- [Announcer] This is CBN Newswatch.

- And thanks for joiningus for CBN Newswatch,

I'm Heather Sells.

Japan's Prime Minister has landed in Iran

on an unprecedented missionto see if he can somehow

help improve critical U.S.-Iran relations,

which are keeping tensionshigh in the Persian Gulf

right now.

Dale Hurd joins us fromthe CBN Newsroom with more.

- That's right Heather,Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

is calling for more patience,

as U.S.-Iran tensions havenearly reached a crisis point.

This'll be the first visitby a Japanese Prime Minister

since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Japan has had a reasonablygood relationship

with the Islamic republic,

and is acting as a go-betweenfor the United States.

Iran's president says the Islamic republic

does not seek war with the U.S.,

but will give a crushingresponse if it's attacked.

The Trump Administration has re-imposed

heavy sanctions on Iran,

after deciding towithdraw from the landmark

2015 Nuclear Deal a year ago.

The U.S. recently deployedan aircraft carrier

and B-52 Bombers to the Persian Gulf.

President Rouhani said wheneverthe economic war stops,

we will see a very positivedevelopment in the region

and the world.

He added,

"The capacity of pressuringIran by the U.S. is full.

"It means America has exerted its pressure

"on the Iranian nationas much as it wanted,

"and has reached its maximum.

"From today onward, threats and pressures

"will lose their capacityand will be exhausted."

The Japanese Prime Minister'strip is the highest level

effort yet to de-escalate the crisis

between Tehran and Washington.

He warns accidental conflictcould break out in the region

because of the tension.

Heather.

- All right Dale, thanks forthat report we appreciate it.

And we are joined now byCBN senior international

correspondent George Thomas in the studio.

So this is reallyinteresting, this mission.

Do you see it helping at all?

- No not in the short term,

I mean he doesn't have alot of political capital

so to speak.

as Dale mentioned this isthe first time in 40 years

that a Japanese head of state has visited

the Islamic Republic.

You gotta keep in mindthat as of last year,

when Iran was producing all these

barrels of oil per day,

60 percent of the oil wentto three Asian countries.

Which ones are they?

China, Japan, and India.

And so clearly these three countries

want the oil to keep pumping,

it is in Japan's interest to see

some kind of a resolution.

The U.S. says it wants tohave a talk with the Iranians,

the Iranians say there'snot gonna be no talks

until all of these cripplingsanctions are lifted,

and then you come back to the table.

Go back to the original nuclear deal,

that's not gonna happen.

Perhaps there could be a sideline meeting

when all these heads of state

come to the United Nations inSeptember, we'll have to see.

- Sounds like Japan hassome skin in the game then,

so all right.

Well we're gonna switch gears right now

to another situationthat we are monitoring,

and that is protests in Hong Kong.

And the concern thereis China's growing power

over that city.

Today thousands of people aredemonstrating in the streets

against a proposed extradition law.

So George what can you tell usabout what's happening there?

- Well it's night time right now

it has fallen in Hong Kong,

and the situation isrelatively calm at the moment,

but this was the scene earlier today

as young people squaredoff with police in front of

the city's main legislative building.

For several days now Heatherhundreds of thousands

of people have taken tothe streets of Hong Kong

to protest against aproposed extradition law.

The bill, if enacted, wouldallow Hong Kong citizens

to be extradited to mainland China.

More than one millionpeople took to the streets

last weekend against the bill.

Those who support theextradition bill Heather,

say it's needed to keepHong Kong from becoming

a haven for fugitives.

Opponents say it's justanother step China is taking

to exert more control over Hong Kong.

These protests, by the way,

have been the territory'slargest political demonstration

in more than a decade,

thousands of additionalofficers have been mobilized

to try and keep law and order.

By the way the governmentwas planning to present

the bill to the legislature today but,

those plans were canceled after protesters

blocked the entrances tothe government building.

- And what do we knowabout who is in that crowd,

and who is leading that crowd?

- Yeah you see I've beenwatching the images all day

coming out of Hong Kong,

the majority of thoseleading are young people,

and look, this whole idea ofa one country, two systems,

that was what was agreed20 years ago when China

officially took over thisformer British colony.

