Author: Steven Sahiounie

The country is set to avoid a recession but Britons face the highest taxes since WWII, an official report shows Britons are facing the biggest decline in living standards since records began in the 1950s, and the highest taxes since World War II, as the economy grinds to a halt this year, the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) reported on Wednesday. According to the report, real household disposable income, a measure of real living standards, will drop by 5.7% over the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24. “While this is 1.4 percentage points less than forecast in November, it would still…

Maria Zakharova noted that Moscow had given its consent for such a period Russia agreed to extend the grain deal for only sixty days, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Saturday. “We repeat once again. Russia agreed to extend the deal for sixty days,” she stressed. Source: Tass

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani is going to visit Iraq following high-level talks in Abu Dhabi and a week after the conclusion of a Chinese-mediated agreement between Tehran and Riyadh on mending ties and reopening the embassies. The top Iranian security official will reportedly travel to Iraq in order to “settle the security challenges and implement the economic deals” with the Arab country. Iraq is now Iran’s second biggest trade partner. According to Nour News, maintaining and increasing the annual trade exchanges with Iraq, whose value is estimated at $10 billion, requires plans to remove a…

The foreign minister of Turkey said his country welcomes the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia on the restoration of diplomatic ties after seven years, highlighting the positive impacts of the deal on Muslim unity. In a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart on Friday, Mevlut Cavusoglu welcomed the agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. He expressed confidence that the deal will result in strengthening the position of the Muslim world and in creating synergy among Islamic countries for the purpose of helping resolve the regional issues. For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said the positive interaction with…

SVB Financial Group is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank after its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The parent of Silicon Valley Bank, seized last week by the U.S., is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. SVB Financial Group, along with its CEO and its chief financial officer, were targeted this week in a class action lawsuit that claims the company didn’t disclose the risks that future interest rate increases would have on its business. SVB Financial Group is no longer affiliated with Silicon Valley Bank after its seizure by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Its collapse was the second biggest bank failure…

The lightning collapse of three banks and financial industry rescue of a fourth has put a spotlight on the Federal Reserve’s decision next week over whether to continue raising interest rates. Just two weeks after Fed Chair Jerome Powell suggested rates could rise even higher than previously projected in a bid to quash inflation, many analysts expect a no more than 0.25 percentage-point hike, while some experts are urging policy makers to hold the line for fear of further unsettling the banking system. The quandary highlights the multiple, and conflicting, issues facing the Fed. With key sectors of the economy going strong…

Spreading fake news about volunteers participating in the special operation will be punishable with 15 years in prison Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law criminalizing the slander of any participants in the special military operation, including volunteers. The document was published on the government’s website containing legal information on Saturday. Russia’s Criminal Code earlier established liability only for public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Russian Armed Forces overseas. However, the public discrediting of all participants in the special military operation, including volunteer units, organizations and individuals facilitating the Russian Armed Forces’ missions, will now be punishable…

A growing number of Americans say they are struggling to pay their bills, battered by inflation and the loss of federal pandemic aid. About 36% of consumers say it has been “somewhat” to “very difficult” for them to pay their usual bills in the last seven days, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse survey, which gathered responses during the first two weeks of February. That represents a 25% increase compared with a year earlier, and is higher than even in the early months of the pandemic, when households were buoyed by expanded unemployment aid and stimulus checks. The health of…

“Our president knows how to surprise,” says regional governor Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Sevastopol on the day of the ninth anniversary of Crimea’s reunification with Russia at the wheel of a car, Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his Telegram channel. “Our president knows how to surprise. In a good sense. Today we were supposed to inaugurate a children’s art school. Everything was ready for a video conference and a report to the president via a special communication link. In the end, the president came personally. By car. He was at the wheel himself. On such a historic…

Russian forces also hit 89 Ukrainian artillery units in firing positions Russian air defenses intercepted 15 HIMARS, Smerch and Uragan rockets in the past day, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday. “Air defenses intercepted 15 HIMARS, Smerch and Uragan rockets in the past day. In addition, nine Ukrainian drones were destroyed near Novaya Tarasovka in the Kharkov Region, Rubezhnoye and Chervonopopovka in the Lugansk People’s Republic and Staromayorskoye, Vladimirovka, Yegorovka and Valeryanovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” he specified. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a total of 402 aircraft, 221 helicopters, 3,457 drones, 414…