- I understand that you joinedwith hundreds of churches
in Cucuta to welcomerefugees from Venezuela
to services this weekend inthe city's soccer stadium.
Tell us about who came and what happened.
- Well, first of all, let me back up.
I was down there back in October
visiting these refugees
coming out of Venezuela into Columbia.
They come over a 1,000, sometimes two
or 3,000 people per day.
And they're not allowedto bring their vehicles.
They just walk.
And they bring theirsuitcase, pull it behind them
and they walk from thereall the way to Bogota.
Some spend weeks on the road
pulling their suitcase behind 'em.
They're just fleeing.
And at that time, I just felt in my heart,
we need to do something for these refugees
coming here into Columbia.
We set up an aid stationright there at there border
where we give medical attention to people
that are coming across the border.
And then as they go over the mountains,
we have little Samaritaninns, kind of places,
where a person can stop.
We have food for them.
We have again, healthcare.
We are able to give them antibiotics,
those kinds of things if they need it.
We care for the children,give them clothing.
It gets cold up in the mountains
as they cross the Andes.- Great needs.
I do want to ask you, in particular
about those services this weekend.
Because we know that we'renot hearing a lot spiritually
about what is going on.
So what are you seeing interms of the spiritual needs
of the people and whathappened at the services?
- Well, the, when westarted this back in October
I just felt in my heartGod wanted us to come
and hold, have like a crusade in the city.
And so we talked to the churches.
I wanted to do this in January.
They said no, let's do it Easter weekend.
I said, okay, we'll do it Easter weekend.
And it just was more than I ever expected.
We had about 116,000 peoplecome to our three meetings.
We had around 7,000 or so makedecisions for Jesus Christ.
The hunger was incredible.
The entire city wasbehind what we were doing.
The mayor's office, thepolice, the military,
everybody was behind thisfestival we did this past week.
And it was just something God did
so we give him the glory.
The physical needs, Ithink, of the people,
God sometimes uses that toopen up the hearts spiritually.
And that's what I was trying to say
with all the people comingacross into Columbia,
suffering as they come into the country,
it just opens up a doorto preach the gospel.
We had started off by praying
for the president of Venezuela
that God would open up hiseyes and open up his heart,
that he would changesome of these policies.
We prayed for the presidentof Columbia as well.
There is no question,a great spiritual need
among these, the people,not only of Columbia
'cause they just came upout of a civil war too.
We have to remember, they'vehad a terrible civil war.
And that has just got ended.
And so the people are juststill reeling from that.
And now we see what's happeningin Venezuela, next door.
- Yeah, well I'm really heartened
to hear the spiritual report.- It's a real problem.
- It is wonderful to hear.
And I also just want toask you, politically,
we know that the Russian militaryis involved in Venezuela,
supporting that government there.
And there's been talk ofoutside military intervention
that may be needed from the US to take out
the country's dictator.
What are your thoughts on that?
- Well, first of all, it's the,
the Russians are therein a very small way.
I don't think that's really an issue.
It's really the Cubans.
The Cubans have takencontrol of the country.
And they have takencontrol of this government,
they've taken control of the military.
I've been told that all the advisors,
the top leadership of theVenezuela military are Cubans now.
So it's almost like Cubahas annexed the country.
And this is so sad.
Cuba is a basket case.
And now Venezuela which had the largest
middle-class economy inall of Latin America,
the largest oil reserves inthe world, is in Venezuela.
And to see this countrynow reduced to poverty,
it's just, it breaks yourheart, especially when you see
somebody pulling a suitcase for weeks
just to leave.
And I saw women and childrenpulling their little suitcases
hundreds of miles fromCucuta up in the mountains.
It just breaks your heart.
- We've gotta wrap butI do want to ask you,
would you support the US if the government
decided to get militarily involved?
- Well, I don't thinkthat's a place for me
to give a comment 'cause Samaritan's Purse
is gonna help the peopleof Venezuela regardless
of who they are.
We gonna help all of them.
And I hope that there isa political solution soon
without any military conflict.
That would be my hope and my prayer.
- Well, I know we areall thinking and praying
for the people of thatcountry and appreciate
what you're doing, Reverend Graham.
