The World and Everything in It: June 23, 2026

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NICK EICHER, HOST: WORLD’s June Giving Drive continues, just one week to go.

If you value sound journalism grounded in facts and biblical truth and you haven’t given yet, I hope you’ll consider supporting our work today.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: You can give at WNG.org/donate.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good morning!

The Federal Trade Commission sues over so-called transgender procedures.

AUDIO: The harm is permanent there. It's irreversible, it's irreparable, … in legal terms.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Also today, the terms of peace with Iran: we’ll talk with an expert.

And, Northern Ireland grapples with the effects of mass migration.

Later, how a blind adult student made her dream come true and became a nurse.

ROSS: I empowered others, because they’re like, man, if this girl can be doing this, and I got a headache right now?

And WORLD Commentator Joe Rigney on Britain’s grooming gangs.

REICHARD: It’s Tuesday, June 23rd. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. 

I’m Mary Reichard.

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

REICHARD: Now here’s Kent Covington with the news.

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Iran talks » Vice President JD Vance is back in Washington this morning after two days of talks with Iranian leaders in Switzerland. And he says they laid the groundwork for a deal to secure a long-term peace … and prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.

He said the two sides agreed on a road map to a final deal within 60 days.

VANCE: We left a lot of our team, the Iranians left a lot of their team, at the resort there to keep on working at. So all in all, a very productive 36 hours. We're gonna have to keep working.

Negotiators set up a hotline to keep ships moving safely through the Strait of Hormuz — and a plan to clear mines from its waters.

And Vance says the U.S. won't simply take Iran's word for anything … and that Tehran agreed to let international nuclear inspectors back into its facilities.

Democrats, though, aren't sold. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is again demanding an immediate briefing:

SCHUMER: Why don't they wanna give us a briefing? Are they embarrassed? Is it so vague that they told Iran one thing and will have to tell the world another? Is it because Trump got taken to the cleaners?

But President Trump says he feels good about where things stand:

TRUMP: The strait is totally open, you know that. And we're negotiating. We'll see how that all goes. But we have two things. We have an open strait, and we have a country that will never have a nuclear weapon.

Technical teams are still at the table in Switzerland, working to beat the 60-day deadline to turn the truce into a lasting peace.

White House attack plot update » Federal prosecutors have charged a sixth man in an alleged plot to massacre a crowd at the White House this month. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports:

BENJAMIN EICHER: The targets of the alleged plot were those attending the UFC mixed martial arts event on the White House lawn just over a week ago — part of the America 250 celebration.

Jordan Rincker, of Missouri, is accused of selling a fellow conspirator a pump-action shotgun for $1,200. He joins five others charged with conspiracy to commit murder.

According to the Justice Department, the group planned to fly explosive-packed drones at the event to trigger a panicked evacuation — then have snipers pick off government officials and others as they fled.

The FBI broke up the plot, arresting suspects in four states.

And investigators say encrypted group chats point to a far wider network — with more than 20 people allegedly mapping out the attack.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

Montreal attack » Gunfire in Montreal.

Authorities say a civilian and a police officer are dead and another officer is critically injured after a shootout near Jewish sites in Montreal.

SOUND: [Scene]

Officers were called to the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood just before noon Monday. When they arrived police say they exchanged gunfire with an armed suspect.

Montreal Police Chief Fady Dagher says that's when one of his police officers was fatally shot.

DAGHER: He was a great, great, great police officer, a lot of credibility and he was so passionate, very passionate.

Police say the suspect was killed in the exchange.

DAGHER: It's a very, very sad day. It's a nightmare. But we have to be solid. We have to solid for our lady police officer who survived, and we're all behind her.

The Jerusalem Post is identifying the civilian who died as Rabbi Michael Moshe Mizrahi, a Jewish resident and a member of the local Chabad center there. Mizrahi died at the hospital. It’s not clear yet if Mizrahi was targeted or simply shot in the crossfire.

Police say they’re still working to determine a motive for the attack.

Alan Greenspan obit » Alan Greenspan — the man once hailed as the "maestro" of the American economy — has died at 100.

