China smog war moves to courts, with range of crimes to widen

Shanghai

CHINA'S courts will widen the range of offences that constitute "environmental crimes" to make it easier to take legal action against polluters, a senior judiciary official told a news briefing on Monday.

The new rules could allow prosecutors to take on persistent offenders in northern China's Hebei province, which was engulfed in heavy smog last week despite being on the front line of China's nearly three-year "war on pollution".