Monday morning news - September 6, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kristen Flavin. 

Taliban blocks airlift while flights resume in Kabul » A ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs committee claims the Taliban is holding Americans hostage.

During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Congressman Michael McCaul said the Taliban prevented six airplanes filled with American citizens and their Afghan interpreters from leaving the country on Saturday.

MCCAUL: They are not clearing the airplanes to depart. They’ve sat at the airport for the last couple days, these planes, and they’re not allowed to leave. We know the reason why is because the Taliban wants something in exchange. This is really is turning into a hostage situation, where they’re not going to allow American citizens to leave until they get full recognition from the United States of America.

The chartered planes are at an airport in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. An Afghan official confirmed four planes had been grounded. But he claimed the passengers were Afghans, not Americans, and that they did not have passports or visas to leave the country.

The flights were headed for Qatar, but it was not immediately clear who chartered them.

SOUND: [Airplane landing, taxiing]

Meanwhile, a small number of commercial flights have resumed at Kabul’s international airport. All are flying domestic routes.

Taliban leaders continue to insist they will be more tolerant than they were during their last time in power. On Sunday, the education department issued a statement saying women could continue to attend university. But classes must be segregated by sex, or at least divided by a curtain so men and women cannot see each other. Female students are also required to wear a robe and face veil.

Cleanup continues in Louisiana » FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell urged Louisiana residents to be patient as cleanup efforts continue across the state.

CRISWELL: Hurricane Ida, she left a devastating path. Not only was it the fifth most powerful hurricane, but it impacted southern Louisiana as a Category 4 for hours. The road to recovery in that part of Louisiana is going to take a very long time. There’s a lot of devastation.

Hurricane Ida made landfall just over a week ago, destroying more than 22,000 power poles. The head of the region’s power company, Entergy, warned it could take weeks to restore electricity to residents of southern Louisiana.

Many parts of New Orleans also remain without power. But most customers in the city should be reconnected by Wednesday.

Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, said recovery efforts are going well. But he stressed the need for recovery measures to include mitigation for future storms. Cassidy encouraged his fellow Republicans to get behind the $1 trillion infrastructure bill championed by President Biden.

CASSIDY: I say, go down to Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish, the people who will not have electricity back until Sept. 29th, and tell them you’re going to vote against the bill, which hardens our grid, which gives coastal restoration dollars, which has flood mitigation, which will build levees and protect Louisiana and other states from natural disasters. Go to those parishes and tell them whatever cockamamee reason you have to vote no.

The president visited Louisiana on Friday. He will travel Tuesday to New York and New Jersey, which suffered record amounts of rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

The death toll from flooding in the Northeast rose to 50 over the weekend. At least four people are still missing.

Terror attack in New Zealand » A terror attack in New Zealand is prompting changes to the country’s immigration process. A 32-year-old native of Sri Lanka stabbed seven people in a grocery store Friday before police shot and killed him.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the man had been fighting deportation for immigration fraud.

ARDERN: At every turn, at every legal avenue that was available was utilised. And when it was no longer possible to legally have this person detained, that is when the police came with that constant monitoring.

The man spent nearly three years in jail before his release in July. Since then, armed police had tracked his every move. But Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said his visit to a grocery store did not seem suspicious.

COSTER: We have had no legal grounds to detain the subject. Monitoring his actions has been entirely dependent on the surveillance teams being able to maintain their cover.

Police arrested him in 2018 after discovering he had knives and videos made by Islamic State militants. He also expressed support online for terror attacks. Officials revoked his refugee status in 2019 but appeals allowed him to stay in the country.

Political coup in Guinea » The government of the West African nation of Guinea has apparently fallen in a coup. Members of the Guinean army say they are now in control.

SOUND: [Sound of gunfire]

Soldiers set up checkpoints and blocked roads leading into the capital, Conakry. Gunfire rang out over the city for hours. The army colonel at the head of the coup later appeared on state television to announce he had dissolved the constitution and the government.

SOUND: [Man speaking French]

But the Defense Ministry claimed forces loyal to the president repelled an attack on the presidential palace. It said the government remained secure.

A video of 83-year-old President Alpha Conde sitting with a soldier circulated widely on social media. It suggested he’d been captured but could not be independently verified.

Conde has ruled the country for more than a decade. He ran for a third term in office last year, claiming term limits did not apply to him. His reelection sparked violent street protests that left dozens dead.

I’m Kristen Flavin. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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