The World and Everything in It: April 29, 2026

Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning!

The Supreme Court today takes up whether the White House can end a policy of humanitarian reprieve known as TPS—

AUDIO: It’s supposed to be explicitly for temporary disruptions that will pass.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, Washington Wednesday: We’ll talk with Hunter Baker about the royal visit and the aftermath of the foiled attack on the president.

Also today, World Tour: We’ll tell you about an effort to stamp out smoking for good.

Later, a new memorial for a war many Americans have forgotten.

STUMP: This was too important of a time in history to be relegated to a footnote in history, and I had to do something about it.

And WORLD Commentator Bethel McGrew on the death of an assisted suicide bill in the U.K.

MAST: It’s Wednesday, April 29th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Lindsay Mast.

EICHER: And I’m Nick Eicher. Good morning!

MAST: Up next, Kent Covington has today’s news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: King Charles speech to Congress, state dinner » Britain’s King Charles III is traveling to New York City today, where he’ll pay respects at the One World Trade center memorial and take part in community events.

On Tuesday:

SOUND: [Charles welcome music]

He and his wife, Queen Camilla, were the guests of honor for a state visit at the White House.

Trump welcomed the royal couple with a ceremony on the South Lawn, under gray, drizzly skies, quipping it was a “beautiful British day.”

TRUMP:  Honoring the British King might seem an ironic beginning to our celebration of 250 years of American independence, but in fact no tribute could be more appropriate.

He said America inherited its moral courage from Britain.

King Charles also stopped by Capitol Hill, addressing a joint meeting of Congress. That made him the first British monarch to do so since Queen Elizabeth II 35 years ago.

CHARLES:  This is a city which symbolizes a period in our shared history or what Charles Dickens might have called A Tale of two Georges.

Charles also huddled with President Trump in the Oval Office for a closed-door meeting. The king likely sought to ease friction between Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer — stemming from the Iran war.

UAE exits OPEC » In a move that could have a significant impact on energy prices, OPEC just lost a major member. WORLD's Kristen Flavin has more:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: The United Arab Emirates announced that it is pulling out of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, more commonly known as OPEC.

The UAE says it will exit the group on May 1st.

Officials cited the rising global demand for oil, plus the ongoing conflict over the Strait of Hormuz.

OPEC sets production quotas and limits for its members, while at the same time collectively producing more than 30 percent of the world's crude oil.

OPEC limited the UAE's production to a little more than three million barrels of oil per day, versus the UAE's stated goal of five million barrels by 2027.

Analysts widely regard the move as a heavy blow to the oil cartel and a step closer to creating a more competitive oil market.

For WORLD, I'm Kristen Flavin.

Iran » Still no word on when or if the U.S. and Iran will reschedule a second round of in-person peace talks. President Trump over the weekend cancelled a planned trip by U.S. envoys to Pakistan for renewed negotiations – not seeing them as worthwhile.

Shortly thereafter, Trump says Iran submitted a new offer that was better, but not good enough. Iran thus far has not agreed to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

In the meantime, Iran continues to effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, with the threat of violence against commercial ships.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio:

RUBIO:  The Straits is basically the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon that they're trying to use against the world, and they're bragging about it. They're putting up billboards in Tehran, bragging about how they can hold 25% or 20% of the world's energy hostage. Imagine if those same people had access to a nuclear weapon, they would hold the whole region hostage.

The U.S. Navy is working to clear mines and Iranian vessels from the critical waterway. It is also maintaining a blockade of Iranian ports.

Comey indicted again » Former FBI Director James Comey is facing federal charges for the second time in seven months.

A grand jury in North Carolina indicted Comey Tuesday on two counts of threatening President Trump, pointing to a 2025 Instagram post showing seashells spelling out "86 47."

"86" is restaurant industry slang for getting rid of someone — paired with Trump's number as the 47th president. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison.

Comey responded in a video message:

COMEY: Nothing has changed with me. I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary. So let's go.

Comey was charged last year with lying to Congress. But a federal judge tossed out that indictment after ruling that the prosecutor who brought the case had been unlawfully appointed.

Trump has long called for charges against Comey — asserting that he is guilty of crimes.

