Good Morning,
U.S. Border
Canadian’s will now be able to travel across the U.S. border by car starting today, ending nearly 20 months of exile to America. There has been limited travel by air for Canadians travelling to the U.S., but this allows anyone with vaccines or a PCR test to cross the border including by car.
U.S. travel restrictions effect many other Countries too, as the travel ban is being lifted for people from Brazil, China, India, Ireland, South Africa, Iran and the Schengen countries - a group of 26 European nations.
Here in the UK travel has been largely banned unless you were an American passport holder or had one in your family. All over 18’s will need proof of vaccines to visit the U.S. still, and the vaccines need to be those approved by the U.S. FDA such as Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. The lifting of the travel is a huge boost to the airline industry.
L.A. Covid Restrictions
The City of Los Angeles has some of the strongest Covid restrictions, and starting today a large number of businesses will require proof of vaccines to serve customers, including restaurants, gyms, and large venues. Covid is up 20 to 40% in Los Angeles in the past week.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week while attending the United Nations climate change conference, hopes the mandate will increase the vaccination rate and make businesses safer for employees and customers.
Big Bird from Sesame apparently got his jab. The big bird twitter account tweeted "I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.”
That drew angry criticism from Right wing politician Ted Cruz, who called it "Government propaganda … for your 5 year old!"
That drew a response from Walter Schaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who pointed out to the Republican: "You are vaccinated."
Houston Concert Deaths
8 are dead after a two day music festival in Houston turned to a crush of fans pushing to get closer to the stage where rapper Travis Scott kept the music playing despite calls for the concert to stop.
The homicide and narcotics departments of the Houston Police Department will be part of the investigation. Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said the probe will be conducted thoroughly in order to find “where missteps may have occurred”.
What Scott knew as he played on, and why the concert continued as people were trampled, is a huge focus of the police investigation with more than 300 injured.
One security officer was struck in the neck with what may have been needle during the concert while trying to restrain an audience member. Drugs may have been administered to concert goers causing some to collapse.
"When he was examined, he went unconscious. They administered Narcan," Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said Saturday of the security officer. "He was revived, and the medical staff did notice a prick similar to what you would get if somebody was trying to inject.” adding the use of narcotics is one part of the investigations.
There were 50 thousand people at the concert. While the authorities defend the numbers of police ambulance personnel on scene, but there have been many crowd crush horror stories at football and soccer stadiums, and concerts in the past. Why do we keep getting planning for crowd control so wrong?
Back Story Podcast
A mixed podcast this week as we tackle some of the biggest International Stories of the week. This by the way is the 100th Back Story w/Dana Lewis podcast!
On Climate and the summit in Glasgow COP26, we speak to UCL's Professor Mark Maslin who sees real progress in the fight to lower Global temperatures. Progress is not enough though.
The bloody attack on a Kabul, Afghanistan hospital has Western counter terror experts trying to navigate threats from ISIS-K while avoiding working with the Taliban. We speak to the Soufan's Colin Clarke.
And, Ukraine and Russia. The deteriorating 8 year war and a new study showing Russia is supplying the bullets and bombs. We talk to the Pershing Chair's (Ret) Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges.
Check out the podcast at this link:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/9499187
Russian Spy Death
A Russian diplomat linked to the Federal Security Service was found dead outside Russia’s Embassy in Berlin after apparently falling from an upper-floor window, Germany’s Der Spiegel news website said Friday.
Berlin police reportedly found the unnamed 35-year-old man’s lifeless body on the sidewalk in front of the embassy building on the morning of Oct. 19.
The deceased was officially listed as Second Embassy Secretary, but Der Spiegel reported that German security agencies considered him to be an undercover FSB employee.
That’s a quick look at Monday. Have a great day everyone.
Dana
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/11/05/russian-diplomat-with-fsb-links-found-dead-outside-berlin-embassy-reports-a75494
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/11/06/us/houston-astroworld-festival#houston-astroworld-festival
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59197366
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/11/07/ted-cruz-sesame-streets-big-bird-clash-over-covid-vaccines/6325602001/