Jackie Chan attacked for China comments

Actor Jackie Chan attacked for saying no need for freedom in China

Jackie Chan's comments that freedom may not be good for China were taken out of context, his spokesman said Tuesday, while Facebook users and Chinese scholars condemned the veteran actor on the Internet in a spreading backlash.

The 55-year-old star of the "Rush Hour" action comedies caused a huge uproar after he told a business forum on Saturday that it may not be good for authoritarian China to become a free society.

"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said Saturday, adding freedoms in his native Hong Kong and Taiwan made those societies "chaotic."

Taiwan, which split from China in 1949, is democratic and Hong Kong, a former British colony now ruled by China, enjoys some free elections.

"I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we want," he said.

Hong Kong and Taiwanese legislators lashed out at the comments, with some accusing Chan of insulting the Chinese race.

But Solon So, the chief executive of Chan's company JC Group and his main spokesman, told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday the actor was referring to freedom in the entertainment industry and not Chinese society at large.

Chan was speaking at a panel discussion about Asian entertainment industries and was asked to discuss movie censorship in China.

"Some people with ulterior motives deliberately misinterpreted what he was saying," So said.

But Chan discussed China as a country - not its entertainment industry specifically - immediately before making his comments about freedom, according to an AP reporter who attended Chan's panel discussion in the southern Chinese island province Hainan.

"Sure, we've got 5,000 years of history, but our new country has just been around for 60 years and the reforms for 30 years. It's hard to compare us with other countries," Chan said, referring to China's communist rule and capitalist-style reforms under the communist regime.

"But I feel that in the 10 years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule, I can gradually see, I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan continued.

Meanwhile, the public backlash against Chan grew.

A group of Chinese scholars published a letter on the Internet on Monday accusing Chan of "not understanding how precious freedom is," even though "free Hong Kong provided the conditions for you to become an international action star."

A Facebook group set up by Hong Kong users calling for Chan to be exiled to North Korea had drawn more than 2,600 members by Tuesday. The group also posted form letters urging Hong Kong's Baptist University and Academy for Performing Arts to strip Chan of honorary degrees they gave the actor.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board, for which Chan serves as an ambassador, had received 17 complaints as of Monday that his comments "hurt the image of Hong Kong and aren't reflective of Hong Kong people," a publicist said. She declined to give her name because of company policy.

The University of Hong Kong's students' union said in a statement Monday Chan's comments "cast shame on the entire Hong Kong citizenry" and "may poison the younger generation."

Opposition Taiwanese politicians on Monday demanded that the city government of Taipei strip Chan of his role as ambassador of the Deaf Olympic Games to be held in the Taiwanese capital in September.

Meeting undid the 'Chinese Warren Buffett'

When Toronto fund manager Weizhen Tang could not show investors how he achieved reported results, they went to regulators

For years, Weizhen Tang was considered an investment guru in much of the Chinese community in North America. He called himself a "Chinese Warren Buffett" telling investors and those who would listen that he could generate a 1-per-cent weekly return.

But Mr. Tang's reputation was dealt a stunning setback during the week of Jan. 26, 2009, according to documents filed in court this week where he's facing allegations of fraud.

That was when he held a public demonstration of his investment strategy in his Toronto office and couldn't match the reported results of his funds.

"Unfortunately the public demo failed," Mr. Tang wrote in an e-mail to investors a few days after the event. "I apologize. I don't want to find any excuses. I need more hard work."

He added that there wasn't enough cash to meet the redemption demands that had come in since the meeting and he told investors to wait six months.

Not a good enough an answer, Mr. Tang's investors struck back. In the weeks to follow, they organized themselves into a committee, filed a lawsuit, launched their own investigation and went to regulators in Canada and the United States, court filings show.

The Ontario Securities Commission shut down Mr. Tang's Canadian operation, Oversea Chinese Fund, on March 17 and started an investigation into allegations of fraud. This week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed fraud charges against Mr. Tang in Dallas, alleging his fund was a Ponzi scheme. The SEC also froze the assets in his U.S. fund, WinWin Capital Management.

Mr. Tang has acknowledged in e-mails to investors that he lost money investing, but he has insisted he didn't take any money for himself. His lawyer has said Mr. Tang is co-operating with regulators.

None of the allegations by investors have been proved in court as of yet, therefore, it should be borne in mind that all persons are innocent until proven guilty.

Documents filed in court detail Mr. Tang's rise to prominence and show his many attempts to encourage investors to stick with him despite the allegations.

Mr. Tang, 50, came to Canada from China in the early 1990s, according to his website. He earned a graduate degree in biotechnology from the University of Waterloo and worked at various research facilities before turning to investing in 1995.

At first he handled investments for friends and relatives, the website stated. In 2001, he created Oversea Chinese and expanded to the Dallas area in 2006 with the help of Jiehua Yu, a friend from the University of Waterloo, according to court filings. Ms. Yu had earned a graduate degree from Waterloo as well and worked with a Guelph, Ont.-based company before moving to the United States. According to court filings, she created WinWin Capital, co-owned by Mr. Tang.

By 2009, Oversea Chinese and WinWin had attracted more than 200 investors who invested roughly $75-million (U.S.) in total, according to court filings. The minimum investment was $150,000 (Canadian) in Oversea Chinese and $250,000 (U.S.) in WinWin. Mr. Tang did not charge a fee on the first 6 per cent of profit, but he took a 25-per-cent cut of any additional profit, according to court filings.

