微博时代来临

So far, Sina Micro-Blog has been leading the market in China.

据《京华时报》报道，中国的微博用户有望于年底达到7500万，同去年的800万相比，增长837.5%。预计到2012年，这一数字将达2.4亿。到目前为止，中国微博市场仍是新浪微博占领先地位。尽管中国境内尚不能使用Twitter，世界上有很多国家领导人却很喜欢这种新鲜的微博。美国《华尔街日报》称，俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫亲自使用Twitter，虽然发言不多，但他很喜欢贴照片。美国总统奥巴马也使用Twitter，但并不亲自写帖，甚至连朝鲜领导人也是Twitter上的62位首脑之一。不过，Twitter上最活跃的领导人当数拉丁美洲，共有9位总统和总理在Twitter上互相关注，其中查韦斯最善谈。

强行乞讨硬塞广告将禁

据《沈阳晚报》消息，沈阳从即日起从严整治市容市貌。根据规定，强行乞讨者将面临拘留处罚。发现有未成年人相伴乞讨的，将现场取证，若二者无血缘关系且未成年人来历不明，公安机关将深入调查，对存在的拐卖、拐骗行为进行严厉打击。该规定还禁止沿街强行发放小广告。

唐骏辩称学历未造假

据《广州日报》报道，经过5个月的沉寂后，12月10日，新华都集团总裁唐骏在新浪微博上否认伪造博士学历，但他同时也委婉表示，自己在学历上的不透明引起了这场纷争。3个半小时后，以打击伪科学和学术造假著称的方舟子则在自己的微博上回应说，唐骏拒不认错完全是一种无赖行为。

康师傅涨价 家乐福断货

据《重庆晚报》报道，康师傅11月初宣布方便面涨价10%，遭到了家乐福中国门店的抵制。因此康师傅对家乐福采取了断货方式，致使康师傅方便面在门店脱销。双方就此事一直在谈判，不过目前仍未达成协议。

刷票成网络黑色产业

据《广州日报》报道，如今，职业刷票公司靠着为某些人提供动态IP地址、助其操纵网络投票而获取利益，顾客花500元就可以购得5万选票。有些公司甚至将专门开发的投票软件卖给客户，让他们自己刷票。

Mircoblogging grows in popularity

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.

(China.org.cn December 14, 2010)