The World and Everything in It: October 16, 2025

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.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Good morning!

With a Gaza ceasefire in place, the big question is can that same pressure bring Russia and Ukraine to the table?

BREKELMANS: We need to make sure that the costs for Putin go up.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Also, helping women get to the bottom of what’s causing their infertility.

And new rules for reporters at the Pentagon.

And a family lost the service dog who changed their daughter’s life, but they’re finding hope in a new one.

LITTLEJOHN: She will never take Diggidy’s place. But we’re hoping that she will be able to be a service dog as good as he was.

And WORLD commentator Cal Thomas on what happens now in Gaza.

BROWN: It’s Thursday, October 16th. This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

REICHARD: And I’m Mary Reichard. Good morning!

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

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Pentagon on Ukraine/Russia » Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth is warning Moscow that if war in Ukraine continues much longer … the United States and its allies are ready to “impose costs on Russia”

HEGSETH: If we must take this step, the U.S. War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do.

He spoke from Brussels Wednesday at a meeting of Western allies backing Ukraine.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius vowed that his country would hold fast in its support of Ukraine.

PISTORIUS: With new contracts, Germany will provide additional support amounting to over 2 billion euros. This will include a package totalling 500 million U.S. dollars.

He said that will provide air defense systems, precision-guided artillery rockets, and more.

That gathering came just ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s planned trip to Washington … where he’ll talk with President Trump about the possibility of the U.S. supplying long-range tomahawk missiles to Kyiv. More on this story later in the program.

Israeli hostages road to recovery » Twenty former hostages released by Hamas under a ceasefire deal are back home in Israel and now face a difficult road to recovery. Former hostage Eli Sharabi, who was released back in February, described reuniting with a friend who was just released this week.

SHARABI:  We hugged each other and we, we cried a little bit. It was very emotional, uh, meeting. Um, I just wanted, uh, to let him know I'm very proud of him that, uh, he survived another eight months without me.

They are being treated for malnutrition, lack of sunlight and the trauma of wearing leg chains for months. And some suffer from unexplained physical pain.

Israeli officials have set up teams of physical and mental health professionals to help them.

Israel deceased hostages » Meantime, Israel says Hamas so far has only turned over only 7 of the 28 bodies of deceased Israeli hostages.

This could be a sticking point for negotiations on phase two of the peace deal.

Egyptian teams are reportedly set to head into the Gaza Strip to help Hamas locate the remains of those hostages.

Shosh Bedrosian, spokeswoman for Israel’s prime minister, told reporters:

BEDROSIAN:   Hamas, the terror organization is required to uphold its commitments to the mediators and return all of our hostages as part of the implementation of this agreement, we will not compromise on this, and we will spare no effort until our, uh, fallen hostages return every last one of them.

The remains of four people were returned on Tuesday. But forensic testing revealed one of the bodies was not that of an Israeli hostage, as Hamas had claimed.

The other three bodies returned to Israel were identified as those of Tamir Nimrodi, Uriel Baruch, and Eitan Levy.

China trade » U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the latest spike in trade tensions with Beijing is not a matter of the U.S. vs China.

BESSENT: This is China versus the world. They have put these unacceptable export controls on the entire world.

European officials are also voicing concern after China announced new restrictions on exports of rare earth metals … which are vital for high-tech manufacturing, both commercial and military.

The head of Italy’s auto-parts industry group warned the new curbs could cripple production, saying reserves of rare earths are nearly depleted … as China tightens its grip on the global mineral supply

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said China has taken many retaliatory trade actions against the U.S. and other nations in recent years, but …

GREER:  This move is not proportional retaliation. It is an exercise in economic coercion on every country in the world.

Secretary Bessent, though, said he remains hopeful for de-escalation, citing President Trump’s strong relationship with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

SCOTUS case related to Voting Rights Act » The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a redistricting case that could redefine how the Voting Rights Act applies nationwide.

At issue in Louisiana v. Callais is whether lawmakers relied too heavily on race when they drew a second majority-black congressional district last year. A group of black voters sued after the legislature created only one such district, even though about one-third of Louisiana’s population is black.