For nearly 19 years, Greenspan led the Federal Reserve under four presidents, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush.

A longtime voice for fiscal discipline, he warned in 2005 against hiding government spending:

GREENSPAN: Above all, we shouldn't try to hide what we're doing. A lot of these particular proposals are, is that somehow you will slip in an extra $20 billion and nobody will notice.

While he oversaw the central bank for two —mostly prosperous— decades … Critics blamed his faith in deregulation — and his dismissal of a housing bubble — for helping fuel the 2008 financial crisis.

Greenspan later conceded to Congress that he’d wrongly presumed the self-interest of banks would lead them to protect their shareholders and the market more broadly.

Greenspan died Monday of complications from Parkinson's disease.

Clive Davis obituary » And the music world has lost an icon. Clive Davis — the record-industry kingmaker — has died at 94.

Davis signed a teenage Whitney Houston …

MUSIC: [Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You]

… and helped turn her into a star, one of many. Davis started as a lawyer with no music experience … and rose to run Columbia Records … launching and reviving musical careers for six decades.

MUSIC: [Santana - Smooth]

In 1999, he paired guitarist Carlos Santana with a new generation of vocalists on the album "Supernatural," which won a record-tying eight Grammys.

MUSIC: [Santana - Smooth]

He helped shape the careers of a staggering list of stars, including Janis Joplin, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and Billy Joel.

Davis died at his Manhattan apartment, still working in music to the end … as Sony's chief creative officer.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: a pastor’s perspective on recent clashes over immigration and border controls in Northern Ireland. Plus, the life-changing effects of learning to read as an adult.

This is The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 23rd of June.

You’re listening to The World and Everything in It and we’re so glad you’ve joined us today! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

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

First up: peace talks.

After months of war, sanctions, military strikes, and threats to global shipping, the United States and Iran are back at the negotiating table.

The Trump administration says talks in Switzerland produced meaningful progress. Iran has reportedly agreed to allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country. In return, the United States has temporarily eased some oil sanctions.

But the biggest questions remain unresolved.

REICHARD: Iran still insists on its right to enrich uranium. The future of its nuclear program is unsettled. And critics argue the administration may be giving up leverage before securing lasting concessions.

Joining us now is Janatan Sayeh. He’s a research analyst focused on Iran at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He was born and raised in Tehran and closely follows both the Iranian regime and the views of ordinary Iranians.

EICHER: Janatan, good morning.

JANATAN SAYEH: Good morning, great to be with you.

EICHER: Well, strip away all of the press conferences and the diplomatic language, and doing that, can you assess who you think got the better deal over the last week: Iran or the U.S.?

SAYEH: Well, having looked through the 14 articles of the MOU, it is tough to narrow down precisely what concessions the Islamic Republic is providing. On the other hand, you see the three layers of leverage established by the Trump administration: maximum pressure, the naval blockade, and military confrontation, all three of them seem to be effectively abandoned under jU.S.t an MOU, which is not even close to the comprehensive deal. So it's tough to say whether the Islamic Republic is even really providing any incentives on their end.

EICHER: How much leverage do you think reopening oil exports gives back to the regime?

SAYEH: It is crucial for them, becaU.S.e if you look at the nature of the sanction waiver, it was not jU.S.t a temporary limited waiver, in a sense that it does not only allow the regime to sell oil, it even allows them to repatriate the funds, meaning the waiver also includes the bank transactions, and the Islamic Republic is still producing oil, but more importantly, they have plenty on their vessels that couldn't leave the ports becaU.S.e of blockade, and now they have the capability to leave. From the regime's perspective, this is effectively a very lucrative deal. That said, I think we're all eyeing what goes beyond that, which would be the $300 billion that's noted in there. The details remain unclear as what form of an incentive that would be, and parallel to that is lifting of all UN sanctions, secondary sanctions, primary sanctions, and that's what's also listed in the MOU. And I'll conclude with this: one article in the MOU says discU.S.sions surrounding the nuclear file will only begin once all the other articles are addressed, meaning the regime would have access to all these funds, even before they start negotiating over the nuclear file, let alone concessions.

