plastic waste
AFP, Paris
The French parliament on Thursday passed a law forbidding retailers from destroying unsold clothes and banning single-use plastic containers by 2040, part of the government’s efforts to reduce waste.
The bill adopted by the Senate, after being cleared by the lower house National Assembly last week, bans fast-food restaurants from serving food that is not for takeaway in plastic containers beyond 2023.
Solar orbiter mission to study Sun
AP, Michigan
A solar orbiter mission by the researchers of the University of Michigan will be launched on February 7 for studying the physics of the Sun and will also be the first to capture the images of Sun’s poles.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar Orbiter will function in coordination with Parker Solar Probe of NASA which was launched earlier in August 2018. According to researchers, the orbiter will be launched from Cape Canaveral.
About 20 killed in fresh DR Congo attack
AFP, Beni
Up to 24 people were killed Thursday in a fresh attack in DR Congo’s east attributed to the Allied Democratic Forces militia, taking the number of civilians killed over two days to more than 60, officials and a monitor said. Twenty-four bodies were found at four sites near Oicha in the volatile Beni region, the area’s top administrator Donat Kibwana said. The Kivu Security Tracker, a joint project of the Congo Research Group and Human Rights Watch put the toll at 19.
Indian-American couple killed in New Zealand volcanic eruption
PTI, Wellington
An Indian-American businessman has become the latest victim of a massive volcanic eruption in New Zealand after he succumbed to his burn injuries, over a month after his wife died in the same tragedy, leaving their three children orphaned.
Pratap Singh and his wife Mayuari were visiting the popular White Island in New Zealand when the volcano erupted on December 9.
