Extra! Extra! The NBA, beggars and stolen manhole covers

• China to be "moderately developed" by 2050. Watch out!
• From the International Herald Tribune: "[M]any observers of recent changes in Chinese society say the news of Google's concessions to censorship will do little to reverse a trend toward increasingly free expression that has been reshaping this society with ever more powerful effects since the beginning of the reform era."
• The NBA has teamed with a Chinese website to offer video-on-demand of games called by announcers in Mandarin.
• Disney sets the record straight: "There is nothing new to report on the progress of Shanghai discussions. The Walt Disney Co has not reached an agreement with Shanghai to build a second theme park in China. If we were to reach an agreement for a second park in China, it would not open before 2010."
• Would you pay US$120 to carve your initials into a fake part of the Great Wall?
• Trying to reduce the "empty miles" Shanghai taxi drivers drive.
• The Wenhui Daily warns us that "[b]eggars in the city are using more aggressive tactics to gain money, especially after the bustling Spring Festival" and that Yan'an Dong Lu is "one of the popular beggar hangouts."
• Want clean gym equipment in Shanghai? Bring your own spray bottle of disinfectant.
• A Day In The Life Of A Chinese Internet Police: BOOOOOORING!
• China to ban all new cigarette factories. But with 2 trillion cigarettes smoked here each year, we're pretty sure they have enough already.
• Four thousand manhole covers were stolen in Beijing last year. That is actually down 20,000 from 2004. How much do thieves get for a manhole cover? Twenty kuai.

Image of internet police from ESWN.