EICHER: Before we leave the MOU, what would you say is the one thing that you need to see in the next 60 days before you could call this a strategic success for the U.S.?

SAYEH: We've seen the Islamic Republic put more and more on the table, demanding them to be addressed, and one of them is the issue of proxies. We saw how the regime is effectively driving a wedge between JerU.S.alem and Washington, somehow forcing Israelis to refrain from responding to Hezbollah fires in southern Lebanon, and on one hand, you saw how Washington, on one end, is really keen on having to deal with the regime, and they're trying to do everything in their power to somehow make amends with the Islamic Republic. Now, within that context, once you see the provocations coming from Hezbollah in the next few days, I'm watching really closely as to how Israel is allowed to respond to that from from a U.S. perspective, of course, there's a sovereign nation, they would have to go address it as they see fit, but the U.S. response to Israelis addressing the threat in southern Lebanon, I think, would be crucial the next 60 days.

REICHARD: Well, speaking of regimes, one thing that you've argued repeatedly, Jonathan, is that Americans often confU.S.e Iran with the Iranian regime, so what does the average Iranian see when he or she looks at the events of the last several months, say?

SAYEH: I’d say the most pivotal moment was the ceasefire itself, when Iranians were protesting in January, and were told that help is on the way, and sure enough, help was in fact on the way. So the early stages of the war, to be fair, really went after the internal security apparatU.S., the repression sites that have killed many Iranians, but that was concluded relatively shortly becaU.S.e of the Islamic Republic attacking the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices and other military reasons behind that, but nonetheless, once Iranians saw the ceasefire, and now they see. This administration not only somehow legitimizing this regime by negotiating with them, but actually unfreezing all these assets that are directly going to fund these personnel that have committed all these heinoU.S. crimes, certainly feel alienated, but at the same time a lot can happen in the next two and a half years under the Trump administration. We saw what happened a year ago, so this is not to say hope is absolutely destroyed, but the concerns remain with the Iranian public as to who's their international ally, whether it's Israel or a Trump administration or broadly the U.S. or the average American.

EICHER: So, Jonathan, let's talk about the question underneath all the others. After everything that's happened, the war, the strikes, the negotiations, how close would you say Iran is today to having a nuclear weapon?

SAYEH: The critical step in developing a nuclear weapon is enriching uranium above 90% So, enrichment is key, and Operation Midnight Hammer in June of 2025 was the only instance in the past two to three decades, where the regime was no longer enriching uranium, so that was the most critical step in curbing the regime's capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon. That is, that is not to say we've eliminated the intent. The nature of the Islamic Republic being increasingly more paranoid is going to pursue that one way or another, but when it comes to the capabilities, that was the most effective operation in curbing that.

REICHARD: Jonathan Sayeh is a research analyst focU.S.ed on Iran at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. His work examines Iran's domestic politics, regional influence, and nuclear ambitions. Jonathan, thank you so much.

SAYEH: Thank you for having me.

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

New trouble in Northern Ireland.

Questions over how to confront immigration and border controls have taken center stage there, two weeks after a violent attack sparked violent protests.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And although the streets of Belfast have grown calmer again…solving those bigger issues is proving difficult for a region already long divided.

WORLD’s Harrison Watters reports.

HARRISON WATTERS: Presbyterian Pastor Gavin Beers was visiting family in Belfast earlier this month when his social media lit up.

BEERS: Every time I go back, the face of the society looks very different from what I grew up in…and voices have been raised about this, and then this incident takes place where a man is basically butchered in the street.

The news by Wednesday was worse.

BELFAST TELEGRAPH: Hadi Alodid is accused of attempting to murder Stephen Ogilvie, and possession of a knife in a public place…

GBNEWS: the victim of the Belfast stabbing I’m afraid to say, who is seriously ill in hospital, lost his left eye in the attack.

Ogilvie’s family says he has since regained consciousness…but may not regain his sight.

Alodid is from Sudan. He claimed UK asylum in 2023, and was approved for five years. With war still raging in Sudan, the UK government granted 95% of Sudanese asylum requests last year.

Ron McDowell is a Belfast Councilmember from the district where the attack happened.

