Thailand’s struggling battle against air pollution

Published

1 month ago

February 8, 2025

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For weeks now, most of the friends and families I know have had a cough of some kind. The pollution in the dry season in Thailand has long been a problem.

But recently, it’s reached dangerous and deeply worrying levels.

Bangkok was the fourth most polluted city in the world this month. Across 31 districts 352 schools were also closed because of pollution.

For weeks, I’ve had to rush my children into school with masks on, as the cheery teachers apologetically declare: “Pollution day so straight into class please.”

I like to go running with my son before school. But these days we’ve had to check the air quality index before we venture out.

Unfortunately, there have been plenty of mornings when the red bar appears, the screen reads, “very unhealthy” and we have to stay in.

It’s not a ritual I ever imagined having to go through with my kids in an era when governments know full well the dangers of pollutants and have the technology and know-how to reduce it.

Pollution is linked to the deaths of 100 children under five daily in South East Asia and the Pacific, according to a report this week by UNICEF.

This when clean air should be a universal right.

I’ve started to really worry about what living in Bangkok and many other parts of Thailand is doing to little lungs long term.

You can feel the smog in the back of your throat and sometimes, you can see the haze. But other days it’s hidden – a silent killer.

‘Rainmaker’

The Thai government hopes a plane that’s become known as the “rainmaker” might help.

In Hua Hin, about a three hour drive south of Bangkok, we get on board for a flight back to the capital. Two big plastic containers are being filled with 1,000 litres of icy water through a pump.

Today they’re dropping it over 16km of land shrouded in pollution. They do it twice a day across the country.

It’s an unconventional method and critics say so far unproven, but the hope is that it will cool down the warm air below and help disperse the trapped polluted particles cloaking the city.

The big worry right now is the PM 2.5 levels – cancer-causing particles that get into the lungs and bloodstream. Recently, they were eight times what the World Health Organization recommends.

Pollution ‘getting worse every year’

Pilot Aim Suracharttumrongrat tells me: “It’s a very huge scale problem. Our mission here is one of helping. But it’s not solving the problem.”

He gestures out the window to show how hard it is to see. “I’m very surprised,” he says of how bad the pollution currently is. “It’s higher every year.”

A couple of hours drive away in Ratchaburi province, you can see a big part of the problem – burnt fields of rice, sugar cane and corn – the product of slash-and-burn farming.

It’s a cheap and efficient way for poor farmers to clear the land, and they’re encouraged by big businesses driving up demand.

International smog and toxic traffic

It’s not the only problem.

Toxic traffic is playing its part too. The government has been trying to counter that by offering free public transport.

Winds from China and India have also contributed to the recent haze – earlier and more intense than previous years.

The government has rules in place against burning crops. But punishments aren’t always enforced and if Thailand and other countries are serious about improving the situation, holding big agricultural companies to account will be key.

China and Singapore are two nations that have turned things around.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra recently admitted despite adopting a wide range of measures, air quality is still bad.

She said she had personally raised the issue of transboundary smog with ASEAN foreign ministers.

But Thailand will arguably have to go much further than that if it’s to turn things around – in policy and practice.

World

Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers

Published

4 hours ago

March 12, 2025

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Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers

Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.

The Pakistan military (ISPR) said 21 hostages were killed, as well as four security force soldiers, on the train that was carrying more than 400 people.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people.

A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism,” and passengers who had been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.

ISPR director general Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry added in a statement: “Today we freed a large number of people, including women and children. The final operation was carried out with great care.”

The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The Jaffar Express was packed with 440 people, including women and children, Mr Chaudhry told local broadcaster Dunya TV.

He added that “militants were in touch with their handlers and masterminds in Afghanistan via satellite phones” during the incident.

The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.

Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.

Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.

‘God saved us’

Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).

“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us.

“They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”

Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.

“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.

“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”

Mr Chaudhry added to Dunya TV that security forces “first took out some of the militants and then began clearing compartment by compartment killing the militants”.

He said the total number of militants was 33, and added that no passenger was hurt or killed during rescue operations.

However, he added that before “the final clearance,” 21 people were killed by the militants. Four Frontier Corps soldiers were also killed.

“Perpetrators will be hunted down and will be brought to justice,” he said. “This incident of the Jaffar Express changes the rules of the game.”

Earlier in the day, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of the country.

The BLA – designated a terrorist organisation by the UK – had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.

It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.

The group often targets infrastructure and security forces in Balochistan but has also struck in other areas, including the southern port city Karachi and the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea.

