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U.S. Missionary Recovering From Blast; City on Edge as Police Operations Continue; The Human Brain and Politics; Corporations Oppose Anti-Gay Bills in North Carolina and Georgia; Belgian Foreign Ministry on Victims; The Vulnerability of Soft Targets to Terror; Psychology Behind Terrorism. Aired 4-5:00a ET

Aired March 27, 2016 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[04:00:18] MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes coming to you live from Brussels, and we want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world to this special coverage of the unfolding developments in Belgium in the aftermath of Tuesday's terror attacks.

And yet another name is emerging as a key cog in the terror operation that took 28 lives on Tuesday. Authorities are calling him Faysal C. And he is now formally charged with terrorist murder, though they are not describing the nature of his involvement in the attacks just yet.

But while Brussels mourns the lives lost, it remains a city on edge. Security concerns led to organizers canceling a peace march planned for later this day. Belgium's Interior minister addressing the ongoing police operations in the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN JAMBON, BELGIAN INTERIOR MINISTER: We are still all over the country in threat level three. There are inquiries, important inquiries going on. For these inquiries, we need a lot of police capacity all over the country, and it's our main priority to let the police in the best circumstances possible do these inquiries. And that's the reasons why we invite the citizens tomorrow not to have this -- to demonstrate, not to have this manifestation tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: While security operations are reaching beyond Belgium, Italian police tweeting a picture after arresting an Algerian national. This is in Salerno. Authorities suspect that he forged residency documents linked to the Brussels attacks. Now the man was already wanted in Belgium. Police there say he was involved in illegal immigration connected to the Paris attacks last November.

Well, as more families begin to learn the fate of their loved ones involved in Tuesday's attacks, two U.S. parents are now at their son's bedside in Brussels the 20-year-old Mormon missionary in the hospital with second-degree burns and shrapnel wounds.

Saima Mohsin sat down with them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Proud parents show me a photo of their family. Tears of relief and worry. Their oldest, Joseph Preston, was at the airport check-in exactly where the bomb went off.

AMBER EMPEY, SURVIVOR'S MOTHER: He's the oldest of five kids, and he was -- he's just been -- how do say this, he was born, you know, from the time his little pockets stepped up and taken care of all of us, you know, he's responsible and kind, loving, and --

MOHSIN: Joseph called his parents from hospital. His voice was calm and then he sent them these photos.

A. EMPEY: It was devastating.

MOHSIN: He's being treated for second-degree burns to his hands, face, and head, with surgery for shrapnel wounds on his legs.

A. EMPEY: It's a long trip. Yes.

MOHSIN (On camera): And when you first saw him?

A. EMPEY: Yes.

COURT EMPEY, SURVIVOR'S FATHER: His eyes were beautiful. He could speak through all the burns and all of his injuries. He's still the same, his soul and heart in there. Maybe he needs some time to rehabilitate and heal on the outside, and I'm sure with his emotions as well.

A. EMPEY: I miss his smile. He's gotten damages all around his face, you know. He's got this pretty blue eyes. It's just painful and excited to see us.

MOHSIN (voice-over): Joseph was just a few months from the end of his two-year missionary tour to Europe when the bombing happened. He described the scene to his parents.

C. EMPEY: It was horrifying what he went through. He remembers the blast and knocked him out. And he was very scared and hiding. And then he went in to helping those around and looking for his three missionary colleagues to help them.

MOHSIN: I asked them what they thought of the terrorists.

C. EMPEY: I don't understand it. I just know that there's so much more good and love in the world that it will always win.

MOHSIN: Joseph has more surgery and treatment to go through. His family can't take him home yet where his brothers and sisters are anxiously waiting to see him again.

Saima Mohsin, CNN, Brussels.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Well, over the last few days, thousands of mourners have made their way to the makeshift memorial at the Place de la Bourse right behind me here.