During oral arguments, the Court’s six conservative justices appeared ready to limit how the Voting Rights Act can be used to require race-based districts.

NAACP attorney Jana Nelson claimed her opponents’ arguments …

NELSON: …seek a staggering reversal of precedent that would throw maps across the country into chaos.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh questioned whether race should remain a long-term factor in redistricting:

KAVANAUGH: That day should not be, uh, indefinite and should, uh, have an endpoint.

The Court’s eventual ruling could reshape congressional maps across the South.

Alaska storms drive 1,500 from their homes » Officials in Alaska are rushing to find housing for more than 1,500 people from tiny coastal villages devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong. WORLD’s Benjamin Eicher reports:

BENJAMIN EICHER: The remote location and severe damage are limiting their options as they race against other impending storms and the onset of winter.

High winds and storm surge seawater battered low-lying, isolated Alaska Native communities over the weekend.

One resident of Kotlik, Alaska said she was thankful her family made it through safely.

RESIDENT: My daughter woke me up at seven. She goes, mom, look out your window. There's a look at this house outside. So we got up and looked and it was all back flipped over.

EICHER: The Coast Guard plucked two dozen people from their homes after the structures floated off their foundations in high water. Three people were reported missing or dead.

And hundreds of people were staying in school shelters.

For WORLD, I’m Benjamin Eicher.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: international attention returns to the war in Ukraine. Plus, ethical alternatives to IVF. 

This is The World and Everything in It. 

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday, the 16th of October.

This is WORD Radio and we thank you for joining us today! Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

First up on The World and Everything in It…Weapons and diplomacy.

REPORTER: [Greeting in Dutch]

Yesterday, leaders of NATO met in Brussels to talk about supplying Ukraine with more drones to resist Russian attacks.

Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans:

BREKELMANS: Putin now feels that he gains with every day of continuing the Russian aggression in Ukraine. And we need to make sure that the costs for Putin go up.

REICHARD: Some of that NATO money will buy weapons for Ukraine from the United States. And there’s more than drones on the table.

Here’s President Trump on Air Force One on his way to the Middle East on Sunday talking about weapons for defense and offense.

TRUMP: They need Patriots very badly. They'd like to have Tomahawks. That's a step up.

BROWN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with Trump on Friday.

How might long-range weapons change the game for Ukraine?

Joining us now to talk about it is George Barros…lead Russia analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. He’s also a former adviser to the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Russia and Ukraine.

REICHARD: George, good morning.

GEORGE BARROS: Good morning. Thanks so much for having me.

REICHARD: Well, we’re so glad you’re here. George, can you tell us a bit about the Tomahawk missiles Trump is considering sending to Ukraine?

BARROS: Yeah, absolutely so the Tomahawk missile is a very capable piece of kit. It's a cruise missile with a longer range, longer than anything that the U.S. has given Ukraine so far. But crucially, and this is the crucial characteristic of this weapon system, is that it has a large payload, has a payload of 1000 kilograms, which really, really matters, especially when it comes to destroying hardened and specialized military facilities, the likes of which the Ukrainians can strike in terms of the range, but cannot deliver a very large payload.

REICHARD: Perhaps the President is floating the possibility of sending Tomahawks in order to gauge Russia’s response. George, what do you think will be the deciding factors to in fact send Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv?

BARROS: I think the deciding factors are going to be the extent to which the President assesses that negotiations with Russia has reached a dead end. Because fundamentally, what we've been looking at over the last nine months has been Moscow stringing the president along, stringing along administration members who have gone to Moscow and and Turkey and all over to try to meet with the Russians. And the conclusion, through discovery and brute force, has been that actually the Russians say all these things about how they're willing to negotiate and sit down and end the war, but in reality, they actually have intensified their war efforts. They're not willing to make any kinds of concessions acceptable to U.S. interests, and therefore they're not going to sit down at the table. So they must be sat down at the table, and the tomahawks are one of those tools that can increase the likelihood of forcing them to the table.

