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The US economy has shrunk for the second quarter in a row, a milestone that in many countries would be considered an economic recession, BBC reported.

That is not the case in the US, which uses additional data to make that call.

But the contraction, at an annual rate of 0.9% in the three months to July, has drawn widespread attention as worries about the economy grow.

Prices for groceries, petrol and other basics are rising at the fastest pace since 1981.

As the US central bank raises borrowing costs quickly to try to cool the economy and ease price pressures, fears are rising that a recession is coming - if it has not officially started already.

Faced with sinking public confidence, US President Joe Biden has tried to make the case that the economy remains sound, noting that the unemployment rate remains at a low 3.6% and hiring has remained strong.

"If you look at our job market, consumer spending, business investment - we see signs of economic progress," Mr Biden said Thursday, noting the historic post-pandemic gains the US experienced last year. "There's no doubt we expect growth to be slower than last year .... That's consistent with a transition to stable, steady growth and lower inflation."

This week, ahead of the data from the Commerce Department, he told reporters that the economy was "not going to be in a recession". That prompted his opponents in the Republican party to accuse the White House of trying to redefine the term.

"White House recession 'rebrand' won't reduce Americans' suffering," they said.

In the first three months of the year, the US economy shrank at an annual rate of 1.6%. At the time, economists attributed the decline in gross domestic product (GDP) to quirks in trade data, according to BBC.

But Thursday's report showed more marked slowdown, with growth weighed down by declines in the housing market, business investment and government spending. Consumer spending grew at a slower annual rate of 1%, as people spent more on healthcare, accommodation and dining out, but cut back on goods and groceries.

Harvard professor Jeffrey Frankel previously served on the National Bureau of Economic Research committee, the group of academics that is charged with making the official declaration of recession. 

He said he did not think a recession started at the beginning of the year, noting the strong jobs growth. But after that he was less confident.

"Things have already slowed down, so I'm not saying that everything is great," he said. "Odds of a recession going forward are substantially higher than for a random year."

Inflation in the US hit 9.1% in June, the fastest pace of price appreciation in more than four decades. 

On Wednesday, the US central bank responded to the problem with another unusually large increase to its key interest rate, its second 0.75 percentage point rise since it started raising rates in March.

By making borrowing costs more expensive, the Federal Reserve is hoping to reduce spending on items such as homes and cars, in theory easing some of the pressures putting up prices. But lower demand also means a decline in economic activity. 

Recent reports have shown consumer confidence falling, the housing market slowing, and the first contraction in business activity since 2020, BBC reported. 

The US stock market has sunk since the start of the year, and companies from social media giant Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, to carmaker General Motors have said they plan to slow hiring. Some other firms, especially in the property sector, have announced job cuts.

Russia has carried out deadly strikes across Ukraine, as Kyiv stepped up its efforts to retake the occupied southern Kherson region, BBC reported.

Five people were killed and 26 injured when missiles struck the central city of Kropyvnytskyi, officials said. Three people died in Bakhmut, in the east.

Near Kyiv, 15 people were hurt at a military base. Ukraine's northern and southern regions were also hit.

This comes as Ukraine seeks to isolate Russian troops in the country's south.

A key bridge into the city of Kherson is out of action after Ukrainian forces struck it with long-range rockets supplied by the US. This makes it impossible for Russia to send deployments and weaponry over the Antonivsky Bridge.

UK defence officials say the only Ukrainian regional capital seized since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February is now "virtually cut off from other occupied territories".

However, the Ukrainian military has warned that Moscow is now redeploying its forces from eastern Ukraine to defend the Kherson region.

Pictures have emerged purportedly showing Russian troops trying to set up a pontoon crossing near the damaged bridge.

Control over Kherson is important for Russia, as it provides a land corridor to Crimea - Ukraine's southern peninsula annexed by the Kremlin in 2014, according to BBC.

Kropyvnytskyi - the capital of the Kirovohrad region - was hit by two Russian missiles at about 12:20 local time on Tuesday (09:20 GMT), regional head Andriy Raikovych said at a briefing.

He said the missiles struck hangars of a local flight school, and that the wounded did not have life threatening injuries.

In Bakhmut, which lies in the eastern Donetsk region, at least three people were killed and another three injured in Russian shelling, regional head Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Twelve residential buildings were damaged.

Separately, 15 people were hurt when six Russian Kalibr missiles hit a military base in Liutizh, about 10km (six miles) north of the capital Kyiv, senior Ukrainian military official Oleksiy Hromov said. He did not specify whether there were any deaths.

Elsewhere, one person was killed and two injured in Russian shelling of Ukraine's central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, local officials said, BBC reported.