Mr. Tang concentrated on recent immigrants from China and he became a fixture in the community. He joined numerous organizations and donated money to various causes, including offering financial support for a group of pro-China demonstrators at a rally held in Ottawa last year.

According to e-mails filed in court, he had great hopes of "raising massive funds" by tapping into China's new entrepreneurial spirit. He planned to use his own investment skill and "widespread propaganda" to create a giant fund, according to one e-mail, which mentioned a figure of $700-million.

But after the failed demonstration at his office, many investors turned on him. On Feb. 27, about 200 confronted him in Toronto.

In an e-mail sent a few days later, Mr. Tang called the meeting "shocking, sad and painful" and outlined a plan to recoup the losses. He said in a later e-mail that he had received $1-million from a friend, turned it into $2-million in 12 days and used it to repay investors.

"Please believe my trading ability," he wrote. "Please give me time." He acknowledged later to one investor that he had lost $15-million in 2006 and 2007, according to court filings.

Just days before the OSC's move, WinWin sent investors an e-mail outlining a plan to stay in operation.

"It is inappropriate and unsafe to continue using the original Oversea Chinese Fund Trading account because the account can be frozen if government investigation is started," said the e-mail dated March 14, 2009. "A new business entity, trust account and a new trading account should be formed in order to carry out this pay-back plan properly."

Even after the OSC shut down Oversea Chinese, Mr. Tang continued to beg investors to stick with him. "Even if I have to go to jail," he wrote in one e-mail, "I still hope that I can go after I have repaid all of you."

Investors like Daniel Xu, a business professor at the University of Western Ontario, are hoping to get some of their money back. "I think I lost a lot of money," Mr. Xu said in a recent media interview. "It's terrible."

The OSC is asking investors with any information to call 416-593-8314.

OSC extends trading ban against Weizhen Tang

Bank accounts of `the Chinese Warren Buffett' frozen until September

A cease-trade order filed against a prominent Toronto businessman who bills himself as "the Chinese Warren Buffett" will stay in place until September.

The order, which also freezes bank accounts belonging to Weizhen Tang, his companies and his Oversea China Fund, was extended until Sept. 10 during a brief hearing at the Ontario Securities Commission yesterday.

The hearing comes one week after the OSC first raised allegations that Tang may have been operating a Ponzi scheme involving some $60 million (U.S.).

Tang did not attend yesterday's proceedings, which drew many reporters but just a handful of investors.

"It is by no means a simple investigation," OSC lawyer Hugh Craig told commissioner Lawrence Ritchie in asking for the extension on the original cease-trade order.

Tang's lawyer, Hugh Lissaman, said his client did not oppose the move. "My client has always indicated he is prepared to co-operate with the OSC," he said.

Asked about the Ponzi scheme allegations, Lissaman told reporters after the hearing, "All I can tell is, at this time, they are allegations put forward in a document filed with the court. There have been no formal charges laid against my client."

The Ontario Securities Commission issued the freeze orders against Tang and his companies, Weizhen Tang Corp., and Weizhen Tang and Associates Inc., last week.

The OSC believes there are at least 200 investors who put about $68 million in Tang's Oversea China Fund. To date, about $35 million has been paid out, according to documents the commission filed in provincial court last week.

Tang reportedly told investors that "new investor money is being paid out to old investors," and that "there was no money left at this time in Oversea," according to the documents.

He also told OSC investigators that the fund lost $15 million in 2007, but he did not disclose that loss to investors.

Tang promised investors a weekly return of 1 per cent.

Some investors remain loyal to the businessman. A letter opposing the cease-trade order, signed by more than 100 Toronto clients, was delivered to the OSC yesterday.

"As long as Tang's trading is under supervision and follows the law, he should not be banned from trading. This will cause further damage to the investors and defy public interests," says the letter, published in Chinese on a popular breaking-news website.

"The majority of the investors, being overseas Chinese and minorities in Canada, when dealing with non-violent dispute, should resolve the issues internally."

Other investors have approached Toronto police, though no charges have been laid.

A retired doctor from Chengdu, who gave his name as Mr. Niu, was among five Tang clients at yesterday's hearing. The Toronto man said he invested $100,000 with Tang in 2002 and hasn't withdrawn a penny since. "I have lost all my savings. I just feel so stupid. I can't blame anyone but myself. I just hope he could continue to work and get our money back," he said.

A Ponzi scheme involves paying "profits" to early investors by using money from new investors.

The OSC is asking investors with any information to call 416-593-8314.

Canadian Fund Manager Ran $60 Million Ponzi Scheme: OSC

Weizhen Tang, A Toronto fund manager oversaw a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in Canada, the U.S. and China of about $60 million, the Ontario Securities Commission alleged.

At first, the investment statements always came on time with the 1 per cent return as promised.
But early this year, when some of Weizhen Tang's investors had trouble getting their money back, they demanded an explanation, and Ontario regulators started investigating allegations of a Ponzi scheme.

Tang, who bills himself as "the Chinese Warren Buffett" and "the king of 1 per cent weekly returns," is a prominent figure in Toronto's mostly Mandarin-speaking mainland Chinese community. He is believed to have at least 200 clients in Canada. In late February, Tang sent a letter to his clients, apologizing for "the sin that I had committed" but insisted that he did not steal investors’ funds.

