9.24 | Reading the red carpet

0:00Good morning, a deadly daytime attack in Ukraine. In the last moment we've got little, that's all we can do. We'll hear from our reporter in Kiev. Also, the U.S.-China summit gets underway and missed opportunities to protect women's sports. Later, the Christian rock that shaped one dad's fate is now shaping his kids' playlists. This message of, I can come back to God. I can go to Him. I can find safety in Him. And World Commentator Daniel Sur on schools shifting away from screens. It's Thursday, September 24th. This is The World and Everything In It from the Snow Supported World Radio. I'm Murnavara and I'm Mary Ryker. Good morning. Up next, keep coming to know with today's news.

1:02One day after President Trump addressed world leaders at the UN General Assembly, Iran's president did the same. Masoud Bazzeschihan on Wednesday played the victim card in a rare war time speech. He held a photo of the late Ayatollah Ali Haminai, killed an American in Israeli air strikes back in February. Those who are terrorists and trained and protect terrorists, describe us as such. We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists. The U.S., Canada, Australia and the European Union, among others, have designated Iran's revolutionary guard as either a terrorist entity or a state sponsor of terror. Bazzeschihan also struck a defiant tone. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee. We are ready for dialogue and diplomacy and negotiations without accepting the language of force. At came after Trump on Tuesday, said he has a big decision to make, strike a deal with Iranian leaders or his words, annihilate Iran.

2:03Though he said he does believe that there will be a deal. Iran says it will let ships through the Strait of Hormuz again if Washington lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, releases frozen Iranian money and ends the war on all fronts. U.S. officials have not verified that those Rite Iran's terms, but confirmed that they did talk with Iran this week. They also note however that Iran already broke an agreement that it signed back in June. And Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio said if Iran thinks U.S. midterm elections give them leverage, they're wrong. It comes to the imposition of both sanctions and the use of military force. The President has extraordinary powers. Every President does. He's the commander in chief, both constitutional and otherwise to be able to carry out those functions. President Trump believes that Tehran has been hoping that political pressure ahead of the midterms would lead him to offer more favorable terms. That he says will not happen. Secretary of State Rubio spoke from U.N. headquarters one day after the White House made it official that Rubio is now Trump's national security adviser.

3:07No longer just his acting adviser. That makes Rubio only the second person in history to hold both of those posts at the same time joining only Henry Kissinger. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky also addressed the General Assembly yesterday. He called on world leaders to turn up the pressure on Russia economically. When someone gives Russia more money through trade, they give this war more time. That is exactly why we insist on limiting trade with the aggressor and why we are burning Russia's revenues ourselves. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, spoke to the U.N. Security Council. The Kremlin is ready to negotiate toward a lasting peace, but it will not pause the war in the meantime because he said that would just give Kiev more time to rearm. Also on Wednesday, 50 countries and the European Union issued a joint statement in support of Ukraine.

4:10NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta meantime said he has given up on trying to figure out what's going on in Vladimir Putin's head, but he says there's one thing he does know. We have to make sure that we are prepared, we are strong and he knows it. And if he does anything silly, he knows our reaction will be tough. We will never be aggressive, but if necessary, we will defend ourselves in every inch of our territory. Moscow continues to carry out near daily strikes throughout Ukraine. And at joint base Andrews near Washington on Wednesday. Chinese leader Xi Jinping emerged in the doorway of his jet to a ceremonial welcome. He descended down a flight of stairs where President Trump was there to greet him on the tarmac with a handshake. Both leaders then made a slow walk down a red carpet, pausing for a ceremonial flyover. Before they both departed separately for the White House, the two leaders will meet today on a range of issues including trade, AI and the war with Iran.

5:17Tonight, the Chinese leader will be the guest of honor at a state dinner with some of America's biggest tech leaders also on the guest list. The powerful hurricane Polo is churning off Mexico's Pacific coast, threatening deadly flooding and mudslides. World's Kristen Flavin has that story. Polo's winds peaked Tuesday at 180 miles an hour. It has weakened since then, but it's still a monster. The good news is that it's not expected to come ashore, but it remains a serious threat. Forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center say Polo's outer bands could soak the state of Guerrero, including Acapulco. They expect four to six inches of rain there through today up to eight in spots. Forecasters say the danger is worst where the ground is steep. Mexico's Navy closed the ports at Acapulco and Zewa de Nejo in Guerrero, and the state has opened dozens of shelters. For World, I'm Kristen Flavin.

