Air quality in Malaysia improved Wednesday, helped by rain and changing winds that pushed a choking haze sparked by open burning in neighboring Indonesia away from urban centers in the peninsula.

Meanwhile, the youth wing of the ruling United Malays National Organisation held a protest outside the Indonesian embassy in downtown Kuala Lumpur - the second straight day protests have taken place outside the consulate.

Indonesia is widely blamed by many Malaysians for the lingering haze that has pushed respiratory illnesses up in some areas.

The Department of the Environment said only 2 of its 51 air quality monitoring stations recorded unhealthy air Wednesday morning, a marked improvement from recent readings which had as many as a dozen stations recording an "unhealthy'' reading.

Read more: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/10/11/nation/20061011140929&sec=nation