Thanks for you time.
- Thank you so much.
- And don't go anywhere.
We'll be back right after the break.
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- The Good Lord hadgiven me a second chance.
- Call 1-800-700-7000 or visit CBN.com.
The I Wills of God, the latestteaching from Pat Robertson.
- And welcome back.
Calls to impeach areflooding through Washington
as Democrats and Trumpsupporters are at odds
over key parts of the Mueller report.
The recently released 448 page document
lays out 11 instances ofpossible obstruction of justice,
indicating President Trumpwas thwarted by aides
like White House CounselDon McGhan who refused
to follow directives.
- Do you believe Don McGhan when he says
the president tried to gethim to fire Bob Mueller.
- I believe the president was frustrated
about the investigationfrom the very beginning
and knew it was ill-conceived.
- According to a new MediaResearch Center report,
mainstream media mentioned impeachment
more than 300 times during its coverage
of the Mueller report
from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning.
And joining us now is Scott Whitlock,
the Associate Editor forNewsBusters at the Center.
Scott, thanks for joining us.
Are you surprised by the media's reaction
or did you expect it?
- No, I'm not surprised at all.
Journalists in the media,particularly on CNN
and MSNBC have spent two years pushing
this impeachment talk.
That's basically been thegoal from the very beginning.
And so it's basically a let down from
what they expected and what they wanted.
But they're not gonna let it go.
Yeah, we looked at themedia coverage on ABC, NBC,
CBS, CNN and MSNBC over just 18 hours
and there we 309 mentions ordiscussions of impeachment,
just on Thursday alone.
- Why do you think that issuch a fixation for them?
- Well, look, I thinkthe narrative has been
from the very beginning
that there was collusion and obstruction.
We saw this pushed by liberalswithin the Democratic Party
and echoed by liberalswithin the mainstream media.
And it's that kind of boywho cried wolf syndrome
where you do it too manytimes and people tune you out.
So I think that is what may be happening
with the American public.
But not on the media.
They're going to keep fixated on this
and they really are the echo chamber
for the activist partof the Democratic Party.
You have Elizabeth Warren--
- Do you see this impeachmentdrumbeat continuing?
Or where do you see it going next?
- Yeah, I absolutely see it continuing
because look, again, you havepeople like Elizabeth Warren
who are pushing thisnarrative and despite the fact
that you have otherliberals who are giving
the cautious signs, such as Nancy Pelosi.
The don't want to let this go
'cause that's what the base wants.
And we're just seeingthat echoed in all these
different media outletsand cable channels.
- Alright well, ScottWhitlock, with NewsBusters,
we appreciate your insights and your time.
Thank you.
- Thank you.
- And after the break, whatspecial group of heroes
were recognized duringyesterday's Easter mass in Paris?
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- It's a big diplomatic tug-of-warhere in the Middle East.
- [Announcer] Go inside thestory with Jerusalem Dateline.
- Israeli archeologists aretalking about a discovery
a discovery that could change the thinking
the Temple Mount.
- [Announcer] Join CBNJerusalem Bureau Chief
Chris Mitchell and getthe biblical perspective
on the events shaping the world.
- What starts in Israel then ends up
going to other places.
- [Announcer] Watch Jerusalem Dateline
Friday night at 9:30 onthe CBN News Channel.
- Orphan's Promise is committed to loving
and serving at-risk children,
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opportunities for strongand sustainable communities
around the world.
We're working in over 60 countries
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There's an old African proverb I love
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Will you join us?
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- A special Easter mass in Paris yesterday
honored the firefighters whosaved the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Paris Archbishop MichelAupetit thanked multiple
city officials for their supportduring last Monday's fire.
Firefighters worked fornine hours to contain flames
that consumed Notre Dame'sroof and collapsed its spire.
Catholics from around the world prayed
over the firefighters Sunday,
praying for a swift reconstructionof the beloved monument.
The fire service chaplain was recognized
for saving a chalicecontaining consecrated hosts
that, for Catholics,are the body of Christ.
And that is if for thisedition of Newswatch.
We hope that you willjoin us us next time.
Have a great day.
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