Remains of former Chinese premier Li Keqiang to be cremated and flags to be lowered

BEIJING (AP) — State media report the remains of former Chinese premier Li Keqiang are to be cremated on Thursday, with flags around the country to be flown at half-staff to mourn the official who helped guide the world’s second-largest economy for a decade. Li died Friday of a heart attack at 68. Mourners gathered at his childhood home in the city of Hefei in an apparently spontaneous outpouring of grief seen by some as a rebuke of head of state and Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. Li was once seen as a potential top leader, but was sidelined in a leadership shakeup last year and replaced with Xi loyalist Li Qiang.