Tencent, the world's third largest internet company by market share, launched its popular instant messenger service in English, Japanese and French.
The launch of QQi Instant Messenger is an international version of its Chinese QQ instant messaging services, which has 600 million subscribers -- the largest instant messaging subscriber base in the world.
Versions in Korean, Spanish and German are planned to be released early next year, a company spokesperson said. Tencent is also planning the release of its first English language social networking site in early 2011.
Marc Violo, product manager for QQi, said the launch marks a tentative step toward bringing products from the hugely popular Chinese internet company to an overseas audience.
"We have no intention of trying to compete with Skype or MSN instant messenger," Violo said.
"We're looking to expand our reach outside of China to get involved with people who are interested in China."
Already QQ has users in 212 countries, most of who come from the U.S. and Europe, Violo told CNN. Tencent has partnered with popular English-language web sites in China -- such as travel provider CTrip and state-run newspaper China Daily -- to draw more traffic from overseas consumers.
"And if you want to instant message someone living in China, you have access to 92 percent of the online population here," Violo said.
The company is also working on a partnership with Canada-based StumpleUpon, a content discovery service company. QQi hopes to have "between 7 and 10 million subscribers" by September, Violo said.
A beta version, released last year targeting expatriates living in China, has 2 million subscribers.
Tencent is not the only Chinese internet company with international ambitions. Baidu, China's largest search engine, launched a search service in Japan several years ago.
The company has plans to expand into other regions, including Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, according to Baidu spokesperson Kaiser Kuo.
"We are looking at markets where Google is not dominant," Kuo said. "Our preference is for markets with languages that are not Latin based so we have a leg up there."
In November, Baidu CEO Robin Li said he hoped that in 10 years, the Chinese search giant would become a household name in 50 percent of the world.
With Chinese internet companies' plans to do business abroad also come challenges that analysts say they are unsure China's domestic web giants will ultimately ever be able to overcome.
The obstacles relate to the internet censorship policies inside China that require companies to monitor and remove sensitive content from websites and block user behavior deemed inappropriate, political or otherwise.
"This is one of the key issues for all of these really rich Chinese internet companies trying to go overseas," Bill Bishop, a Beijing-based independent media consultant, said.
"When they go into developing markets, it is one thing (because) there is a less sophisticated user base. When they go into the United States, they are carrying a huge amount of baggage and Google added a few tons to that baggage last year."
Companies, like Tencent, have no choice but to follow Chinese internet law or be shut down. Tencent, for example, blocks chats or posts containing sensitive words from its servers.
"For sure, I think all of the chats are monitored by QQ," Lu Gang, co-founder of OpenWeb.Asia, a working group focusing on the Asian internet industry.
"If you type in sensitive key words, the messaging will be blocked. I think more and more people realize the problem but still no one will give up QQ because it is part of the internet culture in China. If you are not using it, you will lose lots of contacts in your social life."
Most recently the company was involved in a high profile dispute with Qihoo 360, China's largest antivirus software provider, which alleged Tencent was scanning private data of its more than 600 million users. Tencent denied the allegations.
"This whole Qihoo 360 case only raises people's level of suspicion," Bill Bishop said.
"Tencent may feel it is a great company but what matters is if they can convince users they are safe and now that bar has been raised significantly."
Violo said he believes this can be done.
"Most people don't realize that QQ is a very large multinational that is listed on the stock exchange and has thousands of shareholders," the QQi project manager said.
"Everything needs to be transparent. Of course we are in China so the government can put pressure on the company, and of course we have to comply with certain subjects, which are sensible in China. But if you are not planning a coup d'état against the Chinese government using QQ, then QQ is a safe thing."
A court in central London this week found itself in the world's spotlight, as a small army of celebrities staked their reputations by turning up to offer support -- and bail money -- to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The 39-year-old Australian, who handed himself over to British police last week to answer a European arrest warrant over alleged sex crimes in Sweden, remains in custody pending an appeal by Swedish authorities against a judge's decision to grant him bail.
Assange has vowed to fight attempts to extradite him, arguing that the charges against him are politically motivated and designed to deflect attention from the sensitive material exposed by his whistle-blowing website.
Sweden to appeal bail decision Thursday
This stance has won him some high-profile backing, as was shown during the hearing Tuesday when some notable faces trooped into Westminster Magistrates Court determined to demonstrate their solidarity, even if it meant staking part of the £200,000 ($315,000) bail or a spare room in your country mansion.