And in the southern city of Mykolaiv, one person was injured and a school was destroyed in a "massive" Russian missile attack, regional head Vitaliy Kim said.

Police have arrested seven cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal for showing black flags to US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, Donald Lu on Thursday.

The cadres showed black flags to Lu, who arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit to Nepal this afternoon, at Gaushala while he was heading towards the hotel. 

They showed the black flags demanding annulment of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and State Partnership Program (SPP).

Police arrested All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISUR) Chairman Prakash Shahi, General Secretary Lalit BK, Secretariat member Tara Sanjel, central members Prem Sijapati, Lalit Bam and Ramesh Rawat and Bhaktapur Coordinator Ashok Mahara, Secretariat member Subash Joshi said.

Query

I am a 35-year-old journalist and in my nearly 10-year-old career, I have reported on many disturbing and traumatic events. I have come across many individuals whose life stories have left me devastated. This has happened to me even while covering stories on animal cruelty. I think those incidents have deeply affected me emotionally and mentally. I find it difficult to do my job as a reporter these days. I empathize too much with the people whose stories I am covering. I feel like their traumas are my own and I don’t know how to separate my work from my personal life. Please help! 

—A worried journo

Answered by Krishangi, Psychologist, Happy Minds

As counselors to people with many kinds of troubles, we come across many stories that keep us up all night. But a teacher once told me: “Their problems are theirs, and yours are yours”. I understand your job requires you to connect with other people and listen to their stories. It is only normal to be affected by their tribulations. We humans empathize with the hardship and trauma of fellow humans. But if you take it too far, it will encroach on your personal life.

You must remember that their stories are not yours. You are your own individual self and you probably have your own set of problems to deal with.

You have to consciously separate yourself from the problems of other people when you are out reporting their stories. One thing you can do is reflect on what you know about the individuals you are talking to and how you can help them by telling their stories. Zoom out from whatever bad situations they might be going through and portray yourself as someone who can help them in a realistic way. 

Remind yourself constantly that your professional and personal lives are two different things. Mixing them up is the last thing you want to do. Learn to leave your work at office. 

To deal with the negative emotions you pick up from your work, you have to find an activity that helps you take them out of your system. If you are not yourself and you start getting affected by other people's sufferings and life stories, you will get burned out and worse, your career will take a hit. 

No, doing these things does not mean you are being selfish, or you do not care about other people. It simply means that you are protecting yourself as an individual.

So if you have interests like working out, or yoga, gardening, or anything you enjoy, you need to make time for them. Focus on growing as an individual.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, Donald Lu, arrived in Kathmandu on a two-day visit to Nepal on Thursday.

US Embassy Deputy Head Manuel P. Micaller welcomed Lu at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu who came to Nepal with a three-member team this afternoon.

During this stay in Nepal, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

He will hand over the US Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to Purnaa, a US manufacturing company in Nepal that promotes ethical manufacturing by empowering traditionally marginalized people and survivors of exploitation.

Assistant Secretary Lu will also meet with business, civil society, and government leaders.

The US Embassy, issuing a statement on Thursday, said that Lu is arriving in Nepal for a two-day trip as part of a regularly scheduled visit.

His visit to Nepal, at a time when the parties are divided over the issue of implementing the State Partnership Program (SPP), has been taken meaningfully.

Earlier, Lu, who visited Nepal on November 17, 2021, had held separate meetings with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka among other leaders.

Nepal recorded 710 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Thursday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 2, 541 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 524 returned positive. Likewise, 2,484 people underwent antigen tests, of which 186 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 215 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 4, 236 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 15. 49 points to close at 2,127.47 points on Thursday.

Similarly, the sensitive index plunged by 2. 70 points to close at 405. 62 points.

A total of 11,955,076 unit shares of 221 companies were traded for Rs 4. 97 billion.

In today’s market, all sub-indices saw green except for Non Life Insurance, Manu. & Pro and Others.

Meanwhile, Bindhyabasini Hyrdopower Company Limited was the top gainer today, with its price surging by 10 percent. Radhi Bidyut Company Ltd was the top loser as its price fell by 3.91 percent.

At the end of the day, total market capitalisation stood at Rs 3. 03 trillion.

The US Embassy in Nepal said that Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Donald Lu, is arriving in Nepal for a two-day trip as part of a regularly scheduled visit.

During his stay in Kathmandu, he will hand over the US Secretary of State’s Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) to Purnaa, a US manufacturing company in Nepal that promotes ethical manufacturing by empowering traditionally marginalized people and survivors of exploitation, read a statement issued on Wednesday.

Assistant Secretary Lu will also meet with business, civil society, and government leaders.