US officials promise more military aid for Ukraine, Macron wins reelection: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: US officials promise more military aid for Ukraine
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv on Sunday. Plus, reporters Jessica Guynn and Jayme Fraser look at data that shows Asian women are being shut out of many CEO roles, Emmanuel Macron wins reelection in France, national correspondent Trevor Hughes looks at the role of inflation on healthy eating choices and the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the case of a former high school football coach praying after games.
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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 Monday, the 25th of April 2022. Today, US officials in Ukraine. Plus how Asian women are shut out of leadership roles at top companies and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
- Tribal clashes between Arabs and non-Arabs in Sudan's Darfur region killed 168 people yesterday. It's some of the deadliest violence in the country in recent years.
- Wildfires in Nebraska have killed a retired fire chief and injured at least 15 firefighters. John P. Trumble was 66.
- And a family has won nearly $5 million in a lawsuit after suing a country club in Massachusetts for too many golf balls damaging their house.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Chief Lloyd Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine's capital of Kyiv last night. Their meeting is the highest ranking visit to Ukraine by a US delegation since Russia began its invasion. In the meetings, the pair said the US approved a $165 million sale of ammunition for Ukraine's war effort, along with more than $300 million in foreign military financing. Afterwards, Blinken told reporters that Russia is failing.
Antony Blinken:
We're seeing that when come to Russia's war games, Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding. Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed. It sought to assert the power of its military and its economy. We, of course, are seeing just the opposite, a military that is dramatically underperforming, an economy as a result of sanctions, as a result of a mass exodus from Russia that is in shambles.
Taylor Wilson:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, expressed gratitude for the American aid. He said a foreign priority needs to be weapons and support from the US and others, while adding that another approach is continued sanctions against Russia.
Yesterday's meeting came on the 60th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The war is now centered in the Eastern Donbas region as Russia tries to secure a land corridor to the southern Crimean peninsula. The United Nations says more than 5 million people have fled Ukraine since the invasion began in February. Beginning today, the US will be upping efforts to bring in refugees. A government program called Uniting for Ukraine will begin. Under the program, US citizens and groups can apply to sponsor Ukrainian refugees. Ukrainians who are approved will be given permissions to live and work in the US for up to two years.
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Asian and Asian American women are shut out of the senior most leadership roles at most companies. Exclusive new Paste BN data from reporters Jessica Guynn and Jayme Fraser shows why. They spoke with producer, PJ Elliott.
Jessica Guynn:
Asian and Asian American women are often overlooked when companies think about racial and ethnic groups that are missing in the executive suite. And what our research found is that Asian women are among the least likely to hold senior leadership positions in the nation's top companies. For example, there are no Asian women CEOs in the Standard and Poor's 100, which is an index of the nation's largest and most valuable companies. And in large part, that's because there are a large number of Asian Americans in professional roles and in the broader workforce. And there is also what people call the model minority myth that Asian Americans have made it, and therefore, they don't face any racism that keeps them from getting ahead at work. And what our investigation found is that that is not the case, especially for Asian women.
Jayme Fraser:
Yeah. And I would add that the way this plays out with the model minority myth is Asian women are well represented among professionals and managers, but making that final step into the executive suite and into a CEO position, there's a huge gap. They are half as likely as a white woman to move from a professional or manager job into an executive job, and a third as likely as a white man to make that move. Clearly, there are a lot of skilled and talented Asian women, they're just not making it that final step. And that's a lot of what the story details, is the reasons behind that.
PJ Elliott:
Is there anything being done to kind of address this issue with these top companies?
Jessica Guynn:
It is an issue that has been overlooked for a long time, but companies are becoming increasingly aware of it. In large part, due to the efforts of the Ascend Foundation, which is a group of Asian American professionals in the US. They go into companies and show them data that is sometimes surprising to them. We have an anecdote in the story about how, when Google realized that it didn't have a lot of women of color in leadership positions, it created a leadership program for Black and Hispanic women, but left out Asian women. And that's very common. Once Asian women inside the company pointed that out to Google, it was more inclusive.
Taylor Wilson:
To read the full story, check out today's episode description.
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French President Emmanuel Macron, has won a second term. He did so comfortably yesterday beating out far-right opponent Marine Le Pen.
Crowd:
[Cheering, speaking in French].
