Tuesday morning news - February 8, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden, German chancellor issue united warning to Russia » President Biden emerged from a meeting with Germany’s new leader at the White House on Monday and renewed his warning to Moscow. He said if Russia further invades Ukraine …

BIDEN: Then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.

Nord Stream 2 is a major Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline project.

Biden said that would only be part of the price Russia would pay if it invades.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed. Scholz does speak English, but on Monday he addressed reporters in German. He’s heard here through an interpreter.

SCHOLZ: If there was a military aggression against Ukraine, this will entail severe consequences that we have agreed upon together, severe sanctions that we have worked on together, so there will be a high price for Russia.

Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s border, adding military might almost daily.

In Sholz’s first visit to the White House, Biden said the two leaders also discussed China and the challenge it poses to international order.

Macron meets with Putin in Moscow amid Russia-Ukraine tensions » Meantime in Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron sat down with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.

Macron said his hope was to help de-escalate tensions and that he made proposals of—quote—"concrete security guarantees" to Putin.

Macron is meeting with leaders in Ukraine today.

AUDIO: [PUTIN SPEAKING IN RUSSIAN]

For his part, Putin once more denied any intention to invade Ukraine. And he again accused the West of ignoring Russia’s security concerns.

Putin said he would soon send a response to NATO and Washington, adding “I don't think that our dialogue is over.”

Chinese tennis star denies making abuse complaint » The three-time Olympian and high-ranking Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai now says she never accused a Chinese government official of sexual assault. That’s what she told a French sports newspaper this week. But the Chinese government controlled the interview. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: A Chinese Olympic Committee official required the paper to submit questions in advance and then loomed over Peng Shuai’s shoulder during the interview.

During the hour-long conversation, Peng recanted her sexual assault allegation. She also downplayed concerns about her three-week disappearance from the public eye in November.

When asked if authorities retaliated against her for going public about the assault on social media, Peng repeated a party line, saying sports and politics should not mix.

At age 36, Peng said she is retiring from professional competition, citing COVID-19 and multiple knee injuries.

Over the weekend, Peng also had dinner with International Olympics Committee president Thomas Bach. He said the organization will keep in touch with her but will not pass judgment on whether officials should open an investigation into her allegations.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Governor ending New Jersey’s school mask mandate » New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says his state will soon lift its COVID-19 mask requirement in schools. The Democratic governor called it “a huge step back to normalcy for our kids.”

MURPHY: We can responsibly take this step given the continuing drop in new cases and hospitalizations from omicron and with all the evidence projecing a continued decline over the coming weeks.

The statewide mandate will end on Monday, March 7th. But individual school districts will be free to keep mask mandates in place longer if they choose to.

New Jersey is one of a dozen states with mask mandates in schools.

The omicron variant fueled a spike in infections over the holidays with the wave peaking in mid-January. But Murphy said since last week, cases in his state are down 50 percent and hospitalizations have dropped by one-third.

Omicron is also loosening its grip most everywhere else in the United States. Health experts are hopeful that the pandemic may be about to enter a new phase in which the virus becomes like the flu—an ever-present but manageable threat.

Frontier bids $2.9 billion for rival budget airline Spirit » Frontier Airlines is bidding nearly $3 billion dollars for its low-cost rival Spirit Airlines. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Frontier and Spirit Airlines are the big dogs in the smaller ultra-low-cost air travel niche.

Antitrust regulators will put the proposed $2.9 billion deal under a microscope. But the Frontier-Spirit combination would rank only fifth among U.S. airlines in passenger-carrying capacity and seventh in revenue.

Frontier and Spirit are pitching their merger as a counterbalance to American, Delta, United, and Southwest, which together control about 80 percent of the U.S. market.

The airlines claim a merger would create jobs and create new routes that aren’t currently served by ultra-low-cost carriers, resulting in big savings for travelers.

Airlines are struggling to recover as the pandemic stretches into a third year. Frontier and Spirit both reported Monday that they suffered big fourth-quarter losses.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

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