News Wrap: Israeli troops disrupt rally in occupied West Bank

Read the Full Transcript

• Amna Nawaz:

  Good evening, and welcome. I'm Amna Nawaz. Geoff Bennett is on assignment.

  On the "NewsHour" tonight: Walgreens says it won't sell abortion pills in a handful of states where the medication is still legal, the latest blow to reproductive rights in the U.S.

  We speak to some of the tens of thousands of prisoners conscripted by Russia to fight on the front lines in Ukraine.

  And one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces unit receives the Medal of Honor nearly 60 years after first being recommended for the prestigious award.

  Col. Paris Davis (RET.), Medal of Honor Recipient: This medal means a lot. It means a lot to America to see that we are all capable of doing good.

  (BREAK)

• Amna Nawaz:

  We begin tonight with the war in Ukraine, where the besieged city of Bakhmut appears to be on its last legs. Russian artillery fire rained down today on the final access routes to the eastern city. Ukraine's defenders also faced scores of ground attacks.

  And the head of Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries claimed the city is almost entirely surrounded.

• Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner Group (through translator):

  The pincers are getting tighter. If, earlier, the professional Ukrainian army fought against us, today, we see more and more old people and children. They fight, but their life under Bakhmut is short, one or two days. Let them leave the city.

• Amna Nawaz:

  A victory I'm Bakhmut would mark Russia's first major win in Ukraine in half-a-year.

  President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged anew today to support Ukraine as long as it takes. The leaders met at the White House and said they will continue working in lockstep. The president also thanked Scholz for keeping up the pressure on Russia.

  Israeli troops used to stun grenades and tear gas today to disrupt a rally by Israeli left-wing activists in the occupied West Bank. It was meant to show solidarity with a Palestinian town that Jewish settlers had attacked on Sunday. Soldiers pushed protesters to the ground and also blocked busloads of others from the area. The army said the town is now a closed military zone.

  In Belarus, a court sentenced a human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner to 10 years in prison. Ales Bialiatski was accused of helping to finance huge anti-government protests in 2020. He's already spent 21 months in jail and appeared today in a caged enclosure in court. One exiled opposition leader called the verdict appalling.

  Back in this country, a judge in South Carolina sentenced Alex Murdaugh to life in prison without parole for murdering his wife and son. The trial of the once prominent lawyer drew national attention, but the jury found him guilty in less than three hours on Thursday.

  Today, Murdaugh insisted he was innocent. He admitted stealing to feed an opioid addiction and lying about it. Judge Clifton Newman said he lied about the murders as well.

• Judge Clifton Newman, South Carolina Circuit Court:

  You have engaged in such duplicitous conduct here in the courtroom, here on the witness stand. And the question is, when will it end? When will it end?

  And it's ended already for the jury, because they have concluded that you continued to lie and lie throughout your testimony.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Murdaugh's defense attorneys said today they plan to appeal.

  A winter storm system that varied parts of California and snow has now reached the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. It could bring 18 inches of snow and high winds through Saturday. Overnight, the front touched off tornadoes in Texas and Louisiana, tearing up trees and cutting power to thousands of customers. One twister struck near Pickton, Texas, north of Dallas.

• Ray Woodarski, Pickton, Texas, Resident:

  Somebody said: "Man, that train sounds loud."

  And I said: "That ain't no train. The train come — noise is coming from there." We looked up, and there it was coming straight through the day on woods. It looked like Moses was parting the Red Sea.

• Amna Nawaz:

  No one was hurt in the tornadoes, but high winds were blamed for three deaths today in Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

  President Biden's doctor says a small lesion the president's chest turned out to be cancerous, but not malignant. The lesion was removed last month. Dr. Kevin O'Connor said today a biopsy showed a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. He said no further treatment is needed.

  And, on Wall Street, stocks saw their best gains since January as interest rates eased on the bond market. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 337 points or 1 percent to close it 33391. The Nasdaq rose 2 percent. The S&P 500 added 1.6 percent.

  Still to come on the "NewsHour": one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces unit finally received the Medal of Honor; what the annual Conservative Political Conference says about Republican priorities; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; plus much more.