SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Baseus, a global leader in consumer electronics, will debut its flagship Inspire series of audio products with Sound by Bose technology — setting a new standard in accessible high-end sound at IFA 2025. Mark your calendar for September 5–10 and visit Baseus at Messe Berlin, Hall 4.2, Booth 147 for a firsthand look at the Inspire series and a showcase of cutting-edge innovations that redefine innovation, convenience, and intelligence.
Baseus Inspire Series
Hybrid 2-Way Driver System
Baseus Security X1 Pro
Baseus’s Inspire audio series will take center stage at IFA 2025 with three distinct models: over-ear, open-ear, and in-ear. The open-ear design stands out with an industry-first Hybrid 2-Way Driver System in this form factor.
Baseus demonstrates how thoughtful acoustic engineering and pioneering hardware can elevate everyday audio experiences, setting a new benchmark for accessible premium sound.
Beyond audio, Baseus will spotlight its broader ecosystem. In smart security, the company will introduce the Security X1 Pro, the world’s first Smart AI Dual-Tracking Security Camera with 3K resolution and 300° of horizontal tracking range—showcasing how protection, power, and sound come together seamlessly within the Baseus experience.
Visitors can also expect the PicoGo II series of fast, travel-ready, and reliable power solutions—including compact high-output GaN chargers and Qi2.2-ready magnetic options that deliver speed and safety while fitting seamlessly with the latest flagship smartphones.
By bringing together advancements in sound, power, and security, Baseus aims to demonstrate at IFA 2025 how technology can be both innovative and accessible. The showcase underscores Baseus’s commitment to shaping smarter, more connected lifestyles for millions of users worldwide, while marking another milestone in the its journey from trusted accessory maker to global technology brand.
About Baseus
Founded in 2011, Baseus was born out of utmost care for users. The company embodies its slogan: Practical. Reliable. Base on User. This shows the pursuit of ultimate practicality to solve users’ problems with outstanding design and fashionable appearances that also reflect reliability, high quality, and cost-effectiveness. Baseus delivers a variety of products – including Portable Chargers, Desktop Chargers, Wall Chargers, Wireless Earbuds, and Docking Stations. Chosen by 300 million users and providing 6 billion services, Baseus delivers over 100 million practical and aesthetic products each year, continuously enhancing users’ sense of fulfillment. Join the Baseus family today to see a new world of technological innovation.
Media Contact:
Name: Baseus PR Team Email: [email protected] Baseus Official Website: https://www.baseus.com/
Karachi residents faced disruptions in their daily commute on Monday morning due to traffic jams caused by repair work on tattered and flooded roads in the aftermath of last week’s heavy rains.
Torrential rains on August 19 had flooded neighbourhoods, severely strained Karachi’s fragile infrastructure, left people stranded on roads for hours, disrupted industrial operations and led to prolonged power outages.
Thoroughfares are still riddled with potholes, exposing the devastation of Karachi’s road network and posing serious dangers to commuters across the metropolis.
Subsequently, as Karachiites left their homes for offices and schools this morning, they faced hurdles caused by accumulated rainwater and “development work” being carried out to repair the ruined roads, as reported by the traffic police.
Areas in the Malir, East and Korangi districts were affected, with locations including the busy thoroughfares of Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road near Shaheen Complex and M.M. Alam Road.
It’s been known for millennia that the human body accumulates waste as a result of day-to-day functioning, but it’s now recognized that the awake, active brain also builds up waste that negatively affects neural function if not removed.
Thankfully, it was recently discovered that the brain has a garbage removal mechanism.
“The glymphatic system is a brain-wide network of perivascular spaces that facilitates the clearance of waste products from the brain during sleep,” Jeffrey Iliff, PhD, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences/Department of Neurology, University of Washington School of Medicine, and researcher at the VA Puget Sound, Seattle, told Medscape Medical News.
This system “serves a similar function in the brain as the lymphatic system does in the rest of the body,” Iliff continued.
Jeffrey Iliff, PhD
As a medical student he learned about the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) surrounding the brain “we thought of it as an inert fluid with a primarily protective purpose, functioning as a sort of shock absorber,” he said. The reality is far more complex, and it’s now known that the CSF plays “an important part in cleansing brain tissue by removing waste products and conveying nutrients throughout brain tissue.”