"I know that only with everyone's supervision and assistance, I can repay everyone in around a year. This will be the most sincere form of apology," Tang wrote. "Please give me time. ... I have greatly abused everyone's trust in me. Let me use my actions to prove myself, restore your wealth, and amend for my sins."

Five investors walked into Toronto Police's 52 Division to lodge a criminal complaint. They were told to return next week to speak with the fraud unit.

Their move comes just days after the Ontario Securities Commission froze accounts belonging to Tang, his companies, Weizhen Tang Corp. and Weizhen Tang and Associates Inc., and his investment fund, Oversea Chinese Fund Limited Partnership.

The freeze order, as well as a separate one that prevents any stock market trading, will be in place at least until April 1 while the commission continues its investigation.


Weizhen Tang, who ran Weizhen Tang Corp. and Oversea Chinese Fund Ltd. Partnership, told investors recently the company had no assets to pay requested redemptions, the OSC, Canada’s main stock-market regulator, said in papers filed in Ontario Superior Court on March 23. A judge yesterday extended a freeze on Oversea’s assets until April 30.

“Tang had been using new funds raised from investors to pay redemptions requested by previous investors,” the OSC said in the filing. That is the classic definition of a Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi, who was charged with fraud in 1920.

It’s the first allegation of a Ponzi scheme in Canada since a slump in North American stock markets began in June. In the same period, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to freeze money raised in alleged Ponzi schemes, including a $65 billion scam run by New York financier Bernard Madoff.

On his Web site, Tang said he began Weizhen Tang Corp. in 2007 in Toronto and was registered “within the framework of the Ontario Securities Act.” Most of his clients are “senior and affluent overseas Chinese” in Canada, the U.S., China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Malaysia, he said.

The fund invests in stocks, foreign exchanges, futures, options and mutual funds on Wall Street and stock markets in China and Hong Kong, Tang said. The minimum investment is $150,000, U.S. or Canadian.

$15 Million Losses

Reporters who went to offices of Weizhen Tang Corp., at the corner of York and Adelaide Sts., in downtown Toronto yesterday, were initially told that Tang would speak to them.

A spokesperson who identified himself as Dr. Guo later told reporters that Tang's lawyer had instructed him not to make any comment. "Mr. Tang is, of course, not a perfect businessman," Guo said. "The truth will come out."

"I can assure you that my client is co-operating fully with the regulator and that to date there have been no charges of fraud laid against my client," Tang's lawyer, Hugh Lissaman, wrote in an email to reporters.

At Tang's home, near Bayview Ave. and Steeles Ave., a woman who answered the door but did not identify herself said that Tang was not there. Asked for comment, she said, "It's too early to say anything."

News of the OSC's freeze order against Tang flooded Chinese-language news websites, blogs and chat rooms in North America, China and even Europe. Bloggers and columnists debated whether Tang was more like Nebraska-born investor guru Warren Buffett, who has an estimated net worth of $62 billion (U.S.), or more like Bernard Madoff, the disgraced New York businessman, recently convicted of running a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

Kelvin Li, news director of the popular Toronto Chinese language website, newnews.ca, said Tang, 51, immigrated to Canada more than 20 years ago from China via the U.S. after postgraduate studies there.

"He is very high profile. You see him everywhere at Chinese community events," said Li. "He sponsored the largest Chinese New Year community galas. He donated money to help victims of the devastating snowstorms and Sichuan earthquakes in China last year. He was also very involved in organizing the mass protest in Ottawa against pro-Tibet demonstrations prior to the Beijing Olympics."

Li has interviewed many of Tang's investors. He said some of them are new immigrants with working-class backgrounds, who used their lines of credit and mortgage money to come up with the $150,000 minimum investment amount.

Tang also used the newnews.ca website as a forum to communicate with his investors and has published at least four public letters.

In one dated March 21, he claimed that he had mortgaged his North York home for further investment.

"Part of the profits I make, I can return the money to you. If the money keeps on rolling, it would be no problem for me to return the money to you. The key is to give me time, give me a last chance," he wrote. "Even if I have to be jailed, I hope I could at least return you the money first. That would be less pain for me."

Allegations that Tang may have been operating a Ponzi scheme — where earlier investors are paid returns using money from later investors, rather than any real profits — comes from documents filed by the OSC in court this week.

The regulator believes that about 200 investors have put approximately $68 million into the Oversea fund and $35 million has been paid out to date.

The commission began its investigation in February 2009, according to documents filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on March 24. Tang told OSC investigators that he traded stocks, futures, stock options, and foreign currencies, for Oversea.

Investors signed an agreement that Tang would charge no fees for returns of six per cent or less; "However, for returns above six per cent, Tang would charge a 25 per cent 'incentive fee,'." the documents read.

According to one investor, "Tang advised him that new investor money is being paid out to old investors and admitted there was no money left at this time in Oversea," the filing says.

Tang also admitted to losing $15 million in 2007 but did not report this to Oversea's investors.
"Tang stated that investors in Oversea are owed about $30 million," according to the documents.

The commission asks the Ontario court to issue a cease-trade order in cases where investors may be at risk, said Kelley McKinnon, partner at Gowling Lafleur Henderson, former deputy director of enforcement and former chief litigation counsel at the OSC. "The commission orders a temporary cease-trade when they have some evidence of illegal activity and a risk of ongoing harm so they want to stop trading while they continue to investigate," she said.

The documents also show that Tang's wife, Hong Xiao is listed as an officer and director with Weizhen Tang and Associates.

