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Samsung launched today its One UI 6 beta program for the Galaxy S23 series devices in the US, South Korea and Germany countries."Based on Android 14, One UI 6 enables a more user-friendly experience, bringing a complete package of enhancements to Samsung apps and features including a more streamlined design and wider options for personalization" Samsung said in a statement.It is easier than ever to adjust screen visibility on the go as the brightness control bar is available by default in the compact Quick Panel. Furthermore, there is also a new instant access option to the full Quick Panel, providing faster access to settings with a single downward swipe at the upper right corner of the screen, the statement added.

Xiaomi has officially launched its first foldable phone Mix Fold 3, which brings a svelte design to the table, complete with your choice of composite fiber or glass backs.The composite fiber model measures 10.86mm thick when folded and 5.26mm when unfurled, while weighing 255 grams. Meanwhile, the glass model is 10.96mm thick and weighs 259 grams. Either way, its not quite as thin as the HONOR Magic V2 but its still slim for a foldable phone.Switching to the screens, youre getting a 6.56-inch FHD+ OLED smartphone display and a folding, 8.03-inch LTPO OLED screen 2,160 x 1,916, 120Hz, ultra-thin glass, but the Mix Fold 3 seems to buck this trend to an extent. The Xiaomi foldable brings a quad rear camera system, featuring a 50MP IMX800 main camera (with OIS), a 12MP ultrawide lens (125-degree field-of-view), and a pair of 10MP telephoto shooters (3.2x and 5x).

Little-known senator Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar was sworn on Monday as Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister to see the country through to an election due in months.Kakar, 52, takes charge of a country that has been wracked by political and economic instability for months, with Imran Khan — Pakistan’s most popular politician — in jail and disqualified from elections for five years.Kakar was sworn in by President Arif Alvi on Pakistan’s Independence Day in a ceremony carried live on TV, having resigned from his post as senator on Sunday.“I Anwaar-ul-Haq, do swear solemnly... that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan,” he said.Kakar’s first task will be to choose a cabinet to run the country as it heads into an election period that could last for months.Parliament was officially dissolved last week, with elections due within 90 days according to the constitution.But data from the latest census was finally published earlier this month, and the outgoing government said the election commission needed time to redraw constituency boundaries.There has been speculation for months that a vote would be delayed as the establishment struggles to stabilise a country facing overlapping security, economic and political crises.“I am relinquishing heavy responsibility after 16 months... We came constitutionally and leave as per the direction of the constitution,” outgoing premier Shehbaz Sharif said in a farewell address to the nation on Sunday.Pakistan has been in political turmoil since Khan was controversially dismissed as premier by a no-confidence vote in April 2022, culminating in him being jailed last weekend for three years on a hotly disputed graft charge.He has been disqualified from standing for office for five years, but is appealing against his sentence and conviction.Authorities have cracked down hard against Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in recent months, crushing his grassroots power by rounding up thousands of his supporters and officials.Political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi told AFP at the weekend that Kakar “has a limited political career and not much weight in Pakistani politics”.“This can be an advantage because he has no strong affiliation with the major political parties,” he said. “But the disadvantage is that being a lightweight politician, he may find it difficult to cope with the problems he’s going to face without the active support of the military establishment.”Analyst Ayesha Siddiqa noted that Kakar had done courses at the National Defence University — formerly the military’s war college — and said he would be close to the establishment.“It seems that the establishment has struck and they have found somebody who will be watching over their interests rather than that of politicians,” she said.Last month, parliament rushed through legislation that gives the caretaker government more power to negotiate with global bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, another clue it may be around for a while.

Pakistan celebrated its 77th Independence Day with pomp and ceremony on Monday.The day began with special prayers dedicated to Pakistan as mosques across the nation echoed with early morning supplications for prosperity, unity, and peace — prayers that were fitting considering the country’s current political and economic challenges.In the federal capital, a cannon fired a 31-gun salute, while each provincial capital echoed with a 21-gun salute. At 7:58am, sirens resonated throughout Pakistan, signalling the start of the grand flag-hoisting ceremony at 8am. Change of guard ceremonies took place at Mazar-i-Iqbal in Lahore and Mazar-i-Quaid in Karachi.As the country observed a national holiday, both public and private sector entities organised a variety of special events and activities. These included seminars, discussions, photography exhibitions, artistic displays of paintings and poetry, renditions of national songs, and lively debate competitions.These activities aimed to reflect on the monumental achievement of the creation of a separate homeland for the Muslims of the subcontinent in 1947. The focus was on honouring the relentless efforts of Pakistan Movement leaders and the sacrifices made by national heroes and ordinary individuals in their pursuit of self-determination.Streets and boulevards in the federal capital and other cities were transformed into vibrant displays of colour, predominantly green. People adorned their homes, vehicles, and streets with flags, banners, and buntings. Prominent public and private buildings illuminated the night, commemorating this significant occasion.The print and electronic media paid tribute to Pakistan’s heroes, highlighting their enduring contributions and remarkable dedication. Police forces across the nation implemented traffic management plans to ensure the convenience and safety of the public, who gathered in parks, malls, markets and beaches to celebrate the day.Literary and cultural organisations, including the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), organised a variety of programmes to emphasise the significance of the day. However, perhaps the most excited participants were the children.To engage and educate these enthusiastic youngsters about the historic significance of the day, both public and private educational institutions arranged various activities, including competitions, events, and sessions that shed light on the struggle behind the creation of Pakistan. Cities throughout the country were adorned with the green and white colours of Independence Day celebration stalls, featuring dresses, flags, buntings, pin badges, toys, and other decorative items to captivate the young population.

