S Korea bans use of plastic bags at malls

SEOUL: South Korea has announced a ban on supermarkets and retailers nationwide from using disposable plastic bags to conserve natural resources and reduce recyclable waste, government officials said. The ban will come into effect on Tuesday as part of a revised law on conserving resources and encouraging the reuse of recyclable waste, said the Ministry of Environment. Stores that violate the ban could face fines of up to $2,683, it said. IANS

People ‘buying’ boats on FB to slip into UK

London: Smugglers and migrants are using Facebook to buy boats for crossing the Channel from the French city of Calais to come to Britain, The Telegraph reported. The Facebook “Marketplace” has been favoured by Iranians and Iraqis intent on organising their own Channel crossings, because they can buy a boat at a much lower price than if they had to pay a smuggling gang, it reported.  However, Facebook said any ads, posts, pages or groups that co-ordinate people smuggling are not allowed on its platform. PTI

AI could be first ‘resident’ of Mars: Musk   

San Francisco: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who wants to establish a base on Mars, has indicated the first resident on the planet could be Artificial Intelligence (AI). Responding to a tweet that asked Musk what his thoughts were on the first Martian being an intelligent machine rather than a human, he replied: “30%”. However, many people are wondering what this AI “resident” could look like, according to the Geek. "It's possible that it could be a rover-like bot that explores the planet, or a stationary device that makes observations and conducts experiments without human assistance.” IANS