MCDOWELL: So it came when Belfast was already like a tinderbox with some of the issues that have been coming from the migration policy.

Ireland has been sharply divided for more than 75 years … over factors like religion, politics, and borders. The Catholic south formed the Republic of Ireland in 1949, while the Protestant North remained in the UK. That led to decades of fighting known as the Troubles. Here’s Pastor Beers.

BEERS: So you've got a patchwork right across the country, and in Belfast, you've got a patchwork of communities right across the city, those who want to be British, those who want to be Irish.

The border checkpoints came down following the 1998 deal known as the Good Friday Agreement. Factions in Northern Ireland laid down their weapons and set up joint education and trade programs across the Irish border. 

But the border again became a flash point in 2016 after Brexit. The Republic of Ireland stayed in the European Union while Northern Ireland followed the UK out. McDowell again.

MCDOWELL: Because of the delicate situation of Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland and the desire to keep peace, they agreed on a soft border in Ireland.

The Common Travel Area opened borders across Ireland in 2014. Incidents like the one earlier this month have sparked concerns across political lines about unchecked immigration. Even so, Northern Ireland’s government rejects border concerns. Here’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill of the leftist Sinn Féin party:

O’NEILL: That is not the debate for today. The debate today is about our society, our welcoming society, our inclusive society…

Days after masked protestors burned immigrant cars and homes, O’Neill met with leaders of minority groups…to apologize.

O’NEILL: What we saw on Tuesday night and on Wednesday night was pure racism.

Reverend Beers says it’s not quite that simple.

BEERS: The people in these communities are seeing those communities being radically changed from everything that they've known, and so there is a frustration building up, and if the politicians are not listening, I can understand the impulse to descend into that kind of violent response.

Councilman McDowell says the violence is not limited to frustrated citizens.

MCDOWELL: Some of the papers and the press reported that some of the paramilitaries could have been involved…those paramilitary and terrorist groups still exist.

Men dressed in black went through multiple neighborhoods, burning cars and homes believed to belong to immigrants. McDowell says his parents were prepared to stand in front of their non-white neighbors’ house to protect them.

MCDOWELL: Two 75-year-olds…prepared to stand in a garden and fight a mob, and that's terrifying for me as a son.

That didn’t end up happening. And while McDowell says the physical protests have stopped for now, the political disagreements continue.

In London, the Labour government is beginning to reckon with problems in Britain’s asylum system. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government scuttled plans to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda in 2024, but this Spring, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced a policy shift.

MAHMOOD: We will do so by making refugee status temporary, not permanent.

The reforms require asylum to be renewed every two and a half years. …and put new restrictions on government welfare. But the future of that plan depends on who takes over following Starmer’s resignation on Sunday.

Back in Belfast, Alodid is scheduled to next appear in court by video link on July 8th.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next… going to court over transgender misinformation.

The Federal Trade Commission and four states are suing the group known as W-PATH … the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. The organization publishes medical guidelines … and generally encourages medical intervention like hormones and surgery at young ages.

NICK EICHER, HOST: The FTC says W-PATH misled parents and children.

WORLD’s Mary Muncy has the story

MARY MUNCY: Prisha Mosely started taking testosterone when she was 17.

PRISHA MOSELY: I actually told my endocrinologist that I wanted to look different fast, and instead of questioning how honestly scary that sounds, coming from a teenage girl who's been assaulted, she was essentially like, 'Sure things, sir.’

At 18, she got a double mastectomy, just as WPATH recommends. Mosely says her doctors presented the “science” of her “cure” as settled, and so did WPATH.

MOSELY: They tried to use WPATH to bolster themselves and stuff like that, and gain my trust.

WPATH says it’s an “interdisciplinary professional and educational organization” for what it calls transgender “health.” A group of doctors started it in 1979, and they published their first “standards of care” that year. They published their eighth iteration in 2022.

Now, Moseley is suing her doctors, saying they didn’t follow WPATH’s recommendations fully as far as psychiatric care, but she says they did point to WPATH’s claims that hormones and surgery are safe and effective.

MOSELY: I definitely remember WPATH stuff being pushed the most when they said to my parents, ‘would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son,’ because they talked about how WPATH would say it was life-saving care.