Xiao received a 10-year suspension and was ordered to pay a $45,000 (Canadian) fine by another regulatory agency, the Investment Dealers Association, in July 2004 for two counts of conduct unbecoming or detrimental to the public interest. She was also ordered to repay another $5,000 in commissions.

Tang is registered as a limited market dealer. Neither company is registered as an investment counsellor or portfolio manager in Ontario.

His last letter to clients, dated March 25, begins "How difficult is it for a person who has sinned and lost all trust to stand up again? Because I cannot timely return your investments, I have caused you great pain."

It goes on to say: "I sincerely request that I be given another chance merely for the sake of recovering your hard-earned money and reviving the honour of overseas Chinese. A re-emerged Weizhen Tang will be in the best interest of all of you."

The letter ends with a promise: "Within two months, a new Tang Weizhen will emerge! You will certainly receive my first repayment! At that time, the whole society will witness the cheers or accusations!"

In extensive material on the company's website, Tang says that he uses his years of experience in the stock market and uses stock indices, foreign exchanges and futures for "reliable short-term speculation."

He boasted of an average annual return rate of more than 40 per cent for four years.
Tang also held "investment summits" — the last one was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in January of last year — with economists from China and the United States who were invited to speak to prospective investors. Among the guests were officials from the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

One alleged victim, who came from the same Hunan province as Tang and invested $300,000 with him, was quoted in the Toronto Star stating that Tang's clients met regularly to discuss the matter in the last month but the majority of them have refused to come forward and believed that Tang could come up with the money.

"They were brainwashed," said the woman, who asked not be identified. She said she and 14 others were discouraged from coming forward to authorities while clients in the other camp are petitioning the OSC not to pursue charges against Tang, fearing the action would stop them from claiming any money back ever.

Another investor, who with his wife invested $500,000 last September, said Tang's initial clients from as early as 1999 were mostly people from his hometown through word of month, but in recent years the businessman has advertised heavily in the local Chinese media.

"We were drawn to him because of his promise of the weekly 1 per cent return," said the man, in his 40s, outside the police station. Like other alleged victims, he refused to give his name. "We trusted him."

The OSC said it has evidence that in 2007, Oversea lost about $15 million. Tang had told investors the fund made “significant profits,” the OSC said.

Hugh Lissaman, who is listed as Tang’s lawyer in the court documents, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by local media.

A phone number listed on Tang’s Web site was answered by a man who identified himself only as Dr. Gou and said he was Tang’s friend and consultant. Gou said Tang wasn’t available to comment and it was too early to discuss the OSC allegations.

While these ARE some very serious allegations, they are at this time just that, allegations.. It should be borne in mind by all that everyone is considered to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The case is Between Ontario Securities Commission and Oversea Chinese Fund Ltd. Partnership. Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Toronto).

Canadian researchers uncover a vast computer spying operation

A cyber spy network based mainly in China has tapped into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of Tibetan exiles, Canadian researchers said Saturday.

The work of the Information Warfare Monitor initially focused on allegations of Chinese cyber espionage against the Tibetan community in exile, especially the Dalai Lama, who is frequently denounced by Chinese officials.

The research eventually led to a much wider network of compromised machines, the Internet-based research group said.

Information Warfare Monitor is a joint effort of the SecDev Group in Ottawa and the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

The group said in a news release Sunday that investigators conducted field research in India, Europe and North America, including in the private office of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government-in-exile and several Tibetan NGOs.

Investigator Greg Walton said: "We uncovered real-time evidence of malware that had penetrated Tibetan computer systems, extracting sensitive documents from the private office of the Dalai Lama."

During the second phase of the investigation, the data led to the discovery of insecure, web-based interfaces to four control servers. The interfaces allow attackers to send instructions to and receive data from compromised computers.

"What we found is not so much unprecedented in scope and sophistication," said Nart Villeneuve, a senior IWM analyst.

"But the relatively small size of the network and concentration of high-value targets is significant. It does not fit the profile for a typical cyber crime network."

Principal investigators Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski said: "This report serves as a wake-up call."

"At the very least, the large percentage of high-value targets compromised by this network demonstrates the relative ease with which a technically unsophisticated approach can quickly be harnessed to create a very effective spynet."

The compromised computers included, among many others, the ministry of foreign affairs of Iran; the embassies of India, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan; the ASEAN Secretariat; the Asian Development Bank; news organizations and an unclassified computer located at NATO headquarters.

The research group said while its analysis points to China as the main source of the network, it has not conclusively been able to detect the exact identity or motivation of the hackers.

A spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in New York dismissed the idea that China was involved.

The researchers said they have notified international law-enforcement agencies of the spying operation.

The F.B.I. declined comment on the operation.

The full report of the investigation entitled, "Tracking GhostNet: Investigating a Cyber Espionage Network," was released online Sunday.

China detains soldier who spoke out about Tiananmen Square

A soldier who publicly expressed regret for his part in the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy rallies in Beijing's Tiananmen Square has been detained by Chinese police, according to a human rights group.


In an open letter posted on the internet, Zhang Shijun, 40, called on Communist party Leader Hu Jintao to reconsider the condemnation of the student-led rallies the happened almost 20 years ago.

A family member said he was taken from his home early Friday, according to the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch, a mainland-based group.

Zhang was reached on his mobile phone Friday afternoon, but said, "it was not convenient to talk," before hanging up.

His wife said Friday she had not seen or heard from him.

Zhang is among only a few soldiers to speak publicly about the incident that sparked international outrage.

