8.14.26 WNBA’s transgender draft, review of The Brink of War, and ISIS kidnapping of Kayla Mueller

**Myrna Brown** (0:05)
Good morning. Professional male athletes press the WNBA to say what that W stands for.

**Mary Reichard** (0:11)
That and more ahead on Culture Friday with John Stonestreet. And a new film goes inside President Reagan's Cold War showdown with Mikhail Gorbachev.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:21)
Here we are, the two of us, deciding whether there will be peace or war in the world.

**Mary Reichard** (0:26)
And we'll introduce an in-depth series about a young American who risked her life by entering Islamic State territory.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:32)
I'll never forget her reaching out to us and saying, I'm going to Turkey. I'm going to go and see if I can help.

**Myrna Brown** (0:47)
It's Friday, August 14th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.

**Mary Reichard** (0:54)
And I'm Mary Reichardt. Good morning.

**Myrna Brown** (0:58)
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.

**Kent Covington** (1:02)
Leaders in Tehran are declaring once more that Iran, not the US., decides who sails through the Strait of Hormuz. That after President Trump said Wednesday that the US has total control of the Strait. Tehran has issued a list of demands that it says the US must meet before it will allow the Strait to fully reopen.
A truce between the US and Iran officially expires on Monday, though it has long since broken down, as have peace talks. Retired 4-star General Jack Keane says with midterm elections approaching, Iran right now believes it has the upper hand.

**Jack Keane** (1:38)
Because we went to the ceasefire over oil and gas prices, and as we get closer to the midterms, they think the less likelihood that President Trump would ever react very consequentially in terms of military operations.

**Kent Covington** (1:51)
But the Trump administration says the US can outlast Iran, whose economy is in crisis. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the Navy can maintain its blockade of Iranian ports indefinitely. Main time, the aircraft carrier USS George Washington left Vietnam last week, headed for the Middle East. It should relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln at sea for more than 240 straight days, a Navy record. Families have complained about food and mail shortages, and the Navy blames wartime supply disruptions, but Hegseth says those complaints misrepresent life on the ship.
US. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee is condemning the actions of some Israeli settlers in the West Bank. World's Travis Kircher reports.

**Travis Kirchherr** (2:39)
In a rare rebuke Thursday, Ambassador Huckabee referred to some Israeli settlers as terrorists. His comments came in the wake of a five-night standoff between dozens of Israeli settlers and the occupants of three Palestinian homes in the West Bank, a region the Israeli government refers to as Judea and Samaria.
Authorities say it started Sunday when the settlers surrounded the homes and refused to allow the Palestinian families to leave. They eventually erected tents and cut the Palestinians' access to water and electricity. Israel's military condemned the settlers' actions as illegal and reprehensible. Troops clashed with the settlers and eventually dismantled their outposts on Thursday. But the brother of one of the Palestinian residents worries that as soon as the Israeli military leaves, the settlers will return.

**SPEAKER_8** (3:29)
It's not working just to come and remove the settlers. You need to prevent the settlers coming to the entire area. You need to look where the source is coming from and go prevent them.

**Travis Kirchherr** (3:41)
Huckabee called the siege the actions of criminal terrorists. But he added that they represent a small minority of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, most of whom condemn the siege.
For WORLD, I'm Travis Kirchherr.

**Kent Covington** (3:54)
Immigration enforcement officers may soon be wearing gloves that deliver an electric shock.
ICE plans to spend up to $20 million on them. They look like ordinary patrol gloves until an officer presses a button at the wrist. More than 50 police departments already use them. Borders R. Tom Homan defended the plan.

**Tom Homan** (4:13)
You've seen the videos in the past year and a half, the fights on the street where officers are overwhelmed. This would be a tool they can use to make someone complain.

**Kent Covington** (4:21)
But critics allege that the agency has shown it is too quick to use force. And New York Attorney General Letitia James is threatening to prosecute officers who misuse the gloves.
The Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, is calling on states to investigate possible Medicaid fraud related to performing transgender procedures on minors. World's Harrison Waters has more now from the nation's capital.

**Harrison Waters** (4:46)
HHS released a report Thursday detailing the possible manipulation of Medicaid billing codes. It says many providers appear to have hidden prescriptions for cross-sex hormones and body altering procedures behind insurance claims intended for other conditions, like endocrine disorders.