BARE RIVERBED A sustained drought along the Xiangjiang River has caused a severe shortage of drinking water for more than 3 million people in three cities of central China's Hunan Province (LONG HONGTAO)

Educated Recruits

A total of 130,000 Chinese university and college graduates are expected to join the army this winter, a record number for a country that is looking to increase the quality of its service members while at the same time contain the job crisis.

Once recruited, every graduate soldier will receive a one-off refund of up to 24,000 yuan ($3,500). The money, paid out of the Central Government's budget, roughly equals tuition fees for a four-year university education in China.

After finishing the two-year compulsory service, university graduates have been promised preference if they seek jobs at police and other law-enforcement departments.

A/H1N1 Inoculation

Beijing started to inoculate students, medical staff, civil servants and elderly people with the A/H1N1 flu vaccine free of charge on October 21.

Five groups of people in the city are entitled to free inoculations. They are students and teaching staff at all local middle and primary schools; medical staff; civil servants of the railway, civil aviation and transportation sectors; civil servants at key public departments; and elderly people over 60 years old.

Citizens can get the shot at 429 vaccination sites throughout the city. Beijing has prepared 1.7 million doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine for the free inoculations. The vaccination drive will last until December 31.

Prison Break

China's Ministry of Justice has ordered penitentiaries nationwide to strengthen security and supervision measures after four prisoners killed a jail guard and escaped on October 17.

One of the escapees was shot dead and the other three were captured alive in a county near Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on October 20, after a three-day manhunt involving more than 10,000 local police officers and armed police in the region.

The four prisoners killed the guard and used his access card and fingerprints to breach the No. 2 Prison in Hohhot.

Sentencing Gang Leaders

Six people convicted in connection with organized crime gangs were sentenced to death at two courts in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on October 21.

The No. 1 Intermediate People's Court handed down death sentences to two people who were convicted of murder and organizing a nine-member criminal gang, a court statement said.

Two other members of the gang were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, the document said.

Meanwhile, Chongqing's No.3 Intermediate People's Court handed down the death penalty to the head of a 22-member gang, on charges of organizing criminal gangs and murder. Liu's lieutenant received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.

Drunk Driving Banned

China has extended a nationwide crackdown on drunk driving through the end of 2009, said the Ministry of Public Security on October 19.

Chinese police launched a two-month campaign on August 15 following a series of fatal accidents involving drunk drivers. During the crackdown, public security authorities across the country reported 122,000 cases of driving while under the influence of alcohol, which included 19,000 cases of drunk driving.

As of October 15, the number of traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers has dropped 35 percent year on year while the death toll has declined by 38 percent, the ministry said.