❗Biden brands Trump Republicans the most ‘extreme political organisation’ in recent US history

❗The Biden administration's decision to sanction Russia's central bank was not one that was taken lightly, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

"We have only rarely, I believe in the case of Iran and North Korea, imposed sanctions on a country's central bank, and the decision to do that to Russia is not one that was undertaken lightly," Yellen said.

❗The United States has seen no indications that any Western aid intended for Ukraine has been impeded, or even struck, a senior defence official said

Not a day goes by without a gaffe by Joe Biden: While posing for a photo with members of the US Olympic team, among whom were wheelchair basketball players and a visually impaired girl, the US president shouted “don’t jump” and then asked the athletes to look at the photographer. After his remarks, the broadcast’s sound was suddenly interrupted 😬

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❓How many Ukrainian soldiers has the US trained in past several years?

👉Read the full story on our website

A resident of Rubezhnoye in the Lugansk region has explained how Azov fighters forced civilians out of a bomb shelter at a bread-baking plant

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

❗Slovak energy minister: Russian oil imports ban will 'destroy' European economy, affect Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine

⚡US Federal Reserve increases interest rates by 0.5% in biggest hike of 21st century

❗Coca-Cola may completely exit Russia if Ukraine crisis becomes protracted, CEO says

Black smoke is seen over Stary Saltov in the Kharkov region for the third day: units of the Ukrainian Army, Security Service of Ukraine, and the Kraken battalion – assembled from amnestied Ukrainian criminals, have entered the village.

According to a Sputnik correspondent, as well as eyewitnesses who managed to leave the village, Ukrainian forces launched an attack on the peaceful settlement that was not occupied by anyone.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

Briefing by Russian Defence Ministry:

▪Russian high-precision missiles have destroyed four artillery batteries and a US-made counter-battery radar;

▪The Russian Aerospace Forces have hit 77 areas of concentration of manpower and military equipment, destroying up to 310 nationalists;

▪Russian air defence systems shot down six Ukrainian drones and two projectiles fired by Smerch multiple rocket launchers;

▪Russian artillery hit a Ukrainian Grad battery and 83 enemy manpower concentration areas

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

Russian MoD: Humanitarian corridor for evacuation of civilians from Azovstal and adjacent areas will be open on 5-7 May from 8 am to 6 pm Moscow time

🎥WATCH LIVE 👉 NASA astronaut hands over ISS command to Roscosmos cosmonaut

📈 How higher Fed rates stand to affect Americans’ finances

Record-low mortgages below 3%, reached last year, are long gone. Credit card rates will likely rise. So will the cost of an auto loan. Savers may finally receive a yield high enough to top inflation.

The substantial half-point hike in its benchmark short-term rate that the Federal Reserve announced Wednesday won’t, by itself, have much immediate effect on most Americans’ finances. But additional large hikes are expected to be announced at the Fed’s next two meetings, in June and July, and economists and investors foresee the fastest pace of rate increases since 1989.

As a consequence, mortgage rates have jumped 2 full percentage points just since the year began, to 5.1% on average for a 30-year fixed mortgage

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

🏦 California moves to embrace cryptocurrency

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order for state agencies to move in tandem with the federal government to craft regulations for digital currencies. It also calls for officials to explore incorporating broader blockchain computer coding into the government operations of the state where much of the world’s technological innovation is born.

Newsom’s order says the state — home to Silicon Valley and financial innovators like PayPal and Square — should be out front in figuring out how to adapt to new technologies. California has about 39 million residents and its economy is more than $3.1 trillion, larger on its own as a US state than the United Kingdom and India. Newsom’s order directs a separate agency to solicit proposals for how best to use blockchain to help the state and the public.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

Intuit to pay $141M settlement over ‘free’ TurboTax ads

The company behind the TurboTax tax-filing program will pay $141 million to customers across the United States who were deceived by misleading promises of free tax-filing services, New York’s attorney general announced Wednesday.

Under the terms of a settlement signed by the attorneys general of all 50 states, Mountain View, California-based Intuit Inc. will suspend TurboTax’s “free, free, free” ad campaign and pay restitution to nearly 4.4 million taxpayers, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.

James said her investigation into Intuit was sparked by a 2019 ProPublica report that found the company was using deceptive tactics to steer low-income tax filers away from the federally supported free services for which they qualified — and toward its own commercial products, instead.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

Education Department forgives loans of more than 110,000 people, Teases More on the Way

Temporary changes to the troubled Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program have resulted in more than 110,000 people with student debt getting around $6.8 billion in relief. While the defraud forgiveness is welcome, 45 million Americans still currently carry the burden of student loan debt totaling close to $1.7 trillion. Most borrowers hold something between $25,000 and $50,000 of debt. 

Biden confirmed that he would have an announcement on the cancellation of student debt within the coming weeks, and confirmed that whatever debt would be canceled, it would be well below the $50,000 mark. As plans continue to formulate regarding student loan forgiveness, President Biden is considering an income cap of less than $125,000 a year.

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus

💣 Bomb squad responds to reports of suspicious item near LAX

Bomb squad units are responding to reports of a suspicious item near Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday evening, according to authorities. 

Reports came in about a suspicious item at the Qantas Freight building at 6555 W. Imperial Highway around 4:24 p.m. Wednesday, according to preliminary info from the Los Angeles Airport Police Division.

Officials urged people to avoid the area and use alternative routes for an undisclosed amount of time. No further denoscription of the item was available. 

Subscribe to @sputniknewsus