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Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend

Editors  |  Paste BN

9-year-old boy dies after Astroworld Festival

Ezra Blount, the 9-year-old boy who was placed in a medically induced coma after being injured at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston, died Sunday, Houston's Mayor Sylvester Turner confirmed in a tweet. "I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening," Turner wrote. "Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time." He is the 10th person to die from injuries related to the concert. Blount was placed in an induced coma on Nov. 9, Ezra Blount's grandfather Bernon Blount said, as the boy's heart, lungs and brain were injured in the melee. Blount and his father, Treston Blount, "came from out of town" to attend the concert and spend some quality time together. "They were expecting to come and have a good time with each other, bond as father and son, and it turned into a tragic event because of the negligence of others," Bernon told the Associated Press.

COP26 climate deal falls short on 1.5 degrees Celsius target

Negotiators at the United Nations climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, on Saturday struck a global climate deal aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions and averting catastrophic global warming. But the pledges won't be enough to limit a planetary temperature rise to a key 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. The COP26 text builds on targets established in Paris six years ago by requesting countries, by the end of 2022, revisit and strengthen goals for cutting carbon emissions in line with an ambition to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030. Experts and climate campaigners said the agreement leaves many issues unresolved. U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said the deal did not go far enough and the world must "go into emergency mode."

Queen Elizabeth II is injured, the palace says

Queen Elizabeth II has sprained her back, Buckingham Palace says, keeping her from attending “Remembrance Sunday” after several weeks of heightened concern over the state of the 95-year-old monarch's health. The queen's decision to miss the service was made with "great regret" and "disappointment," the palace told Paste BN. Just days ago, the palace said the queen was determined not to miss Remembrance Sunday, a sacred ceremony in the royal diary that usually brings out most of the senior royals. The queen, Britain’s longest-lived and longest-reigning monarch, recently returned to Windsor Castle after being hospitalized in London for "some preliminary investigations." 

Real quick

Aaron Rodgers reinstated for Packers game against the Seahawks

Aaron Rodgers returned from his COVID-19 protocol exile Sunday. The Green Bay Packers quarterback was reinstated Saturday — just in time for the team's 17-0 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Rodgers, who was greeted with cheers and applause, finished the game with 292 yards passing, no touchdowns and an interception. The quarterback was forced to miss the Packers' 13-7 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last week after testing positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 3. As an unvaccinated player, Rodgers faced a mandatory 10-day quarantine. The NFL fined Rodgers $14,650 and the Packers $300,000 for skirting the league's protocols.

COVID-19 infections are rising. Is a fifth surge upon us?

For the first time in two months, COVID-19 case counts and deaths are rising in most 33 states, especially in the northern tier and Rocky Mountains. Does this mean a fifth wave of the pandemic is cresting? With a virus this new to humanity, it's impossible to say, according to Dr. Susan Kline, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Experts say a combination of factors is driving the surge: the seasonality of the virus, waning immunity and many still-unvaccinated Americans. And it underscores the likelihood COVID-19 is here to stay. Hospitalizations also are up –  23 states reported a rise in likely COVID-19 patients, while hospitals in 19 states reported more patients in intensive care.

Britney Spears is free. What now?

Britney Spears is free from her conservatorship. Now comes the hard part. Family law experts say Spears’ newfound freedom after more than a decade of a constricting fiscal and personal conservatorship is likely to prove challenging in new ways. The next step is “assembling the team” to help Spears maneuver from dependence to independence, said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers in Los Angeles. The pitfalls, says Rahmani, are akin to what “college athletes deal with when they suddenly go pro, they’re faced with all this money and all these decisions, and they can be taken advantage of.”

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This is a compilation of stories from across the Paste BN Network.

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