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- [Announcer 1] This is CBN Newswatch.

- And thank you so much for joining us

for CBN Newswatch on thisFriday, July 30th, 2021.

I'm Efrem Graham.

Our top story today,

the Centers for Disease Control says

that Delta variant of theCoronavirus can spread

as easily as chickenpox

and is likely more deadly.

That is according tointernal documents obtained

by The Washington Post.

Now, President Joe Bidenis using his office

to pressure more Americans

to get vaccinated

starting with government officials.

Every federal employee will be asked

to attest to their vaccination status.

Those who refuse or whohave not been vaccinated

will be required to wear a mask.

This order impacts 4million federal workers.

Frustration over mixed messaging

from The White House is growing

after the CDC issuednew guidance this week

suggesting even vaccinated people

wear masks indoors.

- I don't think mass mandates work.

We had the president of the United States

telling all Americans,

begging them,

get your vaccine, take your mask off.

Now, that guidance is different.

What does that tell people?

Mixed messages from the government.

- [Efrem] Vaccine requirementsare also appearing

in the private sector.

Google, Facebook and Netflix are requiring

most employees to be vaccinated

before returning to the offices.

Israel's Prime Minister said the country

would offer a coronavirus booster

to people older than 60

who have been vaccinated.

And CBN's Middle EastBureau Chief Chris Mitchell

is joining us now to discussthis latest development.

Chris, Israel is now the first country

to offer a third dose of a Western vaccine

to its citizens on a wide scale.

What's the reasoning the Prime Minister

is giving for this?

- Well, the reasoning behind that, Efrem,

is the fact that the Delta variant,

it really has exploded herein the last several weeks.

About several weeks ago actually,

Israel was restricting or limiting

in lifting all the restrictions

that had been placed onit for several months,

but when the Delta variant went ahead

and started spreading throughout Israel,

thousands of cases now,

he felt it was important.

And actually, the firstcountry in the world

to go ahead with the third dose

of the Pfizer vaccine,

right now, to people over 60

that had been compromisedin their immunity.

And then that's gonna spreadto the rest of the population,

or so it seems right now.

- Your team has reported

on the successful vaccination campaign

Israel has run,

do you expect similar success

for a third booster?

- Well Efrem, really they'rein uncharted waters right now.

They're really actually a first country

in the world to go ahead and do this.

The FDA hasn't approvedthis yet for the third dose,

the US and the EU as well,

so really they're sort of theones that are going ahead,

the Guinea pigs, if you will,

to make sure that this is actually

gonna make a differencein the people here.

So right now, you wouldthink that it's gonna

make a difference based on the evidence

of the last two vaccines.

And apparently it seems like the vaccine,

over time, it wanes theeffectiveness of it.

And so, we'll see whathappens with the third dose.

One thing that's veryinteresting over here, Efrem,

just this morning, there was a poll

that was announced that actually people,

by a margin of 2:1,

prefer the way that Former PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu

has handled the vaccineor the coronavirus,

as opposed to current primeminister, Naftali Bennett.

But they're kind of doing what they can,

what they feel they can.

I would also add that really,

he's been very strict on Israelis

that have not been vaccinated,

what they can and can't do.

Next week, August 8th,

those that are notvaccinated here in Israel,

won't be able to go to events

with more than a hundred people,

unless they have a negative COVID test

and they're gonna have to do that

at their own expense.

And so, some people believethat's just not right,

they have a choice about their body.

In fact, there was a protest at his home

about a week ago

and many of those people saying,

"Listen, I have a rightto make my own decision

about whether be vaccinated or not."

But that's a debate going on in here,

in Israel, as well as the US

and around the world.

- Indeed it is, Chris Mitchell.

Thank you so much for your reporting.

Wanna remind you at home

that you can get more from Chris Mitchell

and the entire Middle East Bureau Team

by watching "Jerusalem Dateline"

You can find it on the CBN News Channel.

It begins at 8:30, Eastern Standard Time

this evening.

The Biden administration says

it will allow the nationwide ban

on evictions to end, Saturday.

The moratorium was putinto place last September

by the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.

The White House said President Joe Biden

would have liked to extend theFederal Eviction Moratorium

due to the spread of the highlycontagious Delta variant,

but that the Supreme Court made it clear,

it is no longer an option.