[04:05:07] Among those paying respects, a Belgian high school teacher who said his wife once taught one of the suicide bombers who struck the airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In fact she found back an e-mail that she received from him and she found out -- she remembers that he was very kind, very religious certainly, and brilliant, and a nice guy. So that's very frightening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the scope of this plot just seems to get bigger and bigger, doesn't it? More suspects coming out of the woodwork seemingly every day.

Helping us break all of this down, Ryan Heath, senior EU correspondent for Politico.

Great to have you back, Ryan. Yes, so we've got -- you know, we got arrest in France, we've had them in Belgium, of course. And now this latest, Italy, it just speaks to the breadth of the web, if you like.

RYAN HEATH, SENIOR EU CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: And don't forget that guy they picked up on the train platform in Germany. So we're starting to see some real coordination, we're starting to see some movement. So that's a sign of hope as we go into the fifth day now after these bombings.

HOLMES: Yes, now, speaking of coordination, news about warnings not getting through on the metro.

HEATH: Yes, that's going to become a big problem I think for the Belgian government. So it turns out that even though a decision was taken to go into level four alert to shut down the metro, that message never got to the metro operators so they didn't have a chance to shut down the metro and those people in the metro didn't have a chance to get out.

HOLMES: And that just speaks to the whole breakdown in communication overall.

HEATH: Yes. And when you hear the Interior minister, Jam Jambon, one of the better performers in the Belgian government, his reaction when he was caught on camera last night, asked about that, was well, that was the job of the regional government. Unfortunately that doesn't help the families of all the people who died in that metro station.

HOLMES: Speaking of families, Easter is a -- an important time here in Belgium for a lot of people and families are going to be gathering. When you look at -- and we talked about this over the last few days, once the faces and the names of the Belgian victims come out, people here are going -- it's going to be brought into stark reality for people who never thought this would happen here. What are you expecting?

HEATH: Well, I think this is the first chance a lot of families will have to get together and reflect as a group. And so they'll be asking questions about what do we want Belgium to become. How did our government perform? And so we're going to start to see some crystallization as people come out of those meals. That time of reflection. And maybe they'll decide just to stick together and back their government. Maybe they will get very angry about how their government has performed. We don't know, but there will be a lot of those discussions today.

HOLMES: Yes. Talking to people yesterday, and there does seem to be a growing anger about what has not happened. What the failures are.

Yes, there was going to be this big march today where people were going to be walking through the streets, are going to be here at the Place de la Bourse. And it just seems so tragic but this was a march that was to show that we are not cowed by terrorists, that, you know, we are together, we stand united. But it's been called off because of security concerns.

HEATH: Exactly. The march against fear canceled because of fear. So I think some people are going to gather anyway. The government admitted they can't stop you going on to the streets, but it's really urged people, urged the organizers to contain them. I mean, the fact that we're standing on this balcony now rather than down on the Place, that's because they've cleared out that space. They know people are going to be there, and they'd rather have them in plain sight than in winding narrow alley ways around the Place, around the Bourse.

But at the end of the day it's not a great sign. If your big stand against continuing your life or for continuing your life can't go ahead, then that raises questions about how it will go ahead.

HOLMES: Yes. And you live here. I've been to many, many, many war zones, and you probably have, too. But it's very odd to be in the capital of Europe, if you like, and see these soldiers walking around the streets. I took a photograph yesterday because it was just so incongruous to have an armed soldier, a Balaklava around standing guard outside one of the cafes in the main square here in this beautiful city.

HEATH: If anything, we're blase about that now compared to the terror lockdown in November. This is actually very low key. And I think people are noticing that difference as well. We couldn't get into a supermarket without having our bags searched in November. You can pretty much walk right in these days. We had armored vehicles and men with guns in much larger numbers walking around this district we're standing in right now in November. Not so much now. And people are starting to wonder, well, why did you need it when there wasn't an attack, and now that there has been an attack, and you also think there shouldn't be a march because there could be another attack, where are all of those people protecting us? HOLMES: You know, it struck me, too, you know, I don't know what your

thoughts are, but when the terror alert went from four to three, when there were still suspects out there. Did that surprise a lot of people here?

