File photo
China executed a man on Thursday for killing nine students and injuring 11 others in a knife attack at a middle school in central China's Shaanxi province in April, according to a post on a Chinese court's official social media account.
Zhao Zewei was sentenced to death in July after being charged with homicide for attacking 19 students near a middle school in Mizhi county in China's northwestern province of Shaanxi on April 27.
After receiving approval from China's supreme court, the death sentence was carried out in Mizhi county of Shaanxi on Thursday, according to the statement from the Yulin City Intermediate Court.
Zhao had said he had taken knives into his former school in order to vent frustration and anger over his misfortunes in life and the bullying he was subjected to while attending the school, the statement said.
China is sincere about improving ties with the Vatican, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after the Vatican signed a landmark agreement giving it a say in the appointment of bishops in China.New bishops will be proposed by members of local Catholic communities together with Chinese authorities, and the names of candidates sent to the Vatican. Critics labelled the deal a sellout to the Communist government.Speaking at a daily news briefing in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was sincere about wanting better relations with the Vatican and the bishops agreement was an important step in improving ties.China denies Hong Kong port visit for US navy ship amid trade tensions"China is willing to continue to meet the Vatican side halfway and have constructive dialogue, increasing understanding and accumulating mutual trust, to promote the process of continuing to improve relations," Geng said, without elaborating.The Vatican statement about the deal did not mention Taiwan, which the Holy See recognises diplomatically and which China claims as a wayward province.Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said in a weekend statement that it hoped the China-Vatican deal could help improve religious freedom in China.China protests to United States over planned arms sale to Taiwan"As the world watches China increasingly tightening control over religious practices, Taiwan trusts that the Holy See has made appropriate arrangements to ensure that Catholic adherents in China will receive due protection and not be subject to repression," it said.A Taiwan government delegation will visit the Vatican next month to attend the canonisation ceremony for Pope Paul VI, it added.China's official Catholic Church reaffirmed its loyalty to the country's ruling Communist Party on Sunday, while welcoming a landmark deal struck with the Vatican on appointing new bishops. 
China says sincere in wanting to keep improving Vatican ties
But the motives for depriving others of life were "despicable" and the methods were especially cruel, and so the supreme court agreed to the use of the death penalty, it cited the supreme court as ruling.
Violent crime is rarer in China than many other countries, due in part to strict gun controls and tight security in major cities. Recent years have seen a series of knife and axe attacks, however, including one this year in Beijing.
China does not release official figures for the number of people it executes every year, but rights groups estimate that more people are executed annually in the country than in all other countries combined.