Malaysian authorities categorise Air Pollution Index (API) readings above 300 as hazardous, with a measurement of 500 the threshold for declaring an emergency.

The Indonesian government faces pressure from within and outside the country, including in the form of a protest in front of the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur as haze blankets major cities in neighboring countries.

Malaysia declared a state of emergency in Sarawak state's Serian district on Borneo island on Friday, after air pollution readings reached critical levels.

However, before moving on to the actual preparations, it is necessary to understand what the meeting's agenda would be, Ryabkov said.

Australia's weather forecaster said temperatures in the New South Wales capital, were set to hit 33 degrees Celsius, nearly 13 degrees above average.

The two were among hundreds of hydropower workers who had been missing since a wall of mud and debris swept through the region on August 26 after a vast glacial and rock collapse on a mountain on the China-Nepal border.

Sarawak, in Kalimantan, has been heavily affected by fires on the Indonesian side of the island, with haze forcing school closures in some parts of the state.   

Jakarta pushes cooperation, governance reform and tech as a public good.

The operation, which also aims to bolster water reserves in anticipation of dry weather, targets three hydroelectric dams and 13 water catchment areas, Sarawak's Disaster Management Committee said.

On Wednesday morning, seven air monitoring stations across the metropolitan area of Philippine capital Manila recorded “unhealthy levels” of PM2.5 pollutant particulate, according to the country’s Environment and Natural Resources Department (DENR).

The 5,000 sailors and Marines on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, arriving from the war in the Middle East, are headed for the Thai resort of Pattaya, a rest-and-recreation stop for US troops since the Vietnam War.

The United Nations Environment Programme said bringing temperature rises back to below 1.5C was "possible but highly uncertain," and would require rapid emission cuts as well as interventions to remove carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere.

The United States and Australia on Wednesday announced a combined US$580 million in funding for the Pacific Islands, as both nations battle China for influence in the region.

The Lincoln, with roughly ​5,000 sailors and Marines aboard, has set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, according to ​Democratic lawmakers.

South Korea remains open to jointly developing future defense systems with Indonesia despite setbacks in the KF-21 Boramae fighter jet program, a Korean diplomat has said, describing the experience as an asset that strengthened mutual trust between the two countries.

Japan is set to deploy three helicopters to help Indonesia battle forest and peatland fires in Kalimantan at Jakarta’s request, as smoke from the blazes spread across Southeast Asia and pressure mounts on the government to accept more international assistance.

The measures include age-verification, parental controls, faster takedowns of harmful content and closer cooperation with law enforcement, he said. 

Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze from forest and land fires across six provinces in Kalimantan and Sumatra islands. The haze has caused respiratory illnesses and forced thousands of schools to move classes online, including in neighbouring Malaysia.

Myanmar's junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing will make an official visit to Vietnam from Sept. 4 to 6 at the invitation of Vietnamese President To Lam, state media in both countries reported on Tuesday.

Australia said Tuesday the Pacific bloc will decide for itself who attends its annual summit, after China raised objections to Taiwan's presence on the sidelines.

Rescuers struggled through mud and debris for a sixth day, as the number of missing people soared to nearly 4,500 since tsunami-like glacial floods roared down from the China-Nepal border, creating an "unimaginable" disaster.

Indonesia has for weeks battled wildfires that have led to school closures and thousands of people requiring medical treatment, with smoke also drifting across to Malaysia and Singapore.

The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday – blamed on a glacier collapse – killed more than 900 people and nearly 5,000 are still missing.

Nickel-based batteries used by many South Korean manufacturers face increasing competition from lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which contain no nickel and are generally cheaper to produce.

Indonesia maintains a neutral foreign policy, what it calls "free and active," as it walks a diplomatic tightrope seeking good relations with both Washington and Beijing.

Among points agreed during the meeting in Auckland was New Zealand’s support for Indonesia to fund food security and nutrition programs in eastern Indonesia aimed at tackling stunting issues in the regions, according to statements issued by both countries’ foreign ministries.

North Korea's defense minister has been dismissed as part of a reshuffle of the country's military leadership, state media reported Sunday.

China on Sunday said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were missing on the Tibetan side of a border crossing with Nepal following a mudslide which tore through the Himalayan region, while the death toll in Tibet has reached 16 people.

The deluge of ice and mud caused huge lakes to form, and one of these formations has become a direct threat to emergency workers scouring the region for survivors.

Many of the missing are foreign tourists, including trekkers in the Himalayan nation, as well as scores of Hindu pilgrims to Tibet's sacred snow-capped Mount Kailash.