IN BRIEF (Page 12)

India

Nation's ambitious plan to reduce air pollution

The government has unveiled a plan worth $12.4 billion to cut back on emissions and develop infrastructure for electric vehicles, or EVs. Efforts will be made to slash sulfur emissions in power plants and 70 cities will see new EV infrastructure in five years ending 2025, a recent government statement said. It is estimated that thermal power plants are responsible for 80 percent of all industrial emissions in India. The country is also encouraging sales of electric vehicles with a vision to electrify all new vehicles by 2030. The air pollution level in the Indian capital of New Delhi hits the severe category constantly, provoking outcries for drastic moves for a change. India has nine of the world's 10 most polluted cities, the World Health Organization said.

Russia

'Yacht' will send tourists to near-Earth orbit

Russia is developing a "space yacht" that is able to take off from ordinary airfields like an aircraft to send tourists to near-Earth orbit, a chief designer of NPO Aviation and Space Technologies told Sputnik news agency. A number of private companies are working on the unmanned spacecraft dubbed Selena Space Yacht, designer Alexander Begak said. "We have an opportunity to land on any airfield, the device lands like an airplane. ... We now calculate the optimal time for space travel, a comfortable flight path, because experience shows that people do not need to be in zero-gravity condition for as long as 10 minutes," Begak said, adding that the development of the spacecraft began two years ago.

United Kingdom

Lawmakers recommend stiffer regulation

British lawmakers issued a scathing report on Monday that accused Facebook of intentionally violating privacy and anti-competition laws in the United Kingdom, and called for greater oversight of social media companies. The report on fake news and disinformation on social media sites followed an 18-month investigation. The parliamentary committee that prepared the report says social media sites should have to follow a mandatory code of ethics overseen by an independent regulator to better control harmful or illegal content. The report called out Facebook in particular, saying that the site's structure seems to be designed to "conceal knowledge of and responsibility for specific decisions".

Xinhua - Ap

(China Daily 02/19/2019 page12)