It is believed troops stormed into the square killing hundreds, possibly thousands of protesters on orders from top party leaders.

Zhang spoke about his experiences during the crackdown and about serving jail time later for alleged political crimes in an interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday.

The next day, he was ordered into his local police station and told to shun contact with foreign media, he said.

Flag flap raised in Ontario legislature

A flag flap was flying high in Ontario on Thursday after the opposition parties discovered the legislature has started buying its provincial flags from China.

Veteran New Democrat Peter Kormos said like many members of the legislature, he hands out Ontario flags on a regular basis to groups such as the boy scouts, girl guides and various community organizations.

Members of the legislature each have a $1,000 annual budget for Ontario lapel pins and flags, which they order through the government's procurement office, as they do with most office supplies.

Kormos was fuming after learning the procurement office had stopped buying Ontario flags from a Toronto company and outsourced them to China, a move apparently to save money.

"This is shameful. It's embarrassing. It's pathetic. It's rude," Kormos shouted. "I have no possible way of explaining how frustrating and angry it is for me to discover this."

Kormos said there is no way he will give out Ontario flags bearing a "made in China" label in his Welland riding after so many workers in the province have lost jobs.

"I would have this flag thrown in my face," he said. "It would be an insult for me to give this flag to any community group, and it would be an insult for any other MPP to deliver the same flag."

Speaker Steve Peters said the government chose a new vendor that sells flags made in Canada as well as China.

The flags used at the legislature are Canadian-made, said Peters, who agreed he would raise the issue with the legislative committee that oversees spending.

"I will, on behalf of the legislature, take this back both to the Board of Internal Economy and our senior managers to look at the procurement policies for the legislature." he said.

The Progressive Conservatives said buying Chinese-made flags is a bad move, especially when Ontario faces such dire economic circumstances.

"I think it's another example of a poorly thought-out government program," said Conservative Ted Chudleigh, whose family is famous for its apple pies.

"Of all items, to have a flag that is foreign-made - if you're a Chudleigh it's like buying a foreign apple. It's just not done."

Peters said members of the legislature don't have to use the procurement office for their flags, and both Kormos and Chudleigh vowed to buy the flags they give to constituents from an Ontario manufacturer.

The flags, measuring roughly 90 centimetres by 1.8 metres (three feet by six feet), are a variation on Canada's old Red Ensign, with the Union Jack in the upper left corner and the Ontario coat of arms in a red field. They cost $13 each when bought from the Chinese company, and about $18 when made in the province.

Kormos said the Chinese-made Ontario flags are of lower quality than the ones made by Flying Colours International of Toronto, which the legislature had used for the previous 12 years.

"New Democrats have been crying out for 'buy Ontario' policies, and this is just a perfect example of how jobs are being put at risk here in Ontario by an outright foolish policy," he said.

"It symbolizes an absolute disdain for so many Ontario workers and their families who've been thrust into despair because of their job losses."

Last week, the Liberal government came under fire after the provincially owned Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. purchased 22 foreign-made Mercedes-Benz cars to give away at casinos.

Deputy Premier George Smitherman admitted the OLG had made a "crappy" decision, especially when the government was looking to give billions of dollars in aid to Ontario's struggling automakers.

Ontario has lost more than 300,000 manufacturing jobs in the last few years, including tens of thousands this year.

Hi-tech immigrants heading home to China, India

Tech-savvy, well-educated Indian and Chinese immigrants are packing it up in greater numbers in the United States and heading back home, This, according to Duke professor and Harvard researcher Vivek Wadhwa.

He conducted a survey on why recent returnees elected to go back to India and China for the Kauffman Foundation.

"The majority of people like it better back home," Wadhwa said. "The U.S. isn't everything anymore ... This is great for India and China, but what we've done is export economic recovery."

He estimates that while 50,000 Indian and 50,000 Chinese immigrants returned home in the past 20 years, there will be 100,00 Indians and 100,000 Chinese immigrants leaving the U.S. in the next five years.

The factors driving return were not primarily visa issues, the survey found, but feelings that career opportunities were better at home, a desire to be close to friends and family, and better quality of life.

The survey randomly polled 1,203 Indian and Chinese employees in their home countries who had worked or gone to school in the U.S. and who were members of the social networking site LinkedIn.com.

For sale: One life in China

26-yr old Beijing resident Chen Xiao had pretty much given up making her own decisions and so decided to throw open her life to the whims of China's hundreds of millions of Internet users, known in China as netizens.

"It's your right to arrange Chen Xiao's life, and it's my obligation to serve you," read her online shop.

Since December, Chen has been allowing others to decide what she will do each day, because, for the most part, last year was awful, she said. Her hometown was hit by blizzards, her country rocked by a devastating earthquake, friends divorced and her clothing shop went bankrupt.

"Every time I had a plan for what I wanted my life to be like, nothing would come of it. It was very disappointing. I figured if other people came up with things for me to do, I might stumble upon something new and better," she says.

What she stumbled upon was not only a new life but a new way to make a living. She charges about $3 an hour, and she's been asked to do almost everything from delivering pet food to caring for stray cats to taking a hot lunch to a homeless man.

What surprised her the most was not so much the varied requests but being able to find happiness in the process.

"If somebody asks you to do something, something simple, and you do it, it can make you very happy. You can change from a gloomy person to a very bright one. It can help give you a new sense of self-esteem," she said.

