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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Thousands of schools were shuttered across Malaysia and Indonesia Thursday, affecting at least 1.7 million pupils, officials said, as toxic haze from rampant forest fires sent air quality plummeting. Nearly 2,500 schools were ordered to shut their doors in Malaysia — including nearly 300 in the smog-hit capital Kuala Lumpur — over soaring health concerns sparked by toxic haze from out-of-control blazes in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands. Indonesia […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia is sending back hundreds of containers of contaminated waste to the West after shipments supposedly containing plastic meant for recycling were found to hide hazardous substances, customs officials said. Among more than 2,000 containers checked by authorities at four ports from July to mid-September, nearly 550 contained hazardous material or non-plastic waste. More than 300 containers have already been repatriated, officials said. “Imported waste mixed with trash or hazardous […]
by Sam Reeves Agence France Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires closed thousands of schools across the country and in neighbouring Malaysia Wednesday, while air quality worsened in Singapore just days before the city’s Formula One motor race. Illegal fires to clear land for agriculture are blazing out of control on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Jakarta deploying thousands of security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China will auction 10,000 tonnes of reserve pork this week, the commerce ministry said, in a bid to control the fallout from an outbreak of African swine fever that has sent prices soaring and hit supplies of the meat ahead of a key holiday. Beijing has been struggling to control the disease, which has ripped through its massive pig-farming industry, leading to the culling of more than a million of the […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has arrested nearly 200 people over vast forest fires ripping across the archipelago, police said Monday, as toxic haze sends air quality levels plummeting and sparks flight cancellations. Jakarta has deployed thousands of personnel to battle blazes that are turning land into charred landscapes and consuming forests in Sumatra and Borneo islands, where thousands of schools have been shut over health fears. The fires — usually started by illegal burning […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s world first floating nuclear power station on Saturday completed a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) Arctic transfer to the country’s far east, the Rosatom nuclear agency said. “The Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear plant arrived … at Pevek, in the autonomous district of Chukotka,” where it is to start operating by year end once connected to the local electricity grid, Rosatom said. What will be the world’s northernmost nuclear power plant left Murmansk […]
PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — Hundreds of people held a mass prayer for rain in a smoke-filled Indonesian city on Friday, desperately hoping that downpours will extinguish forest fires and wash away the toxic haze covering wide swathes of the country. Illegal fires to clear land for farming are raging on Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands with firefighters battling round the clock through charred forests, and water-bombing helicopters deployed to douse the flames. Dense smoke has […]
PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — With fierce blazes raging in jungles from the Amazon to Indonesia, concerns are mounting about the impact as rainforests play a vital role in protecting the planet against global warming. The latest serious outbreak is in Indonesia, where smog-belching fires started to clear land for agriculture are burning out of control, blanketing the region in toxic smog. Why are rainforests important in fight against global warming? Mankind’s reliance on fossil fuels […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Paris and four other French cities on Thursday banned the use of synthetic pesticides within their boundaries as an anti-chemicals movement that began in the countryside gains momentum. Lille in the north, Nantes in the west, Grenoble in the southeast and the central city of Clermont-Ferrand joined Paris in implementing the ban, citing the need to safeguard biodiversity and public health. The move is mainly symbolic in urban areas given […]
by Junus Nuh Agence France Presse JAMBI, Indonesia (AFP) — Huge fires are raging across vast swathes of Indonesia’s rainforests — some of the world’s biggest — with toxic smog shutting hundreds of schools in Southeast Asia, officials said Tuesday. Massive jungle areas in Sumatra and Borneo islands are ablaze as thousands of personnel battle to quell the fires, frequently started to clear land for crop plantations. Burning forests to make way for farming […]
by Dessy Sagita Agence France Presse PEKANBARU, Indonesia (AFP) — The number of blazes in Indonesia’s rainforests has jumped sharply, satellite data showed Thursday, spreading smog across Southeast Asia and adding to concerns about the impact of increasing wildfire outbreaks worldwide on global warming. Illegal blazes to clear land for agricultural plantations have been raging on Sumatra and Borneo islands, with Indonesia deploying water-bombing helicopters and thousands of security forces to tackle them. It is […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) –Nations rich and poor must invest now to protect against destructive climate change impacts already in the pipeline or pay an even heavier price later, a global commission led by former UN head Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday. Spending $1.8 trillion across five key areas over the next decade would not only help buffer the worst impacts of global warming but could generate more than $7 trillion in net benefits, […]
