Friday morning news: August 2, 2024

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

Identity politics take center stage in the presidential campaign…schools start taking phones out of the classroom…and what the sexual revolution and French revolution have in common.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: We’ll talk about it with John Stonestreet on Culture Friday.

Plus 85 years of Batman.

BATMAN: It’s Gotham, Pennyworth. Does the corruption really surprise you?

MAST: And Ask the Editor for the month of August.

BROWN: It’s Friday, August 2nd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MAST: And I’m Lindsay Mast. Good morning!

BROWN: Up next, Kent Covington with today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Russia prisoner swap » Jet engines buzzed on a tarmac in Turkey last night … as four Americans boarded a plane for their long awaited journey home.

That after the United States and Russia made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said their return home would be a joyous event.

KIRBY:  It'll be huge. It'll be a big night. Very emotional night. Um, I think in a very important one, not just for them and their families, but for the United States of America.

Among the Americans returning home are former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan … and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich

Their return comes as part of a large deal involving several nations … and 24 prisoners.

The White House says the Americans never should have been behind bars. Vice President Kamala Harris:

HARRIS:  Russian authorities arrested, convicted them in sham trials, and sentenced them to long prison terms.

Among those the Russians got back is Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany of killing a former Chechen rebel in Berlin.

Crackdown on free press » This was the sound in the Wall Street Journal’s New York newsroom upon hearing news that Evan Gershkovich was coming home …

[AUDIO]

But many more journalists remain behind bars in Russia and elsewhere. Clayton Weimers heads the group Reporters Without Borders. 

WEIMERS:  We're seeing other countries following suit and increasingly cracking down on the free press and feeling emboldened to arrest more journalists.

He said authoritarian regimes feel they can punish journalists just for doing their jobs … or hold them as bargaining chips … with impunity. He called on the free world to impose greater costs on dictatorial regimes for persecuting the press.

Israel defends actions » Tensions are boiling over in the Middle East … with Iran promising revenge for the killing of Hamas’ political leader while in Tehran.

But Israeli diplomat Jonathan Miller told world leaders at the U.N. … it is Iran that fuels terrorism in the region, providing arms to terror groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah. 

MILLER: This is in addition to the more than 260 million annually provided by Iran to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, an amount which has increased over the past nine months. The actions of Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah are not just an Israeli or Jewish problem. The Islamic regime will target any who stand in its way to achieve global tyranny.

The Biden administration is trying to lower the temperature in the region.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan: 

SULLIVAN:  We are determined to engage in deterrence defense and deescalation to try to ensure that we do not have a wider regional conflict or escalation that goes unchecked.

But the leader of Hezbollah … says the conflict with Israel has entered a “new phase.” His remarks also follow the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Presidential politics » President Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance, campaigned in Arizona on Thursday: 

VANCE:  The best way to give our people hope for the future. The best way to preserve that American dream. The best way to give our kids that better life is to re-elect Donald J. Trump, President of the United States. 

Donald Trump is leading Vice President Kamala Harris by 4 points in Arizona. But she may soon make a play for the state. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly is believed to be on her short list to be her running mate.

Trump currently leads Harris in every major battleground state except Michigan in an average of recent polls. In national surveys, he leads the vice president by about one point.

America2025 » Former presidents from both sides of the aisle are gearing up to throw a historic birthday party for the United States of America. WORLD’s Mary Muncy explains.

MUNCY: America’s semi-quincentennial celebration is just around the corner. That’s a fancy way of saying … America is about to turn 250 years old!

And former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are co-chairing a group … tasked with coordinating nationwide celebrations in 20-26. It’s a nonprofit group called America250.

Former First Ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama are also on the multi-year planning panel.

The celebrations range from an essay competition and compiling oral histories…to burying a time capsule in Philadelphia.

For WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy. 

Officials say it’s okay for men to beat up women at Olympics » A female Italian boxer pulled out of her Olympic match in the first round … after being forced to compete against a man — who identifies as a woman … an Algerian boxer named Imane Khelif

After the fight, a tearful Angela Carini said after taking a series of painful head punches … she soon came to the realization that she—in her words—could “not do it.”

Just minutes after sharing the ring with her biologically male opponent, … Carini said she’d never been hit that hard before … and she wanted to prevent herself from being seriously hurt.

I’m Kent Covington.

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