Beijing's pollution levels drop ahead of the Olympic Games
BEIJING - Beijing's pollution levels dropped Wednesday to less than half of the previous day's, the lowest reading since authorities began pulling cars off the road and shutting down factories to address athletes' concerns about air quality ahead of the Olympic Games.
A cooling wind and some rain helped sweep away pollutants and gave Beijingers a respite from the sultry heat and humidity that had cloaked the city for days.
The polluted skies over the Olympic host city have been one of the biggest worries for Olympics organizers. The concerns prompted Beijing officials to institute drastic measures earlier this month, included pulling half the city's 3.3 million vehicles off the roads, halting most construction and closing some factories in the capital and surrounding provinces.
The measures are having the desired effect, Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau, told The Associated Press in an interview.
"The daily data since July 20 shows an improvement in air quality. It reflects the results since we restricted traffic and stopped heavy-polluting factories and construction," he said. "That's why we say the measures have been effective."
A World Bank study found China is home to 16 of the 20 worst cities for air quality. Three-quarters of the water flowing through urban areas is unsuitable for drinking or fishing.
Mexican migrant remittances fall by 2 percent to $11.6 billion
ATOTONILCO, Mexico - Mexicans working in other countries are sending less money home, threatening businesses, stalling construction and choking cash flow to hamlets where as much as half the population works in the United States.
Analysts said stepped-up immigration raids and the slowdown in the U.S. economy accounted for the drop in the payments, which many migrants use to sustain families back home.
The payments, or remittances, have fallen about 2 percent this year to $11.6 billion, the first such drop in more than a decade since reliable records have been kept, Mexico's Central Bank said Wednesday.
And the buying power of this money has been battered by the weakening U.S. dollar, which has lost about 8 percent of its value against the Mexican peso so far this year.
Bank of Mexico President Guillermo Ortiz said about 22 percent of Mexican workers in the U.S. have jobs in the sharply slowed construction industry.
About 152,000 Mexican immigrant workers lost U.S. construction jobs in 2007, while overall unemployment for Mexican immigrants in the U.S. rose from 5.5 percent to 8.4 percent over the year, according to a June report by the Pew Research Center.
Migrants no longer come back to Mexico each year flush with cash, then return to jobs waiting in the United States, as they did during the boom years of 2002 to 2006.
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