6:21And I'm Kent Covington. Coming up, a Senate committee hears testimony about the risks that male athletes still pose for women's sports. Plus, the lead singer of the band skillets on Christian Rock. This is the world and everything in it. It's Thursday, the 24th of September. Glad to have you along for today's edition of The World and Everything in it. Good morning, I'm Bruno Brown. And I'm Mary Reichard. First up, talks about trade, technology, and Taiwan. Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Trump are expected to spend the day in talks about a wide range of topics, including a U.S.-China-terrified reduction framework, artificial intelligence, and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. It's the first U.S. visit for Xi in nearly three years. And the first time he's been at the White House in more than a decade.

7:26Xi is scheduled to attend a state dinner tonight, and there are more events planned for tomorrow. Well, joining us now is Bonnie Lynn. She served in the office of the Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2018 as an advisor on China and Taiwan. She's now director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Bonnie, good morning. Good morning, and thank you for having me. We're really glad you're here. What do you think President Trump's top priority is this week and also for President Xi? Of course. So for this week, the meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, I think the top priorities from the U.S. side is having some more discussions on seeing what China could do or contribute to ending the war in Iran. And of course, also continuing to stabilize U.S.-China relations. And understabilizing U.S.-China relations, there are a whole bucket of issues that the two presidents will likely focus on. This includes more on economics, the tariff side.

8:29So whether or not we will extend the trade truths that we had with China that's supposed to expire November 10th of this year. I think the Chinese side want to extend it until the end of President Trump's term, but the U.S. side are interested in standing for a much shorter duration, potentially six months. China is also likely to bring up Taiwan. Additional issues that might also pop up include human rights if President Trump wants to raise that issue. And of course, what's also happening on Central and some of the domestic implications for the United States. Let's talk AI for a minute here. It was already the subject of trade talks with China earlier this week. A host of tech leaders are scheduled to be at a state dinner for Xi. But the Chinese don't seem to fear AI the way many Americans have come to fear it. Do you think there's a path to cooperation with China on AI safety? I think you're spot on to say that the Chinese don't fear AI the same way. When China's Ministry of State Security talked about artificial intelligence, his main concern about artificial intelligence was the threats it could pose to the Chinese Communist Party's control, political control.

9:40So there is a sense among Chinese officials right now that there's for a level perceptions of the dangers of AI to humanity aren't may not be at the same level as the United States. What I will say is from the Chinese perspective, they still do recognize despite the achievements of deep seek and some of their recent other advances that US is leading in AI. And one worry that Chinese leaders have is any discussions on AI could be viewed as a way to try to clamp down or or slow down China's AI speed of development. And that's what Chinese there would not want. You had mentioned human rights as on the agenda possibly now China released Christian pastor as Regen when President Trump visited Beijing earlier this year, but eight of his colleagues still are in prison. Jens asked President Trump to help free those people as well as Hong Kong, businessmen, Jimmy Lai. What role do you think human rights is going to play in this week's talks top of mind or no?

10:42I don't think top of mind the reason I mentioned human rights is because I know there's lots of the Trump administration is getting a lot of pressure from Congress, from organizations to raise this issue. I do expect this to be raised, but I don't think it's anywhere near the top five or six most important issues for either side. And I don't see President Trump putting too much political capital on this given the other big issues that he wants to get from the summit. We will continue to pray for that situation then. Bonnie Lynn is director of the China Power Project for the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Bonnie, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Coming up next on the world and everything in it, taking cover Ukrainian President Velodomir Zalinski says Russian attacks are taking a toll on everyday life. The Russians launch jet power. He is every hour, every hour against our cities, our economy, our infrastructure, our combat aircraft are fighting them 24 or 7.

11:52And this is part of Russia's strategy to create a near threat every hour. He addressed the United Nations yesterday, saying the attacks disrupt the economy and schools. His speech came hours after a deadly daylight bombing campaign hit Keeve. Our correspondent Caleb Weldy was near the side of some of those attacks and he brings us this report. It's just before 11 a.m. and Keeve. I'm two blocks in the central train station in an underground parking area when I hear the third bomb of the morning impact nearby. On the other side of the building, 200 yards away, a fire burns from the impact 20 minutes earlier. Around 100 people are gathered in the parking area. I first glance the people inside appear relatively calm. I'm in it or true later, some of them begin stepping outside. But then a firefighter's radio comes alive and he tells everyone to go back inside. 30 seconds later.

