BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — The 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu paid a formal visit to China’s top legislator Wu Bangguo in Beijing on Thursday.

    Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC), extended greetings for the Spring Festival and the new year under the Tibetan calendar.

    Wu congratulated the Panchen Lama on his achievements and improvements in all areas and called on him to further study policies made in the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

    Wu encouraged the living Buddha to take responsibility to enhance China’s reunification and do more things that could benefit the country.

    Wu also urged the Panchen Lama, one of the most influential religious leaders in Tibet, to constantly improve Buddhism’s accomplishments and seriously follow Buddhist taboos.

    During the visit, which was held in the Great Hall of People at the heart of Beijing, the living Buddha presented a had a (a long piece of silk used as a greeting gift) respectfully to the top Chinese legislator.

    The Panchen Lama said that he had gained in-depth understanding of the CPC’s pursuit of interest for the common people after attending the 17th CPC National Congress as a non-voting delegate.

    He vowed to support the CPC’s leadership and make more contributions to the Tibetan economy and social harmony by guiding more religious work to adapt to China’s socialist society.

    BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — The central bank said on Thursday that the some types of gold and gold product shipments would require its permission.

    The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and General Administration of Customs jointly announced the rule, which was effective immediately. No reason was given for the move.

    The circular listed more than 10 kinds of gold-based compounds, including gold potassium cyanide.

    Most domestic shipments, including those from free trade zones, export processing zones and areas under the special supervision of customs were included in the rule, but most foreign trade shipments were excluded.

    China produced 270.29 tons of gold last year, up 12.67 percent from 2006, which made it the world’s second largest bullion producer after South Africa, statistics from the China Gold Association showed earlier this week.

    BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — Civil aviation authorities said on Thursday that more than 3,250 flights had been cancelled during the six days through noon on Wednesday as the worst snowstorms in decades wreaked havoc in southern, central and eastern regions.

    Bad weather also forced 380 planes to be diverted and delayed 5,550 flights, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said. However, airlines still carried 3.17 million passengers from the nation’s 52 major airports between Jan. 23 and29, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, by flying larger planes.

    Snow and freezing rain have also caused deaths, housing collapses, crop and livestock destruction, power blackouts, and road and rail problems.

    Severe weather had killed 38 people and resulted in the direct economic loss of 32.67 billion yuan (4.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 17 provinces, regions, and municipalities by Wednesday afternoon, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

    Also affected were 105 million mu (7 million hectares) of crops, with the harvest on 11.31 million mu completely wiped out, the Ministry of Agriculture said Thursday.

    Traffic on the trunk rail line linking Beijing and Guangzhou began to return to normal, but Guangzhou railway authorities still cancelled 54 trains on Thursday.

    The traffic paralysis stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers in Guangzhou, mostly people who were trying to go home for Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 7.

    The Ministry of Finance on Thursday earmarked another 138 million yuan for disaster relief, lifting the total relief fund to431 million yuan.

    Chinese premier Wen Jiabao has urged greater efforts to guarantee coal, fuel and power production and supplies as well as grain and fresh farm produce.

    The power coal reserve stood at 21.19 million tons, less than half of the normal level, and the shortfall had closed 42.12 million kilowatts in generating capacity, the State Electricity Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday.

    The premier also urged officials to give priority to power supplies for homes, hospitals, schools, rail hubs, financial and public institutions, and agricultural production. He ordered local governments to limit or cut electricity to energy-intensive, polluting industries in regions with power shortfalls.

    Coal and electricity consumption was increasing rapidly in the freezing winter, but coal supply was tight as many mid- and small-sized mines have shut down for Lunar New Year, vice premier Zeng Peiyan said.

    Coal mines of all sizes should raise output, with safety in mind, to be sure there were adequate supplies during Lunar New Year in early February and the annual parliament meeting in March, Zeng said during an inspection tour of the northern province of Hebei and coal giant China Shenhua on Wednesday and Thursday.

    BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — After a 20-month investigation, the March 19 Shooting Incident Special Investigation Commission has concluded that the shooting of Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu on March 19, 2004 was a “fake”, said Taiwan media on Thursday.

    The team raised doubts about the incident. These points included: two cartridge cases submitted as evidence could not be loaded into one gun; the bullet used as evidence was not made by the suspect who was believed to be the source of the gun; the results of trajectory reconstruction and the position of the bullet shell did not hold up, and the suspected gunman Chen Yi-hsiung was murdered, rather than having committed suicide.

    The head of the commission, Wang Ching-feng, said that there were many suspicious points and relevant government organizations were seriously blocking the investigation.

    The team said that evidence from the Chen Shui-bian side has “so many lies”.

    On March 19, 2004, the day before a leadership election, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Lu claimed that they had been shot at during their campaign in southern Taiwan, sustaining injuries.

    At the request of opponents in the election, a special team was set up to investigate the incident.

    BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — The central government allocated a record 3.7 billion yuan (about 500 million U.S. dollars) in 2006 and 2007 for food and drug supervision, more than the total budget from 1998 to 2005, the country’s pharmaceutical watchdog said on Wednesday.

    As a result, 90 percent of drug control departments at the provincial level and 60 percent at the city level were capable of conducting full-scale drug tests, said Li Yunlong, head of the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products.

    China had allocated 1.6 billion yuan to build and equip local offices for food and drug supervision in 24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in central and western areas over the past two years.

    Shao Mingli, head of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), said that the administration would improve all stages of the drug supervision process, including production, transfer, pricing, selling and use, to reduce consumer costs and keep fake drugs off the market.

    BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Thursday sent a message of congratulations to Samak Sundaravej on his election as Thailand’s new prime minister.

    ”China and Thailand are good neighbors, good partners and good friends,” Wen said in the message.

    The all-around development of cooperation between China and Thailand in various fields has not only brought substantial benefits to the two nations and peoples, but also contributed to the regional peace, stability and prosperity, he added.

    ”I’m willing to work closely together with Your Excellency in maintaining and promoting the traditional friendship between China and Thailand, so as to push the two countries’ strategic cooperation to a new high,” said the Chinese premier.

    Samak, a 72-year-old veteran politician, received 310 supporting votes from MPs in Thailand’s parliament Monday, defeating his opponent Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva who won 163 votes. He officially received the PM post on Tuesday evening.