No Shimmer: Why Scientists Want to Ban Glitter

livescience.com - It's sparkly, it's festive and some scientists want to see it swept from the face of the Earth.

Glitter should be banned, researcher Trisia Farrelly, a senior lecturer in environment and planning at Massey University in New Zealand, told CBS. The reason? Glitter is made of microplastic, a piece of plastic less than 0.19 inches (5 millimeters) in length. Specifically, glitter is made up of bits of a polymer called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which goes by the trade name Mylar. And though it comes in all sizes, glitter is typically just a millimeter or so across, Live Science previously reported.

Microplastics make up a major proportion of ocean pollution. A 2014 study in the open-access journal PLOS ONE estimated that there are about 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic weighing a total of 268,940 tons (243,978 metric tons) floating in the world's seas. Microplastics made up 92.4 percent of the total count.

Most of those microplastics were flakes that had sloughed off plastic items that were originally larger, like water bottles, fishing gear or plastic shopping bags, that study found.

Microplastics are a problem because marine life mistakes the floating particles for food. Eurasian perch larvae, for example, often choose to eat plastic over its regular diet, according to a 2016 study in the journal Science. Unsurprisingly, that study found, a plastic-based diet was not great for the fish's long-term health and survival. Even zooplankton, the base of the ocean food chain, have been observed eating plastics.

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Bosnian war criminal dies after swallowing poison in court

(CNN) - A former Bosnian Croat general has died after apparently swallowing poison as a judge at the Hague upheld his 20-year sentence for war crimes.

Footage from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) showed 72-year-old Slobodan Praljak tilt his head back and drink from a small glass bottle as the presiding judge read out the verdict.

"Slobodan Praljak is not a war criminal. I am rejecting your verdict with contempt," Praljak shouted before swallowing the liquid.

The judge was then heard immediately suspending proceedings and asking for the curtains to be drawn. An ambulance was at the building shortly and paramedics raced up to the courtroom, Reuters reported.

The courtroom was being treated as a crime scene, an ICTY spokesperson told CNN.
Croatia's Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, later confirmed the former general had died and offered his condolences.

"On behalf of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and on my own behalf, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of General Slobodan Praljak," Plenkovic said, according to a tweet from an official government account.

The nature of the substance ingested by Praljak was not immediately clear.
Praljak, a former assistant defense minister of Croatia and commander of the Croatian Defense Council, was appealing a jail term of 20 years in prison.

He was one of six former Bosnian Croat leaders found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the rape and murder of Bosnian Muslims, in 2013.

The offenses, which date to between 1992 and 1994, came as part of a wider conflict that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.

The six were accused of trying to "ethnically cleanse" non-Croats from areas of the territory of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian Croat leadership, along with Croat leaders, wanted to make this territory part of a "Greater Croatia," the ICTY said when the case first went through the court.

Praljak played an important role in securing weapons and ammunition for the Croatian Defense Council army, according to the original indictment. (ontinueReading

U.N. tribunal seeks answers after stunned by courtroom suicide

YouTube pulled 150,000 videos of children over predatory comments

- YouTube is taking extensive action after word broke that pedophiles were targeting videos of children with vile comments. The streaming service reported that it had taken down over 150,000 videos that had fallen prey to comment abuse, and had disabled comments for more than 625,000 clips. It also terminated the accounts of several hundred users behind those comments.

The move comes just days after YouTube cracked down on child-exploiting videos, and just as it had to pull disturbing autocomplete results. It has been promising stricter enforcement of its policies on both the content of videos and their comments.

As with YouTube's reaction to hate videos, the takedowns and policy enforcement measures are welcome, but also relatively late -- they're coming as advertisers are pulling out and the damage has already been done. The tougher enforcement should reduce the chances of a situation like this going forward, but the rash of discoveries suggests that there may need to be more proactive campaigns that catch abuse before it makes headlines. (ontinueReading

Video of migrants sold in apparent slave auction in Libya provokes outrage worldwide

AOL.com - After a video surfaced showing migrants apparently being sold at auction in Libya, people worldwide have been calling for action.

Last week, CNN published a report on modern slavery in Libya, featuring a video that reportedly was shot in August and appeared to show a man selling African migrants for farm work.

“Big strong boys,” the man said in the video, according to a CNN narrator. “400 … 700 … 800,” he called out the mounting prices. The men were eventually sold for about $400 each, CNN reported. The Libyan government said it has launched an investigation into slave auctions in the country.

Following the CNN report, demonstrators took to the streets in Paris and other cities last week to express their outrage, and Libyans showed their solidarity on Twitter with the hashtag #LibyansAgainstSlavery.

Several world leaders spoke out as well. The chairman of the African Union, Guinean President Alpha Condé, called it a “despicable trade ... from another era” on Friday. The U.N. Support Mission in Libya said Wednesday that it was “dismayed and sickened,” and is “actively pursuing” the matter with Libyan authorities.

