Kuching and Serian in Sarawak are now recording hazardous air quality levels.

At last look…Kuching has an API reading of 306 while Serian has risen to 510.

The Sarawak government had earlier said that an emergency would be declared for areas where the API exceeds 500.

Meanwhile the Sarawak Forestry Corporation is stepping up monitoring of high-risk areas amid the current hot and dry spell which increases the risk of forest fires.

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Meanwhile, El Nino is expected to prolong the risk of haze.

Prof. Emeritus Dr. Fredolin Tangang from the Malaysian Science Academy told Astro Awani the hot and dry conditions that have been contributing to forest fires across the border, will eventually move up to Sabah and Sarawak between the end of the year and May next year.

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Six local men have been arrested as part of the investigation into a Malaysian pilot who was arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into Indonesia.

The Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department says the suspects are believed to have supplied and transported the drugs for the pilot.

All six have been detained under the Dangerous Drugs Special Preventive Measures Act which gives the cops 60 days to complete their investigation before seeking a further detention order.

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Elsewhere, the UN is facing extreme difficulty getting aid to the victims of the landslide and flooding in Nepal.

It says teams are being forced to carry supplies up manually or using drones, due to the catastrophic damage to roads and transportation networks.

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And, human rights groups have slammed the White House, after it unveiled a website featuring video games in which players can deport migrants and build a border wall.

It comes as the Trump administration steps up its controversial policy of mass arrests and deportations of undocumented migrants.