Probe International

Authorities have told the family of paralyzed activist Fu Xiancai not to appeal the decision or file a new complaint.

Seven weeks after a brutal attack on activist Fu Xiancai, authorities in China say preliminary results of the investigation into the assault show that Fu fell and then caused the injuries himself.

While Three Gorges anti-corruption activist Fu Xiancai says he was attacked after talking to German TV, police say he fell down a slope.

According to a new regulation due to take effect Sept. 1, people displaced by dams and reservoirs who registered as urban residents will not benefit from the 20-year subsidy.

To avoid the possibility of corruption and the withholding of payments by local governments, the new subsidy to 22 million people displaced by China’s dams and reservoirs will be paid directly into special savings accounts, officials say,

Report: Move to ease energy controls aimed at increasing efficiency.

China is to increase compensation for millions of farmers relocated to make way for dams and reservoirs, in a bid to prevent rural unrest.

Soaring temperatures and the worst drought in more than 50 years have strained power grids in southwestern China and caused blackouts in at least one city in the east of the country.

The director of a climate-change research centre in Beijing says the global greenhouse effect is the chief reason for droughts, especially in upper latitude regions of the northern hemisphere such as hard-hit Chongqing and Sichuan.

Beset by months of typhoons, flooding and droughts, China is facing its worst series of natural disasters in six years, leaving 2,006 people dead and causing 160 billion yuan (US$20 billion) in economic losses, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

At least 18 million people have been affected by China’s worst drought in 50 years, Xinhua says. Worst hit is the southwestern region of Chongqing, where it has not rained for more than 70 days and two-thirds of the rivers have dried up.

Power output from the Manwan and Dachaoshan dams in Yunnan province is down to half the normal level as the Lancang River basin suffers its worst drought in 50 years.

The state-owned Thai utility is to set up a new unit soon, EGAT International Ltd., which will undertake construction of the Hutgyi dam on the Salween River in Burma along with the state-owned Chinese firm Sinohydro.