President Xi Jinping told the military's top brass yesterday that the People's Liberation Army had to develop "new types" of military commands.

A senior official in Henan has been placed under investigation, the Communist Party's anti-corruption agency announced. Qin Yuhai, 61, was being investigated for "serious violations of party discipline and the law".

China's top internet regulator has called on Asean members to help build a regional information superhighway and help evolve international technical standards for the internet.

China and Asean members have called for a stronger mechanism to resolve trade disputes under their economic pact.

The Communist Party leadership intends to use the inquiry into former security tsar Zhou Yongkang and his associates as proof of China's move towards the rule of law at the upcoming fourth plenum.

Mainland authorities are ready to put a group of officials and businesspeople connected with former state leader Zhou Yongkang on trial, say sources familiar with the situation.

The party boss of Shanxi province will be sidelined and replaced by his Jilin counterpart, making him the most senior leader to be tangled in a wide-ranging anti-graft campaign in the resource-rich province.

This week's gathering of the Communist Party elite in Beidaihe will test President Xi Jinping's authority to hold the party together as senior cadres feel the heat from his sweeping anti-corruption campaign.

President Xi Jinping told top officials he was disregarding “life, death and reputation” to fight corruption in a terse speech signalling a possible dispute and doubts among party elites over the campaign.

Xi, who greatly admires Deng, wanted to become a leader in a similar vein, who could lead China into a new era of reform and growth, said sources including senior officials and "princelings".

The photo in the corporate records of a Beijing energy investment firm shows Zhou Bin looking solemn and not unlike his father, former security tsar Zhou Yongkang.

For nearly a decade, the burly son of a poor family in rural Jiangsu was one of the most powerful men in China, but now he is just a detainee at the mercy of the party’s anti-graft agency.

Beijing yesterday announced an official investigation into former security chief Zhou Yongkang, shattering the decades-old political taboo of not prosecuting the highest ranking Communist Party officials for corruption.

Mainland business authorities are investigating Microsoft, the US technology giant confirmed yesterday, with reports that the focus was on antitrust behaviour.

The graft inquiry at China Central Television has expanded to a Beijing company co-owned by US public relations giant Edelman and one of its co-founders is cooperating with the investigation, the subsidiary has said.

The second-highest graft buster in Shanxi was detained after his supervisor published an article urging the punishment of officials who objected to the leadership's anti-graft crackdown.

The detention of a relative of Ling Jihua, a former senior aide to ex-president Hu Jintao, has led to speculation the authorities may be building a case against Ling himself.

One of the top PLA officers leading the Chengdu military area command has been detained amid graft allegations, several sources said.

The mainland's anti-graft chief vowed zero tolerance for corruption as he announced the latest round of team inspections.

China has sent its special envoy on Middle East affairs, Wu Sike, to Israel and the Palestinian territories to mediate the conflict there, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will also visit other countries in the region.

The legal authorities have started formal procedures to prosecute for graft three senior officials who are thought to be involved in a wider investigation into the former national security chief, Zhou Yongkang.

China's top court has unveiled a roadmap for its five-year reform plan to boost judicial independence, giving judges more authority in rulings by unleashing them from interference by local governments.

Hainan deputy governor Tan Li has been placed under internal investigation by the Communist Party, amid a widening graft probe targeting retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang.

Wan Qingliang, the Communist Party chief of Guangzhou who was once considered a rising political star, is under investigation for corruption, the party's anti-graft agency has announced.

Two major generals in the PLA with connections to Sichuan province have been detained as part of a corruption investigation, two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Up to 40 per cent of cyberattacks on the website used to run Occupy Central's unofficial plebiscite on electoral reform came from computers registered to mainland firms in Hong Kong.

At least 26 people were killed and three others are missing after southern provinces were hit by heavy rains and landslides, state media reported. Weather authorities also warned that torrential rains were likely to continue in the south.

A Xinhua commentary has warned officials that high-level connections will not protect them from being "spat out" by the Communist Party.

Communist Party authorities are investigating Ling Zhengce, a brother of Ling Jihua - the key aide to former president Hu Jintao accused of covering up a Ferrari crash that killed his son.