will ripley is live with the latest. will, it seems like the story becomes more complex and disturbing every day. >> it does. i think the key reason for that is it is increasingly clear by the hour, the more information we get, the danger here in sri lanka is not over. they have been planning a second wave of attacks. the easter sunday bombings was the first wave. authorities are acknowledging they don't necessarily have a handle on the full scope of all of this, the extent of the danger and the extent of those on the street in columbo right now. any intelligence was warning the sri lanka government in the weeks leading up there was an attack imminent. they spoke with a key suspect and isis operative. they interrogated them. he trained people from sri lanka how to build bombs, how to carry out attacks, the shock value of it and, of course, the targets. hotels full of foreigners and churches full of christians. we know about the suspects. they come from well-to-do families. they were financially independent, not communitie

cnn's will ripley is monitoringmemonitoring developments.e in hong kong. >> reporter: the north koreans are saying they want someone for careful than mike pompeo. they are angry about his testimony, saying he was insulting kim jong un, someone he has met with several times. the negotiations have not gone well and of course the latest summit in hanoi was a total failure with president trump deciding to walk out, the north koreans placing the blame for that humiliation for them. they were humiliated because they didn't have a plan b. they blame pompeo, and national security adviser john bolton and combining this with the new messaging that's mill tar -- the kind of thing they tested back in november of 2008 wh18 when negotiations were at a standstill. doesn't pose a threat to mainland u.s. but does pose a threat to the troops in north korea. it had a not so subtle message. they could launch something much bigger if negotiations fall apart. >> absolutely. will ripley, thank you so much for that in hong kong. >>> a 37-year-old man is in police c

will ripley, thank you so much. we know this is a lot of information taken and we will check back in with you. we appreciate it. >>> the full horror of the scene in sri lanka is only just now becoming clear. we are getting new video in the aftermath and moment of the explosion. this video purportedly shows the explosion at st. anthony's church in colombo. take a watch. you see there on the left side of your screen that explosion which you can tell even from a distance was quite violent, quite abrupt and caused, as we now now, incredible destruction damage and bloodshed. >> as this goes on we are getting the reaction from world leaders coming in. british foreign minister theresa may had this to say. and the president of turkey a saying the following. moments ago, president trump tweeted this. of course, 138 million, that is obviously an error. it's been up for 16 minutes and the president at some point will change that. that from the president of the united states and says they are standing ready to help. >> we discu

international correspondent will ripley is in colombo. you tell us about the raid and what appears to be a lot of bomb-making equipment as they search for the suspects? >> reporter: well authorities said what they're looking for is a large number of isis militants, up to 130 in this country which led them to these locations on the eastern side of sri lanka and there was a gun bat thal broke out, several expositions reported as well. we don't know if they the detonation of suicide bombers or if this had to do with the explosives that were located in various houses that officers were raiding and investigating. but yes, to see the images and the extent of the supplies they had truly chilling in terms of the bombs, the ball bearings and all of the things they would need to carry out a second wave of attacks which may still be being plotted right now. >> will, ripley, thank you so much. and that is it for me. "newsroom" starts right now. >>> hi, i'm erica hill in today for brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. thanks for joining us. as joe biden

will ripley was there. >> reporter: i'm standing outside of st. anthony's shrine. this is one of the three churches that was bombed here in sri lanka. you can see the clock there that stopped at 8:45 when the bomb went off. father defer nanand idefernando take us inside. obviously it's much worse in there. >> yes. >> reporter: he was only in the church two minutes? >> two minutes. this is the area where he exploded himself. this is normally the area where children play. normally people want to stay in this area. >> reporter: so he chose the location nearest to the children? >> yeah, because this area is full of people. >> reporter: most of the people who died were right in that area? >> in this area, yeah. >> reporter: i see the clothing and the shoes there. >> yes, yes, yes. and shoes and everything. >> reporter: do you know how many people died in here? >> of course from here, they took 33 bodies out for recognition. >> reporter: some of the bodies were -- >> yes, yes, yes. this is the st. anthony's statue which we go for blessings and everything. it was unharmed

