instrument of the zydeco sound is the one that evolved from his grandmother s washboard. music continues. this was my grandmother s washing machine. this was her washing machine back in the day. and you hear that rhythm? the buttons on your shirt were making the little sound, and the grandmother was washing clothes at the time, and of course the daddy who was playing says hey, that thing sounds good, it might fit with the accordion. bring it over here! she said you must be out of your mind, this is how i do my laundry . canl? you should try it, man, yes, yes, yes. it is all percussion in zydeco. plays washboard. you have the rhythm going like this and everything, that s it! that s it. but when you hit the board you lose it. why? i don t know. music continues. the streets are packed, and there s a jubilant atmosphere here. but it has been hard won. it has taken more than a decade for tourist numbers to recover from the devastation of hurricane katrina in 2005. music has
epic railjourney across the southern united states. this is the mighty mississippi. the economic backbone of early america, running north to south for more than 2000 miles, carrying the people and cargo that helped to turn this country from a fledgling upstart into a powerhouse. for much of the 19th century, steamboats like this ruled the river. but in 1879, construction began on a transcontinental train line, that would link the newfound prosperity with the isolated far west. connecting the gulf of mexico with the pacific ocean. on this journey i ll be following the railroad that pushed the american dream along the mexican border all the way to california. every trip is unique. it s a moving city. and i will be meeting some of the people who help define this unique, diverse and fascinating part of the country. horn blares. new orleans, my first port of call. right now in the middle of one of its annual street parties, the french quarter festival. jazz music plays. the area g
on covid test providers who ve been accused of taking advantage of holidaymakers travelling abroad. more than 80 companies listed on the government website are to be warned over misleading prices. a further 57 firms are being removed from the website because they either don t provide the relevant tests or they no longer even exist. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies has the details. if you travel, you test. and you pay for those tests. the government s own website has a list of providers, but booking through them isn t to guarantee things will go smoothly as barbara lowe found out coming from her holiday in portugal injune. we didn t get any test results at all. you couldn t get through to them on the phone, you couldn t contact them via the website. well, to be honest, i think it s quite farcical. i m annoyed, and i m upset that i ve lost my money and i haven t got what i paid for, basically. the government lists companies with the cheapest at the top, but some
the clock is ticking down. of course it is ticking down to something that. the button himself part. for the rest of that world. for the biden before his self-imposed deadline to pull remaining troops from afghanistan. today the taliban for a second time said they are not okay. the white house is the feeling the pressure, no doubt. press secretary jen psaki insisted no americans will be left behind. does the president have a sense that most of the criticism is not leaving afghanistan, it is the way he has ordered it to happen, by pulling troops before getting these americans who are now stranded. i think it is responsible to the state americans are stranded. reporter: there are no americans stranded in afghanistan? i m just calling you out professing we are when i have been very clear that we are not leaving americans who want to return home. we are going to bring them home. and i think that is important for the american people to understand. harris: oh, did you ca
rules on the importation of dogs to the uk, in response to a rise in puppy smuggling. the proposals include raising the minimum age for imported dogs from 15 weeks to 6 months, and banning heavily pregnant animals. lebu diseko has more. hundreds of puppies brought into the country illegally are intercepted each year. the numberfound not to have met the uk s pet import rules more than doubling between 2019 and 2020 alone. many have health problems and had not been checked by certified vets. an increase too in the number with docked tails and cropped ears, more than 600% in the last five years. the government is proposing new rules for puppy welfare standards, including raising the minimum age at which they can be imported from 15 weeks to six months, a ban on importing heavily pregnant dogs, and an end to importing dogs with cropped ears or docked tails. when it comes to ear cropping, unfortunately we have seen is an increase in demand for dogs with cropped ears, a completely