HEATH: I think it raised questions, but it didn't surprise us really because that's what happened in November as well. We went from everything being shut down to all of a sudden working again, though none of the suspects were caught. Salah Abdeslam, we got him four months later, not during that terror lockdown. But eventually, a city has to come to life again. And I think as well when you move down to level three the authorities have more flexibility about where they can position their resources.

[04:10:03] So my gut feeling, and it's just my gut feeling, I don't have any proof of this, it is that they needed that flexibility, they had to dial it down in order to give themselves that flexibility. But the situation on the ground doesn't feel so different.

HOLMES: You know, we've also talked a lot about how Belgium per capita has the most fighters going off to fight jihad in places like Syria, but do you think despite that statistic that Belgians in many ways didn't think this would happen on their turf, in their city?

HEATH: Yes. I think that Belgium -- Belgians like to teach themselves. They really take pride in being the people that you can get along with. They take pride in being the pro-Europeans, not the ones that argue the tit-for-tat like many of the other governments do. They're very friendly, they're very welcoming, you know, everyone can come to this city. It's the most cosmopolitan city in Europe. Half of the population here was born outside of Belgium.

So in a way, they think why us? Why is this happening to us? And then at another level, nobody's really surprised because it's very obvious that it's a diplomatic capital, a home to NATO, a home to all of these radicalized young people. It's very obvious that this would become a target at some point.

HOLMES: Ryan, great to see you. Thanks so much. Ryan Heath there with Politico joining us once again.

And, you know, if you wanted to drive home the length between this country and ISIS, I saw on the Internet today a Belgian jihadist, his name is Hicham Chaib, a video of him praising the attacks from Syria, and then executing a prisoner.

And we're going to take a short break now. When we come back, we're going to have a look at the other stories making news, including a big night for the U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders ahead of the caucuses in the American west that are giving him reason to smile.

Also protesters in North Carolina say a newly-passed state law discriminates against transgender people. And several major corporations warn that it could cost the state some big business.

Much more to come after the break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:57] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm George Howell in Atlanta. We will have more from my colleague Michael Holmes in Brussels, in just a moment but first other news we're following around the world.

Breaking news in Syria. The country's military has retaken the ancient city of Palmyra from ISIS control. This is according to Syrian state TV. Government forces had the support of Russian airstrikes. The militant group took the key city last May and destroyed many of the temples at that site. It has been described as an irreplaceable loss to the history of civilization. Palmyra has key supply routes leading to the ISIS self-declared capital of Raqqa.

And across the border now in northern Iraq, thousands of families have fled their towns, this as Iraqi government forces try to force ISIS out of villages. Officials say the families are being given humanitarian assistance.

ISIS has been losing territory in Iraq, and the country's military says it is making progress south of the key city of Mosul, which is still in ISIS control.

America's choice 2016, and among Democrats, voters in the state of Alaska, the state of Washington and Hawaii have all weighed in on Saturday. We're still awaiting results from Hawaii, but the caucus tallies from the other two states gave Bernie Sanders good reason to smile today. With 101 delegates at stake in Washington state, Sanders snagged 72 percent of the vote. And in Alaska, he won more than 80 percent. But Hillary Clinton is still far ahead of Sanders in the national delegate count. Right now she holds more than 70 percent of the delegate votes that she needs to win the Democratic nomination.

Still, Bernie Sanders has reason to smile. He is optimistic. He told supporters in Wisconsin the trend is moving in the right direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We knew things were going to improve as we headed west.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: And last week we won Utah with 78 percent of the vote.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: We won Idaho with 79 percent of the vote.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: And we won Democrats abroad with 67 percent of the vote.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: We are making significant inroads in Secretary Clinton's lead, and we have --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: And we have, with your support, coming here in Wisconsin, we have a path toward victory.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And more information now. Bernie Sanders may have even more reason to smile. Now that we understand that he has won in the state of Hawaii. In the presidential preference vote there with 70 percent of the vote.

