London, Jan 18 (IANS) A 25-year-old Sikh has man has been fined and banned from roads for 22 months by a UK court for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Police found open cans of alcohol in Sukhpreet Singh's car after he was followed through a Derbyshire town swerving across lanes in November last year, the Derbyshire Live reported.
The Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court heard that Singh, a Pizza Hut worker and a resident of Higher Albert Street, Chesterfield, was driving without a license.
According to prosecutor Becky Allsop, a witness informed that Singh's car was swerving in and out of the zig-zag lines in the centre of the road, and vehicles travelling in the opposite direction had to flash their lights at him.
The witness, a driver, was following Singh's car and had informed the police about him.
The witness described the vehicle as coming to a stop in the middle of the road for no reason and then drove off again, still swerving all the way down the road, the report said.
"The road he turned into had two lanes in each direction and Singh crossed both the carriageways, went over the central raised pavement and came to rest facing the opposite direction to the way he should have been," Allsop was quoted as saying in Derbyshire Live.
Singh had a breath test reading of 77 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath -- almost twice the legal limit of 35, the court was informed.
Sajid Majeed, mitigating, said Singh has pleaded guilty, and had no previous convictions of any kind.
Majeed told the court that his client had moved to the UK with his wife from India and still takes care of the financial needs of his elderly parents back there.
The court fined Singh 250 pounds, ordered him to pay 85 pound costs, a 100 pound victim surcharge and disqualified him from driving for 22 months, according to Derbyshire Live.
The report added that the ban will be reduced by 25 per cent on the successful completion of a drink-drive awareness course, which Singh has agreed to undergo.
US authorities have said investigations were underway into reports that turbans of Sikh asylum seekers were confiscated after they were detained at the country's border with Mexico, the media reported. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nearly 50 Sikh migrants have had their turbans taken away, the BBC reported.
The fast-moving wildfire that began on Friday afternoon near the Yosemite National Park in central California's Mariposa County scorched 18,087 acre (73.2 square km) with 26 per cent containment as of Tuesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Lufthansa said that 92,000 passengers will be affected by the Frankfurt cancellations and 42,000 by the Munich disruption. It said those affected will be contacted Tuesday and rebooked on alternative flights where possible but warned that “the capacities available for this are very limited.”
Health Canada has not recorded a case of the virus in more than 25 years, but infectious disease experts say they always have their "ears up and eyes open for vaccine-preventable illnesses like polio" that continue to circulate elsewhere in the world.
Ishan Wahi, 32, a former product manager at Coinbase Global, stayed in Seattle, Washington, along with his brother Nikhil Wahi, 26. They committed the cryptocurrency crime with Indian-American Sameer Ramani, 33, of Houston, the US Department of Justice said in a statement late on Thursday.
The White House said Biden will work from self-isolation over phone and on Zoom till he tests negative, which could take seven to eight days. Jill Biden, the First Lady, has tested negative. She told reporters that she spoke with her husband in the morning and he is feeling fine. For herself, she said she intends to stay with her schedule.
