Tuesday morning news: September 19, 2023

Iran prisoners » Seven Americans who had been trapped in Iran walked off a plane and onto American soil last night.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Tehran had unjustly imprisoned five of the seven while blocking the other two from leaving the country.

BLINKEN: Husbands and wives, fathers and children, grandparents - can hug each other again.

Iranian leaders set them free as part of a controversial prisoner swap in which President Biden agreed to release roughly $6 billion in Iranian cash that was frozen under sanctions.

Top Republicans said they’re glad to see the Americans back home safely. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell added:

MCCONNELL: Unfortunately, the deal that secured their release may very well be the latest example of President Biden rewarding and incentivizing Tehran’s bad behavior.

The United States is still engaged in indirect talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Trump/Florida/abortion » Many pro-life advocates are pushing back against former President Trump after he again criticized pro-life protections that presidential rival Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in Florida.

TRUMP: I mean [DeSantis] is willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban.
HOST: Would you support that? Do you think that goes too far?
TRUMP: I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake.

That from NBC’s Meet the Press.

Another of Trump’s Republican rivals criticized his remarks on Monday. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott:

SCOTT: I think the former president is wrong to suggest that we, as a party, should not be the leader for life.

Trump said measures like the one DeSantis signed into law could cost Republicans votes.

He said he wants to bring all sides together to determine a point within a pregnancy in which an abortion is acceptable.

TRUMP: What’s going to happen is you’re going to come up with a number of weeks or months — you’re going to come up with a number that’s going to make people happy.

Trump suggested 15 weeks might be an acceptable mark.

WORLD Opinions contributor Alley Beth Stuckey responded saying:

“In the past week I’ve seen Trump unable to answer the question, ‘can a man become a woman?’ and say he’ll compromise on abortion so the left will like him.”

UN General Assembly » At the United Nations headquarters in New York President Biden will take center stage this morning addressing roughly 150 world leaders.

BIDEN: Mr President, Mr. Secretary General, my fellow leaders …

Biden heard there at last year’s meeting of the General Assembly.

This year, he’s expected to once again call on the rest of the world to put pressure on Russia to end its invasion of Ukraine. He’ll also urge greater action to fight climate change.

Biden speaks against the backdrop of what many see as a new Cold War as China and Russia look to build a coalition to stand toe to toe with the West’s NATO alliance.

Blinken–China meeting » On Monday at UN headquarters, Secretary of State Tony Blinken sat down with China’s vice president ahead of a possible face-to-face meeting between President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Blinken and Vice President Han Zheng held talks Monday at the Chinese mission to the United Nations.

Blinken said the goal of the meeting was to keep lines of communication open and show that Washington is —in his words—“responsibly managing the relationship” between the two countries.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently held two days of talks with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

President Biden and Xi Jinping could meet in November at an Asia-Pacific Economic conference in San Francisco.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Spending bill » The House is expected to vote this week on a Republican proposal to fund the government through October, avoiding a shutdown.

Congress has until the end of the month to approve new government funding. And House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says they still have plenty of time.

MCCARTHY: It isn’t the 30th yet. We have a lot of different ideas. I credit our members over the weekend working together from the Freedom Caucus to the mainstream.

The proposal includes temporary cuts to virtually all domestic discretionary spending while shielding Defense and Veteran Affairs from any cuts.

But some House Republicans say that won’t support it. And if it does pass in the House, it’ll likely be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Libya death toll » In Libya, rescue crews continue to search for victims of last week’s catastrophic flooding in the coastal city of Derna.

UN humanitarian coordinator for Libya Georgette Gagnon says she toured the city after the flood.

GAGNON: What I saw defies comprehension. Parts of the city were barely recognizable.

UN officials have revised the confirmed death toll sharply downward.

They now say roughly four thousand are confirmed dead. Prior reports put the death toll at nearly three times that number.

But 9,000 people remain missing and are presumed dead.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A deeper look at Kim Jong-Un’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Russia. Plus, keeping a family reunion going.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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.