❗️ Moscow informed Kiev it is ready to let militants leave Mariupol via humanitarian corridor to save city and civilians - Russian MoD

⚡️ Brazilian Supreme Court judge orders to block Telegram in country - reports

❗️ Biden in call with China's Xi underscored support for diplomatic resolution to Ukraine crisis - White House

⚡️ Biden in call with Xi describes consequences China will face if it provides material support for Russia's operation in Ukraine - Whtie House

🇺🇸🚕 A majority of Uber and Lyft drivers in the United States have either quit or are driving less frequently due to surging gas prices, a survey showed.

The poll of more than 300 drivers found that 15% of drivers had already quit, and 38% were driving less.

Gasoline prices spiked in the country after the United States and its European partners imposed sanctions on Russia over its military operation in Ukraine. The price further increased after the Biden administration announced a ban on Russian oil imports earlier this month.

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🇺🇸📞🇨🇳 Highlights from Friday's Biden-Xi phone call, according to a senior administration official:

🔻Biden did not make any specific requests to China and laid out his assessment of the situation in Ukraine

🔻Biden raised the issue of biological research laboratories in Ukraine

🔻Washington remains concerned that Beijing will provide military support to Russia even after Biden described the consequences if China does so

🔻 Both sides agreed on the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to manage competition between the two countries

🔻Biden reaffirmed that US policy on Taiwan has not changed and Washington will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo

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❗️🇺🇸🇮🇳The United States has been in touch with Indian leaders to convey that the world is watching where countries stand on the Ukraine crisis, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday

❗️🇷🇺🇨🇳China’s alignment with Russia is of concern to the US and will be a subject for discussion during Biden’s trip to Europe next week, Psaki says

❗️🇨🇳 China's ambassador to the US says sweeping, indiscriminate sanctions only make people suffer

🔥🔥Wildfires ripping through West Texas this week prompted evacuations on Thursday and Friday, according to local authorities.

"The potential for significant, large wildfires has developed… Wildfires that ignite under these forecast conditions are highly resistant to firefighters’ suppression efforts and pose a threat to public safety. We encourage residents to be cautious tomorrow, be prepared and listen to warnings from local officials." said Texas A&M Forest.

As of Friday morning, the fires had burned about 62.5 square miles, according to Texas A&M Forest Service. In Eastland County, which is nearly 40,000 acres, four separate fires that merged into one "complex" were only 2% contained as of Friday morning.

About 18,000 people live in Eastland County, where the large fire was burning, prompting evacuations.

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🇺🇸📈Big Tech stocks see biggest gains since April 2020 after Fed undertakes modest rate hike

A modest US interest rate hike helped Wall Street post its most powerful weekly rally since the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, with the Big Tech sector rising more than 8% as investors signaled confidence in the Federal Reserve’s bid to tame the worst inflation pressure in 40 years.

Wall Street’s three major stock indexes - the Dow Jones Industrial Average index, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite - closed Friday’s trade up between 0.8% and 2.1%. For the week, the indexes were up between 6% and more than 8%.

The Nasdaq, made up of highly-valued tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Nasdaq and Google, which are grouped under the FAANG acronym, led gains on both accounts.


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🇺🇸 A bipartisan group of US senators has sent a letter to President Joe Biden outlining five bits of advice ahead of the NATO summit in Brussels next week. The lawmakers want Biden to:
🔹 Express appreciation to allies who increased their defense spending to 2% of GDP and convey the growing bipartisan congressional support for NATO
🔹 Encourage NATO members to urgently consider all options to provide military support to Ukraine
🔹 Ask NATO to boost its presence on the eastern flank, including by establishing an enhanced Forward Presence in Romania and adopting a more strategic approach toward the Black Sea region
🔹 Urge NATO to increase its engagement in the Balkans and prepare contingency measures in case Russia at the UN Security Council vetoes the renewal of the EU Forces mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina
🔹 Make an additional stop during his trip in a NATO Baltic country or Romania to demonstrate strong US support to the region

❗️🇺🇸US military aircraft with 4 on board missing in northern Norway, local media say

🤳💥Shocking video captured the moment an Arkansas man who claimed he was injured during an arrest made an apparently miraculous recovery – when he jumped out of his wheelchair and escaped from police on the way to court.

Joel Sanchez Delgado, 41, was being escorted to a court in Little Rock for a routine appearance on drug-trafficking raps Monday when he bolted from a sheriff’s deputy and triggered a manhunt, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

The Pulaski County deputy’s bodycam shows the parolee, who was recently charged with shooting his girlfriend, saying, “My shoe, my shoe,” a ruse that distracted the lawman.

The parolee’s freedom was short-lived, however, and he was caught several hours later and charged with felony escape, in addition to the many other crimes he is accused of committing. Delgado also has been charged with felony drug trafficking after being found with methamphetamine.

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‼️🇷🇸 Serbian president Vucic condemned Western double standards toward Ukraine and Kosovo on Friday

❗️The South Korean giant LG Electronics has announced the suspension of shipments of its products to Russia over the situation in Ukraine

🏬 As Offices Open and Mask Mandates Drop, Some Anxieties Set In

Employers are embracing a workplace atmosphere reminiscent of pre-pandemic times, even as a new subvariant of Omicron spurs concerns about health and safety. Across the country, office occupancy has hit a pandemic high, 40 percent, reached just once before in early December, at the same time that indoor mask mandates drop.

A flurry of return-to-office plans have rolled out in recent weeks, with businesses including American Express, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Microsoft calling some workers back to their desks.

Many of those companies followed state and local governments in easing COVID-19 restrictions, arguing that ending mask mandates could make workplaces more pleasant. But some workers, especially those with compromised immunity or unvaccinated children, feel uncomfortable with the rush back to open floor plans.

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❗️The United States is aware of an American military aircraft that had a mishap in Norway and is currently assessing the incident, a US Marine Corps spokesperson said in a statement to Sputnik

The US Marine Corps representative also said the Osprey aircraft was taking part in a NATO military drill called Exercise Cold Response 2022.

Norwegian authorities said earlier in the day that rescuers failed to reach the suspected site because of the bad weather conditions, which they said are expected to worsen.

🔎North Carolina officials said on Thursday that they planned to investigate whether Mark Meadows, who as former President Donald J. Trump’s chief of staff helped amplify false claims of voter fraud in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, cast a legal vote in that year’s presidential race.

The North Carolina Department of Justice has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to examine whether Mr. Meadows broke the law when he registered to vote, and voted from, a remote mobile home where he did not live, said Nazneen Ahmed, a spokeswoman for Josh Stein, the state attorney general, who is a Democrat.

North Carolina voter registration records show that Mr. Meadows and his wife, Debra, registered to vote at a three-bedroom mobile home in Scaly Mountain, NC, six weeks before the 2020 election. He voted absentee by mail from that address, according to the state records.

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🚗The International Energy Agency said countries should encourage the use of mass transit and carpooling, among other things that could also help the climate crisis.

The International Energy Agency, which was formed in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis to ensure a stable worldwide energy market, said that the repercussions of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine were likely to intensify over the next several months, as the summer driving season got underway with inventories at historic lows.

“Reducing demand is a way of addressing the situation without just pumping more oil,” said Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director.

It’s a message that has largely been absent from the conversation in the United States, the world’s largest oil producer, where fossil fuel companies are earning healthy profits and the response to elevated gasoline prices has been calls for more production.

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