8.4.26 Houthi rebels, new rules for teen sex education, and leaving the Democratic party

**Myrna Brown** (0:05)
Good morning. Do US military members need more testosterone?

**Pete Hegseth** (0:10)
It's about restoring and optimizing your natural capability.

**Mary Reichard** (0:14)
We'll have a report. Also today, a former ambassador weighs in on a second front with Iran, and challenges to new guidelines for the teen pregnancy prevention program.
Later, why one Democratic insider walked away from the party and who she believes is driving it now.

**Evan Barker** (0:31)
They have more disdain for the establishment Democrats than they do Republicans.

**Mary Reichard** (0:37)
And World Commentator Daniel Suhr on a tried and true way to question changing perspectives on Israel.

**Myrna Brown** (0:50)
It's Tuesday, August 4th. This is The World and Everything In It from listener-supported World Radio. I'm Myrna Brown.

**Mary Reichard** (0:58)
And I'm Mary Rieckard. Good morning.

**Myrna Brown** (1:02)
Up next, Kent Covington with today's news.

**Kent Covington** (1:06)
President Trump says Iran has one more opportunity to end the war at the bargaining table.

**Donald Trump** (1:12)
This is the last chance. This is not something that if it doesn't happen, this is the last chance for them to sign a good document.

**Kent Covington** (1:23)
Trump says talks have been renewed and that negotiators could sit down within a day or two.
He called off a major strike on Sunday after Gulf states asked him to hold back. Tehran says it is not negotiating directly with the US and is only talking to mediators. But Trump insists that the two sides are talking whether Tehran admits it publicly or not. And he says if these talks fail, the strike he halted over the weekend is still on the drawing board and Iran's leaders are not safe.

**Donald Trump** (1:51)
I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.
Very tough to do what we have planned, still planned. We'll see what happens.

**Kent Covington** (2:01)
The president said phase one of a new deal would require Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz immediately followed by talks to end their nuclear pursuit.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch looks like he now has the votes to win Senate confirmation to officially become the next Attorney General. Two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee had been holding up the vote. They wanted a written order killing the proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. That fund would have compensated people found to be victims of political targeting. Blanch met that demand and provided the guarantee, and Republicans John Cornyn and Tom Tillis now say they'll back him, but GOP Senator James Lankford says alleged victims of political targeting could still be compensated.

**James Lankford** (2:45)
I do hope the folks that were oppressed by the Biden administration do get justice, and there is a way to do that through the Judgment Fund. We want them to continue to be able to pursue it and to be able to get justice.

**Kent Covington** (2:55)
The Judgment Fund is a standing pot of Treasury money for legal claims against the government. Democrats had panned the anti-weaponization fund as a taxpayer slush fund for Trump backers.
Some residents in the Spokane, Washington area have returned to devastated neighborhoods to find nothing more than a chimney and a pile of ash where their home once stood.

**Tom Climo** (3:17)
By our estimate, we've lost upwards of 700 structures, but there's still large question marks about the total loss.

**Kent Covington** (3:25)
Tom Climo leads the California Interagency brought in to help battle the flames in Eastern Washington. Roughly 65,000 people were under evacuation orders as of Monday, with three fires still burning around the city.

**Tom Climo** (3:37)
The overwhelming amount of damage that has been done in this community and try to turn the corner and help you recover, it's going to take a lot of effort, a lot of coordination, and a lot of patience.

**Kent Covington** (3:53)
About 400 people spent Monday night at the Spokane Convention Center, which has been turned into a temporary shelter. FEMA has approved emergency grants for the state, and Governor Bob Ferguson says the federal government is standing by to pitch in.

**Bob Ferguson** (4:07)
My understanding is things are staged here literally in Washington state already on many of the resources I've talked about. So it's up to the federal government, but from President Trump to Secretary Mullen to FEMA, we've had only productive conversations.

**Kent Covington** (4:20)
So far, no one has died. Deputies took nearly 300 missing person reports, but have cleared all but 14
Rescuers in Indonesia are searching the Java Sea for people missing after a ferry caught fire on Sunday. World's Mary Monsey reports.

**Kristen Miele** (4:37)
Crews still don't know exactly how many people they're looking for. The ferry's manifest listed 271 passengers and crew, but authorities say more people than that were aboard. They're trying to piece together a count from families and survivors. Rescuers have pulled roughly 230 people out of the water alive. At least five were confirmed dead on Monday.