they re in the crowd. we asked the pentagon for comment. we have breaking news as well. new details of the top american commander in afghanistan. to be clear, these are not the ongoing talks between diplomats in qatar. this is a rear admiral speaking directly with the taliban. also tonight, new groups that foresaw this. telling you about the extraordinary action they saw to warn their boss that the situation could rapidly deteriorate and that they feared a catastrophe which is exactly what came to pass. which is exactly why the biden administration is scrambling, why it s now knows negotiate with the taliban and why despite evacuation efforts some of the growing number of transport planes are leaving kabul less than full. people who want to leave cannot safely get through taliban checkpoints to the airport. they have made it clear they re not getting afghans and neither do they know how many afghans are still in the country. john kirby wouldn t say. he wouldn t give a number.
rapidly deteriorate. and that they feared a catastrophe, which is exactly what came to pass. which is exactly why the biden administration s scrambling and why it s now necessary to negotiate with the taliban. and why, despite evacuation efforts speeding up, some of the growing number of transport planes are leaving kabul less than full. people want to leave simply cannot safely get through taliban checkpoints to the airport. senior pentagon officials have made it clear they re not going into kabul to get afghans or even americans. nor, do officials and this is remarkable even know how many americans, let alone afghans, are still in the country. when asked today, pentagon spokesman john kirby wouldn t say. he wouldn t give a number. i do not have a breakdown. i i suspect that over time as our manifesting process gets more refined, we may be able to be that be there but we don t have that specific breakdown. today, how many americans american citizens remain in
eighties. do you remember the movie the princess bride? and billy crystal s character, miracle max? he came to mind for some of us when we were thinking about the few days in congress. especially with infrastructure. we could soon know if the bipartisan deal is alive or dead or maybe, as lyrical max would say, it s only mostly dead. mostly dead is slightly alive. senators from both parties say that they re close to finalizing a deal, maybe as soon as tomorrow. we are down to the last couple of items and i think you re gonna see a bill monday afternoon. we re about 90% of the way there were kind of legislative language with colleagues and with staff and i feel good about getting it done this week. we have one issue outstanding. but that outstanding issue is big. how much to spend on transportation projects. democrats want to follow what s known as the 80 20 rule. 20% will go to public transit and 80% would go to highways but many republican senators are advocating for a
month of action, pushing congress to fight back against voting rights restrictions. but that is not all. biden also tapped vice president kamala harris to lead the administration s efforts to restore voting rights. the new role for the vice president comes as the administration condemns efforts by the republican-led state legislatures to pass dozen of restricting voting laws in the wake of the 2020 election. despite frustrations with gop efforts to make voting more difficult for many americans, the president still has hopes of working across the aisle, specifically on infrastructure, and this afternoon biden will host republican senator shelley moore capito of west virginia keeping, at least, his intention of negotiating in a bipartisan way alive. let s bring in cnn white house correspondent john harwood. john, you ve heard more and more from democrats who are becoming impatient with the president s efforts, not just on frfl infrastructure, but certainly on voting rights. w
months, the bbcjoined a vicar and a pastor on the frontlines in burnley, struggling in a pandemic fuelled crisis as lockdowns were imposed and covid rates soared. a warning, you may find some of the details in this programme distressing. i m a broken, recovering drug addict. ..that got a second chance. i love the poor, because i know i am the poor. and as long as i breathe, i ll serve the poor. as covid brings crisis to so many, in burnley, people of faith are stepping up to the front line. this is their story in a year of loss, hardship, but also hope. boris johnson: we must act now to contain this autumn surge. - stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. no need to push, there s plenty. i you see all these people? they have children, hungry children. we need social distancing or we re gonna get in trouble. you need to form a queue, please! it s hard to keep your distance when you re cold and hungry. politician say it was a leveller, this coronavirus, which is a lie, bec