Explosion near pub in Japan injures dozens; Concerns over detention of 100 Christians; Family of girl who died in U.S. custody seeks answers
HOWELL: In Japan, authorities are investigating the cause of a massive explosion near a pub in Sapporo. At least 42 people were injured there, one person critically. The blast on Sunday night was so strong, so powerful it shattered windows across the street. A fire that followed caused the building to collapse. Witnesses said they smelled gas after that explosion, but a gas leak has not been confirmed. A prominent pastor is calling China's moves against Christians, a wicked unlawful action. Wang Yi is one of 100 Christians who were taken into custody last week. Western governments and civil rights advocates are condemning Beijing for its mass arrest of religious community. It is just the latest move in China's stepped up crackdown on independent religious practise. Let's go live to Hong Kong. CNN's Alexandra Field is following the story. Alexandra, what more can you tell us about what compelled the Chinese government to take this action on this group?</s>ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wang Yi is a 45-year-old pastor, George, of an underground church, but he has got hundreds of congregants. He is very outspoken and his writings and his speaking is very public in China despite the fact that this is an underground church. He has been a vocal critic of the communist party, of government, of President Xi Jinping and China himself and increasingly of the strengthening regulations against religion in China. All that has put him in the crosshairs of authorities before and it seems to have put him on the radar of authorities again. This is a pastor who presumed he could, in fact, one day be arrested. He had even written that manifesto to be published in the event of his arrest which talked about what he perceives to be the persecution of the church in China. Recently we have seen of course China cracking down on unregistered churches, demolition of those churches, demolition of crosses, the banning of the online sale of bibles. All of this is seen as the part of the communist party's wider goal of establishing and asserting and maintaining more control. Their view towards organized religion as being something that could be a threat in terms of its very ability to organize people and to invite in foreign influence. We have seen these measures to curtail religion. Certainly it is legal to practise religion in China but houses of worship are of course subject to surveillance by the communist party. Wang Yi was the pastor of an unregistered church which is something that would put him on the radar of authorities, not to mention the fact that he was certainly fiery and outspoken in his criticism. He is facing very serious charge now, George. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. So, this is the kind of arrest that is absolutely raising alarm among activists in China and internationally as well as among some western governments, so they're keeping a careful eye on what is going on inside China.</s>HOWELL: All right. Alexandra Field with the report, thank you. Now to a story that has sparked outrage here in the United States, and now the grieving family of a child who died while in the custody of the U.S. wants answers. Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin of Guatemala died in a hospital in El Paso, Texas. It happened on December 8. She had been detained by Customs and Border Patrol. The cause of death is not yet determined, but her family wants to know exactly what happened.</s>RUBEN GARCIA, FAMILY SPOKESMAN: The family of Jakelin Caal Maquin is still coping with their profound loss. The death of a child is the most painful experience that a parent or family can endure. The family is seeking an objective and thorough investigation and are asking that investigators will assess this incident with a nationally-recognized standards for the arrest and custody of children.</s>HOWELL: As I said, it has sparked outrage and now U.S. lawmakers are getting involved. Some will be heading to the state of Texas on a fact-finding mission. Our Ed Lavandera has that report.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On Tuesday, a congressional delegation will travel to Lordsburg, New Mexico to tour the border patrol station where 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin was taken just hours after she started showing signs of distress and vomiting. It was from that border patrol station that she was flown to El Paso hospital and where she later died. So, there have been a number of calls for investigation as to how all of this enfolded and why this young girl became sick hours after being taken into border patrol custody. Department of Homeland Security officials say that the agency did everything it could to save this young girl's life. And over the weekend, we heard from the father of the young girl for the first time who also echoed those statements that he felt that the agents on that bus and the medical professionals did everything they could to save his daughter's life. However, the father did dispute some of the initial accounts that came from the Department of Homeland Security. DHS officials initially said that the young girl had gone days without food and water. The father of the young girl says that's not true, that she had properly fed and hydrated throughout their journey to the border. So all of this continues to unfold here. The father remains in El Paso, Texas as calls for investigation and criticism of the Trump administration immigration policy continues here along the border. Ed Lavandera, CNN, El Paso, Texas.</s>HOWELL: Ed, thank you. Still ahead here on Newsroom, she is only 15 years old, but a young activist says world leaders who are not mature enough to deal with global warming should be called out and she is doing just that and it is going viral on social media. Also, who better to offer words of comfort about losing an election than Hillary Clinton? We will have that story ahead.