REICHARD: You know, sometimes backchannel diplomacy can play a role. I’m curious to hear your take on First Lady Melania Trump’s announcement last week…about Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

MELANIA TRUMP: President Putin and I have had an open channel of communication regarding the welfare of these children.

She announced that 8 children were released back to their families…and that’s just a fraction of the estimated tens of thousands still missing. But do you think this kind of diplomacy will affect the larger conflict?

BARROS: I mean, these sorts of things always happen in statecraft and in wars. And you know, it's really tragic what the Russian state have done to these Ukrainian children. And I'm glad that the First Lady's efforts have managed to save some of them, and hopefully it will do many more. But the Kremlin's objectives in Ukraine are so big, and the objectives to subordinate an entire another country is so grand, and the Kremlin has made no indication that it's actually willing to make any meaningful concessions on that agenda. It means that really these back channel diplomacy can only go so far, because when you've had the direct diplomacy and the back channel diplomacy and the Russians are still not willing to budge, it really does force your hand to either walk away entirely and cede or double down and try to bring your adversary to a concession.

REICHARD: Before we go, I’m curious how the Gaza ceasefire deal factors in to all of this. President Zelenskyy says there’s momentum from the Middle East to do a similar deal in Ukraine…what’s your assessment?

BARROS: So President Trump, since taking office back in January, has settled a number of actual, no kidding, wars. I mean, yes, there's the Hamas, Israel ceasefire. There was also the India, Pakistan and other conflicts. And President Trump has actually seen what it means to facilitate a negotiation, broker a deal, and bring two parties, despite their opposing opinions and opposing objectives, together, to the table, and what that actually looks like. And I think President Trump in that same time period has also conversely learned what it looks like when the belligerents are not willing to negotiate and want to keep fighting. And I think, look with the Russians continued insistence on striking Ukrainian cities and the various other things that Moscow has done, they've made themselves very clear in their own actions that they're not willing to negotiate, which is why the administration is pivoting and leaning into alternative tools to try to bring them to the table, if not just direct negotiations.

REICHARD: George, is there anything else that you think the public needs to know about this or that is underreported?

BARROS: Yeah, I think the one big thing here is to understand that the potential introduction of tomahawks to this war is not going to be a major escalation of the war. It is a fact that the Russians have been using comparable cruise missiles since day one of this war, back in 2022 almost every single day against Ukraine, they use the KH 101 missile. They use Kalibr sea launch missiles. They use Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missiles. And even last year and last November, they used an intermediate range ballistic missile. So to give the Ukrainians the Tomahawk, this would really be evening the playing field and allowing the Ukrainians to fly and use similar weapons, not an escalation. The Russians have already upped the ante in the escalation of the missile domain.

REICHARD: George Barros is Russia team and Geospatial Intelligence Team Lead for the Institute for the Study of war. George, thanks so much!

BARROS: Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It's always a pleasure

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Coming up next on The World and Everything in It: holistic fertility treatments.

About 1 in 5 women struggle to get pregnant. Many assume IVF is their only option. But advocates for natural infertility care say that’s not true.

WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown brings us the report.

MEANEY: My wife Marie and I were married in the year 2000 and we were expecting to have a large family, certainly very open to that idea.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Joseph Meaney is a senior fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

MEANEY: We were surprised when no children came within a year and then another year. And so then we started getting worried and we started looking at the different medical options available.

He and his wife learned many fertility specialists have just one solution in mind.

MEANEY: When a couple suffers from infertility in the United States, pretty much the only medical option that is offered to them is in vitro fertilization in most cases.

Many couples who struggle getting pregnant are encouraged to try IVF. The procedure makes up nearly 3% of U.S. births.

The federal government seems to be prioritizing making IVF more affordable. The procedure can cost up to $30,000 per round of treatment. In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order about IVF. White House staff secretary Will Scharf explained the directive at a news conference.

SCHARF: These are treatments that have become unaffordable for many Americans. And the executive order is a directive to the domestic policy counsel to examine ways to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable for more Americans.

