Today’s newsletter covers a deposit system in Latvia, unsuccessful climate complaint in Germany, COVID-19 medical waste concerns, unconstitutional elections in Japan, and more.
A nationwide deposit system introduced in Latvia
Latvian residents will pay drinks an extra 10 cents in stores and will get a voucher or a refund when they hand over their beverage containers to the deposit system. Latvian Traders Association denounced a program that looked like a “corrupt scheme” and warned consumers of unpleasant smells in stores.
An unsuccessful complaint against German states climate laws
A constitutional complaint against German Länder for not sufficiently protecting the environment was dismissed. The states don’t have a carbon budget to be held responsible for.
WHO is concerned by tonnes of COVID-19 medical waste
The World Health Organization assessed the impact of medical waste in healthcare facilities created by the UN procurement program of medical equipment, exposing the “urgent need to improve waste management systems”.
Japan legislative elections likely unconstitutional, again
A High court of Japan considered the weight of voters was not fairly distributed between districts during Japan’s last legislative elections in October. A voter in Tottori 1st district, the smallest of Japan, had twice as much power as someone voting in the 13th district of Tokyo.
Twitter filed a lawsuit against Germany’s anti-hate speech law
Twitter filed a lawsuit against the German anti-hate speech law. It claims it could be asked to share personal user data before any crime is committed. Social media platforms have become liable for promptly removing toxic content.
Some more news from the world
- Indonesia changed the uniform of security guards. They no longer look like Police officers.
- Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling party in South Korea, apologized for the inappropriate use of a corporate credit card when he was governor of Gyeonggi, the most populous province of the country. A former employee of the Gyeonggi office reportedly bought food, did errands and even paid the hospital bills of the governor’s son with public money.
- A study shows that plants in the United Kingdom flower a month earlier because of recent warming compared to observations made before 1986.
- The World Meteorological Organization has established two new world records related to lighting bolts: The longest single flash with a horizontal distance of 768km (477 mi) that spread over the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas in April 2020. And the greatest duration for a single lightning flash with 17.10 seconds during a thunderstorm over Uruguay and Northern Argentina in June 2020.
