SYDNEY, Aug 11 (Reuters) - At an indoor pool in a western Sydney suburb, about 20 Afghan women who recently reached Australia as refugees listen to former asylum seeker Maryam Zahid as she offers them swimming classes and talks about the country's beach culture.

Zahid, who arrived in Australia from Afghanistan 22 years ago, said her sessions help the women develop "an identity for themselves" and deal with the trauma of the war that ravaged their home country.

"That is something that will impact psychological and emotional aspects of their life ... to have an identity for themselves as a human being first," Zahid told Reuters at the Ruth Everuss aquatic centre in the suburb of Auburn.

SEOUL, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) unveiled its latest high-end foldable smartphones on Wednesday, keeping prices at the same level as last year's in a bid to cement its leadership in an expanding niche market.

The smartphone maker priced its clamshell Galaxy Z Flip4 at $999.99, and the 5G-enabled top-line Galaxy Z Fold4 with a 7.6-inch main screen to start at $1,799.99 in the United States, the same as the launch prices of last year's models.

"We've successfully transformed this category from a radical project to a mainstream device lineup enjoyed by millions worldwide," said TM Roh, president and head of mobile experience at Samsung Electronics.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Coca-Cola HBC AG (CCH.L) said on Thursday it took a one-time hit of 190 million euros ($195.4 million) in the first half from costs related to its Russian business after it stopped selling Coke and other Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) products in the country.

The soft drinks bottler also reinstated its forecast for the year, expecting annual comparable operating profit between 740 million and 820 million euros, above market expectations.

Its shares rose 6% to 2,100 pence.

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Shell (SHEL.L) has launched a sale process for its 30% stake in the Cambo oil prospect in the British North Sea, potentially paving the way for the field's controversial development, industry sources said on Thursday.

The London-based company hired investment bank Jefferies to run the sale process for the stake in Cambo, which has become a lightning rod for climate activists seeking to halt the development of new oil and gas resources.

The British government has, however, come out in support of developing North Sea oil and gas resources following Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Western countries focus on energy security despite commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.

BEIJING/HONG KONG, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A Chinese property think tank owned by KE Holdings apologised on Thursday for sparking a "heated public discussion" with its report on rising housing vacancy rates in China, and said its assessment may not be sufficiently accurate.

The apology comes at a time when policymakers are urging banks to extend loans to property firms and local governments are relaxing downpayment rules for home purchases as sales and confidence sag amid weak macroeconomic conditions.

A growing debt crisis in the real estate sector, which accounts for a quarter of the world's second-largest economy, has also raised risks of social instability. read more

ISTANBUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A grain-carrying ship that was scheduled to depart from Ukraine's Chornomorsk port under a U.N.-brokered deal on Thursday was unable to set sail due to bad weather conditions, Turkey's defence ministry said.

The deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey between Russia and Ukraine has allowed 12 ships to depart from Ukraine's Black Sea port since Aug. 1.

The agreement was reached last month after warnings that the halt in grain shipments from Ukrainian ports due to the conflict could lead to severe food shortages and even outbreaks of famine in parts of the world.

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Sweltering summer temperatures and soaring gas prices have boosted the use of oil in power generation, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, increasing demand but masking weakness in economies beset by recession fears.

The Paris-based agency described the rise as a quirk of an energy market rattled by supply jitters wrought by sanctions on Russia's oil and decades-high inflation which is already starting to sap fuel use.

"Natural gas and electricity prices have soared to new records, incentivising gas-to-oil switching in some countries," the agency said in its monthly oil report in which it raised its outlook for 2022 demand by 380,000 barrels per day to 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd).

COPENHAGEN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Britain and Denmark on Thursday announced more aid to Ukraine in the form of money and weapons in connection with an international donor conference in Copenhagen on Thursday.

Britain in a statement said it will supply Ukraine with more multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the supply of weapons would help Ukraine defend itself against Russian heavy artillery. read more

GRAN CANARIA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Standing in a cemetery of abandoned boats, Mohamed Fane picks a West African franc off the floor and shudders at the traumatic memory of his voyage from Senegal to the Canary Islands.

After an arduous overland trip and months waiting, smugglers shepherded the 33-year-old carpenter into a flimsy wooden vessel with two dozen others to sail from the Moroccan town of Dakhla - but it ran out of fuel far from the Spanish archipelago.

One famished and thirsty man died on board, while a Spanish rescue boat saved the rest. Fane, who barely ate in three days at sea and used his water bottle to bail out the leaking boat, wept like never before when he reached Gran Canaria.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc's (VZ.N) internet services appeared to be back up after facing a brief disruption on Thursday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

Reports of the outage dropped to around 200 incidents in the United States, as per Downdetector, which collates status reports from a number of sources.

At the peak of the outage, more than 2,000 user reports had cited issues with Verizon.

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - A four-day "extreme heat" warning came into force in parts of England and Wales on Thursday, with temperatures poised to top 35 Celsius in another heatwave that could cause wildfires and pressure water supplies and transport services.

The Met Office said its amber warning, its second-most severe after red, will last until the end of Sunday, and cautioned that people vulnerable to extreme heat could face adverse health effects.

Temperatures are expected to peak at 35C (95 Fahrenheit) on Friday and may hit 36C in some places on Saturday.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index dipped on Thursday, weighed down by Rio Tinto and healthcare stocks, while the midcap index struggled after hitting a two-month peak earlier as prospect of higher U.S. interest rates kept investors wary.

The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) dropped 0.1%, with Rio Tinto (RIO.L) falling 3.8% as the miner traded without entitlement to the latest dividend payout.

