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Haze from Raging Bushfires Envelopes Sydney

VOA News

   Residents of Sydney are choking on a thick cloud of smoke and haze
   stoked by hundreds of bushfires that have burned for weeks on the
   outskirts of the historic Australian city.

   Officials said Sydney's air quality index Tuesday was 11 times above
   the limit considered to be hazardous, prompting them to urge residents
   with heart and lung problems to stay indoors as much as possible.

   Firefighters raced from building to building to disable alarms
   triggered by the thick haze that settled across Sydney, while some
   commuter ferries were canceled as the smoke reduced visibility in the
   famous harbor to nearly zero.

   About 100 bushfires are burning in the eastern states of New South
   Wales, Victoria and Queensland, fueled by high temperatures and land
   left dry by drought and climate change.

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