Thursday morning news - March 24, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S. finds Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine » Russian troops have committed war crimes in Ukraine. That is the official declaration now from the U.S. government.

Beth van Schaack is U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice. She said the Russian military has targeted civilians.

SCHAACK: Hospitals, schools, theaters, etc. being intentionally attacked, as well as indiscriminate attacks. Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings.

In a statement, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said the war crimes declaration was based on a “careful review” of public and intelligence sources.

Biden huddles with allies in Europe as war rages in Ukraine » President Biden, meantime, is currently huddling with European leaders in Brussels. The United States and its allies will announce more sanctions against Russia today.

The leaders will also discuss a range of vital concerns, including Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen on Wednesday said “energy policy is also security policy.”

LEYEN: And that’s why the commission has proposed measures that would allow us to significantly reduce our gas imports from Russia. This is very ambitious, but we can achieve it.

They’ll also talk about how to address the growing humanitarian crisis.

And U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the leaders will discuss how to respond to whatever Russia does next.

SULLIVAN: The possibility of cyber attacks by Russia against the United States or other allied partner countries; the possibility of the use of chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine.

In addition to thousands of Ukrainian dead thus far, Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is sending many of his own countrymen to the slaughter in Ukraine.

NATO estimated on Wednesday that between 7,000 to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in four weeks of war.

For comparison, Russia lost about 15,000 troops over 10 years in Afghanistan.

Louisiana digging out after tornadoes plow through homes » National Guard troops rolled into storm-ravaged parts of Louisiana on Wednesday.

They cleared roads and joined firefighters and others searching damaged homes and buildings to make sure no storm victims were left behind.

A massive EF-3 tornado tore through the New Orleans area on Tuesday. One resident described the moment it passed his home.

AUDIO: When it hit, I mean, it was so fast. It was like a freight train, and I could feel the house shaking. And I remember my son looking up at me, and I told him, put your face down and keep down no matter what happens.

The twister flipped a school bus, toppled trees, and ripped off rooftops. It even deposited a house with a family inside it onto the middle of their street.

Two people were killed as the storm front blew across the South, starting in Oklahoma, and in Texas where Gov. Greg Abbott declared a disaster in 16 counties.

ABBOTT: A massive tornado ripped apart substantial regions of Houston County.

And the storms also shredded buildings in Mississippi and Alabama before pushing toward the Atlantic Coast on Wednesday.

Jackson fields final round of questions from Senate Judiciary panel » Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faced a final round of questioning Wednesday from Senators on the Judiciary Committee on day-3 of her confirmation hearing.

Republicans again expressed concerns about her judicial record and her personal ideologies.

But Jackson once again pledged…

JACKSON: To look carefully at the facts and the circumstances of every case without any agendas, without any attempt to push the law in one direction or the other.

She now awaits a vote from members of the committee on whether to send her nomination to the Senate floor.

Taliban break promise on higher education for Afghan girls » In Afghanistan, girls above the sixth grade showed up at school with their backpacks only to be turned away. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has that story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Taliban rulers suddenly reversed course on reopening schools Wednesday to girls above the sixth grade despite pledging to let older girls return to classrooms.

The move appeases the new government’s hard-line base. But it will further drive a wedge between the Taliban and global leaders at a time when the group is trying to get sanctions lifted and attract international aid dollars.

Afghans are now suffering a humanitarian crisis that is only growing worse by the day.

The Taliban’s reversal was so sudden that the Education Ministry was caught off guard on Wednesday, the start of the school year. Many girls showed up at schools only to be told to go home.

The U.S. government expressed—quote—“shock and deep disappointment” about the decision, calling it “a betrayal of public commitments.”

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Madeleine Albright, 1st female US secretary of state, dies » Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died.

Her family confirmed that the 84-year-old died of cancer on Wednesday.

Albright fled the Nazi regime as a child refugee. And in 1997, she became the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state under President Bill Clinton.

She also served as ambassador to the United Nations before that. The woman who currently holds that post, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, paid her respects to Albright yesterday…

GREENFIELD: Her story, a story of fleeing Czechoslovakia as a refugee at a young age and rising to the highest levels in the U.S. government has echoed in my mind amid the current crisis in Ukraine. And I hope to do justice for her memory today.

The lifelong Democrat often promoted diplomacy backed by force, toeing a hard line on relations with Cuba and supporting NATO expansion into Soviet countries.

In 1999, she advised Clinton to go to war against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to prevent ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

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

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