Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has arrested Thomas and Raymond Kwok, the heads of Hong Kong's largest real-estate firm, Sun Hung Kai Properties, for suspected bribery. However, as of yet, official charges have not yet been placed on the two billionaire brothers more ›

Police have arrested a 34-year-old man named Li Hao on charges that he kept sex slaves in a dungeon buried beneath a residential complex in Luoyang, Henan province. He is suspected of kidnapping a total of six women from KTV bars, murdering at least one, and keeping them prisoner for periods of up to two years! more ›

Two suspects in the murder of Li Xiang, the Luoyang TV reporter now famed for exposing those engaged in the illegal manufacture of swill oil (reprocessed cooking oil dredged from gutters), have now been apprehended. Captured suspects, 24-year-old Zhang Xiabao, a recent jail releasee, and an unnamed local farmer are now being tried for the brutal stabbing murder and laptop robbery of Xiang during his walk home from a KTV sessions in the wee hours of the morning of September 18. However, the question still remains whether Xiang's murder was a hit ordered by the gutter oil underworld or the heinous result of a coincidental robbery gone bad. Xiang's former future wife (the date was set for October 1) had little insight to offer on the subject, simply stating, "Will people who don't understand the situation please stop reposting, and twisting a lot of facts. Please wish that (Li Xiang) walks a good path, thank you everyone." more ›

Cue the ominous music! Apparently fearlessness is a trait the Buddhist faithful have in spades: "At least 30 Tibetans have been detained in 15 incidents of protest this month in a restive part of Sichuan Province, in western China, according to a report this week by International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group based outside China. Those detained are both monks and laypeople. The protests took place in an area that Tibetans call Kardze, known to the Chinese as Ganzi. The local police headquarters had no comment. The area has been unsettled since April 2008, when at least eight Tibetans were killed by Chinese security forces firing into a crowd of protestors, Tibetan exile groups said at the time. Those protests took place as part of a large uprising that began in Lhasa, Tibet, and unfolded across the Tibetan plateau. The report this week also said two monks from Kardze held a protest in the Barkhor market in Lhasa on June 22, possibly the first there since March 2008. Chinese officials have barred foreigners from going to central Tibet from late June to late July." [New York Times] more ›

In a laundry list of accomplishments dated Tuesday, the government said it arrested 469 hackers, resolved 180 cases of computer crimes, and closed down 14 websites as part of a move to clamp down on hacking in China. more ›

It's now been two days since the rioting in Xinjiang first began, and the official media is now stating that 1,434 people in the province have been arrested in connection to the unrest. According to the AP, Amnesty International has added its opinions to the matter, urging China to "fully account" for the deaths of those killed and an explanation for the mass detention of people. The death count is currently still at 156 and The Guardian reported that the majority of the 800 plus people injured are Han Chinese. Meanwhile, protests have spread out of Urumuqi, with over 200 people gathering at a mosque in Kashgar and more allegedly being organized in other Xinjiang cities. Al Jazeera's Melissa K Chan has been sporadically tweeting what she's seeing in Urumuqi - definitely worth looking at if you can get past the twitter block. more ›

His name is Chen Jun. He's 18-years-old. And he was captured this morning in rural Anhui province, hundreds of kilometers from Shanghai. Some, actually most, facts are vague: In addition to cash and a laptop computer police say belonged to the victim Diana O'Brien, Chen was allegedly carrying "a weapon." We're also somewhat puzzled by this sentence: "The statement said police narrowed down suspects to Chen after they received reports that a medium-sized man was spotted riding a bicycle near the victim's residence." Police tracked this medium-sized Chinese man with a bicycle from Shanghai to Zhejiang to Anhui. The Shanghai Daily story says Chen confessed to the murder and claimed it was a robbery gone bad, which basically falls right in line with how police framed the incident from the first time they spoke on the matter. The story also says Chen could have at one time worked at a restaurant near O'Brien's apartment complex, reported to be Jinseng Plaza, 490 Zhaohua Road (which seems to be in Xuhui District, not Changning District, or Chongming Island, as was previously reported). We also learn that O'Brien "was found stabbed to death in her apartment building's stairwell" early Monday morning. We hope more pieces of the investigation puzzle will arrive soon. Foreign media all seem to have the same vague details so far. You can find two Chinese TV reports here and here. [Previous Shanghaiist reports here and here] more ›