A pupil shot and killed a fellow student at a German school on Thursday, authorities said, in the latest in a series of youth murders in the country. Police and prosecutors in the southwestern city of Offenburg said they suspected a “personal motive” in the dispute between the two minors.

The assailant was arrested in a classroom at the school where he fired on his fellow pupil of the same age. The victim later died of his wound in hospital.

Around 300 emergency responders arrived on the scene and 180 pupils were evacuated to a neighbouring athletics hall and picked up by their parents.

Germany, where gun crime is relatively rare, has seen a series of deadly incidents involving youths in recent months.

German police arrested two teenagers and seized a pair of “apparent toy weapons” on Wednesday after evacuating a high school in Hamburg over a security threat. 

The Madras High Court on Thursday declined to declare the entire Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Online Gambling and Regulation of Online Games Act, 2022, as ultra vires the Constitution and held Rummy and Poker are ‘games of skill.’

It set aside the Schedule of the Act incorporating Rummy and Poker as games of chance in the list of banned games.

The Tamil Nadu government had introduced the legislation earlier following a spate of suicides allegedly over monetary loss in online gambling.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice S V Gangapurwala and Justice P D Audikesavalu partly allowed the writ petitions filed by All India Gaming Federation and other online gaming companies, which challenged the Act.

“We hold that the impugned Act, in its entirety, need not be held to be ultra vires. It is held that the State is competent to legislate to the extent of prohibiting online gambling, i.e., games of chance, at the same time, it has got the authority to regulate online games of skill. The definition of “online gambling” under Section 2(i) of the impugned Act shall be read as restricted to “games of chance” and not games involving skill. ..the games of rummy and poker are games of cards, but are games of skill,” the bench said.

The bench said having held that the State has got the authority to legislate on online games of chance, as gambling would be betting on the games of chance, it was not necessary to declare Sections 7, 8 and 9 of the impugned Act as ultra vires. It has been authoritatively held by the Supreme Court in a catena of judgments, so also this Court that the games of rummy and poker were games of skill.

The State has miserably failed to demonstrate online games of rummy and poker were different and distinct from offline games of rummy and poker. The apprehension expressed by the State that bots may be used or the dealer (software) would know the cards were without any substantive material. In view thereof, the Schedule under Section 23, incorporating rummy and poker as games of chance, was set aside, the bench added.

The bench said the State may make regulations as contemplated under Section 5 of the impugned Act, thereby providing reasonable regulations for the time limit, age restriction or such other restrictions in regard to playing of online games.

Section 10 of the impugned Act may not be declared as ultra vires as it will be necessary for the State to know about the online games providers operating within its State and that they were not indulging in any games of chance.

If the State comes across the usage of bots or any dubious methods in the play of games of rummy and poker, it can take action and for that purpose also it will be necessary to uphold Section 10 of the impugned Act. The State may frame regulations as contemplated under Section 5 of the impugned Act, the bench added.

“In the light of the aforesaid, the writ petitions, as such, stand partly allowed. The prayer to declare the entire impugned Act of 2022 as ultra vires is negated. The Schedule of the impugned Act, including the games of rummy and poker, are set aside. Sections 2(i) and 2(l)(iv) of the impugned Act shall be read as restricted to games of chance and not games involving skill, viz., rummy and poker,” the bench added.

The court said it was to be considered that the online games, in the instant case, were not available for persons/children below the age of 18 years. Online games can be played only by those who were 18 years and above i.e., who were major and not school children.

The apprehension raised by the Senior Counsel for the State was that there would be no methodology to verify the age of the person playing. The petitioners responded to it by suggesting that a person, before he enrols to play, was required to submit his Aadhaar Card, photograph and other precautionary measures were taken to confirm that the person playing was 18 years old or more, the bench added.

It said another apprehension of the state government was that the games were played 24 hours, thereby endangering the public and domestic health. The concern expressed by the State about the public health of its citizens was but natural.

The State has to take care of the public health of its citizens. Section 5 of the impugned Act authorises the authority, by notification and with the previous approval of the Government, to make regulations to carry out the provisions of the Act namely, time limit, monetary limit, age restriction or such other restrictions in regard to playing of online games.

