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Indonesian fires cloud Southeast Asia

All across Southeast Asia, people are struggling to cope with an unprecedented ecological disaster caused by hundreds of forest fires in Indonesia.

The fires - many of them deliberately set as a cheap way of clearing land - have been burning for months, creating a cloud of smoke that covers an area more than half the size of the continental United States.

Known as "the haze," it has made life miserable for millions of people, not only in Indonesia but also in five other countries where it has sent air pollution levels soaring: Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand.

The high-rise office buildings of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, are barely visible. Some beach resorts in southern Thailand are blanketed. Airports across the region have been closed. Many schools have been shut down.

But nowhere is the smoke worse than in this town of 300,000 on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Albright says Israeli response not helpful

Albright had urged suspension of new housing construction less than two weeks ago in her first Mideast mission. But on Wednesday Netanyahu brushed her appeal aside and disclosed plans to build about 300 housing units on a disputed site adjacent to Efrat, a Jewish settlement 12 miles south of Jerusalem.

"We have made it quite clear that this particular building is not at all helpful as we work to get the peace process going again," Albright told reporters here, where she is attending the General Assembly.

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