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins announced his resignation on Monday, blaming a breakdown in relations with parts of his multi-party governing government.“This Thursday I will submit the resignation of myself and this cabinet to the president,” he told a press conference.Alongside its Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Estonia, Latvia is a leading voice in pushing the European Union and Nato to increase pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.Karins’ centre-right New Unity party won a national electionin October 2022, gaining 26 of 100 seats in a fractured parliament where seven parties are represented. He blamed coalition partners “blocking the work for prosperity and economic growth” for Monday’s decision, according to a posting on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.Karins’s party governed the European Union nation of 1.9mn, with support from the conservative National Alliance and the United List of smaller parties giving him a narrow parliamentary majority.But relations with the coalition soured after it failed to field a joint candidate for a presidential election in May. On Friday, Karins made an abortive attempt to bring more parties into government.

The recent coup in Niger will diminish France’s influence in the Sahel region, particularly after the militaries in Mali and Burkina Faso similarly seized power, analysts and experts in international relations said.Speaking to the Qatar News Agency (QNA), they said the latest developments in West Africa should push Paris to review its foreign policy in the region and plan a new strategy.QNA’s meetings with experts focused on the future of the 1,500-personnel French base in Niger, the destiny of the new strategy announced by President Emmanuel Macron in July last year, and the possible ECOWAS bloc military efforts to restore constitutional order in Niger.French-US commentator Gerald Olivier warned that that Paris would lose a strategic country and central ally in the Sahel region, forcing its influence to diminish.He said that if France really wants to preserve its interests and influence in the Sahel region and in Africa in general amid these rapid changes, it should consider reviewing its African policy and plan a new strategy, regardless of the final results of this coup.Olivier noted that France was a victim of the rising wave of populism in African countries fuelled by social media.While the failure in the Sahel region was caused by the existing African regimes there and not France, he said that Paris did not intervene in the Sahel region to fix economic problems or low growth rates.Olivier stressed that while France has been present in the Sahel region for decades, with geopolitical conditions having developed and changed a lot, France alone does not have the military or financial capabilities to completely eliminate the armed organisations.He warned that Macron’s new strategy, which placed Niger as a focal point for the French forces to confront armed organisations, will inevitably fail given that France failed to anticipate the changes that occurred in Niger and the rest of West Africa countries.Geneva-based Hosni Obaidi, head of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Research in the Arab world and North Africa, said that the events currently taking place in Niger, in addition to the end of Operation Barkhane as well as the withdrawal of French forces from Mali and Burkina Faso, reveal a rupture in French policy in the Sahel region and in Africa.He noted that there is a major shift in French policy, adding that this change and erosion in the policy of the French influence in Africa is not new, but rather the result of decades-old accumulations.Obaidi said that the accelerating international events and the emergence of new forces in the region that compete with the French and traditional Western powers, as well as the significant change in the ruling elites in many African countries – especially in the Sahel region, are the real reasons for this major shift in French policy in Africa.He added that successive French governments have not been able to renew, revive or adapt their policy in a way that is compatible with the new African situation.Obaidi indicated that Niger represents a setback on two levels for France: the first of which is because Niger was the backbone of the new policy that Macron wants to pursue in the Sahel region, especially after leaving Mali and Burkina Faso.The second is France’s failure to anticipate events in Niger.Obaidi stressed that France’s failed foreign policy in Africa is a collective failure that dates back to decades.Emmanuel Dupuy, president of the Institute for European Perspective and Security Studies (IPSE) and former political adviser to the French forces in Afghanistan, told QNA that France has lost an important and central ally in Niger.He noted that this military coup would have an impact on the strategic political aspect regarding the French presence and influence in the Sahel region, especially following France’s exit from Mali and Burkina Faso.Dupuy added that the repositioning of the French military forces should be done in a secret manner.The number and size of military bases should be reduced and the soldiers should be divided into small groups, in addition to focusing on the special forces that can move quickly and in a hidden manner similar to the method France is pursuing in Benin, he said.Dupuy pointed out that there are 1,500 French soldiers and 1,200 US soldiers in Niger, as well as 350 Italian soldiers who are securing Niamey airport, and 200 German soldiers within the framework of the European force, noting that the future of the French forces is linked to the future of these forces combined.Other proposed scenarios include the agreement of the authorities in Niger to keep the French soldiers in their country and limit their mission and determine it according to certain conditions, he said.Dupuy did not rule out that the third scenario could be the fact that France began to think about relocating its soldiers to another African country.He pointed out that while the coup in Niger did have an effect on the geopolitical map in the Sahel region and Africa, there will be no major security or strategic repercussions for the region.He noted that Russia and China will not be involved in the game.On the contrary, Dupuy said, they are very disturbed by what happened, especially since they signed trade and defence partnership agreements with the detained Niger president.He added that threats of the ECOWAS group to use military force and intervene in Niger will not be carried out, given that the countries of the group do not have the military or financial capabilities to engage in such a war.Dr Alain Safa, professor of economics and political geography at the University of Nice and President of the International French Economic Association (CEMAFY), highlighted that Niger ranks first in the world in uranium reserves and the seventh in its production, according to the World Nuclear Association, while France has strategic economic agreements with Niger, with more than 30 major French companies active in Niamey.The Orano company, which specialises in uranium production and is 90% owned by the French government, is the largest.The context here is that Paris relies on Niger for 35% of its uranium needs to help its nuclear plants generate 70% of the electricity.Therefore, Dr Safa said, the Niger situation has a major impact on France.He noted however that France also relies on various global markets in supplying uranium: Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan rank first and second, followed by Niger in third place, and Australia as France’s fourth source of this strategic material.Although Niger today is only responsible for 5% of the global production of uranium, what is happening in Niger comes at a sensitive time in view of the conflict between Europe and Russia through the Russian-Ukrainian war, Dr Safa said, adding that if the crisis between Russia and Europe continues, this will lead to an increase in uranium prices in the coming years. – QNA

