8.18.26 Beijing’s leverage, a surrogate mother, classroom phone bans, and Scripture as a living record

**Mary Reichard** (0:05)
Good morning. A sick baby leads to a legal fight over what a contract can demand of a mother.

**McKenna West** (0:11)
Nothing was scarier than questioning my own soul and knowing what would happen to this baby boy.

**Nick Eicher** (0:18)
Also today, Washington counters China on two policy fronts, we'll talk with an expert. And new research asks whether classroom phone bands work.
Later, one author says daily Bible reading can become just another box to check.

**Tim Mulgrew** (0:33)
The Bible hasn't changed, we have.

**Nick Eicher** (0:36)
And World Commentator Daniel Suhr on the malleable meaning of modernism.

**Mary Reichard** (0:47)
It's Tuesday, August 18th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard.

**Nick Eicher** (0:53)
And I'm Nick Eicher. Good morning.

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

**Kent Covington** (1:01)
President Trump spoke to reporters at the White House Monday about his decision to tell the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. He called them costly and noted that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has long objected to them and suggested the move could ratchet down tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

**Donald Trump** (1:20)
You see, I'm actually making it much safer. Kim Jong Un has always treated me with great respect.

**Kent Covington** (1:26)
South Korean and American troops are in the field this week together. An 11-day exercise started on schedule with 18,000 South Korean troops.
Trump said that he recently asked South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to join the US in working to denuclearize Iran. He called that request, quote, somewhat unrelated to the drills, but he added, You know, when you ask somebody, would you like to give us a hand?

**Donald Trump** (1:50)
And they say, no, thanks. And then we're guarding them from a country and paying ourselves billions of dollars, costing us billions and billions of dollars to protect not only them, but other countries.

**Kent Covington** (2:03)
Roughly 28,000 American troops are based in South Korea. President Lee's office says it hopes the Trump-Kim relationship leads to renewed talks with North Korea.
Meantime in Israel, President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip. Kushner serves as an unofficial US diplomat. That meeting came 24 hours after he spoke with the leaders of the Hamas terror group in Egypt. The talks are the latest effort to form some kind of lasting ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Hamas leaders reportedly told Kushner that they are ready to demilitarize Gaza.
Florida GOP Congressman Brian Mast called that a good sign.

**Brian Mast** (2:49)
The fact that they are out there making that as a statement, that is an important step. And so I think it comes down to a chicken or the egg question for the United States, for the Board of Peace, for Israel. What has to take place first in order for somebody to actually make a move forward?

**Kent Covington** (3:03)
But Israel remains skeptical of those Hamas claims. Netanyahu last week rejected a U.S.-backed ceasefire proposal, insisting that Israeli forces will only withdraw from Gaza after Hamas completely disarms.
The Justice Department's internal watchdog is taking a close look at a controversial DEA tactic that has allowed fentanyl to reach American streets. World's Kristin Flavin reports.

**Lauren Canterbury** (3:30)
The Department's Inspector General is reviewing a tactic known as allowing drugs to walk. That means agents sometimes merely track a shipment instead of grabbing it, hoping to follow it up the chain to bigger traffickers. The Associated Press reports that agents repeatedly did that in New Mexico. In one case, 74,000 pills reached an Albuquerque mobile home park while agents watched. DEA agent David Howell blew the whistle, saying, quote, We poisoned our community to make cases. The DEA says its decisions were lawful and followed department guidance. The department rules once told agents to seize fentanyl as soon as they could until the Biden Justice Department gave them discretion two years ago.
New Mexico's Attorney General is investigating, too.
For WORLD, I'm Kristen Flavin.

**Kent Covington** (4:23)
The sound of floodwaters raging through Naelehu, Hawaii, on the southern end of the Big Island. Tropical storm Lala swept about a hundred homes off their foundation on the Big Island. But Governor Josh Greene said yesterday he does not believe anyone has died from the storm.
Lala dumped 43 inches of rain on the island's northeast coast, making Lala the third wettest tropical cyclone on record in the state. Hawaii County Acting Fire Chief Daniel Volpe said Monday, We continue to operate.

**Daniel Volpe** (4:53)
Currently, there are some communities that are isolated. We continue to search and rescue missions throughout those communities, and we'll continue to do until we have clear that every area has been searched. At this time, we have no additional reports of anyone missing.