WPATH’s most recent Standards of Care references data showing early intervention is good for adolescents, and says more research is necessary. They say the potential negative consequences outweigh the risks.

But in 2024, the UK published a systematic review of gender identity services for young people, the Cass Review. The review states that WPATH is one of the most influential guidelines for youth with gender dysphoria, but it says WPATH “overstates the strength of the evidence” it uses to make recommendations. It says some of the citations are circular, meaning WPATH cites studies that cite WPATH.

That’s why the FTC sued.

JOSH PAYNE: They need to understand that what they're getting into is not a surefire cure.

Josh Payne is a lawyer with Cambell Miller Payne. He and his firm represent several clients who say the medical system did not treat their gender dysphoria correctly.

PAYNE: It is not an adequately totally proven life raft that will save their life, but yet that's what they're being led to believe, and that is that is where the dishonesty lies.

Payne says Americans do have free speech rights, but the FTC polices the claims that businesses make.

PAYNE: Because if we don't have good information, the market really isn't operating as a truly free market.

The FTC says WPATH’s founding members wanted to legitimize transition treatment so that they could monetize it. It says the specific claim that pediatric medical transition is “lifesaving” misrepresents the risks and benefits of any procedure.

PAYNE: When you oversell something to a child, an adolescent, a vulnerable young adult who is just searching for an answer to profound mental health challenges that they're going through, profound trauma, and you oversell them on something. Well, the harm is permanent there. It's irreversible, it's irreparable, as we say in legal terms.

That’s what allows the FTC to step in and ask for “injunctive relief”... which essentially means the court would order WPATH to tell the truth.

PAYNE: The states that have partnered with the FTC to bring this case, they're seeking more than just an order from the court, they're seeking monetary penalties under state law, which can be very significant.

Alaska’s statute requires $25,000 per violation. Payne says that could mean every time WPATH makes a statement, or it could mean every time an individual is affected by a false WPATH statement. That would quickly add up to millions of dollars.

PAYNE: We'll see how you know all of the proof comes in and what the court does with it, but you know this is a moment where I think all clinicians are going to take that step back that they should have taken already with with their patients and give them better health care.

The case will likely take years to unfold unless the FTC asks the court to fast-track it then it could be decided in months. Payne says WPATH could also try to settle it out of court and negotiate a deal where they change their wording on their own.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Mary Muncy.

NICK EICHER, HOST: New York City recently mailed a speeding ticket to an automotive museum near Chicago.

The violation involved a black Pontiac Trans Am with a vanity plate reading “KNIGHT” ... as in Knight Rider, the TV show from the 19-80s that starred KITT, an artificially intelligent car decades before anyone had an inkling of AI.

Big problem though: The museum’s replica of KITT hasn’t moved in years—let alone sped.

Yet traffic cameras in Brooklyn photographed what appeared to be an identical car speeding through a school zone.

Museum officials are contesting the fifty-dollar ticket.

But if any vehicle ought to be able to sort out a case of mistaken identity, it’s the one that could talk, think, and fight crime.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Tuesday, June 23rd.

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

Good morning. I’m Mary Reichard.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: literacy.

There are more than six million adult learners in the United States. These are people over the age of 25 who are going back to school, sometimes for advanced degrees, other times to improve basic reading, writing, and math skills.

REICHARD: Adult education can unlock new careers, higher salaries, and even better health. WORLD’s Lauren Smyth has the story of a former adult student who overcame a disability to finally get her nursing degree.

LAUREN SMYTH: As a kid, Shyanne Ross was in and out of the hospital with complications from type I diabetes.

ROSS: I was just like, the one that was like, ‘Oh, I don't have diabetes.’ I'm in denial. So I just did not take care of myself at all.

Stress and illness pulled Ross’s attention away from school. And her career aspirations didn’t require a degree anyway. She wanted to be a makeup artist, so she dropped out of high school and went on to do pageant styling and beauty for Miss Teen USA.

When her vision first began to blur, she assumed it must just be a mascara smudge. But the spots in her eyes didn’t go away.

