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(XINHUA) |
The Communist Party of China (CPC) announced that Bo Xilai, former Party chief of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, had been expelled from the Party and removed from public office. He also faces criminal charges.
The announcement came on the heels of a decision made at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on September 28.
Bo is accused, among other things, of abusing his power in the case of Neil Heywood, a British businessman who was killed by Bogu Kailai, Bo's wife, and of taking "massive bribes" directly and through his family, according to Xinhua News Agency.
The decision also held Bo responsible for the incident in which former Chongqing Vice Mayor Wang Lijun entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, without permission.
"Investigations have found that Bo seriously violated Party discipline while heading the city of Dalian, Liaoning Province, and the Ministry of Commerce and while serving as a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and as Party chief of Chongqing," Xinhua said.
Bo has also been accused of taking advantage of his office to seek profits for others, and the Bo family accepted a huge amount of money and property from others, according to Xinhua.
Bo had or maintained improper sexual relationships with a number of women. He was also found to have violated organizational and personnel discipline and made erroneous decisions in the promotion of personnel.
The investigation also uncovered evidence that suggests his involvement in other crimes.
The decision stressed that the investigation and handling of Bo's case further shows the CPC's basic requirement of being strict with Party members and governing the country in accordance with the law and its distinct position and resolution to fight corruption.
"The entire Party must fully realize the perennial, complex and arduous nature of the anti-corruption fight and give fighting corruption and building a clean government a more prominent place on its agenda so as to wage a resolute battle against corruption, leaving no room for corrupt figures to hide within the Party," the decision said.
Commenting on the decision, Xinhua News Agency said that China's anti-corruption drive is set to be a long-term, complicated and arduous one.
"It is not surprising that the CPC, with more than 80 million members, has some black sheep. The important thing is that the Party is fully aware of the grave situation and has been resorting to forceful measures to improve the institutions for punishing and preventing corruption," it said.
It called for a greater effort to effectively spot corrupt behavior, such as strengthening a declaration system for officials' assets, adopting more measures to protect and reward whistleblowers, and enhancing inspection and supervision.
Yunnan Landslide
Eighteen students in class were killed in a landslide on October 4 in southwest China's Yunnan Province, local authorities said.
The landslide, estimated to be around 160,000 cubic meters in size, also injured a villager and left one person missing in Zhenhe Village, Yilian County.
The government has relocated more than 800 affected residents to safer places.
On September 7, multiple earthquakes struck Yiliang and its neighboring areas in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, killing 81 people and injuring 800 others.
Christian Campaign
The China Christian Council (CCC) and the National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China on September 25 launched a theological exchange campaign to strengthen theological thinking.
The campaign, which will run from 2013 to 2017, aims to guide the country's church rostrums and promote the spirit of theological thinking through publishing, exchanges, discussions and evangelism, according to the campaign's guidelines.
"[The campaign] aims to increase a sense of identification for both pastors and believers and encourage priests and church volunteers to extract morals that are consistent with the times from the Bible, religious doctrines and the traditions of churches in order to encourage believers to make more contributions to the country's economic development, social harmony and cultural prosperity," said CCC President Gao Feng.
Anniversary Celebration
The Foreign Languages Press (FLP) of China celebrated its 60th anniversary on September 28.
Established on 1952, the FLP has published more than 30,000 book titles in 43 languages on politics, literature and social life in China, totaling over 400 million printed copies. Its publications have been distributed to more than 100 countries and regions around the world.
The FLP has also been an active player in conducting cooperation with foreign publishing houses. It has co-published, sold or bought the rights of several hundred titles.
Art-Science Meeting
The Third Art and Science International Exhibition and Symposium will be held at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing from November 1 to 30. The theme of this year's exhibition is Information, Ecology and Wisdom, applying information and ecological technology in the creation of art. More than 120 works of art from 22 countries and regions—including the United States, Germany, Austria and France—will be on display.
The event was created in 2001 by Tsung-Dao Lee, the 1957 Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010), a contemporary Chinese painter, with the purpose of exploring the relationship between science and art. It was previously held in 2001 and 2006.
Air Information
Beijing authorities on September 28 began releasing official air-quality data collected by 20 monitoring stations across the city, including real-time data on particulate matter (PM) 2.5.
The PM2.5 air-quality standard monitors fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less.
The city's air-quality monitoring network is designed to accommodate a total of 35 monitoring stations, with 20 stations having been operational by the end of September.
The rest of the stations are expected to produce data later this month.
The Beijing Environmental Protection Monitoring Center will release an evaluation of the city's air quality in January 2013 according to the national Ambient Air-Quality Standard. | 
