Nie Feng used to toss his rubbish outside his Shanghai flat without a thought while rushing to work, but saving China from a garbage crisis now requires him to consult a complex diagram each morning. On July 1, Shanghai launched China s most ambitious garbage separation and recycling programme ever, as the country confronts a rising tide of trash created by increasing consumption. But the programme is the talk of China s biggest city for other reasons as well: confusion over rules and fines for infractions, and thousands of volunteers inspecting citizens private garbage each day. Nie examines a wall-sized diagram saying fish and pork bones must be separated from each other, and from the plastic bag he carries them in. “It s for the good of our homeland, but we keep making mistakes,” said Nie, a trading company staffer, laughing as he struggled to separate the bag s contents into various bins. “We have to get this right before the fines really start.” Shanghai is piloting a programme set for eventual nationwide adoption in what would likely be the world s largest waste separation and recycling scheme — and it is desperately needed. With its 1.4 billion consumers, China is becoming swamped by trash. Every day, Shanghai s 25 million people alone produce around 26,000 tonnes –- equal in weight to the Statue of Liberty. The issue is straining municipal services nationwide and prompting unrest. Growing anger Last week authorities in the central city of Wuhan sent riot police to quell protests by thousands of citizens against construction of a waste incinerator. China is spending billions of dollars on waste-to-energy incineration plants across the country, but repeated protests have flared over fears they will emit toxins. Wuhan has shelved its plan, for now. China produced just 30 million tonnes of trash in 1980, but that soared to 210 million in 2017, according to World Bank figures. That is still less than the world s trash titan, the United States, which produced 258 million tonnes. But China is gaining fast and the World Bank predicts Chinese garbage could reach a staggering 500 million tonnes annually by 2030. Several factors are blamed, including rapid growth and the Communist Party s ongoing push to develop a domestic consumer economy to lessen reliance on the outside world. Led by the likes of Alibaba, Chinese e-commerce has exploded, producing billions of parcel deliveries annually with their associated packaging. The government indicated its alarm last year by banning certain imports of foreign waste that it used to accept for years for recycling, a move that has up-ended global garbage flows. “We need a really big push and I think the government realised that. There is really a sense of urgency,” said Alizee Buysschaert, founder and director of environmental consultancy Zero Waste Shanghai. With a phased national roll-out set to gain pace next year, Shanghai s experience has become one of the most talked-about topics in the country, though sometimes for the wrong reasons. Critics have taken aim at seemingly contradictory sorting guidelines and the limited daily hours during which dumping is allowed, which causes problems for those with irregular schedules. Chinese media reports also have indicated that a lot of garbage was still entering bins unsorted. Government officials declined AFP interview requests. So much rubbish Previous city-level sorting schemes have fizzled, but Buysschaert sees a difference this time. “The big shift is that it is much more centralized and it s incentivized now. That s really a game-changer because now everyone is talking about it and everyone is involved and on their toes,” she said. Authorities say strict sorting is crucial, making it far easier to separately process recycled items, hazardous waste, compost and biomass. But tempers have flared. Chinese media said a 33-year-old woman was detained last week for choking a volunteer sorting inspector unconscious during a rules dispute. Fines range from 200 yuan ($29) for household infractions to 50,000 yuan for businesses, though authorities are going easy on imposing them for now. The scheme is a business opportunity for others, with start-ups offering app-based garbage collection and sorting services. True to form, the Communist Party is pushing obeisance via a public campaign larded with red banners emblazoned with revolutionary exhortations such as “storm the citadel of trash sorting.” “We weren t used to it at first. It was really inconvenient,” said 67-year-old pensioner Zhou Shenzhu. But she has been won over by a noticeable reduction in flies and odor since sorting started, she says. “The propaganda on television says we face great harm if we don t separate.” “Shanghai has lots of people, and so much rubbish. So much!” Image: AFP / HECTOR RETAMAL Every day, Shanghai produces around 26,000 tonnes of garbage –- equal in weight to the Statue of Liberty

Lausanne- “Designing a smoke-free future” is the goal of Philip Morris International (PMI), said the company s Manager Market Campaigns & Initiatives, Anna Bodi, during a presentation for a group of journalists, Daily News Egypt included, at the company s Research and Development (R&D) centre in Switzerland. PMI aims to offer smoke-free alternatives that have the potential to reduce the risk of developing smoking-related diseases, as compared with continued smoking, Bodi added, explaining that this is why PMI decided to create an R&D centre in 2009. “We work on developing products that are satisfying to current adult smokers, so they can fully switch.”