The idea was that thiswould be one country

and two very different political systems,

so for example in Hong Kong it has its own

political, legal, economic,and financial system.

And so the young peoplesay hey wait a minute,

we don't want Hong Kong to suddenly become

Beijing, Shanghai,Guangzhou, Hunan Province,

they don't want to see Hong Kong to be

an extension of mainland China.

So they're very very concerned,

very very upset that this is happening,

and again we'll see maybe the legislative

will in a couple of hours,

they're about 13 hours ahead,

maybe they'll try to push this through,

again we're not sure.

- Wow, and what do weknow about Christians

in that country right now,

are they involved at all?

- Yeah in fact over the weekend Heather,

they got together, severalmajor churches in the region

on the island got togetherand signed a petition

basically saying to theHong Kong government,

please do not signthis, this is not right.

And while this washappening on the streets,

yesterday evening right in frontof the legislative building

hundreds of Christians wentbefore it and began to sing,

and take a look.

- ♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord! ♪

♪ Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah, ♪

♪ Sing hallelujah to the Lord. ♪

- This extradition bill is passed,

we are afraid that we will not just be

put into jail in Hong Kong.

And then you put in jail even in China.

But you know that even thejail system in Hong Kong

is quite different from mainland China.

We do nothing that in mainland China

you can have a fair trial.

And also we have fair treatment.

- I'm sure there's religiousliberty concerns there too.

- Absolutely.

- So what about the UnitedStates, any public response?

- Yeah so Kelly Conway saidthis just a few minutes ago,

stepped out of the WhiteHouse and said they are

watching this very closely.

Yesterday the U.S. State Department said

they were gravely concerned about this

particular extradition law.

In fact this is both bipartisan.

Nancy Pelosi said she'sconcerned about the

chilling showcase Beijing'sbrazen willingness

to trample over the law in Hong Kong,

so both sides of theisle are very concerned.

- All right thank you George.

Well here at home the HouseIntelligence Committee

is hearing more testimonyon Robert Mueller's

Russia investigation.

It is hearing from twoformer leaders of the FBI's

National Security branch,

to testify aboutcounter-intelligence implications,

and its meeting behind closeddoors with Donald Trump, Jr.

The top Republican on the panel,

California representative Devin Nunez,

says Wednesday's hearing is part of quote

endless hysteria byDemocrats and the media,

and calls Mueller's report ashotty, political hit piece.

Well this week the country'slargest Protestant denomination

is holding its annual meeting,

and some tough topics are on the table

at the Southern Baptist Convention,

including sexual abuse and racism.

Yesterday the SBC voted on several

constitutional amendments.

One allows it to removechurches that mishandle

or cover up sexual abuse cases,

another would allow thedenomination to remove churches

that affirm or endorse racism.

We're joined right now fromthe meeting in Birmingham

by Dr. Russell Moore,

the President of theSouthern Baptist Ethics

and Religious Liberty Commission.

Let's talk first of allabout the amendment on abuse,

and some abuse survivorsare afraid it won't

really make a difference,

how significant do you think it will be

in tackling this whole issueof sexual abuse in the church?

- Well I think it's a verysignificant move because

the amendment is combined with a process

with the standingcommittee on credentials.

So what the first amendmentthat was adopted does

is explicitly state abuse as a category

for disfellowshipping a congregation.

So a congregation thatrefuses to deal in a just way

with abuse, or deals unjustly with those

who have been abused,

would be a congregation thatcould be disfellowshipped,

that's explicitly stated.

And then the convention adopted a process

that has accountability and transparency,

to deal with those situations.

So I think it was a milestone moment,

and what was impressive to me is not only

that these measures were taken,

but that they were taken overwhelmingly,

it was hard to see a novote in the convention hall.

- That is interesting,

These amendments ofcourse won't be official

until a second vote next year,

what plans are therein the meantime to work

with churches that arecurrently not handling

abuse cases well?

- No this goes into effect immediately

in terms of the standing committee,

and so they will be able to look at any

contested situation, notjust as it relates to abuse

but really as it relatesto anything in terms of

the boundaries of cooperation.

- The task force onabuse has also initiated

the Caring Well Challenge,

which aims in the next year to train teams

at local churches on the issue of abuse,

how many churches do youthink will get on board

with that work?

