Tuesday morning news - March 8, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Humanitarian crisis worsens in Ukraine as Russian shelling continues » The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine continues to grow as Russian forces intensify their shelling of civilian areas.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki…

PSAKI: This is barbaric. It’s horrific to watch. I mean, you have 1.5 million, if not more, refugees crossing the border. You have mothers and children dead on the side of the road. This is heart wrenching to watch.

Ukraine says Moscow continues to attack civilian targets in a medieval-style siege as it tries to batter the country into submission.

A third round of talks between the two sides ended with a top Ukrainian official saying there had been minor progress toward setting up safe corridors to allow civilians to escape.

Russia’s chief negotiator said he expects those corridors to start operating today.

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said it’s hard to take Russia’s word for anything. He said vulnerable civilians …

BLINKEN: … are trying to escape cities where there’s no heat, no electricity, relentless bombardment. And where they’re running out of food and medicine. And there continue to be reports of attacks by Russian forces on agreed upon humanitarian corridors.

Many global companies pause operations or cut ties with Russia » Meantime, many companies around the world are cutting ties with Russia over the invasion. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Major accounting firms are pulling out of Russia, including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG.

Levi Strauss said Monday that it’s suspending sales in Russia.

Car companies like Nissan, Honda, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz are stopping exports to Russia and halting manufacturing within the country.

Netflix has stopped productions and business ventures there, and Disney won’t release upcoming films in the country.

Credit card companies are also bailing out. American Express is suspending all operations in Russia. And Mastercard and Visa say their cards issued by Russian banks will no longer function anywhere in the world.

Oil companies like Shell and BP are also distancing themselves.

And Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Samsung, and Oracle are among the big tech companies that have stopped doing business with Russia.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Gas prices continue to climb on talk of banning Russian oil » Gas prices are up once again today on talk of banning Russian oil and this driver in Brooklyn is feeling the pinch.

AUDIO: $57.40 on 13 gallons. So my Subaru had two little bars and now it’s full, but it cost me $60 bucks almost.

Pump prices recently saw their biggest jump since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. And prices are now the highest since 2008. The national average is now $4.09 per gallon.

AAA spokesman Devin Gladden says rising pump prices are following rising crude prices.

GLADDEN: And unfortunately, drivers are going to have to buckle up for this ride because we really don’t know until we see how high crude prices are going.

Patrick De Haan is a senior analyst at Gasbuddy.com. He says in most cities, gas prices may climb another 5 to 15 cents this week.

DE HAAN: The pace of increases should likely slow down this week. They will not stop. The national average will continue advancing.

He also said prices are varying in ways we’ve never seen before. In some places, the price can be 50 cents per gallon higher from one station to the next.

But Americans can be thankful that they’re not buying gas in Europe. According to the European Commission, residents there are paying $7.21 per gallon.

1,100 homes evacuated as firefighters battle Florida fires » Huge wildfires are raging in the Florida Panhandle, forcing authorities to evacuate more than a thousand homes.

Firefighters are battling the nearly 900-acre Adkins Avenue fire and the 9,000-acre Bertha Swamp Road fire.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis:

DESANTIS: They have all hands on deck, from municipalities to the county to the state. We’re thankful for that.

Complicating matters, the fires are burning in an area still recovering from a hurricane several years ago.

Joe Zwierzchowski is a spokesman for the Florida Forest Service.

ZWIERZCHOWSKI: Unfortunately, they’re in the impact zone from 2018’s Hurricane Michael. So that storm hit as a category-5, and it left a lot of dead, downed trees that are now serving as fuel for those wildfires.

Hurricane Michael left behind 72 million tons of destroyed trees.

SCOTUS won’t reinstate Cosby conviction » The U.S. Supreme Court will not review Bill Cosby's sexual assault case, meaning he will remain a free man. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The high court on Monday declined to take up the case, ending a two-decade legal drama.

The high court declined to review a decision out of Pennsylvania that released Cosby from prison in June. That after a former prosecutor said he had made a secret promise with Cosby’s lawyers that he could never be charged.

District Attorney Kevin Steele in suburban Philadelphia disputed that. One of Cosby’s accusers and her lawyers said there's no evidence that Cosby ever had a legally binding agreement to avoid persecution.

Numerous women have accused Cosby of assault. In 2018, he was convicted of aggravated indecent assault and spent several years in prison.

Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said the 84-year-old remains in good health. He said “many people are calling for projects for him" and that he is considering a final standup tour.

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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