COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has started shipping 242 containers of hazardous waste, including body parts from mortuaries, back to Britain after a two year court battle by an environment watchdog, officials said Saturday.
Several Asian countries have in recent years been pushing back against an onslaught of international refuse from wealthier nations and have started turning back the unwanted shipments of garbage as they battle against being used as the world’s trash dump.
The first 20 containers of medical waste, which included body parts from mortuaries, were loaded on the MV Texas Triumph on Friday and another 65 will be sent within a week, customs spokesman Sunil Jayaratne said.
“The balance will be shipped as soon as another vessel is available,” Jayaratne said.
Sri Lanka’s court of appeal two weeks ago ordered the repatriation of the bio-waste from hospitals and tons of plastic waste imported in violation of local and international shipping regulations.
The imports arrived between September 2017 and January 2018 and the Center for Environmental Justice (CEJ) had petitioned courts to get it rejected.
Customs did not reveal the type of waste, but officials had said it included rags, bandages and body parts from mortuaries.
In September, 260 tons of separate waste in another 21 containers was sent back after Britain agreed to take it back.
Local authorities discovered the new waste after the legal action was started against the 242 containers held in Colombo port and a free trade area near the capital.
Sri Lanka’s customs maintained that all the containers had been brought into the country in violation of international law governing the shipment of hazardous waste, including plastics.
A Sri Lankan investigation last year into nearly 3,000 tons of illegally imported hazardous waste found the importer had reshipped about 180 tons to India and Dubai in 2017 and 2018.
Besides Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have also returned hundreds of container-loads of refuse back to their countries of origin.
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Sri Lanka returns illegal waste to Britain after court order
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Sri Lanka returns illegal waste to Britain after court order
- The first 20 containers of medical waste were loaded on the MV Texas Triumph on Friday and another 65 will be sent within a week
- Customs did not reveal the type of waste, but officials had said it included rags, bandages and body parts from mortuaries
Venezuela interim leader sacks industry minister, a Maduro ally
CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of deposed leader Nicolas Maduro, from his post as minister of industry.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez announced the ministry would be combined with a commerce ministry and thanked Saab — a Colombian-born Venezuelan — “for his service to the Homeland; he will be taking on new responsibilities.”
The change comes amid pressure from Washington following the January 3 US military raid that ousted Maduro.
Saab, released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice over accusations he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader.
He was subsequently extradited to the US, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were charged with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is among the latest key changes to Venezuela’s government by Rodriguez since the US capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado meanwhile said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will become free with support from the United States and President Donald Trump.
Trump however has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the seizure of Maduro.
“We are definitely now into the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said during an event in Washington, adding that this will have an “immense impact in the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as around the region and the world.
“Venezuela is going to be free, and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump,” Machado said.
Her party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election — claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said that Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with Rodriguez so long as she toes the line on US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting of her own will.
The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe met Rodriguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” a US administration official said on condition of anonymity.
- Nobel medal -
In an indication of that improved relationship, a US deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s overthrow.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, carrying out sweeping immigration raids and deporting migrants.
Machado, 58, on Thursday presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” she said. “And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear if Trump — who said Friday that he and Machado will “be talking again” — kept the award following their White House lunch. The Norwegian Nobel committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
Trump had campaigned hard to win last year’s prize, falsely claiming that he stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first telephone call on Wednesday and the White House said he “likes what he’s seeing” from her.
Rodriguez said however that her government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful... we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” she said Thursday.
Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the long-time authoritarian leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.
By contrast Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
In a Telegram message, Delcy Rodriguez announced the ministry would be combined with a commerce ministry and thanked Saab — a Colombian-born Venezuelan — “for his service to the Homeland; he will be taking on new responsibilities.”
The change comes amid pressure from Washington following the January 3 US military raid that ousted Maduro.
Saab, released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro.
He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice over accusations he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader.
He was subsequently extradited to the US, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were charged with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.
Saab’s dismissal is among the latest key changes to Venezuela’s government by Rodriguez since the US capture of Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado meanwhile said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will become free with support from the United States and President Donald Trump.
Trump however has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the seizure of Maduro.
“We are definitely now into the first steps of a true transition to democracy,” Machado said during an event in Washington, adding that this will have an “immense impact in the lives of all Venezuelans” as well as around the region and the world.
“Venezuela is going to be free, and that’s going to be achieved with the support of the people of the United States and the president, Donald Trump,” Machado said.
Her party has presented evidence that Maduro stole the 2024 election — claims supported by Washington and much of the international community.
But Trump has said that Machado does not have enough support among Venezuelans, and opted to stick with Rodriguez so long as she toes the line on US access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Machado said Friday that Rodriguez is “following orders” rather than acting of her own will.
The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe met Rodriguez in Caracas.
Ratcliffe traveled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship,” a US administration official said on condition of anonymity.
- Nobel medal -
In an indication of that improved relationship, a US deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s overthrow.
Trump has made cracking down on undocumented immigrants a major part of his second term, carrying out sweeping immigration raids and deporting migrants.
Machado, 58, on Thursday presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump in a bid to win over the US president.
“He deserves it,” she said. “And it was a very emotional moment, I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”
It was not immediately clear if Trump — who said Friday that he and Machado will “be talking again” — kept the award following their White House lunch. The Norwegian Nobel committee says its prizes cannot be transferred.
Trump had campaigned hard to win last year’s prize, falsely claiming that he stopped eight wars since taking office, but it went to Machado instead.
Trump and Rodriguez had their first telephone call on Wednesday and the White House said he “likes what he’s seeing” from her.
Rodriguez said however that her government will stand up to Washington.
“We know they are very powerful... we are not afraid to confront them diplomatically, through political dialogue,” she said Thursday.
Rodriguez was delivering Maduro’s state of the nation address to parliament while the long-time authoritarian leader is in a New York jail facing drug trafficking charges.
By contrast Machado, who campaigned for years to end leftist Maduro’s rule, was greeted by jubilant supporters in Washington.
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