Monday morning news - October 25, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Another migrant caravan en route to U.S. border » Another migrant caravan is currently trekking through Mexico en route to the U.S. border.

Tens of thousands of migrants from Central America and Haiti have been waiting in southern Mexico for refugee or asylum papers that might allow them to travel.

But many got tired of waiting and pushed their way through a line of state police officers dressed in riot gear with plexiglass shields.

AUDIO: [Sound of caravan]

The group of thousands of mainly Central American migrants continued their mass exodus from the city of Tapachula Sunday. Many had small children in tow.

Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council Art Del Cueto said drug cartels continue to take advantage of a chaotic southern border.

CUETO: They can put a bunch of individuals in one specific area, move border patrol agents to that area. Now they have to preoccupy themselves with processing, all the while, the drug cartels are having a bonanza by crossing all their drugs into the United States.

The Border Patrol detained a record 1.7 million migrants trying to cross the southern border during the 2021 fiscal year.

U.S. urges North Korea to stop missile tests and return to talks » The Biden administration is calling on North Korea to halt missile tests and reopen nuclear talks.

Last week, the North fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine.

U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Sung Kim said recent tests have violated UN Security Council resolutions.

KIM: Pyongyang’s recent ballistic missile test, one of several in the past six weeks, is concerning and counterproductive toward making progress toward a lasting peace in the Korean Peninsula.

Kim spoke after meeting with South Korean officials about the missile tests.

South Korean officials said the submarine-fired missile appeared to be in an early stage of development. That marked the North’s first underwater-launched test since October 2019, and the most high-profile one since President Biden took office.

Missiles fired from submarines are harder to detect in advance and would provide North Korea with new attack capabilities.

FDA panel to weigh authorizing Pfizer vaccine for young children » An FDA advisory panel will meet tomorrow. On the agenda: whether to authorize the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for young children.

President Biden’s top medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said that authorization could come soon. He told ABC’s This Week:

FAUCI: So if all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC, it’s entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November.

But serious illness from COVID-19 is rare among children. And CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky acknowledged that it won’t be easy to convince many parents to get their kids vaccinated.

WALENSKY: We have a lot of parents, as you know, a third who are ready to get their children vaccinated right away. And we know we have a lot of work ahead of us just as we did with the initial vaccine.

The FDA has already authorized the Pfizer vaccine for kids 12 and older.

Investigation continues into fatal shooting on Western movie set » Law enforcement officials are still investigating a fatal shooting on the set of the upcoming Western film Rust.

Last week, actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe. But it contained a live round which struck and killed 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

A new report suggests that just hours before the accident, a camera crew walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.

The crew was filming just outside Santa Fe. And New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pledged a thorough investigation.

GRISHAM: To figure out just exactly what happened here and to make sure that if there is an accountability issue, that happens immediately.

The gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or “armorer,” had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed. That according to court records.

Those records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin. He then indicated incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling “cold gun.”

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org.

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