CHINA. TWO CONDEMNED FOR DEADLY LAND GRAB ARSON

two real estate agents were sentenced to death in Shanghai, China, for torching the homes of residents who refused to relocate for a development project, killing an elderly couple.
Wang Changkun and Yang Sunqin of the Shanghai Urban Development Housing Relocation Co. Ltd. were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by a Shanghai Intermediate Court. Another accomplice was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the arson that killed a 70-year-old couple on January 9. The fire was set in the middle of the night near Shanghai's Urumqi Road. The neighborhood had been victimized by 12 arson attacks since 2004, with police finding evidence that at least five of the fires were set by the relocation company.
Yang was the deputy manager of the company and owned a 10 percent stake in the enterprise, which was 50 percent owned by the state firm Shanghai Urban Development Group.