UK was close behind, exporting 675,000 tonnes, with much of the waste sent to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia

Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.

The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more than 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers.

Karex produces more than 5 billion condoms annually and is a supplier to leading brands like Durex and Trojan, as well as the NHS

The world’s top condom producer, Malaysia’s Karex Bhd, plans to raise prices by 20% to 30% and possibly further if supply chain disruptions drag on due to the Iran war, its chief executive has said.

Karex is also seeing a surge in condom demand as rising freight costs and shipping delays have left many of its customers with lower stockpiles than usual, CEO Goh Miah Kiat told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

Blaze struck a ‘water village’ that is home to some of Malaysia’s poorest residents

A huge fire destroyed about 1,000 makeshift homes, many of them built on stilts over water, and displaced thousands of people in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Sunday, authorities said.

The blaze broke out early on Sunday morning in a “water village” in Sandakan district in Sabah’s northeast, where some of Malaysia’s poorest residents, including indigenous and stateless communities, live in closely packed, wooden stilt houses.

Trawler set off from Bangladesh and reportedly capsized due to heavy winds, rough seas and overcrowding

About 250 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals capsized in the Andaman Sea, according to the UN’s refugee and migration agencies.

The agencies said the trawler carrying more than 250 men, women and children reportedly sank due to harsh weather and overcrowding. It had departed from Teknaf in southern Bangladesh and was bound for Malaysia.

Families of those onboard urge Malaysian government to extend contract with deep-sea exploration firm

Families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Sunday urged the Malaysian government to extend a contract it signed with deep-sea exploration firm Ocean Infinity to continue a search for the aircraft that disappeared 12 years ago.

The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March, 2014, becoming one of the world’s enduring aviation mysteries.

Ernest Zacharevic alleges the carrier has repeatedly used his art in its external corporate branding without consent

A Malaysia-based artist has filed a lawsuit against the low-cost airline carrier AirAsia and its parent company Capital A Berhad for allegedly using his art on a plane without permission.

Ernest Zacharevic, a Lithuanian-born artist based in Penang, alleged AirAsia used his 2012 street mural, Children on a Bicycle, on an aircraft between October and November 2024.

Marine robotics firm to renew its search more than decade after plane disappeared with 239 people onboard

The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to resume on 30 December, more than a decade after the plane disappeared with 239 people onboard in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

A renewed search by Ocean Infinity, a UK and US-based marine robotics company, had begun earlier this year but was called off in April because of bad weather.

In 2014 the Malaysian Airlines jet vanished over the Indian Ocean. Now the team that located Shackleton’s Endurance is looking again with the latest undersea robots

More than a decade after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing after veering thousands of miles off course, its location remains unknown.

The Malaysian government has promised to pay a private company, Ocean Infinity, $70m (£56m) to search for the plane on a “no find, no fee” basis.

Najib has been in prison since August 2022, when Malaysia’s top court upheld a corruption conviction. He denies wrongdoing

Jailed former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been found guilty of abuse of power, in the biggest trial yet in the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal related to state fund 1MDB.

Najib had been charged with four counts of corruption and 21 counts of money laundering for receiving illegal transfers of about 2.2bn ringgit ($544.15m) from 1MDB. He has consistently denied wrongdoing.

Thai PM says military will keep fighting and Cambodia suspends border crossings as casualties rise

• Thailand-Cambodia fighting explained

Thailand’s caretaker prime minister has denied the existence of a ceasefire with Cambodia, despite Donald Trump announcing that both countries had agreed to halt fighting.

As heavy clashes continued along the border between the two countries, Anutin Charnvirakul said on Saturday that Thailand had not agreed to a ceasefire with Cambodia and that its forces would continue fighting. Cambodia announced it had suspended all border crossings with Thailand.

In Südostasien haben Sturm und Schlamm zu einer Katastrophe geführt. Forscher haben nun rekonstruiert, wie es dazu kommen konnte. Ergebnis: Es war nicht nur der Klimawandel verantwortlich.

Malaysian transport ministry says robotics company Ocean Infinity will restart search operation on 30 December

The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume this month, the Malaysian transport ministry has said, more than a decade after the plane disappeared in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

In a statement on Wednesday, the transport ministry confirmed that the marine robotics company Ocean Infinity, based in the UK and US, would resume a search of the seabed from 30 December, over a period of 55 days, with operations conducted intermittently.

Millions of people affected by torrential rainfall in Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia

• How cyclones and monsoon rains combined to devastate parts of Asia – visual guide

Sri Lanka and Indonesia have deployed military personnel as they race to help victims of devastating flooding that has killed more than 1,100 people across four countries in Asia.

Millions of people have been affected by a combination of tropical cyclones and heavy monsoon rains in Sri Lanka, parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, Thailand and Malaysia in recent days.

Officials in Indonesia say more than 442 people have died, while Sri Lanka suffers worst natural disaster since 2004 tsunami

Authorities in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand are racing to clear debris and find hundreds of missing people after more than 900 died in devastating floods and landslides across the south of Asia.

In the latest example of the impact of the climate crisis on storm patterns and extreme weather, heavy monsoon rains, exacerbated by a tropical storm, have overwhelmed parts of south-east Asia in recent days, leaving thousands of people stranded without shelter or critical supplies.

Nach der Flutkatastrophe werden insbesondere auf der Insel Sumatra immer mehr Tote geborgen. Auch die Zahl der Vermissten steigt. Viele Dörfer sind weiterhin völlig isoliert.

More than 350 people killed on Indonesia’s Sumatra island with 162 reported dead across Thailand

The death toll from devastating floods and landslides in south-east Asia reportedly climbed past 500 on Saturday as clean-up and search-and-rescue operations got under way in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

Heavy monsoon rain overwhelmed swathes of the three countries this week, killing hundreds and leaving thousands stranded, many on rooftops awaiting rescue.

Nach sintflutartigen Regenfällen sind in Indonesien, Thailand, Malaysia und Sri Lanka mehr als 360 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Tausende haben ihr Obdach verloren.