The Glymphatic System
When first described in 2012, there was skepticism that a brain waste clearance system existed in humans but a new proof-of-principle study used contrast MRI imaging to visualize the glymphatic system.
Senior author Juan Piantino, MD, MCR, associate professor of pediatrics, Division of Neurology, School of Medicine and physician scientist, Neuroscience Division, Papé Family Research Institute, both in Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon, said their study was the first to “definitively reveal” the network of perivascular spaces in human beings.
Five patients consented to receiving a gadolinium-based contrast agent through a lumbar drain that was already in place for tumor removal. The tracer was carried via the CSF into the brain and analyzed at different time points following their surgery. The images revealed that fluid moved along defined pathways rather than diffusing uniformly through brain tissue. This finding was documented with fluid attenuated inversion recovery, which showed the perivascular spaces brighten when perfused with the CSF.
Both Iliff and Piantino believe that better understanding the glymphatic system may shed light on the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and may ultimately lead to drugs or other strategies to enhance healthy brain function.
Iliff explained that because there’s no lymphatic circulation within the brain itself, extracellular proteins must be cleared by some alternative mechanism. “[The] CSF might be seen as the ‘sink’ by which extracellular solutes are ‘washed away,’ but it wasn’t clear until relatively recently how these solutes move from the parenchyma to the CSF.”
His research used imaging techniques and fluorescent tracers in a mouse model to demonstrate the drainage pathways.
The glymphatic model suggests that arterial pulsations propel CSF through perivascular spaces formed by the vascular end feet of astrocytes. These spaces, although continuous with the subarachnoid space, also provide “distinct channels” for the rapid flow of CSF into the parenchyma. “The blood vessels in the brain serve as a kind of ‘scaffold’ to organize and support the process,” Iliff said.
CSF flow is enabled through the expression of a water transporter called aquaporin-4 (AQP4). The CSF enters the brain, mixes with the interstitial fluid, and exits via perivenous spaces draining through meningeal and cervical lymphatic vessels or arachnoid granulations. The exiting fluid carries the waste.
Sleep is the most important time during which this “brain housekeeping” takes place, Iliff said. Impairment in this system or in normal sleep can raise the risk for accumulation of undesirable solutes (eg, amyloid-beta), resulting in AD and other neurodegenerative conditions.
What’s in a Name? (and Other Controversies)
The term “glymphatic” was coined to join two ideas: “lymphatic” function which supports waste clearance and “glia” because it’s the brain’s glial cells that support these processes, Iliff recounted.
The term may be new, but there were published reports of a nascent concept. “We collected some of those threads and consolidated them into a single model and connected it to the biology of astrocytes and the biology of sleep” he said. The name ‘glymphatic system’ was coined by Stephen Goldman and Maiken Nedergaard, but the neologism wasn’t well received by all. “Some members of the field felt that by renaming this biology, we were claiming it as our own, and not adequately acknowledging prior research,” added Iliff.
The glymphatic system is connected to a downstream authentic lymphatic network that is associated with the meninges covering the brain as well as cranial nerves and large vessels that exit the skull. Although the anatomical and functional connections between these two networks “aren’t completely understood,” a powerful body of evidence supports the existence of a glymphatic system and its relationship with the meningeal lymphatic network.
Iliff noted additional controversies, adding that “controversy can be a sign that we’re on to something that matters — which is exciting.”
One concerns the presence of AQP4. Its role was demonstrated in multiple lines of research. For example, AQP4 gene deletion exacerbated glymphatic pathway dysfunction after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and promoted the development of neurofibrillary pathology and neurodegeneration. The deletion of AQP4 was found to exacerbate amyloid-beta plaque accumulation in a mouse model of AD. But a 2017 paper called the glymphatic model into question, noting that not all AQP4 data could be replicated. “The discrepancy between findings may lie in differences in experimental methods, rather than being a flaw in understanding the role of APQ4,” Iliff commented.
Another study challenged the notion that a function of sleep is to actively clear metabolites and toxins from the brain. Those researchers used fluorescent tracers to measure clearance and movement of these molecules in the brains of mice and found that movement was actually independent of sleeping, waking, or anesthesia and that brain clearance was markedly reduced, not increased, during sleep and anesthesia.
