Mainland newspapers gave widespread coverage to the Big Spender trial verdict yesterday - but a Communist Party provincial meeting still gained prominence on the front pages. The Guangzhou Daily, Nanfang Ribao and other papers - all state-owned - had a party committee meeting which began on Thursday as the main article, with the conviction of Cheung second. Most stories said simply that Cheung and his followers were found guilty of illegal trading of explosives, smuggling arms and ammunitions and kidnapping. Other newspapers ran articles with headlines saying 'Why Cheung Tze-keung was sentenced to death' and 'The trial was held in accordance to tightened laws in the case', apparently aimed at defusing the row over the trying of the defendants on the mainland rather than in Hong Kong.