Popularized by Disney’s ‘Finding Nemo’, the common clownfish may not see its eggs hatch if they are exposed to artificial light at night, researchers reported on Wednesday. Clownfish, and likely other coral reef fish species living in areas exposed to light pollution, might not be able to produce viable offspring, Emily Fobert of Flinders University in Australia told AFP. A wide range of animals and plants across the globe are exposed to light pollution, but scientists have only begun to study its impact on their development and behaviour. An estimated 23 percent of land surface — excluding the poles — is today exposed to so-called artificial light at night (ALAN). The correct functioning of most natural systems fundamentally relies on light days and dark nights, Fobert said. But the presence of ALAN can mask these natural light rhythms, and interfere with the behaviour and physiology of individual organisms. It can impact ecological systems as a whole, she added. Most research on light pollution has focused on terrestrial wildlife. But marine species are exposed too: 22 percent of the world’s coastal regions experience some degree of artificial illumination, Fobert said. Because it typically travels great distances in its larval phase just after hatching, the clownfish was a good subject for experiments testing the impact of light pollution. Baby clownfish don’t stay in the anemone where they were born — they can disperse and find a new home, ten to hundreds of kilometres away from their parents, Fobert explained. Visible to predators Once they choose a habitat, they remain for life. If they settle to an area that is exposed to light pollution, they most likely won’t be able to move away, she said. Clownfish eggs are often attached to the side of shallow-water rocks, which means — in an area, say, near a harbor with LED lights that penetrate seawater — embryos will be constantly exposed as they develop. To mimic such conditions in the laboratory, researchers monitored 10 breeding pairs of clownfish in separate tanks during a breeding cycle. Five pairs — the control fish — were exposed to light days and dark nights, much as they would in their natural habitat. The other five pairs were exposed to dim, overhead LED lighting at night, duplicating conditions found near coral reefs adjacent to human habitation. Both groups spawned as they would in nature, and had normal rates of fertilization. But the eggs in the ALAN tanks had a zero percent hatch rate. The results of our study suggest that ‘darkness’ is used as an environmental cue to trigger hatching at the right time, the scientists said in a statement. Under the constant glare of artificial light at night, hatching is not initiated . Even if they are not directly exposed to light when hatching, moving from their tiny eggs into the ocean environment under a spotlight is dangerous for another reason. Baby fish are extremely small and vulnerable, so it’s believed hatching after dark — when they are less visible to predators — improves their chance of survival, Fobert said. Image: AFP/File / GABRIEL BOUYS Popularised by Disney’s ‘Finding Nemo’, the common clownfish may not see its eggs hatch if they are exposed to artificial light at night

US space agency NASA said Thursday its new mission would explore Titan, Saturn s largest moon, using a drone lander called Dragonfly. The crewless craft with four propellers is slated to launch in 2026 and reach its destination in 2034. "What really excites me about this mission is that Titan has all the ingredients needed for life," said Lori Glaze, director of NASA s planetary science division.

A German court on Tuesday fined Facebook two million euros for not being transparent enough over the action it is taking to curb online hate speech. Under a new regulation that came in force on January 1, 2018, companies like Twitter and Facebook have 24 hours to remove posts that openly violate German law after they are flagged by users.

Vaccines against human papillomavirus (HPV) could wipe out cervical cancer within decades in wealthy nations, scientists say, after a major study showed a stark reduction in cancer-causing infections. Rates of genital and anal warts, precancerous lesions and infections have dramatically declined among young people since the implementation of HPV vaccination programs in high-income countries like Germany, the UK and Australia.

Due to the increasing developments of the internet, maintaining personal data has become very difficult. Hence, under the state s efforts to prevent illegal spreading of personal data over the internet, the country will apply data protection regulation in Egyptian Law. The data protection regulations were finally approved by parliament on Monday, June 17. The regulations are to protect data and privacy for all Egyptian citizens and European Union citizens in Egypt.