World

Pakistan: Hostages killed after separatist militants hijack train carrying hundreds of passengers

Published

7 hours ago

March 12, 2025

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Hostages have been killed after separatist militants hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in Pakistan, authorities have said.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had killed 50 people on the train that was carrying more than 400.

Government officials have not confirmed how many hostages have been killed. Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan province, said “we people have also been martyred, but we will share details later”.

More than 50 militants have been killed and the insurgent attack has now ended after a day-long stand-off, according to officials.

Security officials told the Associated Press news agency that more than 300 hostages had been rescued.

Pakistan’s junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry said 70 to 80 attackers had hijacked the train.

A Pakistani government spokesman described the attack as “an act of terrorism”.

Passengers who have been freed described how gunfire was “coming from everywhere”.

The train was hijacked on Tuesday as it entered a tunnel in Bolan, a district in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The Jaffar Express was packed with 425 people, including women and children.

The train was on a 1,000-mile journey from Quetta to the city of Peshawar.

Militants blew up the railway tracks before firing at the train, killing the driver and trapping it inside a tunnel at Mashkaf.

Security forces exchanged gunfire with the militants who were wearing vests loaded with explosives.

Noor Muhammad, who was travelling with his wife, said: “First, they hit the engine with an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade).

“After that, gunfire started and explosions were heard, RPGs were used. God saved us. They made us get off (the train) and told us to get down or they would shoot. We got down and then they said ‘leave’.”

Bashir Yousaf, who was with his family, said: “Everyone was crying and passengers were shouting, everyone was lying on the floor trying to save their lives.

“The sound of gunfire was coming from everywhere, then they (insurgents) told us to get down.

“After getting off we were told not to look back. I just kept walking without looking back to save my family’s lives.”

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and said security officials were “repelling” the militants, while interior minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attackers “enemies” of Pakistan.

The BLA had demanded the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing persons within 48 hours.

It had threatened to start executing the hostages if the government did not fulfil its demands.

World

Greenland’s slow independence party wins election in result seen as rejection of Trump’s interference

Published

10 hours ago

March 12, 2025

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Greenland's slow independence party wins election in result seen as rejection of Trump's interference

Greenland’s centre right opposition party has won the most votes in elections that will be seen as a rejection of Donald Trump’s interference in the island’s politics.

The Demokraatit party won 30% of the vote. It favours a slow move towards independence from Denmark.

On the eve of the election, its leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen had told Sky News voters should use the election to warn the US president not to meddle in their future.

He said: “I hope it sends a clear message to him that we are not for sale.

“We don’t want to be Americans. No, we don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. And we want our own independence in the future. And we want to build our own country by ourselves, not with his hope.”

Donald Trump has been actively trying to prise Greenland away from Denmark, urging its people to determine their own future and join the United States.

A few days before they went to vote he promised “billions of dollars” in investment telling them he will “make you rich”.

The intervention made the election Greenland’s most closely watched and highly charged in its history.

All its parties advocate independence but differ on how quickly it can happen.

The territory’s second opposition party Naleraq made big gains in its share of the vote. It wants a swift move to independence.

One candidate, Qupanak Olsen, told Sky News Donald Trump’s interference had helped its cause.

“It’s making us aware, we are worth more than what the Danish people have been telling us for the last 300 years, maybe we can stand on our own two feet,” she said.

The party’s relative success may give Trump and its supporters hope they can do more to encourage independence in the future.

But it’s important to stress joining the US is not a popular idea here.

Even Ms Olsen rejected any moves towards joining the US, saying Greenland would not swap 300 years of colonialism under Denmark for more of the same under the US.

There were bigger issues dominating the election for Greenlanders. Insufficient healthcare, especially for cancer treatment for instance, is a major grievance on this remote but vast island.

But for the US president this was all about his neo-imperialist ambitions, openly musing yesterday about erasing borders between the US, Canada and Greenland.

His brazen play for Greenland and its vast largely untapped mineral wealth did not go down well among the fiercely independent islanders.

President Trump’s unashamed meddling has baffled observers. He says Greenland is vital for America’s security, and yet the US already has military bases on its territory and has been offered the possibility of building more.

Equally, US mining companies have every right to join the effort to extract its huge mineral wealth, as Chinese, European, Canadian and Australian firms have been attempting for decades.

It is however not an easy process. Greenland’s vast size, lack of roads and Arctic climate are huge challenges.

It is as reluctant to yield its mineral riches as it seems its people are to succumb to the advances of a US president.

This election shows Donald Trump will have to try harder if he wants to win the affections of Greenland’s people and Greenland’s elusive natural bounty.