GLASGOW, Scotland — Barack Obama expressed confidence at U.N. climate talks Monday that the Biden administration will ultimately get its $555 billion climate package through Congress, and faulted U.S. rivals China and Russia for what he called a “dangerous lack of urgency” in cutting their own climate-wrecking emissions.

“When it comes to climate, time really is running out,” Obama told climate advocates. Though there has been progress since the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement “we are nowhere near where we need to be.”

His comments came as conference leaders acknowledged Monday that many key sticking points exist after a week of talks. A trust gap between rich and poor nations on climate change issues emerged when the negotiations went through a check of what’s been accomplished and what’s left to be done. Developing countries used versions of the word “disappointing” five times when leaders talked Monday about the progress to date.

The U.N. climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, is the former American president’s first since he helped deliver the triumph of the 2015 Paris climate accord, when nations committed to cutting fossil fuel and agricultural emissions fast enough to keep the Earth’s warming below catastrophic levels of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).

That celebration has faded and been replaced by worry. Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris accord. President Joe Biden put America back in as soon as he took office this year but U.S. efforts at fighting climate change were set back years by the Trump move.

“1.5 C is on life support now, it’s in ICU,” said Alden Meyer, a long-time observer of climate talks with E3G, an environmental think tank.

Obama’s appearance on the sidelines of the talks sought to remind governments of the elation that surrounded the Paris accord, and urge them to announce more immediate, concrete steps to put the 2015 deal into action.

“The U.S. is back and in moving more boldly. The U.S. is not alone,” Obama said.

Obama noted efforts by the United States — the world’s second-worst climate polluter now after China — stalled when Trump pulled out of the climate accord.

“I wasn’t real happy about that,” he admitted, but added that optimism is required to save the planet.

“There are times where I feel discouraged. There are times where the future seems somewhat bleak. There are times where I am doubtful that humanity can get its act together before it’s too late,” Obama said. “We can’t afford hopelessness.”

Despite opposition within Biden’s own Democratic party that has blocked the climate-fighting legislation, Obama said he was confident that some version of Biden’s ambitious climate bill will pass in Congress in the next few weeks.

“It will set the United States on course to meet its new climate targets,” he said.

And while in 2015, rapport between Obama administration negotiators and their Chinese counterparts was seen as paving the way to the global Paris accord, Obama on Monday criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for not joining other global leaders at the climate talks in Glasgow.

“It was particularly discouraging to see the leaders of two of the world’s largest emitters, China and Russia, decline to even attend the proceedings, and their national plans reflect what appears to be a dangerous lack of urgency,” Obama said.

Obama spoke earlier Monday to a session on Pacific Island nations, including ones whose existence is threatened by rising oceans under climate change.

“All of us have a part to play. All of us have work to do. All of us have sacrifices to make” on climate, he said. “But those of us who live in wealthy nations, those of us who helped to precipitate the problem … we have an added burden.”

When he was briefing the U.N. climate conference (COP26) on the first week’s progress, COP26 President Alok Sharma had to correct himself about the number of issues settled, changing “many” into “some.”

No deals have been made yet on three main goals of the U.N. conference. Those are pledges to cut emissions in half by 2030 to keep the Paris climate deal’s 1.5 degree Celsius temperature limit goal alive; the need for $100 billion annually in financial help from rich countries to poor ones; and the idea that half of that money goes to adapting to global warming’s worst effects. Several other issues, including trading carbon and transparency, also weren’t solved yet.

Numerous developing nations were pessimistic. They called progress “disappointing” and not near enough, saying announcements on fighting climate change were high in quantity but worried that they were low in quantity.

Representatives of 77 developing nations, along with China, said until this climate conference fixes the financial pledge problem to help poor nations cope with climate change these talks cannot be successful.

Ahmadou Sebory Touré of Guinea, speaking on behalf of poor nations, said rich countries not fulfilling their $100 billion pledge shows those countries are just making “an empty commitment.”

“There is a history of broken promises and unfulfilled commitments by developed countries,” Diego Pacheco Balanza of Bolivia told the conference.

Scientists say the urgency of global warming is as great as the dire speeches at Glasgow have conveyed, with the planet only a few years away from the point where meeting the goals set in the Paris accord becomes impossible, due to mounting damage from coal, petroleum, agriculture and other pollution sources.

The last few days have seen huge protests in Glasgow and around Europe for faster action in fighting global warming.

Obama told young people “you are right to be frustrated,” but then relayed the advice his mother gave him when he was young.

“Don’t sulk. Get busy, get to work and change what needs to be changed,” he said. “Vote like your life depends on it — because it does.”

LOS ANGELES — Yoga studio owner David Gross felt relieved after Los Angeles passed a vaccine mandate that is among the strictest in the country, a measure that took effect Monday that requires proof of shots for everyone entering a wide variety of businesses from restaurants to shopping malls and theaters to nail and hair salons.

For Gross, the relief came from knowing he and his co-owner don’t have to unilaterally decide whether to verify their customers are vaccinated. In another part of town, the manager of a struggling nail salon feels trepidation and expects to lose customers. “This is going to be hard for us,” Lucila Vazquez said.

Los Angeles is among a growing number of cities across the U.S., including San Francisco and New York City, requiring people show proof of vaccination to enter various types of businesses and venues. But rules in the nation’s second-most-populous city, called SafePassLA, apply to more types of businesses and other indoor locations including museums and convention centers.

They are being implemented as new cases have started inching up following a sharp decline from an August peak driven by the delta variant.

