Acting Mayor of Shenzhen Named

Wang Rong, former Party chief of Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, was named acting mayor of Shenzhen, southern Guangdong Province, by the city's top legislature on June 12. He replaced Xu Zongheng who was sacked for serious disciplinary violations.

Wang, 51, a Jiangsu native, joined the CPC in 1976. After graduating from the Nanjing Agricultural University with a doctorate in 1988, he served the university as a lecturer. He was vice president of the university before being promoted to president of the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Agricultural Sciences in 1997. After leading the provincial education department, Wang held several posts in the province's CPC organizations: Party chief of Wuxi in 2001-03 and then of Suzhou since 2004.

Wang pledged to build a clean and efficient government after his appointment was approved.

Self-defense Killer Freed

Deng Yujiao, a woman accused of stabbing an official to death and injuring another in self-defense in an alleged sexual assault on May 10, was exonerated by a local court of Badong County, central China's Hubei Province, on June 16.

The 21-year-old Deng, charged with intentional injury, was a waitress at the Xiongfeng Hotel in the county's Yesanguan Town. A group of local officials visited the hotel on May 10, where Deng Guida, head of Yesanguan's business promotion office, and his colleague Huang Dezhi, tried to have sex with Deng Yujiao. They continued to badger Deng Yujiao and insult her after she refused. It was not until Deng Guida pushed her onto a sofa that the annoyed woman fought back with a fruit knife, killing 44-year-old Deng Guida and injuring Huang.

The court ruled Deng's case as excessive self-defense, which deserves leniency under the Criminal Law. In consideration of Deng's plight and the fact that she has been diagnosed as being mentally imbalanced, along with her surrender to the police, she was freed after trial.

'Angel' Investor Arrested

A noted Chinese 'angel' investor, leading private equity owner, Liu Xiaoren, was arrested on June 10 for alleged fraud involving 215 million yuan ($31.62 million), said local police in Deqing County, east China's Zhejiang Province.

Liu, 45, Chairman of Holding Venture Capital Co. Ltd., started the company with four other partners with 30 million yuan ($4.41 million) in 2006.

The venture capitalist borrowed money by promising creditors high interest rates and revenues from investment returns on Internet companies and startup funds but failed to repay it, resulting in the collapse of his Ponzi scheme.