From New York, the greatest city in the world, it's The Update with Brandon Julien!

We have the latest developments (at the time of recording) on the Russian war in Ukraine. U.N and Ukrainian officials say that no radiation was released from a Russian attack at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and firefighters have extinguished a blaze at the facility. More than 1.2 million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to the U.N refugee agency. 🇺🇳🇺🇦

NATO is refusing to police a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and we'll explain why it's unlikely to work.

It's Day 93 of the MLB Lockout 🥎🔒. On #TheUpdate this Friday, Russian forces have taken over the strategic port city of Kherson and shelled Europe's largest nuclear power plant in another city, sparking a fire there that was extinguished overnight. In Belarus, Ukrainian and Russian delegates met and agreed to provide safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, the Newark City Council voted unanimously to suspend two Lukoil gas stations' operating licences, citing Lukoil's base in Moscow. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱⛽

Locally, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma had reached a nationwide settlement over it'se role in the opioid crisis. The deal announced would require members of the Sackler family who own the drugmaker to pay as much as $6 billion in cash. In exchange, they'll be protected from current and future lawsuits. Monday will be a whole new world in New York City, as the vaccine mandate for restaurants, sports and cultural venues and the mask mandate inside public schools are going away. Individual businesses can still decide to keep mandates in place if they choose, but the city will no longer require that they check guests' vaccine cards.

In a Chicago area jail, a novel gang-cessation and jobs program is giving inmates a chance to escape their gang lives. A focus of the program at the DuPage County Jail is a new tattoo-removal wing where program participants remove or cover their gang tattoos to prove they're serious about wanting out of their gangs. And you probably use WhatsApp every day- but there are some clever tricks you may have missed. A popular TikTok video has revealed some of the best. If you're a regular user, it's work knowing these tricks.📱

We have the lastest developments (at time of recording) of the Russian war in Ukraine. The Russians have seized the strategic seaport of Kherson and are besieging another even as the two sides held talks in Belarus. The tealks were the second round of face-to-face discussions since the invasion started, resulting in safe corridors being established to safely evacuate civilians. The Pentagon has established a channel of direct communication with the Russian minestry of defense to avoid unintended conflict related to the war in Ukraine. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱

And we'll also tell you about how you can help Ukrainians affected by the invasion.

It's Day 92 of the MLB Lockout 🥎🔒.

On #TheUpdate this Thursday, Russia and Ukraine are expected to hold a second round of talks today in Belarus, but there appears to be little common ground between the two sides. The number of people who have filed Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on February 24th has reached 1 million. Meanwhile, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from competing at the Paralympics because of their countries' roles in the war in Ukraine in a swift reversal. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱

Locally, prosecutors say that they'll likely offer immunity to a juror in the Ghislane Maxwell trial to force his testimony about why he said during jury selection that he'd never suffered sexual abuse only to later tell the media that he had. It also comes after the juror said he'll invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when Judge Allison Nathan questions him at a hearing next week. New York could legalize to-go sales of cocktails, bottles of wine and other alcoholic beverages under a proposal Governor Hochul boosted at a Brooklyn wine bar. State liquor regulators would have the power to limit how much wine and liquors restaurants and bars could sell in New York, where local laws prohibiting open containers of alcohol in public are widespread.

In California, the adoptive parents of two small boys who were reported missing in 2020 have been charged with killing the children, although their bodies still haven't been found. Kern County DA Cynthia Zimmer announced that Trezell West and Jacqueline West were arrested on murder and other charges in a grand jury indictment.

And are you not sure what to get at McDonald's? Just combine a Big Mac, a McChicken and a Filet-O-Fish into a single, giant sandwich. They're rolling out "menu hacks" where customers can choose from four different combinations of their favorites- and which some weaker stomachs might find intimidating. 🍔🍗🐟

We have the latest developments (at the time of recording) on the Russian war in Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine day that they're prepared to hold talks for the second time since the invasion began last week. The talks are expected to take place tomorrow in Belarus, according to the head of the Russian delegation. Meanwhile, the U.N General Assembly condemned the invasion and called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. Russia's assault on Ukrainian cities continued, including Russia's disputed claim that they've taken control of it's first major city, Kherson, and strikes on other cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱

We'll also tell you about how Bitcoin is being viewed again as a safe haven amid the geopolitical tension. 💳

It's Day 91 of the MLB Lockout 🥎🔒.

