10.7 | Washington Wednesday: Open seams

Lindsay Mast (0:05)

Good morning. National security threats from the inside. If everyone is responsible for intelligence failures, is no one responsible?

Nick Eicher (0:13)

We'll talk about that and more with Hunter Baker. Washington Wednesday is ahead.

Also today, World Tour with US troops out of Iraq, who fills the power vacuum. And later, Yom Kippur, one Jewish congregation finds joy in a day of repentance.

Jacob Rosenberg (0:30)

We need hope for the future and I think that's what God gives us if we turn back to him.

Nick Eicher (0:34)

And World commentator Cal Thomas on the love of money and the death of Jim Bakker.

Lindsay Mast (0:47)

It's Wednesday, October 7th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Lindsay Mast.

Nick Eicher (0:53)

And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.

Lindsay Mast (0:58)

Now time for the news. Here's Kent Covington.

Kent Covington (1:01)

It is a somber day in Israel today as the nation observes the third anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks.

Music heard there from the National Memorial Ceremony hosted last year in Israel. The now annual event is organized by friends and family of the victims who died and the surviving hostages who were taken on that day. This year's event is scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv's Yarkin Park. Meanwhile, US. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz spoke on Tuesday at a commemoration hosted by Israel's mission to the UN.

Michael Waltz (1:36)

Colleagues, October 7th can never ever happen again and it will not ever happen again and certainly not under this president's watch.

Kent Covington (1:44)

Waltz praised the Jewish state for using its Iron Dome missile defense technology to help protect cities like Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the ongoing conflict with Iran.

Michael Waltz (1:55)

And he told attendees, look, folks, October 7th completely and I think irreversibly has backfired on Iran and all of their terrorist proxies.

Kent Covington (2:09)

More than 1200 people died during the attacks led by the Iran-backed terror group Hamas on this day in 2023 Dozens of hostages also died in Hamas' captivity.

Nearly all Americans will be setting their clocks back an hour on November 1st, unless a bill now stuck in the Senate moves forward. World's Harrison Waters reports now from the nation's capital.

Harrison Waters (2:33)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans are discussing the Sunshine Protection Act, but it's still stalled. The House passed the bill in July with bipartisan backing to make daylight saving time permanent. But some Senate Republicans object. Senator Tom Cotton says Arkansas's children would head to school in winter darkness.

That was the same objection many had a half century ago. Washington did try daylight savings year round in 1974, but Congress reversed course the very same year amid complaints about dark winter mornings. Still, President Trump wants senators back in Washington before the midterms to pass the bill. Over the weekend, he posted Cotton's personal cell number and urged people to call and tell him to stop blocking the bill.

Last year, seven Senate Republicans voted against the Billing Committee after failing to make standard time permanent instead. Reporting for World, I'm Harrison Waters in Washington.

Kent Covington (3:29)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is among those applauding President Trump's decision this week to execute Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad. Hasan was an army major and a psychiatrist in 2009 when he massacred 13 people and wounded dozens at Fort Hood near Colleen, Texas. Military police shot him, leaving him paralyzed, and a military jury sentenced him to death in 2013

The Republican Senator calls him a radical Islamist terrorist and says he deserves execution. It would be the military's first execution since 1961 The Pentagon says the army secretary will set the time and the place, however, further court appeals could still delay his death.

There is a new giant in Hollywood with Paramount's takeover of Warner Brothers, now official, after Democrats were unable to block the merger. World's Kristen Flevin has that story.

Mary Muncie (4:25)

The deal closed Tuesday and the new combined company is called Skydance. It brings CNN and CBS under one roof, along with big film franchises like Top Gun, Harry Potter and the DC Comics Universe.

Michael Waltz (4:38)

I want you to tell all your friends about me. What are you?

Mary Muncie (4:43)

I'm Batman. Some left-wing actors like Mark Ruffalo launched a public campaign urging leaders to block the deal, and Democratic Attorneys General in California and 11 other states tried filing a federal lawsuit. They said they were concerned about less competition, even though the FTC and European regulators had cleared it. But Paramount Chief David Ellison said their opposition was political because his family has close ties to President Trump. California Attorney General Rob Bonta reversed course after Ellison reportedly threatened to move Paramount and thousands of jobs out of California. The states settled last month with Paramount committing, among other things, to keep putting plenty of movies on the big screen, not just streaming, and setting up a board aimed at ensuring independent reporting at CNN and CBS News.