9.3.26 Flood-ravaged Nepal, a counterterrorism review, prenatal screening, and unconventional musicians

**Myrna Brown** (0:05)
Good morning. A new report identifies possible weaknesses in fighting terrorism, 25 years after 9-11.

**Colin Clark** (0:13)
Are we in a place similar to August 2001? I would say yes.

**Mary Reichard** (0:17)
And on the ground in Nepal, we'll talk to an aid worker about the massive floods. Also how prenatal screenings may endanger the lives of unborn babies and using uncommon instruments to bring joy.

**Cindy Helton** (0:30)
The test ain't the biggest thing in my playbook. It's brightening people's day.

**Mary Reichard** (0:34)
And World Commentator Daniel Suhr on the leverage lessons from a narrowly averted teacher strike.

**Myrna Brown** (0:47)
It's Thursday, September 3rd. 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 Reigert. Good morning.

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

**Kent Covington** (1:02)
Iran keeps firing missiles at American bases in the Middle East. And air defenses for the most part so far keep knocking them down. Jordan says it destroyed 10 of 13 incoming Iranian missiles on Wednesday. Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq also came under attack. No deaths reported.
But American strikes are landing. President Trump claims the US now has almost total control of the state of Hormuz, and he said of Iran's government.

**Donald Trump** (1:28)
The regime is getting weaker and weaker by the day. And at some point, they're not going to be able to shoot so easily because I think the people aren't going to take it.

**Kent Covington** (1:38)
Iranian officials claim that a US strike hit a wedding on Iran's southern coast, killing four people. The Pentagon says it is looking into those reports which came from Iranian state media.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard also claims that it killed Americans at a base in Kuwait, though the US has not confirmed that. The Trump administration is also squeezing Iran's economy and warning others not to help Tehran. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant.

**Scott Bessent** (2:05)
Look, my message to everyone is stay away. We all want this conflict to end. And the fastest way for the conflict to end is for no one to provide any support to this regime. We are going to sever every tie that they have from the outside world.

**Kent Covington** (2:25)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says countries helping Iran should know what they're funding.

**Marco Rubio** (2:29)
They want money for two things, to sponsor terrorism and ultimately to have a nuclear weapon. And we can't allow that to happen.

**Kent Covington** (2:37)
Trump says Iran's latest attacks mean that a harder American strike is coming.
Secretary Rubio also chimed in on another leadership change inside the Pentagon. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll stepped down this week, the latest in a string of top officials to either leave or be fired from the Pentagon Under Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. But Rubio says it is not unusual for officials to leave.

**Marco Rubio** (3:02)
Every administration has turnover and obviously, look, when you're trying to systemically reorganize an agency, like one as big and as large as the Pentagon is, there are going to have to be some changes made, which is one of the things some of the things that Pete Hegseth has done.

**Kent Covington** (3:16)
Driscoll had reportedly clashed with Hegseth for months over changes that the War Secretary had made to Pentagon leadership.
Oil companies signed deals Wednesday to go back into Venezuela, the country that holds the world's largest proven oil reserves. The signing happened at the Presidential Palace in Caracas with US. Energy Secretary Chris Wright on hand. Venezuela's acting leader, Delci Rodriguez, signed for her government and Wright thanked the companies.

**Chris Wright** (3:44)
Thank you from the President of the United States, from myself and from the people of the United States of America, to Chevron, to ENI, to GE, and to the many companies that will follow behind you to bring capital, technology and opportunity into the country of Venezuela.

**Kent Covington** (4:03)
Chevron is putting in more than $7 billion over five years, aiming to more than double its own output there to about 600,000 barrels a day.
President Trump says Venezuelan crude will refill America's emergency oil stockpile, which sits near a 44-year low.
Wright says the deals came together quickly.

**Chris Wright** (4:24)
We were trying to work at what I call Trump speed.
President Trump didn't want a nudge or a slow drift in the positive direction. He wanted to see as fast as possible transformation in Venezuela.

**Kent Covington** (4:41)
But industry leaders say that does not mean that the oil will be hitting the market quickly. Venezuela now pumps out about a million barrels a day, that is down from about three million in the 1990s, and analysts say rebuilding the country's rundown oil infrastructure will take years.