- Bayern hit nine, Real Madrid and Liverpool win as new Champions League kicks off
- Author John Grisham joins bid to save Texas death row inmate
- Venezuela arrests fourth American over alleged 'plot' against Maduro
- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
California probes 'Big Oil' over plastic pollution
California launched a sweeping investigation Thursday into plastic pollution by major oil companies, in a probe it says will look at whether fossil fuel giants have been lying about the problem for decades.
As part of the wide-ranging probe, the state's attorney general hit ExxonMobil with a subpoena with the aim of uncovering its role in an alleged cover-up.
"Enough is enough. For more than half a century, the plastics industry has engaged in an aggressive campaign to deceive the public, perpetuating a myth that recycling can solve the plastics crisis," said Rob Bonta, the US state's top lawyer.
"The truth is: The vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled, and the recycling rate has never surpassed nine per cent."
The remainder is buried in landfill, burned, or littered in the environment.
From there it breaks down into micro-plastics that are too small to be seen by the naked eye.
"Every week, we consume the equivalent of a credit card's worth of plastic through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe.
"This first-of-its-kind investigation will examine the fossil fuel industry's role in creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis –- and what laws, if any, have been broken in the process."
The attorney general's office said recent reporting showed fossil fuel and petrochemical companies, which produce plastics, knew in the 1970s that recycling was not feasible and could never be economic, but that the industry pressed on with the manufacture of the materials.
Companies and their lobbyists sought to assuage public concerns about plastic by adopting the circular arrows symbol to denote supposedly recyclable materials, a statement said, despite knowing that their products could not be re-purposed.
Some 460 million tons of plastics were produced worldwide in 2019, generating 353 million tons of waste, according to the OECD.
This waste degrades into plastic micro-particles that end up in all of the world's oceans, in ice floes, in the stomachs of animals and has even been found in air sampled at the top of mountains.
The OECD says plastic products also account for nearly 3.5 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
"In California and across the globe, we are seeing the catastrophic results of the fossil fuel industry's decades-long campaign of deception," said Bonta.
"Plastic pollution is seeping into our waterways, poisoning our environment, and blighting our landscapes."
It was not immediately clear what the ramifications of the investigation would be, or what penalties any firm might face.
But an investigation by California -- the most populous and wealthiest state in the US -- could at least highlight an issue that scientists say we should be concerned about.
ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
S.Gregor--AMWN