will ripley, cnn. >> let's talk more about all of this now. lanka's minister of telecommunications, foreign employment and sports joins us this hour from colombo. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> i want to start by talking about this intelligence memo that was apparently overlooked. you tweeted about this. if we could pull up the tweet, i'll share part of it with our viewers. it says some intelligence officers were aware of this incident. therefore, there was a delay in action. serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored. so your thoughts? tell us what you think needs to happen. what needs to be done given this gap in information? >> yeah, so we just finished another cabinet meeting just a little while ago, and even yesterday after the incident, we've been in cabinet meetings, ministers meeting. however, what was alarming was the fact that we were not informed, even though certain sectors of our security details or the diplomatic security detail as well as the formal president's detail actually had some informa

cnn's will ripley is joining us from colombo in sri lanka where the hunt is on for the attackers. reporter: well, wolf, barbara starr has learned from two u.s. officials that this key terrorist does have connections to isis and other international terror organizations. but the key and unanswered question here in sri lanka tonight and the reason why there's such heavy security at hotels like this one, well, they just don't know if there are more terrorists out there. tonight, a state of emergency in sri lanka and a race to track down a terror network before it strikes again. in colombo, the bomb squad performing this controlled detonation of a suspicious van near st. anthony's church, one of the sanctuaries targeted in a wave of deadly bombings on easter sunday that killed at least 290 people and injured hundreds more. this new video shows a man state tv calls a suspect in the st. sebastian's church bombing. church officials say a bomb in his backpack, one of six suspects wearing backpacks, seen walking into churches and luxury hot hotels just before a series of eight explosions ro

>> will ripley in hong kong. thank you so much for that. i am brianna keilar.for watching tonight. erin burnett "outfront" starts now. >>> taking controversial words and running wild. is barr covering for trump? the mueller report coming any day. >>> growing opposition to president trump's pick for the federal reserve, nancy pelosi saying it is one of the worst picks he could possibly make. and former governor from massachusetts taking on trump in the primary? bill weld is my guest. let's go "outfront." good evening, i am erin burnett. out front tonight, fueling the fire. bill barr giving president trump what he needs to push trump's unfounded claim the obama administration spied on his campaign. >> i think what he said was absolutely true, there was absolutely spying into my campaign. i'll go a step further, in my opinion it was

will ripley continue to be safe there. be careful. hearing potentially on the way. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> "outfront" next breaking news. the white house ignoring tonight's delinquent tor turn over trump's taxes. and now democrats about to make their next move in the high stakes showdown. plus jared kushner making a stunning claim, suggesting mueller's investigation was more damaging nan russia's attack on the 2016 election. >>> and the. 's twitter tie raid, more than 50 tweets in less than 48 hours. what is going on inside the white house? let's go "outfront." >>> good evening i'm erica hill in for erin burnett. outfront tonight" tonight the administ

real problems are in france this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will ripley's the with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials political commentators on bricmont micron's moves will have a pretty limited impact. people are unhappy with this policy but what is true is that there is no united demand about what to do this is that school deans or the european union there is nothing as you can do because you have been one to force the sort of neo liberal it forms and of course and he's with that but even if he didn't can do anything about so it is the dilemma. is more social spending and more i mean less taxes but he says he does these courses it is going to take it i don't know how it's going to balance the budget was a workable is a bird it's a he seems to me that is used in the discourse of the discourse and trying to satisfy the sounding that is. content to be. both the u.k. and germany have praised china's plan for a massive global trading network and as the belt and road initiative a form for what is currently underway in be

this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will ripley's the with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials what we heard from analysts who do believe the president's move is unlikely to widespread public discontent. the french population is in favor of what he's suggesting so this was kind of playing catch up with us almost certainly though we know there are going to be protests at the universe don't really seem to have very very much to do to offer apart from turning up in france in city centers and and causing disruption but it's the broader movement of the yellow vests those who we don't hear very much from who are kind of being pushed to the edges that may well be more open to. suggesting people are unhappy with this policy but what is true is that there is no united demand about what to do with this is that school i didn't say the european union there's nothing he can do because you know i've been one to force these sort of nearly bullish loans and of course and he's with that but even he didn't can do anything about it so i

