"BLACKBERRY is expected to officially launch its App World service for Chinese mainland users in the next couple of days, sources said yesterday, and users now can access the service for a trial period. A company source told Shanghai Daily that the short trial period would help the company solve any problem before the official launch whose date was not confirmed by the firm. The App World went live in other countries and regions in 2009, but BlackBerry didn't open it to domestic users. Industry observers said the move to officially launch the App World was to coincide with the launch this month of the Playbook tablet computer by Research In Motion, also the maker of BlackBerry phones. BlackBerry phones accounted for about 4.6 percent of the domestic smartphone market in terms of sales in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to research firm Analysys International." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

• Award Offers Expats Lower Taxes [Shanghai Daily] "Shanghai will launch a "financial talent award" soon to make the city more attractive to foreign financial specialists, said Fang Xinghai, director of the Shanghai Financial Services Office, yesterday. The award also allows for a lower tax burden for expatriate financial talents in Shanghai and aims to build the city into an international financial hub by 2020."
• Mindful of Japan, US expert urges caution on China [AFP] "The United States should avoid a formal partnership with China to address global problems as it would hamper the alliance with Japan, an influential US foreign-policy thinker told Congress Thursday."
• 'Excellent' migrant workers get Shanghai hukou [Global Times] "Li Ying, a sanitation worker from Jiangsu Province, was so happy to be given a hukou for Shanghai Wednesday she burst into tears in the police station. Li - who has worked in the city for the past 10 years - was among a group of 40 “National Excellent Migrating Workers” to be given the household registration certificates for the thriving city."

"A top aide to Gordon Brown has been a suspected victim of a “honeytrap” operation by Chinese intelligence agents. The aide, a senior Downing Street adviser who was with the prime minister on a trip to China earlier this year, had his BlackBerry phone stolen after being picked up by a Chinese woman who had approached him in a Shanghai hotel disco. The aide agreed to return to his hotel with the woman. He reported the BlackBerry missing the next morning. The aide, whose identity is known to The Sunday Times, immediately reported the theft to the prime minister’s Special Branch protection team and was informally reprimanded." [Source] more ›