China Executes Six Men for Theft

BEIJING (AP) - Six men convicted of robbing trucks carrying melons and vegetables were executed by gunshot in China's southern island province of Hainan, the government's Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday.  Four of the men had been implicated in 10 truck robberies beginning in 1996, Xinhua said.  Prosecutors said the robbers led by Wang Bulei scattered nails on a Hainan highway early on Feb. 13, 1999. After a truck's tires exploded, they robbed it of $290, the report said. Xinhua did not say when the six were executed nor which court issued the death penalty.  China executes more convicted criminals each year than the rest of the world combined. With crime soaring in recent years, judges have been told to apply the death penalty more frequently