Iliff believes the study is flawed. “The researchers are essentially quantifying the movement of solutes from one part of the brain to another part of the brain, which we would regard as ‘transport,’ not ‘clearance.’” Additionally, the mice were anesthetized for an hour or so, but studied over many hours, after it had worn off. The authors concept of ‘clearance,’ and ‘sleep,’ “are different from what the rest of the field is doing,” he said.
Sleep, Neurodegeneration, and Clinical Implications
There has been a long-standing clinical association between sleep disruption and dementing disorders such as AD. It was initially assumed that this is due to degeneration in brain regions that regulate sleep. But Iliff pointed to more recent data that suggests that sleep disruption might actually drive the development of the pathology that underlies diseases like AD.
He has reported that the glymphatic system clears amyloid-beta during sleep. More recent data found it clears tau and alpha-synuclein as well.
Conditions that are risk factors for neurodegeneration are also associated with impairment of glymphatic function in animal models, he said, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) — a modifiable risk factor for AD and Parkinson’s disease (PD).
A wide range of neurologic conditions are associated with impaired glymphatic function, including AD, PD, normal pressure hydrocephalus, stroke, cerebral small vessel disease, multiple sclerosis, TBI, migraine, and idiopathic intracranial hypertension. Additional diseases associated with alterations in the glymphatic and meningeal lymphatic system interplay include Huntington disease, frontotemporal dementia, the neuromyelitis optic spectrum disorders, and even brain tumors — particularly gliomas.
There are clinical associations between poor sleep, excessively long or short sleep durations or OSA and dementia. “That, on its own, would suggest paying attention to sleep problems, particularly in midlife, as a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia,” Iliff said.
Piantino agrees. He encourages his patients to “take steps to improve the quality of sleep now, including establishing a relaxing routine and minimizing screens in the bedroom before sleep.”
Other suggestions for keeping your glymphatic system healthy are to improve cardiovascular health since the system relies on arterial pulsatility and physical exercise, which has a positive impact on sleep architecture as well as cardiovascular benefits.
In the future, Iliff envisages being able to identify impairment early using a blood test, imaging scan, or device for example.
He is involved in research on a device described in a recent Nature paper. Healthy older adults wore a head-cap fitted with electrodes to continuously measure sleep-active changes in parenchymal resistance. In two crossover studies participants were subjected to one night of natural sleep and one night of wakefulness, separated by at least 2 weeks. Across both studies, it was found that parenchymal resistance remained constant or increased during periods of waking but declined steadily through periods of sleep.
“We found that the glymphatic system was functioning in deep and REM [rapid eye movement] sleep, and as the person was waking up,” Iliff said. “But the clearance function appeared to accelerate the longer the subject slept and then gradually slow down as the person was waking up.” This was the first time anyone was able to actually track glymphatic function in people at different levels of sleep during a single night.
Applied Cognition, the company that developed the device, is also developing drugs to enhance glymphatic clearance of amyloid and tau in human beings, according to Iliff.
He looks forward to ongoing “exciting” developments, which will pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Iliff reported receiving research funding from the National Institutes of Health, US Department of Defense, US Department of Veteran’s Affairs, and the Leducq Foundation. He reported serving as the chair for the Scientific Advisory Board for the company Applied Cognition, from which he received compensation and in which he holds equity. Piantino reported receiving research funding from the National Institutes of Health; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; and the Papé Family Foundation.
Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW is a freelance writer with a counseling practice in Teaneck, New Jersey. She is a regular contributor to numerous medical publications, including Medscape and WebMD, and is the author of several consumer-oriented health books as well as Behind the Burqa: Our Lives in Afghanistan and How We Escaped to Freedom (the memoir of two brave Afghan sisters who told her their story).
Astronomers have discovered the brightest and closest fast radio burst ever observed, shedding new light on one of the Universe’s greatest enigmas.
For over a decade, fast radio bursts (FRBs) have baffled astronomers. These fleeting but immensely powerful flashes of radio energy last just milliseconds yet can briefly outshine entire galaxies.
Now, scientists have captured an FRB unlike any seen before – an ultrabright signal from a nearby galaxy 130 million light-years away.
Nicknamed “RBFLOAT” (Radio Brightest Flash of All Time), this extraordinary event is not only the brightest FRB on record but also one of the closest ever detected.
Its intensity and proximity are giving researchers the clearest view yet into the origins and environments of these mysterious cosmic phenomena.
What are fast radio bursts?
