[music playing]
CARL AZUZ: Welcome to our show on this last day
of February 2022.
My name is Carl Azuz.
We're thankful you're spending 10 minutes with us this Monday.
It has been four days since Russian military forces
invaded the neighboring country of Ukraine.
And US officials say Russia's progress
has been slower than the nation's
government thought it would be.
Tough resistance from Ukrainian forces,
heavier than expected losses on the Russian side,
and the size of Ukraine, which is about as big as Texas,
these have all been cited as challenges to Russian plans
to quickly take control of the neighboring country.
When he announced what he called a special military operation
in Ukraine last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin
said his country needed to act to prevent
western influence from spreading near Russia's western border.
But his decision to invade Ukraine
has been fiercely criticized by numerous countries
around the world.
The two sides directly fighting in this war
are Russian troops and the military
of the Ukrainian government.
But Ukraine is getting weapons, equipment,
and various forms of support from the US
and several other nations.
And some of those countries have also sanctioned Russia.
They've put limits on international business
with that country in an effort to hurt its economy.
Critics of that strategy say sanctions alone are not
enough to stop Russia, that they take too long,
and that the ones that have been announced
weren't put in place soon enough to deter the Russian invasion.
Inside Russia itself, there have been protests
against that invasion with hundreds
and possibly thousands of people getting
arrested for participating.
Russians who sympathize with Ukraine
have placed flowers outside the Ukrainian embassy in Moscow.
On Sunday, there were concerns that Russian President Putin
was authorizing more destructive weapons
in an effort to inflict more damage on Ukraine
and end the conflict faster.
Russia has said it is not targeting civilian areas,
but some of them have been damaged.
CLARISSA WARD: A man stands on his balcony, looking out
at a new reality just hours after a missile slammed
into his apartment building.
It was 8:00 AM when the projectile
hit, destroying parts of the 22nd and 23rd floors.
According to Ukrainian authorities,
two people were killed.
Officials here say it was a Russian strike.
Russia's Ministry of Defense claim
it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile that went awry.
Whoever was responsible, this is what happens
when war comes to a major city.
Homes and lives are destroyed.
At the city's central train station,
a frantic dash as people try to escape
to the west of the country.
- [non-english speech]
CLARISSA WARD: Step back, the train conductor says.
Step back.
- [non-english speech]
CLARISSA WARD: She tells the crowd to leave their bags
to make room for more people.
So she's just said that women and children
can get on the train now.
You can see people pushing to get on.
They've got their pets, they've got their babies,
and they're trying to get on this train to get out of here.
Ukraine's railway services say they are
evacuating 5,000 people a day.
- [non-english speech]
CLARISSA WARD: And every single space is precious.
- [non-english speech]
CLARISSA WARD: I will stand, this woman pleads.
It's full, the conductor tells her.
Inside the carriage, it's standing room only.
But a woman waves goodbye to her family.
Who knows when she will be able to return?
Her daughter, Tamara, has made the tough decision
to stay behind.
For many people, it'll be hard to understand how
brave you are to stay here and not to try to leave
and get somewhere safe.
TAMARA BAKOVA: It's not brave.
Should just understand.
It's my city.
It's my home town.
It's my homeland.
It's my country.
And I'm not the one who should leave.
The Russians are the one who should leave.
And they would leave.
I wouldn't leave this city before they are.
CLARISSA WARD: Do you think many people are like you
and they're ready to do everything
they can to get Russia out?
TAMARA BAKOVA: I'm not thinking.
I know.
CLARISSA WARD: This is the sort of extraordinary resistance
Russia is facing here.
100 miles northeast of Kiev, a man
tries to block a Russian tank.
He kneels in front of it, determined
to stop it in its tracks.
And for a brief moment he does before the column
pushes on towards the capital.
- [non-english speech]
CARL AZUZ: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
has officially been nominated to the US Supreme Court.
President Joe Biden made the announcement on Friday.
