The smog engulfing Singapore could last for weeks, the city state's prime minister warned as air pollution levels reached record highs and hazardous levels.
Residents were urged to stay indoors as the smoky haze, wrought by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia, worsened dramatically, with the Pollutants Standards Index hitting and unprecedented 371, smashing the previous all-time high of 226 in 1997.
The severity of this week's conditions threaten diplomatic ties between Singapore and Jakarta, with officials in the city state urging Indonesian authorities to do more to halt the fires on nearby Sumatra island started by plantation owners to clear land cheaply.
"This is now the worst haze that Singapore has ever faced," Singapore's Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote on his Facebook page. "No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and wellbeing." Full story...
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Residents were urged to stay indoors as the smoky haze, wrought by forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia, worsened dramatically, with the Pollutants Standards Index hitting and unprecedented 371, smashing the previous all-time high of 226 in 1997.
The severity of this week's conditions threaten diplomatic ties between Singapore and Jakarta, with officials in the city state urging Indonesian authorities to do more to halt the fires on nearby Sumatra island started by plantation owners to clear land cheaply.
"This is now the worst haze that Singapore has ever faced," Singapore's Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan wrote on his Facebook page. "No country or corporation has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and wellbeing." Full story...
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- Haze in Singapore, Indonesia under pressure...
- Indonesia's rain-forest haze annoying its neighbours...
- In Malaysia's election, a focus on rainforest graft...
- Indonesia's vanishing tigers, vanishing rain forests...
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