Chinese authorities have punished 20 officials and former village leaders after the community in southern China engaged in mass protests over land disputes. The official Xinhua news agency said the former Communist Party chief of Wukan, a village in Guangdong Province, and the former head of the village committee were expelled from the ruling party and ordered to return nearly $45,000 in what it described as illegal gains. In March, two of the protest leaders were elected to run the village in a much-watched election that reformers hoped would promote democracy in China.—AP