ToBeCandidUpdate™

China has sentenced the former Communist Party boss from the southwestern province of Yunnan to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, the latest official to fall in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping war on graft. Bai Enpei, 70, abused his posts, including as party chief in Yunnan until 2011 and earlier as the top official in the western province of Qinghai, illegally amassing more than 247 million yuan ($37 million) in assets, a court said. “The amount of bribes Bai Enpei accepted was huge, the details of his crimes extremely serious, and their social impact especially pernicious,” the Anyang city intermediate court in the central province of Henan said on its official microblog. The court decided on the death sentence with reprieve, which typically amounts to life in prison, because Bai had admitted to his crimes and expressed regret, and because the illicit assets were recovered in full, it said. Bai went on trial in June, but the court statement gave few other details ...

An Afghan air force helicopter crashed in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing at least seven people on board, said Afghan Defence Ministry officials who described the crash as an accident. Four crew members and three soldiers were among the those killed in the crash of the Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter, said Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri. “An Afghan army helicopter crashed in northern Baghlan province due to some technical problem,” he said. “An investigation is under way.” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah yMujahid however claimed the Islamist group’s fighters had shot down the helicopter, saying the aircraft had been trying to resupply an Afghan government checkpoint that was surrounded by insurgents. The Taliban often exaggerate claims about attacks on Afghan government targets, as well as against the NATO-led coalition assisting Afghan forces. More than 100 soldiers have been besieged for almost a week in the west of Baghlan province while reinforcements try to...