this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will ripley's the day with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials political commentators on bricmont believes the president's move will have only a limited impact. people are unhappy with this policy but what these two is that there is no united demand about what to do with this but this is that school deans idea opinion there is nothing as you can do because you have been one to force these sorts of nearly budget problems and my call of course i gaze with that but even if we didn't can do anything about so least the dilemma nics measure is more social spending and more i mean less taxes but you said he does these courses it is going to get to him i don't know how he's going to balance the budget will want to balance a budget so he seems to lead it is mostly in the discourse of the discourse he's trying to satisfy people that he's sounding to these at least i do believe that the discontent is too deep. the u.s. africa command has had to defend itself after being accused of military

real problems are in france this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will ripley's the with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials political commentators on bricmont believes the president's move will have only a limited impact. people are unhappy with this policy but what is true is that there is no united demand about what to do this is that school deans or the european union there is nothing as you can do because you have been one to force the sort of neo liberal it forms and michael of course said he's with god but even if he didn't you can do anything about so is the dilemma. is more social spending and more i mean less taxes but he says he does this because he said this is going to get i don't know how it's going to balance the budget will want to balance a budget so you seem to believe it is used in the discourse of good discourse and trying to satisfy the teams i'm going to be satisfied with the content. the u.s. africa command has had to defend itself after being accused of military imperialism it comes after a report sh

the state run news agency reported the test fire of a tactical guided, will ripley joins us. why did the north koreans sour on mike pompeo. >> it seems as if tension has been building for quite some time. we know the north koreans blame secretary pompeo, and national security adviser john bolton, they think president trump want to make a deal but was talked out of it by hawkish advisers. what tipped north korea over the edge with secretary pompeo was his congressional testimony and his testimony to the senate where he talked about north korea and the denuclearization process in a way the north koreans felt was demeaning to their leader kim jong un. this is a significant diplomatic setback because pompeo has invested a lot of time in trying to build trust and a relationship with the north koreans, he has traveled to pyongyang, met with kim jong un a number of times, hosted the delegations and now the north koreans say they are not willing to work with him anymore. it puts president trump in a difficult position, does he acquiesce and move the talks forward or if keeping pompeo

international oil markets this is a dramatic move from the united states come up and reports now will ripley video agency took to the streets of toronto get the reaction of kools to washington's latest me. i get more behind if you want to. know what we have to get out of this took our supreme leader says we should do you this is an opportunity over the last ten years we have found ways that allow us to keep exporting some not at all worried in this respect. runs on oil exports put pressure on ordinary raining and it's us who are bearing the brunt turkey has come out strongly against the u.s. decision it says the move will only jeopardize regional stability and bring harm to local rain ians meanwhile japan says it's not overly concerned and doesn't believe it will impact its economy iranian foreign and nuclear fares experts say be believes washington is forcing taran to adopt a more combative stance. the u.s. is seriously escalating this unilateral economic warfare against iran jeopardizing economic well being of iran and eating and people putting iran against the wall and therefore one shoul

real problems are in france this is undoubtedly a distraction it's not a critical question who will ripley's the with another school because we will have to continue to produce senior officials. political commentators on brick mom believes that micron's means will have a fairly limited impact. people are unhappy with this policy but what is true is that there is no united demand about what to do with this but this is that school again said the opinion of a thousand years you can do because you have been one to force these sort of nearly well if loans and of course that he's with that but even if he didn't can do anything about it so is the dilemma a c.s. measure is more social spending and more or. less taxes but you said he does these courses it is going to get dirty i don't know i was going to balance the budget was a lot of well as a bird it's all you seem to need it is yours the discourse of a tiger discourse is trying to satisfy people that isn't going to be satisfied with the discontent he did. you can germany have praised china's plan for a massive global trading network known as the