The president fired Comey as FBI Director in 2017 amid the bureau's so-called Russia probe, which found no collusion on the part of Trump’s campaign.

GOP tensions over DHS funding intensify » Pressure to fund the Department of Homeland Security is growing in Washington following the attempted assassination of President Trump and other officials on Saturday. DHS oversees the Secret Service, which responded to the attack, among other agencies. But leaders in Congress are still in gridlock over how to end the shutdown.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more.

HARRISON WATTERS: House leadership cut Tuesday’s morning session short ahead of King Charles III’s afternoon address to Congress. That meant no bills could reach the floor.

Speaker Mike Johnson is struggling to unite his razor-thin majority behind a two-bill plan to fund DHS.

Last month, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said they’ll fund most of DHS through the regular budget process, but use a special fast-track called reconciliation for immigration and border enforcement. That would let them pass it with only Republican votes.

But a handful of House Republicans object to carving up DHS funds, and Johnson cannot move forward without their votes.

Earlier this month, President Trump directed DHS to use emergency money for salaries, but Secretary Markwayne Mullin said last week those funds will run out by Thursday.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: the U.K. tries to stop smoking for an entire generation. Plus, a veteran works to honor those who fought in the Gulf War.

This is The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: It’s Wednesday, the April 29th.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

First up on The World and Everything in It. Making Temporary Protected Status temporary.

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments today over whether the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for Haitians and Syrians.

EICHER: The administration says it can end TPS when the original reason for the designation ends. Others say it didn’t follow the proper procedure.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy reports.

MARY MUNCY: Congress created TPS in 1990 to temporarily prevent people from being deported into dangerous situations, specifically: armed conflict, natural disasters, and extraordinary and temporary conditions. The Secretary of Homeland Security can designate TPS for a particular country for up to 18 months and then renew it after that. It can terminate TPS when the circumstances for the initial designation end.

For Syrians, that circumstance was a 13-year civil war.

CGTN: For ten years, the war has pit the Syrian government against rebel groups.

WION: More than 380,000 people have died.

NPR: 12 million people, more than half of Syria’s population, no longer living in their own homes.

It ended in 2024. About 6,000 Syrians are still here under TPS. They say the war may be over, but the country is not habitable.

The Department of Homeland Security designated Haiti for TPS after a 2010 earthquake decimated the country. Now, there are over 300,000 Haitians in the U.S. Maryse Balthazar and her two children came to the U.S. on vacation in 2010 and planned to stay for a month or two, while the country recovered. But it only got worse, so they applied for TPS and have been here ever since.

MARYSE BALTHAZAR: The house I could go back to it's destroyed, burned down by the gang members.

Haiti’s main cities are mostly gang-controlled, and an interim government has been in place since the president’s assassination in 2021. The State Department says Americans should not travel to either Haiti or Syria.

But the administration says the original emergencies in both countries have ended.

Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian says both countries now have chronic problems that TPS was never meant to address.

KRIKORIAN: In other words, poverty, or they're just in a bad geographical area, or whatever it is. It's supposed to be explicitly for temporary disruptions that will pass.

But human rights lawyer Brian Concannon says that doesn’t tell the whole story.

BRIAN CONCANNON: Pretty much anybody you ask will tell you that it's not safe, which is why the administration didn't ask anybody.

A lower court judge ruled the Trump administration did not consult the relevant agencies before ending TPS. Today, the Supreme Court will be considering whether a court can block a Homeland Security Secretary’s TPS designation based on procedure.

Maryse says she’s trying to stay hopeful until the Court releases its decision at the earliest, in June.

MARYSE BALTHAZAR: Every time I think about it, it's like ask myself, why did I stay here?... I don’t know. I'm at their mercy.

If the court allows TPS to end, affected Syrians and Haitians will need to return to their home countries, likely within months.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: Washington Wednesday.

King Charles is in Washington this week—marking 250 years since American independence and celebrating what he calls one of the greatest alliances in history.

As you heard a moment ago … the King becomes the second British monarch to address the U.S. Congress. His mother, Queen Elizabeth the Second, spoke 35 years ago. But the visit comes at a moment of strain—between the United States and Britain, and across the broader European alliance that’s defined the post–World War II world.