- I think very many,

we've been overwhelmedby the number of churches

who are signing up forthe Caring Well Challenge

to be involved in terms of prevention,

in terms of best practices on reporting,

and also in terms of caring for those

who have been through abuse.

And so the response hasbeen very very strong.

I'm really encouraged, andpart of that is because

there seems to be a culture change.

Used to be when I wouldbring up this issue,

people would assume wellabuse is something that

happens somewhere wherewe don't know the people,

we know everybody in our congregation.

I think that thatillusion has been lifted,

and so there's a sense ofweightiness and gravity

at the church level,

and that's one of thereasons why there's been

such a strong response right now.

- There's been a lotof social media chatter

in recent weeks on the roleof Southern Baptist Women

in the church,

some want them in the pulpitbut many say absolutely not.

What has the conversationbeen like around that issue

at this week's meeting?

- Well that's mostly Twitter controversy

not a real life controversy,

because Southern Baptists agree there's a

wide and deep consensus that men and women

are created equal,

that both men and womenare gifted for service

within the church,

and that the pastorate andthose functions that are

uniquely pastoral arelimited to qualified men.

Now people have different understandings

when it comes to some of those secondary

and third level applications

of what exactly that ought to look like

in some other wayswithin the congregation,

but they're able tocooperate with one another

and are on the same page on these issues.

So whatever controversiesand dust ups sometimes

happen on social media,

don't really show up inthe hallways of people

who are actually workingtogether and getting along

quite well.

- All right well Dr. Moore,

thank you so much for yourtime, we appreciate it.

- Thank you, thanks for having me.

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Centuries of eyewitnesses saythe temple treasures survived.

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Coming July eighth.

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- [Man] Young people, millennials,are flocking to church.

- [Woman] It's not an exaggeration to say

that we would love to meet them,

and that we'd love to know their stories.

- A coalition of African-Americanmen are set to gather

in Charlotte, North Carolina this weekend

to oppose the opening of anew Planned Parenthood clinic.

With 80 percent ofPlanned Parenthood clinics

located within one mileof neighborhoods of color,

they say they must take action.

CBN's Charlene Aaronspoke with two pastors

leading the effort.

Well Kevrick first of all,tell us about the new clinic

Planned Parenthood is setto open there in Charlotte,

North Carolina.

- Over 10,000 square feet, two stories,

really in what's a historicAfrican-American neighborhood.

One of the first ones that was actually

established in Charlotte, in Cherry.

It's no longer thatway, it's probably about

a third African-American today,

but it represents areal threat in terms of

for the whole city and the whole region,

because of the high number of abortions

that take place there.

Pastor Rogers, you opposethe opening of this clinic.

Tell us about that.

- It's genocide in our community.

When abortion rates are goingdown across the population

except for black people,

any in my opinion, African American pastor

that does not care aboutthis really needs to

do a heart check.

Jesus called us to care aboutthese kinds of moral issues

and the life of the unbornis the top in my opinion,

moral issue of this day.

So we can't just sit backand allow this to just

set up in our communitywith absolutely no pushback.

- What response have youreceived from the black

community about the clinic? Kevrick?

- Well many of them are frankly surprised,

because the clinic camein in a dubious way.

Planned Parenthood camein with a shell company,

not telling anyone thatit's Planned Parenthood.

And they've been planningthis frankly for years,

so many folks are actuallysurprised about it.

But I think what they'rereally surprised about

is the high number ofabortions that take place

in Mecklenburg County.

Among Mecklenburg County residents,

54 percent of all theabortions are taking place

among black women.

And we're only 30 percentof the population.

And then across thestate of North Carolina,

it's 45 percent of all the abortions

are performed on black women,

when we're only 21percent of the population,

so it's really a surprising number.

We've seen just an overwhelming support

from African American churches here

to say hey we're rising up

and saying we've gottado something different.

- And tell us about the number of people

you're expecting to be outthere with you on Saturday,

and what you guys hopecomes from the event.

- Well because of Pastor Rogers,

his leadership and many greatpastors here in the region,

we've been able to connectwith over 30 ministers

here in Charlotte,

we're expecting somewherein the neighborhood

of two to 300 peoplethat will be out there.

