The high court in Liaoning province, China, gave former...

The high court in Liaoning province, China, gave former legislator Liu Rong a two-year reprieve on the death sentence handed down to him in April 2002 for involvement in the affair in Shenyang city, Xinhua news agency said. Song Jianfei, convicted of being Liu's top assistant in running corruption rackets, was executed the on same day. Liu, a former delegate to the Shenyang People's Congress, was convicted in 2002 of making huge profits through the underworld control of the construction, tobacco and other markets in Shenyang, a backward and impoverished city.