Clean air? Don't hold your breath

Intense air pollution is expected to strike China's northern cities twice more before November.

Smog of moderate and intense levels settled in on Wednesday evening and will last until Saturday in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the National Meteorological Center predicted on Tuesday.

During that period, visibility will fall to 2 to 6 km. A forthcoming thick fog in some parts of the region may cut it to less than 500meters.