Health & Environment

Malaysia recorded unhealthy air levels in several areas across the country on Monday, while air quality in Indonesia’s South Sumatra also hit ‘dangerous’ levels.

Due to a lack of salmon from a rise in ocean temperatures, there are concerns that brown bears in Japan will soon start to venture into urban areas in search of sustenance.

Fukushima city is starting to resist mega-solar energy projects as concerns grow about their impact on residents and the environment.

A proposed US$400 million China-funded bridge could wipe out the rich marine ecosystem of Paradise Reef, one of the few healthy reef areas in the Philippines’ Davao Gulf.

Efforts by Jakarta, the world’s most polluted city, to address the issue reveal the divide between the reality of low-income drivers and the need for cleaner air.

PM Srettha Thavisin wants to loan a giant panda from Beijing, but opponents say it won’t be happy in the tropical climate. Instead, Thailand should “take better care of our elephants”.

In a full-page New York Times advertisement, they say the climate can’t cope with more than 100 extra mines and that the exporting nation has a ‘special responsibility’.

The Philippines is considering filing a case against China over alleged dead corals in the South China Sea, saying it has enough evidence of the ecological damage.

Some members of the ruling People Power Party rebuked others in the same party for fawning over the power couple, treating the president ‘like a god’.

The G20 declaration on renewable energy does not contain firm steps required to reduce fossil fuel production and help developing countries cope with climate change, analysts say.

Local authorities in the Japanese capital want the Hardy Barracks heliport shut down, citing the growing potential for accidents and the poor safety record of some US aircraft.

President Jokowi has urged Jakarta residents to ease pollution in the city by taking to the city’s newest light rail service ‘in droves’.

But the amount is a blip compared to the US$260 billion that PM Anwar Ibrahim said Malaysia needs to invest by 2050 for its energy transition master plan.

Despite a ban on whale poaching in South Korea in 1986, activists say whale meat is still consumed across the country and want loopholes to be plugged.

South Korean PM Han Duck-soo says there is no need to be too concerned despite the opposition slamming the water release as an ‘act of terror’.

The amount included subsidies worth US$1 trillion, which nations provided by retailing fossil fuels such as crude oil at a discounted rate to international prices.

The capital city of more than 10 million people will continue to confront smog for years to come, according to environmental activists.