On September 19, Malaysia announced it will push Southeast Asian nations to find a long-term solution for regional smog haze caused by forest fires in Indonesia. Malaysian Environmental Minister Yeo Bee Yin told reporters, “We hope there will be a more effective mechanism at the ASEAN level so that we can cooperate to seek a long-term solution to address this problem.” Malaysia is also considering a new law to punish any of its companies responsible for starting fires. On September 18, nearly 2,500 schools in Malaysia were ordered to shut down as a result of the toxic haze, affecting at least 1.7 million students. For the full story, see https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-southeastasia-haze/malaysia-to-push-southeast-asian-nations-for-long-term-solution-to-smog-idUKKBN1W40MU and https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3028073/toxic-haze-intensifies-malaysia-and-indonesia-prompting.