Friday morning news - February 25, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Western leaders respond as Russian invasion of Ukraine advances » AUDIO: [Explosion]

An explosion rocked the Melitopol Air Base in northeastern Ukraine Thursday as flames and smoke billowed into the sky.

Russian troops and tanks continue to pour into the country this morning. Ukraine’s Health Ministry said at least 57 Ukrainians were killed on day-one of the invasion. And the bloodshed is likely to multiply many times over in the weeks ahead.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova told reporters…

MARKAROVA: Make no mistake, it’s not a military operation or whatever it was called yesterday. It is a war against Ukraine.

Russian troops reportedly seized control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in northern Ukraine.

Secretary of State Tony Blinken said last night he’s convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to overthrow the Ukrainian government and that he has ambitions beyond Ukraine.

President Biden said he’ll send 7,000 more U.S. troops to Germany to strengthen NATO’s defenses. And he detailed more sanctions against Russia.

BIDEN: Putin chose this war, and now, he and his country will bear the consequences. Today, I’m authorizing additional strong sanctions and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia.

Biden said “We will limit Russia’s ability to do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen to be part of the global economy.”

And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared…

JOHNSON: In concert with our allies, we will agree to a massive package of economic sanctions designed in time to hobble the Russian economy.

Other European powers and Japan are also levying sanctions.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said deploying tougher sanctions is the right thing to do, but that won’t stop Putin.

MCFAUL: Doesn’t matter if we sanction the oligarchs or the people close to him. He’s still going to move forward. But over time, hopefully, those sanctions will incur some cost within Russian elites and within Russian society.

Protesters condemned the Russian invasion on Thursday. Demonstrators gathered across the globe, including in Washington…

AUDIO: Stand with Ukraine!

In Paris…

AUDIO: [Paris protest]

And even in Russia where protesters shouted “no to war!”

AUDIO: [Russia protest]

Russian police reportedly arrested nearly 2,000 protesters.

Over half of U.S. abortions now done with pills, not surgery » More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery. That according to a new report. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: In 2020, pills accounted for 54 percent of all U.S. abortions. That was up from roughly 44 percent in 2019.

The preliminary numbers come from the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion-rights research group.

Use of abortion pills has been rising since 2000 when the FDA approved the main drug used in abortions. And the pandemic likely accelerated that trend.

Last December, the FDA announced a permanent policy shift, allowing women to get abortion pills by mail.

A pair of abortion-inducing drugs, typically used in succession, is authorized for use within the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. But some abortion providers also offer it in the second trimester.

Three states have banned mailing abortion pills to patients. They are Arizona, Arkansas, and Texas. And more than a dozen state legislatures have proposed bans or restrictions on drug-induced abortions.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Fewest Americans collecting unemployment aid since 1970 » The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in a half-century after another decline in jobless claims last week.

The Labor Department says 232,000 people applied for unemployment aid. That was down 7 percent from the week before. And that’s the lowest number of claimants since 1970.

It was the third straight week of declines after rising for more than a month at the height of the COVID-19 omicron wave.

Officers found guilty of violating Floyd’s rights » A federal jury on Thursday found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating the rights of George Floyd.

Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng, and Tou Thao were the other officers on the scene when senior officer Derrick Chauvin pinned his knee to Floyd’s neck, leading to his death in May of 2020.

Acting US Attorney George Kovats said the guilty verdict was the correct verdict.

KOVATS: These officers had a moral responsibility, a legal obligation and a duty to intervene. And by failing to do so they committed a crime.

The former officers testified during the civil rights trial that they deferred to their senior officer during the incident.

But prosecutors argued the three violated their training by not getting Floyd help sooner.

The former officers face a possible sentence of life in prison or even death, though that is extremely unlikely. They are scheduled to be tried on state charges later this year.

Chauvin has already been convicted of murder.

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

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