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Officials to be Punished for not Protecting Environment...China Invests Billions Preventing Pollution in Three Gorges Area...Russia to Reopen Border Check with China...Trains to Speed up over Next Two Years 
 
Local officials could now be fired for failing to take effective measures to protect the environment.

This follows a decision by the State Council, which has stated that environmental protection is now an important part of government work.

It is hoped the move will accelerate environmental projects, and is seen to be conducive to effective implementation of environment-related regulations.

The Ministry of Supervision and the State Environmental Protection Administration have set up a joint inspection team to supervise key projects on environmental protection and report the results to the State Council.******

China is investing 14.6 billion yuan, or around 1.7 billion US dollars, to deal with pollution in the Three Gorges area.

Director of the State Environmental Protection Administration, Xie Zhenhua, says the money will be used to set up 88 sewage treatment plants and 69 garbage disposal plants.

With these strengthened measures, pollution discharges are expected to be cut by half in two years.******

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has signed the order to lift the border restrictions between Russia and China.

As the SARS epidemic is now under control in China, all the checkpoints once temporarily closed along the border between the two countries will reopen in the near future.

The Russian government has also announced that Russian citizens are now again allowed to visit countries that were hit by SARS. Some other measures taken due to SARS have also been cancelled.******

Improved technology and equipment means China's trains are expected to become faster again in the next two years, with speeds topping 200 kilometres an hour.

Railway minister Liu Zhijun says the trains on major routes will be first to undergo improvements, which will then be extended to other routes across the country.

Cargo trains will also pick up speed to 120 kilometres an hour during this period.

It will be the fourth time the country has increased the speed of its trains since 1997.