The 51-year-old nominee currently sits on the US Court
of Appeals for the DC circuit.
And before that, Judge Jackson served as a federal district
court judge.
She's the first Black woman ever to be
nominated to the Supreme Court.
But will she be confirmed as its newest associate justice?
That's up to the US Senate, whose
job is to give advice and consent
on presidential nominees.
The Senate's currently divided between 50
democrats and 50 republicans.
And some republicans have said they're concerned
about the support that Judge Jackson has
received from quote, "radical liberal groups".
However, three republicans did join
all democrats in voting for Jackson's confirmation
to her current job.
That happened last June.
If the Senate were to vote straight down party
lines on her Supreme Court nomination,
with all republicans opposing Jackson,
and all democrats supporting her,
Vice President Kamala Harris, a democrat,
would cast the deciding vote to confirm Jackson.
Senate democrats hope to hold the vote in mid-April.
JEFF ZELENY: A historic selection shrouded in secrecy
for the last several weeks.
We are learning that President Biden met with three candidates
on Valentine's Day, February 14, for individual interviews
at the White House that went under the radar of everyone
at the time.
But he finally offered the position on Thursday
evening to Judge Jackson.
And she was at the White House on Friday.
JOE BIDEN: For too long, our government,
our courts haven't looked like America.
- President Biden making history,
nominating the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who accepted the president's offer
during a call, now beginning the confirmation
process to become a justice on the nation's highest court.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: I am truly
humbled by the extraordinary honor of this nomination.
- If approved by the Senate, Jackson
would succeed Justice Stephen Breyer, a mentor for whom she
worked as a law clerk in 1999.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON: Justice Breyer,
the members of the Senate will decide if I fill your seat.
But please know that I could never fill your shoes.
- Her liberal ideology would not change
the balance of the court.
Yet, her presence on the bench would mark a major milestone
for the court and the country.
The White House ceremony comes two years to the day
since Biden first made the pledge
to nominate a Black woman on the court,
as he sought to revive his candidacy before the South
Carolina primary.
JOE BIDEN: I'm looking forward to making
sure there's a Black woman on the Supreme Court
to make sure--
I pushed very hard for that.
- Jackson has been a federal judge for nearly a decade,
elevated last year to the influential US Court
of Appeals for the DC circuit.
JOE BIDEN: Incredibly, Judge Jackson
has already been confirmed by the United States Senate
three times.
She strives to be fair, to get it right, to do justice.
That's something all of us should remember.
- Born in Washington and raised in Miami,
she spelled out her dreams early,
saying in her high school yearbook
she aimed to go into law and eventually
have a judicial appointment.
She did just that, graduating from Harvard,
both undergraduate and law school,
before serving as a federal public defender,
rare experience for a Supreme Court justice.
CARL AZUZ: 10 second trivia.
What is this space rock that passes through Earth's
atmosphere and hits the ground, meteor, meteoroid,
meteorite, or "Metroid"?
[music playing]
If a meteoroid survives Earth's atmosphere
and makes it to the surface, it's called a meteorite.
[music playing]
In 2019, a meteorite struck a doghouse in Costa Rica.
It just missed the dog.
The animal was OK.
But the Christie's auction company
says it's incredibly rare for things built by people
to get hit by meteorites.
So the dog house was put up for auction
and it fetched, get it, $44,000.
The meteorite itself went for $21,000.
We don't know how much of this will go to the dog,
but hopefully, he'll get a new house out of the deal.
One that rocks, if you know what I'm saying.
His old [inaudible] TNTed roof was rusted.
So he'll probably want something to eave his anxiety, one
with better protection for his fascia,
something that offers more of a life rafter.
And he'll probably opt out of a skylight.
Then maybe he might not mind being in the doghouse.
Roof puns.
We nailed them.
I'm Carl Azuz.
Want to say hello today to the American
International School of Cairo.
Thank you for watching from the Egyptian capital.
And thanks to all of you for taking time for CNN.
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