Argentines will choose between far-right lawmaker Javier Milei, centre-right coalition candidate Patricia Bullrich and Economy Minister Sergio Massa in this year’s presidential vote, according to results from Sunday’s primary election.In a format that is unique in the region, Argentines voted Sunday for their favourite among 22 potential presidential candidates, with anti-establishment Milei taking the top spot at more than 30%, with 93% of votes counted.Bullrich, 67, had about 28% of the vote and 51-year-old lawyer and government minister Massa was third with about 27%.Deeply unpopular President Alberto Fernandez is not seeking reelection in October as year-on-year inflation runs at 115%, poverty has soared, and the value of the peso has plummeted.The far-right lawmaker with a soft spot for former US president Donald Trump and Brazil’s ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro went into Sunday’s vote as his Libertad Avanza party’s only candidate.“We have managed to build this competitive alternative that will put an end to the parasitic, thieving, useless political caste,” Milei said on Sunday evening.Among other things, Milei has said that he wants to abolish the Central Bank, ban abortion, liberalise the sale of arms and open up a market for the sale of human organs.

Recovery crews in Hawaii are likely to find between 10-20 more victims per day, the state’s governor has said – meaning the toll from the deadliest US wildfire in a century is expected to rise sharply.At least 96 people are already confirmed to have died, but Governor Josh Green said emergency responders with cadaver dogs will need more than a week to work their way through hundreds of homes and burned-out vehicles in hard-hit Lahaina.“There are more fatalities that will come,” he told CBS in an interview aired on Monday.He added: “They will find 10-20 people per day probably until they finish. And it’s probably going to take 10 days. It’s impossible to guess, really.”The death toll made the blaze Hawaii’s worst natural disaster, surpassing a tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, a year after Hawaii became a US state.It was also the largest number of deaths from a US wildfire since 1918, when 453 people died in the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association.The historic coastal town of Lahaina on the island of Maui was almost destroyed by the fast-moving inferno last week, with survivors saying there had been no warnings.With some cell phone communications now restored, residents have been able to connect with family and friends, and the number of people still missing has been reduced from more than 2,000 to around 1,300, said Green.“Our hearts will break beyond repair, perhaps, if that means that many more dead. None of us think that, but we are prepared for many tragic stories,” he said.The town, which served as the Hawaiian kingdom’s capital in the early 19th century, was home to around 12,000 residents.More than 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed as the fire tore through Lahaina, according to official estimates, wreaking $5.5bn in damage and leaving thousands homeless.Many of the survivors took to Sunday church services, including Akanesi Vaa, 38, who said her family got stuck in traffic while trying to escape the flames.Vaa, her husband and her children aged 15, 13 and nine fled on foot and jumped a fence to safety.Along the way, an elderly woman pleading for help handed her a baby to care for. The woman and her husband also made it over the fence.“I think many of us needed to hear today’s message,” Vaa said after attending church at King’s Cathedral in Kahului. “All these ashes are going to turn into beauty. I know Lahaina will come back ten times stronger.”Scott Landis, pastor at Keawal’i Church, said an unusually large crowd of 100 showed, nearly double what he would have expected on a typical Sunday in August.“They were really listening. You could tell people were here, looking for a word of hope,” the preacher added.Governor Green has vowed to investigate the response to the blaze and the emergency notification systems after some residents questioned whether more could have been done to warn them.Some witnesses said they had little warning, describing their terror as the blaze destroyed the town around them in what seemed like minutes. Others dove into the Pacific Ocean to escape.Sirens stationed around the island, intended to warn of impending natural disasters, never sounded, and widespread power and cellular outages hampered other forms of alerts.“We’ll know soon whether or not they did enough to get those sirens going,” Green told MSNBC.

