Former Beijing vice mayor given death sentence

Ex-vice mayor of Beijing Liu Zhihua has been convicted of corruption for taking US$1 million in bribes, and sentenced to death, state media reported. Liu had been in charge of the body that oversaw construction projects for the city’s massive buildup in advance of the Olympics. He was stripped of his title in 2006. Liu’s sentence has been suspended for two years, meaning that it could be commuted to life imprisonment on good behavior. The bribery scandal was an embarrassment for the Chinese Communist Party, which had promised that the preparations for the games would be the "cleanest in history."