This year, legislators have introduced at least five bills to offset the cost of IVF treatments. Fifteen states mandate some insurance coverage for the procedure.

But the effort to subsidize IVF has hit some speed bumps. Audio from CBS News:

CBS: The Alabama Supreme Court ruled last Friday that frozen embryos are now considered children under state law.

Since that 2024 ruling, conservatives have become more outspoken with their criticisms of IVF. Only around 40% of embryo transfers result in live births…meaning three out of five implanted embryos don’t survive. On top of that, at least 1.5 million fertilized embryos are thrown away every year.

Plus, IVF doesn’t address why a couple couldn’t get pregnant. Some physicians say restorative reproductive medicine does just that. RRM specialists often look at menstrual cycles and hormone levels to pinpoint the causes of infertility.

Dr. Jean Golden-Tevald is an RRM specialist at MorningStar Family Health Center in Flemington, N.J.

GOLDEN-TEVALD: Basically IVF is a procedure, you know, you take the parts of your body, we put them together, we put it back in and see if it goes. Whereas RRM is really trying to restore normal anatomy and physiology and let the couple do what they want with that. And so conception happens within the privacy of their own home and their own relationship, not in a laboratory or otherwise in a clinic.

RRM leads to live births in about 37% of cases. Even though IVF and RRM have similar success rates…many families are choosing restorative reproductive medicine to avoid the ethical dilemmas associated with IVF. Additionally, women who opt for RRM are also three times more likely than IVF patients to carry their babies to full term.

Still, Golden-Tevald believes RRM is widely misunderstood. Medical organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists describe RRM as a nonmedical approach. Golden-Tevald says that’s not accurate.

GOLDEN-TEVALD: We use all the tools and diagnostics that are just part of general medicine.

Some groups like the American Society for Reproductive Medicine also argue that IVF doctors already do the work of RRM specialists. But other experts say that’s not true. Emma Waters is a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation and a contributor to WORLD Opinions.

WATERS: And the reality is, is they're just not, they are doing basic semen tests, analysis tests. They're doing basic hormonal panels. But time and time again, if those basic tests or treatments don't result in a clear understanding of what's causing infertility, their outcome is always the same, which is you need to go to IVF.

Waters helped craft the RESTORE Act, which aims to fund RRM research. Legislators introduced the bill in the House and Senate in May. Arkansas passed a similar bill in April.

The Trump administration is expected to release another executive order about infertility treatment. Waters can’t predict whether the order will address RRM or not.

WATERS: What we certainly know is that restorative reproductive medicine aligns very closely with the Make America Healthy Again model, which is all about providing root cause care for patients that really empower the patient with a deeper understanding of their body.

Waters believes IVF and RRM don’t have to be seen as competitors. They can work in tandem. For example, a couple might struggle with frequent miscarriages. Using RRM could enable a woman to carry an IVF embryo to term.

Still, many IVF advocates have tried to undermine RRM. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine hosted a Congressional Briefing on September 16th to champion IVF and warn lawmakers about RRM.

Less than half a mile away, the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine held its own Congressional Briefing. Here’s communications and development director Tracey Parnell:

PARNELL: We just needed to make sure that there wasn't just one voice. Patients need to know they have options. If you've never heard about an option, you will not choose it.

If RRM hadn’t been an option for the Meaneys, they say they would have accepted infertility. But it didn’t come to that. In 2009, the Meaneys welcomed their daughter Thérèse.

As a parent and a bioethicist, Meaney finds it troubling that many couples don’t even know that RRM exists.

MEANEY: The idea is that there should be proper informed consent before any medical procedure takes place. And part of informed consent is to know all of your options. And so when it comes to infertility care, there's kind of a glaring issue there because in vitro fertilization, IVF is pretty much the only thing that is widely known and the only thing that is widely practiced.

For WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown, with reporting by Bekah McCallum.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Up next, press access at the Pentagon.

