Society

Around China: Social networking sites a threat

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-10 06:50

1. Beijing

150 million yuan for rain-hit provinces

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced on Friday it has established a fund of 150 million yuan ($22 million) with the Ministry of Education to help finance the reconstruction of primary and middle schools in provinces devastated by rain disasters this year.

The fund will cover 13 provinces and autonomous regions including Fujian and Jiangxi, according to the MOF.

Social networking sites a threat: CASS

According to a top Chinese think tank, social networking sites, such as Facebook, pose a security threat to China and are being used as "tools of subversion" by Western nations, including the United States.

Last year's July 5 riots in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region were instigated by means of such micro-blogging websites, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in its annual report on the development of new media.

"Facebook has appeared as the rallying point for overseas Xinjiang separatist groups," the report said. "These social networking sites have become a tool for political subversion used by Western nations, including the United States."

2. Jiangsu

Porn website bust nets 62 suspects

Police have detained 62 people after breaking up a pornographic website organization, the public security bureau in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province, said on Friday.

Police nabbed the suspected ringleader, surnamed Zhang, on March 6 in Beijing, a statement issued by the bureau said.

The other suspects, mainly administrators and forum moderators of the website, were detained from some 20 provinces and autonomous regions in the country in a follow-up operation, it said.

Zhang, 29, confessed he bought the porn website for $4,000 from its owner in 2008 and leased two servers outside China, the police said.

Zhang allegedly made a profit of about 400,000 yuan ($59,000) from the website, which had 300,000 registered members.

3. Guangdong

Cross-Straits forum goes green

A delegation of Taiwan's Kuomintang Party (KMT), led by honorary chairman Wu Po-hsiung, arrived in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, on Friday to attend a cross-Straits economic and cultural forum.

This year's Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, an annual event, will concentrate on cross-Straits cooperation in green energy, energy conservation and environmental protection.

The plenary meeting of the forum, first held in 2006, will be held on Saturday and Sunday in Guangdong's capital.

More than 400 people from Taiwan and the mainland are expected to attend the meet.

(China Daily 07/10/2010 page4)