Biden heads to Europe amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Ash Barty retires: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Biden heads to Europe amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine

The invasion is approaching a month long. Plus, reporter Chris Woodyard talks about Americans turning to smaller cars amid high gas prices, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson faces more questions at Day 3 of confirmation hearings, reporter Jordan Mendoza looks into the countries where people are the happiest and Ashleigh Barty is retiring from tennis at the age of 25.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Wednesday the 23rd of March, 2022. Today, Russia's latest move blocks humanitarian aid to Mariupol in Ukraine. Plus, a look at the world's happiest countries, and more.

Here are some of the top headlines:

1. A tornado hit New Orleans last night, killing at least one person in the area. Thunderstorms, as part of the same weather system, are moving east today, bringing the potential for more tornadoes from Northern Florida to Eastern Virginia.

2. Six high school girls are dead after a crash with a semi-truck in Oklahoma yesterday. It's not clear how the crash happened.

3. And Okta is denying it was breached after a group of hackers said they gained access to internal information. Okta is a service that helps other companies manage employee access to internal tools.

♦

Hell in Mariupol. That's how some fleeing residents have described the scenes in Ukraine's coastal southeastern city, which has gotten repeatedly bombarded by Russian forces over the past month. Ukrainian officials say the latest horror there came after Russia seized 15 rescue workers and drivers from a humanitarian convoy trying to get desperately needed food and other supplies into Mariupol. The Red Cross confirmed that an aid convoy was not able to enter the city.

During his nightly address, Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused Russia of blocking the convoy, despite an agreement on the route ahead of time. Residents in Mariupol are desperately trying to leave the city as Russia is now upping shelling attacks from the Sea of Azov. One survivor, 39-year-old Victoria Totsen, fled into Poland. She said, "They bombed us for the past 20 days. During the last five days, the planes were flying over us every five seconds and dropped bombs everywhere, on residential buildings, kindergartens, art schools, everywhere."

Other residents, like many Eastern Ukrainians, have fled to the country's west, which has been hit far less than places in the east, south, and around the capital of Kyiv in Central Ukraine. Some Mariupol evacuees arrived in the Western city of Lviv this week. Their journey took them by train from the City of Zaporizhzhia, which is already some 220 kilometers from Mariupol. Marina Gala escaped with her 13-year-old-son.

Taylor Wilson translating for Marina Gala:

"We left because shells hit the houses across the road. There was no roof. There were people injured. In our building, in the cultural center, glass began to shatter. We were forced to leave. My relatives have stayed behind in Mariupol and I don't know anything about them. My mother, grandmother, and grandfather, and father, they don't even know that we have left."

Taylor Wilson:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated yesterday that 100,000 civilians remain in Mariupol, a city that just weeks ago was home to more than 400,000. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden heads to Europe today. His four day trip includes stops in Brussels and Warsaw, and will feature an emergency NATO summit. Jake Sullivan, Biden's National Security Advisor said the president will coordinate with allies on more military assistance for Ukraine and new sanctions on Russia.

♦

High gas prices have American consumers turning to smaller new cars, but there's just one problem, finding one for sale. Reporter Chris Woodyard has more.

Chris Woodyard:

Gas prices are spiking and in the auto industry, that can only mean one thing, buyers are going to be interested in buying more compact and small cars. But a couple interesting things are happening. One is, the small cars aren't selling in as big a numbers as they have in the past, which is good news for the auto industry, because they don't have as many models to offer. Cars like the Honda Fit, the Ford Fusion, the Chevrolet Cruze, they're all gone out of the market because the auto industry's been making so many big SUVs.

And that gets us to the other big development that's happening. SUVs are okay. They're a little more aerodynamic now. They're uni-body. They get better gas mileage. So, there's not the kind of SUV hate that we saw during the great recession, when everybody was trading in their big gas-hungry SUV to buy a smaller car, which they didn't even want to do, they were doing it to save money. They didn't really want smaller vehicles. Everyone loves big SUVs.

So, what this points out is that even though we're having this record territory for gas prices, everything is selling in the auto industry. I mean, compact cars are doing great. They're the third highest selling category after performance cars and minivans, according to Cox Automotive, but pretty much everything that the dealers can get on the lot is selling. When it comes to individual models, like the Honda Civic, Honda says they're selling them right off the truck. Buyers are coming in, they'll buy one sight unseen and they'll wait for it to be delivered. That's great news for small cars, but we'll see what happens going forward.

