Xinhua News Agency: Canada

Lai Changxing Dept: Lai Changxing -- who battled deportation from Canada for a decade, saying he risked torture or execution if returned -- appeared in court in the southern coastal city of Xiamen for the start of the high-profile hearings, the official Xinhua News Agency said, according to CTV. The case strained relations between Canada and China, and cast a spotlight on how widespread and deep-rooted corruption is in Chinese society and the man once considered China's most-wanted fugitive went on trial Friday, accused of using cash, liquor and prostitutes to bribe officials while he ran the country's largest-ever smuggling ring. Lai is accused of masterminding a $10 billion network that smuggled everything from cigarettes to cars to oil and bribed dozens of government workers between 1996 and 1999. The operation based in Xiamen in Fujian province robbed the government of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.