📹: “Crimea is Russia! Kosovo is Serbia!” slogans are heard in Belgrade, where people are marching through central streets in support of Russia

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗️ Roskomnadzor sends letter to Apple demanding it immediately change the ‘hacked’ name of the Russian MoD on Apple Maps

❗️ Catch up on our latest updates on the Russian military op in Ukraine:

🔸 NATO chief Stoltenberg said the alliance is not seeking a war with Russia;

🔸 The DPR ombudsman said 77 servicemen and 14 civilians have been killed in the republic since 25 February;

🔸 Microsoft announced it is suspending the sale of products and provision of services in Russia;

🔸 FedEx, for its part, said it is suspending all services in Russia and Belarus;

🔸 German Chancellor Scholz and Russian President Putin discussed a third round of Russia-Ukraine talks scheduled for this weekend, the German Cabinet said;

🔸 European gas futures hit a historic maximum of $2,400 per 1,000 cubic metres;

🔸 The Pentagon said the US did not register any radioactive leaks at the Zaporozhskaya NPP;

🔸 Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor decided to block access to Facebook in the country.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

‼️The impact of economic sanctions imposed against Russia by the West has already exceeded expectations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

"We've had already a dramatic impact far beyond I think what anyone would have expected on Russia," Blinken said during remarks in Belgium.

The suffering is likely to get worse before it gets better as long as the Ukraine crisis continues, Blinken added.

⚡White House: Biden has no intention to engage with Putin at the moment

⚡Russia media watchdog has limited Twitter access as Booking.com delists Russian lodgings from site amid ongoing hostilities

💊 For families, a $6B deal with OxyContin maker is just a start

For those many who lost loved ones in the opioid crisis, making sure the family behind OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma paid the price was never just about money. What many wanted was a chance to confront the Sackler family face to face, to make them feel their pain.

The deal, which must be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, requires the Sacklers pay as much as $6 billion, with $750 million for victims and their survivors. Most of the rest will go to state and local governments to slow the crisis. The Sackler family must also give up ownership of their company, with any new entity’s profits going toward fighting opioid addiction through treatment and education programs.

Sackler family members have never offered an unequivocal apology, but on Thursday their press office issued a statement of regret about the toll of OxyContin.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

‼️Zelensky blasts NATO summit as 'weak' after 'fly zone' request gets rejected by bloc's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

"A NATO summit took place today. It was a weak summit, a confused summit, a summit that shows that not everyone considers the fight for freedom in Europe the number one goal," Zelensky said on Friday.

Zelensky accused the members of the military alliance of giving Russia "the green light to start shelling Ukrainian cities and villages," adding that NATO did nothing but provide Ukraine with 50 tons of diesel fuel.

❗World Bank President: Group to provide additional $200 million to Ukraine by end of March

✅ NYC to lift school mask rules, vaccine mandates for dining

Standing in Times Square, NYC Mayor Eric Adams said that while the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, he was confident that it is now safe to send children and teachers to school unmasked, beginning Monday.

Individual businesses can chose to keep mandates in place, at their discretion, but as of Monday the city will no longer require them to check vaccine cards. New York City’s decision to lift some of its strictest mandates comes as government officials around the US have been easing COVID-19 guidelines.

In California as of Friday, Los Angeles County residents were no longer required to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses, although the city of Los Angeles is still requiring many indoor businesses to verify that their patrons are fully vaccinated. Illinois lifted face mask requirements for many indoor spaces on Monday, while Chicago stopped requiring proof of vaccination in restaurants.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

🎥 Ukrainian troops have resumed their shelling in the Donetsk People's Republic, where authorities have indicated at least six shells of 152-millimeter caliber were fired.

⚡Bloomberg News moves to temporarily halt its operations in Russia as CNN announces it will no longer be broadcasting in the country

Full US Senate Reportedly Invited to Meet Zelensky Via Zoom on Saturday

The entire US Senate has been invited to meet Volodymyr Zelensky through a virtual conference call on Saturday, NBC News reported, citing sources.

The virtual meeting was arranged by the Ukrainian Embassy, the report said on Friday.

‼️Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has indicated he is ready to discuss Finland's possible accession to NATO

🏈 Judge approves fix to stem race bias in NFL concussion deal

Under a revised plan finalized on Friday, retired Black football players denied payments for dementia in the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement can seek to be retested or have their claims rescored to eliminate racial bias in the testing and payout formula.

The revisions could allow many retired players to resubmit their claims, adding $100 million or more to the NFL’s legal tab. The NFL, through the fund, has paid out more than $800 million to date, nearly half for dementia claims. The dementia awards average about $600,000 per player.

Over 3,300 former players or their families have sought awards for brain injuries linked to the sport, more than 2,000 of those for moderate to advanced dementia.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

🚆Amtrak engineer cleared in trial over deadly 2015 crash

An Amtrak engineer was cleared of charges related to a deadly, high-speed derailment that left eight people dead and hundreds injured in Philadelphia in 2015. The jury acquitted 38-year-old engineer Brandon Bostian of causing a catastrophe, involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment after a little more than an hour of deliberations.

Eight people died and more than 200 people were injured when the train rounded a curve at more than twice the speed limit and derailed in north Philadelphia. Amtrak agreed to pay $265 million in civil settlements to victims and their families.

Bostian’s lawyer described him as a lifelong train buff who had a perfect work record who was distracted by people throwing rocks in the area just before the crash.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

*checks notes*

🚫 Google suspends all ad sales in Russia as censorship demands grow

Google announced Friday that it has stopped selling ads in Russia amid the country's ongoing military op in Ukraine. The move means that no ads will appear on Google Search or YouTube in Russia.

The ad sales decision comes a day after Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, demanded that Google block ads on YouTube that contained what it called "false political information" about Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Google disabled its Google Maps review feature for Russian businesses after reviews for restaurants and cafés in Russia were flooded with information about Ukraine and protests against the invasion.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

‼️Singapore bans its financial institutions from transactions allowing fundraising by Russian central bank and government