In June, the court decidedto allow the eviction ban

to continue through the end of July.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh said

he would block any additional extensions

unless there was clear and specific

congressional authorization.

A recent poll by the US Census Bureau said

roughly 3.6 million peoplesaid they faced eviction

in the next two months.

Overnight, a trio of tornadoes

slammed Pennsylvania andleft a trail of destruction.

A twister touchdown

just north of Philadelphia

leveling homes, gutting buildings

and tossing cars like toys

as dangerous wind swirled.

The twister was one of three reported

in the area, Thursday.

Two others were reported within minutes

of each other.

- [Man 1] Heard thisloud bang in the middle

of the parking lot.

My mom got under the table

and I just like held her in my arms.

- It just looked like a TV show.

It just looked like a bomb went off.

I mean, it's gone.

- [Efrem] At least five people were hurt

amid the storms, but officials say

none of the injuries are life-threatening.

The USS Navy says

it has charged a sailor

with starting a fire that destroyed

a warship dock last year.

The USS Bonhomme Richard burned

for more than four days near San Diego.

About 160 sailors andofficers were on board

when the flames sent up

a huge plume of darksmoke from the vessel.

This was the Navy's worst US warship fire

outside of combat in recent memory.

The ship was left withextensive structural,

electrical and mechanical damage,

and it costs billions of dollars.

The sailor was a memberof the crew at the time,

but no other information about that sailor

has been released just yet.

The family of a veteran firefighter

is demanding answers in hismysterious death in Mexico.

Elijah Snow was celebrating his 10 year

wedding anniversary withhis wife, Jamie, in Cancun.

Emergency authorities say

they found the 35 year old's body

in a different hotel fromwhere he was staying.

His stepfather says Snow and his wife

had drinks at a hotel bar.

She went upstairs to go to bed,

but Snow stayed out

and never returned.

She woke up in the middle of the night

and realized he still wasn't back,

so she reported him missing to police.

- [David] Jamie noticedwhen she was getting

into the police department,

she saw a photocopy ofElijah's driver's license

in one of the police officer's hands.

That is where they toldher that he'd been found,

and what they told her

was it was homicidal without suspects.

- [Efrem] Mexican authoritiessaid Snow was stuck

in a bathroom window,

but there were no signs of violence.

His family is askingfor surveillance footage

and anyone with anyinformation to come forward.

Snow leaves behind two children.

Two Asian giants are facingoff in the Himalayas,

both with nuclear powers.

George Thomas reports,

China and India arestaring each other down

at the border of their two countries

with thousands of troops.

- [George] Just one yearafter a bloody dispute

involving Indian and Chinese soldiers,

both sides are now deploying more troops

along the 2000 mile border

between the two countries.

- Now we're seeing on the Chinese side,

roughly 200,000 troops,according to some estimates

flow into areas around on the border.

- [George] And what's been seen as

the biggest deployment in India's history,

some 50,000 additional soldiers

are matching China's currenttroop strength in the area.

- Sources tell us

the threat has been clear and present,

India's deployment is about preparedness

rather than triggering hostility.

- What's important is thesort of troops that they have.

They have some pretty serious,high-altitude fighters

embedded among them.

This is a serious deployment

designed to try to make the PLA

be very concerned aboutdoing a land offensive again.

- [George] Both sides aresaid to be building new roads,

bunkers, tunnels, runways

and moving in advanced military hardware.

The Wall Street Journalreporting that China

has deployed surface-to-air missiles

and anti-missile batteries,

while India has built up its air force.

- Both India and China arenuclear armed countries

and so if a confrontation doestake place on that border,

it would be problematic for the world

and for the United States.

- Six decades after the Sino-Indian war,

the world's two most populated countries

are still going at it in the Himalayas.

The last clash coming in June 2020,

when Chinese soldierstook several square miles

of Indian territory in the Galwan Valley.

Indian soldiers fought back,

losing 20 of their own.

China says four of its men died,

though that number isthought to be much higher.

It was the deadliest incident

between the Asian giants in 45 years.

Dozens of high level talk since then

have failed to calm growing tensions

between Beijing and New Delhi.

- The words and deeds of major military

and political officials

should help ease the situation

and increase mutual trust

between the two sides.

- [George] But it hasn't.

Leaving India increasingly mistrustful

of a powerful neighbor

that's pursuing regionaland global ambitions.

