Yuan Longping dies Scientist Yuan Longping, dubbed “Father of Hybrid Rice” who is renowned for developing the first hybrid rice strain that relieved countless people of hunger, died of organ failure at 91 on Saturday. He passed away in a hospital in Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, at around 1 p.m., according to the hospital. He is survived by his wife, three sons and several grandchildren. Family members hummed Yuan’s favorite songs to him in his final hours, Xinhua reporters at the site said. Large crowds of people were seen gathering outside the hospital to bid farewell to Yuan on Saturday, shouting “Rest in peace, Grandpa Yuan!” as the hearse left the hospital at 4 p.m. Yuan had been under medical treatment after suffering a tumble in March when conducting research at a seed-breeding base in Hainan Province. Gansu marathon Lasting almost 24 hours, rescue work came to an end after extreme weather killed 21 during a 100-km cross-country mountain marathon race in Baiyin City, Northwest China’s Gansu Province, the local rescue headquarters said on Sunday. Zhu Keming, a shepherd in Jingtai County in Gansu, became a hero after saving six runners in the marathon. The six lucky ones are among the 151 who escaped death out of 172 runners caught by the storm in the Yellow River Stone Forest Park in Baiyin City. The other 21 runners “already had no vital signs” when they were found. The marathon was held on Saturday morning in the Yellow River Stone Forest tourist site in Baiyin’s Jingtai County. Strong quakes Three people are dead and dozens injured after a series of earthquakes rattled Southwest China’s Yunnan Province and Northwest China’s Qinghai Province. China has allocated 10 million yuan (US$1.56 million) from its Central budget for disaster relief to the provinces of Yunnan and Qinghai. The emergency funds, allocated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management, will be used to aid disaster relief and ensure people’s livelihoods in the affected areas. Authorities have also sent 5,000 tents, 10,000 folding cots and 20,000 blankets to facilitate the relief work. Mars rover The country’s first Mars rover, Zhurong, drove down from its landing platform to the Martian surface on Saturday, leaving the country’s first “footprints” on the red planet. Zhurong’s first successful drive made China the second country after the United States to land and operate a rover on Mars. The six-wheeled solar-powered rover, resembling a blue butterfly and with a mass of 240 kg, slowly trundled off a ramp on the lander to hit the red, sandy soil of Mars, starting its journey to explore the fourth planet from the sun. (SD-Agencies) | 