Fire haze reaches Singapore

Scientists in Singapore are blaming smoke from forest fires on the Indonesian island of Sumatra for pushing the city's pollution index to its highest reading this year.

Hundreds of separate fires have been reported on Sumatra and Borneo, mainly caused by farmers and companies illegally clearing land.

The Singapore scientists say the smoke has reduced visibility to around 2km, though they add that pollution levels are unlikely to reach those seen four years ago during fierce fires in Indonesia.

There are also problems with the smoke in Malaysia, where the environment department reported unhealthy pollution levels at two of its centres on Thursday.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service