Author: admin@primenews

India is home to 718 snow leopards, according to the first-ever survey of the animal in the country, the federal environment ministry has said. This means that Indian snow leopards account for roughly 10-15% of the big cat’s global population. The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its numbers in the wild face multiple threats – from habitat loss and poaching to infrastructure development. The survey – Snow Leopard Population Assessment in India (SPAI) Program – was done from 2019 to 2023. It was conducted as part of the Population Assessment of…

A Thai court on Wednesday ordered the kingdom’s most popular political party to end its campaign to amend the country’s notoriously strict royal defamation law, dashing its supporters hopes for reform of the powerful monarchy. The Constitutional Court in Bangkok ruled the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in last year’s election, violated the constitution through its campaign to amend the lese majeste law. It ruled Move Forward and its leaders, including former prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat, sought to overthrow the constitutional monarchy through their actions. The ruling is considered a blow to the Southeast Asian country’s reform movement and the…

Sir Lenny Henry is to host Comic Relief for the final time when the BBC fundraising telethon returns in March. The comedian, who co-founded the charity with director Richard Curtis in 1985, said it was time for “new faces” after nearly 40 years at the helm. This year’s campaign will culminate with the Red Nose Day broadcast on BBC One on Friday 15 March. “I’m not going to be hosting any more Comic Reliefs after this,” he told BBC Breakfast on Wednesday. He said he would continue to make special appearances and documentaries, but that it was “time to hand…

Adele has announced four concerts in a specially-built stadium in Munich this summer – an idea she described as “a bit random, but still fabulous!” The shows will take place in an 80,000-capacity open-air venue in the German city on 2, 3, 9 and 10 August. It will be the first time the singer has performed in mainland Europe since her last tour in 2016. She said she hadn’t been planning any more shows after her current Las Vegas residency and two London shows in 2022. But the star said she had been tempted by the offer of “a one…

Born amid the horrors of the war in Gaza, the month-old baby girl lying in an incubator has never known a parent’s embrace. She was delivered by Caesarean section after her mother, Hanna, was crushed in an Israeli air strike. Hanna did not live to name her daughter. “We just call her the daughter of Hanna Abu Amsha,” says nurse Warda al-Awawda, who is caring for the tiny newborn at the al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Warning: This piece contains graphic descriptions which some may find upsetting. In the chaos caused by the ongoing fighting and with…

Myanmar has handed over three Chinese warlords to Beijing, who were notorious for trafficking thousands of foreign nationals to forcibly run scams. Bai Suocheng, Wei Chaoren and Liu Zhengxiang led three of four families which ruled Laukkaing on Myanmar’s north-eastern border with China. They were were taken to China on a chartered flight, with seven others. This is the latest twist in the stunning downfall of the military-backed Chinese mafia in Myanmar. And it’s yet another blow for Myanmar’s military regime, whose power is waning. Myanmar’s army, which had been locked in a brutal stalemate since it sized power in…

Dense fog has caused travel chaos in India’s capital Delhi, with dozens of flights and trains affected. Report say 50 flights and nearly two dozen trains have been delayed. According to the flight tracking app flightradar24, hundreds of departing flights were delayed by 25 minutes on an average and flight arrivals were delayed by eight minutes. But passengers have been complaining of being stranded for hours at the airport. Delhi airport authorities had issued a flight advisory on Monday, asking passengers to contact their airlines to check for updated flight information. “While landings and take-offs continue at Delhi airport, flights…

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been jailed for 14 years, the second sentence handed to Pakistan’s former prime minister in two days. The two sentences come just a week before the South Asian country is due to hold an election in which he is barred from standing. Khan, who was ousted as PM by his opponents in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term for corruption. He has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated. Wednesday’s court case revolved around accusations over state gifts that he and his wife received while in office, while…

Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos and family have agreed to sell the baseball team they have owned for more than 30 years to a group led by billionaire David Rubenstein, according to a person familiar with the deal. The price tag: $1.725 billion. That’s almost exactly 10 times the $173 million Angelos and his partners paid for the Orioles in an auction in 1993. The purchase still needs to be finalized by Major League Baseball and the other 29 teams’ owners. Sweetening the deal for Baltimore fans: Hall of Famer and Orioles legend Cal Ripken, Jr., is expected to be…

Samsung posted its fourth straight quarter of slumping profits on Wednesday, capping off a dismal year that also saw it lose its crown as the world’s top smartphone maker. The South Korean tech giant posted a 35% drop in profit on Wednesday, in a sign of how demand for consumer devices and the chips that power them continue to remain sluggish. The company said its operating profits declined to 2.8 trillion won (almost $2.1 billion) in the December quarter, compared with 4.3 trillion won ($3.5 billion) a year earlier, and roughly in line with its earnings forecast shared earlier this month. Despite that, Samsung is…