Tuesday morning news - January 11, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S.-Russia talks end without progress » American diplomats flew out of Geneva empty-handed on Monday after almost eight hours of talks with Russian leaders.

Both sides said the aim of the talks was to ease tensions between Moscow and the West. But the meeting ended without progress.

For its part, Russia downplayed its threat to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov…

RYABKOV: We have no intention to invade Ukraine.

But the White House said Russia should back up its words with action. Press Secretary Jen Psaki…

PSAKI: There are 100,000 troops at the border now. Obviously returning those troops to the barracks—returning troops to the barracks—conveying to us their intention of doing that would be easy ways to show de-escalation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to join the NATO defense alliance. And he says he wants the NATO issue solved this month. Western leaders are worried that Putin set the deadline as a pretext to launch an invasion into Ukraine if his demands are not met.

Russia will hold talks with NATO leaders in Brussels tomorrow.

Putin declares victory in helping quell Kazakhstan protests » Also on Monday, Putin declared a victory in Kazakhstan. He said Russian forces helped to quell a terrorist uprising. That’s how he described a week of protests in Kazakhstan, some of which turned violent. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: In the country’s biggest city, Almaty, the streets were nearly clear of protesters on Monday for the first time in a week.

Russia deployed what it called a “peace-keeping” force to Kazakhstan last Thursday to restore order.

Police in Kazakhstan detained nearly 8,000 people in the worst unrest the ex-Soviet nation has seen in three decades.

Some protesters set fire to government buildings and attacked police. But government forces also stand accused of opening fire on peaceful protesters. The country’s health ministry said 164 people died in the violence.

Demonstrators were angry about a lot of things, but sharply rising energy prices triggered the uprising.

In a concession, the government announced a 180-day price cap on vehicle fuel and a freeze on utility rate increases. As the unrest mounted, the ministerial cabinet resigned and other high ranking officials were replaced.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Omicron causes massive sick-out with job market already understaffed » The explosion of omicron infections is interrupting services across the country as more and more workers call in sick.

Employee shortages have caused subway delays in New York City. In Los Angeles, firefighters have had to transport patients to hospitals with ambulance companies understaffed. And airport officials recently shut down security checkpoints at a terminal in Phoenix. Airlines have been cancelling flights en masse for weeks.

Dr. Peter Hotez with the Baylor College of Medicine told CNN…

HOTEZ: Much of our hospital workforce is getting knocked out at home with symptomatic COVID.

He added that there aren’t enough COVID-19 tests to keep up with all the new infections.

HOTEZ: When you add up all of that together, we’ve got a very serious situation facing our nation this month.

Andrew Hunter, senior economist with Capital Economics, calculated that as many as 5 million workers stayed home last week. And that’s with employers already shorthanded across the country.

Safety doors failed in NYC high-rise fire that killed 17 » New York City officials are revising the death toll from a fire at a high-rise apartment building. Mayor Eric Adams told reporters…

ADAMS: We have 17 lost. Nine are adults and eight are children.

Officials originally reported that 19 people died.

Karen Dejesus lived on the 3rd floor of the building. She said false fire alarms were so frequent there that nobody paid attention to them.

DJESUS: So many of us were used to hearing that fire alarm go off so it was like second nature to us. Okay, not until I actually seen smoke coming under the door, I realized it was a real fire and heard people yelling help, help, help.

A malfunctioning electric space heater apparently started the fire Sunday. But officials say the fire itself wasn’t all that deadly. It was the smoke.

Smoke inhalation caused most of the deaths. And investigators are trying to determine why safety doors failed to close when the fire broke out. That failure allowed thick smoke to rise through the tower.

Myanmar’s ousted leader receives additional sentence » Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing more time behind bars. A court in Myanmar, now controlled by the country's military after a coup last year, just handed down an additional sentence. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: This time, the government says Suu Kyi is guilty of violating coronavirus restrictions and illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies.

The military-ruled courts already hit her with a similar four-year sentence last month for supposedly inciting dissent and breaching COVID-19 restrictions. But the military junta later reduced the sentence by half.

The court has lined up a range of additional charges that the U.S. government says are trumped up. Suu Kyi could still face a lifetime prison sentence if convicted on additional charges.