On Tuesday, reporters from at least 30 news outlets turned in their Department of Defense press credentials after refusing to sign onto a new press policy. Outlets from CNN to Fox News said the changes threaten journalism. The administration calls the rules common sense.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: This is the first time since the Eisenhower administration that no major U.S. network or publication will have a permanent presence in the Pentagon.

Washington Bureau reporter Carolina Lumetta reports.

CAROLINA LUMETTA: In 2014, Associated Press correspondent Robert Burns broke a series of stories about cheating and drug scandals in the Air Force ballistic missile units.

BURNS: I was essentially tipped off to this by somebody and I looked into it and additional people came forward and gave me information that showed that there had been problems that had arisen from a lack of resources given to the Air Force.

In response, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered a full review into the U.S. nuclear arsenal, overseen by the Air Force.

Burns retired in 2022…but if he published similar reporting today, the Pentagon could revoke his credentials for distributing unauthorized information. Here’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a cabinet meeting this week.

HEGSETH: If they sign on for credentialing they’re not going to try to get soldiers to break the law and give them classified information. So it’s common sense stuff, Mr. President. We’re trying to make sure national security is respected, and we’re proud of the policy.

Hegseth says the new rules will bring the Pentagon’s press access more in line with White House policy… where reporters are limited to restricted areas and must always wear a badge.

This is already the standard Pentagon policy, and has been for decades. The building has spaces ranging from public retail stores to secure communication rooms. Burns says that private offices were already off-limits without an invitation, and there are plenty of closed off hallways.

BURNS: The most well known of which was called the National and is called the National Military Command Center, which is a totally off-limits set of offices inside the Pentagon in which senior officials can communicate with and direct military operations. For obvious reasons, reporters were never allowed there or even close to it.

The only new part of this policy is a requirement to sign a pledge that reporters will not publish unauthorized information without first clearing it with the Pentagon. That includes unclassified information.

Since the start of the year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been hounded by negative press…from the leak of confidential assessments of limited damage to Iranian nuclear sites… to reports of national security leaders using Signal chats for discussing sensitive operations.

But according to former Pentagon public affairs officer David Lapan [luh-PAN], how department officials engage the media is a problem for HR… not the press office.

LAPAN: It was my obligation to protect classified information and not to divulge it to people. It didn't stop reporters from asking, of course, because one, it's their job, two, they don't know what’s classified and what's not. It’s up to me, or others who held security clearances, to not divulge things that were classified.

Now a retired Marine colonel, Lapan was a Pentagon spokesman and later became the acting deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. Lapan served during the 9/11 attacks and U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

LAPAN: During my tenure there, I worked under Democratic administrations, Republican administrations…We never had policies like this because it wasn't needed.

The new Pentagon policy says that journalists are misusing their badges if they “solicit leaks,” something Hegseth calls a criminal act. But what the government calls soliciting, reporters like Robert Burns call journalism.

BURNS: Part of the whole idea of American democracy is that the government must be accountable to the public. And therefore, there should be an independent media that can keep watch on government agencies.

Over the weekend, outlets including The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and The New York Times posted that their reporters would not sign the pledge. Hegseth reposted their statements with an emoji waving goodbye.

While there may be fewer reporters in the building, Lapan suspects that won’t stop the negative press…or military personnel who decide to leak information to the media.

LAPAN: Leaks have always been part of it, they always will be a part of it. This is a huge overreach to address a problem that isn't new, isn't different, and it didn't require draconian measures in the past, so it shouldn't require them now.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Carolina Lumetta.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: A rescue dog was two days from being put down at a pound in Portugal… to being pound-for-pound the best pet detective around!

RACHEL RODGERS: Hi, my name’s Rachel and I’m the owner of Rico.

Rachel Rodgers paid $200 to save the little Kokoni crossbreed. His nose quickly became legendary: his very first mission? A family dog went missing in a car park but Rico saved the day!

RODGERS: Remarkably Rico did find that dog. And from there, he’s just kind of carried on doing it and been out and deployed to find other missing dogs.

Not just dogs, either. Rico’s sniffed out an escaped capybara and a tortoise.