“I am horrified at news reports and video footage showing African migrants in Libya reportedly being sold as slaves,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said to reporters on Monday. “Slavery has no place in our world, and these actions are among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity.”

Guterres called for the international community to unite in fighting the abuse and smuggling of migrants, notably by increasing avenues for legal migration and enhancing international cooperation in cracking down on smugglers and traffickers.

However, rights advocates caution that real action may be slow in coming. “People are rightfully outraged,” Human Rights Watch researcher Hanan Salah told Reuters of CNN’s video on Monday. “But don’t hold your breath that anything real is going to happen.”

There are more than 45 million people worldwide who are victims of modern slavery, including forced labor and human trafficking, according to a September report from the human rights group Walk Free Foundation.

In Libya, migrants have become particularly vulnerable to human trafficking. The country functions as the main gateway for Africans to reach Europe, but it is also one of the world’s most unstable, mired in conflict since dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed in 2011.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing poverty or conflict travel to Libya each year, hoping to set off from the country’s coast to Europe. Once in Libya, they find themselves at the mercy of smugglers operating the dangerous boat passages across the Mediterranean.

Operating without many constraints, smuggling networks have adopted ruthless methods ― often killing, torturing, extorting and detaining migrants at will. The Libyan government does not have the means nor the commitment to crack down. European countries’ efforts to keep migrants from their own borders have forced the travelers to take ever greater risks to reach the continent. (ontinueReading

Bangladesh wants amicable ties with all neighbors, says PM

DHAKA, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Sunday that her country needed to develop amicable ties with all its neighbours.

She made the remarks at the inaugural session of a conference of Bangladeshi envoys based in foreign countries.

Being a peace-loving country, Hasina said: "We have to solve our problems through negotiations."

With reference to an agreement signed with Myanmar on Thursday for repatriation of the Rohingya refugees, Hasina said the consensus is a result of bilateral negotiations.

"We want to solve this (Rohingya) crisis without hampering our good relations with our neighbor (Myanmar)."

"Door with neighbours for negotiation should not remain closed. We have to keep contact with neighbors," she said, adding her country would be benefiting from the good relations with neighbors.

Hasina said the foreign policy principle of Bangladesh is "Friendship with All, Malice to None."

Bangladesh will remain a pacifist nation, she said.

"Our policy is very clear and we will not allow anybody to use our land for carrying subversive activities against any country, or as a route of smuggling arms, drugs or human trafficking."

She urged the envoys to promote the country's interest and image abroad, and specially to look into the matters of expatriate workers.

The prime minister said her government has opened 17 new missions abroad.

Terming poverty as the common enemy of South Asian countries, Hasina said: "We have to fight together against poverty."

"We're attaching utmost importance to sub-regional and interconnection initiatives," she said.

Meanwhile, Hasina said: "We have already joined BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar) Economic Corridor, which is aimed at bolstering trade, strengthening friendly relations and socio-economic development of the region."

The three-day conference, the first of its kind since Bangladesh's independence, is participated by high commissioners, ambassadors and permanent representatives of Bangladesh. (ontinueReading

In retaliatory move, Putin signs media 'foreign agents' law

(CNN) Russian President Vladmir Putin has signed amendments into law that will allow foreign media outlets in Russia to be listed as "foreign agents," according to state-run news agency Sputnik news.

Russian officials have said the change is a retaliatory response to the US government's request that RT, the Russian TV network, register its American arm as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Sputnik reports the amendments signed by Putin had been previously approved by both chambers of the Russian parliament.

"According to the text of the law, media that receive financial assistance from foreign states or organizations can be recognized as foreign agents, while the decision on which outlets will be classified as 'foreign agents' will be taken by the Ministry of Justice." (ontinueReading

Militants kill more than 230 at Sinai mosque in Egypt's deadliest attack

CAIRO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Militants killed more than 230 people at a mosque in North Sinai on Friday, detonating a bomb and gunning down worshippers in the deadliest such attack in Egypt's modern history, state media and witnesses said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but since 2013 Egyptian security forces have battled an Islamic State affiliate in the mainly desert region, and militants have killed hundreds of police and soldiers.

State media showed images of bloodied victims and bodies covered in blankets inside the Al Rawdah mosque in Bir al-Abed, west of El Arish, the main city in North Sinai.

Worshippers were finishing Friday prayers at the mosque when a bomb exploded, witnesses said. Around 40 gunmen set up positions outside the mosque with jeeps and opened fire from different directions as people tried to escape.

"Four groups of armed men attacked the worshippers inside the mosque after Friday noon prayers. Two groups were firing at ambulances to deter them, said Mohamed, a witness.

The public prosecutors' office said in a statement 235 people had been killed and 109 more wounded.