Despite having never personally met Assange, Ken Loach, the veteran British director of movies including "Kes" and "Sweet Sixteen," said he had offered £20,000 ($31,444) towards his bail. "I think the work he has done has been a public service," he told reporters, in quotes carried by Britain's Guardian newspaper. "I think we are entitled to know the dealings of those that govern us."
Jemima Khan, British socialite and ex-wife of former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, offered a similar amount before releasing the following statement: "I make no judgment of Julian Assange as an individual as I have never met him. I am offering my support to him as I believe in the universal right to freedom of information and our right to be told the truth."
The daughter of the late financier and politician, James Goldsmith, Khan has also been active on Twitter, and tweeted: "What happened to innocent until proven guilty? He hasn't even been charged, let alone convicted."
Assange also found prominent support from across the Atlantic, as controversial U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore pledged $20,000 from "his own pocket."
The director of thought-provoking documentaries such as "Bowling for Columbine," which looked at U.S. gun control in the wake of 1999 Columbine High School massacre, wrote on his website that he would be offering the assistance of his website, servers, domain names and "anything else I can do to keep WikiLeaks alive and thriving as it continues its work to expose the crimes that were concocted in secret and carried out in our name and with our tax dollars."
He added: "We were taken to war in Iraq on a lie. Hundreds of thousands are now dead. Just imagine if the men who planned this war crime back in 2002 had had a WikiLeaks to deal with. They might not have been able to pull it off."
Meanwhile, Vaughan Smith, the founder of London's Frontline Club which claims to "champion independent journalism," offered to accommodate Assange, who has no British address, at his sprawling family home in order to meet another of the bail conditions issued by the court Tuesday. Assange would also be electronically tagged and required to report daily to a police station close by.
In a statement on his website he explained that his support was being offered "on a point of principle."
He added: "In the face of a concerted attempt to shut him down and after a decade since 9/11 that has been characterized by manipulation of the media by the authorities, the information released by WikiLeaks is a refreshing glimpse into an increasingly opaque world.
"I am suspicious of the personal charges that have been made against Mr. Assange and hope that this will be properly resolved by the courts. Certainly no credible charges have been brought regarding the leaking of the information itself."
Other prominent supporters at the hearing included award-winning Australian journalist and documentary-maker John Pilger, British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell, and human rights activist Bianca Jagger. Pilger, a long-time critic of U.S. foreign policy, has been particularly vocal in his support for Assange and the work of WikiLeaks.
However he questioned why Assange had reportedly been held in solitary confinement in London's largest prison. "He called me from Wandsworth Prison at the weekend and his state of mind seemed pretty good," he told reporters, in quotes carried by Britain's Press Association.
"He is in solitary confinement. He is in what is known as a punishment block and we are not quite sure why. He is an innocent man who has not been charged with anything, sitting in solitary confinement -- what is going on?"
Tatchell, meanwhile, also appeared outside the court on Tuesday to express his support for the work of WikiLeaks. He told reporters: "It's quite clear that the U.S. government and other governments have kept secrets hidden from us. And we the people have a right to know. These revelations are in the public interest. It's shocking that it's taken a whistleblower to bring them to our attention."
When asked about the allegations against him he replied: "No one can know. But he is innocent until proven guilty."
However in a post on his Twitter page the previous week, he wrote: "Julian Assange might be guilty of sex crimes. But the charges look like a fix to silence & discredit him. The US is out to destroy him."
In another post he claimed the U.S. government tried to discredit Vietnam War whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg in the 1970s. Ellsberg, a former military analyst, famously leaked the "Pentagon Papers" in 1971, a classified study into U.S. decision-making during the conflict.
Bianca Jagger, human rights advocate and former wife of Rolling Stones singer Mick, also gave her support to Assange, telling reporters in central London that she was concerned that the case had become politicized. "If the police have any accusations they should let him answer for them," she said, adding that he should be treated fairly.
The ex-convict who calmly held a school board at gunpoint and then began randomly firing had circled the date on a calendar found in his mobile home, evidence he had been planning the attack for some time, police said.
