A student at a Shanghai medical school died of poisoning, and one of his roommates has been arrested.

In China, officials’ performance ratings are closely tied to the growth of the gross domestic product. The result has been an environmental catastrophe, including the existence of hundreds of “cancer villages.”

At least three Chinese have died from a new strain of bird flu in eastern provinces that may be spreading between humans.

Xi was a compromise candidate agreeable to both the faction of former Party head Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, the current head of the Party.