NPC Deputy Calls for Waiving Charges to Visit Three Gorges Dam
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NPC deputy calls for waiving charges to visit Three Gorges Dam    BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- How much should be paid for a visit to the world's largest hydroelectric project. The answer of a Chinese legislator is "free".
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By CLIFTON ADCOCK  But after a recent collapse at a Big Splash ride, state officials may require it for water slides.
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Taiwan will top the agenda when US Secretary of State Colin Powell visits Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said yesterday, calling for Washington to end arms sales to the self-ruled island.
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Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)  Yinchuan, 14 December: A former senior regional land official in northwest China has been officially charged with taking millions of yuan in bribes and holding a large amount of suspect property.
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Alcatel-Lucent has agreed to pay $2.5 million in fines to resolve allegations that it provided Chinese government officials with free trips to Disneyland and other tourist attractions.The company has to pay $1 million to resolve U.S. Department of Justice charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when providing travel and other perks to Chinese government officials, the DOJ said Friday. The company also agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil fine to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.The agreement with the DOJ wraps up a multiyear investigation into whether Lucent, before its November 2006 merger with Alcatel, provided things of value to the Chinese officials and improperly accounted for the expenses.The company cooperated fully with the DOJ and SEC investigations, an Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman said. The company is &quot;glad to put the matter behind us&quot; and looks forward to successful business dealings in China in the future, she said.From about 2000 to 2003, Lucent spent millions of dollars on more than 300 trips for Chinese government officials that included sightseeing, entertainment and leisure, the DOJ said. The trips were approved by senior Lucent Chinese officials, with the support of Lucent employees in the U.S.Lucent improperly recorded expenses for these trips and failed to implement internal controls to monitor the provision of travel and other things of value to Chinese officials, the DOJ said in a press release.In 2002 and 2003, there were 24 Lucent-sponsored trips for Chinese government customers, and at least 12 trips were primarily for sightseeing, the DOJ said. The people participating in these trips were senior government officials, including the heads of state-owned telecommunications companies in Beijing and the leaders of provincial telecommunications subsidiaries.Between 2000 and 2003, Lucent provided Chinese government officials with trips to the U.S., Europe, Australia and elsewhere that were often characterized as &quot;factory inspections&quot; or &quot;training,&quot; the DOJ said. By 2001, Lucent had outsourced most of its manufacturing and no longer owned factories for its customers to tour. These trips were primarily sightseeing tours to locations such as Disneyland, Universal Studios and the Grand Canyon, and typically lasted 14 days and cost between $25,000 and $55,000 per trip, the DOJ said.Lucent admits to all of this conduct in the agreement announced on Friday. The agreement also requires Lucent to adopt new or modify existing internal controls, policies and procedures. Those internal controls must ensure that Lucent keeps fair and accurate books, the DOJ said. The agency has agreed not to prosecute Lucent if it complies with all of the requirements in the agreement over a two-year term.
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Chinese 'fess up as project goes titsup Chinese officials have admitted that the Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River will, in the absence of urgent preventative action, provoke an ecological and environmental "catastrophe", the Times reports.â¦
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By William Lin and John-Henry Doucette, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.  Sep. 8--PORTSMOUTH -- A grand jury Thursday accused former Sheriff Gary Waters of three misdemeanor charges related to his oversight of campaign funds and inmates.
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By Zhu Zhe and Sun Xiaohua  After putting two highly polluting projects on hold as a result of public pressure, the top environmental watchdog yesterday said it would seek to establish a proper mechanism to allow for its further participation in environmental governance.
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By SHANNON DININNY  RICHLAND, Wash. - Washington state on Tuesday requested that the Energy Department pay a fine for leaking a highly toxic and potentially cancer-causing agent into the ground at the Hanford nuclear reservation.
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KATMANDU, Nepal Nepal&#39;s deputy prime minister appealed on Thursday to Maoist rebels who are blockading the capital for talks to end the two-day-old stand-off as food prices began to rise.
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Mr Powell says that while the US recognises the one-China policy, it will offer to assist Taiwan if it is threatened. A US State Department spokesman says the issue came up during talks with China&#39;s visiting military chief, General Liang Guanglie.
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The Chinese government is trying to address an electricity shortage that has led to rationing in more than a third of the countryâs provinces in recent weeks.
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By Bob Shaw, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.  Mar. 7--3M Co. has a message for Washington and Dakota counties: Stop worrying about your water.
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By You Nuo  The central government of China should set up a new and powerful commission to help protect the nation's environment.
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The people of Taiwan Province were called on Monday to join with their mainland compatriots in the fight to safeguard national unity and counter Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian&#39;s splittist moves.
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HONG KONG - The relatives and political colleagues of a Hong Kong democracy activist jailed in China for soliciting a prostitute yesterday called on the Chinese authorities to release him on medical grounds, a colleague said.
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China's huge Three Gorges Dam hydropower project could spark environmental catastrophe unless accumulating threats are quickly defused, senior officials and experts have warned.