Official expelled

FANG FENGHUI, a former member of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) and former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Fang’s expulsion from the CPC has been approved by the CPC Central Committee, while the CMC has already expelled him from the People’s Liberation Army and stripped him of his rank of general, according to a CMC statement yesterday.

“Fang severely violated political discipline, the political code of conduct, the eight-point frugality code of the CPC Central Committee and the regulations and discipline of the military,” the statement read.

Arson suspect arrested

A MAN was arrested yesterday by police in Shantou in Guangdong Province for charges of allegedly starting a deadly fire that killed five people.

The accused, who was identified by surname as Zheng, 54, is suspected to have set fire to a residential building in Jinping District in the city of Shantou on Saturday.

The suspect was cohabiting with a woman who lived on the first floor of the building. He allegedly locked the entrance to the house for mahjong-playing, which was owned by the woman, poured gasoline on the house and set the building on fire before leaving at night Saturday.

26 detained

SPICY crayfish is a favorite type of street food in China, but for some drug dealers, it is also the latest place to hide methamphetamine.

Authorities in the city of Huzhou, eastern China’s Zhejiang Province, have busted a drug gang that transported drugs from Central China’s Hubei Province, resulting in 26 suspects being detained.