Ling ousted

    CHINA expelled Ling Jihua from a high-profile advisory body Saturday, Xinhua reported on its website, marking the latest step in a significant political scandal.

    The advisory council also dismissed former intelligence boss Ma Jian and Zhu Mingguo, once a senior official in Guangdong. Both have been accused of graft.

    Ex-official jailed

    NI FAKE, a former vice governor of East China’s Anhui Province, was sentenced Saturday to 17 years in prison for accepting bribes and holding property from unidentified sources.

    Ni was found guilty of accepting cash, gemstones and art collections worth nearly 13 million yuan (US$2.08 million) from the executives of nine companies on 49 occasions between 2000 and 2012. He could not explain the source of family income worth 5.78 million yuan.

    Gas outburst

    A MINER has been confirmed dead after a coal and gas outburst at a colliery in East China’s Jiangxi Province on Saturday, trapping four miners, local authorities said yesterday.

    The rescue team has found the dead miner’s body while the other three miners were still trapped in the pit.

    Panda population

    CHINA’S population of wild giant pandas jumped nearly 17 percent over a decade, an official survey has found, with conservation measures credited as being behind the increase.

    The investigation by the State Forestry Administration (SFA) found that by the end of 2013 China had 1,864 giant pandas alive in the wild, marking an increase of 268 individuals, or 16.8 percent, Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.