Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Mar 17, 2022

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to Congress yesterday to help his country out with more military aid and tougher economic sanctions. During his address to Congress, he showed a dramatic video combining peaceful images of Ukrainian cities with graphic footage of Russian airstrikes, injured citizens and more. Zelensky wants a no-fly zone over the country, as the video wrapped up with the message, “Close the sky over Ukraine.” And, if that's not possible, he wanted the US to send missile systems and other weapons to aid Kyiv’s air defense forces.

As cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid spread across China, Yum China, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, said sales dropped by 20% in the first two weeks of March. Toyota, Volkswagen and iPhone-maker Foxconn have also been forced to close operations because of government lockdowns. For instance, all 24 million people living in the north-eastern Jilin province have been placed under quarantine. They are banned from moving around --they must stay home, and just one person from each household is allowed to leave to buy food and other necessities every two days.

The US Federal Reserve said they're gonna raise interest rates by 0.25% for the first time since 2018 in an attempt to stabilize the economic problems brought on by the Ukraine war and coronavirus outbreaks in China. And there might be more rate hikes in the near future as well.

There may be a new “Romy and Michele” movie coming. Variety reports that Lisa Kudrow told ET's Matt Cohen to “Tell Disney you want a sequel!” at a movie premiere this week. Lisa is now 58 and Mira Sorvino is 54, so it could be their 30th --or 40th-- high school reunion this time, depending on how well they're made up!

Former President Trump has told the Washington Examiner they shouldn't expect to see former Vice President Mike Pence’s name on the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. His reason: “I don’t think the people would accept it.” Trump said Pence didn't back his claims that massive fraud took place during the election, and also said he believes that Pence could have overturned the election results during the congressional certification last year.

The Cannes Film Festival will be showing Tom Cruise’s new “Top Gun: Maverick” movie. The film festival runs from May 17th thru May 28; “Top Gun: Maverick” will debut in theatres here in the US on Friday, May 27th.

Yesterday we told you about a container ship which ran aground in the middle of Chesapeake Bay. And it's not the only ship this week. On Monday, a Norwegian Cruise Line ship --the Norwegian Escape-- carrying around 3-thousand tourists and 16-hundred crew members ran aground shortly after leaving a port in the Dominican Republic. Company officials said the ship’s hull sustained “minor damage” but no guests or crew were harmed. The current cruise is going to be shortened but the company has not said whether they'll refund part of the tickets.