SCMP Shi Jiangtao Special purifiers ensure top cadres breathe easy as they go about their business, angering Beijingers who have to wallow in choking pollution. While it is no secret that the top officials and senior cadres have had the privileges of using tegong, special supplies of all sorts of things, from food to...
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* The HK API is more than 20 years old and permits pollution levels 2-4x greater than the maximum levels recommended by WHO guidelines.
Breath of fresh air for leaders
Smog lifts in Beijing – for now
SCMP Shi Jiangtao Experts are saying the worst is still to come, as discrepancies between official monitoring data and figures from the US embassy are challenged. Grey skies cleared in the capital yesterday after overnight drizzle and wind helped lift the choking smog that has hung over Beijing for most of the past two...
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When the air is not so clear look to the government’s coffers
SCMP Howard Winn Readers will be aware that we have long been wondering why the government has been so reluctant to commit to implementing new air quality objectives. These have been agreed on and are supposed to replace the current outdated ones established in 1987. But while the government pays lip service to the...
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A lot of hot air from officials about fighting pollution in the city
SCMP Howard Winn Anyone who has tried grabbing hold of a wet bar of soap will have some sympathy for Civic Party legislative councillor Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, who has been trying to get the government to live up to its commitments and say when it intends to introduce the new air quality objectives. These...
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Air quality suffers due to smog
China Daily Wang Qian The capital’s meteorological bureau issued its first heavy fog alert of the winter on Sunday, as low visibility forced the closure of six highways and caused delays or cancellations to more than 200 flights to or from the city. But although it is called a “fog alert”, Ma Jun, director...
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Beijing pollution ‘hazardous’: US embassy
Agence France-Presse in Beijing Air pollution in Beijing reached “hazardous” levels on Monday, the US embassy said, as thick smog blanketed the city for the third day running, forcing the closure of highways and cancellation of flights. A “hazardous” rating by the US embassy, whose evaluation of the city’s air quality often differs markedly...
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HK ranks last on key measure of air quality
SCMP Ng Kang-chung Hong Kong emerged as the worst offender for emissions of the toxic pollutant nitrogen dioxide among major cities in the Pearl River Delta region, according to the latest report on regional air quality. Jointly presented by the environmental protection authorities of Guangdong and Hong Kong, the report showed the region’s air...
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