The shooting at the Bay District board meeting was not "a spur of the moment thing," Panama City Police Chief John Van Etten told The Associated Press. Police also found anti-government paraphernalia at Clay A. Duke's home, but the chief didn't provide details.
"He was obviously was not happy with our government," Van Etten said.
Video of Tuesday's meeting show Duke, 56, complaining about taxes and his wife being fired by the district before shooting at close range as the superintendent begged, "Please don't."
SCHOOL BOARD MEETING: Gunman opens fire, kills self
VIDEO: Florida superintendent recounts school shooting
Minutes earlier, the room had been filled with students accepting awards, but no one was hurt except Duke, who shot himself after exchanging fire with a security guard, police said.
"It could have been a monumental tragedy," Superintendent Bill Husfelt said. "God was standing in front of me and I will go to my grave believing that."
Video shows Duke rising from his seat, spray-painting a red V on the wall, then waving a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun and ordering everyone to leave the room except the men on the board. They dove under the long desk they had been sitting behind as he fired at them.
Duke's motivation was still murky Wednesday. He rambled to the board about tax increases and his wife, but also apparently created a Facebook page last week that refers to class warfare and is laced with images from the movie "V for Vendetta," in which a mysterious figure battles a totalitarian government.
The school board was in the midst of a routine discussion when Duke walked to the front of the room.
"We could tell by the look in his eyes that this wasn't going to end well," Husfelt told the AP.
Husfelt was calm as he tried to persuade Duke to drop the gun, but Duke just shook his head. The only woman on the board, Ginger Littleton, had been ordered out of the room too, but she sneaked back in behind him and whacked his gun arm with her large brown purse.
"In my mind, that was the last attempt or opportunity to divert him," Littleton said.
Duke, a large, heavyset man in a dark pullover coat got angry and turned around. She fell to the floor as board members pleaded with her to stop. Duke pointed the gun at her head and said, "You stupid b——" but he didn't shoot her. She's not sure why.
She joked during a Wednesday press conference that her three daughters asked "'Are you just stupid? What were you thinking?' I don't have an answer for that."
After several minutes, video showed Duke slowly raising the gun and leveling it at Husfelt, who pleaded "Please don't, please don't."
Duke shot twice at Husfelt from about 8 feet away and squeezed off several more rounds before district security chief Mike Jones, a former police officer, bolted in. Police said Wednesday the pair exchanged at least 14 shots, with Jones hitting Duke four times, felling him. Duke then shot himself fatally in the head. Police said he had at least 25 more rounds of ammunition.
Somehow, no one else in the small board room was injured in the clash that lasted several minutes. Husfelt said at least two rounds lodged in the wall behind him.
In Duke's brief exchange with the board, he said his wife had been fired from the northern Florida district, but never told Husfelt or the board who she was or what she did. Members promised to help her find a new job, but Duke just shook his head. Husfelt told Duke he didn't remember his wife but would have be responsible for her dismissal, so the board members should be allowed to leave.
"He said his wife was fired, but we really don't know what he was talking about," Husfelt told the AP on Tuesday at his Panama City home.
Duke's wife was apparently living with her mother in nearby Lynn Haven. It wasn't clear how long they were living apart, the chief said.
Video of the meeting shows Husfelt telling Duke: "I've got a feeling you want the cops to come in and kill you because you said you are going to die today." Later, the head of more than 30 schools in the district that includes the beach tourism and Air Force town of Panama City said he was sure someone was going to be killed.
Tommye Lou Richardson, the school district's personnel director, was at the meeting and called Jones a hero. As Duke lay on the floor, colleagues comforted the shaken man, who said he had never shot anyone before.
SWAT officers then stormed the room and ordered everyone onto the ground. School officials told them that Duke was shot and appeared dead. His feet could be seen near the board's seats.
People gathered at the home of Duke's wife Tuesday night asked reporters to leave. On a Facebook page under his name, the only dated entries are from Dec. 7 and 8. The page shows a cryptic message in the "About Me" section.
"My testament: Some people (the government sponsored media) will say I was evil, a monster (V) ... no ... I was just born poor in a country where the Wealthy manipulate, use, abuse, and economically enslave 95% of the population. Rich Republicans, Rich Democrats ... same-same ... rich ... they take turns fleecing us ... our few dollars ... pyramiding the wealth for themselves."
His Facebook profile picture is the red V symbol he spray-painted on the wall during the meeting, and his page includes photos from the film version "V for Vendetta," which was also a graphic novel.