We'll continue to monitor the details coming from Hawaii, but, again, it seems that Bernie Sanders has won there.

And now a new twist in the Republican presidential race. It is emerging in a gun rights petition. More than 22,000 people have signed the call demanding that guns be allowed into the party's convention. Presently the venue for that convention in Cleveland forbids weapons inside the facility. This comes amid worries about security at the July convention and concerns even Donald Trump's prediction that riots could break out if he does not get that party's nomination.

This year's presidential town halls and debates have prompted many viewers to shake their heads in a range of different emotions from anger to frustration, amusement and even disbelief. And now CNN's Brian Stelter shows us how one neuroscientist is studying viewers' brains as they try to take in this political spectacle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:20:06] SAM BARNETT, CEO, SBB RESEARCH GROUP: There are small little metal disks that are going to be directly touching your scalp. It's going to be sampling electrical activity.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is your brain on presidential debates.

Sam Barnett is measuring brain activity as viewers watch the most popular show of the season. The 26-year-old is a hedge fund CEO by day and a Ph.D. student by night.

BARNETT: A whole field of research that is really trying to make science fiction a reality.

STELTER: So he's studying neuroscience.

(On camera): We're in here watching the debate. And what are you trying to measure from people's brains?

BARNETT: We're trying to get a sense of where their waves are going to try to see what content is actually driving people to feel similarly about certain topics.

STELTER (voice-over): In a room filled with equal number of Republicans, Democrats and independents, Barnett starts to study the data.

BARNETT: So the introductions were pretty mild overall.

STELTER: He quickly notices one thing everybody's brain seems to agree on -- Donald Trump.

(On camera): When Trump's on the screen, I see this data shoot up. What does that mean about Trump?

BARNETT: You can see he's at 35.9, when these others candidates are in the 20s.

STELTER (voice-over): Seeing Trump's face, hearing Trump's voice lights up the brain.

BARNETT: The fact that you can make everyone feel, at least on a neural kind of fundamental basis, the same way is very interesting, because they might subjectively or consciously disagree with it, but something in their brain is ticking in the same way when that's happening.

STELTER: Maybe it's his unique television skills, perfected during a decade on "The Apprentice."

(On camera): So what you're showing here is that whether you're a Democrat or a Republican watching the debate, when Trump is on the screen, suddenly, your eyes are wide open, you're paying more attention.

BARNETT: Yes. So everyone in the room is sharing some kind of neural bond. Everyone is kind of feeling the same kind of attention, the same kind of underlying passion at least.

STELTER (voice-over): Afterward, Barnett's analysis found that Trump led engagement among Democrats, Republicans and independents, as well as the women in our focus group. He trailed Marco Rubio among men, but only slightly.

And while Trump might not want to be compared to a four-legged animal, Barnett says there's no denying his appeal.

(On camera): Are there other things you would compare this sort of heightened engagement to?

BARNETT: Dogs have been known for a long time in advertising as, you know, this very popular kind of figure to include. And, you know, people of all difficult walks of life like seeing a dog in a commercial. It's cute, engaging and interesting, and, you know, maybe people are feeling similarly about Donald Trump.

STELTER (voice-over): Trump was more engaging talking about immigration than about, say, education.

BARNETT: This is one of the questions that Trump didn't perform as strong on. But we see this being a much stronger answer for John Kasich.

STELTER: But Trump was best overall at getting this focus group to really focus on his words. No wonder ratings rise when he's speaking on the air.

Barnett uses this method to study advertising and he's applying it to his hedge fund investments as well. In the not-too-distance future, he expects campaigns to be strapping these contraptions onto people's heads to learn more about their neural reactions.

