Pray for help says PM, as smog engulfs Malaysia

Workplaces were closed in two regions under a state of emergency, as Malaysia’s leader called on mosques to hold special Friday prayers for rain to rid the country of hazardous haze from Indonesian forest fires.

The yellowish haze has shrouded Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas for more than a week in a pall of noxious fumes, smelling of ash and coal, in the country’s worst environmental crisis since 1997.