Category Archives: World News

WHO: air pollution ‘is single biggest environmental health risk’

Air pollution has become the world’s single biggest environmental health risk, linked to around 7 million – or nearly one in eight deaths in 2012 – according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The new figures are more than double … Continue reading

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Eleven EU nations exceed air pollution ceilings – EEA

Eleven European Union nations breached ceilings for air pollution in 2012 despite plans to avert health-damaging smog of the sort that choked Paris this month, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said on Monday. The number rose from 10 in 2011, … Continue reading

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Air pollution killed seven million people in 2012: WHO

Air pollution by sources ranging from cooking fires to auto fumes contributed to an estimated seven million deaths worldwide in 2012, the UN health agency has said. “Air pollution, and we’re talking about both indoors and outdoors, is now the … Continue reading

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Choking to Death in Tehran

You can see the air in Tehran—a faintly acrid orange haze that obscures the towering mountains that ring the sprawling metropolis. The white marble facades of the city’s soaring cement buildings are covered with a thick layer of gray soot. … Continue reading

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Indonesia’s forest fires feed ‘brown cloud’ of pollution choking Asia’s cities

High above the vast Indonesian island of Sumatra, satellites identify hundreds of plumes of smoke drifting over the oil palm plantations and rainforests. They look harmless as the monsoon winds sweep them north and east towards Singapore, Malaysia and deep … Continue reading

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Has air pollution made Kathmandu unliveable?

Ajay’s 63-year-old frame strains with each breath. He is lying on an emergency-room stretcher in one of Kathmandu’s large hospitals and he appears exhausted. Behind the oxygen mask, his eyes have the panicked, haunted look of a man who can’t … Continue reading

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Haze this year ‘could be worse’ than last year’s record haze

If you thought last June’s record haze was bad, be prepared for it to get even worse this year. The Government is bracing itself against such a scenario, with a triple whammy of factors suggesting that Singapore may see pollutant … Continue reading

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Smog settles on london due to air pollution

London has recently experienced increased levels of air pollution, according to new data from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra). Air quality on Greater London has been measured at 10/10, reaching the category of ‘very high’. These … Continue reading

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