This was the time of year in 2020 when the worst spike of the pandemic was just beginning in California, which by January saw an average of 500 people die every day. Los Angeles became the state’s epicenter and its hospitals were so overloaded with patients that ambulances idled outside with people struggling to breathe, waiting for beds to open.

So many people died that morgues reached capacity and refrigerated trucks were brought in to handle the overflow. That stark scene played out as coronavirus vaccines arrived and California and Los Angeles moved aggressively to inoculate people.

Among LA county’s roughly 10 million people, 80% of eligible residents now have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 71% of those eligible are fully vaccinated, according to public health officials.

To guard against anything resembling the January carnage, the LA City Council voted 11-2 last month for the ordinance that requires people 12 and older to be fully vaccinated to enter indoor public spaces including sports arenas, museums, spas, indoor city facilities and other locations.

Negative coronavirus tests within 72 hours of entry to those establishments would be required for people with religious or medical exemptions for vaccinations. Customers without proof can still use outdoor facilities and can briefly enter a business to use a restroom or pick up a food order.

While the order took effect Monday, city officials say they won’t start enforcing it until Nov. 29 to give businesses time to adjust. A first offense will bring a warning but subsequent ones could produce fines running from $1,000 to $5,000.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week while attending the United Nations climate change conference in Scotland, said the mandate will encourage more people to get shots and make businesses safer for employees and customers.

“Vaccinating more Angelenos is our only way out of this pandemic, and we must do everything in our power to keep pushing those numbers up,” Garcetti said.

Business trade groups say the mandate will sow confusion because Los Angeles County’s own vaccine rules — which apply to dozens of surrounding communities — are less sweeping. Cities are allowed to pass rules more stringent than the county’s.

“There’s a tremendous lack of clarity,” said Sarah Wiltfong, senior policy manager at the Los Angeles County Business Federation. For example, most retail shops are exempt. “But shopping malls and shopping centers are included, which of course includes retail shops,” she said.

Harassment of workers who are tasked with verifying vaccination is the top concern of the business federation’s members, Wiltfong said.

“This puts employees in a potential position of conflict, when they’re not necessarily trained to handle situations like that,” she said.

Salons were especially hard hit during the pandemic and were among the last businesses to reopen indoors. Before COVID, Lynda Nail Salon in the Los Feliz neighborhood was regularly filled with clients for hair and nail appointments. On Wednesday morning, only one woman waited for her hair to set.

Vazquez, who manages the business, said she will follow the new rules even though many of her hair clients have said they won’t come in if it requires being vaccinated.

Gyms and yoga studio like the one co-owned by Gross also fall under the order. He doesn’t relish having his employees play the role of enforcer, checking every customer’s vaccination status. But now that the rule is on the books, it’s one less decision he and his partner Lydia Stone have to make as they navigate Highland Park Yoga back to in-person classes.

In anticipation of the new rules, the studio last month started encouraging its regular customers to submit their vaccine cards online so they don’t have to show them at the start of every class. Gross and Stone said it would be heartbreaking to turn away anyone.

“You know, the City Council decided, the mayor signed it, and we we have no choice but to comply with the law,” Gross said, adding that the possibility of being punished for violating the law “would be hugely detrimental” to a yoga business that is barely surviving after being shut down for the bulk of the pandemic.

The U.S. lifted restrictions Monday on travel from a long list of countries including Mexico, Canada and most of Europe, allowing tourists to make long-delayed trips and family members to reconnect with loved ones after more than a year and a half apart because of the pandemic.

Starting Monday, the U.S. is accepting fully vaccinated travelers at airports and land borders, doing away with a COVID-19 restriction that dates back to the Trump administration. The new rules allow air travel from previously restricted countries as long as the traveler has proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. Land travel from Mexico and Canada will require proof of vaccination but no test.

Airlines are expecting more travelers from Europe and elsewhere. Data from travel and analytics firm Cirium showed airlines are increasing flights between the United Kingdom and the U.S. by 21% this month over last month.

The change will have a profound effect on the borders with Mexico and Canada, where traveling back and forth was a way of life until the pandemic hit and the U.S. shut down nonessential travel.

Malls, restaurants and Main Street shops in U.S. border towns have been devastated by the lack of visitors from Mexico. On the boundary with Canada, cross-border hockey rivalries were community traditions until being upended by the pandemic. Churches that had members on both sides of the border are hoping to welcome parishioners they haven’t seen during COVID-19 shutdown.

Loved ones have missed holidays, birthdays and funerals while nonessential air travel was barred, and they are now eager to reconnect.

River Robinson’s American partner wasn’t able to be in Canada for the birth of their baby boy 17 months ago because of pandemic-related border closures. She was thrilled to hear the U.S. is reopening its land crossings to vaccinated travelers.

“I’m planning to take my baby down for the American Thanksgiving,” said Robinson, who lives in St. Thomas, Ontario. “If all goes smoothly at the border I’ll plan on taking him down as much as I can. Is crazy to think he has a whole other side of the family he hasn’t even met yet.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. will accept travelers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, not just those in use in the U.S. That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, will be accepted.

For air travelers, the airlines are required to verify vaccine records and match them against ID, and if they don’t, they could face fines of up to nearly $35,000 per violation. Airlines will also collect information about passengers for contact tracing efforts. There will be CDC workers spot-checking travelers for compliance in the U.S. At land borders, Customs and Border Protection agents will check vaccine proof.

The moves come as the U.S. has seen its COVID-19 outlook improve dramatically in recent weeks since the summer delta surge that pushed hospitals to the brink in many locations.