China's top environmental regulator was fired on Friday after widespread criticism of the government's initial cover-up of a chemical spill into the Songhua River that forced the shutdown of the water supply in Harbin.
The removal of Xie Zhenhua (
After an explosion on Nov. 13 at a petrochemical plant in Jilin City, officials tried to hide the fact that tons of benzene and nitrobenzene had been dumped into the river.
"After this major water pollution incident occurred, the SEPA has failed to pay sufficient attention to the incident and has underestimated its possible serious impact," according to a joint statement issued by the state council and the Chinee Communist Party's Central Committee, and quoted by the official New China News Agency.
"It should bear due responsibility for the losses caused by this incident."
Xie, who offered his resignation, is the highest-ranking official ever removed from his position for an environmental accident.
State media emphasized that his firing reflected rising governmental concerns about environmental degradation and the need to improve official accountability.
But the question is whether other officials will be fired, including those at the factory, a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.
In addition, officials in Jilin Province initially lied about the chemical spill and the dangers it presented to cities and rural communities downstream on the Songhua.
The government's joint circular ordered that an investigation continue into the causes of the explosion and the spill, and vowed to "seriously punish those responsible."
new head
Xie's replacement is Zhou Shengxian (
Meanwhile, Jiamusi city shut down its No. 7 Water Plant on the Songhua River on Friday, fearing contamination from approaching toxic chemicals, a city official said yesterday.
The benzene is expected to reach Jiamusi, a city of about 480,000 people, on Tuesday, according to the government.
The Xinhua news agency said the plant supplies 70-80 percent of the city's drinking water.
Jiamusi is the second-biggest Chinese city to have been affected by the spill.
Jiamusi also has access to deep wells that won't be affected by the contamination and so should be able to continue to supply drinking water, said a woman who answered the phone at its water company. She wouldn't give her name.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS