Officials face full force of law

Chinese courts sentenced two senior officials for corruption on Friday. One received the death penalty for murder and the other got a death sentence with a two-year reprieve for accepting 141 million yuan ($20.7 million) in bribes.

Zhao Liping, former police chief and senior political adviser in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, stood trial in a court in Shanxi province for murder.

The 65-year-old former deputy chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's Inner Mongolia Committee was also stripped of his political rights for life and fined 2 million yuan, according to the Taiyuan Intermediate People's Court. He is the first official of vice-minister level to be sentenced to death with no reprieve since President Xi Jinping began a sweeping anti-graft drive in early 2013.