Tuesday morning news: September 13, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden moon shot » President Biden, speaking from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston Monday recalled the words of President Kennedy.

SOUND: On this day in 1962, he spoke about America’s possibilities.

Just as President Kennedy asked Americans to rally behind the race to the moon, Biden renewed his calls for Americans to unite around a new mission …

BIDEN: To end cancer as we know it, and even cure cancers once and for all! (applause)

Biden spoke of a new federally backed study that seeks evidence for using blood tests to screen against multiple cancers. That could be a major tool for early detection.

The president’s cancer moonshot aims to cut deaths from cancer by at least 50 percent in the next 25 years.

Brain cancer claimed the life of Biden’s son Beau in 2015.

Ukraine advance » Blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags fluttered over newly liberated towns on Monday. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The Ukrainian military freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours.

It’s part of a major counteroffensive that has seen Kyiv’s forces advance all the way to the Russian border in parts of Ukraine’s northeast.

And over the past week, they have liberated territories that took Russia months to capture.

There were reports of chaos as Russian troops retreated, leaving heavy equipment and weapons behind.

Video taken by the Ukrainian military showed soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag over battle-damaged buildings. In one scene, a fighter wiped his boots on a Russian flag on the ground.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

WHO Ukraine health » The head of the World Health Organization on Monday pointed to the unseen suffering in Ukraine amid the war.

Director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus told an audience at a WHO summit in Israel…

GHEBREYESUS: The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine is having a devastating impact on the physical and mental health of Ukraine’s people with consequences that will reverberate for many years to come.

He said that includes an increase in COVID-19 cases and that hospitals could reach capacity next month.

He also predicted oxygen shortages in Ukraine “because major supply sources are in [Russian] occupied parts of the country.”

Queen to lie in state » AUDIO: [Trumpet]

Sounds from St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday as thousands paid respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Her flag-draped coffin arrives in London today where it will rest overnight at Buckingham Palace.

A formal procession will then carry it to London’s 11th-century Westminster Hall where she will lie in state beginning tomorrow.

King addresses parliament for first time » Meantime, at the Palace of Westminster, King Charles III addressed Parliament for the first time as king.

CHARLES: My lords and members of the House of Commons, we gather today in remembrance of the remarkable span of the queen’s dedicated service to her nations and peoples.

He again vowed to follow what he called the “inspiring example” of the late queen.

Charles praised lawmakers for upholding longstanding democratic traditions and declared that—his words—"Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy.”

Bezos rocket fails » AUDIO: T-minus 10, 9 ...

A rocket owned by the Jeff Bezos-founded space company Blue Origin blasted off from West Texas on Monday.

The rocket soared into clear blue skies, but roughly a minute later something went wrong.

Bright yellow flames shot out from around the single engine at the bottom. The capsule’s emergency launch abort system immediately kicked in. A commentator for the launch is heard here, moments after the crew capsule ejected from the rocket.

AUDIO: It appears we have experienced an anomaly in today’s flight. This was unplanned and we don’t have any details yet.

The rocket crashed back to Earth, but the capsule carrying experiments parachuted to safety.

No one was aboard the Blue Origin flight, which used the same kind of rocket as the one that sends paying customers to the edge of space.

The rockets are now grounded pending an investigation.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.