BARNETT: I would imagine that people would learn from this and this would continue to shape more affecting messaging in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: So whether your brain is aglow with enthusiasm or you're shaking your head with a headache there, you will get a chance to exercise those brain waves three days from now. CNN will host a town hall for the Republican candidates and you can see it live Wednesday morning at 1:00 a.m. in London, 2:00 a.m. in Paris only here on CNN.

The series of bills considered discriminatory against gay and transgender communities have several major U.S. corporations threatening action against the states of Georgia and North Carolina.

CNN's Nick Valencia has details on why and what's at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: This is not over.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: This is not over.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: All these people are upset. They're angry. They have been left out of the democratic process.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This week, outside of the governor's mansion in North Carolina, protests and arrests. The demonstrators are opponents to a newly passed state law that they say is devastating to the civil liberties of transgender people. The law strikes down a recently passed ordinance in Charlotte. It would have protected trans people and allowed them to select the restroom of their choice based on how they identify.

PHIL BERGER, SENATE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE: The adoption of the ordinance by the city council in Charlotte was just crazy.

VALENCIA: Republican lawmakers like Senate Protemp Phil Berger were furious at the legislation. BERGER: Allows grown men to share bathrooms and locker facilities

with girls and women.

VALENCIA: In a special session, solely to consider the bill, Republican lawmakers pass the Public Facility's Privacy and Securities Act. It means transgender people in the state of North Carolina must use the restroom related to the gender on their birth certificate.

North Carolina's bill, signed into law Wednesday, is the latest in a string of state's attempting to pass similar anti-LGBT legislation.

[04:25:04] MIKE CRANE (R), GEORGIA STATE SENATE MEMBER: In the courtrooms, you're seeing folks get their religious beliefs persecuted against.

VALENCIA: In Georgia, the controversial bill passed by the state house and Senate is called the Free Exercise Protection Act, one of the several religious liberty bills that have surfaced across the country. Governor Nathan Deal has until May to sign it into law. Senator Mike Crane is one of the bill's most adamant supporters.

(On camera): Is this legislation a direct results of what the Supreme Court did last year in legalizing same-sex marriage, gay marriage?

CRANE: I think it's a result of many things but that was just another catalyst I believe.

VALENCIA (voice-over): But many blue chip businesses around the nation say there will be major financial consequences to Republican efforts in Georgia and North Carolina. Disney and Marvel Studios have threatened to abandon production in Georgia if the governor signs the bill into law. The NFL says it could have an impact on whether Atlanta is selected as the host of the 2019 Super Bowl.

And in North Carolina, the NBA says because of the new law it may pull the all-star game from Charlotte next year.

VALENCIA (on camera): Six major conventions have considers relocating if the governor signs the bill into law. Atlanta's Convention and Visitors Bureau said the decision could cost the state up to $6 billion and we should mention that the parent company of CNN Turner has joined the laundry list of big corporations to speak out against the legislation.

Nick Valencia, CNN Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Still ahead our live coverage from Brussels continues after the break. Many of the victims of the terror attacks there were foreign nationals. CNN spoke to a spokesman for the Belgian Foreign Ministry who explained where everything stands now.

Stay with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:30:17] HOLMES: And welcome back to our viewers in the United States and indeed around world. I'm Michael Holmes here in Brussels.

Well, as the city of Brussels tries to find a way forward from all of this, police making a new breakthrough in their investigation. Authorities charging a man that they are simply calling Faysal C with terrorist murder among other counts, although they won't yet say exactly what part they allege he had in the bombings here.

The search continues, meanwhile, for other suspects, as authorities try to unravel the complex web that orchestrated Tuesday's attacks. Now Italian police meanwhile say they have arrested an Algerian national suspected of involvement in both the Brussels and the Paris attacks.

The victims in Brussels came from all over the world, citizens of the United Kingdom, China, France and the U.S. all confirmed to be among the dead and 40 nationalities involved in all.

