Indonesian president apologizes over haze

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has apologised to Singapore and Malaysia after they were cloaked in thick haze from raging forest fires on Sumatra island.
"As the president of Indonesia, I apologize for what has happened and ask for the understanding of the people of Malaysia and Singapore," he said late on Monday.
"We accept it is our responsibility to tackle the problem."
Yudhoyono's comments were a bid to ease tensions after the haze triggered a war of words between Jakarta and its neighbours, with an Indonesian minister at one point accusing Singapore of acting "like a child".
The fires burning in hundreds of hectares (acres) of peatland have triggered Singapore's worst environmental crisis for a decade, with acrid smoke shrouding residential buildings and downtown skyscrapers.
While the haze has eased in the city-state in recent days, it has moved further north to Malaysia.
On Monday much of the country continued to wheeze under a shroud of smoke with its southern half hit particularly hard.
In the capital Kuala Lumpur, the pollution index neared the "very unhealthy" 200 level for the first time during the current outbreak.