Heavy air pollution shuts schools in Iran

Iran shut primary schools in the capital and other parts of the country yesterday due to choking levels of air pollution. Local authorities late Saturday announced the closure of all primary schools in the province of Tehran, which is home to 14 million residents, except in two towns. A blanket of smog has covered neighbourhoods in the capital in the past few days. Every year, Tehran suffers some of the worst pollution in the world when cool temperatures cause an effect known as "temperature inversion".