Indonesia Wildfires Spread Toxic Haze Across Southeast Asia

According to the BBC, weeks-long wildfires in Indonesia have sent a toxic haze across parts of Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, with millions of people exposed to smog that has reached more than 15 times the World Health Organization's recommended pollution level in some areas. Indonesia's Health Ministry recorded more than 50,000 respiratory infection cases linked to land and forest fires between July and August, including over 12,000 cases in children under five. Officials said the fires, which have burned across Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo since mid-July, are being worsened by a Super El Niño-driven drought, while forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni said the effort to extinguish them had entered a critical phase.