Heavy smog blankets Beijing

New housing estates under construction are veiled by thick smog, which the U.S. Embassy's daily air index has rated as hazardous, blanketing Beijing January 18, 2012. Air pollution in China's capital has been so bad that the air quality monitoring system used by the U.S. Embassy here has described the pollution as being off the scale. The World Bank reports that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China, with Beijing being the 10th most polluted capital. UPI/Stephen Shaver