The Fulton County, Georgia, court’s website briefly posted a document on Monday listing several criminal charges against former US president Donald Trump (right) that appeared related to his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state, before taking the document down without explanation.The Fulton County District Attorney’s office said in a statement that no charges had been filed against Trump.The document was dated August 14 and named Trump, citing the case as “open” but is no longer available on the court’s website.“The Reuters report that those charges were filed is inaccurate. Beyond that we cannot comment,” a spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office said.A Georgia prosecutor, District Attorney Fani Willis, has been probing whether Trump and his allies illegally sought to overturn the state’s 2020 election results and has been expected to seek an indictment from a grand jury this week. – Reuters

At least 36 people were feared dead at a jade mine in northern Myanmar after being swept into a lake by a huge landslide, a rescue worker and local journalist said on Monday.The accident happened on Sunday in the remote town of Hpakant, the centre of Myanmar’s secretive jade industry, where scavengers risk their lives picking through unstable earth and rubble excavated by mining companies, searching for small pieces of the semi-precious stone. More than 100 rescue workers were looking for survivors, a member of the rescue team said by phone, declining to be identified due to safety concerns. Eight people were injured and taken to hospital on Sunday.“We haven’t found a body yet, but we are still searching,” he said.Citing witnesses, Tar Lin Maung, a local journalist said the waste heap that collapsed on Sunday was about 492ft high.“There is no chance that they would survive in this muddy lake,” Tar Lin Maung said.Another rescue worker confirmed that attempts to recover people were ongoing despite fears of secondary landslides.“It is not safe for rescue workers to search it,” said the individual, who was with the emergency group Myanmar Rescue and also requested anonymity.He added that the mine’s operations had been suspended during the rainy season, but those caught in the landslide were believed to be locals hoping to strike it rich by scouring the mud.Accidents are common in poorly regulated mines of Hpakant, which has seen some of Asia’s worst mining disasters, including a landslide in 2020 that killed at least 170 people.Myanmar produces about 90% of the world’s jade, large quantities of which are sold in China.The industry is worth billions of dollars each year to Myanmar’s ruling military and business allies, according to activists.The highly lucrative jade mining industry is mostly unregulated, with migrant workers enduring dangerous conditions and frequently deadly accidents.Jade and other abundant natural resources in Myanmar’s north — including timber, gold and amber — have helped finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.

At least 50 people were killed, nine of them in a temple collapse, and dozens more were feared missing after intense rains caused floods and landslides in India, officials said on Monday.Days of torrential downpours have washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and destroyed bridges in the northern Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.In Himachal Pradesh, 41 people were killed in the past 24 hours, up from an earlier toll of 16, an official toll showed. That included at least nine killed in the collapse of a temple in the state capital, Shimla. At least 13 others were missing, it said.“The local administration is diligently working to clear the debris in order to rescue individuals who may still be trapped,” Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in a statement.At least eight others have been killed since Friday in neighbouring Uttarakhand state, officials said.Images from hard-hit areas in Himachal Pradesh showed bodies being pulled out of thick piles of dark earth that had crushed buildings and smashed roofs.Thousands of people have been stranded, with key roads, power lines and communication networks disrupted.Railway lines were seen dangling in midair, with the ground beneath them washed away.Sukhu, who posted on social media a “disturbing” video of a raging torrent swamping roads, appealed to residents to stay indoors and avoid going near rivers.

