Wednesday, March 9 top stories
It is Wednesday, March 9. Here are today’s top stories.
Zelensky says world is “ignoring terror”
Ukrainian President Zelensky tweeted a video that shows a maternity hospital in Mariupol hit by a Russian strike. The video shows that the hospital and multiple other buildings near it were badly damaged with rubble everywhere. Zelensky said, “People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity.”
One of Zelensky’s advisors tweeted that “women in labor and kids are under the wreckage. Instead of new lives - deaths. Won’t it be enough to close the Ukrainian sky from missiles? Isn’t it an argument to stop the killing?”
The deputy mayor of Mariupol told a newspaper that at least 1,170 people in the city have died from Russian shelling and that a children’s hospital was destroyed. The mayor said at least 47 people were buried today in a mass grave.
Zelensky has been begging for Western nations to impose a no-fly zone, but the U.S. and other NATO allies have refused to do this out of concern that they would be drawn into the conflict if they end up shooting down a Russian jet in Ukrainian sky. However, Western nations have provided Ukraine with many anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons.
Today the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting Poland and then will go to Romania. On Tuesday, Poland’s foreign minister announced that they would give all their MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine and do this by moving the jets to a U.S. air base in Germany so the U.S. could donate them to Ukraine. But the Pentagon said shortly afterwards that this plan is not possible because it could bring the entire NATO alliance in conflict with Russia, since the jets would be departing from a U.S./NATO base. The Pentagon said the Vice President would enter into dialogue with the Polish government. There is some criticism towards the Biden administration for not making it easy to transfer the planes to Ukraine.
Congress reaches budget deal
Congressional leaders said they have reached a deal on a $1.5 trillion budget to fund the federal government through September. About half of that budget is for the military, $782 billion. The bill has almost $14 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, with $3 billion of that going to U.S. forces, $3.5 billion towards military equipment to be sent to Ukraine, and $4 billion for humanitarian purposes. The budget also provides $16 billion to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. Although there is support from bipartisan leaders, some Republican Senators said they are concerned about the bill’s impact on inflation and are asking for more information from the Congressional Budget Office.
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Man who received pig heart transplant dies
David Bennett, who was the first person to receive a heart transplant from a genetically edited pig in an operation two months ago, passed away on Tuesday. He was 57. Prior to the surgery, Bennett was in poor health and dependent on life support. He was ineligible for a human heart transplant and he went ahead with the experimental surgery at the University of Maryland. Medical experts said the heart transplant is still considered a success because Bennett was able to live for two months, and they have valuable data to make medical advances in using animal organs for transplants.
New Mexico provides free college tuition
New Mexico Gov. Grisham signed a bill into law that will waive tuition for any students attending any in-state public college, community college, or tribal college. Students will have to enroll in a minimum of six credit hours and maintain a 2.5 GPA or better. Up to 35,000 students could benefit from the tuition waiver this fall.
Biden signs executive order on cryptocurrencies
President Biden signed an executive order on cryptocurrency today. The order directs the federal government to study the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies and to look into the possibility of developing a digital U.S. dollar.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1501579520633102349
https://www.axios.com/mariupol-shelling-russia-ukraine-25359776-cee5-4fe9-bf61-3b5655bec036.html
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/09/congress-government-funding-package-00014322
https://apnews.com/article/pig-heart-transplant-patient-dies-bc3b304de3c8d3bf3acbb3c221960ecf
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/07/us/new-mexico-college-tuition-free-cec/index.html
https://twitter.com/GovMLG/status/1499876403885395969
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/us/politics/crypto-regulation-biden.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/09/heres-whats-in-bidens-executive-order-on-crypto.html