He quotes billionaire Warren Buffett, who told the New York Times in 2006: "There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class that's making war and we're winning."
Duke was charged in October 1999 with aggravated stalking, shooting or throwing a missile into a building or vehicle and obstructing justice, according to state records. He was convicted and sentenced in January 2000 to five years in prison and was released in January 2004. Records show Duke was a licensed massage therapist before his arrest but it wasn't clear if he was employed.
Attorney Ben Bollinger, who represented Duke during his trial, told The News Herald of Panama City that Duke was waiting in the woods for his wife with a rifle, wearing a mask and a bulletproof vest. She confronted him and then tried to leave in a vehicle, and Duke shot the tires.
It was not immediately clear whether the wife in the 1999 crime was the same woman Duke was referring to at the school board meeting.
Bollinger said as part of Duke's sentence, he was required to complete psychological counseling. Bollinger did not immediately return a phone message from the AP.
The Catholic bishop of Phoenix will strip St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center of its Catholic status on Friday if the hospital's parent company, Catholic Healthcare West, does not meet his demands to guarantee compliance with church teachings.
Three demands were contained in a Nov. 22 letter Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted sent to Lloyd Dean, president of Catholic Healthcare West. The bishop wants the hospital to give him more oversight of its practices to ensure it complies with Catholic health-care rules, provide education on those rules to medical staff and acknowledge that the bishop is correct in a dispute over a procedure the diocese says was an abortion.
"There cannot be a tie in this debate," Olmsted wrote. "Until this point in time, you have not acknowledged my authority to settle this question."
St. Joseph's and San Francisco-based CHW did not immediately comment on the letter.
If the bishop were to revoke the hospital's Catholic status, Olmsted said, he would prohibit Mass and some religious items at the building. How the loss of Catholic identity would affect the facility's mission, funding and perception by patients and the public remains unclear.
The letter is the culmination of a debate that began in November 2009.
A pregnant woman at the hospital suffered from pulmonary hypertension, a condition that limits the ability of the heart and lungs to function and is made worse, possibly fatal, by pregnancy. After consulting with Sister Margaret McBride, a member of the hospital's ethics committee, doctors terminated the pregnancy.
Olmsted condemned the surgery as an abortion, which is prohibited by church doctrine, and at the time said the decision effectively meant the excommunication of McBride, a St. Joseph's vice president.
St. Joseph's has since argued that the case was more akin to removing a pregnant woman's cancerous uterus, which is permissible under church doctrine, than to a standard abortion. McBride remains a nun on the hospital staff.
Two months of discussions followed but, according to Olmsted, did not resolve the question of whether the procedure was allowable. In the November letter, Olmsted said that he did not believe CHW intended to change its policies.
"Because of this, I must act now," he wrote, to ensure "no further such violations" take place at the hospital and to "repair the grave scandal to the Christian faithful that has resulted from the procedure."
In order to retain his support, he said, Catholic Healthcare West must:
• Acknowledge he was right and the hospital was wrong in its interpretation of a church health-care directive regarding so-called indirect abortions.
• Submit itself to a diocesan review and certification "to ensure full compliance" with Catholic moral teachings. Olmsted wrote that the certification would be similar to other accreditations that hospitals seek.
• Agree to give its medical staff ongoing training on the Ethical and Religious Directives, a document from the national bishops council that explains Catholic moral teachings for health-care providers.
"Failure to fulfill these requirements will lead me to decree the suspension of my endorsement of St. Joseph's Hospital, forcing me to notify the Catholic faithful that St. Joseph's Hospital no longer qualifies as a 'Catholic' hospital," the bishop wrote.
CHW is based in San Francisco, where Archbishop George Niederauer is the diocesan leader. He was copied on the letter. The effect of the letter on CHW as a whole was unclear.
St. Joseph's would not be required to stop calling itself Catholic or remove Catholic items at the hospital unless they belonged to someone who requested their return.
The initial effects of losing Catholic affiliation would include a ban on Mass being said at St. Joseph's, removal of the Communion wafers that Catholics believe are the body of Christ and a public advisory on the diocesan website that the hospital no longer had Catholic status with the diocese.
The bishop said ministry to the sick by priests and church ministers would continue as requested by patients, as it does at other hospitals.
