Worries rise about level of dam water

Plans to raise the water level behind China's massive Three Gorges dam to full capacity this month, which would mark the symbolic culmination of the decades-old project, have stalled amid a worsening drought and reports of increased landslide risks.

The world's largest hydroelectric project has been built to end centuries of floods along the basin of the Yangtze River and to provide energy to fuel the country's economic boom.

Along the way officials have often steamrolled over complaints about the enormous environmental impact of the mammoth $23 billion, 660-km-long reservoir that displaced more than 1.4 million people.