cnn's will ripley begins our coverage. will, what are you learning? >> reporter: fred, we're learning that as you said this does bear all the hallmarks of some sort of a terrorist attack but question if these suspects are sri lankan, who are they acting on behalf of since no group that is claimed responsibility. some of these have been suicide bombings, three churches targeted, four hotels all together and police raiding a house andus suspects there, three officers were killed there when devices were detonated inside. clom bow, the largest city, the commercial capital of sri lanka along with two others and the death toll has continued to rise with two more people. if they are targeting christians and tergting christian on easter and foreigners, what is the motivation here? we know that sri lanka next month will celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the cessation of fighting in its bloody civil war, a civil war that lasted a quarter century. there were a lot of suicide bombings back then, but people in sri lanka, while they are familiar with the sounds

will ripley is outfront. will obviously knows more about this than anyone. the president says things are excellent. and kim fires a test missile. what can you tell us? >> erin, things are not excellent for the north koreans. they have a lot of sanctions. they're hurting their economy and desperate to get the attention of the united states. but they don't want to push to the point that they derail all the diplomatic progress they made so far. what to they do? they don't launch a missile, not a satellite, at least not yet. but they conduct what they call a tactical weapons test. now they did this back in november of 2018 when negotiations with the u.s. were at a stand still. and at that time it was a multiple rocket law firmer or piece of artillery the kind kind of weapon that doesn't pose to there tote mainland u.s. but to the sfark and the 28,000 troops station tltds. this is a mri to get the president's attention. >> the president has been bragging about huss his relationship with kim on and on whenever he can. as recently as monday he said this. >> i have

. >> let's go to cnn correspondent will ripley who is following the story. >> reporter: this appears to be a coordinated series of attacks specifically targeting team who are christians celebrating easter. at least three of the bonks so far have been at churches in the south island nation of sri lanka. people were vcelebrating the holiday. we know three cities have been targeted. the commercial capital of the country and its largest city colombo and two others cities were attacked. the scene described from colombo that has hit is horrific. reports a thousand people inside. the easter mass at a church. we are told the explosion happened shortly after the mass had finished. three priests finished delivering the sermon and two were severely injured and another one was moderately injured and we are hearing 30 bodies were lying in the church and the explosion so severe that pieces of flesh are described tep sides of the walls of the church and even being thrown outside of the walls of the church and shattered glass, obviously. people horrified and screaming and running in terror. this was

will ripley, thank you very much. as we try to get some answers here, one of the six explosions took place at the slang ra la hotel. a celebrity chef by the name of shanta who was popular in india and the uk. her daughter apparently posted this image on facebook minutes before they were both killed in the explosions. and a father from the uk, ben nicholson just confirmed his wife anita, 14-year-old son alex and 11-year-old daughter anna bell were all killed in a blast. he wrote anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children. alex and annabell were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children. anita and i were immensely proud of them both and looking forward to seeing them develop into adulthood. they shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up a room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with. we are told the attacks were inspired by isis. we have an expert on extremism and terrorism and

. >> will, ripley, thank you so much. and that is it for me. "newsroom" starts right now. >>> hi, i'm erica hill in today for brooke baldwin. you're watching cnn. thanks for joining us. as joe biden tried to convince americans he's the right person to lead the country his past overshadowed that pitch including the handling of the clarence thomas hearings and anita hill who testified before the committee which joe biden chaired. we learned the vice president had spoken privately with hill and according to a biden spokesperson, he, quote, shared with her directly his regret for what she endured and his admiration for everything she's done to change the culture around sexual harassment in this country. so how did that sit with anita hill? not great. and in an interview with "the new york times" anita hill said in part i cannot be satisfied by simply saying i'm sorry for what happened to you. i will be satisfied when i know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose. bide enwas pressed on this issue this morning during an appeara

