Author: Starvision Desk

K. Pradeep Ram, 41, was handed out a prison term of 21 months and two weeks on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to four charges, including one count of dangerous driving causing grievous hurt and another of using abusive words towards a cop.He was fined S$5,000 and disqualified from driving for 10 years, The Straits Times reported.Deputy Public Prosecutor Timotheus Koh told the court that on May 24, 2020, Ram breached Covid-19 protocols to drink with his friends.Ram, who had offered to take his friend Pravin home in his lorry, started fighting with him in the car park. Under the…

In a statement, British Museum director Hartwig Fischer said the museum would “throw our efforts into the recovery of objects”, the BBC reported.”This is a highly unusual incident. I know I speak for all colleagues when I say that we take the safeguarding of all the items in our care extremely seriously.”We have already tightened our security arrangements and we are working alongside outside experts to complete a definitive account of what is missing, damaged and stolen,” Fischer was quoted as saying in the statement.According to the museum, none of the missing items, which dated from the 15th Century BC…

For someone, whose work has been hailed twice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the idea came to Pradeep Sangwan, who lives between Kullu and Shimla, while conversing with some shepherds. “I realised that the community of shepherds and travellers from urban spaces had completely different approaches when it came to trekking and treating the natural world. Considering I lived in both worlds, I thought why not learn from shepherds and eventually do my bit for the environment?” he tells IANS.The organisation, which has so far collected 800,000 kg of waste and has been collecting five tonnes of non-biodegradable waste daily…

Releasing the finding of a Ministry of Education (MoE)-led national assessment, UNICEF stated that currently, Sri Lanka allocates less than 2 per cent of its GDP on education, which falls well below the international benchmark of 4-6 per cent.The study has revealed that around 1.6 million primary school children across the country are facing challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, with 85 per cent of children in Grade 3 not achieving the minimum literacy and numeracy levels which is essential in their transition to secondary school and beyond, both in life and work.The learning crisis has…

The premier selection has been scheduled for Tuesday next week after the Constitutional Court earlier on Wednesday dismissed requests to review a parliamentary decision that rejected Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat from being re-nominated as Prime Minister.The election of the country’s new Prime Minister after the parliamentary election in May has been put on hold since late July after the state ombudsman’s office asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the case based on complaints by the Move Forward Party and its supporters, Xinhua news agency reported.In a statement on Wednesday, the court said it unanimously decided not to…

The gratitude towards India came on Wednesday from Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s senior Advisor on National Security Sagala Ratnayaka when he was accepting a successor Indian Navy Dornier aircraft handed over to the Sri Lanka Air Force.The Donier-228 maritime surveillance aircraft will replace the one which was handed over exactly a year ago to the island nation by the Indian government.The Dornier had to be returned to India for scheduled mandatory maintenance.Following a request by Sri Lanka during a bilateral security discussion on the potential acquisition of maritime surveillance aircraft between India and Sri Lanka in January 2018 in…

If they want to buy another EV, that will cost $400 upfront, according to a new state law imposing the new fee on EVs to replace gas taxes lost to electrification. The fee will not apply to hybrid vehicles, Xinhua news agency reported.Revenue collected from the fee will be deposited into the state highway fund to help pay for roadway construction and maintenance projects.By doing so, Texas joins about 30 states that impose registration fees on EVs, eenews.net reported, noting that the fee is nearly double what an average driver would pay in taxes at the pump,The state’s new EV…

Officials with the US Forest Services estimated the size of the blaze, known as the Head Fire, to be around 2,700 acres as of Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.The fire exploded Tuesday night in the Klamath National Forest, which covers more than 2,650 square miles (about 6,863 square km) in Northern California and Southern Oregon.The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for several areas in Selad Valley and the vicinity of Hamburg about 20 miles from the California-Oregon state line. Highway 96 and the Scott River Road were closed.Some smaller lightning-caused fires were reported Tuesday in Mendocino County, according…

According to sources, the BJP has identified 125 “vulnerable” constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and 27 in Chhattisgarh, where the party is in a “weaker position”.The BJP has divided these seats into four categories — A, B, C and D — on the basis of the probability of victory in Assembly elections.The seats on which the party has a higher chance to win or is in a fight have been placed under A and B categories. Whereas in the C and D categories, those seats have been included where the party has won the previous election with a very small margin…

Police have denied the charge, saying that the farmer appeared to have died of cardiac arrest after leaving the outpost. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ravindra Kumar said that Dinesh Singh Bhadauria was called to the Hanumant Vihar police outpost for routine questioning as a criminal case under sections related to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was registered against him a couple of days back. After questioning, he was let off, the official said, adding that Bhadauria was on his way home when he complained of chest pain. He was taken to a hospital where…