Macao Gets New Chief

Chui Sai On, former cultural chief of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), won the region's third-term chief executive election on July 26.

Chui, the sole candidate in the election, secured 282 of all valid votes cast by 297 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee.

According to Macao's Basic Law, the region's mini-Constitution, Chui still needs the confirmation by Macao's Court of Final Appeal and the appointment by the Chinese Government to officially become the SAR's next chief executive. The new chief executive will begin his five-year term in office after incumbent Chief Executive Ho Hau Wah's second term expires on December 19.

Born in Macao in 1957, Chui has served as Macao's Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture for 10 years. He holds a bachelor's degree in city hygiene administration from the California State University and a Ph.D in public hygiene from the Oklahoma State University.

A Star Is Named

A China-discovered asteroid has been named after Su Dingqiang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in honor of his contributions to the country's research in astronomy and optical engineering.

China's National Astronomical Observatories announced the naming for asteroid No.19366, which it discovered on November 6, 1997, at a ceremony on July 22. Conventionally, the International Astronomical Union allows the discoverer to name an asteroid (minor planets) after it has been observed enough times for an accurate orbit to be calculated.

Su, 69, is a prominent optics expert. He has co-authored a special optical system optimization program, which remained functional in astronomical optical system research and design in China from 1972 to the mid-1990s. He is also among the earliest Chinese researchers of Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, which will be built in China in the coming five to six years to trace the universe's origin.

Director Boycotts Festival

Famous movie director Jia Zhangke said that his withdrawal from this year's Melbourne International Film Festival was inevitable after organizers decided to highlight a Uygur separatist leader in the event.

Jia and three other Chinese moviemakers declared last month to quit the reportedly largest film festival in the southern hemisphere to protest the inclusion of a documentary about Rebiya Kadeer, leader of the pro-"Xinjiang independence" World Uygur Congress. Kadeer is believed to have masterminded the deadly July 5 riot in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which left at least 197 people dead and 1,600 others injured.

Jia denounced the violence against civilians when speaking to reporters during the Hong Kong Book Fair on July 28. He said in his first public appearance after the withdrawal that humanitarianism and respect for the deceased had prompted him to make the decision.

The 39-year-old Jia is known for his work focusing on residents in small and medium-sized Chinese cities during the social transition. His movie Still Life won the Golden Lion award for best picture in the Venice Film Festival in 2006.