Malaysia’s environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, says the country will be sending low quality, non-recyclable plastic waste back to its country of origin.

Last year, Malaysia became the leading alternative destination for non-recyclable plastic scrap, following China’s banned import of such waste.

Mrs Yeo says the first five containers of contaminated plastic waste smuggled into Malaysia have been sent back to Spain.
 

Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has denied accusations he holds Australian citizenship, which would make him ineligible to sit in the country’s parliament.

Opposition MP Bryan Kramer said on social media Mr O’Neill is a dual citizen through his Australian-born father and has vowed to take the matter to court to prove his claims, which Mr O’Neill has described as ‘fake news’.  

PNG’s Attorney General has ordered a review of the citizenship status of all the country’s 111 MPs following the accusations.
 

Liberal candidate for Chisholm Gladys Liu has become the first female Chinese-Australian elected to the lower house.

Liu defeated Labor’s Jennifer Yang in a surprise victory, securing majority government for Scott Morrison and the coalition.

The result came after a contentious campaign in which both Labor and the Liberals targeted Chinese-Australian voters in the seat using social media app WeChat.

Brisbane’s Labor Councillors have called for Calamvale ward councillor Angela Owen to repay any council wages she received during her unsuccessful running for the federal seat of Moreton.

Councillor Owen took a leave of absence from council after being endorsed by the LNP to run against current Moreton MP Graham Perrett.

Councillor Owen says she was “open, and transparent” about her intentions to take leave, and still fulfilled council commitments.

A new pedestrian crossing is being installed on Adelaide Street between Edward and Albert streets in the CBD.

At a presentation to the infrastructure committee on Tuesday morning, the council was updated on the Move Safe project’s next priority, focusing on areas with “high numbers of vulnerable road users.”

The committee also received submissions requesting the council improve pedestrian safety at the Prince Charles Hospital in Chermside, following a fatal crash in November last year.

Brisbane City Council has announced in a council meeting they will ban the use of single-use plastic wrap at polling booths in future council elections.

It is estimated 30 kilometres of plastic wrap gets used in a council election in the form of posters or corflutes with campaign slogans.

There has been an outbreak of HIV cases in Pakistan with more than 607 people being diagnosed with the virus, 74 percent of whom are children.

It all began when parents noticed their children had fallen ill with a fever and couldn’t seem to recover.

Dr Imran Aarbani, a hospital doctor in Pakistan, sent the children's blood away for testing, where they came back positive, and he says by the 24th of April 15 children has tested positive.

The cause of the sudden outbreak is still unknown.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is proposing a new deal for the UK’s departure from the European Union in a bid to win the backing of MPs, including the possibility of a second referendum.

Mrs May has appealed to parliament to back her deal, saying she was offering significant compromises including a closer trading arrangement with the EU post-Brexit.