US plans to offer updated Covid booster shots in September: NYT

Washington: The US government decided against expanding the eligibility for the second Covid booster because Pfizer and Moderna have said they will update their existing vaccines to perform better against a more transmissible Omicron variant, a New York Times report said on Friday. Currently, federal guidelines limit a fourth dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots to people over age 50 and people over age 12 who are immunocompromised.

Iran executes three women in single day: Report

Iran this week executed three women in the space of a single day, all on charges of murdering their husbands, an NGO said on Friday. Norway-based Iran Human Rights said that on July 27 three women were executed in different prisons for murdering their husbands in separate cases, meaning at least 10 women have now been executed by Iran in 2022. An Afghan national, Senobar Jalali, was executed in a prison outside Tehran, it said.

Several injured in blast at Kabul International Cricket Stadium

An explosion occurred at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium during the Shpageeza cricket tournament and as per media reports, several people were injured. According to Abdulhaq Omeri, an Afghanistan-based journalist, a blast took off inside the Kabul international cricket ground during the Shepgize cricket tournament in Afghanistan. The video taken after the explosion at the Kabul International Cricket Stadium is going viral on social media. More details are not yet available.

Flooded roads, shops, vehicles washed away in rare heavy UAE rain | Videos

According to The National, 870 people were rescued, 3,897 were evacuated, and there were 20 weather warnings between July 23 and July 28, including 70 alerts on social media. On Wednesday weather officials said July was the wettest month in over three decades. Another video shared by a reporter for The National, Joyce Karam, shows flooded streets in Kalba market in Fujairah city. Fujairah authorities have warned hotels against raising room rates.

Prosecutors seek 8-year prison term for Shakira in Spain 

Spanish prosecutors said Friday they would seek a prison sentence of more than eight years against global music superstar Shakira, after she rejected a plea deal on accusations of tax evasion. Prosecutors in Barcelona will also demand a fine of nearly 24 million euros ($24.5 million) from the 45-year-old “Hips don’t Lie” songstress, whom they accuse of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros on income earned between 2012 and 2014.