- The overt goal of theChinese communist party

is global hegemony.

and that begins in the Indo-Pacific.

Within the Indo-Pacific region,

the biggest counter totheir narrative is India.

And the goal is basically,

to fragment and render India in operative

because India is the best hope

for other democracies in the region

to try to withstand China'saggressive expansion.

- [George] In the past year,

Beijing has expandedpolitical and economic fights

spreading to Vietnam, Philippines,

Bhutan, Nepal,

Australia, and Indonesia.

- [Aparna] This is nota one-off that China

is only threatening India.

This is part of Chineseaggressive behavior

against all its neighbors,

against any country considers a rival.

- [Efrem] Indochina watchers say

it's all part of PresidentXi Jinping's goal

to also drive a wedge betweenWashington and New Delhi.

- What's very importantfrom an American perspective

is to understand

that there is an activepolitical warfare campaign

designed to make usdistrust and dislike India,

so that India and theUS can't come together

to fight what is next essentialthreat for both of us,

which is the Chinese Communist Party.

- [George] Meanwhile, topIndian military commanders

openly talk about their concerns

of a simultaneous conflict with archrival,

Pakistan, on its western flank

and China to the east.

Both countries continueto forge deep military

and strategic ties.

- [Zack] You could endup in a two front war,

you could end up in a war

in which Pakistan engages in a conflict

and then China opportunistically goes in

to try and seize a bit of territory.

So Indian forces aremuch more stressed now

than they were, I think,even a few years ago.

- [George] Experts now worried that

with these additional troop deployments,

come possibilities of amiscalculation on either side

that could result in more deadly clashes.

George Thomas, CBN News.

- Coming up, unemployment on the decline

as businesses hire at a rapid pace.

We're gonna sit downwith an economic analyst

to evaluate the numbers.

We've got the story foryou right after the break.

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- [Announcer 2] Life is betterwith a good night's sleep.

Get your free DVD or booklet

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- [Announcer 1] As the worldwatches from the outside.

- [Chris] It's a big diplomatic tug of war

here in the Middle East.

- [Announcer 1] Go inside the story

with "Jerusalem Dateline".

- Israeli archeologists aretalking about a discovery

that could change the thinking

about the Temple Mount.

- [Announcer 1] Join CBNJerusalem Bureau Chief

Chris Mitchell

and get the biblical perspective

on the event shaping the world.

- [Woman 1] What starts in Israel

then ends up going to other places.

- [Announcer 1] Watch"Jerusalem Dateline",

Friday night at 8:30

on the CBN News Channel.

- [Announcer 3] Life, it'smeant to be lived fully.

Jesus said it, "I came to give you life."

Life to the fullest.

Life in your family.

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- Welcome back.

We turn now into the economy.

The number of Americanscollecting unemployment benefits

is down once again.

Claims dropped by 24,000 last week,

that puts the number ofjobless claims at 400,000.

According to the Labor Department,

a good sign for the economy.

The peak was 904,000 in early January.

The department says the declines

have been steady since then,

but are still high comparedto historical standards.

CBN's Jenna Browder of "Faith Nation"

spoke with Bankrate'sSenior Economic Analyst

Mark Hamrick about this data.

- Unemployment going down,

but are you surprised it'snot going down any faster

with all of these signs

that businesses are hiring?

- There's little that truly

surprises me these days, Jenna,

just because we're in uncharted waters

with respect to this pandemic

and the reopening of the economy,

the likes of which we'venever experienced before.

So I try to,

let's say associate with myobservation of these things,

some degree humility,

and understand that the economy

is going to unfold at apace of its own doing.

But to your point,

we'd love for the economy to essentially

restore itself to itspre-pandemic condition,

and that is what we got in a sense

with the GDP reading today,

which we may talk about here in a moment.

But with respect to the job market,

this is gonna be a slower healing effort.

We have a record number ofjob openings in this country,

but many workers are either moving on

to other employmentopportunities over the past year,

maybe more cautious about taking a job

and of course we know we still have

federal pandemic employment benefits

that will be around until September.

- There are a lot of mixed signs

for just the average American.

Unemployment improving,

new second quarter numbers show

robust growth for the US economy,

but Mark, we're still seeing inflation

in a lot of basic things.

Some of our most common goods

are very expensive right now.

What are Americans supposedto think of this dichotomy?