Children at German schools and kindergartens have been asked to think of possible names for an exoplanet and its star in the Camelopardis (Giraffe) constellation as part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the International Astronomical Union. A jury will choose five suggestions from the children and amateur astronomy groups, and these proposals will then be voted on from October 10 to November 10 in an online poll in which everyone in Germany can participate.

The e-commerce market is expected to grow rapidly, on the back of Egypt s number of online users, giving the country the top rank in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, in terms of users, according to Admitad, MENA s most recent report. The report indicates that that the growth of e-commerce in Egypt will be impressive, especially that by 2030 more than 4,000 post offices are expected to open, and internet networks (5G) will be upgraded.

Social media giant Facebook Inc announced on Tuesday plans to launch a new cryptocurrency called Libra, scheduled for launch next year alongside the underlying blockchain-based network that will support it. Unlike Bitcoin – which is a speculative asset – Libra would be what is called a stable coin, a cryptocurrency that is backed by assets and securities, to avoid price fluctuations, in a bid that Libra would trade in the future on a global scale much like the United States dollar.

Due to the increasing developments of the internet, maintaining personal data has become very difficult. Hence, under the state s efforts to prevent illegal spreading of personal data over the internet, the country will apply data protection regulation in Egyptian Law. The data protection regulations were finally approved by parliament on Monday, June 17. The regulations are to protect data and privacy for all Egyptian citizens and European Union citizens in Egypt.

Lino Cattaruzzi, managing director of Google business operations in the Middle East and North Africa, said the improved investment atmosphere in Egypt and newly-adopted legislative measures encourages Google to reopen its office in Egypt. Cattaruzzi s statements came during a meeting with Minister of Investment Sahar Nasr, according to a statement issued by the ministry Sunday.

German high school student Isabel Lautesbach, 18, is just one of two girls in her 10-person chemistry class for students interested in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers ­— a ratio similar, she says, to her math and physics classes. Lautesbach s class average is only mildly smaller than the worldwide gender ratio in STEM fields. Women make up less than 30% of the world s scientific researchers, according to UNESCO data. They are less likely to hold senior authorship positions, make up small minorities of senior staff positions at universities and get paid less than their male counterparts, it reads, following decades of research pointing to a "gender gap" in STEM fields where women are given less representation.

More than 80% of Wikipedia editors (or Wikipedians) are male. This disparity in representation leads to a gap in information, say researchers from the University of Washington and Syracuse University. For example, only 17% of the site s biographies are about women. The researchers interviewed 25 established women Wikipedia editors and found that they face everything from constant reversals to their edits to unwanted sexual advances and in extreme cases, stalking, doxing (having one s personal information publicly exposed) and death threats.

Social media giant Facebook Inc announced on Tuesday plans to launch a new cryptocurrency called Libra, scheduled for launch next year alongside the underlying blockchain-based network that will support it. Unlike Bitcoin – which is a speculative asset – Libra would be what is called a stable coin, a cryptocurrency that is backed by assets and securities, to avoid price fluctuations, in a bid that Libra would trade in the future on a global scale much like the United States dollar.

Long, artificial lashes are becoming more and more popular, but getting them can be a significant undertaking. While strip lashes may be easier to apply on your own, individual single lashes are applied by a professional where every single artificial lash is attached to your real lashes with a specific glue. The process takes time, since your upper lid alone has roughly 150 to 250 lashes. So it might be 1.5 to three hours until you re done. Afterward, the lashes must avoid contact with water for 24 hours. Trips to the sauna or the tanning salon are out as well.

Vapulus, a specialist firm in financial technology (FinTech) solutions, has announced the launch of the world s first e-payment portal with 0% transaction fees, changing the rules of the competition game in the global e-commerce and e-payment markets. Unlike all global players and e-payment processing companies, Vapulus launched its portal without subscription fees and no fixed fees per transaction.

Children at German schools and kindergartens have been asked to think of possible names for an exoplanet and its star in the Camelopardis (Giraffe) constellation as part of celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the International Astronomical Union. A jury will choose five suggestions from the children and amateur astronomy groups, and these proposals will then be voted on from October 10 to November 10 in an online poll in which everyone in Germany can participate.