Wednesday morning news - September 22, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden addresses United Nations » President Joe Biden delivered his first speech before the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

BIDEN: We stand in my view at an inflection point in history.

With international leaders questioning some of his policy and military decisions, he called for global unity in dealing with the pandemic, climate change, and human rights abuses.

The United States recently announced an Indo-Pacific nuclear agreement with the UK and Australia—a move to curb China’s power in the region.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres impolored the U.S. and China to repair their—quote—“dysfunctional relationship.”

Biden responded to that urging on Tuesday...

BIDEN: We are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocks. The United States is ready to work with any nation that steps up and pursues peaceful resolution to shared challenges.

Meanwhile, France has recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the United States in protest of how the new alliance was formed.

Biden also defended the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, signaling an administration focus to avoid the use of force. He said the administration is launching a—quote—“new era of relentless diplomacy.”

Wray: Afghanistan unrest could inspire extremism inside US » The possibility of another 9/11-type attack has diminished over the last 20 years, but the Taliban victory in Afghanistan could embolden extremists—both foreign and domestic.

That was the warning from top national security officials on Tuesday. FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Homeland Security Committee...

WRAY: The greatest terrorist threat we face here in the U.S. is from what are in effect lone actors, because they act alone and move quickly from radicalization to action, often using easily attainable weapons against soft targets.

Wray said the domestic terrorism caseload has “exploded" since the spring of 2020 from about 1,000 investigations to around 2,700.

He added—quote—“We are concerned that, with developments in Afghanistan—among other things—that there will [provide] more inspiration" to terrorists.

He said intel officials expect threats, both at home and abroad to grow in the coming months and years.

DHS head says images from border 'horrified' him » Also in Senate Testimony Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas commented on a controversy at the southern border.

Pictures that appear to show a Border Patrol agent on horseback using his long leather reins to lash at Haitian migrants prompted outrage. Mayorkas told lawmakers ...

MAYORKAS: I was horrified to see the images and we look forward to learning the facts that are adduced from the investigation, and we will take actions that those facts compel.

Some of the mounted agents use their horses to forcibly move and block the migrants. But Mayorkas said “Any mistreatment or abuse of a migrant is unacceptable.” The matter is under investigation.

U.S. govt. continues to ramp up expulsion flights to Haiti » Mayorkas said the U.S. government is stepping up efforts to deal with Haitian migrant crisis at the border.

MAYORKAS: We have increased the number of repatriation flights to Haiti and to other third countries. The size of the population in Del Rio, Texas has decreased considerably.

But thousands of people remain at the camp in Texas. Over the weekend, close to 15,000 mostly Haitian migrants amassed along the border in the Del Rio area.

Vice president of the National Border Patrol Council said the Biden administration is to blame for the Haitian migrant crisis within the broader border crisis. Art Del Cueto said Tuesday…

CUETO: They were warned, they were told that they needed to put some south-sided facility, and they ignored everything. This chaos that we’re seeing all falls on this administration’s lack of willingness to see that there was a problem and trying to fix the situation.

As the U.S. government ramped up expulsion flights to Haiti, Mexico also began flying and busing some away from the border.

Dozens of migrants upset about being deported to Haiti tried to rush back into a plane that landed Tuesday afternoon in Port-au-Prince as they yelled at authorities. Some began throwing rocks and shoes at the plane.

And in South Texas, a group of migrants reportedly fought with Border Patrol agents and seized control of a bus when they realized they were being deported. ABC News 3 in Corpus Christi reports that the migrants then fled the bus on foot before law enforcement officers tracked them down.

J&J: Booster dose of its COVID shot prompts strong response » Johnson & Johnson said Tuesday that a booster of its one-shot coronavirus vaccine provides a stronger protection against COVID-19. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has more.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The J&J vaccine rolled out in February as a one-shot alternative to Pfizer and Moderna. But all along, the company was running a global test of whether a two-dose course might be more effective.

The company said a second dose 56 days after the first was 75 percent effective globally at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, and 95 percent effective in the U.S. alone.

The difference between those two numbers was likely due to which variants were circulating in different countries during the study.

Examined a different way, the company said when people got a second J&J shot two months after the first, levels of antibodies rose four to six times higher. But giving a booster dose six months after the first shot yielded a 12-fold increase.

J&J said it has provided the data to the FDA and European regulators.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

I’m Kent Covington. 

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