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Twenty-five cities across northern China are under red pollution alerts, the highest pollution warning in the Chinese system. Due to the thick haze, thousands of flights have been cancelled. Beijing is under a yellow alert, the second highest pollution warning level. The pollution is due to stagnant air hanging over the northern half of the country. The jet stream has dropped down over southern China, as is normal in winter, but the lack of air circulation bordering the stream, coupled with generalized poor pollution controls in factories and power plants throughout China, has led to this extreme situation.
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The United Kingdom has been shrouded in a blanket of smog for the past few days, caused by record levels of pollution.

The U.K. government stated that the situation is temporary and has arisen due to a ‘combination of local emissions, light winds, pollution from the continent and dust blown over from the Sahara’, but this allegedly blinkered viewpoint has been widely criticized.

European Commission spokesperson, Joe Hennon, described the prime minister’s comments as "more than disappointing" and of showing a "clear misunderstanding" of the air pollution crisis.
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Scientists have long known about the correlation between air quality and infant illness. Now a UCLA study shows that the harmful effects of air pollution can extend even into the womb.

More than a dozen studies in the United States, Brazil, Europe, Mexico, South Korea and Taiwan have linked smog to low birth weight, premature births, stillbirths and infant deaths. But the latest research found that women exposed to high levels of ozone and carbon monoxide were three times more likely than others to have babies with cleft lips and palates and defective heart valves. They found that the greatest risk occurs during the second month of pregnancy, when a fetus develops most of its organs and much of its facial structure.
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