Fast radio bursts are intense radio pulses that appear randomly across the sky, each lasting no more than a blink of an eye.
In that instant, they unleash as much energy as our Sun produces in an entire year. First identified in 2007, FRBs quickly became one of astrophysics’ most puzzling discoveries.
Because they can be seen billions of light-years away, FRBs offer a unique tool for probing the structure of the Universe. Yet, their origins remain uncertain.
Leading theories suggest that magnetars — neutron stars with extreme magnetic fields — may be behind at least some of these bursts.
The brightest burst ever seen
On March 16, 2025, astronomers monitoring the sky with the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) witnessed a radio flash so strong it initially seemed too bright to be real.
At first, researchers suspected interference from Earth-based signals. But within hours, confirmation arrived from CHIME’s newly expanded Outrigger system: this was no mistake, but the brightest fast radio burst ever detected.
The source was traced to NGC 4141, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major. At just 130 million light-years away, this FRB is a rare cosmic neighbour. Its remarkable clarity offers scientists a once-in-a-generation chance to probe the phenomenon in detail.
How CHIME found it
CHIME, located in British Columbia, is made up of four giant halfpipe-shaped antennas. Originally designed to map cosmic hydrogen, it has become one of the most prolific FRB detectors, logging over 4,000 bursts since 2018.
Until recently, though, CHIME lacked the precision to pinpoint exactly where these bursts originated. That changed with the deployment of CHIME Outriggers – smaller companion telescopes stationed across North America. Acting as a continent-wide observatory, they allow astronomers to triangulate FRB signals with extraordinary accuracy.
This event marks the first major discovery using the fully operational CHIME-Outrigger system, proving its power to not only detect bursts but also map them to their host galaxies and specific regions within.
Where the burst came from
Analysis revealed that the fast radio burst originated at the outer edge of NGC 4141, just beyond a zone of active star formation.
This location is particularly intriguing. Magnetars are thought to form in the hearts of such regions, where massive young stars collapse.
The position of this burst suggests it may have come from a slightly older magnetar that has since migrated outward.
This finding adds weight to the idea that FRBs can occur in a variety of galactic environments, reflecting the diversity of their possible sources.
One-off or part of a pattern?
Another major question about fast radio bursts is whether all of them behave the same way. Most appear only once, while a few are repeaters, flashing sporadically or even rhythmically like a heartbeat.
To test whether RBFLOAT might belong to this rarer category, astronomers combed through six years of CHIME data. No other signals were found from the same location, suggesting that this burst is a one-off – at least for now.
Whether repeaters and non-repeaters represent the same underlying phenomenon or entirely different astrophysical events remains an open question. The discovery of RBFLOAT provides an important new data point in this ongoing debate.
A window into the Universe
Because it is both bright and nearby, RBFLOAT is a goldmine for astronomers. By studying how its radio waves travelled through space, scientists can learn about the intergalactic medium, magnetic fields, and even test models of fundamental physics.
The upgraded CHIME-Outrigger system is expected to localise hundreds of bursts every year. As the catalogue of precisely mapped FRBs grows, researchers hope to untangle whether these spectacular events come from a single type of source or represent a family of distinct cosmic explosions.
The discovery of the brightest fast radio burst to date marks a milestone in our quest to understand these mysterious flashes.
For now, the true source of fast radio bursts remains hidden. But with detections like RBFLOAT, astronomers are closer than ever to unlocking the secrets behind these cosmic fireworks.
Australian independent Santos’ 80,000 b/d Pikka oil field in Alaska’s North Slope region is now 91pc complete and will come on line in January-March 2026, the company said, ahead of the initial January-June target.
The company has completed pipeline installation during its second winter program and drilled 21 wells with results in line with expectations, Santos said in its half-year results to 30 June released on 25 August. Santos in April announced the pipelay had been completed one year ahead of schedule.
The 51pc-owned Pikka project is Santos’ first in the US state of Alaska. Spanish energy firm Repsol owns the remaining 49pc.
Santos is also on track for first gas from the Barossa project located in Australia’s Timor Sea in the July-September quarter, backfilling its operated 3.7mn t/yr Darwin LNG terminal.
Sanots’ profit was 22pc lower on the year in the first half of 2025 because gas prices weighed on revenues (see table). Product sales were down by 5pc on the year.
