8 Things You Need To Know For July 19

Good morning — Andrew from Narcity here! ☕

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In Case You Missed It

1. Canada's Travel Rules Change Today; Here's What You Need To Know

As of July 19, a number of new travel restrictions for the Canada-U.S. border are now in place — most notably the return of random mandatory COVID-19 testing for those arriving at four of Canada's largest airports. Helena Hanson explains everything you need to know, whether you're flying or driving back north from our southern neighbour.

• What Else: Pardon the pun but when it comes to Canadian airports, everything really is up in the air these days. Katherine Caspersz has 10 travel tips everyone should know before boarding a plane this summer.

2. A Nice Surprise (& A Not-So-Nice Surprise) From Gwen Stefani

Gwen Stefani's career-long quest to never belong to any particular genre of music for longer than five minutes took a couple of interesting turns over the past week.

• The Shot: Stefani joined husband and country music star Blake Shelton for a duet of "Nobody but You" at the Calgary Stampede's closing weekend. Innocuous!
• The Chaser: But her new music video with Sean Paul also dropped — and for the zillionth time in this writer's lifetime, we are having the convo about Stefani and cultural appropriation. Super kawaii? Not quite.

3. A Woman Woke Up From A Two-Year Coma & Immediately ID'd Her Attacker

Two years ago, a West Virginia woman was found "circling the drain, medically" after seemingly being attacked with an axe in her home. Despite her bleak outlook, the woman actually woke up from a two-year coma a few weeks ago — and began walking the police through what she remembered about her assailant, Josh Elliott writes. Here's who attacked Wanda Palmer.

What Else You Need To Know Today

🎉 HOLIDAYS
Break out the blender and pass the strawberries; it's National Daiquiri Day. A concoction of Cuban origin, the writer Ernest Hemingway had his own variation featuring rum, limes, grapefruit and maraschino liquor: the Papa Double.

🎥 INJUSTICE LEAGUE
Remember when a seemingly fan-led social media campaign convinced WarnerMedia to let director Zack Snyder re-cut and re-release the much-maligned 2017 flick Justice League? Unshockingly, bots reportedly played a disproportionate role in promoting viral hashtags like #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.

💒 TYING THE KNOT
It took two engagements and the better part of 20 years but Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck officially married in Las Vegas over the weekend. Somewhat alarmingly, JLo is apparently no more; the singer and actress says she's now Jennifer Affleck (JAffleck?).

🪕 MUSIC MAGIC
Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg directed his first music video earlier this month, a forthcoming Marcus Mumford track. Spielberg shot the entire thing on his phone in one take — not unlike pretty much everyone who has been to a concert since the advent of the iPhone. Auteurship!

🎂 BIRTHDAYS
Riley Curry, the press-conference-stealing eldest daughter of NBA star Steph Curry, is somehow already 10 years old. Former two-time UFC light heavyweight champ Jon "Bones" Jones is now 35 — making him eligible to become America's next president. In this universe (and presumably several multiverses), today is Benedict Cumberbatch's 46th birthday. Shaggy-haired Queen guitarist Brian May is 75. Former tennis bad boy Ilie Năstase is 76.

Thanks for reading Narcity's Canada Morning Brief — the only newsletter willing to ask the tough questions, like what happened to Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Girls?

Let me know what you liked (and disliked) about today's edition at andrew.potter@narcity.com.

Have a great day and see you back here tomorrow!