Thursday morning news - September 23, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden works to mend fences with France over AUKUS » President Biden worked to mend fences with French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Wednesday.

The French government is not happy about a new three-way defense deal between the United States, Australia, and the U.K., known as AUKUS. France felt blindsided by the move.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki described the phone call to reporters…

PSAKI: During the conversation, the president reaffirmed the strategic importance of France—of French and European engagement, I should say—in the Indo-Pacific region, something that we look forward to continuing to work with them on.

As part of the agreement, Australia will receive nuclear powered submarines. And with that, Australia pulled the plug on a prior agreement to purchase diesel powered subs from France.

While the White House struck a sympathetic tone, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said French leaders should get a grip.

JOHNSON: I just think it's time for some of our dearest friends around the world to prenez un grip about this and donnez-moi un break because this is fundamentally a great step forward for global security.

France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in protest of the new deal. But the French ambassador will return to Washington next week.

COVID-19 deaths soar to more than 2,000 per day » Deaths from COVID-19 have risen to levels not seen since February. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: More than 2,000 Americans are now dying from COVID each day, according to numbers from Johns Hopkins University.

The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospitals, complicated the start of the school year, and demoralized healthcare workers.

Dr. Dena Hubbard is a pediatrician in suburban Kansas City, Missouri. She said she has cared for babies delivered prematurely by cesarean section in a last-ditch effort to save their mothers, some of whom died.

She called it “heart-wrenching” and “soul-crushing.”

COVID deaths hit a peak of almost 3,400 a day back in January. Daily deaths plummeted to just over 200 in July before the delta variant triggered another wave of new infections.

Health experts say the vast majority of the hospitalized and dead have been unvaccinated. While some vaccinated people have suffered breakthrough infections, those tend to be mild.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

Biden doubles US global donation of COVID-19 vaccine shots » Meantime, President Biden announced Wednesday that the United States will step up efforts to battle the pandemic globally.

He said his administration is doubling its purchase of Pfizer's COVID-19 shots to share with the world.

BIDEN: This is another half-billion doses that will all be shipped by this time next year, and it brings our total commitment of donated vaccines to over 1.1 billion vaccines to be donated.

It comes as world leaders, and global health and aid groups are sounding alarms about the slow pace of global vaccinations, especially in developing nations.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterris decried the lack of access to vaccines in poor countries.

GUTERRES: This is a moral indictment of the state of our world. It is an obscenity. We passed the science test, but we are getting an F in ethics.

U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said “no one is safe until everyone is safe” and that only a global response can defeat this threat.

Some Haitian migrants allowed to stay in U.S. » Authorities are now releasing a large number of mostly Haitian migrants at an encampment in Del Rio, Texas, into the United States. That despite the Biden administration’s public declaration that migrants will be turned away if they show up at the U.S. border.

The U.S. government has been expelling thousands of migrants under the CDC’s Title 42 rules, enacted during the pandemic, flying Haitian migrants back to Haiti. But thousands of migrants remain at the border camp.

Jen Psaki told reporters at the White House...

PSAKI: If there isn’t a flight ready yet, those individuals may be placed into alternatives to detention.

“Alternative to detention” means not detained. They are released into the country with instructions to appear in court at a later date.

The Border Patrol is instructing the migrants to appear at an immigration office within 60 days to speed up processing times as they try to clear the camp under the International Bridge in Del Rio.

As of Tuesday evening, 8,600 migrants are still camping out beneath the bridge.

Battle lines drawn over govt. debt and funding plan » Republican and Democratic leaders are drawing battle lines over government funding, which is set to expire at the end of this month.

The Democrat-led House voted down party lines this week to approve a package that would provide stopgap money to keep the government funded to Dec. 3rd. It would extend borrowing authority through the end of 2022. It includes nearly $29 billion in disaster relief for the aftermath of Hurricane Ida and other extreme weather events, and more than $6 billion to support Afghanistan evacuees.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday...

SCHUMER: Every single Democrat will support this bill. Whether or not we avoid default is simply entirely up to the Republican senators.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell described House Democrats’ plan this way...

MCCONNELL: More debt, more borrowing, and more inflation on the shoulders of American families.

GOP Senator Mitt Romney said Democrats want to pass a $3.5 trillion spending bill without a single Republican vote, but—quote—“they think we should have to raise the debt limit for them.” He added “The Democrats could solve that problem all by themselves. They have the House, the Senate and the White House.”

But McConnell predicted that the government will not default on its debt, and that both sides will find a way to work out their differences before the fiscal year ends on September 30th.

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.