The State certainly has the power to regulate online games of skill. It can control and regulate the games of skill. The State can provide for the time limit and it would have the necessary infrastructure and expertise to take all the measures that the games would not be played within the State after a particular time. It can also regulate the age restriction and other aspects. The same would be within the competence of the State, the bench added.

The bench said another apprehension raised by the State was of public order. Public order in the State List would imply activities that would jeopardize and affect public at large.

The Supreme Court in the case of Ram Manohar Lohia observed that “every breach of the peace does not lead to public disorder. When two drunkards quarrel and fight there is disorder but not public disorder. They can be dealt with under the powers to maintain law and order but cannot be detained on the ground that they were disturbing public order.”

“Suppose that the two fighters were of rival communities and one of them tried to raise communal passions. The problem is still one of law and order but it raises the apprehension of public disorder. Other examples can be imagined. The contravention of law always affects order but before it can be said to affect public order, it must affect the community or the public at large. A mere disturbance of law and order leading to disorder is thus not necessarily sufficient for action under the Defence of India Act but disturbances which subvert the public order are….”.

There was no evidence in the instant case that public order was disturbed, the bench added.

A team of surgeons in New York said Thursday they had performed the world’s first transplant of an entire eye in a procedure described as a medical breakthrough, although it isn’t yet known whether the patient will actually regain his sight.

The groundbreaking surgery involved removing part of the face and the whole left eye of a donor and grafting them onto the recipient: a 46-year-old line worker who survived a 7,200-volt electric shock in June 2021 when his face touched a live wire.

Aaron James, 46, suffered extensive injuries including the loss of his left eye, his dominant left arm above the elbow, his entire nose and lips, front teeth, left cheek area and chin down to the bone.

He was referred to NYU Langone Health, a leading medical center for facial reconstruction, which carried out the procedure on May 27.

Transplanting an entire eye has long been a holy grail of medical science, and though researchers have had some success in mice — where they have restored partial vision — it’s never before been performed in a living person.

“The mere fact that we’ve accomplished the first successful whole-eye transplant with a face is a tremendous feat many have long thought was not possible” said Eduardo Rodriguez, who led the 21-hour-surgery that made use of patient-specific 3D cutting guides. “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect patient,” he added.

Although the transplanted left eye has shown signs of good health, including direct blood flow to the retina, which is responsible for receiving light and sending images to the brain, it’s not certain James will regain his sight.

Nevertheless, “this is a huge deal,” Kia Washington, a professor of surgery at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, who has been working in the same field for 15 years, told AFP.

Daniel Pelaez of the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, who has also been working towards the same goal, told AFP:  “The transplantation of a human eye at NYU Langone represents a pivotal moment in our common quest to restore sight and offers hope to countless individuals around the world.”

James, whose right eye remains intact, was considered an ideal candidate because his need for a facial transplant meant he would require immunosuppressive drugs regardless, making the risk-benefit calculation favorable — even if it only conferring cosmetic value rather than sight. 

“I’m grateful beyond words for the donor and his family, who have given me a second chance at life during their own time of great difficulty. I hope the family finds solace in knowing that part of the donor lives on with me,” said James, who returned to his native Arkansas in September to be with his wife and daughter. 

He still has to return to New York for monthly follow-up appointments, and has the option of returning to work as a safety manager for high-voltage line workers in future.

Given the time that has passed since the surgery, Washington said she did not think it likely that James’ eye would regain vision, but “I never say something is impossible,” she added.

The NYU Langone team said they had used bone marrow-derived adult stem cells to promote nerve repair. 

Achieving the goal of sight restoration could involve bringing other cutting-edge approaches to bear, said Washington — including gene therapy to tap the optic nerve’s intrinsic ability to heal; using a device called a nerve wrap to protect the tissue; or using devices that pick up signals and bypass the damaged pathway.

“We’re making great progress in the treatments to promote optic nerve regeneration that could accompany eye transplant,” Jeffrey Golberg, who is leading similar efforts at the Byers Eye Institute at Stanford University, told AFP.

“These adjunctive therapies will allow the donor eye to significantly connect to the brain and restore meaningful visual function to blind patients everywhere.”