- Asian markets track Wall Street record to extend global rally
- Guirassy and Anton to return to Stuttgart with new side Dortmund
- Marseille bidding to continue 'almost perfect' Ligue 1 start
- Arnold quits as coach of Australia men's football team
- Harris and Oprah hold star-studded US election rally
- Allies to remember failed WWII parachute operation
- Perez leading new-look Villarreal charge against leaders Barca
- Man City face Arsenal in Premier League title showdown, Postecoglou under pressure
- Fake celebrity endorsements, snubs plague US presidential race
- Documentary brings Argentine 'death flights' to the big screen
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing 'reset' of labor relations
- World leaders to gather at UN as crises grow and conflicts rage
- How plastic pollution poses challenge for Canada marine conservation
- Scientists track plastic waste in pristine Canada marine park
- South Africa's Buhai grabs LPGA Queen City lead
- Japan inflation firms to 2.8% ahead of BoJ rate decision
- Russia's Kadyrov accuses Musk of 'remotely disabling' his Cybertruck
- Titan sub had to abort a dive days before fatal implosion: testimony
- Ohtani makes MLB history with first 50-homer, 50-steal season
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases, 49 homers
- Ohtani eyes MLB history after surpassing 50 stolen bases
- Barca downed by Monaco as Arsenal held in Champions League stalemate
- Head's 'good night at office' after century seals win over England
- Dubois seeks legitimacy with Joshua scalp
- Rate cut could lift consumer spirits before US elections
- Last-gasp Gimenez strike sends Atletico past Leipzig
- Barca stumble at Monaco after early red card
- Raya heroics save Arsenal in Champions League opener at Atalanta
- Cathay Airbus engine fire linked to cleaning: EU regulator
- Guardians beat Twins to secure MLB playoff berth
- Jihadist attack in Mali capital killed more than 70: security sources
- Alonso hails 'efficient' Leverkusen after Feyenoord rout
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI
- Ex-Man United striker Anthony Martial joins AEK Athens
- NFL unbeatens meet as Texans visit Vikings, Steelers host Chargers
- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
Zhang Dejiang: economics student to Chinese potentate
Top Chinese Communist Zhang Dejiang, currently visiting Hong Kong, studied economics in North Korea and went on to run China's richest and most populous province before ascending to the highest levels of the ruling party.
Now 69, he was born in Liaoning in the northeast and was "sent down" to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution -- which was declared 50 years ago on Monday.
After his studies at Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang he became an administrator at Yanbian University in Jilin province, and started to rise up the Communist ranks.
He now chairs the National People's Congress, China's Communist-controlled legislature, and is consistently named third in official media reports of party activity, putting him in that position in the hierarchy, although actual power can vary.
He is reportedly head of the party's organ overseeing Hong Kong affairs.
Zhang was the top official in Guangdong province, which borders Hong Kong, from 2002 to 2007.
Critics blame him for the cover-up of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in Guangdong in late 2002 before spreading to Hong Kong and around the world the following year, killing more than 800 people.
He has also been accused of strangling liberal local media outlets, including the high-profile Southern Weekly newspaper.
Zhang's term saw clashes between Guangdong villagers and police over compensation for land requisitioned by the government.
In 2005, paramilitary forces opened fire on residents protesting against the construction of a large coal-fired power plant in Dongzhou, killing as many as 30 according to locals.
State media reported at the time that protesters attacked police with knives, batons and homemade weapons including explosives.
Guangdong governor Huang Huahua -- Zhang's number two in the provincial Communist party -- later told reporters that disputes were a result of rapid economic development.
"We can say Guangdong's economy is at a golden development period, a peak period for cases to develop, a period for readjustments of interests and a period where a lot of contradictions happen," Huang said.
Nonetheless Zhang was promoted to the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top body, at its five-yearly congress in 2012, appearing third in the line-up behind President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
C.Kovalenko--BTB