Xinhua China News Digest at 16:00 GMT, Nov. 23

The following are China news stories moved by Xinhua News Agency as of 16:00 GMT, Nov. 23.

TOP STORIES:

* China to send two pandas to Australia for joint research

CHENGDU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China will send two giant pandas to Australia Friday for a cooperative research program.

* More than 20 mln people vaccinated against A/H1N1 flu in China

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday said on its website that 20.34 million people had been inoculated against the A/H1N1 flu nationwide as of Sunday.

* China Focus: Chinese cities grappling with natural gas shortage

HANGZHOU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The municipal government of Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, stopped all natural gas supplies to entertainment businesses at the weekend to guarantee supplies to the city's 410,000 households.

* China's natural gas shortage relieved, top economic planner

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The situation of gas shortage has been eased, the Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, said in a statement posted on its website Monday.

* Death toll from northeast China colliery explosion rises to 104

HEGANG, Heilongjiang, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from the deadly coal mine blast in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province has risen to 104, said local authorities early Monday morning.

* China Exclusive: Management failures blamed for fatal coal mine blast

HEGANG, Heilongjiang, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Safety officials and investigators have blamed poor management and inadequate safety precautions for the coal mine blast that has claimed 104 lives so far in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

* China refutes U.S. allegations on cyber espionage, currency manipulation

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Monday rejected a report from a U.S. Congressional advisory panel on China as "full of prejudice."

* Debate over excess capacity blows up in China's wind power sector (1)

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A split has emerged in China's wind power industry over its future development and government policies intended to avoid "excess capacity."

* 1st Ld-Writethru: Road accident kills 8, injures 29 in NE China county

HARBIN, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Eight people were confirmed dead and 29 injured after a road crash late Sunday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, rescuers told Xinhua Monday.

BUSINESS & FINANCE:

* China's biggest car maker expects about 30 pct surge in 2009 sales

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's leading automotive corporation, the SAIC Group, expects to sell 2.65 million vehicles this year, a roughly 30 percent rise from a year ago, a company official said Monday.

* Non-SOEs employ 80 percent of workforce in China's industrial sector

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs) employed 70 million people, or 80 percent of China's total workforce in the industrial sector in 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement Monday.

* 1st Ld-Writethru: Chinese shares close higher on boosted confidence

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese equities closed higher in the first trading day of the week as a positive growth forecast by a government think tank over the weekend boosted market confidence.

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Duty editor: Wang Jiaquan @ 8610 6307 3665

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