In brief

Science

Submersible sets new record

The Jiaolong, a Chinese-manned submersible vessel, has successfully breached its target depth of 5,000 meters, to over 5,057 meters below sea level in a test dive off the east Pacific Ocean.

With this feat the Jiaolong is now capable of reaching more than 70 percent of the seabeds in the world, said Wang Fei, deputy director of the oceanic administration and head of the lead team in the diving test program. "This will pave the way for a record-breaking 7,000-meter test dive in 2012," Wang said.

Space

Ninth orbiter launched

China successfully launched an orbiter into space at 5:44 am on Wednesday as a part of its satellite navigation and positioning network known as Beidou, or Compass system, sources with the launch center said.

The orbiter, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, was boosted by a Long March-3A carrier rocket into a geostationary orbit.

China started to build its satellite navigation system in 2000 to break its dependence on the United States' Global Positioning System.

Employment

Urban jobless rate 4.1% in June

Registered urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1 percent by the end of June in China, with 9.08 million people registered as unemployed, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on July 25.

The government aims to keep the urban registered unemployment rate below 4.6 percent and create more than 9 million jobs this year. Nearly 6.55 million job opportunities were created during the first six months of the year, while 2.9 million laid-off workers got re-employment, ministry spokesman Yin Chengji said.

Agriculture

Tighter rules for pesticide use

Strict regulations on pesticide use will be formulated in response to concerns about the safety of agricultural products. A draft of the revised regulation was posted on the website of the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council on July 27 for public comment by the end of August.

The revised draft improves the current regulation, which was issued in 1997, in areas of a production register, quality control, marketing, and the use and administrative management of pesticides.

For example, the draft requires pesticide manufacturers to set up systems to record the raw materials and quality of products to ensure that every process in the production conforms to quality standards.

Health

Private hospitals offer 'twin' pills

Some private hospitals in Guangdong province are providing medicines that stimulate ovulation to women who are trying to bypass the family planning policy by having multiple births.

Some Internet stores are avoiding supervision and selling these medicines, dubbed "multiple baby pills", although they can be supplied only with a doctor's prescription for the treatment of infertility.

Most of the private hospitals interviewed said they prescribe such medicines only in treating infertility, but some said they do so to give their clients a higher chance of having multiple births.

Retail

Officials seek details from Apple

Officials looking into the illegal sale of Apple gadgets say they are waiting for the electronics company to respond before they decide whether to close three more possibly unlicensed stores in Kunming, Yunnan province. Two of the five shops found selling iPhones and iPads in Kunming have already been closed by the local industry and commerce administration.

However, investigators say they need more details on Apple Inc's distribution pattern before they can determine whether the other three outlets are illegal.

Society

Microblog queen has 10m followers

Chinese microblog queen Yao Chen, who is a popular actress outside the virtual world, has attracted more than 10 million followers on the country's Twitter-like microblog service, showcasing the rapid development of the platform.

Yao had 10,000,720 fans on her microblog t.sina.com.cn/yaochen, which is not far from that of the nearly 12 million followers of Lady Gaga on Twitter.

The portal website sina.com.cn, which runs the microblog service, crowned Yao "queen of the microblog" when Yao's followers exceeded 5 million in January.

Yao is the first non-Twitter microblogger among the world's 10 most followed microbloggers. Her charisma is attributed to the honesty expressed in her postings, which are like text messages sent between old friends, Sina says.

China Daily