🏘 US Mortgage Rates Above 5%, Highest in More Than a Decade

A large number of first time home buyers, combined with the supply chain issues and construction halts brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused housing prices to skyrocket through 2021 and early 2022. The Federal Reserve is responding by raising interest rates.

Mortgage rates have risen by 2% since the start of the year, pushing them higher than 5% for the first time in eleven years. With the 2% increase, borrowers will be paying an additional $115 per month for every $100,000 financed. Adding in the increase in housing prices and buyers could be spending $600 or more extra per month for the same house.

The median price of a home has risen from $209,200 in December 2020 to $357,300 today.

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🚬 E-cigs using synthetic nicotine come under FDA oversight

US regulators will soon begin cracking down on vaping companies using a now-closed loophole, including a line of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes that have become teenagers’ top choice. Under a law taking effect Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration can regulate e-cigarettes and similar products that use synthetic nicotine.

The action targets Puff Bar and several other vaping companies that recently switched their formulas to laboratory-made nicotine to skirt FDA oversight. Nicotine, the chemical that makes smoking and vaping addictive, occurs naturally in tobacco plants. Last month, Congress passed language clarifying that the FDA can regulate any form of nicotine, regardless of the source.

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⚡️ Beijing: China to hold military drills near Taiwan in response to 'US provocations'

⚡️ Russian Military vows more strikes against targets in Kiev in case of attacks on Russian territory

⚡️ US should stop all official contacts with Taiwan, China Foreign Ministry says

Being no stranger to gaffes, US President Joe Biden raised eyebrows during a trip to North Carolina. After delivering a speech defending his handling of the US economy at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, the president turned to decisively shake hands… with thin air

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The Russian Defence Ministry has released footage of electronic warfare systems

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Watch: Anti-aircraft missile systems operate in Russia's Belgorod

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📌 The latest on the Ukraine operation from the Russian Defence Ministry:

▪️ Russian military, DPR forces have liberated the "Mariupol Metallurgical Plant named after Illich" from Ukrainian nationalists;

▪️ The Russian Army destroyed the Zhulyansk machine-building plant using Kalibr missiles;

▪️ Russian Forces have killed up to 30 Polish mercenaries in Izyumskoe, Kharkov Region;

▪️ Russian air defences have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter using an S-400 anti-aircraft missile system;

▪️ High-precision air-based missiles destroyed a Tochka-U, up to 20 Ukrainian armoured vehicles, and as many as 50 nationalists near Yasenovoe, Ukraine

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⚡️ Possible Swedish & Finnish NATO accession may undermine stability in northern Europe, Moscow says

⚡️ The Kremlin has no doubt that all tasks of special operation in Ukraine will be fulfilled

❗Moscow sent US warning note over arms shipment to Ukraine, reports say

⚡️ EU won't be able to fully replace Russian oil & gas in next 5-10 years, Russian Deputy PM says

💬Despite Biden's statement that he's ready to go to Kiev, the White House says his trip to Ukraine isn't being planned

Russian MoD video: A UAV crew has detected a column of Ukrainian military equipment and destroyed it with high-precision weapons

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❗Russian Investigative Committee says French Legion soldiers among Ukrainian troops, probing it as part of criminal case on mercenaries in Ukraine

Ukraine labs: Bioweapons can be used as tool in US low-level war against Russia, ex-DoD analyst says

⚡Athens won't make new weapons deliveries to Ukraine - Cabinet spokesman

💬US Embassy in Jerusalem urges all parties to refrain from escalating tensions