A delegation of 30 European Union business leaders, representing an enticing array of world-famous European food and beverage producers, visited Longjing Tea Garden in Hangzhou on Tuesday to boost a "10 plus 10 project."

The pilot project is aimed to promote 10 celebrated European farm products, including Prosciutto di Parma (ham) and Comte (cheese) to be added to the official AQSIQ (General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China) Chinese geographical indications register, and to accelerate 10 Chinese farm products including Longjing tea and Shaanxi apples to be protected in the EU's similar geographical indications register.

The specific time of registration and protection is uncertain yet as it depends on the complexity of the different products, but "for the majority of the products it will be in two months' time," said William Fingleton, the EU delegation's press officer.

"This project is unprecedented and marks the first time that we have seen a large number of non-EU product names proposed as geographical indications in the EU," evaluated EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos.

At the meeting, Ciolos and Sun Dawei, vice minister of AQSIQ, exchanged gifts. Ciolos gave Sun a package of European specialties, while Sun gave Ciolos Longjing tea, Hangzhou's specialty and one of the 10 most famous teas in China.

Led by Ciolos, the EU delegation has traveled around China visiting Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, and Beijing, and will leave tomorrow.

Traffic measures

Hangzhou began to take several measures to reduce traffic jams at the West Lake Scenic Area this week. They will be put in place every weekend until May 30.

The measures coincide with the city's spring tourist season, which runs from March 15 to May 30 this year, the traffic police department said.

Minibuses are restricted in the scenic area based on their license plate number at weekends. On odd dates, minibuses with odd-numbered plates can enter the area while minibuses with even-numbered plates are only permitted on even dates. This applies to all minibuses except those carrying more than four passengers.

Some roads will temporarily only allow one-way traffic at the weekends.

From 8:30am to 5pm every weekend, restrictions will be in place on the north side of West Lake. Vehicles will only be able to move west on Lingyin Road (from Shuguang Road to Longjing Road) while on Longjing Road (from Lingying Road to Santaishan Road) traffic will only travel east.

These restrictions will affect numerous bus routes including No. 4, 315, 504, 514, 808 and 822.

For more information about the affected bus routes, check the Hangzhou Public Transport Corporation's website, www.hzbus.com.cn.

New pavilion

A carnival-style pavilion will be constructed as the theme pavilion of the 2nd World Leisure Expo in Hangzhou, the event organizer revealed recently.

The theme pavilion will be located in the city's Baima Lake Ecological and Creative Park. According to the plan, 50 cities and 50 enterprises around the world will be invited to make exhibitions inside.

The pavilion will have about 45,000 square meters of display area on five floors and two underground levels. It will be divided into a theme area, experience area, industrial practice area and leisure area.

During this year's Leisure Expo, people can visit the theme pavilion by making an online reservation and getting tickets at the gate or through group booking.

Hoaxer fined

A Hangzhou citizen was held in administrative detention for 10 days and fined 500 yuan (US$76.22) on Sunday for spreading online rumors about the consequence of Japan's quake-ravaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.

The 31-year-old man surnamed Chen worked in a local computer company and allegedly posted an online rumor on March 15, claiming "radiation leaks from Japan will pollute the sea along China's coast and lead to a shortage of salt and seafood." His rumor spread fast on the Internet and caused panic buying.

Police later traced the rumor to Chen who confessed that he quoted it on the Internet and spread it "without much thinking." He realized the serious consequence of his behavior and made a clarification on the Internet.

Salt stocks

The salt shortage in the Hangzhou market was relieved last week and five convenience stores were found illegally raising salt prices, the Hangzhou Price Bureau said.

The five stores would be fined five times of their illegal earnings, the bureau said, warning that serious offenders may face a maximum fine of 2 million yuan. Hangzhou citizens can dial 12358 to report salt price hikes to the bureau.

Meanwhile, the Hangzhou Health Bureau has reminded people that eating iodized salt will not help protect them from nuclear radiation because the iodine level in salt is too low.

The Zhejiang Salt Group said that its salt stock was enough to guarantee normal supply and it has taken measures to speed up salt distribution to authorized retailers.

If people have any questions and doubt about radiation hazards and salt supply, they can call a hotline, 96301, for information and advice, the city's health bureau said.

More forests

Some huge forest parks are now under construction in Puyangjiang Eco-economic Region in the south of Xiaoshan District, including Dayanshan Natural Ecological Scenic Region which occupies more than 980 hectares and Daolinshan Forest Park with also more than 670 hectares.

According to Xiaohsan Agriculture Bureau, there are now five forest parks in Xiaoshan District, including two of provincial level and three of district level. The two provincial forest parks, Yangjingwu Forest Park and Shiniushan Forest Park, were promoted to their current level in December 1998 and June 2000 respectively.

According to the development plan for Puyangjiang region, it will mainly develop tourism industry such as forest tourism and ecological tourism.

At present, there are more than 26,413 hectares of forests in Xiaoshan District, with a coverage rate of 20.22 percent, as most forests spread in the south, Xiaoshan Agriculture Bureau said.

Basketball camp

NBA superstar LeBron James from Miami Heat will enroll Chinese youngsters in Hangzhou for his basketball camp, King's Academy, this summer. It will be the first time his camp in the United States to accept Chinese trainees.

The King's Academy will run in San Diego, California, from July 27 to August 8 for its sixth year since it first opened in 2006. About 800 youngsters from around the world joined the camp last summer.

Candidate selection will start in April. Basketball devotees aged seven to 17 are eligible to apply. During the interview, applicants will be tested on their passion for basketball, knowledge of LeBron James, spoken English and basketball skills. The camp will select 20 children from Hangzhou.

All trainees will enjoy coaching by James himself and a trip to the home court of the LA Lakers, where they may see NBA legend Kobe Bryant training.

The King's Academy also promises to recommend outstanding trainees to some famous basketball colleges in the United States.

People who are interested can call (0571) 8886-1707 or visit www.hongyoutiyu.com for more details. The training package will cost 38,800 yuan.