U.S. Gas Prices To Hit All-Time Record

Shelling Civilians: Ukrainians say they've had to pause (for a second time) the evacuation of 200,000 civilians from the port city of Mariupol because Russian forces were shelling residents, a direct violation of the agreed-upon humanitarian routes. People in that city have been without food, water and electricity for days. That comes as the Russians continue tighten their grip and attack major population centers.

War crimes: Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the US has "seen very credible reports of deliberate attacks on civilians, which would constitute a war crime." Blinken told CNN that there have been credible reports "about the use of certain weapons." There were reports that Russia used cluster bombs in heavily populated areas and continues to hit nonmilitary targets. As of Sunday morning, the U.N. recorded 364 civilian deaths, including 25 children, and 707 wounded. Among the wounded were 36 children. The toll is likely higher.

The Hague: Russia didn't show up for today's hearing at the International Court of Justice, the UN's top court. Ukraine is urging the court to order Russia to halt its devastating invasion: "The consequences are unprovoked aggression, cities under siege, civilians under fire, humanitarian catastrophe and refugees fleeing for their lives.”

Latest From Moscow: Russian President Putin told the French president on the phone this weekend that he intends to achieve his goals including the full disarmament and neutrality of Ukraine either through war or negotiation. That is a non-starter for Ukraine given that, well, Russia just invaded their country.

Mr. Zelensky Goes to Washington (Over Zoom): Over the weekend, Zelensky held a Zoom call with over 300 American lawmakers, thanking them for the assistance so far but imploring them to do more. He asked for a ban of oil imports from Russia, a no-fly zone, and for direct aid, including planes, drones and anti-aircraft missiles. Given the adamant NO he keeps getting on a no-fly zone, he said at lest send him planes. The US is working on a three-way deal to send Ukraine some MiG fighter jets from Poland since the Ukraine Air Force is trained on the Soviet-era aircraft. In exchange, the US would send the Polish Air Force some US fighter jets. Look for more news on that front this week.

Prior to the war in Ukraine, prices on everything from food to gas had already increased at the fastest rate in four decades. But now there's even more pressure on supply chains and the oil market.

New Gas Price Record: Over the weekend, the price of oil topped $130 a barrel, a 13-year high, on a possible ban of Russian oil from Western countries. The national average for the price of a gallon of gas has broken $4 a gallon, the highest in 10 years, and will likely break the all-time record of $4.11 (set in 2008) this week. Energy analysts project that $4+ gas is here to stay for most of 2022.

Commodities: Wheat and corn prices are also way up. Ukraine is considered Europe's "breadbasket," accounting for 12% of the world's wheat exports and 16% of the world's corn exports. Even before the war, Kellogg and General Mills had raised prices on many of their products, and experts expect they'll likely raise prices again.

One important exception: The unemployment rate for Black women rose to 6.1% from 5.8%. (The unemployment rate for Black men fell from 7.1% to 6.4%, but is still nearly double the overall population.) ~CNBC

The day was first celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

Death toll: Two years later, we're now approaching an almost unimaginable 6 million Covid deaths worldwide, including nearly 1 million in the United States alone. California tops the list for the most deaths, followed by Texas, Florida and New York. On a per-capita basis, the hardest hit states have been Mississippi, Arizona, Alabama and New Jersey.

Cases & hospitalizations: There have been more than 79 million Covid cases in the US, according to the CDC Data Tracker. Hospitalizations have fallen more than two-thirds from their January peak, to about 45,000 from more than 150,000. The number of patients in intensive care units has also plummeted.

New normal: We have experienced more than a dozen variants, including the highly-transmissible Omicron variation. As the Omicron wave subsides in the US, many states and cities have rolled back mask mandates and vaccine passports, and shifted from a pandemic to an endemic strategy.

Vaccination rates: The pandemic is still highly politicized. In the US, only about 65% of the population is fully vaccinated, and of those, only 44% have received a booster shot. That's far below most countries in Europe, South America and Asia, plus Canada and Australia. Several major vaccine manufacturers are still working on one for children under age 5 -- look for more headlines on that this spring as it continues to face delays. Another big question is how often medical authorities will recommend regular doses or boosters. Initial speculation ranges from annual vaccines to a shot once every five years, according to recent comments by Anthony Fauci.

What's next: "The short answer is: We don’t know yet..An optimistic scenario is for SARS-CoV-2 to settle into a less disruptive flulike pattern, producing wintertime outbreaks with hospitalization and mortality rates lower than we saw in 2020 and 2021. A more pessimistic scenario is for the virus to continue to generate variants that evade immunity and are capable of infecting large numbers of the population."

Now to what Apple IS expected to announce: Updated MacBooks and Mac Minis with more powerful in-house processors, plus a 5G version of its more-affordable iPhone SE and a new iPad Air.

Apple could also lower the price of its existing iPhone SE 2 to $199, according to Bloomberg.

Apple is also expected to roll out its upcoming iOS 15.4 software. It will likely include new Face ID unlock features to work with medical masks, anti-stalking alerts for its AirTag smart trackers, a non-binary voice for Siri and new emojis.