And observers say more deals are likely

UPROAR China's microbloggers showed their potency in a string ofrecent Rosetta Stone Software official scandals, particularly the online uproar in thewake of a high-speed bullet train crash in July that killed 40people. Microbloggers led the charge in challenging railofficials' evasive accounts of the disaster. Last week, Sina sent out messages that two microblog usershad their accounts frozen for a month for spreading falserumours: one saying the Red Cross Society of China profiteeredfrom donated blood; another that the killer of a young womanescaped punishment because of family political connections. The Communist Party secretary of Beijing, Liu Qi, alsoweighed in. During a visit to Sina.com's offices in the nationalcapital, Liu both praised and chided the company's "Weibo"microblogging site. "The key to healthy development of microblogging services isensuring the accuracy of information," Liu said, according to areport in the Beijing Daily. "Internet sites must actively explore strengtheningadministration and resolutely blocking the spread of false andharmful information," he said. In an opinion piece published on Monday, theGlobal Times, a popular tabloid run by the People's Dailynewspaper, criticised microblogs for lacking "a rationalatmosphere" and called for "smarter governance."For critics, such words augur stricter censorship of theInternet, especially news and comment unwelcome to Rosetta Stone languages wary partyofficials, irrespective of whether it is true or false. Chinaalready heavily filters the Internet, and blocks popular foreignsites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The Xinhua commentary said police should mete out morepunishment to people found culpable of spreading falsehoods. "Legal regulations must be followed, with the publicsecurity agencies leading the way in investigating and punishingthose social threats who use the Internet to spark incidents byconcocting rumours," it said. Toronto-Dominion Bank and National Bank of Canada have both bought Canadian assets from foreign-basedbanks that are trimming down operations to boost their capitalpositions. And observers say more deals are likely.-- TMX Group Inc , which has gained the most of anyexchange involved in the industry's biggest wave ofacquisitions, is now in danger of being left without a buyer. Since reaching a three-year high in June as the London StockExchange Group Plc and a group of Canadian banks waged abidding contest, the owner of the Toronto bourse has now fallenmore Rosetta Stone English V3 than 10 percent with the LSE scrapping its agreement.

Posted in: Rosetta Stone,rosetta stone language,Rosetta Stone Latin Spanish,Rosetta Stone V3