The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to ban single-use plastic items including straws, food containers and cotton bud sticks, in a bid to tackle marine litter and encourage sustainable alternatives.

According to a press release published by the E.U. Parliament on Wednesday, 560 lawmakers voted in favor of the agreement, while 35 were against and 28 abstained.

“Today we have taken an important step to reduce littering and plastic pollution in our oceans and seas,” said Frans Timmermans, the First Vice President of the European Commission.

“Europe is setting new and ambitious standards, paving the way for the rest of the world,” he added.

Parliament has approved a new law banning single-use plastic items:

✔️ Items such as single-use straws to be banned by 2021
✔️ 90% collection target for plastic bottles by 2029
✔️ More stringent application of the polluter pays principle

Read more ➡️ https://t.co/Zthe3AnAA1 pic.twitter.com/IXAittyHUt

— European Parliament (@Europar..

(VALLETTA, Malta) — Malta armed forces say a special operations team has seized a tanker that was hijacked by migrants and it is now heading to a Maltese port with the migrants and crew.

Malta armed forces said Thursday that control of the vessel was returned to the captain and it was being escorted and monitored to Malta, where the migrants will be handed over to police for investigation.

Authorities in Malta and Italy said the migrants had hijacked the cargo ship after it rescued them in the Mediterranean Sea and forced the crew to put the Libya-bound vessel on a course north toward Europe. The tanker had rescued about 120 people before it was taken over in what Italy’s interior minister described as “the first piracy on the high seas with migrants.”

(COPENHAGEN, Denmark) — A cruise ship that was the focus of a daring rescue operation off Norway’s frigid North Sea coast became disabled because its engines didn’t have enough lubricating oil, the country’s top maritime official said Wednesday.

Low oil levels were the “direct cause” of the engine failure that stranded the ship during a storm Saturday, Lars Alvestad, the acting director general of the Norwegian Maritime Authority, said. Sensors detected the oil shortage and automatically shut down the Viking Sky’s engines to prevent a breakdown, he said.

The ship’s harrowing weekend ordeal injured dozens of people, including 36 who were admitted to hospitals. Four people from the ship remained hospitalized Wednesday, including one being treated in an intensive care ward in critical but stable condition, Norwegian health officials said.

Alvestad said the amount of oil was “relatively low” but still “within set limits” as the Viking Sky neared Hustadvika, a shallow area known for ship..

(LONDON) — A Northern Ireland party that props up Prime Minister Theresa May’s government says it won’t support her Brexit divorce deal, a blow to May’s hopes of winning approval for the agreement in Parliament.

The Democratic Unionist Party said Wednesday it won’t support the deal because of a provision designed keep an open border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland after Brexit.

The pro-British Unionist party opposes the provision because it fears it would weaken the bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said, “We cannot sign up to something that would damage the Union.”

May wants to try again to get her twice-rejected Brexit deal through Parliament. Many pro-Brexit lawmakers have said they will back it, but only if the DUP agrees.

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers have voted on eight different possible Brexit options, but none received the majority support that would clarify the U.K.’s course.

Parliament is trying to find an alternative to Prime Minister Theresa May’s twice-rejected EU divorce deal.

Lawmakers voted Wednesday on options that included leaving the European Union without a deal, staying in the bloc’s customs union and single market, putting any EU divorce deal to a public referendum, and canceling Brexit if the prospect of a no-deal departure gets close.

The strongest support was for a plan to stay in a customs union with the bloc after Brexit, which was defeated by eight votes: 272-264.

Lawmakers plan to narrow the list of options down and hold more votes on Monday.

Britain has until April 12 to find a new plan — or crash out of the EU without a deal.