China earthquake death toll rises to 149

One of China's most powerful earthquakes in recent years killed at least 149 people in a remote northwestern region, according to state media, with two people still missing after the magnitude 6.2 temblor hit a week ago. The epicentre of the quake straddled the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai in an area where many of China's Hui people, a tight-knit ethnic minority characterized by its distinctive Muslim identity, are found. Gansu bore the brunt of the quake's wrath. More than 200,000 homes were wrecked and 15,000 were on the brink of collapse, Chinese state media reported. Displacing 145,000 people, the…