Author: Starvision News Desk

Phnom Penh, Sept 1 (IANS) Cambodian authorities had arrested 12,356 drug-related suspects, including 254 foreigners, during the first eight months of 2023, the country’s Anti-Drug Department said in a report on Friday. Nearly 49 per cent of the suspects were drug users, and the rest were drug traffickers, manufacturers and transporters, the report added.”A total of 2.62 tonne of illicit drugs, 43.5 kg of dry marijuana, and 23,816 marijuana plants were seized in the suspects’ possession during the January-August period of 2023,” the report said.The authorities had also impounded 30 homemade rifles, 25 pistols, 105 cars, 1,142 motorbikes, 3,518 telephones…

Sydney, Sep 1 (IANS) New single-use plastic bans came into effect from Friday in the Australian state of Queensland, following those introduced in September 2021. According to the Queensland state government, the list of banned plastic items has been extended to include cotton buds with plastic stems, expanded polystyrene loose packaging, plastic microbeads in rinseable personal care and cleaning products, as well as the outdoor release of lighter-than-air balloons, Xinhua news agency reported.Extra requirements on plastic shopping bags were also introduced, under which non-woven plastic shopping bags of 35 micron or more thickness need to pass reusability tests for 125…

Washington, Sep 1 (IANS) A 58-year-old US woman has earned Guinness Worl Record for the longest mullet of any female measuring 172.72 cm (5 ft 8 in), media reports said. The woman, Tami Manis, who is a public health nurse in Knoxville city in the US’ Tennessee state, had last cut her hair on February 9, 1990.She told Guinness that she began growing her hair in the 1980s, after watching ‘Til Tuesday’s music video for its song, ‘Voices Carry’.”The girl had a rat tail and I really wanted one of those,” she said.In 1989, when Manis had went to salon,…

United Nations, Aug 31 (IANS) UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres announced on Thursday that he will be going to the G20 summit in New Delhi carrying the messages of global financial reform and fighting climate change as he takes a swing through four international summits ahead of next month’s high-level UN meetings.G20 countries, as the world’s biggest economies, “need to look seriously into reform of global financial institutions, rules and frameworks, to adapt them to today’s realities and more effectively enable developing countries to access the resources they need to invest in the (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, he said.…

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) The Director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), M. Srinivas, has taken note of the issues being faced in the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) at the premier institute in Delhi and directed to provide seamless health services to the beneficiaries.Srinivas issued the direction during a meeting convened to discuss and tackle the issues hampering the effective execution of the AB-PMJAY at AIIMS.The issues Srinivas discussed with the key stakeholders and experts included biometric authentication at discharge, reducing local purchases andreimbursement process optimisation, among others.”The need…

Karachi, Aug 31 (IANS) Bears maintained a firm grip on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as the benchmark index tanked over 2 per cent amid fears over the worsening economic condition of the country, a media report said.Investors reacted with panic to the rising rupee-dollar parity, opting to offload shares on fears of a looming economic turmoil, Geo News reported.In the interbank market, the rupee closed at 305.54 against the dollar showing a depreciation of 0.36 per cent.The KSE-100 index plummeted from the moment trading began and dived more than 1,700 points to fall below the 45,000 mark…

London, Aug 31 (IANS) A newly-released video of Yevgeny Prigozhin purports to show the Wagner group boss in Africa addressing rumours about his well-being and threats to his life, just days before his death, according to a media report.“For everyone discussing whether I’m alive or not and how I’m doing. It’s currently a weekend in the second half of August 2023. I’m in Africa,” Prigozhin says in the short video published by the Grey Zone Telegram channel that is linked to Wagner group, The Guardian reported.“So for those who like to speculate about my liquidation, my private life, my work…

New York, Aug 31 (IANS) People with a particular version of a gene involved in immune response had a lower risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, according to a massive study of medical and genetic data. The protective gene version, or allele identified in the study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is called DR4, and is carried by about one in every five people.Researchers from the Stanford University in the US found that people with DR4 had reduced chances of contracting either Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s by more than 10 per cent on average.These lucky people…

New York, Aug 31 (IANS) Women who received infertility treatments like in vitro-fertilisation (IVF) had an increased risk of stroke hospitalisation within 12 months of delivery, according to an alarming study.Researchers from the Rutgers University analysed 31,339,991 pregnant individuals who delivered between 2010 and 2018, compared with those who did not receive infertility treatment.“Although the absolute rates of hospitalisation were low, we found that infertility treatment was associated with an overall 66 per cent increased risk of stroke hospitalisation,” they reported in the paper published in the JAMA Network Open.They were also twice as likely to suffer the deadlier form…

Toronto, Aug 31 (IANS) Murder charges have been laid against two Sikh men in connection with an “aggravated assault” that left a 55-year-old man dead in the Canadian province of British Columbia, police said.Parminder Singh Brar, 31, and Simarpal Singh, 21, remain in police custody and were charged with aggravated assault and second-degree murder last week, Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said.Police said they were called to an area of King George Boulevard, a major arterial road in Surrey, at around 11 p.m. on August 18, to reports of the victim walking around with a machete.The victim allegedly hit…