📹 Is the US economy now in a recession after two consecutive quarters of falling GDP?

Bill Clinton answers the question

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⚡️An explosion reportedly rocks the Kabul International Cricket Stadium.

⚡️ US Fed's preferred inflation gauge up for the first time in three months, rising 6.8 percent in the year to June

📹 The aftermath of a Ukrainian nighttime strike on a pre-trial detention center near Elenovka in Donbass, where Ukrainian prisoners were kept

A Sputnik correspondent shows pieces of HIMARS missiles found near the pre-trial detention center for Ukrainian prisoners in Elenovka

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😎Good News Friday: Reviewing the positive news of the past week

▪️Care about your health? Eating a raw banana a day can reduce the chance of getting cancer by 60%

▪️How about a new type of water production? Chinese scientists have developed an inexpensive high-tech sponge capable of absorbing drinking water from the air

▪️Could the Loch Ness monster really exist? Here’s what scientists have discovered

▪️Check out how people patiently wait for a tiger to cross a Maharashtra road

▪️In over a decade, the Perseverance rover will deliver samples from Mars that may shed light on some of the many secrets kept by the red planet

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A teenager attacked a police officer after the cop and his female colleague tried to arrest the boy in the Manhattan subway. He was released the next day

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⚡️Bosphorus closed to traffic in both directions due to ship breakdown - reports

⚡️ White House says 'safe to assume' US will soon announce more military aid to Ukraine

The White House will soon complete construction of additional sections of former President Donald Trump's border wall, and the Department of Homeland Security is filling gaps in the barrier near Yuma, Arizona.

In case you forgot: President Joe Biden ordered a stop to construction of Trump's “racist” and “xenophobic” border wall shortly after taking office in January 2021

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⚡️ US Secretary of State Blinken: I had an open and candid chat with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov

Blinken claims he "pressed" Russia to accept proposal for release of detained Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner

⚡️ Lavrov and Blinken discussed Ukraine

Months after slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars for a joke about his wife, Jada, Will Smith shared a YouTube video in which he apologized to everyone he may have hurt with this "unacceptable behavior" and responded to the most frequently asked questions about the incident

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⚡️ 'No speculations or fake news': speaking with Blinken, Lavrov suggested returning to "quiet diplomacy" when it comes to prisoner exchange, the Russia foreign ministry says

Chinese social media has exploded after the People's Liberation Army shared a post reading “Preparing for war!” that garnered over 300,000 likes within 12 hours on Friday. It was published ahead of the 95th anniversary of the PLA's founding and amid escalating tensions with the US over Taiwan.

Many users supported the PLA, with veterans even saying they would always be ready to return to the army if and when the country needs them

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In an exclusive comment for Sputnik, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the accusations by Bulgaria’s soon-to-be ex-Prime Minister Kiril Petkov about Moscow's “meddling” in Sofia’s affairs are a sure sign of a politician singing his swan song.

Russia has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, “just as it will never allow any country to try to impose its opinion on us,” Zakharova added.

🗣 “Speculation around the ‘Russian threat’ for domestic political or other selfish purposes is a sure sign of political death-throes,” she said

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California aims to make its own insulin brand to lower price

A vial of insulin cost $25 in 1995, nearly three decades later, that same vial of insulin costs more than $300. Health care advocates have bemoaned for years that insulin is held hostage by a US health care system stubbornly resistant to reforms as companies monopolize and maximize profits.

Now, with several insulin patents nearing their expiration dates, California is looking to disrupt that market by making its own insulin and selling it for a much cheaper price. State lawmakers approved $100 million for the project, with $50 million dedicated to developing three types of insulin and the rest set aside to invest in a manufacturing facility.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said he hopes a state as large as California making its own insulin would significantly diminish the role of pharmacy benefit managers in insulin pricing.

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