The military arrested Suu Kyi before the coup in February of last year.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

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

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S.-Russia talks end without progress » American diplomats flew out of Geneva empty-handed on Monday after almost eight hours of talks with Russian leaders.

Both sides said the aim of the talks was to ease tensions between Moscow and the West. But the meeting ended without progress.

For its part, Russia downplayed its threat to Ukraine. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov…

RYABKOV: We have no intention to invade Ukraine.

But the White House said Russia should back up its words with action. Press Secretary Jen Psaki…

PSAKI: There are 100,000 troops at the border now. Obviously returning those troops to the barracks—returning troops to the barracks—conveying to us their intention of doing that would be easy ways to show de-escalation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded guarantees that Ukraine will never be allowed to join the NATO defense alliance. And he says he wants the NATO issue solved this month. Western leaders are worried that Putin set the deadline as a pretext to launch an invasion into Ukraine if his demands are not met.

Russia will hold talks with NATO leaders in Brussels tomorrow.

Putin declares victory in helping quell Kazakhstan protests » Also on Monday, Putin declared a victory in Kazakhstan. He said Russian forces helped to quell a terrorist uprising. That’s how he described a week of protests in Kazakhstan, some of which turned violent. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: In the country’s biggest city, Almaty, the streets were nearly clear of protesters on Monday for the first time in a week.

Russia deployed what it called a “peace-keeping” force to Kazakhstan last Thursday to restore order.

Police in Kazakhstan detained nearly 8,000 people in the worst unrest the ex-Soviet nation has seen in three decades.

Some protesters set fire to government buildings and attacked police. But government forces also stand accused of opening fire on peaceful protesters. The country’s health ministry said 164 people died in the violence.

Demonstrators were angry about a lot of things, but sharply rising energy prices triggered the uprising.

In a concession, the government announced a 180-day price cap on vehicle fuel and a freeze on utility rate increases. As the unrest mounted, the ministerial cabinet resigned and other high ranking officials were replaced.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Omicron causes massive sick-out with job market already understaffed » The explosion of omicron infections is interrupting services across the country as more and more workers call in sick.

Employee shortages have caused subway delays in New York City. In Los Angeles, firefighters have had to transport patients to hospitals with ambulance companies understaffed. And airport officials recently shut down security checkpoints at a terminal in Phoenix. Airlines have been cancelling flights en masse for weeks.

Dr. Peter Hotez with the Baylor College of Medicine told CNN…

HOTEZ: Much of our hospital workforce is getting knocked out at home with symptomatic COVID.

He added that there aren’t enough COVID-19 tests to keep up with all the new infections.

HOTEZ: When you add up all of that together, we’ve got a very serious situation facing our nation this month.

Andrew Hunter, senior economist with Capital Economics, calculated that as many as 5 million workers stayed home last week. And that’s with employers already shorthanded across the country.

Safety doors failed in NYC high-rise fire that killed 17 » New York City officials are revising the death toll from a fire at a high-rise apartment building. Mayor Eric Adams told reporters…

ADAMS: We have 17 lost. Nine are adults and eight are children.

Officials originally reported that 19 people died.

Karen Dejesus lived on the 3rd floor of the building. She said false fire alarms were so frequent there that nobody paid attention to them.

DJESUS: So many of us were used to hearing that fire alarm go off so it was like second nature to us. Okay, not until I actually seen smoke coming under the door, I realized it was a real fire and heard people yelling help, help, help.

A malfunctioning electric space heater apparently started the fire Sunday. But officials say the fire itself wasn’t all that deadly. It was the smoke.

Smoke inhalation caused most of the deaths. And investigators are trying to determine why safety doors failed to close when the fire broke out. That failure allowed thick smoke to rise through the tower.

Myanmar’s ousted leader receives additional sentence » Former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing more time behind bars. A court in Myanmar, now controlled by the country's military after a coup last year, just handed down an additional sentence. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: This time, the government says Suu Kyi is guilty of violating coronavirus restrictions and illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies.

The military-ruled courts already hit her with a similar four-year sentence last month for supposedly inciting dissent and breaching COVID-19 restrictions. But the military junta later reduced the sentence by half.

The court has lined up a range of additional charges that the U.S. government says are trumped up. Suu Kyi could still face a lifetime prison sentence if convicted on additional charges.

The military arrested Suu Kyi before the coup in February of last year.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

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

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