Unknown is whether the move would affect contracts, donations, relationships with doctors, patient use of the hospital or other factors.
Rob DeFrancesco, communications director for the Diocese of Phoenix, confirmed the authenticity of the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Republic. He said letters between the bishop and others are confidential and declined to comment further.
Numerous Catholic institutions, from universities to hospitals to publications, call themselves Catholic without being affiliated directly with the church.
St. Joseph's has no official connection with the bishop, but it was founded by the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic religious order.
It is the oldest hospital in the Valley and, for more than 100 years, was the only Catholic hospital in the Phoenix area until CHW built and opened Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in 2006.
Chandler Regional Medical Center joined the group in 1999 but purposely remained a non-Catholic hospital that is not bound by Catholic health-care directives.
Catholic Healthcare West was formed in 1986 to merge control of hospitals, including St. Joseph's, run by several religious orders. The eighth-largest hospital provider in the nation, it makes nearly all its money from patient payments for treatment and does not rely on local dioceses to fund its hospitals.
But the bishop, under church law, enjoys wide discretion in overseeing local institutions that identify themselves as Catholic. In his letter, he refers numerous times to his authority as bishop.
He writes, "Your actions communicate to me that you do not respect my authority to authentically teach and interpret moral law in this diocese."
The bishop also restated concerns he has raised in the past about Chandler Regional Hospital, which joined CHW in 1999 but never adopted the Catholic directives. He pushed CHW to move to put those rules in place in Chandler.
"The irony of our present state of affairs is that an organization that identifies itself as 'Catholic' (CHW) is operating a hospital in my diocese that does not abide" by the directives, the bishop wrote.
Suzanne Pfister, vice president of external affairs at St. Joseph's and spokeswoman for CHW, said she could not comment. She said she would address questions later.
Other parties involved, including the Sisters of Mercy and Chandler Regional Hospital, also referred inquiries to Pfister.
At least one other bishop has removed a hospital from the Catholic rolls. Early this year, Bishop Robert Vasa of Baker, Ore., removed church support from St. Charles Hospital in Bend, Ore.
The church was performing tubal ligations at the request of patients, which the church does not permit. Hospital officials said that they will continue to follow church directives when possible but added that their primary responsibility is to provide comprehensive care to the community.
U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) are calling on the Obama administration to join Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) in fast-tracking Supreme Court consideration of the constitutionality of the federal health-care law.
Those statements are some of a staggering volume of reaction within Virginia to today's ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson that a central provision of the law requiring that individuals obtain health insurance by 2014 is unconstitutional. The federal government can appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. But Cuccinelli has asked them to consider joining him in requesting immediate Supreme Court review.
At an afternoon news conference, Cuccinelli said bypassing the appeals court would relieve the country -- and its massive health-care market -- of the uncertainty of a continued lengthy legal battle. Already, Americans face a confused landscaped including 25 challenges to the law. Some have been dismissed on standing; two other judges have found the same provision of the law to be constitutional.
Cuccinelli said he would consider asking the Supreme Court to take the case even without Justice Department cooperation, but he has made no decisions on the issue.
In a statement, McDonnell said he has asked other governors and governors-elect to sign on to a letter to the Justice Department asking for their cooperation. McDonnell called the legal decision a "victory for the constitution" but said executives like him need a final resolution of the issue as they move ahead with implementing the complicated law. "There must be certainty and finality in order for our businesses and citizens to both know and adhere to the law."
Cantor pledged that the new Republican-led House of Representatives would pass a repeal of the act next year, but in the meantime also called for expedited review. "In this challenging environment, we must not burden our states, employers and families with the costs and uncertainty created by this unconstitutional law, and we must take all steps to resolve this issue immediately," he said.
Expedited review of the Virginia case would have the affect of causing it to leapfrog other challenges, including a suit filed jointly by 20 states in Florida.
Advocates of the law downplayed the importance of the Virginia decision, noting that Hudson is the only judge so far to rule the mandate unconstitutional and that he chose not to strike down the entire law. Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran accused Cuccinelli of using the suit as a political springboard while undermining reforms to the health-care market that would benefit Virginians.
"I urge the Obama administration to do what our grand-standing Attorney General refuses to do: stand up for families in Virginia and around the country who do not have access to quality and affordable health care by continuing to fight this battle in court," he said in a statement.
