Beijing  - The world economic slowdown is developing into a potentially explosive social problem in China.

More than 20 million of China's 130 million migrant workers have lost their jobs as the government warns that 2009 was expected to be the "toughest" year for China since the new millennium began.

Officials are worrying that there could be unrest among the nation's 600 million impoverished rural residents and rising conflict with laid-off workers, who are often locked out of their worksites without being paid.

Beijing - The Aluminium Corporation of China Ltd (Chinalco) said Tuesday it has not yet decided on a bail-out for highly indebted Australian-British miner Rio Tinto.

State-owned Chinalco has been considering raising its stake in Rio Tinto, the Shanghai Daily newspaper wrote.

A Chinalco spokesman in Beijing confirmed that talks were held and said the firm has been considering raising its stake. "There would be many options and nothing has been decided," he said.

Other media quoted Chinalco deputy head Lu Youqing as saying that negotiations were only at their beginning.

Beijing, Feb. 3 : An earthquake that killed at least 80,000 people in Sichuan last year may have been triggered by an enormous dam just miles from the epicenter, The Telegraph reports.

The 511ft-high Zipingpu dam holds 315 million tons of water and lies just 550 yards from the fault line, and three miles from the epicentre, of the Sichuan earthquake.

Beijing, Feb. 3 : China voiced strong dissatisfaction Tuesday over an incident during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao''s speech at Cambridge University on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Wen''s speech, entitled See China in the Light of Her Development, was warmly welcomed at the university.

However, someone tried to disrupt the order during the speech.

"The perpetrator was strongly condemned by both staff and students of the university, and was removed after the incident," said Jiang.