A spokesman for the Belgian Foreign Ministry spoke to our Alexandra Field about the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIDIER VANDERHASSELL, SPOKESMAN, BELGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY: Well, we have one big advantage here in Brussels that is that almost all countries are represented here in the capital. It's a huge diplomatic capital. We have the European Union and NATO here. So the contact with different countries is rather easy. And we have established already during other crises direct lines with them. So we have been able from moment one to get in touch with more than 100 embassies here in Brussels.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Is it more difficult to identify some of these victims because they come from so many different countries?

VANDERHASSELL: I think it is a difficult issue in general. People are in transit. People are found without any documents. People have been severely wounded so there are many, many issues. And I don't think that it is more difficult to identify foreign nationals than to identify Belgian ones.

FIELD: What role are the embassies taking right now as far as communicating with families of victims or providing support? What is the relationship here?

VANDERHASSELL: So the embassies, they have -- their role is to inform the families through the local authorities in the different countries. Our role is to be sure that they get the correct -- 100 percent correct information from us and that's why it might take some more time to give them the information, but we want to be 100 percent sure and so we have been basing ourselves on the information we are getting from our disaster identification team and from the Ministry of Public Health.

FIELD: What do we know about the victims right now? Can you give me a breakdown?

VANDERHASSELL: Thirty-one are -- is the total. Three suspect and then a number of unidentified still, and a number of Belgians. So -- but we are able to confirm for the moment, 100 percent sure, 11 foreign nationals from eight different nationalities.

FIELD: How many Americans?

VANDERHASSELL: For the moment, we are able to confirm two Americans among the deceased.

FIELD: When we say 31 are deceased, how many more if there a handle on how many more have not been identified at this point?

VANDERHASSELL: So for the moment the number is 31 so --

FIELD: Do you expect it to go up?

VANDERHASSELL: This number could go up because there are some people still in the hospital fighting for their lives.

FIELD: Thirty-one (INAUDIBLE).

VANDERHASSELL: Yes. Yes.

FIELD: And everyone who is alive (INAUDIBLE).

VANDERHASSELL: Not yet, because some people are in a coma, so we still have to identify people that are wounded.

FIELD: Do you know how many people fall into that category?

VANDERHASSELL: I can't give you the numbers because that is public health. Sorry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, to find out how you can help the victims of the Brussels attack, our Impact Your World team has gathered some ways to offer support. Just head over across to the Web site at CNN.com/impact. You'll find everything you need there.

Well, these attacks have exposed just how difficult it is to protect large crowds, open places like airports and train stations are known as soft targets.

CNN's Evan Perez explains why they're so vulnerable.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: A soft target is a place where people are gathered such as an airport, a train terminal or even a stadium where before they can get through screening, they are essentially unprotected, they are prime targets for terrorists.

[04:35:16] Well, what we've seen from al Qaeda and from ISIS is that they train to attack soft targets. They know that these are places where people are going to be gathering and where they're going to be unprotected. We saw that into Paris attacks where a couple of the suicide bombings happened outside of the Stade de France. In Brussels, we saw the airport and the metro station.

One of the first things that authorities worry about after an event like Brussels is the possibility of copycat attacks, people who might just be thinking of doing something and then get inspired. So that's one of the reasons why you see an increased presence of police in places like Times Square, in places like Penn Station.

You can only keep an increased presence for a few days. It's intended to make sure that you show an increased vigilance but then the harder work begins behind the scenes. Wherever you put the security chord on, there is still going to be a line. And a line is always vulnerable. So the U.S. has a very robust system whereby they do sting operations to try to find these people who are online, who are talking about carrying out an attack.

