CHINA BANK WORKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RECORD HEIST

two bank workers were sentenced to death for China's largest ever bank theft, involving 50.95 million yuan (US$6.5 million), in the northern Hebei Province. Ren Xiaofeng, 34, and Ma Xiangjing, 37, who worked as vault managers at the Handan branch of the Agricultural Bank of China (ABC), were convicted of theft and handed death penalties at the Handan Intermediate People's Court after first-instance hearings. Ren Xiaofeng was arrested in Lianyungang, east China's Jiangsu province on April 19, 2007. Xiangjing was arrested in Beijing on August 8, 2007. Police have recovered 3.4 million yuan. Three others received jail sentences in connection with the crime.