Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
By Watsamon Tri-Yasakda and Rose Troup Buchanan BANGKOK, March 13, 2024 (AFP) – Hundreds of Thai children strain to sing the national anthem, reedy voices and fragile lungs competing against eight lanes of belching traffic next to their school’s open atrium in central Bangkok. Pupils at Suan Lumphini School assemble each morning under a coloured flag indicating the day’s air quality — red for worst, yellow for second worst, blue for best. Thailand registers dire […]
LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – In a Pakistan paediatric ward, a chorus of infant coughs and straining lungs is the toll of a frigid winter, compounded by choking smog and lagging vaccination rates. “Please pray for him,” the mother of four-month-old pneumonia patient Ibrahim begs a nurse in Lahore, delicately arranging a blanket around ventilator tubes piping air in and out of his heaving chest. The eastern megacity is blanched every winter by […]
KALWARIA ZEBRZYDOWSKA, Poland (AFP) – In a battle against Poland’s constant smog, scientists are testing out a new “cannon” that uses soundwaves to push toxic particles higher into the atmosphere to allow residents to breathe. Installed on top of a metal container, the experimental device consists of a large upside-down cone that makes a loud sound every six seconds. The aim is to chase the smog from Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, which like many Polish towns and cities […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – Delhi shut down schools until further notice, urged people to work from home and banned non-essential trucks from entering the Indian capital due to dangerous levels of air pollution. One of the world’s most polluted cities and home to some 20 million people, Delhi is cloaked every winter in a thick blanket of smog. On Saturday, the Delhi government had ordered schools to close for a week and banned construction […]
by Laurence THOMANN Agence France-Presse AGRA, India (AFP) – Foreign tourists have been welcomed back to India after pandemic travel bans but intrepid travellers will have to brave the intense pollution season to visit the country’s most famous attraction. Around the palatial gardens of the Taj Mahal, air quality deteriorates each winter, enveloping the white marble mausoleum in a thick coat of hazardous smog. The problem is replicated across whole swathes of northern India, where […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing was cloaked by a thick yellow smog on Monday with pollution surging to hazardous levels as a sandstorm swept across China’s capital. City residents used goggles, masks and hair nets to protect themselves from the choking air, with landmarks including the Forbidden City and the distinctive headquarters of state broadcaster CCTV partly obscured behind an apocalyptic-looking pall of smog. The city government ordered all schools to cancel outside sport and […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — A thick grey smog choked New Delhi for the fifth day Saturday, adding to a mounting pollution health crisis, but retired naval commander Anil Charan is one of the vast majority of the city’s 20 million inhabitants who do not wear a mask. Indian media is packed with warnings about the risk of premature death, lung cancer and particular danger to children from […]
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 […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Bangkok’s governor on Thursday appealed for help to battle the toxic smog shrouding the capital as the deployment of drones left Bangkok residents unimpressed. The city has been blanketed in a murky haze for weeks, inciting criticism from the public over the government’s response, which has veered from playing down the problem to abruptly shutting schools. Authorities have seeded clouds to provoke rain, sprayed overpasses with water to catch micro-pollutants, and […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Toxic smog forced Bangkok authorities to issue an unprecedented order to shut nearly 450 schools on Wednesday, as authorities struggle to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread concern. The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government. Reasons given for the lingering pall include exhaust from traffic, unfettered construction, the […]
by Becky Davis Agence France-Presse China appears to be “winning” its war on air pollution, making so much progress that life expectancy could rise by more than two years, according to a US university study. The Chinese government has been waging a battle to clear its skies of smog that has cut life expectancy in some regions and prompted its citizens to buy masks and air purifiers to protect themselves during peak pollution days. The […]
NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) — Delhi residents woke up to a bright morning and improved visibility on Saturday (November 18) after an overnight drizzle marginally improved the smog levels in the city. However, the levels of poisonous air borne particles, known as PM 2.5, remained “very unhealthy”. According to a U.S. embassy measure, the level of PM 2.5 stood at 256 at 11 am (0530GMT) – five times the upper limit of “good” quality air […]
