Monday morning news - September 20, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S. begins flying Haitian migrants back to home country » The United States began flying migrants from Haiti back to their home country on Sunday. That after more than 10,000 mostly Haitian migrants arrived en masse at the southern border.

Guerline Jozef is a migrant advocate with Haitian Bridge Alliance. She said those being flown back to Haiti really have nothing to return to.

JOZEF: People have literally been spending five months on a journey, dying on the way.

The U.S. government is citing the Title 42 policy adopted during the pandemic. That allows officials to expel most would-be asylum seekers.

Haitian migrants have been massing at the border for weeks. Some stopped and set up camp along the Rio Grande—others simply found other ways into the country.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said border officials have been overwhelmed.

ABBOTT: And they asked the Texas Department of Public Safety if the Texas Department of Public Safety would be responsible for manning, I think it was six ports of entry.

Officials on Sunday tried to block the Mexican border at an isolated Texas town where thousands of migrants have set up a camp.

About a dozen Texas Department of Public Safety vehicles lined up near the bridge and river where Haitians have been crossing into Del Rio, Texas. But the migrants quickly found other ways to cross nearby.

Collins: FDA may soon approve COVID-19 vaccines for young children » The FDA could soon approve COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 5.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said Sunday...

COLLINS: The data submitted by Pfizer to FDA for kids 5 to 11 is supposed to arrive in FDA’s hands later this month. I know they will work 24/7 to go through it and try to assess whether it’s time to grant an approval, and that will happen in weeks, not months.

He also predicts that booster shots will be available for most Americans “in the next few weeks.”

A government advisory panel has recommended temporarily limiting a third shot of the Pfizer vaccine to people 65 and older and other high risk Americans. But Collins told CBS’ Face the Nation “I think there will be a decision in the coming weeks to extend boosters beyond” high risk individuals.

Drone strike survivor demands accountability » Emal Ahmadi, a survivor of an errant U.S. drone strike that killed 10 members of his family in Afghanistan is demanding accountability.

On August 29th, a U.S. hellfire missile struck the car that Ahmadi's brother had just pulled into the driveway of the Ahmadi family compound as children ran to greet him. Seven children died in the strike, including Ahmadi’s 3-year-old daughter Malika.

On Friday, U.S. Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie called the strike a “tragic mistake.”

MCKENZIE: I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike. Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces.

Ahmadi said Washington’s apology is not enough. The family is also seeking financial compensation and relocation to the United States or another country deemed safe.

The U.S. military initially defended the strike. The Pentagon said it had targeted an Islamic State group's “facilitator" and disrupted the militants' ability to carry out attacks during the chaotic final stage of the withdrawal last month.

Taliban tells female govt workers in Kabul to stay home » Meantime, the Taliban continues to return to familiar patterns of subjugating women.

Taliban officials in Kabul have told female employees in the city government to stay home. The city’s new interim mayor said women will only be allowed to work if they cannot be replaced by men.

The move is another sign that the Taliban, who overran Kabul last month, are enforcing their harsh interpretation of Islam despite initial promises by some that they would be more inclusive. In their previous rule in the 1990s, the Taliban had barred girls and women from schools, jobs and public life.

In recent days, the new Taliban government issued several decrees rolling back the rights of girls and women.

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.