If you haven’t looked at your 401(k) in a while take my advice: don’t. Americans lost half a trillion dollars in wealth early this year as the stock market plummeted.

The weekend that was

• China’s Defense Minister today accused the US of being a “bully” and “hijacking” countries around the region during a combative speech in which he said his country would “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence.

• South Korea will “dramatically” strengthen its defensive capabilities, the country’s defense minister said today amid international concern that North Korea is reviving its nuclear testing program.

• March for Our Lives, the student-led movement focused on gun violence prevention, returned to Washington, DC, Saturday with a mass demonstration in the wake of recent shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York.  

• For the first time ever, a gallon of regular gas in the US now costs $5 on average nationwide, according to AAA’s Saturday reading.

• South African Charl Schwartzel won the inaugural individual stroke-play competition of the controversial Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series on Saturday. With the victory, Schwartzel earned $4 million for the three-round, 54-hole event.

The week ahead

Monday

The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol will hold its second public hearing at 10 a.m. ET, with additional hearings set for Wednesday and Thursday, as well as the following week.

President Joe Biden is also expected to release his budget proposal for fiscal year 2023. The statutory deadline for submission to Congress is typically the first Monday in February, but the announcement was delayed due to the late State of the Union address this year.

Tuesday

Tuesday is the grim anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. On April 26, 1986, an explosion tore through Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor near Pripyat, Ukraine, killing more than 30 people. Countless others have died from radiation symptoms in the years since, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization. In late February, during the first week of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the plant and its surrounding territory fell into the hands of Russian troops, who withdrew a month later.

Something else that’s set to launch Tuesday … Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will send another rocket to the edge of space. The launch was originally set for March 23, but was pushed back for additional ground tests. “SNL” star Pete Davidson, who had been scheduled to make the trip, said he was no longer able to go after the launch date was moved. Blue Origin later announced it will replace Davidson with the chief architect of its suborbital rocket, Gary Lai. Five other paying customers are set to go on the flight. 

Thursday

Thursday also marks the Christian celebration of Epiphany. 

Friday

May 1 marks the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. It’s also May Day.

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Photos of the week

Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in at her confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, on Monday, March 21.

Pictures lie amid the rubble of a house in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 23. It has now been a month since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the destruction continues to mount.

St. Peter's Isiah Dasher fends off Kentucky's Lance Ware during their first-round game at the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, March 17. St. Peter's defeated Kentucky 85-79 in overtime. It was the tournament's biggest upset this year, as St. Peter's was a 15-seed and Kentucky was a 2-seed.

Homes are damaged in Arabi, Louisiana, on Wednesday, March 23. Tornadoes ripped through the New Orleans area the night before.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, right, appears at a court hearing in this screengrab taken from video on Tuesday, March 22. He was sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security jail, according to the Russian state-owned news agency Tass. He had been convicted on fraud charges by Moscow's Lefortovo court over allegations that he stole from his Anti-Corruption Foundation. His lawyer said he would appeal the guilty verdict.

A man takes a photo of a NASA rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, March 17. The Artemis I mission is scheduled to launch later this year, carrying an unmanned Orion spacecraft to the moon and back. It's the first step of NASA's ambitious program to land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon later this decade.

University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, left, accepts her trophy after winning the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships in Atlanta on Thursday, March 17. Thomas, the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title, is joined on the podium by second-place Emma Weyant of Virginia and third-place Erica Sullivan of Texas. With each victory, Thomas has brought renewed attention to the ongoing debate on trans women's participation in sports and the balance between inclusion and fair play.

Friends and family of Sierra Jenkins attend a vigil in her memory Sunday, March 20, in Norfolk, Virginia. Jenkins, a Virginian-Pilot newspaper reporter and a former CNN news assistant, was fatally shot in an early morning shooting on Saturday. She was 25.

Rescuers conduct search operations at the site of a plane crash in southern China's Guangxi region on Tuesday, March 22. No survivors were found after a China Eastern Airlines plane crashed with 132 people aboard.