On #TheUpdate this Wednesday, the miles-long convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles continues to slowly advance towards Kyiv. Russia's escalation comes as President Biden in his State Of The Union speech last night warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin didn't "pay a price" for the invasion, the aggression wouldn't stop with just one country. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said it had evidence that Belarus, a Russian ally, is preparing to send troops into Ukraine. Meanwhile, the International Paralympic Committee says that Russians and Belarusians at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing will compete as "neutral athletes" because of their countries' roles in the war against Ukraine. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱

Locally, New York City's coronavirus contact tracing program will end its universal tracing efforts towards the end of April. Officials are citing a significant caseload drop, high vaccination rates, new treatments, and new CDC guidance released Monday that said universal contact tracing was not recommended. Two British executives have been charged with cheating investors out of millions of dollars in a suspected scam that promised investments used for loans were backed by fine wines. In Phoenix, Arizona, the family of a little girl who was killed when her mother's car was rear-ended by a Jeep on a freeway can sue the SUV's manufacturer for wrongful death because it didn't install automatic emergency braking devices. And a porn star has shared the "cringe" message sent to her by her uncle after he discovered what she did for a living. Karlie Brooks (her stage name) had managed to keep it a secret from her family for five years- until now. 📱💦

We have the latest developments (at the time of recording) on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in several Ukrainian cities, with a huge convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles on a road to Kyiv, and the fighting is intensifying not only there, but in other big cities as well. Ukrainian officials say that Russia shelled several key sites in Kyiv and in the country's second largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens of others. Among the sites hit were Kyiv's main TV tower and holocaust memorial. 🇺🇦🇷🇺

Also, we'll tell you about the danger that cluster bombs pose. 💣

It's Day 90 of the MLB Lockout 🥎🔒. On #TheUpdate this Tuesday, a miles-long convoy of Russian tanks and armored vehicles is inching closer to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, and the fighting had intensified on the ground as Russia stepped up shelling of Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine. There were reports that more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed after Russian artillery recently hit a millitary base in Okhtyrka, a city between Kharkiv and Kyiv. Meanwhile, as trains and buses bring people fleeing Ukraine to the safety of Polish border towns, they carry not just Ukrainians fleeing a homeland under attack, but large numbers of citizens of other countries who had made Ukraine their home and whose fates, too, are now uncertain. 🇺🇦🇷🇺🇵🇱🚂🚍

Locally, former President Trump had appealed a judge's decision requiring he answer questions under oath in New York state's criminal investigation into his business practices- a widely expected move that's likely to prolong the fight over his testimony by months.

In Rochester, the ex-police chief La'Ron Singletary will recieve $75,000 from the city after he sued them for wrongful termination last year, alleging that former Mayor Lovely Warren fired him for refusing to lie during an investigation into the death of Daniel Prude.

In Sacramento, California, authorities bthere say that a man shot and killed his three daughters, their chaperone, and himself during a supervised visit with the girls at a church. The victims included three girls ages 9, 10, and 13. And a TikTok influencer is going viral after sharing the hilarious moment her boyfriend mistook her pregnancy test for a positive COVID diagnosis. The video has nearly 25 million views. 📱🤰🏽

We have the latest developments (at time of recording) in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Now into it's fifith day, there was a tense calm in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, but explosions and gunfire we're heard in embattled cities in the eastern part of the country as Russian troops met unexpected resistance. A Ukrainian delegation held talks with Russian officials at the border with Belarus, though they ended up with no reported agreements aside from plans for further talks. Western sanctions triggered by the invasion sent the ruble plummeting, so ordinary Russians flocked banks and ATMs to draw out cash. 💵🇺🇦🇷🇺🇧🇾

And the United States has announced it's expelling 12 members of Russian's U.N mission, accusing them of being "intelligence operatives" engaged in espionage. 🇺🇲🇺🇳