Transplants regulated

    China pledged to abolish* the practice of harvesting organs from condemned prisoners within three to five years, a senior health official said on March 22.

    Health officials said insufficient organ donations by the public mean that the majority of transplanted organs in China come from executed prisoners — but only with prior consent. China is creating a national organ donation system to reduce its reliance on inmates and encourage donations from the public.      

    Young math whiz* named professor

    Changsha-based Central South University (CSU) has made a 22-year-old mathematics prodigy* the youngest professor in China, which drew nationwide doubt and criticism, because of his age.

    Liu Lu, a mathematics student from the undergraduate class of 2008, rose to fame after solving the Seetapun Enigma, a notoriously* difficult mathematical problem first raised by British mathematician David Seetapun. Liu is nicknamed “little Chen Jingrun,” after the most famous mathematician in China.     

    Female astronauts

    China has selected two female astronauts among seven candidates for its next manned space mission, which will launch between June and August.

    Three Chinese astronauts will be chosen from the candidates to fly aboard the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft that will manually dock with Tiangong-1, an orbiting module of the country’s planned space station, and conduct scientific experiments.      

    New HK leader

    Leung Chun-ying, former convenor* of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, was elected on March 25 as the next chief executive of Hong Kong.

    He carved out a fortune from real estate before entering politics as a relative outsider. He is known as a self-made property consultant and, most recently, as the soft-spoken convener of the Executive Council, the city’s top policy-making body.

    (SD-Agencies)