- Well, again, to go back tothe unprecedented nature of it,

we shut the economy downas we all know, Jenna.

And then we basically,

in an almost explosive fashion,

are trying to reopen it,

and that's very difficultto do as we're finding out.

And so, we've got cargoships off the west coast,

we've got trains thatbasically have commitments

for cargo to move all across the country,

but simply can't get to all of that.

And then there are the factories

that are either beingbuffeted with problems

with COVID outbreaks all around the world

with, for example,

a backlog in demand for computer chips

which we need to build automobiles,

and that's how you get to the shortages

of automobiles for sale.

So I think this is gonna call

for some patience and faith

to get through this process

with the hope that,

as the federal reserveofficials are saying,

the bulk of the inflationought to be temporary,

but also with the understanding

that we haven't been through

these kinds of choppy waters before.

And we do need to be prepared,

as we like to say at Bankrate,

one way to do that is to make sure

we have sufficient emergency savings.

- At just about 30 seconds left, Mark,

but many employers are finding it hard

to get people to work.

What's happening with that?

What's the latest there?

- I would say that's oneof the number one stories

of the moment,

and we had more than9 million job openings

as of last count.

It's most acute inleisure and hospitality,

bars and restaurants.

And it's gonna take sometime to work this out.

It is definitely one of the major strains

on the economy right now.

The good news for workers,

they've got a lot to shop from,

with respect to those openings

and they may be able tocommand a higher wage.

- All right, Mark Hamrick with Bankrate.

It's always good to see you.

Thank you, Mark.

- Thank you, Jenna.

(action music)

- [Efrem] Still ahead.

Americans learning a new name

when it comes to who'staking home the gold

at the Summer Olympics.

We'll be right back.

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The all new myCBN app,

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Download the app at cbn.com/mobile.

Grow, connect, have fun.

The all new myCBN app.

- [Announcer 5] "On the Homefront".

- Thanks for joining us forCBN's "On the Homefront",

where we highlight what the men and women

of America's military do

to defend our country.

CBN honors the men andwomen in our military

with an initiative calledHelping the Homefront.

It partners with churchesacross the country

to meet the needs of the military families

from repairing homes to wiping out

medical bills for wounded veterans.

- [Announcer 5] Wednesday atthree on the CBN News Channel.

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- [Announcer 6] Too often,

we carry baggage from our past.

You know what it's like.

It affects everything

and every one in our lives.

It's always there,

weighing us down and keeping us

from achieving true happiness.

But do you know God never meant

for us to be trapped in the past?

You can be free off your baggage.

Learn how God's forgiveness

leads to change lives

and new beginnings.

Call the 700 Club.

- American gymnast SunisaLee and those around her

are celebrating her new title,

"Best All-Around Gymnast in the world".

The Hmong American fromMinnesota is the daughter

of immigrant parents who say

they are in awe of what theirdaughter has accomplished.

- We got a large crowd

as she was competing.

Everybody was so nervous.

And when we got to the last event,

I noticed it as neck to neck

towards to the last event.

And when she pull it off,

well my mind just go, "Oh my God.

Is this real?"

- It is real and CBN'sSports Director Shawn Brown

is joining us now with more.

So Shawn, she had publicly said

that she was aiming for silver

because it was assumed SimoneBiles would get the gold.

So how has the dynamic changed

with Simone Biles out?

- Hi, Efrem.

Well, the event's gonna change

when Simone Biles is out regardless,

because she brings so much to the sport.

But I don't think, even for Sunni,

as an Olympian, you don't gointo the competition thinking,

"Hey, I'm not gonna shoot for gold.

I'm just gonna settle for silver

after training for four years or more."

But for the most part, most of your life,

you're training for this moment

and to say that I'm justgonna settle for silver.

But when you have tocompete with Simone Biles,

who's on your team

and you still have to compete with her

and she's doing things like the Yurchenko,

a stunt that very few people can do.

It's like, "Hey, I'm gonna go for the gold

but if she mails that,

I may have to settle for silver."

Which is just as good.

I'll be okay with that.

So I think it's more that approach.

But I think she was aiming for gold,

but with Simone Bilesnailing that Yurchenko,

she nails that, yeah mayhave to settle for silvers.

I think it was more of that.

- Let's talk more about Simone Biles.

How are the athletes reacting

to her being open aboutsuffering from mental stress?

- Well, mental stress right now

is on the forefront of the sports world.

