The number of Chinese microblog users is expected to hit 75 million by the end of this year, rising by 838 percent from 8 million last year, the Beijing Times reported. It was also estimated that the number will reach 240 million by 2012. So far, Sina Micro-Blog has been leading the market in China. While Twitter is not available within China, many world leaders love the pioneering mircoblog, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Russian president uses Twitter personally, though he doesn't like to say too much, he does like to post pictures. The US president uses Twitter but doesn't write them himself. Even the North Korean leadership uses it -- one of 62 world leaders on Twitter. Latin America is the most active in Twitter usage with nine presidents and premiers following each other; Hugo Chavez is the chattiest.
Persistent beggars to be detained
Shenyang is implementing stricter rules on urban management and will detain persistent beggars, the Shenyang Evening News reported. Minors accompanying beggars will be checked to confirm if there is any family relation. If there is no relation and the children's details are unknown, police will investigate into possible child abduction and trafficking. The rules also ban the practice of forcing pedestrians to accept advertisement circulars.
Tang Jun claims innocence
After five months of silence, Tang Jun, CEO of Xin Hua Du Industrial Group Co., who has been accused of forging his doctoral degree, pronounced his innocence on his Sina.com micro blog on Dec. 10, the Guangzhou Daily reported. He admitted that the dispute arose because he was not transparent enough regarding his academic qualifications. Three and a half hours later, Fang Zhouzi, the man who is famous for battling against what he sees as pseudoscience and academic misconduct, responded on his own micro blog that Tang's refusal of acknowledging fraud made him a scoundrel.
Master Kong gone from Carrefour
Carrefour in China denied a 10-percent price hike request by instant noodle giant Master Kong in early November, which resulted in the latter's cut of supply, and the subsequent unavailability of its products in Carrefour stores, the Chongqing Evening News reported. The two sides have been negotiating, but no agreement has been reached.
Buying online votes
Professional polling companies are making money by providing dynamic IP addresses that will allow individuals to manipulate vote totals in online polling, the Guangzhou Daily reported. 50,000 votes cost 500 yuan. Some companies also sell specially developed polling software that customers can use to add votes themselves.