US President Joe Biden is seated second from left, between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as Stoltenberg speaks at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, March 24. "We gather at a critical time for our security," Stoltenberg said as the meeting convened. "We are determined to continue to impose costs on Russia to bring about an end to this brutal war." See more photos from Biden's high-stakes trip to Europe.

Horsemen play buzkashi during Persian New Year celebrations in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday, March 18. In buzkashi, players compete to place a goat carcass into a goal circle.

A tear rolls down the cheek of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson as US Sen. Cory Booker spoke during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday, March 23. The Democratic senator defended Jackson and slammed his GOP colleagues for their treatment of her during the hearing. He spoke about how powerful this moment was for the country, and then spoke of African Americans before her that have made history. "You are my harbinger of hope," Booker said. "This country's getting better and better and better. And when that final vote happens, and you ascend onto the highest court in the land, I'm going to rejoice."

Singer and daytime talk-show host Kelly Clarkson does a face plant after actress Anne Hathaway defeated her with her own song in a game of "Sing That Name That Tune" on Tuesday, March 22.

A preserved Sumatran tiger is burned by authorities in Palembang, Indonesia, on Friday, March 18. The Sumatran tiger is a protected species in Indonesia.

A woman named Olga feeds her 1-month-old daughter as her husband, Dmytro, looks on at the Ohmatdit Children's Hospital in Ukraine. According to a Facebook post from the hospital, Olga shielded her baby with her body while their home was being shelled in Kyiv. The child was unharmed, but Olga sustained multiple injuries, the post said. More photos: This is what parenting in a war zone looks like

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews escort the vehicle carrying the body of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky during his mass funeral in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Sunday, March 20.

Princeton's Ellie Mitchell, left, and Indiana's Aleksa Gulbe reach for the ball during an NCAA Tournament game on Monday, March 21. Indiana defeated Princeton 56-55 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

A firefighter sprays water inside a house that was destroyed by Russian shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 23.

Kasih the orangutan celebrates her 60th birthday at a zoo in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on Saturday, March 19.

Pakistan Air Force jets perform during a military parade in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Wednesday, March 23. It was for Pakistan Day, a national holiday celebrating the adoption of the country's first constitution.

Children in Kingston, Jamaica, wait to catch a glimpse of Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, on Tuesday, March 22. The couple was on a weeklong tour of the Caribbean, visiting Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas for a series of engagements to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee.

A staff member walks inside the Fire Eye laboratory, a temporary Covid-19 testing facility, before it opened in Yantai, China, on Thursday, March 17.

Patrick Jackson, the husband of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, sits behind his wife during her confirmation hearing on Monday, March 21. Also attending were their daughters Leila, seen here, and Talia.

Taylor Fritz reacts after defeating Rafael Nadal to win the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament on Sunday, March 20. Fritz won the match 6-3, 7-6. It was Nadal's first loss of 2022, and it was Fritz's first Masters 1000 title.

Men carry torches to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, in Akra, Iraq, on Sunday, March 20.

Venezuela's Yulimar Rojas reacts after breaking her own world record in the triple jump Sunday, March 20, at the World Indoor Championships. She jumped 15.74 meters, seven centimeters further than her previous record of 15.67 meters.

The Retroville shopping mall is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, after Russian shelling on Monday, March 21.

Bayern Munich's Giulia Gwinn heads the ball during a Champions League quarterfinal match in Munich, Germany, on Tuesday, March 22.

Members of the press cover the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday, March 21.

In this screen grab taken from video, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Korsakov, Oleg Artemyev and Denis Matveyev are welcomed after arriving at the International Space Station on Friday, March 18. Their yellow flight suits, trimmed with blue, raised questions about whether the three were showing solidarity with Ukraine by wearing its national colors. The head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said the crew were not representing Ukraine but wearing colors from their alma mater: Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

A model displays a creation from Sugarhill, by designer Rikuya Hayashi, during Tokyo Fashion Week on Saturday, March 19.