The firm in July reduced its 2025 guidance to 246,600-260,300 b/d of oil equivalent (boe) from 246,600-265,800 boe/d due to flooding in the onshore Cooper basin of South Australia.
Santos’ output was 44.1mn boe (244,000 boe/d) for the six months to 30 June, up slightly from 44mn boe (242,000 boe/d) a year earlier.
Unit production cost guidance for 2025 narrowed to $7-7.40/boe from $7-7.50/boe.
Residents have been left outraged after vandals destroyed a cricket pitch in Croydon, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
Concerns remain about vandalism in at Norbury Park following the incident reported on 18 August.
Jenni Rodgers, leader of the group Friends of Norbury Park, said: “We will have to wait for a new pitch to be put down. I am just sick of this actual lack of respect.”
A Croydon Council spokesperson said: “Our parks team have made the area safe by removing the hazardous debris, but unfortunately, the pitch cannot be currently used. We will work with the police and encourage anyone with information to contact them.”
Regular park user John Kuhrt posted on Facebook that the damage was “a proper demolition job” rather than just a “mindless bit of vandalism”.
Reflecting on previous incidents, Ms Rodgers said: “It does seem like every time we do something, there is just sort of vandalism in response. We put up two notice boards and they were vandalised.”
Both Ms Rodgers and Deborah Bestwick, of Norbury Village Green Residents’ Association, told the LDRS that litter is often scattered across the pitch after weekend games and “we have just begun to get really sick of it”.
The Friends group regularly carries out litter picks around the park and, together with the council’s contractors, helps keep it clean.
Referring to the vandalism, Ms Bestwick said: “All of the organisations are really distressed. It is massively destructive.”
Norbury Labour councillor Shafi Khan first sought funding for the pitch in 2019, securing support from the council, which remains responsible for its upkeep and now its repair, the LDRS said.
A spokesperson for Croydon Council added: “We are appalled by this outrageous act of vandalism on this community asset in Norbury Park, which has impacted on and saddened the local community.
“We have reported the incident to the police and would like to thank residents who have contacted the Council to report this senseless act of vandalism.”
Monsoon’s unpredictable weather conditions bring a lot of health challenges, particularly making vulnerable groups like babies and older adults more susceptible to illnesses. Diarrhoea is one of the biggest risks during this season, as waterborne contaminants can easily spread. The subsequent result of diarrhoea is dehydration, which may lead to other severe complications if due care is not given on time.
From getting agitated to loss of sleep, dehydration can show up in different ways in infants.(Shutterstock)
ALSO READ: High risks of diarrhoea and gut issues this monsoon: Bengaluru diabetologist shares 3 tips to protect your gut health
For little babies, who cannot verbalise how they feel, this is where parents need to pay attention to signs like agitated behaviour, which may mean the baby is not well or dehydrated.
To address doubts regarding diarrhoea in children, Dr Paresh Desai, Senior Consultant Paediatric Medicine at Narayana Health SRCC Children’s Hospital, Mumbai, told HT Lifestyle that monitoring the signs of dehydration can help control the situation before it worsens.
What are the causes of diarrhoea?
Diarrhoea is commonly an important sign of infection in the body, as Dr Desai explained, “Infectious organisms enter our bodies through contaminated food or water and cause diarrhoea. The most common infectious organisms are viruses. Around 90 per cent of diarrhoea in children is caused by viruses.”
He named a few viruses associated with infant diarrhoea, “There are many types of viruses, like the Rotavirus and Norwalk virus and many others that cause diarrhoea. Some common bacteria like E. coli, Salmonella, and Shigella are also largely associated with bacterial diarrhoea in children.”
While diarrhoea is a common symptom of infection, it is not a side effect of any medication or drug generally, as the doctor told.
Child behaviours that may indicate dehydration from diarrhoea
Children are more irritated and refuse to sleep when they are dehydrated.(Shutterstock)
Young babies can’t tell their parents when they are feeling unwell. Since any major infection can cause diarrhoea, which may lead to dehydration, parents need to watch for behavioural changes that could require closer medical attention.
Dr Desai noted 4 behavioural changes parents need to check:
Irritability and fussiness: Due to dehydration and general discomfort, children may cry more, become clingy, or seem easily upset.
Fatigue and lethargy: Losing fluids rapidly can make children weak and less interested in playing or eating.
Sleep disruptions: Stomach cramps or frequent trips to the toilet may cause disturbed sleep, leading to tiredness during the day.