Of course, we know Naomi Osaka

had similar concerns with the media

and some of the burdenthat she was carrying.

Simone Biles right now, she's saying,

"Hey, you know, thishas been a lot for me."

We get a chance to sit back and watch,

we just heard one of Sunni's parents,

family members saying that,

"Hey, we're nervous whenwe're watching them."

Well, imagine what they're going through.

You watch her when she's in these events,

right before she takes the mat,

you look at her facial expression,

and then all of a sudden,

after they say her name,

she whips on a smile

and goes into the event to compete.

It's like a switch that she turns on,

but they're calculatingwhat they have to do.

You take this Yurchenko,

basically, I'ma read what that is.

It's rounding off onto a springboard,

into a backhand spring

onto a vault,

ending with a pipe,

which is like this in the air. Okay.

It's a backflip,

and then you're thinkingabout sticking it.

For us it's like this,

stick.

For them, it's probably in slow motion.

And they're thinkingabout nailing each move

as they do it,

and that's a large burden to carry.

It's dangerous,

they are calculating,

try to make sure they do it right.

And it's just a burden,

unless you are an Olympian

you won't know what that's like

when you got the weight of the world

on your shoulders as Simone express.

That's what she said.

It feels like the weight ofthe world's on her shoulders.

And we won't know that.

And so right now,

we're getting to learnwhat these athletes,

what these Olympians are going through.

And so there's a lot of support for her

because now we're getting to understand

what it is that they're carrying.

And we empathize with that.

- All right. Very courageous for her

to be open about that.

Shawn Brown, thank you so much.

Wanna remind you at home

that you can catch Shawn Brown

in "Going The Distance" this weekend

on the CBN News Channel.

Saturday at 6:30 and Sunday at 7:30,

both of those, Eastern Standard Times.

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Coming up, a long part battleagainst the coronavirus won.

The message this former patient

is sending to others.

Stay with us.

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- Now having sex before you marry

is a bad idea.

- [Man 2] Don't tell me

there's no such thing as gun violence.

- [Woman 2] That justdepends on your definition

of when life begins.

- [Announcer 1] Watch Dan andDale tackled trending topics

that test your faith,

on the next "Faithwire".

Monday night at 8:30 onthe CBN News Channel.

The "Global Lane" takesyou around the world,

providing facts over fiction.

- What might rising tradeand geopolitical tensions

mean for you on the home front.

- [Announcer 1] With over45 years of experience,

award-winning journalist Gary Lane

brings you the truth from a global angle.

- What about the issue of immigration?

- [Announcer 1] World news analysis

you won't see anywhere else.

- [Gary] And it's all right here

on the "Global Lane".

Thursday night at 8:30on the CBN News Channel.

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♪ And when there's joy there's action ♪

♪ It's like a great attraction ♪

♪ It's lot of chain reaction ♪

♪ With an almost satisfaction ♪

♪ I love the way ♪

♪ This joy makes me move ♪

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- Staff members at an Hawaiian hospital

held a celebration for a 45 year old man

who beat the coronavirus.

Frederick Tibayan foughtCOVID for 49 days.

Nearly two months ago,

he took himself to the hospital

after he couldn't sleep for several days.

He ran a fever and started coughing blood.

During his time at the hospital,

he lost 57 pounds and spent more than

20 days in the intensive care unit.

Today, he is well enough

to spend the night at home.

And he's encouraging others

to take the precautions needed.

- [Frederick] If I was educated like that

from the beginning,

I probably would've tooka vaccination earlier.

So my support at thishere is unbelievable.

- [Efrem] So good to see him out

and breathing again.

Time now for your Friday Faithful.

Wanna leave you with this message,

do all you do with God in mind.

When you aim to please him,

it's hard to be phasedby what people think.

Fix your focus on pleasing God,

and he'll handle the people.

with that word, makethis a fantastic Friday

and be sure to have yourself

a wonderful weekend.

That is gonna do it for thisedition of CBN Newswatch.

You can always find more of our programs

on the CBN News Channel

or online at cbnnews.com at any time.

We'd love to know what you think about

the stories you've seen here today.

You can email us at that address

right there at the bottom of your screen,

newswatch@cbn.com.

And of course you can always reach out

and touch us on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.

We look forward to hearing from you,

Make it a fabulous Friday.

We'll see you on Monday.