12:54Another strike this time on the other side of the train tracks further away. Many in the garage appear on edge. A few are crying. One woman has collapsed to the ground shaking and unconscious. Soon after a police officer runs in followed by paramedics. The woman comes two a few minutes later. We hear explosions further away every 15 minutes or so. The air radar alert is lifted an hour to after I arrive and on the street I meet a woman walking back to her office. She tells me her name is Yara. Today was usually morning in my office. Something around the 9 a.m. was the first blast. She won't tell me what sort of work is done in the building. She does say that she and her coworkers did not evacuate but many of them did rush down to the first floor. We say, oh, it's too close. It's a little bit dangerous. But we keep on working everything like usual and we feel the second blast. The second blast hit the 6th floor of their building.

13:56We were just extremely happy that we were not there in that time. The couple of our colleagues were on the 6th floor in that time. But God save everything is fine with them. Just little scratches. We are so happy that everything is fine. There is a bone in a paper, so documents are everything but let it be but the people are alive and this is a main. A block away I meet a man and a woman, Yuri and Tanya. We were about 50 meters away from the impact point. They're okay but the car was badly damaged. Here we've got both passenger side window, rear side window, top sun roof completely blown out. The back window has one, two, three, four, five holes. They were driving home when the drone came in. As you can see, our hands hear no sound to the car.

14:56But right by your heads we've got dense in the metal here. How are you not hit? We don't know. We have good angels. In the last moment we were a little bit in the car. That's all we can do. At least two people were killed and more than 40 injured in Wednesday's attacks. Reporting for World, I'm Caleb Weldy in Kiev. Additional support comes from St. Dunstin's Academy, classical education, building arts and Christian formation, real life, no screens, ST Dunstin's Academy.org. From the voice of the martyrs serving persecuted Christians since 1967, more at VOM.org slash the world.

16:00And from Cedarville University, where academic excellence and biblical faithfulness meet, Cedarville.edu slash world. Up next, Congress takes another look at women's sports. Republican senators heard testimony Wednesday on unsuddled policies surrounding them. President Trump's executive orders protecting participation in those events have yet to be codified by Congress. 23 states and some sports leagues still allow men in women's sports. The current patchwork leaves some athletes wondering if they'll get the awards they earned. World's Harrison Waters reports from the Capitol. Retired professional women's soccer player, Carly Smolak, remembers the shock she felt learning a man had joined a team she used to play with. And I immediately looked up his name. I saw that he was a former Marine. I saw that he was an ex-con and considered himself a prison abolitionist.

17:00It wasn't until the league president found out he was also a registered child sex offender that the man was asked to leave the team. The obvious solution is to enforce a clearly stated policy that women's competition is exclusively for female athletes. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee heard nearly two hours of testimony from witnesses on Wednesday. Kim Jones is co-founder of the Independent Council on Women's Sports. The problem we have today in the United States is intentional noncompliance and a deliberate desire of leaders to undermine the women's category. Despite more than 50 years of federal law intended to protect women. The International Olympic Committee now requires athletes to do a genetic test to confirm their sex. But Jones says governing bodies from the U.S. soccer federation to the Women's National Basketball Association still allow men to compete if they identify as women. Attorney Bill Bach III represents former swimmer Riley Gaines in a case against the NCAA. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley asked him about it.

18:01My understanding is that the NDC-WLA's position in court even as we speak is that Title IX doesn't apply to them. Is that correct? That's right. They don't think that federal law applies to the NC-WLA that controls athletics for 1100 schools, most of which receive federal funding. Minority committee members mostly sat out of the hearing. Only ranking member Dick Durbin and Villanois showed up to say Democrats refuse to call witnesses or ask questions. The issue of this hearing would not be in the top 10, maybe not the top 20. People are concerned about the cost of living. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn said she suspects there's a different reason. They know they are wrong on this issue. They know that. And their position is not a defensible position. When CWA president Charlie Baker told the Judiciary Committee in 2024, he was aware fewer than 10 transgender college athletes out of 500,000. But women's rights groups estimate the numbers across leagues nationally are higher and growing.

