Wen stresses poverty alleviation

Premier Wen Jiabao urged greater efforts to alleviate poverty, preserve the environment and adjust the economic structure in Guizhou province.

Wen made the remarks during a two-day inspection tour to the province that ended on Sunday. The tour followed a previous visit to Yiliang, a county in Yunnan province recently hit by earthquakes and a landslide.

Improving livelihoods in Guizhou will be symbolic of China's efforts to close the gap between the underdeveloped west and other regions in the country, Wen said.

Beijing

Media invited to National Congress

Journalists at home and abroad are invited to cover the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was announced on Monday.

Applications for covering the Congress can be submitted between Tuesday and Nov 2.

In a meeting on Sept 28, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee proposed convening the 18th CPC National Congress on Nov 8 in Beijing.

High-speed road rules changed

Drivers with less than one year of driving experience will not allowed to drive alone on high-speed roads beginning in 2013, according to a regulation released by the Ministry of Public Security.

The Regulation on Driver's License Application and Usage says that internship drivers will have to be accompanied by someone with the appropriate driver's license of more than three years.

The new regulations will take effect January 1.

Hong Kong

Boy's illness not serious infection

Hong Kong health authorities ruled out a suspected case of a novel coronavirus infection on Monday.

A 4-year-old boy who came to Hong Kong from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday with his father was suspected to have the virus. On Sunday, the boy showed symptoms of severe respiratory illness, including fever, cough and vomiting, and was transferred to Queen Mary Hospital on the same day.

The Center for Health Protection of Hong Kong's Department of Health tested specimens drawn from the boy's airway and found he had H1N1 flu, not novel coronavirus.

Gansu

Emergency landing after terror threat

An international passenger plane made an emergency landing in Northwest China's Gansu province on Monday afternoon after receiving an anonymous terror threat, airline and local security sources have confirmed.

Sources with China Southern Airlines told Xinhua that the plane, CZ680, traveling from Istanbul to Beijing via Urumqi, made an emergency landing in Gansu Zhongchuan Airport hours after it took off from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

All passengers onboard were evacuated, the sources said.

Hunan

Ship collision death toll climbs

The death toll from a ship collision in Hunan province climbed to 12 on Monday as the last missing body was found.

The accident occurred at about 4 pm on Friday along a stretch of river in Yuanjiang, when a steel ship carrying 22 people collided with an unloaded sand barge.

Ten people were rescued and 12 confirmed dead as the last missing person's body was found 4 kilometers downriver from the site of the accident early Monday morning. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

China Daily - Xinhua