Crowded into a small, rented room near Pakistan's capital, an Afghan family of 12 is waiting, like thousands of others, for progress on their applications to go to the United States as refugees.As time passes, their money is running out and their worries are growing.In a small kitchen, 18-year old Marwa, whose father used to work as a guard for an American aid organisation, cuts vegetables.The family have applied for resettlement in the U.S. under a special programme for Afghans who worked for U.S. organisations, known as P2."We cook and eat twice a day, some days we eat even less to save money," she said.Reuters is withholding the full names of family members for security reasons. They sold their home in Afghanistan and left last year, having been told by U.S. authorities to travel to a third country to get their application processed.Marwa's husband, Khalilzad, estimates the family's saving would last for at most two more months."It's been two years and things have not improved, they should consider our basic need and speed things up, the process is moving very slowly," Khalilzad said.For thousands of Afghans applying for refugee status and visas in the West, neighbouring Pakistan was their only option. Between 16,000 and 20,000 applicants for the P2 programme are estimated to be in Pakistan, according to community members and advocates.Most Afghans are not allowed to work and are ineligible for public education and healthcare.Many had built middle-class lives in Afghanistan in the two decades after the United States and its allies intervened in 2001.Now they face destitution in Pakistan where the government, grappling with an economic crisis, is increasingly anxious about the number of Afghans arriving, at times at the request of Western governments, Pakistani officials say.Afghans waiting for their applications say they fear being detained by Pakistani authorities, as many Afghans have anecdotally reported, so they stay indoors as much as they can.'LIKE PRISON'The children of the family have not been able to go to school for more than a year.On a recent stifling summer day, Asra, 14, was going through the alphabet with her younger siblings."I teach them sometimes but I'm worried that neither they nor I go to school ... every day I'm at home like a prisoner."Asra was barred from school in Afghanistan where the Taliban closed girls' high-schools after their return to power in 2021."I suffer a lot when I see other girls going to school. I'm very anxious when I see them going and I can't," she said."I want to go to America with my family and continue my studies, I want to become a judge," she said.In the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led foreign troops as Taliban forces seized Kabul in 2021, Western countries like the United States and Britain vowed to help, especially those Afghans who had worked for them or on projects they backed. But many have been disappointed.President Joe Biden pledged to help "Afghan allies" and just before the Taliban takeover, the United States announced the P-2 programme for admission as refugees for Afghans who met certain criteria, including having worked for U.S. organisations and media.Though the Taliban announced an amnesty for old foes, many Afghans fear reprisals, curtailed freedoms and restrictions on women's education and work, as well as economic hardship.Human rights and refugee advocates have criticized the slow progress in processing Afghans by Western governments.'PROBLEMS'A U.S. government watchdog, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said in April that problems in P2 processing had been identified and lawmakers had required reports on processing times and staffing shortages."However, these reports are not public, and problems persist," the agency said.A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said: "Our processing capacity in Pakistan remains limited, but we are actively working to try to expand it."Shawn VanDiver, the founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of U.S. volunteer groups helping Afghans resettle, said there had recently been progress in P2 processing."It's light years ahead of where we were a month ago," VanDiver said.But he warned that processing was "limited in scope" and "not going to be fast". He declined to provide details due to concern over triggering a flood of hopeful applicants into Pakistan.He acknowledged that a major problem had been the failure to keep applicants informed. "Communications ... have been a disaster," he said. "They've served to cause chaos and confusion and despair. The Afghans are just sitting around waiting."The Khalilzad family's last official contact was a cursory email in May."Our remaining money will last one or two more months, if this runs out ... what can we do?" he said. "People have become depressed ... we are in a state of uncertainty with no destiny."

