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San Francisco, Sep 19 (IANS) Rockstar Games on Monday confirmed that it 'suffered a network intrusion' that resulted in the massive leak of 90 videos of Grand Theft Auto game 6, showcasing its engine, gameplay and more from an early development build.

The leak provided a glimpse into GTA 6 development, confirming prior reports of the series' first female protagonist and a Vice City setting.

"We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorised third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto," Rockstar Games said in a statement.

At this time, "we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services no any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects".

The company said it was "extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way".

"Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations," said the gaming company.

The title, informally known as GTA 6, will mark the first mainline game since 2013's GTA V, having racked up a record-breaking 170 million sales to date.

The company said it will update everyone again soon and will properly introduce them to the next game when it is ready.

The alleged GTA 6 footage comes via GTA Forums user "tepotuberhacker," posting various snippets of its open world in action from what appears to be an early development build.

The over 90 videos also provide an extended look at robberies, NPC interactions, vehicles, and more from its sprawling sandbox.

The footage appears to be from builds at least a couple of years old, suggesting development has been underway in tandem with recent years of GTA V content updates.

--IANS
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Seoul, Sep 19 (IANS) An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is scheduled to visit South Korea later this week for combined drills with the South Korean navy, the US Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday.

The USFK said in a statement that the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group is scheduled to conduct a routine port visit to South Korea, reports Xinhua news agency.

While in port, the personnel of the strike group will have an opportunity to visit and engage with their South Korean navy partners and conduct cultural exchange with the people of South Korea, the USFK noted.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the strike group is set to arrive at a naval base in Busan, about 390 km southeast of the capital Seoul, on Friday for combined maritime drills with the South Korean navy.

It will mark the first time in about five years that a US aircraft carrier visits South Korea for joint military exercises.

The strike group includes the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS Chancellorsville guided-missile cruiser and the USS Barry Aegis-equipped destroyer.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Sep 19 (IANS) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the 77th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled to take place from Monday to Friday.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said that the focus of premier's speech, scheduled for the concluding day of the five-day session, will be the challenges faced by Pakistan in wake of the recent climate-induced catastrophic floods in the country, The News reported.

"The Prime Minister will outline concrete proposals for collectively tackling the existential threat posed by climate change. He will also share Pakistan's position and perspective on regional and global issues of concern including Jammu and Kashmir, which is one of the long-standing unresolved disputes on the UN agenda," the statement said.

As per the FO spokesperson, the premier will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, other members of the cabinet, and senior government officials, reports The News.

On the sidelines of the UNGA session, the premier will also participate in the Global Food Security Summit, jointly organised by the African Union, European Union and the US, as well as a closed-door leaders gathering on COP-27, bringing together select world leaders to discuss climate change.

Pakistan has also set up a photo exhibition at the UN Secretariat lobby in New York displaying the destruction triggered by the deadly floods, triggered by climate change.

The exhibition will remain on display during the UNGA week.

--IANS
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Caracas, Sep 19 (IANS) The US sanctions on Venezuela prevent access to necessary resources for the education sector, Minister of Education Yelitze Santaella said while addressing the UN.

"Venezuela is experiencing a situation of its resources having been illegally withheld, violating all international law by the US," Santaella said during her speech on Sunday at the UN Transforming Education Summit.

For Venezuela, "education represents a fundamental human right and a social duty, therefore it is democratic and compulsory", Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying.

It is necessary to release the resources blocked by the US so that Venezuela can use them "for the investment to continue transforming education," she said.

The Minister stressed that teachers "have suffered from the impact that persecution and financial blockade against the country".

Even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Venezuela still managed to incorporate 56,000 new teachers into the education system, she added.

--IANS
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Washington, Sep 19 (IANS) US President Joe Biden has claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic is over, as millions suffer from long Covid and several countries still bear the brunt of the global health crisis.

On the CBS '60 Minutes' TV show on Sunday, Biden said: "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We're still doing a lot of work on it. It's, but the pandemic is over".

"If you notice, no one's wearing masks," Biden said while gesturing at the gathering. "Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it's changing."

However, the US government still designates Covid-19 as a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization (WHO) says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, reports CNN.

