Week of 03/06: FREECABLE TV’s Top 10 Stories

American Fleeing Ukraine Walks 50 Miles

Insider - After waking up to air-raid sirens in Lviv, western Ukraine, US citizen and freelance Journalist Manny Marota walked 50 miles to Przemyśl, Poland, to escape the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. From Pittsburgh, Marotta initially headed to Ukraine to cover the war, "but then the war found me," he told Insider. "What I saw was something that should not exist in the 21st century. It's inexcusable."

Watch more: https://youtu.be/epqINcpeq7U

Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine For Kids Offers Little Protection

NBC - Two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine reportedly offer almost no protection against coronavirus infection in kids ages 5 to 11, according to new data posted online this week. Researchers from the New York State Department of Health found that the vaccine’s effectiveness dropped to 12 percent from 68 percent in the age group in December and January, when the omicron variant of the coronavirus began circulating widely in the United States. And while this new data may prove to be a setback for parents with vaccinated children who were hoping to resume “normal” pre-pandemic activities, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine remains to be the only COVID shot in the U.S. available to kids in this age group.

Watch more: https://youtu.be/p6G-J-7zM14

Klitschko Brothers' Message To Putin

FOX - Vitali Klitschko, the Kyiv mayor and former heavyweight boxing champion, told Reuters this week that Ukrainians will continue to defend their homeland from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian invaders. Klitschko was also joined by his brother Wladimir during a Skype interview with the outlet. "Thousands, already tens of thousands, are killed in this war against Ukraine. And this number will unfortunately only grow," Vitali Klitschko said while speaking from a shelter he is working from in Kyiv. "We are not going to surrender. We have nowhere to retreat."

Watch more: https://youtu.be/SnWiqst9ykU

White House Unveils New COVID Strategy

NBC - The White House outlined a new strategy this week for the next phase of handling the pandemic: a road map for living with COVID. The National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan includes a "test to treat" approach, which involves expediting treatments, such as Paxlovid, by allowing pharmacists to issue prescriptions on the spot for people who test positive. "Vaccines, treatments, tests, masks — these tools are how we continue to protect people. They enable us to move forward safely and get back to our more normal routines," said White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients, adding that these tools will allow for "going out to eat at a restaurant, taking that trip that's been long delayed, arranging a playdate for your kids, attending a sports game, a movie or a concert again."

Watch more: https://youtu.be/cFd46bZ5mXo

Humanitarian Corridors Approved Amidst Russian Invasion

Reuters - A Ukrainian negotiator said this week that while a second round of ceasefire talks with Russia had not yielded the results Kyiv hoped for, the sides had reached an understanding on creating humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the two sides envisaged a possible temporary ceasefire to allow for the evacuation of civilians. "That is, not everywhere, but only in those places where the humanitarian corridors themselves will be located, it will be possible to cease fire for the duration of the evacuation."

Watch more: https://youtu.be/K5rCh3niu-4

Biden Signs H.R. 4445 Into Law

WSLS - Pres. Biden signed into law a bill that expands rights for sexual assault and harassment victims in the workplace this week. H.R.4445, or the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, guarantees that people who experience sexual harassment at work can recourse in the courts. The Associated Press reported that the legislation is a milestone for the #MeToo movement, saying the measure “bars employment contracts from forcing people to settle sexual assault or harassment cases through arbitration rather than in court.”

Watch more: https://youtu.be/qRlu-ta45EI

Is COVID Transitioning From Pandemic To Endemic?

ABC - The United States effectively marked a new stage in the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic when Pres. Biden announced in his State of the Union address this week that "COVID-19 no longer need [to] control our lives." With more than 75% of Americans vaccinated, experts are now more hopeful than ever that the country can finally move toward better control of the disease and toward a new endemic phase. For a pandemic to reach the endemic phase, it would need to be "a situation where you have a background level” of disease, said Dr. Daniel McQuillen, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a senior physician in the division of infectious diseases at Beth Israel Lahey Health in Massachusetts.

Watch more: https://youtu.be/SCM9kePX1h0

Ukrainians Are Making ‘As Many Molotov Cocktails As Possible’

FOX - In a message posted to Twitter, Ukrainian citizens were advised to make Molotov cocktails and help "neutralize the occupier" as Russian forces drove deeper into the country. "We ask citizens to inform about the movement of equipment!" said the message posted by the Defense Ministry of Ukraine. "Make Molotov cocktails, neutralize the occupier!" the message added, referring to the crude explosive device made from a bottle, some fuel and a lighted rag, also known as a "poor man's grenade."

Watch more: https://youtu.be/lZOzoDckrak

NFL To Drop COVID-19 Protocols

NewYorkTimes - The N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association agreed this week to suspend all COVID-19 protocols, effective immediately, returning teams and players to pre-pandemic operations for the first time since March 2020. The N.F.L., which is currently not in season, is the first of the United States’ major professional sports leagues to halt its coronavirus-related policies. What does this mean? Well ,players and team staff members will no longer be required to wear masks inside facilities, adhere to social distancing measures, nor restrict access within team buildings based on vaccination or job function, according to a memo sent to all 32 teams on this week. Each team will still have to comply with local ordinances governing mask mandates.

Watch more: https://youtu.be/GF5llVjXuI8

Biden Open To Banning Russian Oil And Gas

Reuters - Pres. Biden said this week that "nothing is off the table" when asked if the United States would ban Russian oil and gas after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Earlier in the day, White House press secretary Jen Psaki had said that the United States is "very open" to imposing sanctions on Russia's oil and gas industry at a time when global oil prices touched eight-year highs and supply disruptions mounted. And although the United States has not yet targeted Russian oil sales as part of its sweeping economic sanctions following the invasion, U.S. traders have already acted to put such imports on hold, disrupting energy markets.