IN BRIEF (Page 4)

Beijing

Fugitive 'must be returned'

China asked the United States on Thursday to repatriate a fugitive former Chinese official as soon as possible. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei's remark came after the trial of China's most wanted economic fugitive Yang Xiuzhu opened in a New York immigration court on Tuesday. Hong said at a scheduled news briefing that Yang should be punished in China according to Chinese law. Yang, a former deputy mayor of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, fled China with her family when investigators began investigating her over corruption in 2003.