8.20.26 Ukraine’s drone war, billing for transgender procedures, and Lance Cowan’s three albums

**Myrna Brown** (0:05)
Good morning. Russian missiles and drones increasingly overwhelmed Ukraine's defenses as technology transforms the war.

**Mary Reichard** (0:13)
We'll hear from a reporter in Kyiv and to an expert on how the war is changing.
Also, new medical codes could help people who regret their gender transition. And a longtime music publicist finally puts his own songs in the spotlight.

**Lance Cowan** (0:28)
I said, you know, if we pursue this now, I won't know my two sons and we'll probably be divorced.

**Mary Reichard** (0:36)
And World Commentator David Closson on the politics behind AlgaeGate.

**Myrna Brown** (0:46)
It's Thursday, August 20th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.

**Mary Reichard** (0:53)
And I'm Mary Reichard. Good morning.

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

**Kent Covington** (1:01)
President Trump says the US has a trade deal with Canada, though the White House says nothing is signed just yet, and Trump's tariff deadline runs out tomorrow night. The president told reporters on Wednesday.

**Donald Trump** (1:13)
We had a very good conversation with the prime minister last night, and we've come to a deal with Canada. As you know, the 50 percent tariffs across the board are going on against Canada today.

**Kent Covington** (1:25)
The tariffs would hit 50 percent, but only on about 20 billion dollars of Canadian goods, that is roughly 5 percent of what Canada sells in the US. Trump says Canada agreed to drop its tariffs on American farm goods, a long-running sore spot, because Canada tightly limits how much US dairy can come in.

**Donald Trump** (1:44)
Farmers have been hurt very badly by Canada, and they won't be paying any tariffs anymore. And we may bring some of the tariffs down to a level where other countries are, because Canada was paying a higher tariff.

**Kent Covington** (1:55)
But Canada tells it differently. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says his country's dairy protections came through, quote, entirely intact. Negotiators are still at the table. Reports say the US would also cut its steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada in half.
A former top advisor to Dr. Anthony Fauci has pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge. World's Kristen Flavin reports.

**Kristen Flavin** (2:21)
David Morens admitted he steered government business to a private Gmail account to keep records about the origins of COVID-19 away from public records requests. The case centers on a federal grant to a New York nonprofit that funded coronavirus research at a lab in Wuhan, China, where the COVID outbreak began. Prosecutors say he also took wine and dinner offers from the scientist whose grant was at stake. He faces up to five years in prison. Prosecutors dropped four other counts in the plea agreement. Sentencing is slated for November.
Dr. Anthony Fauci was not accused of wrongdoing in this case, and Fauci is shielded from federal prosecution after President Biden pardoned him before leaving office.
For WORLD, I'm Kristen Flavin.

**Kent Covington** (3:09)
Congo's Ebola outbreak has passed 5,000 cases, and it is still spreading faster than any Ebola outbreak in history.
Nearly 2,400 people have died, almost half of everyone infected. Mobs have attacked health workers, with some of those workers walking off the job saying they aren't getting paid. Dr. Tierno Baldé with the World Health Organization says they are working to better engage the community.

**Tierno Baldé** (3:33)
We are really re-centering all of the operational approach, all of our activities around the engagement of the communities.

**Kent Covington** (3:41)
He wants the motorbike taxi drivers on board, the men who carry sick people and dead bodies from village to village. The strain of the virus driving the outbreak still has no approved vaccine or treatment, and the agency expects this outbreak to pass the West African epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people a decade ago.
Israel is facing fresh criticism from the Trump administration after an air strike in Syria. World's Travis Kircher has that story.

**Travis Kircher** (4:11)
Israel struck an air base in northwest Syria this week, explaining that the goal was to prevent Turkey's troops from deploying there. Turkey has close ties to the Syrian government and has had tense relations with Israel, as both countries try to curb each other's influence in the region.
No one was hurt in the attack, but a runway was reportedly damaged. Syrian officials called the air strike a violation of Syria's sovereignty. US. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack also condemned the attack, calling it an unjustified escalation. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Syria had ignored Israel's warning that it was about to breach a previous agreement by allowing Turkish troops to deploy there. For WORLD, I'm Travis Kircher.