Official probed

    ADIL NURMEMET, mayor of Hotan City in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is being investigated for suspected serious discipline violations, according to the Hotan Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The 46-year-old official began serving as Hotan’s mayor and deputy secretary of the city committee of the CPC in January 2009.

    Suspected suicide

    A LEADING official from the disabled persons’ federation in Liaoning Province took his own life Wednesday, authorities confirmed Thursday.

    The federation said Ren Zhiwei, Party chief of Liaoning Disabled Persons’ Federation, jumped from a building mid Wednesday. The police excluded homicide from their investigation.

    Also Wednesday, Xu Ansheng, 55, deputy head of the Liaoning Provincial Higher People’s Court, was found dead in a hotel in Anshan City during a business trip. The police are treating the case as a suspected suicide.

    6 Afghans killed

    ABOUT six Afghan soldiers and 19 militants have been killed across Afghanistan within the past 24 hours, the country’s Defense Ministry said Thursday. The Afghan army specialists found and defused 25 roadside bombs and landmines over the past day. The Taliban-led violence continues in Afghanistan. Security forces have pressed on to clear the militants in restive provinces. The war-torn country is due to take over the responsibility for its own security from NATO-led troops by the end of year.

    2 dead in landslide

    RESCUERS have found two bodies and were searching for another seven buried following a rain-triggered landslide Tuesday in Yunnan Province, local authorities said Thursday.