Loss of appetite: Feeling nauseous or bloated can make children refuse food or drink, which can worsen dehydration.
10 symptoms of diarrhoea
Symptoms help parents understand if their baby is having a normal stool or one that requires medical attention. Dr Desai alerted that diarrhoea can be identified by the consistency of the stool, which becomes more watery and loose, while the quantity becomes more, leading to a drop in hydration levels in the body.
The paediatrician listed out 10 symptoms that parents should know:
Passing loose and very watery stools at least three times.
Peeing less often, and the urine colour is dark.
Acting fussy or irritable.
Dry mouth.
No tears when they cry.
Unusual drowsiness or sluggishness.
Sunken soft spot on the top of the baby’s head.
Skin that is not elastic as usual (doesn’t spring back when you gently press and release it.)
Poop smell is foul and differs from other days.
Poop is yellow in colour and is likely thick and pasty if your baby is on formula.
ORS to reduce dehydration risks
The biggest problem with diarrhoea is dehydration. This is why the paediatrician highly recommended giving ORS during this time.
He said, “ORS (Oral Rehydration Solution) for babies is a crucial electrolyte-balancing drink designed to combat dehydration in infants and young children. Formulated with a precise combination of salts, sugars, and water, ORS serves as a lifesaver during episodes of diarrhoea, vomiting, or excessive fluid loss.”
ORS contains essential minerals like sodium, potassium, and chloride, which further replenish the intense fluid loss from the stool.
Should you feed milk to your baby during diarrhoea?
Parents may confuse diarrhoea happens to children with milk allergy, but Dr Desai warned that removing milk from their diet may not be a good idea. He said, “Babies can be breastfed even when they have diarrhoea and those on formula may be fed a diluted version.”
Lactose intolerance commonly only shows up after the age of two, as Dr Desai pointed out, so before that, milk should generally be continued unless a paediatrician advises otherwise.
Note to readers: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.
A 13-year-old boy was infected with malaria and hospitalized in intensive care at Safra Children’s Hospital in Tel HaShomer. He was infected during a family trip to Tanzania, and his condition is defined as stable. This is a serious disease transmitted through mosquito bites. In the past, it was also common in Israel, and today there are places in the world where the disease still poses a significant threat.
India fears a planned Chinese mega-dam in Tibet will reduce water flows on a major river by up to 85 per cent during the dry season, according to four sources familiar with the matter and a government analysis seen by Reuters, prompting Delhi to fast-track plans for its own dam to mitigate the effects.
The Indian government has been considering projects since the early 2000s to control the flow of water from Tibet’s Angsi Glacier, which sustains more than 100 million people downstream in China, India and Bangladesh.
But the plans have been hindered by fierce and occasionally violent resistance from residents of the border state of Arunachal Pradesh, who fear their villages will be submerged and way of life destroyed by any dam.
Then in December, China announced that it would build the world’s largest hydropower dam in a border county just before the Yarlung Zangbo river crosses into India.
That triggered fears in New Delhi that its longtime strategic rival — which has some territorial claims in Arunachal Pradesh — could weaponise its control of the river, which originates in the Angsi Glacier and is known as the Siang and Brahmaputra in India.
India’s largest hydropower company in May moved survey materials under armed police protection near a prospective site of the Upper Siang Multipurpose Storage Dam, which would be the country’s biggest dam, if completed.
Senior Indian officials have also been holding meetings about accelerating construction this year, including one organised in July by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office, according to two of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive government matters.
Delhi’s concerns were described in the undated Indian government analysis of the Chinese dam’s impact, the specifics of which Reuters corroborated with four sources and is reporting for the first time.
Beijing hasn’t released detailed plans about the dam’s construction, but the analysis drew on past work conducted by Indian government-affiliated institutions like the Central Water Commission and accounted for the expected size of the Chinese project, which broke ground in July and will cost nearly $170 billion.
Delhi estimates the Chinese dam will allow Beijing to divert as much as 40 billion cubic meters of water, or just over a third of what is received annually at a key border point, according to the sources and the document.
The impact would be especially acute in the non-monsoon months, when temperatures rise and lands become barren across swathes of India.
The Upper Siang project would alleviate that with its projected 14 BCM of storage capacity, allowing India to release water during the dry season. That could mean the major regional city of Guwahati, which is dependent on water-intensive industry and farming, would see a reduction in supply of 11pc, according to the sources and the document, as opposed to 25pc if the Indian dam isn’t built.
