Welcome everybody to Cheddars. News wrap It is thursday, february 24th 2022.
I'm an adobo in new york city
and I'm ken buffa. Thanks for joining us.
Also, New york city and Hannah, good to see you were reunited my friend.
We haven't sat together for a show in ages. Welcome back.
We missed you coming up folks. We have a great show for you.
Russia launches a deadly invasion of Ukraine,
sparking international outrage will have the
latest from europe and Washington also,
the CDC could soon change the way it measures, covid cases,
impacting lingering restrictions.
That's an important story.
And a bit later,
the ceo of booking holdings speaks about the company's latest numbers and
overall travel outlook that and much more all ahead on the news wrap
our top story. After months of military build up, Russia has invaded Ukraine.
The assault began after Russian President Vladimir Putin
made the launch announcement early this morning while most
of us were sleeping here in the US
following weeks of failed international attempts at diplomacy.
Yeah,
the death toll is now climbing with more
than 40 Ukrainian soldiers and up to 10 civilians
killed.
So far, correspondent fred Pleitgen shows us what's happening on the ground,
What we've been seeing here over the past couple of minutes.
Over the past really 45 minutes since we've been here,
there's more rockets being fired right now.
If we look in the sky, we can see it there.
Um, if we pan up there's another salvo being fired right now so you can see
in this area the Russians firing artillery rockets towards Ukraine.
Um, and at the same time, we've also seen them move in heavy,
heavy armor through the road that I just pointed to
before we saw how it was going down that road.
Just a couple of minutes ago,
we've seen armored vehicles going down that
road and troop carriers going down that road
as well. So this seems to be one of the main supply lines
for the Russian military for their offensive, at least for the heart of region.
This seems to be where the Russian military
sort of feeding that offensive from right here.
In fact, if we pan over there, you can see
there's another sort of troop transporter
that's actually coming out of the area from the front line.
So, as as you can see there is that sort of
movement that's going back and forth.
And the folks are demanding that checkpoints, mostly police officers,
they're very nervous and
they stopped us from filming already a couple of times,
especially when that heavy armor moves through.
Clearly not wanting to show the full extent of what is actually going in there.
And thanks to correspondent fred Pleitgen sticking with the story,
Ukrainian citizens are trying to flee.
The government is asking for international aid.
President biden condemning these attacks saying he is currently in
talks with other G seven leaders about next steps.
That's right,
The President addressing the nation earlier today with the
latest on this dire situation for more on this
return to cheddar. News is Megan prats live in Washington, D. C.
Megan good to see you. So what did we hear from the President?
The president made sure that the American people understand that US troops
will not be on the ground in Ukraine under any circumstances.
Now of course that's reassuring from the commander in chief.
This has been a chief concern frankly with
Russia's invasion or continued further invasion into Ukraine.
All of the air strikes, we now know that there were between 150 and 200 airstrikes
in various locations around the country,
including strategic military locations.
We also know that Russia has really advanced on
such incredibly strategic and security positions including Chernobyl,
the famous and very important nuclear wasteland.
So this is something that is clearly the situation continues to unfold. Clearly.
The situation is quite harrowing and US troops,
despite not being on the ground in Ukraine have moved into position
in Germany and have moved in closer in in position in Poland,
particularly because thousands of Ukrainians have fled
some on foot into neighboring countries,
including the Eu countries of Hungary and Poland.
And so that is really alarming when it comes
to the President's announcement though there was so much
to unpack the main takeaway though separate from the
military offensive or lack thereof if you will,
Is the idea that sanctions are going to be the continued
policy of the United States and its allies moving forward.
The president coming to speak to the American people after meeting with the G-7
country leaders and they all agree that sanctions are going to be swift,
they are going to be severe and they are going to have an impact.
So I want you to listen to part of what the President had to say earlier today.
We've been transparent with the world,
we've shared declassified evidence about Russia's plans
and cyber attacks and false pretext so that there could be
no confusion or cover up about what Putin was doing.
Putin is the aggressor.
Putin chose this war
and now he and his country will bear the consequences.
Hannah, ken,
one of the things that I've been thinking on
since we watched those Russian tanks roll into Ukraine.
Since we saw those air raid sirens go off and people really take shelter overnight
is that this really gives new lights to exactly what's been happening from Russia.
When it comes to cyber warfare, cyber attacks
in uh interference in western elections, particularly the 2016 U. S. Election
because it is destabilizing to democracy.
And that is something that is advantageous to Russia
as it advances its position in Ukraine and that advancement
continues into this evening.
Hannah and ken again,
I'm so glad you mentioned the implications of this for the rest of the world,
what effects will we see both globally and here at home from this Russian invasion.
While a lot of it remains to be seen, this is still so very new Hannah,
you heard a moment ago as I said that
there are thousands of Ukrainians who have fled Kiev,
which is the capital and largest city of Ukraine.
Thousands have fled from different parts
of the country into neighboring countries.
Remember Ukraine is surrounded by Russia and Belarus with EU and NATO countries to
its western flank. That's advantageous.
But if you're in that central region, you don't have a lot of places to go.
So you have to flee west anyway. Thousands of people have been fleeing.
I think that's going to unleash a displacement crisis
if not a refugee crisis across the european continent,
one that it probably can't handle at this point.
Additionally,
you're gonna see prices go up on certain things including oil and gas.
This will not hit the US as much as it will european allies, but certainly in europe,
the price of petrol per leader is going to go up astronomically.
Russia provides a lot of that oil and gas capability.
Additionally, Ukraine makes and sells and exports a ton of wheat
and that means that prices are going to go up on wheat,
products and food at a time when inflation is
high around the world and inflation is high here in
the United States and it is not the time for things to cost more on top of more,
but unfortunately that's going to be the side
and as the president said earlier this week,
sometimes the american people have to pay a price
for freedom.
