FIRES raging across huge areas of Indonesia are spewing more green- house gases into the atmosphere every day than the entire United States, according to estimates from global environment watchdogs. For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming have suffocated vast expanses of Southeast Asia with smog, causing respiratory illnesses to soar, schools to close, and scores of flights and some international events to be canceled Much of the burning is in tropical peatlands rich in carbon, but which are being drained and cleared at a rapid rate to make way for agriculture, particularly fast-expanding palm-oil plantations. The World Resources Institute (WRD, using findings from the Global Fire Emissions Database, said in a recent report that since. early September carbon emissions from the fires had exceeded average US daily output on 26 out of 44 days. The US is the world's second largest green house gas source after China.