22 September 2013 Last updated at 05:48
Bo Xilai found guilty of corruption by Chinese court
A Chinese court has found disgraced former top politician Bo Xilai guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.
The former party chief of Chongqing was sentenced to life imprisonment, but has the right to appeal.
He had denied all the charges against him in a fiery defence at his trial.
Bo was removed from office last year amid a scandal which saw his wife convicted for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
The verdict was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, Shandong province.
Passing sentence the judge told Bo that he had damaged China's national interests and the interests of its people, wrongfully using his position in power to receive bribes totalling 20 million Chinese Yuan ($3.2m; £2m).
He rejected Bo's claims that his confession to the crimes was acquired through illegal means such as torture and interrogation, and said it therefore stood.
The BBC's John Sudworth, outside the court, said that the judge completely dismissed Bo's defence arguments.
During Bo's trial last month the court took the unprecedented step of releasing details about proceedings on its Weibo microblog.
Now, he will spend the foreseeable future inside a prison cell.
Bo was sentenced to life in prison on the bribery charges, 15 years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power - our correspondent says that he has been politically buried. In addition all his personal wealth has been confiscated.
He has 10 days to appeal against his sentence and conviction, but correspondents say that any such move is highly unlikely to be successful.
Although his trial was conducted under an unprecedented degree of openness for China, many analysts say that the guilty verdict was always a foregone conclusion - and many see the process against him as having a very strong political dimension.
Prosecutors had said that Bo accepted the bribes and embezzled public funds from Dalian, where he used to be mayor.
He was also accused of abusing his office by using his position to cover up for his wife Gu Kailai, convicted last year of murdering Neil Heywood in 2011.
In lengthy comments in court, he said he did not illegally obtain millions of dollars or cover up Mr Heywood's killing.
He also dismissed the testimony of two key witnesses, describing his wife's statement as "ridiculous" and his former police chief Wang Lijun's testimony as "full of lies and fraud".
18 September 2013 Last updated at 07:45
Chinese house prices continue to rise in August
China property prices continued to rise in August, despite government efforts to cool the market.
Prices for new homes rose in 69 of 70 major cities. It is the fourth month in a row prices have risen in all but one of China's biggest cities.
China has been trying to rein in property prices amid fears that asset bubbles may be forming in the country.
Analysts said the continued price rises could prompt authorities to take steps to reduce speculation in the market.
Zhang Zhiwei, an economist with Japanese bank Nomura, said that he expected the government to start "tightening monetary and property sector policies after the Communist Party meeting in November".
Chinese authorities have already implemented measures, such as higher transaction taxes and down payments, to try to cool demand for real estate.
However, property remains a popular choice among Chinese investors, and their purchases have continued to push prices up.
According to data from China's National Bureau of Statistics, new home prices in the capital Beijing rose 14.9% in August from a year earlier, while Shanghai's prices were up 15.4%.
Mr Zhang said China's new leadership, which took office in March, appeared to have tolerated rising property prices because of concerns about the strength of the economy.
About 25% of overall investment in China goes towards property, making it one of the country's