Rachel hopes her Border terrier Pebbles will carry on now that Rico is near a well-deserved retirement.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, October 16th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

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

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: service dogs.

For some families, the help of a service dog is essential. Today, we meet one of those families and the Golden Retriever puppy in training to fill a big need. WORLD associate correspondent Rachel Coyle has the story.

AUDIO: Let’s wait for Faith to get you out.

RACHEL COYLE: Grace Littlejohn waits in the family van for her wheelchair. She’s at Costco today with her sister, Faith, her mom, Allison, and her Golden Retriever puppy, Sandy. Sandy’s wearing a pink “service dog in training” vest, and today’s mission is to work on her “good manners.” She doesn’t quite have them yet, but she’ll need them if she’s going to serve Grace well someday.

This is the family’s first time raising a puppy, but not their first canine assistant.

ALLISON LITTLEJOHN: When Grace was two, we noticed that her hand didn’t work one day. We put her to bed like any normal night and she woke up screaming and basically in the end we found out she was having strokes...

Allison says that was the beginning of a nightmare for her and her husband, Larry. After weeks in the hospital, doctors diagnosed Grace with an extremely rare syndrome called Moyamoya. They were told she might remain in a vegetative state. Larry recalls those early days.

LARRY LITTLEJOHN: The Lord held us up. I mean, I remember walking around the hospital, crying, and literally, it felt like somebody was holding me up by the back of my collar.

Grace had surgery and beat the odds. But when the family returned home…

ALLISON: Her life was nothing but therapy, learning how to do everything again.

For 10 years, Grace exceeded expectations in many areas. But she spent most of her life in a wheelchair. Seizures came on without warning. So, Allison began looking for a service dog. The family endured the extensive application process... and when Grace was 18 they finally got the call.

LARRY: Diggidy just walked right up to her, sat down, and laid his head in her lap, and, well, that was it. That’s who he picked out.

After completing a two-year program, Diggidy joined the family ready to work. It was life-changing for everyone. Many people know what it’s like to love and care for a pet, but Allison made it clear…

ALLISON: Diggidy wasn’t our pet. And until you need a service dog and you have one, you can’t understand the difference they make in your life. They’re an extension of that person because they can do the things for that person that they can't do.

Through specialized education and a unique bond with Grace, Diggidy could anticipate Grace’s needs and alert the family. He could open the door for her or retrieve items out of her reach. He also provided something far more valuable…

ALLISON: When she received Diggidy, people started coming up because they wanted to see Diggidy and talk to him. And then in turn, they started talking to Grace. And so she came out of her shell and started being more social and talking to people. And she felt seen.

For five years, Diggidy and Grace were inseparable. Until he suddenly died from cancer. The family was devastated.

ALLISON: It’s a huge loss when you lose your service dog. You lose so much of your independence. So it’s been a huge adjustment for us to not have him in our lives, to know that he’s not here to take care of her and to let us know to get her help if she needs it…

That’s why the Littlejohns have welcomed Sandy and they’re partnering with service dog instructor Jennifer Arnold to teach Sandy how to serve like Diggidy. Jennifer knows how hard it is to bring home a second dog.

JENNIFER ARNOLD: They remember their first dog as being perfect from the very beginning. By the time they lose their dogs, they’re so in sync with each other and so in love. But when they allow themselves to lower those walls and fall in love again, it works brilliantly.

LARRY: Look out, zoomies! [Sound of dog running around]

Allison says raising a puppy to be a service dog is not for the faint of heart. The demands are a lot like having a toddler. They have to start small. They begin with helping Sandy learn to be in tune with Grace. They look for indications that the two are bonding. For now they can’t leave Grace alone with Sandy, but they’re encouraged that Sandy doesn’t want Grace out of her sight.

GRACE: She likes to follow me and lay down in the way, like, how Diggidy used to. And she’s really sweet.

The Littlejohns are trying to be patient and have realistic expectations.

ALLISON: Everything has been very challenging, going to the store because she doesn’t know how to walk beside you and not get run over by the buggy. We’re working on that.

