Wednesday, March 16 top stories
It is Wednesday, March 15. Here are today’s top stories.
Zelensky addresses Congress
This morning, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a virtual address before the U.S. Congress, who were assembled at an auditorium in the Capitol.
He asked Congress to remember Pearl Harbor and September 11. He said Ukraine is experiencing it right now.
Zelensky said Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death and whether it was too much to ask for a no-fly zone. He said an alternative is military aircraft and weapons to protect the skies.
He asked Congress and the world to work together to save lives in the same way they have worked to develop the coronavirus vaccines.
Zelensky showed a very graphic video that opened with beautiful scenes of Ukrainian cities that cut into video clips and pictures of cities being bombed and devastated with images of dead and injured children. It was very impactful.
He closed his speech by telling President Biden to become the leader of the world and the leader of peace.
Ukraine war updates
The U.S. embassy in Ukraine tweeted that Russian forces shot and killed 10 people who were standing in line for bread in Chernihiv. There is a video circulating that shows bodies on a street.
A theater in Mariupol that had hundreds of people inside of it seeking shelter was bombed. An image shows that the building was cut in half. It is possible that about 1,000 people were inside and it is not yet known their fate.
A Ukrainian presidential advisor said they notice that Russia is using up its military resources and are suffering heavy losses. The advisor said Ukrainian troops are conducting counterattacks. There is a satellite photo that showed Russian helicopters burning up on an airport.
A military analyst said Russia is now doubting their ability to conquer Kyiv and have resorted to demolishing the city and that Ukrainian forces do not have the capability to push the Russian forces out.
Russian President Putin today accused Ukraine of trying to obtain weapons of mass destruction and that they wanted to aim them towards Russia.
U.S. President Biden announced he is providing $800 million in additional security assistance to Ukraine, which will provide more missiles and drones to the Ukrainian military.
9 killed in golf team crash
On Tuesday night in west Texas, a van carrying golf student-athletes, both male and female, from the University of the Southwest was hit head-on by a pickup truck that was traveling in the opposite direction. Both vehicles caught fire. At least nine were killed, six of them students. The seventh person was a coach, Tyler James. The driver and a passenger in the truck were also killed. The university said the golf teams were headed back home from a tournament and that two students survived and are in the hospital with serious injuries.
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Afghans in U.S. can get protected status
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it would grant Afghan refugees in the U.S. with “Temporary Protected Status” TPS, which are permits to live and work in the U.S. for the next 18 months. There are about 80,000 Afghans who have fled the country and come to the U.S. after the Taliban took over the country following the U.S. military withdrawal.
Trump disses Pence as running mate
Former President Donald Trump expressed doubts that he would pick Mike Pence for Vice President if he was to run for the presidency in 2024. Trump said he is disappointed that Pence refused to intervene in the 2020 election and repeated his false and unproven allegations of massive voter fraud. Trump said he hasn’t spoken to Pence in a long time.
In early February Pence said in a speech that Trump is wrong for saying that Pence could have overturned the election and that they simply lost the election.
So the split between the once President and Vice President appears to be for good.
Senate passes Daylight Saving Time bill
The Senate unanimously passed a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, which would do away with Americans setting clocks back one hour in the fall and then one hour forward in March like we did on Sunday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), is called “The Sunshine Protection Act.” If the House and President Biden supports it, we will no longer have Daylight Saving Time starting in November 2023. That means the current daylight we have right now would last year-round.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1504097394551664648
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/16/world/ukraine-russia-war
https://www.axios.com/trump-mike-pence-running-mate-2024-8f52ce49-68de-4b72-ac25-1084a5cd3252.html
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/us/usw-golf-team-bus-crash/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/15/us/politics/daylight-saving-time-senate.html