Thursday morning news - September 16, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Milley defends calls to Chinese as effort to avoid conflict » America’s top military officer, Gen. Mark Milley on Wednesday defended phone calls he made to China’s top military commander in the final months of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The Milley phone calls are described in excerpts from the forthcoming book Peril by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. The book says Milley told his Chinese counterpart that he would warn him in the event of a U.S. attack.

In a statement, Milley’s spokesman said the conversations were intended to convey “reassurance” to the Chinese military and were in line with his responsibilities.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki echoed that defense…

PSAKI: Any chairman of the Joint Chiefs has channels to communicate with China and Russia. Those are meant to increase confidence. Those are meant to prevent and deter any action that would be unintended. And that is a good thing, because obviously we want to prevent nuclear war.

The book by Woodward and Costa reported that Milley, fearful of Trump's actions in his final weeks as president, twice called his Chinese counterpart to assure him that the United States was not going to attack China.

Some in Congress accused Gen. Milley of having overstepped his authority and urged President Biden to fire him.

But Biden said Wednesday he believes Milley did the right thing and he stands by him.

Top U.S. general warned against military withdrawal from Afghanistan » Prior to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Austin Miller, warned that if the U.S. withdrew all forces from the country, a rapid collapse of the Afghan government would be the most likely result.

Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee say Miller has confirmed in closed door testimony that he opposed the withdrawal and registered his dissent with top military brass.

GOP Senator Dan Sullivan said Wednesday...

SULLIVAN: President Biden rejected that even though he was forewarned, and again, I think this foreign policy fiasco, given that he was given this advice - these predictions of chaos, is something that President Biden solely owns.

In an August interview with ABC News, host George Stephanopoulos posed this question to the president:

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no one told you—your military advisers did not tell you, no, we should just keep 2,500 troops. It’s been a stable situation for the last several years. We can do that. We can continue to do that.
BIDEN: No, no one said that to me that I can recall.

The Washington Post has reported that both Gen. Miller and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin did in fact warn President Biden against the withdrawal.

But it’s unclear if Gen. Miller confirmed during testimony that he directly informed the president of his dissent.

Kim Jong Un's sister warns of 'destruction' of S.Korean ties » Tensions are rising on the Korean peninsula after dueling missile tests and a new threat from Pyongyang. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday threatened a “complete destruction” of bilateral relations with the South.

That came after both countries tested ballistic missiles hours apart.

The missile launches underscored a return of tensions between the North and South after nuclear talks with Pyongyang stalled out.

Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, blasted South Korean President Moon Jae-in for comments he made after his country's missile tests. Moon said South Korea’s growing missile capabilities will serve as a—quote—“sure deterrence” against North Korean provocations.

The tests came hours after North Korea reportedly fired two ballistic missiles into the sea.

In a statement, Kim berated Moon for his remarks, accused the South of hypocrisy, and threatened to sever diplomatic ties.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

U.S. mandates COVID-19 vaccines for new immigrants » U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services added the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required shots all legal immigrants must have.

New arrivals old enough to receive the shots must prove vaccination status starting on Oct. 1st. The U.S. government will allow medical and religious exemptions.

The Biden administration says the surge in delta variant infections has forced the move.

But that does not address the many thousands of immigrants crossing the southern border illegally as the border crisis continues.

Border officials are detaining 6,000-7,000 people at the border every day with thousands more likely evading Border Patrol agents.

Alaska’s largest hospital rations care amid COVID-19 surge » Amid the COVID-19 surge, Alaska’s largest hospital has announced it will have to begin rationing care. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage said in a statement that “The acuity and number of patients now exceeds our resources and our ability to staff beds with skilled caregivers.” It added that it has been forced “to implement crisis standards of care.”

State health officials reported nearly 700 new cases and six recent deaths. More than 200 COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalized, 33 of them on ventilators.

Elsewhere in the United States, Mississippi has surpassed New Jersey with the nation’s highest rate of deaths per 100,000 residents. That number is just over 3,000.

About 49 percent of Mississippi residents have received at least one vaccine shot. That is the fourth-lowest vaccination rate in the nation.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

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