Beijing set to establish environmental police

Capital's yellow alert for haze expected to last until Thursday

Beijing plans to establish an environmental police force by the end of March, amid tightened controls on air pollution, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau said after the capital and other northern cities are engulfed by a new bout of smog.

The smog descended on Sunday across northern and central regions, including Beijing and Tianjin as well as the provinces of Hebei, Shandong and Henan, with the pollution due to worsen, reaching hazardous levels on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Li Jianjun, director of the environmental pre-warning department at China National Environmental Monitoring Center.