It's a very controversial tactic. But so far it has prevented a lot of attacks in the United States. In other countries they're starting to copy that formula to try to do the same thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And when we return, after the break, Pope Francis celebrating Easter Sunday mass. Live pictures we can show you now, thousands of Christians in Vatican City. We'll have more on the Pope's message of hope next on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:40:03] HOWELL: Welcome back. I'm George Howell. It is Easter Sunday in many parts of the word, celebrating the day Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Pope Francis is celebrating Easter Sunday mass, these live pictures from St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Security is tight there after the deadly bombings in Brussels.

At an evening the Easter vigil mass Saturday, the Pope condemned the attack and urged Christians to remain hopeful. The Pope also said that people who carry out terrorist attacks are violating God's will.

Now to northern Iraq where a Turkish soldier was killed by stray missiles from ISIS. It happened as Turkish Peshmerga forces were fighting the terror group. The missiles landed in a base where Turkish troops were deployed. Turkey then retaliated with airstrikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AHMET DAVUTOGLU, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER (Through Translator): After liaising with chief of general staff, all the bases that caused the killing of our martyr lieutenant were destroyed with the involvement of Turkish air forces as part of our engagement rules. As long as the elements posing a threat for Turkey on the line remains there, Turkey's military presence in that area will continue, and we will continue to maintain our presence that would respond to possible threats against our borders even further south.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Turkey says its troops are in northern Iraq to help train Iraqi forces, but Iraq's government has accused that country of trying to extend its influence in that region.

On to Nigeria now where that country will send some parents to Cameroon to find out whether two would-be suicide bombers came from their town. Cameroon state news says the girls planned to attack a village in Cameroon. But vigilantes stopped them on Friday. One girl claimed that she was among the 276 schoolgirls kidnapped from Chibouk two years ago by Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. Authorities hope some parents from that village can help identify the girls. Their abduction sparked worldwide outrage and the "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign.

Switching now to weather. Parts of the United States will be waking up with a very dreary, wet Easter Sunday. And our meteorologist Karen Maginnis is here at the International Weather Center with our soggy news -- Karen.

(WEATHER REPORT)

[04:45:03] HOWELL: Karen, thank you.

Next, we take you back to Brussels and my colleague Michael Holmes there live and a report on the psychology of terror. What terrorists are trying to accomplish and why experts call it a failed strategy. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(SPORTS)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

HOWELL: Welcome back to our viewers around the world. I'm George Howell. And we want to go to the breaking news that we're following on the U.S. campaign trail. Voters across three states weighed in on Saturday in the Democratic U.S. presidential race for candidates, and Bernie Sanders has won all three.

In the state of Hawaii, Sanders roundly beat Hillary Clinton there with 70 percent of the vote. In Washington state he won with 73 percent, 101 delegates up for grabs there. And in Alaska, he won with more than 80 percent of the vote, but Hillary Clinton is still far ahead of Bernie Sanders in the national delegate count.

Back to our coverage of Brussels. The city there is still very much on edge. Security concerns caused the cancellation of a peace march that was set for Sunday. And more police operations are sweeping across that country which remains at a high terror alert level at this point.

[04:50:06] My colleague Michael Holmes has been in Brussels covering the aftermath for some time now.

Michael, I want to ask you, I watched your interview earlier with Ryan Heath of Politico. And he said this statement that the march against fear has been canceled by fear. At a time where solidarity is so needed. What are your impressions about that?

HOLMES: Yes, that was the thing that struck me. That's why I asked him about that. You know, you've got a march against fear, a march of solidarity, a march that was totally designed to say, we will not be cowed by fear. We will not be ruled by terrorists. And then because the police say they didn't have enough manpower to protect those who were marching, because the police are out doing other things, trying to track down suspects and the like, they called it off. And so I mean, just how awful is that, that a march against fear is called off because of a fear of terror.

You know, authorities had a lot of security concerns about the march. It's a very sad thing. Around Belgium, the overwhelming feeling I've had from locals. We've been talking to a lot of people, when we were down on the square there the last few days, people were always coming up to us and talking to us. They're still stunned of course by what happened, they're also apprehensive about those who are still at large and worried that something else could happen, and there's a growing anger at the lapses in counterterrorism and security. The messages that never got through that is making people angry now.