Taylor Wilson:
The scene as Macron cast his vote yesterday. After the win, Macron acknowledged that many voters went for him only to keep out the nationalist, Le Pen. He pledged to reunite the country and work to calm the anger of voters that fed in to Le Pen's anti-immigration campaign. She also pledged to weaken France's ties to the EU, NATO and Germany. Many voters saw those as steps too far, especially as Europe works to navigate the conflict in Ukraine.
A number of European leaders celebrated Macron's victory. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, "Democracy wins. Europe wins." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted that together, France and Europe will advance. Macron won 58.5% to Le Pen's 41.5. That was much closer than when they first faced off in 2017. Le Pen got 34% of the vote that time around. She said, "In this defeat, I can't help but feel a form of hope."
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Inflation is creeping its way into everyday life for millions of Americans. And experts worry that parents poor food choices out of necessity for their kids will increase lifelong health risks. National Correspondent Trevor Hughes has more.
Trevor Hughes:
Most Americans spend about out 10% of their household budget on food. And a lot of that has been takeaway, delivery food. And so, for many people these higher food prices are a pain. They're frustrating and they can really feel them, but they're not going to change their lives.
But there are many, many Americans for whom really high food prices like this dramatically affect what they eat and the choices they make. You've got people who are suddenly having to replace steak and chicken with turkey, with more vegetable-based proteins. It's a real challenge for people to continue eating the way they had been given the price of food right now.
SNAP in particular is tough because the prices are adjusted for inflation. Or the amount of money you receive are adjusted for inflation, are adjusted for prices, but they're adjusted once a year in June. And so, folks who are receiving SNAP right now are getting benefits based on what food cost almost a year ago. And if you remember, gas was a heck of a lot cheaper a year ago, food was a heck of a lot cheaper a year ago. And so, those folks are really being squeezed right now.
There's not a ton that can be done in terms of bringing food prices down, but there are some strategies that people can employ to make sure they are eating healthy while not spending a lot of money. I spoke to a pediatrician and one of the things she recommends is making this a scavenger hunt of a kind with your kids. You pick a recipe that is healthy and not particularly expensive. And then you go to the grocery store with a very, very strict list. Because one of the challenges for people when they go grocery shopping is those impulse buys that blow your budget. If you're checking out and your kids are like, "Hey, I want this can of Coke." And if you were to buy a six pack or a 12 pack of Coke, it's a lot cheaper. But when you're paying for those individual cans, the prices are a lot higher.
And that's actually another strategy that an economist was talking about. She said a lot of people have started shopping online and they do the pickup themselves so they're not paying the delivery fee. But the idea is that you know exactly how much your bill is going to be. You can pay with your SNAP benefits online in many cases. And so, you don't have to feel like you're worried about the price when you get up to the register. Hey, do I have enough money? Because you know exactly how much it's going to cost you. And then you also don't have to worry about those impulse buys.
Then again, there is another strategy, which is if you do go to the grocery store, sometimes you can get deals, especially on meat or vegetables or bread that are running closer to expiration date, those manager specials. I mean, I've always been a big fan of those myself. You buy some extra beef or chicken and throw it in the freezer. And so, there are a number of strategies that people can employ, but the reality is food prices themselves are not going to drop any time soon.
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The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in the case of a high school football coach who lost his job after kneeling at the 50 yard line in prayer, following his former team's football games. Joe Kennedy says that Bremerton High School in the Seattle area violated his first amendment rights by declining to renew his contract after the prayers.
Joe Kennedy:
It's again, really simple for me. The right resolution is for, to just be reinstated as a coach and let me be able to give thanks after a football game.
Taylor Wilson:
But attorney for the school district, Rachel Laser, sees things differently.
Rachel Laser:
If Kennedy wins, it would license so many teachers and coaches across the country to pressure students to join them in their prayer and violate their religious freedom. It would practically sanction it. If you look at any pictures, it's a case about a coach who was inviting students to join him by doing his post-game rally, which normally students join for right at the 50 yard line. If this were a case about a coach that just wanted to pray privately in a way that didn't pressure students, we wouldn't be here.
Taylor Wilson:
The Supreme Court will need to decide whether Kennedy was praying as a private citizen or as a coach and school employee. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled last year that Kennedy was acting as a public employee. The Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that public schools could not offer prayers even if participation by students is voluntary.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven days a week on whatever your favorite podcast app is. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show. And I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from Paste BN.