Washington, March 21: Scientists in China have built mini prototypes for the most buoyant boats ever, which are made of copper mesh coated with a highly water repellent material that can float extremely well.

According to a report in National Geographic News, the boats, made out of the superhydrophobic mesh, even stay afloat “when the upper edges are just a hair below the surface of the water.”

Beijing  - Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez arrived in China on Saturday for a six-day visit during which he will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart and witness the signing of several cooperation agreements.

Vazquez is scheduled to hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and Wu Bangguo, the official number two in China's ruling Communist Party.

The two sides will sign several bilateral cooperation agreements during Vazquez's talks in Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said, without giving details.

Beijing - A soldier was shot dead at his sentry post outside a garrison in south-western China by unidentified attackers who ran off with his submachine gun, state media said Friday.

The attackers shot Han Junliang, 18, Thursday evening outside a People's Liberation Army garrison in the city of Chongqing, the official Xinhua news agency quoted local police as saying.

Police and soldiers were jointly combing the city to search for an unknown number of attackers, the agency said.

Beijing - The redundancy of millions of migrants who worked in export-oriented factories in China's affluent south-east could curtail recent economic growth in rural areas, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday.

"The recent increase in return migration and subsequent fall in remittances could threaten the important progress made in raising rural living standards," Angel Gurria, the organization's secretary general, told reporters in Beijing.

Taipei - Taiwan's economic woes are causing an increasing number of the island's residents to search for work in China, a job placement agency said Friday.

According to the 104 Job Bank, an average of 22,000 Taiwan job seekers a day contacted the placement agency in March, asking for for jobs in China, up 20 per cent from February and up 30 per cent year-on-year.

The figure is the highest since the human resources agency started operations in 1996.

Beijing, Mar. 20 : China's standoff with the United States in the South China Sea appears to have ended through diplomatic efforts, defense sources said on condition of anonymity.

Top commanders do not have plans to increase the military presence in the South China Sea following a confrontation earlier this month between a US spy ship and five Chinese vessels, naval sources told China Daily, also on condition of anonymity.

The US defense chief said on Wednesday that diplomatic exchanges since the confrontation would prevent a similar incident to that of March 8.