And all of that unfolding just days after an attempted attack on political leaders here at home. So this week, we’re looking at stability—of alliances abroad, and of our politics in the U.S.

Joining us now is Hunter Baker. He’s a political scientist and a commentator for WORLD Opinions.

Good morning, Hunter.

BAKER: Good morning.

MAST: Before we get into the rest of the Washington news this week—you just heard Mary Muncy’s report on the Supreme Court stepping into the dispute over Temporary Protected Status. Hunter, this is a program Congress created back in 1990 for temporary relief—thus the “T” in TPS. But the longest-running designation is now as old as the law itself.

So what is the court really being asked to decide here: whether that power to extend or end these protections is solely the domain of the homeland security secretary? Or whether there are limits the courts can enforce?

BAKER: Well, let me take a little bit of a different angle here, because I read a lot about the people who have this temporary protected status, and what you see is they're all frustrated because of the uncertainty of it. It has effectively been treated as something that just sort of goes on forever, and now the end is sort of being contemplated. This could end, you know, within a period of, say, two months, or something like that, and they would have to get their life together to leave the country, despite the fact that they've been living here a very long time.

And it made me think about something that I think is one of the big problems that we have with this area of immigration. Thomas Aquinas is the the Great Western writer on the law, and one of the questions that he deals with is, is it better to have just a set of firm laws, or would it be better to have lots of wise judges to decide things case by case? Maybe it seems obvious to us, but Aquinas says, No, we need to have firm laws, and we need to stick to those, and then people will be able to predict what will happen in a given situation. And that's the problem that we have.

We have this crazy immigration situation that is filled with the discretion of judges and administrators in various cases, and what we really need to do is we need to back up and make some firm decisions about how this system works. I think that people are caught up in this weird web of discretion that we have, and maybe the Supreme Court can step in and do something that will put us on the path toward having a workable set of laws.

EICHER: All right, Hunter, well, let's return to the visit of the king to the United States. Interesting. He would come to help commemorate a, what would we call it, a recent unpleasantness, 250 years ago. But you know, you had King Charles talking about reconciliation and renewal between the U.S. and Britain, while at the same time that relationship is under real tension, and the broader European alliance is facing serious questions too.

Do you think that this current state of affairs is just normal diplomatic friction? Do you think it's something deeper than that? Or how do you assess?

BAKER: I think something deeper. You know, NATO was really a response to the end of World War II, and then the advent of the Cold War basically put in place to deter Russia and and maybe the additional designs that they might have for the expansion of the Soviet Union ever since the Cold War ended at the beginning of the 1990s you kind of have to wonder, what exactly is this thing? I mean, to what degree does the United States need to be bound up in the affairs of Europe in a post Cold War world?

And so I think that over time, American presidents have pushed for Europeans to deal with more of their own security. But nevertheless, we have borne most of the weight despite the fact that the population of those European countries is significantly larger than the population of the United States. And so Donald Trump, of those American presidents, Donald Trump has been the one to push hardest on this issue of Europe doing more, including England, to protect themselves. And so when we are doing something internationally, and when we perceive that those NATO members, including England, are not helping us, or are ranged against us, then that brings about a lot of resentment, and I think that that's what we're facing now.

And the English have to be very careful, as do the rest of the Europeans, because, on the one hand, they don't want to just sort of be, be a puppet of the United States. They don't want to just kind of back our play anytime that we decide to do something. But at the same time, they really need us, and the English in particular, they like to play up this special relationship. It benefits them a lot more than it does us.

And so what I see with King Charles coming is an attempt to kind of build up that idea of the special relationship and the goodwill. And there is something to it, right? I mean, Americans do respond to what's happening in England and English royalty in a way that we don't for other countries, you know, whether other European countries or Mexico south of the border. So there's something here, and I think that King Charles is trying to cement it or hold it together.

EICHER: You know, it is interesting to me, because President Trump came into office for the second time around, highly skeptical of aid to Ukraine, which was a thing that is so dear to the Europeans. He reversed course. He's on board with this, even though it's a thing that really isn't his choosing. And I think he, frankly, is surprised that the Europeans, even though this is not their war of choice in Iran, wouldn't come around and, you know, get on board and play ball the way he did.

