Houston Astroworld crowd crush: Organizers, rapper Travis Scott sued over deaths – National & International News – TUE 9Nov2021

Houston Astroworld crush: 12 lawsuits against organizers, rapper Travis Scott over deaths. Build Back Better may be dead in the water. REvil ransomware hacking group members arrested.

NATIONAL NEWS

Houston Astroworld crush: Organizers, rapper Travis Scott sued over deaths

The tragedy in Houston on Friday has left the bereaved and the wider community with many questions. How did it happen? Who’s to blame? How can we prevent it happening again?

Over 50,000 people attended the Astroworld music festival, many drawn by what promised to be a high-energy and raucous performance from rapper Travis Scott. Scott’s concerts are known for exhilarating pyrotechnics and an anything goes atmosphere where mosh pits and body surfing are not uncommon occurrence. Many, including Houston’s fire chief, are blaming Scott for not stopping the show immediately when there was a sudden rush towards the stage. Eight people ranging from 14 to 27 died in the resulting crowd crush and hundreds were injured. Some remain in hospital in critical condition, including a 9-year-old who is in a medically induced coma.

As of yesterday, over a dozen lawsuits had been filed against Scott and other organizers of the festival. Scott has promised to pay the funeral expenses for the victims of the tragedy.

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Build Back Better may be dead in the water

On Friday, the House aimed to pass a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan (BIF) and the $1.85 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) social spending plan. After previously stating that they would withhold their votes for BIF until BBB had passed the Senate, the House progressive caucus voted to back BIF. Only 6 members of the caucus held firm to their previous strategy. The BBB was then defeated by other centrist Democrats who demanded a review for it from the Congressional Budget Office to evaluate its effect on the deficit.

This makes it less likely that the BBB will eventually pass. The White House has said Biden will not withhold his signature for BIF to leverage support for BBB. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has promised there will be a vote for BBB in the House by November 15. But progressive groups fear that centrist Democrats will simply refuse to pass it altogether.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Arrests for REvil ransomware hackers

Following an international operation, authorities have arrested two hackers, one in Ukraine and another in Romania. These men were part of the REvil hacking group, one of the most prolific in cyber-crime history. Over the past three years, REvil has disrupted private businesses and government institutions around the world, collecting $millions in ransom. This year, REvil infected the systems of major U.S. meat processor JBS, shutting down its operations for days until the company paid a heft ransom. More recently, the group targeted hacked Kaseya, a Florida software, and subsequently infected 1,500 of Kaseya’s global business customers. The hackers collected about $200 million in ransom from this attack alone.

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