Jakarta says it will accept world's help to battle forest fires

Indonesia agreed on Thursday to accept international help to combat forest and agricultural fires cloaking Southeast Asia in haze, after weeks of failed attempts to douse the blazes that have infuriated its neighbors.

Officials said Singapore and Russia had already offered help and talks were underway with several other countries, an about-face after Jakarta insisted for weeks that it could tackle the crisis alone.

"Hopefully, we can speed up our efforts," President Joko Widodo said on Thursday as he set off to visit western Sumatra island, the site of many of the smog-belching blazes.