BAKER: I think that’s exactly right. I mean, ever since World War II, the United States has occupied this role of sort of guaranteeing the peace. And yes, I think that you're right. I think that he has kind of come around on Ukraine, and I think that he's surprised and angered not to get more support on Iran, not only because it's his policy, but because it clearly affects everyone in the world. And really, it affects a lot of other countries more than it affects the United States.

EICHER: Like Europe.

BAKER: Yes.

MAST: Well, in the King's visit comes at the same time that you've got this instability, not just between nations, but within our own politics, and that brings me to what happened over the weekend.

Hunter, a third attempt on the life of President Trump. Investigators say the suspect in that attempted attack left behind a manifesto explaining his motives. And, and I have to say, reading through it, there's nothing in it you wouldn't hear on cable news or read in mainstream political commentary or, in places very close to where I live, see in yard signs in people's lawns.

So what do you make of that? Is this extremism, or is it something more mainstream being taken seriously enough to act on?

BAKER: It's very interesting to me to read the young man's thoughts. You know, he comes from a Christian home. His father appears to be an elder at a conservative Reformed Church. And as I look through the young man's thoughts, I really recognized some of the thinking of Martin Luther. Luther talked about, you know, when Christians are supposed to engage in non-resistance. And then he kind of underlines that there's no virtue in not resisting when someone else is being harmed, and so that you might step in—right?—to stop an act of violence against another person.

And this young man has identified Donald Trump as the aggressor, the villain, the person who is putting other people in danger, as though he were committing physical violence directly against him. And I, you know, I noticed that one Christian academic in England, who, at one time, many professors of my generation would have read, argued for mercy for this young man, that this young man was seeing himself as a kind of a Bonhoeffer, right? So, so it's very, you know of course, Bonhoeffer resisting Adolf Hitler, this young man resisting Donald Trump.

And so why does this young man see Donald Trump as though he were Adolf Hitler? And I think that we have to say that part of that blame falls on our political culture and parts of our media, because there are certainly people who they don't just treat Donald Trump as somebody they disagree with. They treat him as though he were Lex Luthor, you know, a super villain, a would-be Hitler, a fascist, a dictator, when none of those things are really true. But we have seen people be rewarded for that kind of narrative.

I'm sure there are people who get rich and have lots of supporters behind that kind of narrative. And we see even, even high level office holders who, whenever they're criticized for that kind of narrative, react angrily and simply double down.

MAST: You know, the president, for his part, came out afterward calling for Americans to settle political disputes peacefully. That was something I noticed was not the headline in a lot of the coverage. What do you make of that, both his response and how it was treated?

BAKER: Yeah, so I think that one of the good things about Donald Trump is that he doesn't appear to be rattled by these attempts on his life. You know, I looked at the record. We've had four presidents who have been assassinated, and there have been 12 additional attempts on the life of presidents. Well, out of that 12, three are on him. And he has, he has reacted with tremendous equanimity, and, you know, and as you say, calling for people to settle political disputes peacefully.

So, it sort of reveals as much as he is a person who gets a lot of attention, who sometimes engages in this kind of professional wrestling style rhetoric. There are moments where the gold can shine through, and I think that this is one of those moments where he's trying to get people to settle down and realize the way we should actually try to talk about our disagreements.

EICHER: You know, and you can hear things like, as he said, Why did they go after you? And his response was a very Trumpy sort of, Well, you know, I'm the only one who's really doing anything serious. And so, yeah, you take out the ones who are consequential. I'm consequential, and you are surprised when you hear things like that, but then you sit back and say, he's kind of right.

BAKER: Yeah, certainly one thing that will never be said about Donald Trump when it is all said and done, is that he was a placeholder. He is not somebody who has simply occupied the office. He came to office with a very definite agenda. He managed to move an entire political party kind of in his direction, you know. And even though, even though there was tremendous resistance to him, he's been able to kind of bring it to heel. And he's dominated American politics, really, by the time it's over for about 12 years. So yeah, he has mattered, and that's part of why he's attracting the negative attention. I think, you know, there are young men who they don't know what to do with their lives, and Trump has been made out to be a kind of Emperor Palpatine, and they think that they can, you know, have meaning in their lives by killing him.