19:06Concerned women for America or CWA estimates men and boys have taken nearly 300 top awards from females in the last year alone. The Protect College Sports Act, a bill regulating revenue and college sports, is expected to pass the Senate later tonight. The bill would prevent schools from cutting women's sports to pay for more profitable programs, but does not protect women's participation in those sports. Florida Senator Ashley Moody points out legislation aimed at fixing that more fundamental problem remains stalled. We tried to pass common sense legislation in the Senate just last year, this Congress, but not a single Democrat voted for the protection of women and girls in sports act of 2025. Not a single one. The Senate is scheduled to leave town next week. Reporting for World, I'm Harrison Waters in Washington.

20:07Thank you for your attention to this matter. Yellowstone National Park would like visitors to hold on to their belongings, especially their hats. So far this year geology crews have pulled more than 280 hats out of the park's hot springs and geyser areas. Also recovered, 36 pairs of sunglasses, 54 camera lens caps, 17 pacifiers, 5 air pods and 6 retainers. Whoops, park officials say the trash can damage Yellowstone's thermal features. So at Old Faithful, keep your hat on your air pods in and your retainers where they belong. Please and thank you. It's the world and everything in it. Today is Thursday, September 24th. Thank you for returning to World Radio to help start your day. Good morning, I'm Merno Brown.

21:09And I'm Erie Righard. Next on the world and everything in it, the case for Christian Rock. The genre blends elements of rock music with Christian lyrics and themes. Its roots go back to the late 1960s and early 70s and artists wanting to attract a Christian and secular audience. Critics argues secular influence compromises and dilutes the Christian values and messages. I talked with two Christian rockers who insist the message and the music has never been stronger. Dan Shaker steadies his phone and presses record. That's his son on guitar and daughter on drums. Playing a song, Shaker grew up listening to. It's called The Resistance. He was 13 when a friend gave him a cassette tape. It was the Christian rock band skillet. And he's like, hey man, you should check out this band. They're kind of cool. And I was like, okay.

22:12Can this grace of God cover me this time? Were you paying attention to those lyrics? Or was it just the beat and the music? I think when the song starts off, it starts off with a little guitar and then it kicks in about a few seconds later with this heavy music. And I thought that was catching and then it slows down a little bit. And then you kind of get into the lyrics. That's when he began to think a little deeper. This message of a consistent, like I can come back to God. I can go to him. I can find safety in him. The friend also invited him to church. And that's where he found Christ. I don't know if I would have said I came to salvation because I listened to a skillet song. I think it's more of reinforced my faith and solidified that decision. I think that's something that music can do. Cooper wrote most of the songs on Dan Shaker's playlist. He helped horn skillet in 1996 and has been defending songs like Hero ever since.

23:19And I just say I wrote this song for the person who gave me hope when I had no hope and brought me out of my depression and gave me life. That's my hero Jesus Christ. The song Monster has been streamed more than five billion times since its release in 2009. But still stirs up to date. The secret side of me I never let you see. I keep it caged but I can't control it. So stay away from me. The beast is ugly. I feel the rage and I just can't hold it. Tell me about that. The song in its most theological sense is really about original sin. But I do know that some Christians had a problem with the lyrics. They don't like it. They feel that you're focusing too much on this dark thing. But I have to actually disagree. Cooper believes Christ followers of both centers and saints. And that belief informs his lyrics.

24:24We have been made legally right with God because of the work that Jesus did and it is so wonderful. We are saints because of him. But we are still wrestling every single day. Sin is crouching at the door waiting for someone to devour. And that's me. I'm telling you if I don't have Christ every single day. I am going to get really angry and I'm going to fly off the handle because that's just that's just the thing that I deal with. That's what monster is about. Beyond music, Cooper says his faith also directs him to speak out on cultural issues like gender ideology. I don't hate transgender people. We see people like that at our concerts. And we always have because those kind of people listen to rock music because they're suffering. And rock music speaks to people like that. I am passionate about them. But we do need to speak to the issue. And we need to speak to the truth about a wonderful God who created them. He created man and woman alike. He created them in his image.