Last week, the WHO said that future coronavirus waves are expected and that governments across the world need to remain vigilant and ready to respond to any threat that may emerge.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that this virus will not just fade away.

"The global decline in reported cases and deaths is continuing. This is very encouraging. But there is no guarantee these trends will persist. The most dangerous thing is to assume they will," he said in his latest remarks.

"The number of weekly reported deaths may have dropped by more than 80 per cent since February, but even so, last week one person died with Covid-19 every 44 seconds," Ghebreyesus emphasised.

However, he said that "ee have never been in a better position to end the pandemic".

According to the WHO, during the week of September 5-11, the number of new weekly cases worldwide decreased by 28 per cent over the previous week to more than 3.1 million. The number of new weekly deaths was down 22 per cent to just under 11,000.

Tedros likened the pandemic response to a marathon race.

"Now is the time to run harder and make sure we cross the line and reap the rewards of all our hard work."

Even as the pandemic wanes, people should maintain high levels of vigilance, said Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme.

The world is fighting "a highly mutable evolving virus that has shown us, time and time again in two-and-a-half years, how it can adapt and how it can change", Ryan added.

"Most of those deaths are avoidable. You might be tired of hearing me say the pandemic is not over. But I will keep saying it until it is. This virus will not just fade away," he added.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Sep 19 (IANS) Pakistan is witnessing a continued spike in the number of dengue fever cases amid an ongoing outbreak caused due to the catastrophic floods in the country.

A total of 386 new cases of dengue fever were reported in Sindh in the last 24 hours, the provincial health department said.

According to the department, the provincial capital of Karachi was the worst hit with 349 new cases, reports Xinhua news agency.

The number of dengue cases in the month of September in Sindh has risen to 3,020, bringing the local total to 5,589 this year.

Also in the same period, 166 positive cases were registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, increasing the number of active cases in the province to 1,356.

Punjab province reported 191 new cases, with the majority in Rawalpindi (84), followed by its capital Lahore (60).

The total number of cases in Punjab this year has now gone up to 3,288.

Islamabad reported 57 new cases in the last 24 hours, health authorities said on Sunday evening.

The total number of cases in the national capital has now increased to 1,388.

The Pakistani government has launched an anti-dengue campaign including raising public awareness in response to the alarmingly high level of cases in the country, and has taken special measures at the hotspots in order to curb the spread of the disease.

--IANS
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Tokyo, Sep 19 (IANS) The Japanese Cabinet's public approval rating plummeted to 29 per cent, dropping below 30 per cent into a "danger zone", a new poll has revealed.

The poll conducted released on Sunday showed that the support rate of the government headed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stood at 29 per cent, down 7 percentage points from the 36 pe rcent in the previous survey in August, a record low since he took office in October 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.

A public support rating below 30 per cent is commonly viewed as a "danger zone" for the cabinet.

The approval rating of Japan's main ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) also dropped 6 percentage points from the previous poll to 23 per cent.

The sharp drop in the approval ratings for the Cabinet and the LDP is blamed partly on Japanese politicians' controversial links to the religious group of Unification Church.

Only 12 per cent of respondents said they "approve of" Kishida's response to the issue of Japanese politicians' ties to the Unification Church, far less than the 72 per cent who said they did not.

On September 8, the LDP said its in-house survey has found that 179, or nearly half of its Diet members, had some links with the church.

Since the survey was based on self-reporting, most of the respondents were not convinced.

As for a state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, 62 per cent opposed it, up 9 percentage points from the previous survey, while 27 per cent were in favour.

The survey was jointly conducted by newspaper Mainichi Shimbun and the Social Survey Research Centre from September 17 to 18, through a combination of text messages on mobile phones and automated voice questionnaires on fixed-line phones.

A total of 642 valid responses were received from mobile phones and 422 valid responses from landlines.

The drop in the approval ratings was echoed by surveys conducted by several local media.

The latest Kyodo News survey showed on Sunday that the Cabinet's public approval rating dropped to 40.2 per cent, a new low since its launch last year.

Its latest disapproval rating in the weekend survey, a record 46.5 per cent, exceeded the approval rating for the first time since Kishida took office in October, according to Kyodo News.