EICHER: Hunter Baker is a political scientist, provost at North Greenville University, and a commentator for WORLD Opinions.

Hunter, thanks so much.

BAKER: Thank you.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Up next: World Tour.

Young people in the UK may soon find themselves unable to buy tobacco, ever. Last week, the U.K. Parliament passed a bill banning its sale to kids born in or after 2009. The Tobacco and Vapes bill also gives the government broad power to shake up the vape industry through advertising regulations.

WORLD’s Emma Eicher has the story.

EMMA EICHER: The U.K. just joined a growing movement to stamp out smoking for good. Last week, health minister Gillian Merron championed the new law on the floor of the House of Lords.

GILLIAN MERRON: It is a landmark bill, my Lords. It will create a smoke-free generation. It is in fact the biggest public health intervention in a generation.

The bill bans sales of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1st, 2009. And it targets the retailers who sell it to them rather than the minors who might possess it.

That stands to tightly limit supply of tobacco, but addressing demand will be a long game.

Proponents of the bill say preventing nicotine addiction early is key.

CAROLINE CERNY: We know that most people who do smoke did start smoking before the age of 20.

That’s Caroline Cerny. She’s the Deputy Chief Executive of the U.K.-based organization Action on Smoking and Health, or ASH.

CHERNY: A really high proportion of people who smoke wish they'd never started, because once you do start smoking, it's so addictive, it's very hard to stop, so for most people they wish they’d never started.

The bill has been a few years in the making and is one of the first of its kind to ban smoking on a generational basis.

CERNY: It was first announced by our last Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who worked for the Conservative government.

Last year, the Maldives banned tobacco sales to anyone born after January 1st, 2007. Australia and France both have versions of Tobacco-Free Generation policies under legislative consideration. New Zealand already passed a ban but later repealed it. And in the U.S., Massachusetts has implemented similar bans in 22 communities.

But critics warn that the sweeping U.K. legislation will be slow to achieve its goals, and might raise unintended consequences.

Christopher Snowdon is the head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

CHRISTOPHER SNOWDON: The age limit itself will not actually stop people smoking. It won't stop people buying cigarettes. It will just stop them being able to do it legally.

He says minors who want to smoke will find ways to get around the law.

SNOWDON: This is a form of prohibition, and prohibition always creates black markets unless you can stamp out demand completely.

The U.K. already struggles with black market cigarette sales. A four year U.K. study showed that sales of cigarettes have fallen sharply, while the number of smokers hasn’t kept up with the decline. Snowdon says this new bill gives further ground for criminals to set up shop.

Black market cigarettes are tax-free, and much cheaper.

SNOWDON: They're what they call illicit white cigarettes that have never been legally available anywhere in the world, brands like Manchester and Top Gun, which you now see quite often in the streets of Britain despite you not being able to buy legally anywhere.

Proponents of the U.K. bill anticipate it will force a drop in demand for the next generation, which will in turn tamp down on black market activity.

But some say the law infringes on the rights of adults to make their own choices.

SIMON CLARK: If adults choose to smoke, that's a matter for them. It's not a matter for government.

Simon Clark is the director of FOREST, an acronym for Freedom Organization for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco. Clark himself is a nonsmoker, but he views the law as a slippery slope that could lead to more government restrictions.

CLARK: It could be argued that choosing to smoke is a poor choice, but we make lots of poor choices in life, and we have to have the freedom to make those poor choices, and maybe later in life we'll change them.

Already, the UK has considered policies to tighten regulations on the sale of alcohol, though none have gone into effect.

The Crown is set to complete the last step of the legislative process and approve the Tobacco and Vapes bill this week.

That’s this week’s World Tour. I’m Emma Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: A Kenyan runner laced up in London last weekend to make marathon history.

AUDIO: Nobody’s ever done this, they said it couldn’t be done.

Sebastian Sawe averaged just about 4 minutes and 33 seconds per mile for 26.2 miles.

AUDIO: An historic performance! Absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything like that.

It marked the first time anyone has ever gone under 2 hours in a sanctioned full marathon.

Some say it was all about the shoes, a feat of engineering, so to speak, providing energy return and running economy, weighing no more than a deck of cards. But for Sawe it was a matter of chasing down a dream.