In parched brown hills in north Afghanistan, Abdul Hahad tears stalks of wheat out of the arid earth. In the third year of water shortages and high temperatures, his harvest is barely enough to support his family.The 55-year-old farmer from Nahr-e-Shahi district in Balkh province used to plant two or even three wheat crops a year but in the last three years he has only been able to grow one. The yields from his nine acres of land are dwindling year by year."It's been three years since the drought started, wells and the river have almost dried up. We don't even have enough drinking water, you can see all our land has dried up," he said, as he sat near a pile of wheat beneath the sun in heat of 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).Persistent drought across Afghanistan is taking its toll on farmers, its economy - a third of which is generated by agriculture - and food security.Experts say the drought is exacerbated by climate change which leads to intensifying pressure on water resources. The Global Climate Risk Index says Afghanistan is the world's sixth most affected country by climate-related threats.With little functioning irrigation, Afghanistan relies on snow melting in the mountains to keep its rivers flowing and fields watered during the summer.But Najibullah Sadid, a water resources and environment expert and Research Associate at the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute in Germany, said as temperatures rise less precipitation falls because snow and the summer melt is not feeding into rivers as much as it used to."In terms of food security you see that in a country like Afghanistan where more than 30% of GDP (gross domestic product) is coming from agriculture, then of course if this sector is impacted by climate change then the gross economy of the country is impacted by climate change," said Sadid.'A LOT OF HARDSHIP'Two years after the Taliban took over in Afghanistan as foreign troops withdrew, stretched water resources and the struggles of agriculture are one of their administration's top challenges.With a sharp reduction this year in humanitarian aid and no foreign government formally recognising the Taliban, aid workers and diplomats say the level of development assistance to help with the problem is limited.The U.N. World Food Programme says 15.3 million people are facing acute food insecurity in the country of nearly 42 million people.The Taliban administration is building a 280 km-long (174 miles) canal, which if completed could divert water for irrigation throughout northern provinces. But it is still years away from completion and neighbouring countries have raised concerns that it will unfairly divert their water.Sitting with three of his eight grandchildren, Hahad described how his income has shrunk, forcing his family, like many in the village, to cut back on food beyond essentials like bread and fruit."I used to be able to earn from 2.3 million afghanis ($27,000) to 2.5 million afghanis ($29,500) a year from my land. We used to grow wheat, melons, onions, eggplant, carrot and other things, but in the last three years I couldn't even make 100,000 afghanis ($1,200)," he said."People are facing a lot of hardship, some have left the village due to the lack of water," Hahad said."But we'll keep planting crops even if there is a water shortage because we don't have any other option. It's the only thing we know how to do."

Iranian security forces have arrested eight foreign suspects after detaining a gunman in the killing of one person at a Shiite Muslim shrine, state media reported on Monday.The attack came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same holy site, the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in Iran's south."Eight people suspected of links with the terrorist attack... have been arrested," according to the judiciary's Mizan Online website, quoting Fars province chief justice Kazem Mousavi."All the people arrested are foreigners," Mousavi said, without elaborating.The eight are in addition to the main suspect arrested on Sunday night after the attack. Mizan identified him as Rahmatollah Nowruzof from Tajikistan.Sunday's shooting wounded eight people, the official IRNA news agency reported.Windows were left shattered by bullets, and blood stained the ground in a courtyard of the arched and colonnaded complex after the shooting.There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Fars provincial governor Mohammad Hadi Imanieh blamed the extremist Islamic State group.He told state TV that the assailant sought "to take revenge for the execution of two terrorists" convicted of carrying out the similar attack last year.On Monday, Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV during a visit to the site that the "terrorist" was collaborating with a "network operating" outside Iran.On October 26, a mass shooting at the shrine left 13 people dead and 30 wounded. IS later claimed the attack.Iran hanged two men in public on July 8 over the killings after their conviction for "corruption on earth, armed rebellion and acting against national security," Mizan said at the time.Three other defendants in the case were sentenced to prison for five, 15 and 25 years for being members of IS, according to Moussavi.In November, Tehran said 26 "takfiri terrorists" from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan had been arrested in connection with the mass shooting.In Shiite-dominated Iran, the term takfiri generally refers to jihadists or proponents of radical Sunni Islam.The Shah Cheragh mausoleum is home to the tomb of Ahmad, brother of Imam Reza -- the eighth Shiite imam -- and is considered the holiest site in southern Iran.Last year's shooting occurred as nationwide protests gripped Iran following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, arrested for an alleged breach of strict dress rules for women.

French police have launched an investigation into two bomb scares at the Eiffel Tower this weekend that forced the monument to be evacuated twice in the same day, prosecutors said on Monday.The landmark tower became the target of false bomb threats on two occasions on Saturday and was cleared of visitors each time.Paris detectives are leading the probe into suspected "threats to lives" and "falsely claiming that a dangerous explosive incident has occurred or will occur", the prosectors' office said.The charges carry a prison sentence of up to two years for those convicted.The threats were made via posts on gaming site jeuxvideo.com and on moncommissariat.fr, a platform for online contact between citizens and police.The Eiffel Tower, the French capital's main tourist magnet, attracted 5.8 million visitors last year.

