“Russian Academia Rattled as American Professor Sacked After TV Witch Hunt”, “Why New York banned polystyrene foam”, “US-Cuba ties: Washington and Havana to announce embassies", “Indonesia transport plane crash death toll rises

bbc.com “Why New York banned polystyrene foam"- New York City is joining a growing group of cities in banning Expandable Polystyrene Foam (EPS). Adam Harris explains what makes this material so worrisome to environmentalists - and appealing to businesses. Starting today, single-use EPS products including cups, bowls, plates, takeout containers and trays and packing peanuts are not allowed to be possessed, sold, or offered in New York City. Companies have six months to comply or face a fine.

“US-Cuba ties: Washington and Havana to announce embassies" - The US and Cuba will on Wednesday announce the opening of embassies in each other's capitals, a major step in re-establishing diplomatic ties severed in 1961, a senior US official has said.Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo with the Communist island. But the US and Cuba agreed to normalise relations at the end of 2014.

“Indonesia transport plane crash death toll rises" - Indonesian officials say 141 bodies have been recovered after a military transport plane crashed in a residential area of Medan on Tuesday. The military says none of the 122 people on board the Hercules C-130 survived when it hit houses and a hotel before bursting into flames. Many of the victims are thought to have been relatives of servicemen and women.

themoscowtimes.com. “Russian Academia Rattled as American Professor Sacked After TV Witch Hunt" - Anxiety gripped Russia's academic community after news broke that a central Russian university had fired an American professor following a state-run media broadcast decrying his work as "harmful" to the country. Nizhny Novgorod's Lobachevsky State University (LSU) blamed "restructuring" for its decision to push Kendrick White, 51, out of his position as vice rector for innovation, according to the official dismissal order published on the university's website Tuesday. White's profile was swiftly removed from the university website.