Beijing social think-tank shut down amid crackdown

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(July 20, 2013) On the heels of anti-graft campaigner Xu Zhiyong’s detention, authorities continue to get tough on rights activists as they endure another wallop of repression, shutting down a Beijing-based think tank. The move is seen as payback for activists who have called on government leaders to declare their assets, and on lawyers who defend “sensitive” cases.

Indigenous leader killed in resistance fight over Honduras mega-dam

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(July 17, 2013) Tomás Garcia, a leader of the indigenous Lenca community in Honduras, was fatally shot on Monday, and his son Alan seriously injured, when members of the Honduran Army began firing indiscriminately at a demonstration protesting the construction of the 22-megawatt Agua Zarca Dam already underway on the Gualcaeque River in the country’s southwest. International Rivers reports.

Massive new dams remind China of human price of ‘tofu constructions’

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(July 20, 2013) China is on the cusp of another dam-building binge. Nowhere is the aggressive dam push raising more eyebrows than in the country’s southwest. Last year, a report by the environmental group Probe International said of the 130 proposed dams on rivers in the region, nearly 50 per cent “are located in zones of high to very high seismic hazard.”

Indian high court splits trial charge sheet in SNC-Lavalin graft case

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(June 27, 2013) The Kerala High Court has directed India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to divide the SNC-Lavalin trial charge sheet so the trial can begin. Two of the nine accused, SNC-Lavalin VP Klaus Triendl and SNC-Lavalin itself, have failed to appear in court despite several summons. According to press reports, Indian authorities are now seeking the extradition of Mr. Triendl, but Canada’s Department of Justice won’t confirm or deny the existence of the extradition request “due to the confidential nature of state-to-state communications.”

Chile’s Bachelet says Patagonia dams not viable

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(June 26, 2013) Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, who hopes to regain power at election time later this year, has come out against Chile’s HidroAysén mega-dam scheme. Most Chileans also oppose the controversial plan that would flood globally rare forest ecosystems, river valleys and farmlands in the country’s southern Aysén region and tame two of the world’s wildest rivers. In a complete about-face from her stance as President, Bachelet openly declared her opposition to the five planned dams in Patagonia in a televised debate.

Key source in giant Chinese water scheme polluted

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(June 25, 2013) The Danjiangkou Reservoir, a major supply source for China’s high-cost South-North Water Diversion project — slated to provide Beijing with water by 2014 — is heavily polluted with untreated sewage. Lax enforcement of environmental laws and a shortage of funds are making the situation worse, says the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. A deeper problem is the absence of legislation governing water sources, China Daily reports.

Officials from China’s Three Gorges Corporation visit troubled U.S. lock

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(June 19, 2013) Officials from China’s Three Gorges Corporation and Project Construction Committee (TGPCC) paid a visit earlier this month to the troubled U.S. Chickamauga Lock in Tennessee as part of an information sharing exchange organized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) — responsible for the operation and maintenance of navigation locks on the Tennessee River. TGPCC, established by China’s State Council to oversee construction of the massive Three Gorges Dam project, has concerns regarding its own ship locks: some 733 cracks were reported to have appeared in the east and westbound channels of the Three Gorges dam’s five-step shiplock, along with a worrisome distortion that may have been caused by crustal plate movement, among other issues. The dam’s ambitious and intensely complex ship lift, slated for completion in 2015, has yet to be tested.

China detains journalist who documented labour camp abuses, Tiananmen crackdown accounts

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(June 12, 2013) Beijing-based photojournalist Du Bin has been detained by Chinese state security officials after he disappeared following the release of his documentary on Chinese labour camp abuses — profiled here by Probe International last month. His sister, high-profile human rights activist Hu Jia, says Du is being held because his work directly challenges the authorities: “They are suppressing him to send a message to others,” she says. Gillian Wong reports for the Associated Press.

Uprooted

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(June 14, 2013) Yang Yi’s surreal photo memoir of his childhood home, flooded for the construction of China’s Three Gorges Dam project, received special mention as one of New York’s Best Weekend Art Events in May when it debuted at Galerie Richard. Its run ends tomorrow, June 15.