At Costco, Sandy becomes distracted by interesting smells, like any ordinary puppy.

AUDIO: You want to say hello? Say hello! How you doin’?

Near the end of the trip, Sandy catches the attention of an older gentleman who asks about her, and then asks about Grace.

AUDIO: How long you been in a wheelchair?

It’ll take about two years of instruction before Sandy can do for Grace what Diggidy did.

ALLISON: She will never take Diggidy’s place in our lives. But we’re hoping that she will be able to be a service dog as good as he was.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Rachel Coyle in Boiling Springs, SC.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Thursday, October 16th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. Up next, a fragile peace in the Middle East. Israel and Hamas are in phase 2 of their talks, but WORLD commentator Cal Thomas warns that true peace requires more than putting down weapons.

CAL THOMAS: In his address to Israel’s Knesset following the release of 20 living hostages by Hamas, President Donald Trump said several things that reflect wishful thinking.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: The forces of chaos, terror and ruin that have plagued the region for decades now stand weakened, isolated, and totally defeated…The enemies of all civilization are in retreat…the long and painful nightmare is finally over.

The president and his team of negotiators are rightly being given full credit for achieving this moment—even by many Democrats. This battle may be over, but Israel’s enemies don’t share the same view.

Palestinian Media Watch—or PMW—keeps tabs on what terrorist groups and others are saying about a post-Gaza future. It has compiled 20 examples that show the Palestinian Authority’s real intentions. In the PA’s October 2nd publication there was this: “It may be necessary to find a way to persuade Hamas to completely leave the area for a year or two. Later, when things become clearer, we can look for ways to bring Hamas back to operation.”

After Trump won re-election last November, PMW President Itamar Marcus told The Washington Free Beacon: “(Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas and his people hate Trump. They think he's not up to their level of humanity. They mock the way he looks. They mock the way he talks. Now that Trump will be the president again, they think they can play him, but he should recognize exactly who they are. They see themselves as in a camp with Russia and China and the Islamic world, and they are diametrically opposed to American policy around the world."

In a September 29th speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas claimed the PA had "rejected violence and terrorism" and "adopted a culture of peace." And yet the day before, the PA's official daily continued to glorify the terrorist murderers who killed six in an attack in Jerusalem three weeks earlier as Palestinian and Islamic heroes. This is another example of the duplicity in which Israel’s enemies have engaged at least since 1948 when the modern state was restored in its ancient Jewish homeland.

Need more examples for why this latest “peace” is not what the West has been hoping for?

Palestinian schools aren’t teaching children to lay down their rhetorical arms against Israel, but to ratchet them up. PMW found a young girl in a Hebron school who said that the October 7th massacre and hostage taking by Hamas was—in her words—a “beautiful dream…We woke up to the sounds of laughter…it was impossible to express the emotions in our hearts, and we never imagined such pride in our people on our faces. The sense of honor that we felt is indescribable.”

And don’t count on so-called “journalists” to tell the truth. They’ve been pressured and threatened by Hamas to carry only their storyline. As Marcus wrote for PMW on September 1st: “Journalists in Gaza, whether working for Palestinian media or foreign newspapers, know that deviating from Hamas's version of events places their freedom and even their lives in danger. Survival comes first; truth comes second.”

Celebrating the release of hostages and mourning the dead is a legitimate response to the end of the current Gaza conflict. But Israel, the U.S. and the rest of the civilized world should not engage in self-delusion. Especially since Israel’s enemies have not repealed their charters calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, nor have they heard from Allah that he has changed his mind and told Muslims to live at peace with Israel.

Given that indisputable truth, based on history and common sense, this is not the time for Israel to beat its swords into ploughshares.

I’m Cal Thomas.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Tomorrow: John Stonestreet is back for Culture Friday.

A review of Truth and Treason … a movie about a teenage Nazi resistance fighter who paid the ultimate price. And Word Play with George Grant. That and more tomorrow.

I’m Mary Reichard. 

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown.

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