The yen slipped on Monday to its lowest in the year against the dollar, breaching the key 145 level, while the dollar rose to a more than one-month peak.The Japanese yen weakened to as low as 145.22 per dollar in early Asian hours, its lowest since Nov. 10 before quickly reversing course in a volatile start to the week. It last fetched 144.92, up 0.03%.The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six other currencies, rose 0.097% to 102.95.The euro was down 0.12% to $1.0931, while sterling eased 0.15% to $1.2675. The Australian dollar fell 0.42% to $0.6470, while the kiwi slipped 0.36% to $0.5963. (QNA)

Concerns are mounting in China around Country Garden, a major property developer whose colossal debt raises fear of a bankruptcy that could spell wider economic turbulence, two years after the unravelling of its competitor Evergrande.Country Garden shares plunged by more than 18 percent in Hong Kong on Monday after it missed bond payments and warned of multibillion-dollar losses.Its billionaire boss Yang Huiyan has said the firm is "facing the greatest difficulties since our establishment".Here's what you need to know about Country Garden:- Family business -Country Garden is run by Yang Huiyan, who until recently was one of the richest women in China and Asia.Yang, now in her early forties, became a billionaire when she inherited shares from her father in 2005, two decades after he founded the company.But her fortune has dwindled since 2021 as China's real estate crisis dramatically weakened the sector.Yang, who lost nearly $29 billion in two years according to a Bloomberg ranking of billionaires, has an estimated wealth of $5.3 billion.To support Country Garden, she and her family have chipped in the equivalent of $4.9 billion in personal funds, according to the group.- Real estate heavyweight -The top seller of real estate in China last year, Country Garden was named in Forbes' list of the 500 largest companies in the world.Based in the southern Chinese city of Foshan, the group employed nearly 70,000 "full-time" staff members at the end of 2022, according to the most recent figures from the company, which has long been deemed financially solid.It also has operations abroad, including a gigantic real estate project in Malaysia involving artificial islands.- Under pressure -But recent sluggishness in the Chinese real estate market has caught up with the company.According to media reports, Country Garden was unable to make two bond payments on August 6.It has a 30-day grace period, but if it does not pay within that time it risks default.Adding to the pressure, 31 billion yuan ($4.27 billion) in the firm's bonds are set to mature in 2024, according to rating agency Moody's.- Another Evergrande? -Like its competitor Evergrande, which owes more than $300 billion, any collapse of Country Garden would have damaging repercussions on the Chinese financial system and economy.It is due to publish its half-year results by the end of the month, and says it expects a net loss of 45 to 55 billion yuan (about $6.2 billion to $7.6 billion).And its situation is particularly precarious because around 60 percent of its projects are located in small Chinese cities, where property prices have fallen the most and where customers have weaker purchasing power.Country Garden announced over the weekend it would suspend trading of onshore bonds from Monday, a decision likely to cause concern in the markets as the company said that its debt was estimated at some 1.15 trillion yuan ($159 billion) at the end of 2022.Additional liabilities have brought other estimations of its overall debt as high as 1.4 trillion yuan ($193 billion), according to Bloomberg.- Robotics -In addition to its core focus on real estate, Country Garden has been developing robots for the catering industry since 2019.The firm has produced designs for different types of mechanised food processors, and last year it opened an expansive, fully automated restaurant in Foshan.The restaurant, which accommodates up to 600 people, is staffed by 20 robots that can prepare three types of dishes including Chinese hot pot, the firm said at the time.

The airport at Catania in Sicily, a top Italian tourist destination, has halted all flights after a new eruption at nearby Mount Etna, its operator said Monday. "Because of an eruption at Etna and falling ash, flights are suspended until 8:00 pm (1800 GMT)," the airport said on its website. Earlier Monday, it had said departures and arrivals had been halted until just 1:00 pm. Catania's Mayor Enrico Trantino has also prohibited the use of motorcycles and bicycles for the next 48 hours, "because several areas are covered with a layer of volcanic ash", city hall said on its website. The ash can quickly become slippery on roads and increase the risk of accidents. At 3,324 metres (nearly 11,000 feet), Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe and has erupted frequently in the past 500,000 years. Most recently, Catania airport was closed for a day on May 21 due to an eruption. Around 10 million passengers last year transited through the airport, which serves the eastern part of Sicily.

