Wednesday morning news: July 22, 2026

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U.S.-Lebanon » At the White House, President Trump hosted the leader of one Middle Eastern nation for the first time in 17 years.

TRUMP: Mr. President it's an honor having you.

AOUN: Thank you. I've been looking forward to this visit for a long time.

Cameras clicked in the Oval Office as the president of Lebanon Joseph Aoun shook hands with President Trump.

Aoun was there to push for some kind of lasting calm after months of war between Israel and the terror group Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and had largely controlled much of the southern part of the country for years.

TRUMP: As you know, there's a Hezbollah problem. But we've done some things that I think, the world will take notice.

Auon said his goal was lasting peace between his own country and Israel.

AOUN: And I know your vision is peace. Your vision is stability. And I think my vision coincides with your vision. And together I think we will be able to achieve and to secure success in that regard.

TRUMP: I agree with that.

Trump said Israel was in the process of withdrawing from Lebanon and redeploying but didn't elaborate.

Iran latest » White House reporters also asked President Trump about a Wall Street Journal report, stating that Iran has moved nuclear centrifuges deep inside a fortified mountain south of Tehran, a site called Pickaxe Mountain.

Trump said the U.S. is tracking the material, and:

TRUMP:  We'll be hitting that area very, probably pretty soon. Exactly. And there's not a, not a thing they can do about it. Uh, you know, normally I wouldn't say that. If I thought they could do something about it, I would never say that.

The White House says the US will do whatever it takes to ensure Iran can never build a nuclear weapon.

But not everyone in Washington is behind the war. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer says his party remains committed to pulling the plug on the war effort.

SCHUMER: Senate Democrats will now force another vote this week to end this unauthorized war and bring our troops home.

Meantime, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth testified to a Senate committee Tuesday estimating the cost of the war thus far at around $38 billion dollars. He's pressing Congress for a nearly $88 billion request, much of it for Iran. But he says the spending is about more than the Iran war.

HEGSETH: If we don't make critical investments right now in tech, in compute, in AI, in autonomy, in space, our adversaries who are already making these types of investments could outpace us.

The money moves through a process that lets Republicans pass it without a single Democratic vote. But it's no sure thing. Speaker Mike Johnson's majority is razor-thin, and deficit hawks like Ohio's Warren Davidson are balking because none of it is paid for. The House takes a first vote on the funding this week.

Anti-fraud » A federal task force investigating healthcare fraud announced new actions on Tuesday. WORLD’s Harrison Watters has more from Washington.

HARRISON WATTERS: Health and Human Services will withhold a combined $1 billion in Medicaid funding from California and Minnesota, according to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

RFK JR.: If Governor Gavin Newsom or Governor Tim Walz wants this funding released, all they have to do is to provide basic documentation showing that these services are legitimate and not fraudulent,

WATTERS: HHS also held back hundreds of millions of dollars from California and Minnesota for Medicaid earlier this year.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz pushed back on social media, saying this is about politics, not fraud, and accused the administration of cutting people's health coverage.

Sec. Kennedy also said HHS is handing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services the power to shut bad actors out of federal health programs on its own, without going through the states. The money stays frozen until the states show Washington how they'll root out the fraud.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Harrison Watters in Washington.

Graham funeral arrangements » The late Senator Lindsey Graham will be honored in funeral services in the coming days.

Next Tuesday in Washington, Congress will honor him at the Capitol, followed by an invitation-only service at the National Cathedral, where President Trump and visiting world leaders are expected. Those events are closed to the public.

The next day, the public will be able to pay respects in South Carolina during a service at the State House in Columbia. A private family burial will follow in Pickens County.

Gulf tropical storm » Tropical Storm Bertha is spinning over warm Gulf waters this morning, taking aim at Louisiana.

Forecaster Philippe Pappin at the National Hurricane Center:

PAPPIN: kind of right along the Louisiana coastline here Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. And then the track takes it basically right along the Gulf Coast, but during this period it weakens to a tropical depression, potentially getting into Texas producing some heavy rainfall.

Right now, the heaviest threat runs from the Florida Panhandle west to Louisiana, with a storm surge of up to four feet, heavy rain, isolated tornadoes, and dangerous rip currents.

Emergency crews are already handing out sandbags, and officials are urging people near the coast to be ready to move to higher ground.

Afghanistan floods kill at least 23 » In eastern Afghanistan, crews are digging through mud and rubble, searching for scores of people still missing after flash floods swept through the mountains. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports:

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Officials say at least 23 people are dead and 80 injured. And more than a hundred others are still missing after the floodwaters toppled entire buildings.

The floods hit the eastern province of Nuristan on Monday, reducing homes and shops to piles of mud and stone. Some residents are digging by hand, looking for loved ones.

Forecasters warn more heavy rain and flooding could reach ten of the country's thirty-four provinces in the coming days.

Afghanistan sees deadly floods nearly every year. Many homes there are built of mud, and offer little protection when the water comes fast.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I'm Kent Covington.

Coming up: Will recent economic changes make a difference in Cuba? Plus, how painting a church helped one Russian artist beat the odds to jump start his education.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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