23/08/2025

SATURDAY | AUG 23, 2025

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India bans online gambling

Ex-president of Sri Lanka arrested COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former president Ranil Wickremesinghe was arrested yesterday for allegedly “misusing government funds”, a senior police detective told AFP. Wickremesinghe

o Law exempts e-sports, educational games

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the new law would “encourage e-sports and online social games” while “at the same time, it will save our society from the harmful effects of online money games”. Industry groups had urged regulation and taxation rather than a blanket ban, warning the move could drive players to illegal offshore platforms. But supporters of the Bill argue the social costs are too high to allow. Officials said the rapid spread of gambling platforms had caused widespread financial distress, addiction and even suicide. The government said it has also been linked to fraud, money laundering and terrorism financing. Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the law differentiates between online “social” games and those played for money. “It encourages e-sports, which are organised competitive video games, and promotes safe online social and educational games,” a government briefing note read. “It clearly separates constructive digital recreation from betting, gambling and fantasy money games.” – AFP

BCCI will follow every policy of the country that is framed by the central government,” said BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. The Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill was passed by both houses of parliament on Thursday, and criminalises the offering, promotion and financing of such games, with offenders facing up to five years in prison. Following the passing of the Bill, Dream 11, said in a statement posted on its website yesterday that “cash games and contests have been discontinued”, but urged fans to “stay tuned”. Other games remained online yesterday, with the Bill still needing to be formally ratified by the president before taking effect. “This legislation is designed to curb addiction, financial ruin and social distress caused by predatory gaming platforms that thrive on misleading promises of quick wealth,” a government statement said. India’s wider gaming industry is one of the largest markets in the world, but the new law carves out exceptions for e-sports and educational games, which the government said will be promoted as part of the digital economy.

(pic) was taken into custody after being questioned about a September 2023 visit to London to attend a ceremony for his wife at a British university while he was head of state, the officer said. “We are producing him before the

NEW DELHI: India’s parliament has passed a sweeping law banning online gambling, after government figures showed 450 million people lost a combined US$2.3 billion (RM9.73 billion) annually on apps. The ban impacts platforms for card games, poker and fantasy sports, including India’s wildly popular homegrown fantasy cricket apps. The government said roughly a third of the citizens of the world’s most populous country had lost money gambling online. It also leaves the fate of the key sponsor for India’s national cricket team in question. Dream11, India’s biggest fantasy sports gaming platform, was named in July 2023 as the country’s lead sponsor for three years, with its logo splashed on Team India jerseys. No announcement has been made by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) regarding the key sponsor. “If it’s not permissible, we’ll not do anything.

Colombo Fort magistrate,” the officer said, adding that they were pressing charges for using state resources for personal purposes. Wickremesinghe had stopped in London in 2023 on his way back from Havana, where he attended a G77 summit. He and his wife, Maithree, attended a University of Wolverhampton ceremony. Wickremesinghe had maintained that his wife’s travel expenses were met by her and that no state funds were used. However, the Criminal Investigation Department of the police alleged that Wickremesinghe used government money for his travel on a private visit and that his bodyguards were also paid by the state. Wickremesinghe became president in July 2022 for the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term, after Rajapaksa stepped down following months of protests over alleged corruption and mismanagement. Wickremesinghe is credited with stabilising the economy after the country’s worst-ever financial meltdown in 2022. He finished third in last year’s presidential election behind Marxist leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who won the vote, and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. – AFP/Reuters TOKYO: The operator of a Japanese luxury sleeper train said it has scrapped an upcoming journey after discovering its crew had been liberally helping themselves to alcohol in the name of “quality control” for years. “Some of the crew were repeatedly drinking more than they were allowed to as part of their routine quality control testing,” said a subsidiary of the East Japan Railway Company, commonly known as JR East. The misdemeanour on the swanky Train Suite Shiki-shima started around September 2022, according to the subsidiary JR East View Tourism and Sales. “This not only severely undermines trust in our business, but is unacceptable behaviour for those in a position to oversee the itinerary of our guests,” it added. Local media reports said that six staff members have so far been taken off duty, leaving the operator with what it called “manpower” shortages. As a result, an upcoming jaunt due to begin on Aug 30 around the bucolic regions of Niigata and Nagano has been cancelled, it said on Thursday. The journey of two nights and one day cost upwards of US$3,000 (RM12,691) and promised, among other things, in-train dinner with French cuisine, expensive wines and a winery visit. “We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to those looking forward to the trip,” JR East said. – AFP Boozy crew puts brakes on train

INSPIRED ART ... An artisan paints an idol of the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha at a workshop in Amritsar, ahead of the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration on Wednesday. – AFPPIC

US slams door on foreign truck drivers WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday abruptly stopped issuing US visas for truck drivers after a fatal crash drew national attention, its latest sweeping step against foreign visitors. extradite Singh personally alongside

Truck drivers have long been required to pass tests that include basic English proficiency but in 2016 under former president Barack Obama, authorities were told not to take truckers off the road solely on account of language deficiencies. The number of foreign-born truck drivers in the United States more than doubled between 2000 and 2021 to 720,000, according to federal statistics. Foreign-born drivers now make up 18% of the industry – in line with the US labour market as a whole, but a departure for a profession long identified with white, working-class men. More than half of the foreign-born drivers come from Latin America with sizable numbers in recent years from India and Eastern European nations, especially Ukraine, according to industry groups. The influx of foreign drivers has come in response to demand. A study earlier this year by the financial company altLine said the United States faced a shortage of 24,000 truck drivers. – AFP

immigration agents on Thursday. The crash has taken on a political dimension in part as Singh received his commercial licence in California and also lived in the West Coast state, which is run by the Democratic Party and opposes Trump’s crackdown on immigration. “This crash was a preventable tragedy directly caused by reckless decisions and compounded by despicable failures,” Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office responded that the federal government under Trump had issued a work permit to Singh, who sought asylum, and that California had cooperated in extraditing him. Even before the crash, Republican lawmakers have been taking aim at foreign truckers, pointing to a rising number of crashes without providing evidence of a direct link to immigrants. In June, Duffy issued a directive that truck drivers must speak English.

“We are pausing all issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X. “The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on US roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” he wrote. Rubio’s action came after a truck driver was charged with killing three people on a highway in Florida while making an illegal U-turn. Harjinder Singh, who is from India, allegedly entered the United States illegally from Mexico and failed an English examination after the crash, according to federal officials. The case has gathered wide media attention and has been highlighted by officials in Florida, controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, with the lieutenant governor flying to California to