DISGRACED

China Sets Trial Date for Bo Xilai

Ex-Party official charged with bribery, corruption, abuse of power.

This could be the trial of the century in China. Communist Party officials announced on Sunday that ex-party boss Bo Xilai’s trial will begin on Thursday, amid a high-profile crackdown on corruption. Xilai, the former party chief of the city of Chongqing and once called one of the 25 most powerful men in China, was expelled from the party last year after a scandal involving the murder of a British businessman, Neil Haywood. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, has been charged Haywood’s murder. The trial will be held in the eastern city of Jinan, far from his old power base in Chongqing. Meanwhile, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday that former top Communist Party official Liu Tienan has been placed under investigation for suspected bribe-taking.