The central environmental inspection team exposed 1,022 cases of pollution in the Tibet autonomous region during a month of random checks, the Ministry of Environmental Protection said on Wednesday.Polluters involved in 784 cases paid fines totaling 28 million yuan ($4.3 million), while 148 government officials were held accountable during the inspection, which began in mid-August.Despite achievements made in environmental protection in recent years, they did not meet the central government's requirements and the public's expectations, the ministry said.Inspectors also found that efforts to increase tourism in some areas had harmed the environment.For example, illegal infrastructure for visitors like a viewing deck, parking area and toilets were constructed in the buffer region of the Nam Co Nature Reserve, and untreated sewage was found to have been directly discharged inside the reserve.In addition, inspectors found that six of the 10 existing sewage treatment plants were not operating properly, leaving part of the sewage untreated.Thirty-five percent of complaints were about garbage, including poorly operated landfill sites, the ministry said.Inspectors said some leaders failed to realize the importance of Tibet, thinking that a little pollution or damage would not have a huge influence on the vast region. This meant they did not give sufficient attention to environmental protection, leading to unbalanced development of the economy and ecology.Tibet has made progress in promoting the construction of transportation infrastructure to improve livelihoods, but supervision has been loose on some projects.For example, since 2013, construction had started on 242 rural roads before environmental impact assessments were passed. Twenty of those projects still have not passed.The government in Tibet is required to hand in a plan for solving the problems within 30 days to the State Council. The plan will be released to the public.Central environment inspection teams visited 31 provincial regions, of which Tibet was among the final group, exposing a total of 135,000 pollution problems and holding over 18,000 officials accountable, data from the ministry showed. wristbands with tabsmake your own rubber braceletwristband creationcustom livestrong braceletsrubber wristbands custom cheap
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) test-fired multiple projectiles believed to be ground-to-ship cruise missiles Thursday morning into its eastern waters, the Republic of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The short-range surface-to-ship cruise missiles were launched from the city of Wonsan on DPRK's east coast in the morning, the JCS said in a statement. The missiles flew about 200 km into the DPRK'S eastern waters. The ROK and the United States were jointly analyzing details on the test-launches. The ROK militaryhas strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for additional DPRK provocation, while maintaining full defense preparedness, the JCS said. The DPRK projectiles were not ballistic missiles. Under UN Security Council resolutions, Pyongyang is banned from testing any ballistic missile technology. The test-firing by the DPRK came as the US military dispatched nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to waters off the Korean Peninsula. The test-launches were immediately reported to ROK President Moon Jae-in right after being detected, according to local media reports. Pyongyang has conducted missile test-launches five times since Moon took office on May 10.