And when you go around the city, you see these troops that we talking about before. You know, I took a photograph myself of heavily-armed soldier in camouflage, balaclava, standing outside of a cafe on the main, historic square in this beautiful, historic city. A beautiful city of old buildings and alley ways and cobblestones, and to have soldiers walking up and down in full gear is just such a sad thing to see, I think.

The business people here tell us it is super quiet at the moment. Even the locals aren't going out. And one other thing to remember just from a purely economic standpoint, it's a bit cold and windy here today in Brussels, but we are going into summer and it's a tourist season. And a lot of people are worried that they're going to have a very bad summer here in Brussels because of what's happened. That the city's, you know, in many ways been tainted by what they've seen.

It has changed the psychology here of the people, who despite, and this is something else we talking about with Ryan, that despite this country having a real link with extremism in the inside its own population, nothing bad has really happened here. Well, it has now. And I think that's brought it home to a lot of people. There's a real -- I don't know, a real sadness here that this country may have changed. There is a psychology, though, behind terrorism, and our chief medical

correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been looking into that. And I want to show you his piece here, have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Make no mistake, terrorism is a strategic war against our minds. Its weapons -- fear, panic, and most importantly, an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability.

(On camera): If we feel vulnerable, we`ll be in constant fear. And that`s exactly what they`re trying to achieve.

Bombs are set off in places where we gather. The message -- we will find you where you work and play.

Shooting unsuspecting innocent people. The message -- there is nowhere to hide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flames of war are only beginning.

GUPTA (voice-over): Videos revealing the horrors of rape, mass murder, and beheadings. Even beheadings carried out by children.

(On camera): The message -- no one is immune. In fact, following a terrorist attack, studies show it`s the most vulnerable of us who will suffer longest, especially those with personal histories of trauma. Though almost everyone may be fearful or anxious for a few weeks, the vast majority of us will prove resilient. And in this regard, experts say terrorism is a failed strategy because research shows that terror often backfires, making nations stronger as citizens band together and angry countries join ranks to fight back. But history has also proven terrorism only works if we allow ourselves to be terrorized.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Dr. Sanjay Gupta there, and a very good point. And there is that resilience here, too, that unity, if you like, in purpose against terror, but still a very sad and as I said, apprehensive city, George?

HOWELL: Michael, that march against fear canceled, but is there still a sense that people will still come together, despite the fact that it's been canceled?

[04:55:07] HOLMES: You know, you know, George, I'll almost guarantee you that. I mean, as I say it's Easter, it's cold, and still in the morning here, and there's not many people down there behind me in the Place de la Bourse. I will guarantee you that by this afternoon there'll be, you know, several hundred people down there as there have been for the last few days. They have now cleared the square of the media but moved some of the memorial that is down there off the main roadway because they want to reopen the roadway eventually.

But the vast bulk of the flowers and the messages are still down there outside of what is the old stock exchange here in Brussels. And what is interesting today, we saw some people down there going through and selectively picking things out of where those flowers and messages are. And I sent one of our producers out to find out what it was, and it's the archivists here in Brussels. They're going through and they're picking out messages and things that they see as symbolic and they're putting them away for posterity. They're going to keep them, they're going to keep it as a piece of Belgian history going forward -- George.

HOWELL: Michael, you know, I find out poignant, you know, you have certainly seen your share of war zones, but I found it really interesting when you, you know, point out how striking it is to see such militarized streets in a European capital.

HOLMES: Yes.

HOWELL: We will continue to monitor your reporting there from Brussels and we appreciate that, as well, Michael. Thank you.

We'll have more from Brussels at the top of the hour. We thank you for watching, I'm George Howell in Atlanta. And we leave you now with these images of the memorials honoring the victims of last Tuesday's attack.

This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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