Satellite images show that smog in Pakistan can be seen from space, as the country battles record levels of air pollution.

Images from NASA Worldview show the east of the country cloaked in a toxic haze, with smog also reaching into India’s northern regions and New Dehli.

Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab region and home to 14 million people, had an air quality index of more than 400 on Tuesday morning, according to IQAir, which tracks global air quality.

Any reading above 300 is considered hazardous – anything between 0 to 50 is considered good.

Earlier in November, parts of Lahore had a reading above 1,900, marking a record high.

IQAir also reported on Tuesday that the concentration of PM2.5 – microparticles that enter the bloodstream through the lungs and can cause cancer – in Lahore was more than 50 times above recommended guidelines.

The city in eastern Pakistan is often ranked as one of the worst places in the world for air pollution.

Regional authorities have banned most outdoor activities, ordered shops to close early, and closed schools and public spaces until 17 November in response to the air pollution.

Health officials said more than 40,000 people have already been treated for respiratory ailments, while hospitals in the region have reported an unprecedented rise in patients with eye and throat irritation and pink eye disease.

It comes as a UN agency warned the health of 11 million children in the Punjab region is at risk if efforts aren’t made to tackle the toxic smog.

Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF’s representative in the country, said in a statement: “Prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12% of deaths in children under five in Pakistan were due to air pollution.

“The impact of this year’s extraordinary smog will take time to assess, but we know that doubling and tripling the amount of pollution in the air will have devastating effects, particularly on children and pregnant women.”

Several South Asian countries are engulfed by smog each winter as cold air traps dust, emissions and smoke from farm fires.

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Parts of India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh were forced to close schools and businesses last November over air pollution.

A month later, artificial rain was used in Lahore to tackle hazardous smog for the first time.

Thirty-five people have been killed and another 43 injured after a motorist deliberately drove his car into people exercising at a sports centre in the Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said.

A 62-year-old man, identified only by his family name of Fan, was detained at the centre late on Monday.

He was discovered in the car with a knife and wounds to his neck that were thought to be self-inflicted, according to a police statement.

Fan was reported to be unconscious and receiving medical care.

A motive has not been confirmed but police said a preliminary investigation found he was unhappy with the split of financial assets in his divorce.

Officers said a “number of” pedestrians were knocked down in the incident which took place on the eve of of an annual People’s Liberation Army exhibition in the southern Chinese city.

China’s president Xi Jinping has called for “all-out efforts” to treat those injured in the disaster, the country’s state media has said.

Mr Xi also said the perpetrator should be punished in “accordance with the law”.

Meanwhile, one of the four hospitals that took in casualties said it had more than 20 injured, state media reported.

Video shared on social media showed emergency services performing CPR on people at the scene, as others were told to leave the area.

Some were shared by news blogger and dissident Li Ying, who is better known on X as Teacher Li. His account posts daily news based on user submissions.

The clips showed dozens of people lying on the sports centre’s running track, with a woman in one saying: “My foot is broken.”

By Tuesday morning, searches for the incident were heavily censored on Chinese social media platforms.

A search on Weibo for the sports centre only turned up a few posts, with only a couple referring to the fact that something had happened, without pictures or details.

Articles by Chinese media about the incident from Monday night were taken down.

Chinese internet censors take extra care to check social media ahead of and during major events, such as the meeting of the National People’s Congress, where the government announces its major policy initiatives for the coming year.

The sports centre for the city district of Xiangzhou regularly attracts hundreds of residents, where they can run on the track field, play soccer and take part in social dances. Following the incident, the centre announced that it would be closed until further notice.

China has seen a number of attacks in which suspects appear to target random people such as schoolchildren.

In October, a 50-year-old man was detained after he allegedly used a knife to attack children at a school in Beijing. Five people were injured.

In September, three people were killed in a knife attack in a Shanghai supermarket.

Two commercial planes have been hit by gunfire over the capital of Haiti. 

A Spirit Airlines flight was just metres from landing in Port-au-Prince having come from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, when gangs shot at the plane, injuring a flight attendant.

Footage circulating on social media, which is believed to have been filmed by an airline employee, appeared to show the hole where a bullet had entered the aircraft near the back door and struck overhead lockers.

The plane was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic and all flights in and out of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport were halted, the US embassy in Haiti said.

Shortly after, a JetBlue flight was struck by a bullet as it took off from the capital towards New York.

The airline said its Flight 935 arrived later than scheduled without reporting any issues, but a post-flight inspection identified that the exterior of the aircraft had been hit.

JetBlue said it will extend on its halt of all flights to the nation until 2 December, adding that it is investigating the shooting and is collaborating with the relevant authorities.

It comes as businessman Alix Didier Fils-Aime became the nation’s new interim leader, replacing Garry Conille, who was fired from the position after only six months.

Mr Fils-Aime said his top priorities after taking office were to restore peace to the nation and hold elections, which haven’t been held in Haiti since 2016 – largely due to soaring levels of gang violence.

The country’s gangs – which control 80% of the capital as well as key roads and infrastructure – often target major airports like Toussaint Louverture International in an attempt to take advantage of political instability.

Earlier this year, coordinated attacks by gangs forced former prime minister Ariel Henry to resign.

Gunmen took control of police stations, opened fire on the airport – leading to its closure for nearly three months – and stormed Haiti’s two biggest prisons.

Violence continued under Mr Conille, including a gang massacre which killed 70 in the town of Pont-Sonde in October and the targeting of a United Nations helicopter which was hit by bullets as it flew over the capital.

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Speaking after taking office on Monday, Mr Fils-Aime said: “Obviously, the first unavoidable challenge is the reinstatement of security.

“Security of the people, security of the goods and infrastructures. Food security and freedom of movement across the entire national territory.”