It just remains to be seen how long Western democracies want to pay that price
for freedom and, and ken,
fantastic reporting. Cheddar news is Megan prats live in Washington, D. C. Megan.
Thank you.
Let's take a look at a few global coronavirus headlines.
Me and the team and ken are following.
The CDC could soon change the metrics used to determine covid restrictions,
including
mask wearing
The announcement could come as soon as tomorrow saying community
levels of disease will not be determined by cases alone,
but rather cases that led to
significant consequences like hospitalizations and deaths.
The CDC says it's adjusting the metric for two main reasons
more people are vaccinated and American variant symptoms are comparatively mild.
The CDCs current map shows 97% of counties are at high or substantial transmission.
The upcoming updated metrics will likely cause those
numbers to come down pretty drastically ken,
Hopefully.
Now the emergence of the omicron sub variant B
A two has some americans feeling nervous about reopening.
So some experts remain relatively optimistic that things will
improve soon but be a two serves as a reminder
then the world is not done and more sub variants could be coming.
The World Health Organization has reiterated, that be a two is a variant of concern
so far. It's believed to be a two is more transmissible than the original strain
but may not cause more severe illness.
However, some early studies suggest that may not always be the case and others
indicated covid antibody treatment could be less
effective against it Across the pond.
The UK's Queen Elizabeth is still experiencing cold like
symptoms from COVID-19 postponing two more virtual engagements.
However,
the queen was able to speak with prime Minister
Boris johnson over the phone after she tested positive,
the palace said over the weekend, she would continue with light duties.
The queen is fully vaccinated and has received a booster.
She has a series of engagements plan to celebrate 70 years on the throne
Including a reception on March two that
would involve meeting hundreds of diplomats.
The palace has said she'll make a decision about
whether to cancel engagements closer to that schedule time
and the second day of proceedings is underway
in the trial for the only Kentucky police officer
facing criminal charges stemming from the botched raid
that resulted in Brianna Taylor's death, Brett Hankinson
said he opened fire because he felt colleagues around him were quote
sitting ducks being
sprayed with bullets.
In a recorded interview played in court.
Hankinson Hankinson rather said he believed the
Louisville officers were taking fire from an
a ar 15 rifle which prompted him to fire 10 shots into taylor's apartment.
No one was charged with killing Taylor
Hankinson is charged with three counts of wanton endangerment,
a low level felony that is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison
and the parents of Ethan Crumley.
The 15 year old boy charged with killing four other
students at his Michigan high school returned to court today.
The school counselor testified.
He told the crumbly is the morning of the shooting that their son
was a threat to himself and in need of mental health support.
His notebook was also shared
detailing his desire to commit, quote,
the biggest school shooting in michigan's history.
The judge presiding over the proceedings will decide if there is
enough evidence to send the crumbles to trial for involuntary manslaughter.
The teenager is charged as an adult with first
degree murder and assault with intent to murder.
He also faces terrorism and gun charges
and the massive winter storm that brought snow
and ice from the southwest to the southern plains
will move into the Northeast tonight.
The storm is expected to produce a combination of heavy snow,
wintry mix and rain and winter weather advisories are in effect.
For much of the Northeast.
Meteorologists are predicting snow totals as high as 12-18
in parts of New England ken, that's where you and I live.
New England get our shovels out. Yeah.
In other news Columbia University,
suspending the head of its psychiatric
psychiatry department after he tweeted a photo
of a dark skinned model and then commented on her skin color.
Here's what happened. Jeffrey Lieberman shared this tweet.
You're looking at about South Sudanese model
Nyah kim Gatwick writing, quote, whether a work of art or freak of nature.
She's a beautiful sight to behold. His tweet was later deleted.
Quickly received backlash.
Gatwick herself slammed his comments as quote straight up racism.
Lieberman had retweeted a post claiming Gatwick set a
Guinness world record for having the darkest skin,
which we need to mention.
That is not true. That is not factual.
He has been suspended as a school psych psychiatry department chair
and also removed as a psychiatrist in chief at Columbia University,
Irving Medical Center.
Can I have a few thoughts on this? Okay.
I know there's so much to say, but there's a tweet I saw and I'm like,
I couldn't have said it better.
This is what bothers me.
And the tweet said,
what does it mean for the chair leading psychiatry at a top institution in
ivy League school to be comfortable referring
to someone having any physical attribute.
That is one on the extreme normal human existence as a freak of nature.
And I think this is the problem that's so embedded in our culture.
This is
one of the top minds in Columbia University,
one of the top universities in the world,
the head of the psychiatry department at Columbia
writing something like this has been very,
we should mention, he's apologized.
He said he didn't mean it in that way.
I do want to mention that he just thinks it was,
he was just he admits it was a very dumb thing to do.
But yeah, I agree. It was a very dumb thing to do.
But the thing is if you look at the tweet at the end it is a beauty to behold.
So there was a compliment,
but how he got to the compliment was like the dumbest approach ever.
And this model, by the way has a nickname.
She has a nickname that she called herself Queen of Dark.
She also mentions that that Guinness book thing is not real and what's
really cool is that in 2000 let me pull it up in 2017.
She was the model behind the jigsaw posters which I
think is super close but she has a lot of
range and she was like a refugee and all these
other things and she lived in buffalo new york,
she had so much things going and this guy just, he needs,
he doesn't know all the lessons but you know,
twitter came and they taught him a very important
one and it's I saw some interviews about this
with her and she seems appreciative and the guys
apologizing but again think before even with compliments,
think before you speak