Alibaba meets with China regulator, controversial report retracted

(Reuters) – The head of China's commerce regulator met with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd chairman Jack Ma on Friday to discuss combating fake products, the official Xinhua news agency reported, with the two adopting a conciliatory tone after a row over illegal business on the Internet company's platforms. The meeting took place the same day the regulator, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC), backtracked on an earlier report that had excoriated the Chinese online commerce company for not doing enough to suppress counterfeiting on its websites.

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Factbox: Canada security bill’s main provisions

The Canadian government introduced legislation on Friday to counter terrorism in response to attacks in Canada, France and Australia by Islamist militants since last October. The following are the main provisions: CANADIAN SECURITY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE – CSIS would have powers to disrupt threats to the security of Canada at home and abroad, not just collect intelligence. PROMOTION OF TERRORISM – It would make it a crime to call for attacks on Canada in general.

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Davos bosses fret over threats to Internet free trade

The issue is a hot topic at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, and the forum is seeking to provide a platform for debate over ways to maintain an open, cross-border Web in the face of pressures for national regulation. Quite frankly, there is a temptation,” said Vittorio Colao, chief executive of mobile telecoms group Vodafone, who pointed to different regulatory regimes as an impediment to network traffic. A 2014 report by the Boston Consulting Group estimated the Internet economy will be worth $4.2 trillion in the major Group of 20 (G20) economies by 2016 and, if it were a country, it would rank among the top five in the world, ahead of Germany

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