Internet boom leaves Communist Party chiefs fearing they are losing the information war

The old border crossing from East to West, now a tacky tourist trap, is polarising opinion – over its suitability for a museum site

A gem of a psychological thriller that revolves around betrayal and defection in the summer of 1951

At its peak in the 1990s, Lai Changxing's smuggling empire transported chemicals, cooking oil, tobacco and cars. He had hundreds of police, customs officers and government officials on his payroll in the southern port city of Xiamen, which he ran like his own personal fiefdom.

Greece has appointed a senior judge as prime minister of a caretaker government that will lead the country to repeat elections next month.

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has sold a ton of the porcelain sunflower seeds he displayed at the Tate Modern for $782,000 (£480,000), a record sum for his work which should help to pay off his tax bill if an appeal against the Chinese taxman does not go his way.

Actors believed to have disappeared in Miami in the hope of winning political asylum

British businessman Neil Heywood, whose murder has sparked political upheaval in China, is alleged to have been poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a leading politician's wife to move money abroad.

The British businessman Neil Heywood, whose death has sparked political upheaval in China, was poisoned after he threatened to expose a plan by a leading politician's wife to move money abroad, it was claimed yesterday.

'The prettiest sight in this fine pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges." For Don Stewart, this was a sardonic line of dialogue that came from the heart. Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Stewart graduated from Yale and went to work for Vanity Fair magazine. His first novel, The Crazy Fool, was a hit, and he adapted the book as a film, gaining a lifelong love of cinema.

The much-anticipated North Korean rocket launch that had threatened to cause a further deterioration in the relationship between the reclusive communist state and its neighbours today ended in failure.

Raymond Aubrac, one of the leading figures of the French Resistance against the Nazis, has died at the age of 97.

Thomas Langhoff was one of the most important theatre directors in the German-speaking world. Working in East Germany, he remained in demand after the Berlin Wall came down. He was particularly celebrated for his work on the great playwrights, the likes of Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller, Ibsen, Shaw and Chekhov.

Bo Xilai's wife faces 'politicised' murder trial as Communist Party looks set to expand purge