So far, the most meaningful assignment she was given was attending a child's birth -- the father was a complete stranger who just wanted someone to take pictures and share the moment.

There are limits to what she will agree to do. She will not do anything illegal, immoral or violent, but she said that has not stopped some from asking.

"When I first started there was this man who would send me these really disgusting text messages. His words were over the top... nauseating," she said.

There was also a man who wanted to meet her for a few private hours at a ski chalet. When she turned up with a friend to take photographs, he backed out and then demanded a refund, but Chen refused.

In many ways she is just a glorified errand girl, but with a unique China twist. Chen is another example here of how in China the Internet is crossing over from cyberspace to the real world.

Chen does not know how much longer she will keep taking cyberrequests. For now it is a good way to survive the financial crisis when many others are losing their jobs and businesses are going broke.

"When people stop needing me, I'll go back to my original life. But I don't know what will come," she said.

I don't know about you, but I think this story sounds like the perfect premise for an old-school TV series about a young woman running around solving people's problems -- sort of like Highway to Heaven without the angels. What do you think? Is her plan crazy, or sweet and kind of genius?

With unusual candour, China reports shoe throwing at premier

It hesitated for hours over the sensitive footage of a protester in Britain shouting "dictator" and throwing a shoe at Premier Wen Jiabao. But finally, China's carefully controlled state broadcaster ran the footage Tuesday.

The move was a remarkable display of openness - but the footage already was leaking into China via satellite television and the Internet. Critics said it showed the increasing power of such media to erode strict information controls.

"It is impossible for a country to shut out a piece of news," said Shao Peiren, head of Zhejiang University's communications research institute in eastern China.

The broadcast might also help the government by appealing to Chinese patriotism. Wen is the leadership's most popular figure, and he emerged as the hero after last year's devastating earthquake, calling himself "Grandpa Wen." The nickname was embraced by some enthusiastic Chinese.

Still, incidents that could be seen as unflattering or insulting to the Chinese leadership have long been treated with the greatest sensitivity. The first Chinese reports on the protest during Wen's visit to Britain's Cambridge University left out key details, including that a shoe had been thrown.

But the China Central Television broadcast had it all. The evening news showed the footage among the first stories of its half-hour broadcast, leading into it with a report on Wen's speech itself and his return to Beijing.

Then the shoe-throwing footage was shown, with no commentary from the anchors, just a simple news setup.

The camera was fixed on Wen, but later cut to the whistle-blowing protester being removed from the hall, while the audience shouted "Get out."

"How can this university prostitute itself with this dictator here? How can you listen ... to him unchallenged?" the man - who has yet to be identified - could be heard shouting.

The sound of the shoe hitting the stage, away from Wen, could be heard as well.

Wen paused for about one minute and then continued his speech.

"Teachers and students, this kind of dirty trick cannot stop the friendship between the Chinese and the British people," Wen said, followed by applause.

The incident echoed the news conference in December in which an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush - covered widely not only in China but around the world.

Bush joked off his shoe attack, saying "it was a size 10," but China's response was far sterner.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu called the disruption "despicable" but said it would not "stem the tide of friendly relations between China and Britain."

Internet chat rooms were filled with patriotic messages denouncing the protester, who did not appear to be ethnic Han Chinese.

"The uncompromising Iraqi people threw a shoe at Bush which is a brave act by a suppressed nation," said one comment on the Tiexue.net bulletin board. "But the ugly Englishman threw a shoe at Wen, which was only a barbaric trick."

In an apparent move to show national dignity had been maintained, reports by CCTV and the official Xinhua News Agency included prominent references to Britain apologizing.

The BBC reported the 27-year-old protester would appear before magistrates on Feb. 10 in Cambridge on charges of committing a public order offence.

China's online activity - with 298 million Web users - makes it increasingly tough for censors to keep sensitive news, like the shoe throwing, offline. Media watchers say that may be prompting official media to report on other news it would have suppressed before, such as riots and protests.

But the expanded coverage may also reflect a recognition by propaganda authorities that showing such events can work to the government's advantage.

Two incidents last year were given wide state media coverage: Attacks on the Olympic torch overseas before its journey to Beijing, and the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.

The torch attacks sparked an outpouring of nationalism among Chinese at home and abroad. The second brought a wave of compassion and assistance for the quake victims.

2 men sentenced to death in China's milk scandal

A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced two men to execution and gave a former top executive a life sentence for their roles in the country's deadly tainted milk scandal.

The former boss of Sanlu Group, Tian Wenhua, 66, was handed a life sentence by the Intermediate People's Court in Shijiazhuang. Sanlu was the company at the heart of the scandal.

Tian is the highest-ranking official charged in the probe into milk contaminated by melamine, a chemical used in the manufacturing of plastics that was used to give milk an apparently higher nutrition content in protein tests.

At least six children died, and nearly 300,000 people became ill from consuming the contaminated infant formula and milk products. Melamine can cause kidney stones and kidney failure when large amounts are ingested.

Tian pleaded guilty to charges of producing and selling fake or substandard products during her trial at the end of December.

Zhang Yujun, 40, was sentenced to death for running a workshop that was allegedly China's largest source of melamine.

Geng Jinping was also given the death penalty for producing and selling toxic food.

They were among 12 defendants sentenced Thursday in connection with the case. Others were given prison terms of five to 15 years.

Parents remain angry

Families of babies made sick by contaminated milk gathered outside the court to hear the sentences read out.