The project could also mitigate any move by Beijing to release devastating torrents of water downstream, the sources said.
If the dam is at its minimum drawdown level — where water is stored at less than 50pc of its height — it would be able to fully absorb any excess water released from a breach in Chinese infrastructure, according to the document and the sources.
India is considering a proposal to keep 30pc of its dam empty at any time in order to account for unexpected surges, two of the sources said.
A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said in response to Reuters’ questions that the hydropower projects “have undergone rigorous scientific research on safety and environmental protection, and will not adversely impact the water resources, ecology, or geology of downstream countries.”
“China has always maintained a responsible attitude toward the development and utilisation of transboundary rivers, and has maintained long-term communication and cooperation with downstream countries such as India and Bangladesh,” the spokesperson added.
Modi’s office and the Indian ministries responsible for water and external affairs did not respond to Reuters’ questions. State-owned hydropower major NHPC also did not return a request for comment.
India’s foreign ministry has said that top diplomat S. Jaishankar raised concerns about the dam during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart on August 18. A Jaishankar deputy also told lawmakers in August that the government was implementing measures to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of citizens in downstream areas, including building the dam.
India has itself been accused by Pakistan, a Chinese ally that it briefly clashed with in May, of weaponising water. Delhi this year suspended its participation in a 1960 water-sharing treaty with Islamabad and is considering diverting flows from another crucial river away from its downstream neighbour.
An international tribunal has ruled that India must adhere to the agreement but Delhi says the panel lacks jurisdiction.
India aims to construct a dam in its northeast to mitigate the potential impacts of a massive dam being built across the border in China.
Development or destruction?
When NHPC workers moved surveying materials near the village of Parong in May, angry locals damaged their machinery, destroyed a nearby bridge and looted the tents of police sent to guard the operation.
Many of them are members of Arunachal’s Adi community, who live off paddy, orange and sweet lime farms in the mist-shrouded hills and valleys nourished by the Siang.
The villagers have set up makeshift watch posts on regional roads to deny access to NHPC workers. That has forced security personnel to trek miles, often under the cover of night, to reach a prospective site of the dam.
At least 16 Adi villages are likely to be lost to the storage area of the dam, directly affecting an estimated 10,000 people, according to two of the sources.
Community leaders say more than 100,000 people will be impacted overall.
“The cardamom, paddy, jackfruit and pear we grow on this land help educate our children and support our family,” said Odoni Palo Pabin, an Adi grocer and mother of two. “We will fight the dam to death.”
The dam has the support of Arunachal’s chief minister, who is a member of Modi’s party and has called the Chinese project an existential threat.
The project will “ensure water security and provide flood moderation to counter any potential water surges,” the state government said in a statement, adding that it decided in June to engage in detailed compensation discussions with families that could be affected by the dam.
Lawmaker Alo Libang, an Adi who represents an area that would be submerged by the Indian project, said he believed locals could be convinced to move if they received generous compensation.
NHPC has plans to spend more than $3 million on education and emergency infrastructure to incentivise the villagers to move elsewhere, three of the sources said, citing instructions from Modi’s office.
In one sign of progress, three villages in the area recently agreed to let NHPC officials carry out dam-related work, according to the Arunachal government and dozens of locals.
India has a history of activist movements against large dams, which have sometimes slowed these projects by years or forced them to scale down.
Even if the Upper Siang dam gets the go-ahead, it could take a decade to build after breaking ground, according to four of the sources.
That means the project would likely be completed after China’s project, which Beijing expects to start generating power by the early-to-mid 2030s.
The delay means an Indian project would be vulnerable during construction if Beijing suddenly releases water during the monsoon season, triggering a surge that could wash away temporary dams, two of the sources said.
International experts and Adi activists have also warned that building large dams in seismically active Tibet and Arunachal could heighten risks for downstream communities.
The Chinese “dam is being built in a zone of high seismicity and in a zone that experiences extreme weather events,” said Sayanangshu Modak, an expert on the India-China water relationship at the University of Arizona.
“These kinds of extreme weather events trigger landslides, mudslides, glacial lake outburst flooding,” he said. “So that raises concerns about dam safety… it’s a very legitimate concern, and India should engage with China.”
