Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill (12) throws the ball at France’s Kylian Mbappe (10) at the end of the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Paraguay and France in Philadelphia, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Martin Meissner)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-07-06T20:58:40Z<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 A court in eastern China on Monday sentenced a former local official to death over taking bribes that authorities said amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars during a three-decade period.<\/p>\n
Yang Youlin, a former economic development official in the Jiangsu Province capital of Nanjing<\/a><\/span> on China\u2019<\/a><\/span> s east coast, \u201cillegally accepted property and assets\u201d valued over 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) from 1993 to 2023, the Changzhou Intermediate People\u2019s Court said in a statement.<\/p>\n Yang was investigated as part of President Xi Jinping<\/a><\/span> \u2019s decade-long anti-corruption campaign<\/a><\/span> that critics say has been used partly to remove his political rivals.<\/p>\n The bribes were paid in exchange for help with \u201cundertaking projects, business operations, land grants and working capital,\u201d the court said. <\/p>\n Yang also was convicted of embezzlement, offering bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering in one of the most dramatic corruption cases in recent years in terms of the sheer scale of the bribes involved. <\/p>\n Yang delivered a final statement in court that \u201cexpressed his guilt and remorse,\u201d the court\u2019s statement said. In the photos released by the court, a gray-haired Yang is wearing a dark jacket and standing between two uniformed police officers.<\/p>\n Public hearings for the case were held on two separate days in march and April, with more than 30 people attending, the court said. <\/p>\n