Mining has been suspended in all nature reserves in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, local authorities said.

A total of 11 mines are located in nature reserves in the province. All mines will be closed by the end of this year.

According to Li Yongtao, deputy director of Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County land resources bureau, the local government will start environmental restoration work soon as production ceases.

China has carried out environmental inspections nationwide as part of a campaign to fight against pollution and environmental degradation as decades of growth have left the country with smog, polluted water and contaminated soil.

Inspectors monitor prominent environmental issues, oversee local improvements and push for local government accountability.

The new high-speed trains, Fuxing, carried 460,000 passengers between Beijing and Shanghai in their first full month of operations at maximum speed, Beijing railway bureau said Saturday.

On Sept. 21, China increased the maximum speed of Fuxing trains on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway to 350 kilometers per hour.

Fuxing trains are also used on Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway and Beijing-Tianjin intercity rail, but they are allowed to run at 300 kph only for the time being.

Fuxing trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou line reached 100 percent capacity, with 420,000 passengers carried.

The Fuxing, literally meaning Rejuvenation, became the world’s fastest train service some six years after speeds were reduced to 300 km per hour on the Beijing-Shanghai line.

China has the world’s longest high-speed rail network, with 22,000 km currently in operation. About one-third of the country’s high-speed railways were designed to run at a speed of 350 km per hour.

A court in south China’s Shenzhen City said Saturday it had fined a debt defaulter 100,000 yuan (15,000 U.S. dollars) for taking a first-class flight.

Zhang Li, which is not her real name, is on a national blacklist for failing to repay her debts.

People on the blacklist are, among other proscriptions, forbidden from taking first-class flights and are not able to book tickets with their identity cards.

However, Zhang was found to have bought a first-class ticket from Lijiang, Yunnan Province, to Shenzhen, on Oct. 13 using her passport.

On arrival, she was detained by police at Shenzhen airport.

According to the Futian District People’s Court, in November 2015 and April 2017 she was found liable and ordered to pay the debts of her private company of over 7 million yuan. She refused to make the payment and was added to the social credit blacklist.

Following her detention, she paid the fine together with the debts in question.

As authorities work to establish a reliable nationwide credit rating system, courts are exploring new ways of punishing those who do not pay their debts. Among them are the ban from first-class flights and lowering their score at Sesame Credit, a credit-scoring system by Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial, so that they face upfront charges when renting a car or booking a hotel room.

A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official reaffirmed Saturday China’s opposition to Dalai Lama’s visits to foreign countries.

Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of the 19th CPC National Congress, executive vice minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee Zhang Yijiong urged foreign governments to exercise “caution in both words and deeds.”

The airport in Changchun, capital of northeast China’s Jilin Province, will see more flights in the coming winter and spring season to meet the rising demand from tourists.

The winter flight schedule runs from Oct. 29 to March 24.

During the period, Changchun Longjia International Airport is expected to have 1,764 flights every week, up 12.8 percent year on year, the airport said Saturday.

Many airlines, including China Southern, China Eastern and Xiamen airlines, will open routes to cities such as Chengdu, Shantou, Guiyang, Hangzhou and Nanchang, with more passengers expected to visit the province known for winter tourism.

Frequency of flights to major cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, will be increased, according to the airport.

Northeast China, including Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, is a popular winter destination for tourists. Famous resorts in Jilin include skiing resorts of Songyuan and Changbai Mountain.

China is expecting a boom in winter-sport tourism as the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing approach.