--IANS
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Seoul, Sep 19 (IANS) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol's approval rating increased for the second consecutive week due to in part of the government's efforts on improving the economy and people's livelihoods, a new poll showed on Monday.

In the poll of 2,015 voters conducted by Realmeter from September 13-16, 34.4 per cent positively assessed Yoon's handling of state affairs, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous poll, while 63.2 per cent gave a negative assessment, down 1.4 percentage points, reports Yonhap News Agency.

This marks the second consecutive week his approval rating rose in a Realmeter poll.

"Public support for Yoon appears to have become stable as he focused on bettering the economy and people's livelihoods while staying away from political issues," a senior analyst at Realmeter said.

The President's future approval rating could change according to results he brings on pending issues, including the bio and semiconductor industry, currency swap with the United States and forced labour issue with Japan, from his three-nation trip this week, the analyst added.

Yoon left for London on Sunday to attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, kicking off a three-nation trip that will include his first address to the UN General Assembly, and summits with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In terms of party favourability, Yoon's People Power Party garnered support of 38.3 per cent, up 3.1 percentage points from the previous week, and the main opposition Democratic Party received support of 46.2 per cent, down 2.2 percentage points over the same period.

--IANS
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Abuja, Sep 19 (IANS) At least 19 people were killed and eight others seriously injured in a road accident involving three vehicles in Nigeria's capital city of Abuja, traffic police said.

The tragedy happened as two buses collided with a truck along the Yangoji-Gwagwalada road on the outskirts of Abuja on Sunday, said Dauda Biu, acting national head of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who briefed reporters during a visit to the site.

The three vehicles collided on motion and bursted into flames, Biu said, attributing the fatal accident to overspeed and wrongful overtaking which eventually resulted in loss of control, Xinhua news agency reported.

The identities of the victims were unknown, as they burned beyond recognition and could not be preserved, according to the official.

"The 19 corpses were trapped but extricated by rescue operatives," he explained, noting that the police had launched an investigation into the incident.

He warned motorists against violating road safety guidelines and other road users, particularly commuters, to always caution commercial vehicle drivers against overspeeding.

Deadly road accidents are frequently reported in Nigeria, often caused by overloading, bad road conditions, and reckless driving.

--IANS
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London, Sep 19 (IANS) More than 2,000 guests will gather in London's Westminster Abbey on Monday for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away on September 8 at the age of 96.

Before the service commences at 11 a.m. (about 4 p.m. IST), a bell will toll for 96 consecutive minutes, marking the length of the Queen's life, reports the BBC.

Towards the end of the service, the Last Post will be played, followed by a two-minute silence and a lament from the Queen's piper.

With world leaders and dignitaries gathered in the 13th Century church for the service, King Charles III and the Queen Consort will lead the procession behind the Queen's coffin.

The Prince and Princess of Wales will walk ahead of their nine-year-old son George and seven-year-old daughter Charlotte, followed by their uncle and aunt, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and other members of the Royal Family.

George and Charlotte's younger brother Louis, four, is not expected to attend.

After the funeral ends, a committal service will follow in the evening at St George's Chapel in Windsor, the BBC reported.

The bells of Westminster Abbey will later be rung, but muffled, as is tradition following the funeral of a sovereign.

Some of the European royal families who will attend Monday's funeral are Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde; King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his wife, Queen Maxima, along with his mother, former Dutch queen Princess Beatrix; and King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain.

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako of Japan will also attend the service, as well as the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk.

Other expected guests include Sultan of Brunei, Hassanal Bolkiah; Jordan's King Abdullah; Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah; King of Lesotho, Letsie III; and Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein.

Royal leaders from Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, and Tonga are expected.

Leaders from across the Commonwealth, of which the Queen served as head for the entirety of her reign, will also attend.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived in the UK, as have New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian President Droupadi Murmu have also reached London and will attend the funeral.

The other world leaders to be in attendance are US President and First Lady Joe and Jill Biden; Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin and President Michael Higgins; German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Italian President Sergio Mattarella; and French President Emmanuel Macron.

--IANS
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