Chinese poisoner executed

A snack-shop owner who confessed to killing dozens of people by poisoning food at a rival’s store in eastern China was executed today, the government said, in a quick announcement about a case it had been reluctant to publicise for weeks.

Xinhuanet.com, the website of China’s official government news agency, announced the execution in a one-sentence report posted on the section of its site devoted to news in Nanjing, where the poisonings took place.