our will ripley is live in colombo with the breaking details. what have you learned? >> reporter: well, this is something that a had the of people here on the ground in colombo are worried about, john. the fact is, they don't know if there are more suspected terrorists out there, and they don't know what locations they'd strike next. this is a hole tell that tel tha couple days ago, you could have walked right into. now, there are bomb-sniffing dogs, soldiers stationed, and the gates closed. this is a sight all over the city. heavily armed soldiers and security officers, police officers who are here. now, people are being told to keep their eye on the streets, which are open after the curfew last night. there is now traffic resuming again, but people are being told to be on alert for either a truck or a van that could be carrying explosives. obviously, this street was a ghost town last night. you can see cars are moving out here again. there is still a sense of unease in this city. that said, i saw people who were out, gathering at groups at shrines around the city. 3

will ripley is in hong kong with all of the breaking details. what have you learned?> a lot happening within the last few minutes. the kremlin confirmed what we have suspected for some time now that kim jong-un will be traveling to russia and meeting with president vladimir putin according to russian state media. the kremlin had been deknowing it until a short time ago. it follows another diplomatic announcement. they no longer want to work with mike pompeo when it comes to denuclearization talks. think of the time pompeo has invested traveling to north korea, meeting with kim jong-un. hosting delegations to the united states. now they want somebody who is more mature and careful. they were watching the testimony to lawmakers. they felt he was disrespectful to kim jong-un when he spoke to the senate foreign relations committee. now they want him out. president trump was just bragging about the excellent relationship he has with kim jong-un and now kim's people say they don't want to work with pompeo, his secretary of state. does trump acquiesce and appear potentially

will ripley continue to be safe there. be careful. there could be more we're hearing potentially on the way. erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. >>> "outfront" next breaking news. the white house ignoring tonight's delinquent tor turn over trump's taxes. and now democrats about to make their next move in the high stakes showdown. plus jared kushner making a stunning claim, suggesting mueller's investigation was more damaging nan russia's attack on the 2016 election. >>> and the. 's twitter tie raid, more than 50 tweets in less than 48 hours. what is going on inside the white house? let's go "outfront." >>> good evening i'm erica hill in for erin burnett. outfront tonight" tonight the administration says no, the administration missing a deadline to turn over the tax returns of the president to congress. the treasury secretary steve mnuchin telling democrats he is consulting the justice department do term if the demand is legal. in response the democrats upping the ante. saying the house ways and mean committee to prepared to subp

cnn's will ripley is live in hong kong. >> reporter: we know the attack is clearly coordinated. eight explosions targeting christians and foreigners in sri lanka which has become a tourist hot spot in the decade since the end of its civil war. three churches, four high-end hotels and a house have all been scenes of the explosions, gruesome scenes being described with body parts thrown around, sometimes out into the streets of the buildings. the death toll continues to climb. 160 people at least right now, including around 30 foreigners, according to the sri lankan government. 560 people have been injured and are being treated at hospitals. the timing does bear the hallmark of a terror attack. authorities are going to look at a number of possibilities. sri lanka does have splinter groups that remain after the end of the civil war in 2009. analysts that i have been speaking with say the timing of this and the way it was carried out seems to indicate something more ssophisticated. the question is, who and more importantly if there is anyone else in the country, any other attacks th

will appeal to the greatest talents to help restore not true them because this is what the french people expect this is what our history deserves it is our destiny. drone footage obtained by video agency ripley shows where the fire tore through the eight hundred and fifty year old building as you can see from the images the damage is extensive when the cathedral is one of the most popular tourist attractions in europe pulling in thirteen million visitors every year the spire on the roof collapsed as we said but the famous twin bell towers as well as the north rose window both of which were built in the thirteenth century were saved so too was the cathedrals most precious relic the crown of thorns. the former deputy director of culture at unesco sees nothing i've done will now have to go through reconstruction rather than restoration. now how do we think the structure of that one long yesterday i mean he says gone. we have to completely different things and what would have to be done that is really a major reconstruction not just starvation care major reconstruction projects this will. difficult to say today. how much it cost certainty on going know that many many hundreds of moves dollars ev