Dozens of police officers guarded the courthouse and cordoned off the surrounding area, asking victims' families to keep about 100 metres away.

"Many parents are angry that only middlemen got the death penalty and that some company and government officials faced lesser charges or avoided prosecution," CBC's Michel Cormier reported from Beijing.

Zheng Shuzhen, from Henan province, said her one-year-old granddaughter died in June after drinking Sanlu milk and was upset by Thursday's decision, saying Tian's sentence was too light.

"My granddaughter died. She [Tian] should die, too, she should be shot. She has brought such harm to the public, to children," said Shuzhen.

"I've run out of tears…. That's why I came today. Even if [Tian] dies a hundred times over, it won't lessen our hate."

More than 200 families whose children died or were made ill by poisoned milk in China have appealed to the country's highest court, demanding higher compensation than the amount offered and long-term treatment for their babies.

The 22 Chinese dairies involved in the scandal proposed about $200 million in compensation.

The Chinese government has vowed to crack down on food safety crimes in the future, but warns there could be an increase in cases as businesses try to cut corners in times of recession, said Cormier.

China targets Web sites with porn content

China has released a blacklist of 19 major online portals and Web sites, including Google and Baidu, that it claims provide and spread pornographic or obscene content, state media reported.

The move comes as several Chinese government agencies, including the Ministry of Public Security, launch a month-long campaign to clean up the Web, according to Xinhua news agency.

"The government will continue to expose, punish or even shut down those infamous Web sites that refuse to correct their wrongdoing," Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the State Council Information Office, said Monday at a teleconference.

"Immediate action is needed to purify the Internet environment," Cai added, according to Xinhua.

Authorities accused the portals, including Sina, Sohu and Netease, and the Web sites of either providing links to pornographic sites or failing to take down pornographic pictures after being notified by the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center.

The center said Google in Chinese had provided "a large number of links to porn Web sites" in search results for web pages and images. The center said it notified Google, but the company did not take any effective steps, according to Xinhua.

Cui Jin, a spokeswoman for Google China, told Xinhua that Google did not spread such items intentionally.

"Google is neither the owner of those Web sites and porn nor does it spread (that) information intentionally," she said.

By the end of June 2008, China had more than 253 million Internet users, Xinhua reported.

China has come under criticism for restricting Web access to ordinary citizens as well as on local and foreign media covering last year's summer Olympics in Beijing.

The U.S. State Department noted in a 2008 report that China had increased its efforts to "control and censor the Internet, and the government had tightened restrictions on freedom of speech and the domestic press" and bloggers.

In an interview seen on CNN in September 2008, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said, "the freedom of Internet in China is recognized by many, even from the West."

"Nonetheless, to uphold state security, China, like many countries in the world, has also imposed some proper restrictions. That is for the safety, that is for the overall safety of the country and for the freedom of the majority of the people."

Chinese software pirates get prison sentences

The alleged ringleaders of a Chinese counterfeiting gang that sold at least US$2 billion worth of bogus Microsoft Corp. software were sentenced to prison terms of up to 6 1/2 years, in what is believed to be the harshest penalties yet under China's tightened piracy laws.

The punishments meted out against the 11 defendants, and announced by Microsoft Corp., could help China improve its image as a country that doesn't crack down hard enough on copyright violators, though the technology and entertainment industries still say China has a long way to go. The sentences ranged from 1 1/2 to 6 1/2 years, according to Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft.

The fact that Microsoft, and not the Chinese courts, disclosed the sentences is not unusual. Lawyers are the only source of information in many cases in China because rulings often are not publicly announced. Court officials usually refuse to disclose details to reporters.

Microsoft calls the counterfeit software operation -- which was headquartered in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and busted by Chinese authorities with help from the FBI in 2007 -- the world's biggest phony-software syndicate.

The counterfeit software was found in 36 countries and 11 different languages. It was so sophisticated that it contained legitimate computer code written by Microsoft for programs such as Windows XP and Vista and Microsoft Office, but also had touches of the criminals' own coding as well. That was allegedly added to mimic security programs and fool users into believing the product was authentic.

Microsoft contends that much of the bogus software was detected by its Windows Genuine Advantage program, which is automatically installed on users' machines. It scans computers for pirated software and alerts people if it believes their products aren't properly licensed. The counterfeits were also discovered through customs seizures, test purchases by Microsoft, and resellers who alerted authorities to suspicious competitors.

"There were a number of things that made this case unique and striking, and among them are the fact that customers provided information, the reach of the syndicate was so international, and that Chinese law enforcement partnered so well with American law enforcement," David Finn, Microsoft's associate general counsel for worldwide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting, said in an interview.

Software piracy is still rampant despite individual countries' attempts at cracking down. Research commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, an industry trade group, found that 82 percent of the software used in China in 2007 was not legitimately purchased, more than double the worldwide piracy rate of 38 percent.

China targets Google in crackdown on pornography

China has launched a major crackdown on Internet pornography, targeting popular online portals and major search engines such as Google.

Seven government agencies will work together on the campaign to "purify the Internet's cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors," according to an announcement on the government's official Chinese-language website, china.com.cn.

Pornography is banned in China, though the government's Internet police struggle to block Web sites based abroad.

The government announcement said Google and Baidu, China's two most heavily used search engines, had failed to take "efficient" measures after receiving notices from the country's Internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material.

The statement also named popular Web portals Sina and Sohu, as well as a number of video sharing sites and online bulletin boards, that it said contain problematic photos, blogs and postings.

