Wednesday morning news - March 16, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Zelenskyy center stage: Facing Congress, pleading for help » Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the U.S. Congress today. His live-streamed virtual address into the U.S. Capitol will be among the most important as he hopes for more backing from Western allies.

Zenenskyy is heard here through an interpreter on Tuesday making an appeal to Canadian leaders … that he’s likely to echo today.

ZELENSKYY (interpreter): Close the airspace. Please, stop the bombing. How many more cruise missiles have to fall on our cities before you make this happen?

The White House and Western allies remain opposed to enforcing a no-fly zone, which they say could greatly escalate the war.

Zelenskyy has used his public campaign to help ensure a global spotlight and drum up support from Western allies. Last week, invoking Winston Churchill and Hamlet, he asked the British House of Commons whether Ukraine is “to be or not to be.”

Zelenskyy will address the U.S. Congress at 9:00 am Eastern Time this morning.

Biden signs govt funding, Ukraine aid into law, plans travel to Europe » The White House says President Biden will travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with allies.

Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters…

PSAKI: The president will travel to Brussels, Belgium later this month where he will join an extraordinary NATO summit on March 24th to discuss ongoing deterrence and defense efforts in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine.

He’ll also attend a scheduled European Council summit, to discuss humanitarian efforts and further sanctions against Russia.

Following Tuesday’s announcement, President Biden signed a bill that will provide nearly $14 billion dollars in additional aid to Ukraine . That’s part of a $1.5 trillion government spending measure.

BIDEN: We’re moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country.

The trip follows Vice President Kamala Harris' visit to eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss the growing refugee crisis.

Leaders of several European nations visit Kyiv amid Russian attack » On Tuesday, the prime ministers of Poland, Czech Republic and Slovenia traveled to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv to meet President Zelenskyy.

The three leaders went ahead with the hours-long train trip despite risks of traveling within a war zone. Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for their visit, calling it a “powerful testimony of support.”

The meeting came as Russian forces continued to bombard the area.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko said Tuesday that the Russians shelled another residential building.

KLITSCHKO: Today another apartment building. We don’t know exactly the numbers of people injured.

A top Ukrainian negotiator says talks with Russia will continue Wednesday.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the talks so far as “very difficult and viscous” but suggested possible room for compromise as Russians continue to take heavy losses.

Fox News journalist killed in Ukraine » A Fox News reporter was killed Tuesday while covering the war in Ukraine. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Fifty-five-year-old Pierre Zakrzewski was filming with his team in a town just outside Kyiv when Russian fire struck their vehicle. Fox CEO Suzanne Scott announced Tuesday that Zakrzewski died in the conflict, and fellow journalist Benjamin Hall is hospitalized with injuries.

Zakrzewski was a London-based reporter who had covered wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshinova was with the Fox team and was also killed in the same attack.

Zakrzewski is the second foreign journalist to die in the war zone this week. Freelance documentary filmmaker Brent Renaud was also killed when Russian troops fired on his car near Kyiv.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Wholesale inflation climbed 10% from one year ago » Wholesale inflation in the United States shot up 10 percent last month from a year earlier — as prices continue to surge.

The Labor Department said its producer price index rose 0.8 percent from January. That’s the index that tracks inflation before it hits consumers in the wallet.

Wholesale energy prices were up nearly 34 percent over the past year and food prices almost 14 percent.

The report did not include price changes after Feb. 15th. That means the numbers don’t reflect the spike in energy prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, the government reported that consumer prices saw the sharpest one-year spike since 1982.

Chinese virus cases climb, raise threat of trade disruption » With COVID-19 cases on the rise in China, authorities on Tuesday tightened lockdown measures at ports, raising the risk of a global trade disruption. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: The Chinese government continues to enforce a “zero tolerance” strategy to prevent large outbreaks.

Stock prices in China sank for a second day following the shutdown this week of a tech and finance hub near Hong Kong and an auto center in the northeast.

Analysts say for now, smartphone makers and other industries can use factories and suppliers in other parts of China. But a bigger threat looms if business is disrupted at ports in Shenzhen, Shanghai or Ningbo.

Those ports link Chinese factories that assemble most of the world's smartphones and computers and many other goods and components.

A one-month slowdown at a Shenzhen port last year caused a backlog of thousands of shipping containers, sending shockwaves through global supply chains.

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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