Drugmaker GSK (GSK.L) slid 2.8% after heavy selling in the previous session amid chatter over potential negative implication from U.S. lawsuits over Zantac, a drug that was withdrawn in 2019. Haleon (HLN.L), a consumer health company recently spun off from GSK, dropped 7.9%.

Aug 11 (Reuters) - An armed man demanding deposits frozen by his bank took an unspecified number of hostages on Thursday at the Federal Bank of Lebanon, a security source said and Lebanese media reported.

Lebanese banks have limited withdrawals of hard currency for most depositors during the country's three-year financial meltdown, which has left more than three-quarters of the population poor.

KIGALI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a visit to Kigali less than a week after it emerged United Nations experts had found "solid evidence" Rwanda has been interfering militarily in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Regional analysts expect Blinken, who arrived on Wednesday evening, to privately exert pressure to stop Rwanda's alleged support for the M23 rebel group without immediately implementing sanctions or blocking military aid, as the United States did in similar circumstances in 2013.

A confidential report sent to the United Nations Security Council last week said Rwandan troops have been fighting alongside the M23 rebels in Congo, and that Kigali has been providing the group with weapons and support since November. read more

TAIPEI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - No more than 10 Chinese and Taiwan navy ships stayed close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait as of Thursday afternoon, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters, adding the number was "greatly reduced" from previous days.

Furious about a visit to self-ruled Taiwan last week by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China had earlier extended its largest-ever exercises around the island it claims as its own beyond the four days originally scheduled.

China's military said on Wednesday it had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan but would conduct regular patrols, signalling a possible end to days of war games but also that Beijing would maintain pressure on the island. read more

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's war games around Taiwan have led Biden administration officials to recalibrate their thinking on whether to scrap some tariffs or potentially impose others on Beijing, setting those options aside for now, according to sources familiar with the deliberations.

President Joe Biden's team has been wrestling for months with various ways to ease the costs of duties imposed on Chinese imports during predecessor Donald Trump's tenure, as it tries to tamp down skyrocketing inflation.

It has considered a combination of eliminating some tariffs, launching a new "Section 301" investigation into potential areas for additional tariffs, and expanding a list of tariff exclusions to aid U.S. companies that can only get certain supplies from China.

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Global shares edged higher on Thursday as investors bet on the pace of interest rate hikes slowing after data pointed to inflation peaking, leaving the dollar struggling after its biggest fall in five months.

Oil prices languished below $100 a barrel in search of direction, while better-than-expected earnings from Zurich (ZURN.S) lifted the insurer's shares.

Figures on Wednesday showed that U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July compared with June, a two-year rise in inflation stopped in its tracks by a drop in gasoline prices.

MILAN, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo (SFER.MI) said on Thursday it had struck a partnership with online luxury shopping retailer Farfetch (FTCH.N) to expand its digital presence, targeting younger shoppers.

Ferragamo said it would use Farfetch's platform for its e-commerce and look to engage with a global Millennial and Gen Z luxury audience.

"Ferragamo has a wonderful heritage of creativity and craftsmanship and I am hugely excited about the opportunity to take it to a unique new audience globally," said José Neves, the chief executive of Farfetch.

CIJARA, Spain, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A flock of sheep shelter from the midday sun under the gothic arches of a medieval bridge flooded in 1956 to create the Cijara reservoir in central Spain, but now fully exposed as the reservoir is 84% empty after a severe drought.

In Andalusia, one of Europe's hottest and driest regions, paddle-boats and waterslides lie abandoned on the cracked bed of Vinuela reservoir, remnants of a rental business gone with the water, now at a critical level of 13%.

A nearby restaurant fears a similar fate.

BEIJING, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Several COVID-hit Chinese cities from the country's east to west imposed fresh restrictions and lockdowns on their populations on Thursday to contain flare-ups that are again threatening to disrupt local economies.

Reducing people's unnecessary movement for a few days - a softer type of lockdown - as soon as dozens of new cases emerge is a key practice of China's "dynamic COVID-zero" strategy. The aim is to avoid turning efforts to halt an outbreak into the extended nightmares seen in Shanghai and Wuhan.

The uncertainty over how long such smaller lockdowns may last - because Omicron's high transmissibility makes it harder to clear infections - has hurt business confidence and made people less willing to travel.

NAIROBI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Two days after Kenya's general election officials were collating results on Thursday but had yet to announce who is leading the presidential race in East Africa's regional powerhouse.

Media houses are trying to do their own tallies but only have images of results forms from more than 46,229 polling stations, leading to divergent tallies and public confusion in a very close race between the two frontrunners.

Some citizens worried the divergent tallies could inflame claims of rigging, which have sparked violence in past elections. Many urged fellow citizens to wait for the official results.

TAIPEI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - No more than 10 Chinese and Taiwan navy ships stayed close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait as of Thursday afternoon, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters, adding the number was "greatly reduced" from previous days.

Furious about a visit to self-ruled Taiwan last week by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China had earlier extended its largest-ever exercises around the island it claims as its own beyond the four days originally scheduled.

China's military said on Wednesday it had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan but would conduct regular patrols, signalling a possible end to days of war games but also that Beijing would maintain pressure on the island. read more

PARIS, Aug 11 (Reuters) - The head of the European Space Agency (ESA) has warned economic damage from heatwaves and drought could dwarf Europe's energy crisis as he called for urgent action to tackle climate change.

Director General Josef Aschbacher told Reuters successive heatwaves along with wildfires, shrinking rivers and rising land temperatures as measured from space left no doubt about the toll on agriculture and other industries from climate change.

"Today, we are very concerned about the energy crisis, and rightly so. But this crisis is very small compared to the impact of climate change, which is of a much bigger magnitude and really has to be tackled extremely fast," he said.