SAWE: I've shown them everything is possible with the matter of time.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Wednesday, April 29th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: helping a nation remember.

A new memorial opens later this year in Washington, D.C. It’s to honor the veterans from the First Gulf War, Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, a war that started after Iraq invaded Kuwait.

EICHER: The conflict was brief, beginning in August of 1990, over by February of ‘91. It was a decisive military victory, widely supported at home and abroad. But it’s a war rarely spoken about, one that few Americans remember today.

One veteran of the war set out to change that.

WORLD correspondent Jeff Palomino has the story.

BUSH: In the early morning hours of August second, following negotiations and promises by Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein not to use force, a powerful, Iraqi army invaded its trusting and much weaker neighbor Kuwait.

JEFF PALOMINO: The year was 1990, and days later, President George H.W. Bush launched Operation Desert Shield. Over the next six months, roughly 600,000 U.S. troops deployed to the Middle East. Matthew Walker, then a 20-year-old Marine Reservist, was one of them.

WALKER: We were told be prepared we could get called up. And then Thanksgiving Day I got called that morning.

At the time, Iraq had the world’s 4th largest Army and the threat of chemical and biological weapons hung over the situation.

WALKER: They were telling us, this is the first war since Vietnam, so prepare to be there a long time. They were saying things like maybe as many as a third of you will not survive the war.

When the president’s deadline to withdraw from Kuwait passed, both Congress and the U.N. passed resolutions authorizing military force. On January 16, 1991 Operation Desert Storm began.

BUSH: Just two hours ago allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. These attacks continue as I speak.

Six weeks of air attacks followed. Then, a ground campaign that lasted only 100 hours. And on February 27th, another announcement from the president.

BUSH: Kuwait is liberated. The Iraq’s Army is defeated. Our military objectives are met.

To the world, it was a 100-hour victory. But to those who fought, it’s now a war at risk of being forgotten. Scott Stump served in the war, and he refused to let that happen. He decided a memorial in Washington D.C. would help the country remember.

STUMP: It dawned on me that many people in the United States fell into one of three categories with this time period, with this war.

Stump says the first were people who had no recollection of the first gulf war.

STUMP: The second group were the ones that said, that was a video game war and it was over before it started and nobody died, which obviously is not the case.

The third category was those who conflated the war with post 9-11 events. They either ignored or didn’t know that Desert Storm had a mission to liberate the citizens of Kuwait, a mission it accomplished.

Matthew Walker’s experience was the same. About ten years ago Walker visited a museum in D.C. with an exhibit on America’s wars.

WALKER: When it got to Korea and then Vietnam, the next war that it mentioned was Iraq, Gulf War II. And I was looking at my wife go, they skipped our war completely.

The idea that the war could be forgotten troubled Scott Stump but it also motivated him.

STUMP: I just felt like this was too important of a time in history to be relegated to a footnote in history but you know, I'm not an insider. I had no connections, had no rank, you know, no influence whatsoever, but I just felt the call to do something.

Doing something would consume the next 16 years of his life. The first hurdle was getting legislation to build the memorial. That took almost three years. Next, an equally long fight over location, with Stump winning a spot on the national mall.

But perhaps the hardest obstacle was from people, including some members of Congress, who wondered why this war was even worthy of a memorial.

STUMP: First and foremost, I will say that you had almost 400 Americans who died. You can't forget that.

It also brought together 34 countries from five continents.

But, ultimately, in Stump’s view, most important is it helped America heal. Here, Stump cites a quote from President Bush that will be on one of the walls of the memorial.

BUSH: The brave men and women of Desert Storm accomplished more than even they may realize. They set out to confront an enemy abroad, and in the process, they transformed a nation at home.

STUMP: And what the meaning of that is, is the fact that there was a hangover from Vietnam and it was lingering…

Many Vietnam veterans returned home to find they were blamed for an unpopular, seemingly never-ending war. Instead of the hero’s welcome of previous generations, many Vietnam vets were treated with indifference and some with hostility and rejection. Desert Storm changed that.

STUMP: The often repeated term in the American vernacular, thank you for your service, was born of Desert Storm. It was the reestablishment of the relationship between the American public and the military. And that legacy has benefited everyone who has put on a uniform post Desert Storm.

