Asia Report | The Straits Times

Breaking News

Plans in place if haze worsens

SINGAPORE endured its worst day of haze yesterday as air quality surged into hazardous territory for the first time, prompting government agencies to reach for...
Amid smoke, life goes on in Riau

AIR pollution may have hit shocking levels here, but that has not stopped some plantations from continuing to burn crops and vegetation to make fertilisers or...
'Breathless as soon as I got out of car'

FLYING into Pekanbaru - the capital of Riau province - yesterday morning, I thought I was well prepared for ground zero of the haze blanketing the region.
Foul mood in the air as plantation firms feel the heat

MY TWO Straits Times colleagues and I were taking some photos when we were briefly stopped by a plantation owner who was worried that we would put his company...
S'pore, Indonesia officials to meet

OFFICIALS from Indonesia and Singapore will meet in Jakarta today to discuss how to stem the haze together, said Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for People's...
Billions for Asia to avoid flooding

WASHINGTON - The World Bank is committing billions of dollars to flood prevention, water management and other projects to help major Asian cities avoid the...
Thailand cuts back on rice subsidy

BANGKOK - Rice shipments from Thailand, the world's second-biggest exporter, are set to increase after the government reduced the price paid to farmers to rein...
101,000 Singapore millionaires in 2012; ranks of wealthy swell 10%

The share market rally sharply increased the ranks of Singapore's wealthy last year. New figures out yesterday show that there were 101,000 millionaires by the...
Karzai angry over name of Taleban office, halts US talks

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has broken off crucial security talks with the US, angry over the name given to a new Taleban office in Qatar meant to...
Make-up of Xi's inner circle emerges

HE CAME into power with few men he could call his own, but now the make-up of Chinese President Xi Jinping's inner circle is getting clearer - and bigger.
Canberra wants food warning labels

AUSTRALIA has launched a plan to include warning labels on food packaging in a bid to combat rising levels of obesity and chronic disease.
Business as usual in Dumai, but locals waiting for face masks

DUMAI (Riau) - Setting off from Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province in Sumatra, it took our small group about eight hours to reach a hot spot in Pelintung...

Foreign Editor's Note

Time to act to clear the air
THE blight of haze, originating in forest fires in Sumatra, is once again badly affecting Singapore and Malaysia, along with Indonesia itself.

READ ON