What it appears to be going on is, buyers think this spike in gas prices is not permanent. Back in the '08 era, back during the great recession, a lot of people thought that those high gas prices were going to stick around a long time. This time, because the gas prices are being really spiked by the war in Ukraine, there's a thinking that, "Well, maybe it won't go on forever." But we'll only have to see. And that's going to be an interesting ride for the auto industry and for car buyers.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find this story and more from Chris in the Money section on USATODAY.com.

♦

Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced senators' questions on a number of issues during day two of confirmation hearings yesterday. They touched on her impartiality, her sentencing patterns as a judge, her defense of Guantanamo Bay detainees, abortion, critical race theory, and more.

On abortion, Jackson told senators she believes Roe v. Wade, which established a constitutional right to abortion, is a settled case. One of the more contentious moments came between her and Republican, Texas senator Ted Cruz. The senator pressed her on her sentencing record when it comes to child porn cases.

Senator Ted Cruz:

Every single case, 100% of them, when prosecutors came before you with child pornography cases, you sentenced the defenders to substantially below, not just the guidelines, which are way higher, but what the prosecutor asked for, on average of these cases, 47.2% less. Now-

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson:

I take these cases very seriously as a mother, as someone who, as a judge, has to review the actual evidence in these cases, and based on Congress' requirement, take into account, not only the sentencing guidelines, not only the recommendations of the parties, but also things like the stories of the victims. Also things like the nature and circumstances of the offense and the history and characteristics of the defendant.

Taylor Wilson:

The same 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will get a second round of questions today.

♦

Where are people the happiest? Well, a publication of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network ranked 146 countries on their overall happiness. And researchers say that past data has looked at how citizens' trust in government and large institutions plays a role in the country's people's happiness. Reporter, Jordan Mendoza has more.

Jordan Mendoza:

So, basically, it's just measuring the overall happiness in these countries. And millions of people are taken into account for this data. And what it found was that it was a lot of European and specifically Nordic countries that were the happiest among the countries surveyed. And Finland was number one, which was the fifth year in a row. And then right behind it were Denmark and Iceland and Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The United States, they're ranked 16th this year, which I mean, some people aren't probably happy about that, it being outside of the top 10, but it honestly, it's showing improvement from recent years. Their highest ranking recently was they were 13th in 2016, but we were seeing them falling in the rankings continuously throughout the years. And last year, they were 19th and that's the highest they've ever been. So, even though they're at 16, it's not necessarily top 15, but you can see that the overall happiness in the country is rising.

I really think it was interesting to see that the pandemic started in 2020, and a lot of people were scared and uncertain about what was going on in the world and about the future. And in 2021, you saw a little bit of optimism. And people around the world, we had vaccines, we had things shaping a better outlook on life. And so, you saw a lot of happiness levels go up throughout the country, and also, a lot of people were more generous. Researchers said that there was a 25% jump in donations and serving goods to people, since before the pandemic. So, even though times are still tough right now with the pandemic still going on, you can see that people were being more kind and more friendly to one another.

Taylor Wilson:

You can find Jordan's full story in today's episode description.

♦

Ashleigh Barty is retiring. The Australian tennis star and number one ranked player in the world made her announcement on Instagram earlier today, alongside her friend and former Australian tennis player, Casey Dellacqua.

Ashleigh Barty:

This is perfect for me to share it with you, to talk to you about it with my team, my loved ones, that I'll be retiring from tennis. And it's the first time I've actually said it out loud and yeah, it's hard to say, but I'm so happy and I'm so ready. And I just know at the moment, in my heart, for me as a person, this is right.

Taylor Wilson:

The move comes as a shock to the entire sports world, with Barty on the top of her game and only 25-years-old. Barty won her first major at the French Open in 2019 before winning Wimbledon last year and her home country's Australian Open this past January. In fact, the only Grand Slam singles tournament she has not won is the US Open, though she did win a doubles title there in 2018. Barty has also been a major figure of Indigenous Australian identity and has served as a National Indigenous Tennis Ambassador for Tennis Australia. Ultimately, Barty said the reason for her decision was because she no longer has the, "physical drive, the emotional want, and kind of everything it takes to challenge yourself at the very top of the level anymore."

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week, year long, on whatever podcast app you're listening to right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden heads to emergency NATO summit, Ash Barty retires; 5 Things podcast