Jonathan Ansfield and Chris Buckley, China Focusing Graft Inquiry on Ex-Official; Beijing breaks a Taboo; Subject of investigation is a former head of domestic security. New York Times, Dec 16, 2013 (front-page top article).
My comment:
(a) Excerpt in the window of print: A case without precedent since the start of the People's Republic of China.
This I disagree. Western reports other than this tend to be more modest: first since downfall of Gang of Four is more apt.
(b) Personally I do not think the report has said anything that we are unaware of, except that "Mr Xi and other leaders agreed by early December to put the elder Mr Zhou directly under formal investigation by the party’s commission for rooting out corruption and abuses of power, the sources said."