Jul 28 - Only eleven days before the start of the Olympics, Beijing still suffers from smog.

With only 11 days to go before the opening of the Olympic Games, the iconic Bird's Nest national stadium in Beijing was shrouded in smog on Monday (July 28), despite attempts to turn the smokey and dusty Chinese capital into the promised pollution-free Olympic venue.

The Beijing Ministry for Environmental Protection was showing data from Sunday (July 27) when the Chinese Air Pollution Index (API) showed a reading between API 101 and 121. This figure is valid up until 1200 local (0300 GMT) the present day. API 101-121 is grade three in the Chinese system, meaning "slightly polluted", and doesn't count as a "blue sky day".

Last Sunday (July 20), the city imposed restrictions designed to almost halve traffic on roads and stop construction work. Many polluting factories have been asked to shut or reduce production over the next months. Beijing has spent some 120 billion yuan ($17.58 billion U.S. dollars) to clean up its environment, and has already ordered 300,000 high-emission cars off its roads.