ROSS: And when it happened, it happened quick. It went with the right one first, and then the left one. I could only see shadows at one point, and then it went black. I'm like, I'm not going to the hospital unless I'm in a body bag. I spent so much time as a kid in hospitals. I hate hospitals.

Going blind ended Ross’s career in the arts, so she began applying for other jobs. But the first question on almost every application was about her education—the high school diploma she didn’t have. Without that, she didn’t see a way forward.

ROSS: I just think it got to a point where I was like, I'm in my mid-20s, I don't have an education. I need to do something for myself.

Like Ross, about 10% of U.S. adults are high-school dropouts. Those who don’t return to school earn lower wages on average than peers who did graduate, and their health tends to be worse.

Sharon Bonney is CEO of the Coalition on Adult Basic Education. She says the group is helping more than 3 million adult learners this year. But waitlists are long, and more than 40 million adults still need further education.

BONNEY: They just want that better job. They want to be able to sustain their family. And they come to adult basic education classes because they know this is their way up and out of that poverty and into the family-sustaining jobs.

Twenty-one percent of U.S. adults are functionally illiterate, meaning they can’t sound out or understand more than a few simple words. For these non-readers, street signs, food labels, medication paperwork, and posted warnings can conceal serious dangers.

BONNEY: I was just in the airport yesterday and a gentleman came up to me and couldn't read his ticket and asked me to help him. You know, it’s the basic things that if you're literate, you take for granted.

Ross knows firsthand the stigma that can come with asking for help. When she first enrolled in classes at her community college, she was older than most of her classmates. They didn’t understand her disability—why she showed up in the wrong classrooms, used a white cane to get around campus, and didn’t want to rely on government benefits.

ROSS: Kids were just really cruel in the aspect that they were just like, “Why wouldn’t you just stay home and get your disability? Why do you have to be here?”

Still, Ross was determined. She studied for and passed her GED exam. Then, she enrolled in nursing school, even though she knew she might never be able to practice.

ROSS: Even if there's a small, small chance of me getting my vision back, I want to go full force with it. And I always did have, you know, a backup plan for my education if I couldn't do nursing.

For about a year, Ross’s new path went smoothly—until her dad found her unconscious. Her type 1 diabetes had left her in a coma.

ROSS: I spent 19 days on life support, how to learn how to walk again, talk again, do everything again. Spent 11 months just getting my strength to get back at it.

Her strength eventually returned. But surgery after surgery failed to restore her vision, and her dream of becoming a nurse seemed to be slipping away. Her doctors told her there was nothing more they could do, but Ross begged for one more chance.

ROSS: So I was like, ‘Can you please just go in there one more time, clean everything up that you can and just reattach what's left? Just, please, just, please, just give me one more try. And then, if not, it is what it is, and we'll go on from there.’

Ross got her surgery. At a follow-up appointment, doctors removed the eyepatch, and for the first time in years, Ross could tell the lights were on.

Over time, she regained most of her vision in one eye. That was enough for her to take her hands-on nursing exams and start working in a hospital. The place she had once dreaded was now an opportunity for her to help others.

ROSS: I tell everybody I’m the worst patient. You think you’re a bad patient—I’m worse.

Ross is also a spokeswoman for the Coalition on Adult Basic Education, Sharon Bonney’s organization. She speaks at conferences around the country and regularly travels to D.C. to advocate for adult education.

ROSS: I look at the things that I’ve been able to do now, and I sit in rooms with senators and House members and have one-on-one meetings with them, and I talk about this. I’m just little Shyanne. I don’t know left from right, and now I have the confidence to stand in those rooms and say, “This is important.”

Despite Ross’s testimony and similar stories from other adult learners, the Coalition’s funding was frozen last year during Trump administration efforts to review grant spending. Bonney says they get about $600 per adult learner from the federal government. By comparison, it costs taxpayers more than $16,000 to put a student through a year of public school.

BONNEY: I see a lot of weariness from our field. They're like frontline workers, really working in a hard to serve population. So this constant concern about being funded has been hard on them.

Still, Bonney and Ross say the real hurdle is encouraging students to start.

ROSS: Once they start, it's addicting. Once you start doing good, and you know you can do it—I mean, there's nothing you can't do at that point.