There certainly will be over 150 black men

that will be there standing strong.

And the second message is weintend to be there every week,

frankly, in some form orfashion when this clinic opens

to tell women that there is another way.

There are alternatives for themother than going to a place

that will end a life.

And there are opportunitiesand housing refuge in the city

that can help people,

and clinics across this regionthat can help women as well.

- Amen, and Pastor Rogers your last word?

- Well my last word is clear,

we are assigned to holdup the standards of Christ

in these last days,

and I really do believeHosea four and six was right

when it said "our peopleare literally destroyed

"because of a lack of knowledge."

And I think when we don't have knowledge

of what's going on rightunderneath our nose,

we are at our own demise,

so I'm believing for Godto show Himself strong,

I'm believing for people in our community

and across this nation to begin to believe

and know that Jesus was rightwhen He said that He came,

watch this, that we might have life.

- Thank you so much foryour time, God bless you.

- Thank you!

- Illinois Governor J.B.Pritzker signed a new

late-term abortion bill into law today.

It strips all rights from unborn children,

changes the definition ofthe viability of a fetus,

and legalizes abortionsthrough all nine months

of pregnancy, right up until birth.

Illinois' Right to Life Actionresponded to the signing,

saying the Governor doesn't care what the

people of Illinois want,

nor does he care thatabortion takes a human life.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

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- Here, we're committed to a heritage of

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- The crisis in Venezuelais so bad that people

have to choose betweenstaying and possibly starving,

or leaving and possibly dying.

Many have decided to take their chances

on the roads out of their country.

The journey is hot, long, and dangerous.

And so CBN's Operation Blessingis providing these refugees

with much needed suppliesand medical care.

Take a look.

- This is the highway that thousands of

Venezuelan refugees are walking everyday,

as they flee the humanitariancrisis in their country.

To get to this point, theyhave walked three days

facing the blazing sun,

they're exhausted, dehydrated,

and in need of food andbasic medical attention.

For many of them thelong journey continues

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She had a stomach issue,

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Anyway, we have all comeas a group, walking.

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- [Roberto] Operation Blessingis strategically positioned

to meet and aid Venezuelanrefugees along the way.

We have set up water filtration systems

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- Thank you OperationBlessings for the support

you have given to the Venezuelans,

who came on this roadwith the same destination,

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It is truly a big help.

We are very grateful.

- And you can find out more about the work

that Operation Blessing is doing

by visiting ob.org.

Coming up, the powerful movieUnplanned opens in Canada,

and we'll tell you whatpro-lifers had to do

just to see it get in theaters there.

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- [Narrator] Get To Life.

Call 1-800-700-7000, or log onto CBN.com.

- The pro-life movie andbox office success Unplanned

is opening across Canada today.

Canadians who wanted to seethe movie released there

actually had to petition andboycott to make it happen.

It will play in theatersand at other venues

across the country.

Unplanned is the story of formerPlanned Parenthood Director

Abby Johnson walking awayfrom the abortion industry,

and joining the fight for life.

It received a lot of pushbackby the entertainment industry

and despite an R rating,it became a box office hit.

Was number four in its opening weekend,

and made over 18 million dollars.

Well NBA superstar Steph Curry takes on

a new role as producer,

with the untold story ofthe victims and survivors

of the Charleston Church Shooting

in a movie called Emanuel.

Here's a sneak peek from Studio Five.

- What's up guys it's Stephen Curry.

I'm here with the amazingdirector Brian Ivie.

We are very excited toshow you guys a trailer

for the new documentary called Emanuel.

It highlights the tragic shooting 2015,

in Charleston, South Carolina.

- [Reporter] NBA star andmove maker Steph Curry

teams up with Hollywood's Viola Davis,

for the stories of the nine lives lost

in the Charleston ChurchShooting some four years ago.

- A white man who wantedto start a race war

came to a very historicAfrican American church

to kill nine people, and thatis what happened in our city.

- [Reporter] We share anintimate look at the film.

Why should we go see this movie,

why must we sit down and watch Emanuel?

And sit down with the daughterof one of those killed.

- You must go to see this film.

- And that's it for us, have a good night.