When Stump got home from the war, his unit was asked to participate in a parade. They didn’t want to, but his commander said…

STUMP: Look, you're doing it. This is for the people. And I had no idea what he meant until he got up on the platform on the reviewing stand and he dedicated that parade to the Vietnam veterans that never had one.

AUDIO: [Sound of construction]

Today, construction crews are busy at the memorial site. Funded entirely by private donations including a large amount from the Kingdom of Kuwait, the memorial will be two large sand-color granite walls designed to create the feeling of being in large dunes. One wall is a panoramic laying out the different phases of the war, the other—a tribute to the international coalition. A bronze water feature will be in the middle. The dedication ceremony is set for October 24th.

STUMP: What would make me happy is that people go there, they get inspired, they connect emotionally to what the story is and then they subsequently dig in deeper as a result and they learn about all of the particulars.

Matthew Walker plans to visit the memorial next time he’s in DC.

WALKER: I think it's good to remember when there was something that everybody came together on there was actual victory. And to remember a time when the whole world did come together against tyranny. That's a good thing.

A good thing that due to the perseverance of one man now stands not only to be remembered, but also never forgotten.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Jeff Palomino in Washington, D.C.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

After a year and a half, the push to legalize assisted suicide in England has finally run out of time. A heated final debate took place in the House of Lords last Friday. Here is WORLD Opinions commentator Bethel McGrew:

BETHEL MCGREW: Member of Parliament Kim Leadbeater described it as a “sad day” when her bill fell without a final vote. Although the proposal was restricted to people suffering from a terminal illness, the Lords insisted on amendments that would explicitly protect anyone whose decision might also be influenced by other factors like disability or poverty. Leadbeater attacked their opposition as “cruel” and undemocratic:

LEADBEATER: It isn’t their job to table so many amendments, many of which were inappropriate and some were actually quite cruel, which has stopped the bill from reaching the next stage and stopped the House of Lords having a vote. And I think a lot of peers are really upset and angry about that, and certainly a lot of MPs are very upset and angry about that, and that isn’t what democracy looks like.

When these amendments were rejected, the bill received a thumbs down from over a dozen politically neutral organizations, including the Royal Colleges of Psychiatrists and Physicians and many other advocacy groups. All the experts agreed that despite the supposed “safeguards,” it was anything but safe:

AUDIO: The safeguards that are being proposed, are they safe for those people that we are talking about, or not? -No.

For some of the peers, the debate was personal. Breathing through a ventilator, Baroness Campbell spoke powerfully about how the bill threatens people like her:

CAMPBELL: I have long supported autonomy for disabled people, but autonomy without protection is not freedom, it is risk.

Baroness Prentis gave an equally moving speech about surviving cancer, admitting that the vision of a clean, peaceful assisted suicide could be tempting in her worst moments:

PRENTIS: For me, and I suspect for most vulnerable people, that vision passes and life becomes worth living and good again, but I do not think we should deny for one minute that that vision is briefly an attractive one. We owe the dying better than this bill.

Arguing against the amendments, co-sponsor Lord Falconer chillingly claimed that it was unjust to withhold the option from people feeling the pressure of poverty:

FALCONER: Where the reason that you want an assisted death is because, in your mind, you are influenced by your circumstances, for example, because you are poor, should you be barred from having an assisted death because of your poverty? In my view, not.”

But Lord Harper wasn’t going to let him get away with it:

HARPER: Is he…is he really saying that poor people are going to, he’s okay with poor people ending their lives with the assistance of others because they’re poor? Because that is what it sounds like, and all we’re talking about with these amendments is putting provisions to make sure that isn't the case. That’s not paternalistic, that is protecting people.

Falconer and Leadbeater will make one last desperate try to overrule the Lords by invoking the Parliament Act, but no one expects them to succeed. For all intents and purposes, the death bill is dead. And thank God.

For WORLD, I’m Bethel McGrew.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Tomorrow: Rethinking how to care for orphans. And, from convict to culture warrior, you will meet Alabama’s chief muckraker. 

That and more tomorrow. I’m Nick Eicher.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: And I’m Lindsay Mast.

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Go now in grace and peace.

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