COVID infections and hospitalizations are on the rise in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Health officials are pointing at the EG.5 "Eris" coronavirus, a subvariant of the Omicron lineage that originally emerged November of 2021. WHAT IS THE NEW 'ERIS' VARIANT? The World Health Organization (WHO) classified EG.5, which has been nicknamed by some as "Eris", as a "variant of interest," indicating that it should be more closely watched than others because of mutations that might make it more contagious or severe. Still, the WHO said at this time it does not seem to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants and that there "is no evidence of an increase in disease severity directly associated with EG.5." HOW FAST IS 'ERIS' SPREADING? EG.5 had been found in more than 50 countries as of August 8, according to the WHO. It is the most common and fastest growing COVID-19 subvariant in the U.S., estimated to be responsible for around 17% of current COVID cases, according to the CDC. COVID-19 related hospitalizations are up more than 40% off of recent lows hit in June, but are still more than 90% below peak levels hit during the January 2022 Omicron outbreak, according to CDC data. The amount of virus identified in wastewater around the country and the number of weekly prescriptions for COVID treatment Paxlovid have all risen significantly over the past month, albeit from low levels. WHEN WILL THE NEW BOOSTER BE AVAILABLE? Pfizer/BioNTech SE, Moderna and Novavax have all created new versions of their vaccines updated to target another Omicron sublineage - XBB.1.5 - to more closely resemble the various circulating strains of the virus. EG.5 is similar to XBB.1.5 although the newer subvariant carries one mutation to its spike protein, the part of the virus targeted by the vaccine. XBB.1.5 emerged in late 2022 and was still responsible for more than 10% of infections as of August 5, per CDC estimates. CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a recent interview that she expects the new vaccines to be widely available in the U.S. by the third or fourth week in September. Cohen did not address the Eris variant specifically, but said "right now what we're seeing with the changes in the viruses, they're still susceptible to our vaccine, they're still susceptible to our medicines, they're still picked up by the tests. So all of our tools still work as the virus changes."

A new COVID vaccine is due out next month, but health experts and analysts say it is likely to be coolly received even as hospitalizations from "Eris", a variant of the Omicron form of the coronavirus, rise around the country.Some public health experts hope that Americans will welcome the new shot as they would a flu jab. But demand for the vaccine has dropped sharply since 2021 when it first became available and more than 240 million people in the U.S., or 73% of the population, received at least one shot.In the fall of 2022, by which time most people had either had the COVID virus or the vaccine, fewer than 50 million people got the shots.Healthcare providers and pharmacies such as CVS Health will start next month to offer the shot, updated to fight the Omicron version of the virus that has been dominant since last year.They will be fighting declining concern about the virus, as well as fatigue and skepticism about the merits of this vaccine, Kaiser Family Foundation Director of Survey Methodology Ashley Kirzinger said."Public health officials, if they want to see a majority of adults get these annual vaccines, they're going to have to make the case to the American public that COVID isn't over and it still poses a risk to them," Kirzinger said.The top reason vaccinated people gave in KFF surveys earlier this year for eschewing annual shots was they believed they had protection from the virus because of previous shots or infections, she said.COVID-19 vaccine makers have pared back expectations for this fall's vaccination campaign, with Pfizer - the largest maker of mRNA shots with BioNTech - recently warning that it might need to cut jobs if it does not do well. Its biggest rival, Moderna, conceded demand could be as few as 50 million shots.Last year, Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine sales topped $56 billion worldwide; analysts project around $20 billion for this year.Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said he does not expect the autumn campaign to reach last year's."Take a look at what happened last winter. It was 50 million in the US, and it seems likely to be lower than that, given that there's less concern about COVID this year than last year," Yee said.POST PANDEMIC VACCINEThe COVID public health emergency ended in May and the government has handed much of the duty of vaccinating America to the private sector. Over 1.1 million people in the United States have died from COVID, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).CDC Director Mandy Cohen said last week in a podcast that she expects the shots - which still need to be authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the CDC - to be rolled out in the third or fourth week of September. She suggested Americans should view these shots as an annual measure to protect oneself, in line with the annual flu shot.As with the flu, Pfizer/BioNTech SE, Moderna and Novavax, have created versions of the COVID vaccine to try to match the variant they believe will be circulating this fall. The shots are aimed at XBB.1.5, a subvariant that is similar to EG.5 and also a sub-lineage of the still dominant Omicron variant.COVID-19 related hospitalizations are up more than 40% off of recent lows hit in June, but are still more than 90% below peak levels hit during the January 2022 Omicron outbreak, according to CDC data.THE EVIDENCESome doctors suggest that annual shots should be targeted at the elderly and other high risk people, who are most likely to have dire outcomes if they catch COVID-19.Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University and a liaison to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization practices, said it is possible that the ACIP could make a weaker recommendation for younger, healthier people. That could also affect demand."Should children really receive this booster?" Schaffner said. "Should the average person with no underlying illness who is a younger adult receive this vaccine or should this vaccine now be a more targeted vaccine?"The CDC recommended children get a single dose of last year's updated vaccine for those aged 6 and older.Dr. David Boulware, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Minnesota, said that according to research he has published, people who are boosted have less severe symptoms for a shorter duration."When you look at what you can do to reduce your duration of illness, even if you do get sick, being boosted is going to be the best way to do that," he said.