Sun Huaishan, a former senior political advisor, was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office for violating the Party’s code of conduct and corruption.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement Friday that an investigation found that Sun had “severely violated political discipline and rules.”

Sun was formerly a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and head of the Committee for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Compatriots and Overseas Chinese of the CPPCC National Committee.

The CCDI statement said Sun had spoken inappropriately of the Party’s key policies, formed cliques and obstructed the investigation into him.

He was found to have attended banquets paid for with public funds and asked other organizations to sponsor holidays for his relatives with public spending, acts that violate the Party’s “eight-point” frugality code, the statement said.

The statement also accused Sun of accepting money and gifts and abusing his power and influence to seek benefits for his son’s business operations.

Also, he took advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others and accepted cash or gifts in return.

The statement said Sun, as a member of the CPC Central Committee, was “politically disloyal” to the Party and greedy.

The qualification of Sun as a delegate to the 18th CPC National Congress will also be terminated and his ill gotten gains will be confiscated, the statement said.

The case will be transferred to judicial organs.

The statement said the decision to expel Sun from the CPC will be confirmed at a plenary meeting of the CPC Central Committee.

A fatal school bus fire that killed 11 children and two adults in eastern China’s Shandong Province on May 9 was allegedly started by the bus driver, who also died, police said Friday.

The 11 children were aged between three and six, with five from the Republic of Korea and the rest from China.

The fire was started on the bus floor near the driver’s seat. A lighter cap was discovered nearby and gasoline residue found on multiple spots on the bus, according to a police officer with the Shandong provincial public security bureau.

Electricity faults and traffic accidents were ruled out as the cause of the fire, the police officer said.

The driver’s overtime and night shift allowance had been suspended, angering him, causing him to buy gasoline to set the fire, police said. Police received reports around 9 a.m. on May 9 about the fire inside Taojiakuang tunnel in Huancui District, Weihai city. The rented bus was delivering the children to a kindergarten, with 13 people onboard.

All were killed, including a female teacher.

Skyscrapers line the harbor in Hong Kong, on Feb 9, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Hong Kong was rated as the most competitive economy for the second year in a row, while the Chinese mainland jumped up seven places on the 2017 World Competitiveness Yearbook released on Thursday.

The rankings published by the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland consider 261 indices, including employment and trade statistics in 2016. It also uses the results of a survey of more than 6,250 executives in 2017.

Switzerland and Singapore ranked second and third respectively, while the U.S. dropped from third in 2016 to fourth in 2017, according to the 2017 World Competitiveness Yearbook.

As for the Yearbook’s four key measures, Hong Kong remains first in government efficiency and business efficiency, improved a bit on infrastructure while dropping from fifth in 2016 to eleventh on economic performance.

The drop is reported to reflect the economic growth slowed down in Hong Kong amid the global economic downturn.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said, “It’s great to see Hong Kong regains the most competitive economy in 2017, and this ranking highly praises Hong Kong SAR Government’s efforts on obeying the financial disciplines, opening new markets and assisting new industries.”

“Facing the increasingly competitive global economy, it needs to consolidate Hong Kong’s competitive strengths including free and open market principles, good law traditions, efficient public sectors and stable systems in a bid to improve the metropolitan city’s competence in the long run,” Chan said.

According to the Yearbook, the Chinese mainland moved up seven places to 18th on the list, showing it is the most competitive among economies with per capita GDP less than $20,000. Taiwan remained 14th.