It said violators will be severely punished, but did not give details or say how long the campaign will last.

A Google spokeswoman in China, Cui Jin, defended the site's operations, saying it does not contain any pornographic content.

"If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven't seen any examples of violations," Cui said.

Baidu did not immediately return an e-mail seeking comment, and phones at Sina and Sohu rang unanswered.

China has the world's largest population of Internet users with more than 250 million. The central government has blocked access to many websites it considers subversive or too political, including The New York Times' website on Dec. 19. It was unblocked a couple days later and remained open Monday.

Beijing loosened some media and Internet controls during the 2008 Summer Olympics -- gestures that were meant to show the international community that the games had brought greater freedom to the Chinese people. During the August games, China allowed access to long-barred Web sites such as those of the British Broadcasting Corp. and Human Rights Watch. Those Web sites remained open Monday.

In the past the Foreign Ministry has defended China's right to censor Web sites that have material deemed illegal by the government, saying that other countries regulate Internet usage, too.

Holy censorship Batman!!

Just because Batman landed in Hong Kong doesn't mean "The Dark Knight" will.

Warner Bros. decided not to release the film in China — or even submit it for censors' approval — because of "prerelease conditions" and "cultural sensitivities," the studio said Tuesday.

Warner Bros. officials may have been concerned the film — particularly scenes shot in Hong Kong, where Batman nabs a gangster — would offend censors. Hong Kong is a Chinese-ruled former British colony that maintains separate political and economic systems.

The studio said in a statement overnight that the acclaimed film - the second highest-grossing movie in US box-office history - would be canned in China, with "cultural sensitivities" cited as one of the reasons for the no-show.

"Based on a number of pre-release conditions that are being attached to The Dark Knight as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forego a theatrical release of the film in China," the statement said.

It was not clear what "cultural sensitivities" were at issue but the movie includes an action sequence shot in Hong Kong where Batman, played by Christian Bale, apprehends a Chinese money-launderer.

Another possible sticking point is a brief appearance by Hong Kong actor-singer Edison Chen (credited in the film as "LSI Vice President") , who appeared in one of the biggest sex scandals earlier this year in China, appearing in lurid photos with several women.

However, Bootleg copies have been available in Chinese markets for months.

The Dark Knight" has grossed more than $465 million in foreign markets.

Chinese company at the root of tainted milk scandal declared bankrupt

A Chinese court has declared the company at the center of a tainted milk scandal bankrupt.


The milk is blamed for killing six children and sickening nearly 300,000 more.

New Zealand's Fronterra Group said that a court in Shijiazhuang, in China's Hebei province, issued a bankruptcy order against Sanlu Group Co. in response to a petition from a creditor.

"Sanlu will now be managed by a court-appointed receiver who will assume responsibility for an orderly sale of the company's assets and payment of creditors," Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier said in a statement.

Sanlu was one of 22 Chinese dairy companies whose products were found to contain high levels of the industrial chemical melamine, leading to the deaths of six babies and causing 294,000 others to suffer from urinary problems.

Fronterra, a New Zealand farmer-owned co-operative, owns 43 per cent of Sanlu.

At least a dozen individual lawsuits have been filed against state-owned Sanlu, but they're caught in legal limbo as courts have neither accepted nor refused the cases - a sign of the scandal's political sensitivity.

China's government has promised to provide free medical treatment to the children who fell ill due to the milk, along with unspecified compensation to them and families of the deceased.

The Health Ministry had said earlier this month that some Chinese dairy companies would likely have to pay for a compensation plan, the details of which have not been released.

Fronterra was responsible for alerting Chinese authorities to the tainted milk scandal in August.

Now THAT'S some old weed!!

An ancient race that lived 2,700 years ago in the Gobi Desert may have been among the first to use cannabis for medical or religious purposes.

Nearly two pounds of the plant was found stashed in the tomb of a Gushi shaman. It was high in the chemical compounds that provide its psychoactive properties.

"It had evidence of the chemical attributes of cannabis used as a drug," said Dr. Ethan Russo, an author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Botany. "It could have been for pain control. It could have been for other medicinal properties. It could have been used as an aid to divination."

The Gushi people were a Caucasian race with light hair and blue eyes who likely migrated thousands of years ago from the steppes of Russia to what is now China. A nomadic people, they were accomplished horsemen and archers.

Chinese archaeologists excavating a network of 2,500 tombs near the town of Turpan in the Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region unearthed the shaman's grave, which contained the cannabis, along with a trove of artifacts such as bridles, archery equipment and a rare harp.

The shaman is thought to have been about 45 years old when he died. Many of the bodies recovered in the area were found in an incredibly well-preserved, almost mummified condition. The shaman, however, was a skeleton.

"The deceased was laid out on the bottom of this tomb on a little bier," Russo said. "This individual seemed to be very high status because of the variety and quality of the grave goods, including the equestrian equipment, the archery equipment and the large amount of cannabis."

Russo said no pipe for smoking the cannabis was found in the shaman's tomb. Researchers think he might have eaten the cannabis or possibly put it on a burning fire to create fumes.

They don't think it was used to make hemp clothing or rope, as some other early cultures did. Genetic analysis of the plant suggests it was cultivated rather than gathered from the wild.

This find is not the first or the oldest example of ancient people using cannabis, but it may be the best studied.

"There may have been older finds of cannabis, but not with this level of scientific investigation attached to them," Russo said.