The Three Gorges shiplock is closing in one direction on Dec. 10 for an inspection that will disrupt navigation through the dam for two weeks, China News Service (Zhongguo xinwen she) reports.

As political tensions escalated this week across the Taiwan Strait, a Beijing magazine urged the central government to pass tough new laws to help prevent military attacks on the Three Gorges dam.

Lu Youmei is stepping down as general manager of the Three Gorges Project Development Corporation, China News Service (Zhongguo xinwen she) reports.

Security officials are taking steps to counter the possibility of a terrorist attack on the Three Gorges dam involving the large boats that are now able to navigate that section of the Yangtze, a new Shanghai-based news weekly says.

Two top officials overseeing the Three Gorges project have been removed from their posts, Xinhua news agency reported this week without explanation.

Yangtze boat operators who have been helping to clear debris from the Three Gorges reservoir say they are shocked by how much floating garbage has suddenly appeared since the water level was raised an additional four metres last month.

After almost half a century of study, a decision on the design of the world’s biggest shiplift at the biggest dam has been made, the Three Gorges Project Daily (Sanxia gongcheng bao) reports.

Construction of the Three Gorges shiplift, which will be the largest in the world both in terms of height and hoisting capacity, is scheduled to start in 2005 and be completed in 2009, the newspaper said.

(November 7, 2003) Celebrated water engineer Zhang Guangdou has for the first time publicly called for the disastrous Sanmenxia dam on the Yellow River, which he helped design in the 1950s, to be shut down.

When Premier Wen Jiabao swiftly resolved one family’s problem during a Three Gorges inspection tour, the story was splashed across an official press eager to portray him as a man of the people. Many other migrants could also use his help.

The builders of the Three Gorges dam intend to fill the reservoir to 156 metres above sea level one year ahead of schedule, an official project publication has revealed.

Debt relief groups have urged Iraq’s debtors to adhere to a 100-year-old legal principle to resolve Iraq’s debt crisis and assist reconstruction efforts when they meet tomorrow in Madrid.