And with technology like YouTube, Khan Academy, and even AI, Bonney and Ross are hopeful that learning will continue far beyond the classroom.

For WORLD, I’m Lauren Smyth.

NICK EICHER, HOST: Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

This story contains subject matter that may not be appropriate for all audiences. We will pause for about 10 seconds.

Britain’s governing Labor Party is searching for a new leader after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation.

EICHER: But even as British politics enters a new chapter, another crisis is demanding the nation’s attention.

A newly released parliamentary report alleges that organized grooming gangs operated across the United Kingdom for decades while many of the institutions charged with protecting children failed to intervene.

WORLD commentator Joe Rigney says the scandal reveals something deeper than criminal depravity.

JOE RIGNEY: Britain is experiencing political upheaval. Parties rise and fall. Prime ministers come and go—particularly in the UK, now seven prime ministers in 10 years.

But a nation’s deepest problems are rarely political.

They are moral.

This week, Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe released the findings of an independent inquiry into Britain’s grooming gang scandal.

Its conclusions are staggering.

But perhaps more staggering is what the report says about the institutions that allowed these crimes to continue.

LOWE: The report is over 200 pages long, and it goes into the root causes of probably the most extensive, widespread scandal that has ever beset Britain. It goes to every corner of the country ... and it involves failure by the British establishment ... government ministers, the civil service, local government, social services, the police, the judiciary, the NHS, and the media...

For years, victims spoke. Parents warned. Whistleblowers raised alarms. And yet the machinery of a modern Western nation repeatedly failed to protect vulnerable girls and young women.

The report argues that these crimes were not isolated. They were systematic.

And many survivors describe the same pattern of grooming, exploitation, violence, and institutional indifference. Here’s MP Lowe reading the shocking testimony of a young person:

LOWE: Another: He put a cigarette out on the baby’s face. Another: It started when I was 13. I was r***d by probably about six or seven hundred different men over three years. Another: They would toot the horn of the car and then a child would be taken…

Those words are almost impossible to comprehend. But the deeper question is not what the perpetrators did. The deeper question is why so many people refused to stop them.

The report points repeatedly to a toxic mixture of multicultural dogma, political calculation, and fear. Fear of being called racist … of offending protected communities … of telling uncomfortable truths.

Scripture has a simpler name for that disease.

The fear of man. And the fear of man lays a snare.

When leaders fear public condemnation more than they fear God, justice collapses. When institutions prize social harmony above truth, the innocent suffer. And when a nation loses the courage to name evil, evil flourishes.

Christians should not respond to such wickedness with apathy. The Bible gives us language for moments like this. The Psalms teach God’s people to pray: “Break the teeth in their mouths, O God.”

And: “O LORD, God of vengeance, shine forth. Rise up, O Judge of the earth.”

These are not prayers for personal revenge. They are prayers that God would bring hidden darkness into the light and establish justice for the oppressed.

Britain does not merely need another prime minister. It needs repentance. Repentance for multicultural illusions … for cowardice disguised as tolerance … for every public official who chose career advancement over protecting children and young women. And repentance for every institution that preferred a lie that preserved social peace to a truth that demanded action.

The Poles once confronted a corrupt and failing system through solidarity, courage, and sacrifice. The British people may soon face a similar choice. Will they accept another round of official promises? Or will they demand accountability, truth, and justice?

As Rupert Lowe told Parliament:

LOWE: Stop being so scared. I could continue for hours and hours. All of us in this building have a responsibility to finally act—not to talk, but to act.

A nation cannot survive indefinitely on evasions. Sooner or later, reality arrives. For Britain, that moment appears to have come.

For WORLD, I’m Joe Rigney.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: it’s Washington Wednesday with Hunter Baker. And, the World Cup is in full swing as ticket prices soar and experts wonder whether die-hard fans will be priced out. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard.

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

The World and Everything in It comes to you from WORLD Radio. WORLD’s mission is biblically objective journalism that informs, educates, and inspires.

The Bible says, “I cry to you, O LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me! Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.” —Psalm 142:5-7

Go now in grace and peace.

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