Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Canadian snowbirds will be watching closely this week, suitcases at the ready and RVs full of fuel, to see if the United States finally eases the travel restrictions preventing them from driving south for the winter.
Some aren't waiting for the White House, opting for the perfectly legal option of flying to the U.S. instead -- and many are planning on getting a COVID-19 booster shot as soon as they get there, said Toronto travel insurance broker Martin Firestone.
"The feeling I'm getting from my clientele is, 'I will go down south as I always had planned to, but I will get my third booster shot down there and probably get it a lot quicker than I ever would waiting here,"' Firestone said in an interview.
"People who are heading south are going to go get that booster down in the States, I can assure you of that."
On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration turned a few heads when it rejected the idea of a third shot for Americans aged 16 or older. The agency did, however, endorse a plan to make boosters available to people aged 65 or older, or at high risk of severe illness.
With Canada still a long way from formally deciding whether to offer boosters, many with U.S. travel plans simply don't want to wait for the federal health authorities and the individual provinces to make up their minds, Firestone said.
Others are waiting for the U.S. to give a green light to getting behind the wheel.
Tuesday is the deadline for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to declare whether it plans to ease the restrictions on non-essential travel over the Canada-U.S. land border, or extend the prohibition for another 30 days.
The U.S. has largely remained silent on when it might begin to ease the restrictions. Air and sea travellers are exempt from the ban, though passengers by rail, ferry and pleasure boat are not.
A fresh batch of U.S. Senate Democrats, including Michigan senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, Sen. Kirsten Gillebrand of New York and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, wrote Friday to urge President Joe Biden to finally lift the ban.
"We believe that fully vaccinated Canadians should be allowed to safely travel into the United States via land ports of entry," reads the letter, which was also signed by New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Angus King, the Independent from Maine.
"We urge you to lift these restrictions before October, provide a plan for reopening land ports of entry and appoint an interagency lead on U.S.-Canadian border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic."
Establishing a liaison between the various agencies, the White House and Congress would help to ensure the issue gets the necessary attention and ensure lawmakers are kept in the loop, it continues.
"An interagency lead would facilitate discussions between the administration and our offices and ensure that we are able to effectively convey the concerns of our constituents as you evaluate the COVID-19 pandemic."
Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the U.S. border agency, acknowledged the growing frustration during a National Press Club event last week in Washington.
"We had hoped that by now, we would have opened up travel through the ports of entry, but regrettably, because of the Delta variant, we've been delayed in doing so," Mayorkas said.
The restrictions now include language that make it possible to relax or lift the ban entirely before the start of the next 30-day window, he added.
"Because we've renewed it for 30 days does not necessarily mean that the restriction will last for another 30 days," Mayorkas said. "We have the ability, of course, to ease it or to eliminate it sooner if the data suggests that we should."
He also acknowledged the southern border, scene of an escalating immigration crisis, is complicating matters. The department sent 400 more border agents and officers to the south Texas region where upwards of 14,000 migrants from Haiti have gathered, with more arriving daily, in hopes of winning asylum in the U.S.
Some experts say the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border is making the White House wary about easing travel restrictions, particularly when travel from Canada is still possible via air and trade and commercial shipments have been moving largely unfettered since the start of the pandemic.
But there are families at the southern border who are suffering under the restrictions as well, said Devon Weber, the founder of Let Us Reunite, a grassroots advocacy group that's pushing for the borders to be reopened.
"We cannot let migrants be used as a scapegoat for the government's bureaucratic paralysis regarding land border policy," Weber said in an email.
"There is a difference between immigration and opening the border to casual travel. The United States had 18 months to make a plan to safely reopen all the land borders and has chosen not to."
Firestone said older travellers want a vehicle at their disposal while in the U.S., and prefer to avoid the hassle of air travel, particularly since Canada's decision to allow fully vaccinated visitors has dramatically slowed what was already a plodding and delay-filled customs clearance process.
"We're hearing stories about three-hour waits on the plane on the tarmac, and then another two-hour wait in the building," he said. "Flying is not what it used to be."
Some want to take their RVs, which provide both transportation and accommodation. A shortage of available rental cars across North America has put a further premium on being able to take one's own car. And the cost of shipping a vehicle separately remains prohibitive.
Firestone said if the border reopens soon, he's anticipating demand for travel insurance to reach upwards of 90 per cent of what it was in 2019 before the pandemic hit. Without the land border being reopened, he said, that figure will be closer to 50 per cent.
"Another 30 days until Oct. 21 is really going to put a dent in the flow of traffic to the U.S., and it won't be good on many fronts," he said. "The bottom line is there should be no reason why the U.S. does not open the land border, in my opinion. And that's basically because there is zero risk."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2021.
This is a corrected story. A previous version referred to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. The correct name for the federal agency is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Ontario Provincial Police say two people were killed after a car and a transport truck collided in the westbound lanes of Highway 417 near Limoges, Ont. on Tuesday afternoon.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A group of lawyers has written what they call a groundbreaking book about how mental health is perceived in the legal profession.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.