25:25Cooper is also pro-life and has written in depth about his views in two books. I've been a very outspoken person about life beginning in the womb for instance. That's something that takes you to a new level of cultural criticism. But the 51-year-old husband and father of two says he's on daunted by his critics. I believe the word of God, I'm not ashamed to say that and to say what we believe. I've been faithful and married to my wife for 29 years. I think a lot of parents who are in line with what we believe feel comfortable that there's a band that shares their values. Dan Shaker is one of those parents. He sees Cooper's work as shaping how his kids, melody-invents it, interact with music. I've been listening to skillet long enough that I... like they have a pattern almost. I was like they want to get you to listen to the song because it sounds cool.

26:26But the more I listen to it, I started to focus on what the song is actually saying. And it gets you thinking about what the song really means. Making the band's music a multi-generational part of their family's faith. Reporting for World, I'm Merna Brown. Good morning. This is The World and everything in it from listeners supported World Radio. I'm Mary Reichard and I'm Merna Brown. Schools spent years putting more technology into the classroom. But now, some are starting to pull back. World commentator Daniel Sir now on the shift away from screens and why it's even getting the attention of the Federal Communications Commission.

27:32Public schools in Seattle once put an iPad in the hands of every young student. Beginning in January, they won't. For years, technology in schools moved in one direction. More devices, more apps, more screens, more connectivity. The pandemic accelerated all of it. Now some schools are reconsidering what all that technology displaced. Seattle is ending its one device per child program for kindergarten through second grade. Screen time will be generally limited to 30 minutes a day. Some days, there may be none. Seattle Superintendent Ben Schuldner says COVID helped create an overreliance on technology. He told King TV in Seattle. When some respects, because of COVID, we kind of threw this technology at teachers rather than saying, hey, do you want this? Now we get to step back and say, let's really do what we know works. Kids, teachers, working together. Especially for our youngest students, much of what works is pretty basic. Direct instruction, reading a physical book, working with our hands, and learning from each other.

28:34Seattle isn't banning technology. Teachers will still have shared iPads when they're useful. That's what makes the change significant. Technology goes back to being a tool, not the default. And it's not just cutting back on technology used for learning. New Hampshire is cutting back on technology that competes with learning. Lunchrooms are loud. Libraries are full. Teachers are teaching. Our kids are learning. New Hampshire Governor Kelly A. Ott is running for a re-election. In one campaign ad, she touts the state's new Bell-to-Bell cell phone ban. When a governor puts a cell phone ban in a campaign ad, you know the politics around screens have changed. Personal phones and classroom iPads are different things, but they raise the same question. When does technology help learning? And when does it crowd learning out? Which brings us to the Federal Communications Commission. For nearly 30 years, the FCC's e-rate program has helped schools and libraries pay for broadband and internal networks.

29:38Today, it provides billions of dollars in federal universal service support. No one is proposing that schools unplug from the Internet. But FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is asking a more fundamental question. After decades focused on getting schools connected, should federal policy pay more attention to what schools do with that connection? This summer, the Commission opened a proceeding specifically addressing children's screen use and e-rate funded services. Among its questions, should e-rate support come with limits on screen time? Should participating schools give parents a meaningful way to opt their children out of screen-based instruction? And more broadly, if schools are changing how they use technology, should the federal policy subsidizing it change too? Those are questions worth asking because federal subsidies do more than build infrastructure. They create incentives. For years, public policy treated more connectivity almost as a synonym for educational progress.

30:38But a faster network doesn't guarantee better instruction. And putting a device in every child's hands doesn't guarantee better learning. Seattle seems to be rediscovering something pretty basic. Children need teachers, they need books and conversation. They need to work with their hands and with each other. Broadband and technology have their place. Federal policy matters. School policy matters. And parents still have work to do at home. Because the point of school is not to keep children connected to an network. It's to connect them to their teachers, ideas, and the world around them. For World, I'm Daniel Sir. Tomorrow, John Stone Street will be along for Culture Friday. And Colin Garberino reviews a new Brad Pitt survival drama. That and more tomorrow, I'm Mary Rygard. And I'm Urna Brown. The world and everything in it comes to you from World Radio.

31:39World's mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires. The Bible says, In the morning, sow your seed and at evening with hope, not your hand. For you do not know which will prosper. This or that, or whether both alike will be good. Light is sweet and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. Verses 6 and 7 of Ecclesiastes 11. Go now in Grayson Peace.