Author: Starvision News Desk

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) A number of churches were vandalised in the Jaranwala tehsil of Faisalabad in Pakistan on Wednesday over blasphemy allegations, officials said, local media reported.A Christian leader, Akmal Bhatti, said the crowd had torched at least five churches and looted valuables from houses that had been abandoned by their owners after clerics made announcements in mosques inciting the mob, Dawn reported.Images on social media showed smoke rising from the church buildings and people setting fire to furniture that had been dragged from them.Jaranwala pastor Imran Bhatti told Dawn that the ransacked churches included the Salvation Army…

Seoul, Aug 16 (IANS) Seoul on Wednesday unveiled its new promotion logo, “Seoul, My Soul”, to be used in its campaign to advertise the South Korea’s capital city’s allure to the world.The new slogan, adorned with colorful pictograms, will replace the former logo, “I SEOUL YOU”, which had been in use for the past eight years, Yonhap News Agency reported citing city officials as saying.The new logo comes with colorful pictograms, including a pink heart symbol and a blue smile icon, to elevate its visibility to people from around the world.In particular, the pink heart representing the ‘O’ in Seoul…

Gandhinagar, Aug 16 (IANS) In response to the ongoing strike by nephrologists in Gujarat from August 14 to 16, the state government has taken the decision to extend the operating hours of all 280 centers under the A-One Dialysis Programme across all talukas until late in the night. The A-One Dialysis programme currently operates across the state with 280 centres, facilitating approximately 4 lakh free dialysis procedures annually.The Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) Ahmedabad, which serves as the nodal agency for the programme, has issued a directive ensuring that no patient requiring dialysis should encounter any difficulties…

Khartoum, Aug 16 (IANS) Amid the ongoing violent conflict, Sudan’s Civil Aviation Authority has reopened the airspace in the country’s eastern sector.”The Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority issued a notice to open the airspace for air traffic in the country’s eastern sector as of today,” said a statement by Khartoum International Airport.The statement said the authority announced the launching of an alternative air navigation centre in the eastern city of Port Sudan.Sudan’s airspace has been closed since the outbreak of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on April 15, as air navigation systems at…

Wellington, Aug 16 (IANS) New Zealand’s resident population provisionally grew by 2.1 per cent, or 105,900 people, over the preceding 12 months, to reach 5.22 million on June 30, the statistics department said on Wednesday.”Growth of 2.1 per cent is a sizeable rebound,” Stats NZ’s estimates and projections manager Michael MacAskill said, adding that New Zealand’s net migration during the June 2023 year was the main driver of population growth over this period.Net migration rebounded to a gain of 86,800 in the June 2023 year, reversing a net migration loss of 17,600 in the June 2022 year, Xinhua news agency…

London, Aug 16 (IANS) A 62-year-old Indian-origin man in England has been sentenced to two years in prison for stealing more than 50,000 pounds from a company where he worked, police said.Sunny Bhayani from Surrey was sentenced last week at Aylesbury Crown Court to two years’ imprisonment suspended for two years after he pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by abuse of position, the Thames Valley Police said.He was also ordered to pay 565 pounds in costs, 51,794.27 pounds to be repaid at 1,075 pounds a month.The court heard that Bhayani, who was working in Customer Services for Dreams…

Wellington, Aug 16 (IANS) New Zealand has continued to crack down on organised crime with the largest ever meth bust seizing nearly three-quarters of a tonne of methamphetamine, Police Minister Ginny Andersen said on Wednesday.According to the Minister, this was was possibly the largest ever meth bust in New Zealand, with a provisional total of 746.9 kg seized during the search warrant in Manukau, Auckland, in March, reports Xinhua news agency.”Methamphetamine destroys lives and wreaks havoc on our communities,” she said.Anderson added that this will also deal a significant financial blow to gangs and organised criminals.The New Zealand government has…

Seoul, Aug 16 (IANS) North Korea on Wednesday said a U. soldier who crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into the country last month admitted that he “illegally intruded” due to “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army”, claiming that he has expressed a willingness to seek refuge there or in a third country.It marked the North’s first public confirmation of the status of Pvt. Travis King, who crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) into the North during a tour to the Joint Security Area (JSA) in the DMZ on July 18, reports Yonhap News Agency.”Travis King confessed that…

New York, Aug 15 (IANS) A group of scientists has identified genes linked to high production of a key antibody, which has the potential to advance manufacturing of antibody-based therapies for diseases such as cancer and arthritis.A collaboration led by University of California-Los Angeles and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute yielded new knowledge about the genes responsible for the production and release of immunoglobulin G, the most common type of antibody in the human body.Immunoglobulin G, or IgG, stores memories of past infections and tags dangerous microbes to be eliminated by immune cells. Mothers’ IgG is also vital for their…

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) Older adults who play digital puzzle games have the same memory abilities as people in their 20s, a new study has shown.The study, from the University of York, also found that adults aged 60 and over who play digital puzzle games had a greater ability to ignore irrelevant distractions, but older adults who played strategy games did not show the same improvements in memory or concentration.Working memory is thought to peak between the ages of 20 and 30 before slowly declining as a person gets older.”A lot of research has focused on action games, as…