Image from Xinhua's top Chinese story today: Answering hot questions about the Harmonious Society

• Netease reports that man named Li Chenyong from Changle in Fujian Province applied to register a trademark for a condom brand named zhongyang yi tao (中央一套), a slang way of referring to CCTV 1.

• The Beijing News reports (in Chinese) that three people died after being bitten by a dog with rabies in Moding, Yunnan Province; the police are planning to kill 50,000 dogs to prevent further spread of the disease.

• The New York Times, like most US newspapers, has a story about the All-China Federation of Trade Unions being allowed to set up at a Wal-Mart store in Fujian Province. This is big news because Wal-Mart has always been hostile to unions and its American work force remains un-unionized. However, it is not really big news at all, because trade unions in China do not actually stand up for workers rights, and tend to be used merely as channels for Party influence and for distributing 'benefits', like the odd case of free shampoo, or fruit before Spring Festival.

• China's football dreams continue to be carried by its women's team: they beat Australia 6 - 4 to win the Asian Women's Fotball Cup yesterday - report in China on Sina.

• Today is Qixi (七夕), the 'Chinese Valentine's Day' that celebrates the only day of the year when the mythological star-crossed lovers, the cow herd and the weaver maid, can meet after their separation by the Queen Mother of the Heavens. The China Daily will gladly fill you in with fun facts about the holiday.

• Also in the China Daily: China to regulate foreign investors in Internet services. The rub is here:

Regulations for foreign investors operating internet services in China have been tightened. Websites they run using rented licenses will be closed. Domestic telecom companies should not lease or sell licenses to foreign investors, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said in a circular issued this week.

• The U.K. Times has a report by Jane Macartney on "an underground bunker that can accommodate up to 200,000 people" recently completed for defence purposes in Shanghai.

• The Financial Times has a story by Mure Dickie titled China tackles graft in health sector, which is about moves to centralize decisions about purchasing medical equipment for state-owned hospitals to prevent kickbacks and other corrupt practices.

• The Wall Street Journal has published an interview with Fu Chengyu chairman of CNOOC by Shai Oster (subscription required). Excerpt:

WSJ: What would you want to get across to the American audience?
Mr Fu: Cnooc is a company with global responsibilities. In terms of responsibilities and management system, it's not much different from any international oil company.
WSJ: I have to challenge you on that. Your biggest stakeholder is the state.
Mr. Fu: Whatever the percentage, they are all shareholders. As long as I can deliver good value to shareholders they are happy...

...WSJ: So, who does make the final investment decisions at Cnooc?
Mr. Fu: The final approval is by our board, not by the government.

• The Wall Street Journal also has an interview with Peggy Yu (俞渝) (subscription required) founder and CEO of Chinese online bookstore and retailer Dangdang.com.

• On to blogs: The entertaining and informative Shanghai blog by Bingfeng is back.

- This post was compiled with help from Banyue.