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China says it plans to phase out the harvesting of organs from executed prisoners, ending a controversial practice that reportedly supplies most of the country's transplant patients.

Huang Jiefu, a surgeon and former deputy health minister who is in charge of organ transplants, said that from November, China would scale back and eliminate the harvesting of inmate organs. Huang says it will be replaced by a nationwide voluntary donor system.

For years, Beijing denied that it routinely took organs from executed prisoners before finally acknowledging it a few years ago. The practice is widely regarded as unethical and has been a black eye for the Chinese medical establishment.

Although the number of executed prisoners is a state secret in China, human rights groups estimate that the country executes thousands of people each year.

The New York Times reports:

"By the end of 2012, about 64 percent of transplanted organs in China came from executed prisoners; the ratio has dipped to under 54 percent so far this year, according to figures provided by Mr. Huang."

Popular soft drinks, sports cars and other brands appear surreptitiously placed in the worlds of our favorite TV shows and films all the time. Soon enough, we may see them name-dropped in our books, too.

To help imagine some egregious-yet-hilarious examples of this, we invited a prolific writer to Ask Me Another: award-winning young adult author Lois Lowry. Lowry joins forces with a fellow book-loving contestant to play "Product Placement," a game in which they must combine the titles of famous literary works with the names of household products and companies.

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These headlines this morning make it sound like Europe's economy is up and running again:

— "Euro Area Exits Longest Recession on Record." (Bloomberg News)

— "Euro Zone Emerges from Recession." (The Wall Street Journal)

— "Euro Zone Economy Grew 0.3% in 2nd Quarter, Ending Recession." (The New York Times)

They're all based on the news that Eurostat, the keeper of economic statistics for the European Union, says GDP grew 0.3 percent within the EU's borders from the end of March through June.

The stories may turn out to be right. But, unfortunately, reports of the European recession's death are (to borrow from Mark Twain) greatly exaggerated.

As Olli Rhen, Eurostat's vice president, writes on his blog: "I hope there will be no premature, self-congratulatory statements suggesting 'the crisis is over.' " He calls the GDP report only another sign of "a potential turning point in the EU economy."

The quick conclusion by some economists and some in the news media that a slight rise in one quarter's GDP means a recession is over ignores how experts figure out when an economy is either in a significant downturn (a recession) or enjoying steady growth (an expansion).

In Europe, just as in the U.S., the official arbiter is a committee of economic researchers who look at much more than just quarterly GDP data. As the European Centre for Economic Policy Research says of its business cycle dating committee's work:

"First, we do not identify economic activity solely with real GDP, but use a range of indicators, notably employment. Second, we consider the depth of the decline in economic activity. Recall that our definition includes the phrase, 'a significant decline in activity.' "

Egypt suffered a day of terrible violence Wednesday, and the bloodshed was compounded by several developments that suggest more confrontations are ahead.

Egypt's security forces reasserted their authority on a number of fronts and gave every appearance that they would press ahead with a crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups.

Here are several examples:

State Of Emergency: The interim government declared a state of emergency for a month, which includes a 7 p.m. curfew. Egyptians have a long and painful history with emergency laws and are sure to be skeptical about the timetable. The former president, Hosni Mubarak, maintained virtual martial law for three decades until he was ousted in 2011.

Mohammed Morsi, the elected president who was removed by the military on July 3, declared a monthlong state of emergency back in January, giving the security forces broad powers to arrest and detain people.

More On Egypt

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