1) Wall Street closed lower for fifth straight week
Stocks in Wall Street fell on Friday for its fifth straight week of losses as investors traded cautiously amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine that the end is nowhere in sight even with a series of talks and a comment from the Russian President Vladimir Putin that there are some positive signs from the negotiation.
Dow Jones fell nearly 230 points or 0.69% to 32,944.19 points. S&P 500 dropped 1.30% to 4,204.31 points and Nasdaq decreased 2.18% to 12,843.81 points.
2) Russia restricts access to Instagram
Russia restricted access to Instagram on Friday after its parent company Meta Platforms allowed Facebook and Instagram users to call for hate speech on the Russian president and military. Russia has approximately 60 million instagram users. Moscow has banned access to Facebook earlier this month.
Russia also opened a criminal case against Meta for its temporary change in hate speech policy.
3) NATO warns of biological weapons used by Russian military
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Russia might use chemical weapons after the seizure of biological laboratories in Ukraine last week, saying that the use of such weapons would be a war crime.
Russia accused the United States of America for funding this lab which Washington has denied.
4) US says China will face consequence for helping Russia avoid sanctions
The United States of America warned that China will face a consequence if it helped Russia avoid sweeping sanctions from the west over the war in Ukraine, according to U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan who is scheduled to meet with China’s top diplomat in Rome today.
The U.S. President Joe Biden said earlier that Washington will not go into war with Russia, which will definitely spell World War 3.