A woman cleans up a room Monday, March 21, in a building that was damaged by bombing in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Phoenix center JaVale McGee falls into spectators while trying to save a ball from going out of bounds during an NBA game against Chicago on Friday, March 18.

"Shot Sage Blue Marilyn," one of Andy Warhol's iconic Marilyn Monroe portraits, is photographed at the Christie's auction house in New York on Monday, March 21. It will go on sale in May, and Christie's is expecting bids "in the region of" $200 million.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, right, claps his hands at the opening of a new factory in Grünheide, Germany, on Tuesday, March 22. Tesla will reportedly produce as many as 500,000 vehicles a year at the plant.

Pope Francis meets with members of the Italian Federation of Chefs as he holds his weekly general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, March 23.

Honey bees fly back to their hive in Berlin on Monday, March 21.

College students party on the beach in South Padre Island, Texas, on Saturday, March 19. South Padre Island is one of the top Spring Break destinations in Texas, attracting students from all over the country.

Ukrainian servicemen attend the funeral of Alexandr Khovtun in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, March 20. Khovtun died in combat in the town of Huta-Mezhyhirska.

Laura Gingrich and Matthew Poetzinger dance near Yoshino cherry trees as they celebrate their engagement in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 22. The city's iconic cherry blossoms were in full bloom. See last week in 35 photos.

The week in 40 photos

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Check out more moving, fascinating and thought-provoking images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.

What’s happening in entertainment

It’s a new year of TV! And some old favorites just keep getting better with age. “American Idol” and “The Bachelor” both hit the big 2-0 this year, as do several shows that have long since wrapped, but remain fan favorites in syndication and on streaming platforms. Oh, and there are some other big TV birthdays thrown in here to make you feel especially ancient. (“Cheers” is HOW old now?!)

The 94th Academy Awards will be presented later today at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The ceremony will be broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Wanda Sykes, Amy Schumer and Regina Hall are co-hosting the event – the first Oscars ceremony with a host since 2018. “The Power of the Dog” leads among nominated films with 12 nods. “Dune” has 10, while “West Side Story” and “Belfast” each have seven. Learn more about the show and get a refresher on all the nominees here.

What’s happening in sports

Saturday, January 8, North Dakota State and Montana State will meet for the FCS Championship game. 

Duke men’s basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski advanced to his record-setting 13th Final Four appearance yesterday after the No. 2 seed Blue Devils defeated No. 4 seed Arkansas in the Elite Eight of the NCAA men’s tournament. Duke will next face the winner of today’s No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s and No. 8 seed North Carolina Elite Eight game. The Saint Peter’s team made history Friday night by becoming the first No. 15 seed to reach the Elite Eight. No. 1 seed Kansas will face No. 10 seed Miami in the other Elite Eight game later today.

Italy fails to qualify for men’s World Cup

Italy players are “destroyed and crushed” after failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar following a last-gasp defeat to North Macedonia, according to defender Giorgio Chiellini. Aleksandar Trajkovski scored a dramatic 92nd-minute winner to stun the European champions in their playoff qualifier semifinal and ensure Italy will not be playing the World Cup for the second straight time, having also missed out in 2018.

First woman to be drafted by a professional baseball team

History was made this past week when the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes drafted Alexis Hopkins, the first woman ever drafted by an American professional baseball team for an on-field role, according to the Atlantic League and MLB.com.

Quiz time!

Take CNN’s Weekly News Quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 54% of fellow quiz fans have gotten an 8 out of 10 or better this week. How well can you do?

Play me off

Listen, I had prod my brain for an inspirational song to get us all pumped for the new year. And for some reason, “Go the Distance” from Disney’s “Hercules” (performed by Michael Bolton, of course) is what slithered out. Crank the dial to the right and let it wash over you. You know you want to. (Click here to rock out)

You are the joy of someone’s life, remember that! Enjoy this feel-good classic by the legendary country superstar Chris Stapleton. (Click here to view)