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By John Ruwitch PUTIAN, China (Reuters) – Criticized and even sued by luxury brand Gucci and others for facilitating the counterfeit goods trade, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has been quietly piloting a scheme to try to curb fakes at source. In the coastal city of Putian, in Fujian province, Alibaba is working with 17 shoe manufacturers to cultivate home-grown brands online, revitalize a flagging industry and offer would-be counterfeiters an alternative source of livelihood. Critics say the scheme is misguided and Alibaba should instead focus on scrubbing its online marketplaces of widespread listings of fakes.

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Finland's Nokia denied reports in Chinese media that it planned to return to manufacturing phones. “Nokia notes recent news reports claiming the company communicated an intention to manufacture consumer handsets out of a R&D facility in China. These reports are false,” Nokia said in a statement posted on its website. “Nokia reiterates it currently has no plans to manufacture or sell consumer handsets.” However, Nokia has said it is looking into returning to the smartphones business by brand-licensing.

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China's e-commerce giant, Alibaba Group, has been fined 800,000 yuan ($129,000) by the price bureau in eastern Zhejiang province for violations by third-party sellers during promotions on its e-commerce platforms. Since Alibaba turned “Singles' Day”, a November 11 Chinese response to Valentine's Day, into an online shopping festival in 2009, the event has grown to similar proportions as Cyber Monday and Black Friday in the United States. “The company has been fined 500,000 yuan ($81,000) for matters related to Singles' Day pricing by third-party sellers on our Tmall marketplace in 2013 and 2014 and 300,000 yuan($48,000) for pricing in other promotions in 2013 and 2015,” Alibaba Group said in a statement on Friday. While pricing is handled by third parties, not directly by Alibaba, the group said, it would nevertheless reinforce pricing rules and regulations with sellers to protect consumers.

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By Natalie Thomas BEIJING (Reuters) – In China's online hostessing world, men find virtual company and the women can find riches. Student Xiao Yue, 21, spends four hours most days chatting online with fans who shower her with virtual roses and other presents. She is one of more than 10,000 hostesses on the internet site bobo.com, a live broadcasting web platform where anyone can record themselves singing, playing piano, dancing or just chatting. Xiao Yue’s specialty is to sajiao – a very Chinese type of flirting characterized by the woman acting in a cutesy childlike manner and speaking in a whiny voice.

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By Matthew Miller and Gerry Shih BEIJING (Reuters) – IBM Corp will share technology with Chinese firms and will actively help build China's industry, CEO Virginia Rometty said in Beijing as she set out a strategy for one of the foreign firms hardest hit by China's shifting technology policies. IBM must help China build its IT industry rather than viewing the country solely as a sales destination or manufacturing base, Rometty said at the China Development Forum, an annual Chinese government-sponsored conference bringing together business executives and China's ruling elite.

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China's Defense Ministry on Friday denied that it had anything to do with a cyber attack on Register.com, a unit of Web.com, following a report in the Financial Times that the FBI was looking into the Chinese military's involvement. “The relevant criticism that China's military participated in Internet hacking is to play the same old tune, and is totally baseless,” the ministry said in a fax to Reuters in response to a question about the story. It is not clear what the Chinese military would be looking for or what it would gain from Register.com's data. China and the United States regularly accuse each other of hacking attacks.

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By Noel Randewich and Matthew Miller SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING (Reuters) – Qualcomm Inc has agreed to pay China a fine of $975 million, the largest in the country's corporate history, ending a 14-month government investigation into anti-competitive practices. The deal also requires Qualcomm to lower its royalty rates on patents used in China, likely helping Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd [XTC.UL] and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL]. It removes a major source of concern among Qualcomm investors, sending shares of the U.S. chipmaker up 1.6 percent to $68.18 in after-hours trading. China's expanding high-speed 4G network is driving demand for smartphones with leading-edge technology, but Qualcomm's opportunities have been clouded by the antitrust investigation, which has also contributed to troubles collecting royalty payments from device makers.

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By Edwin Chan, Paul Carsten and John Ruwitch SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans a major move to win U.S. business this year, by offering American retailers new ways to sell to China's vast and growing middle class. Anchored by Alipay, the dominant Chinese electronic payments system that works closely with Alibaba and is controlled by its executives, the world's largest Internet retailer is using the calling card of China's consumers to attract U.S. partners, two sources close to the company told Reuters. Long seen as the most potent threat to Amazon.com Inc with $300 billion in global sales, the moves add up to a conservative approach to expanding in the United States, contrary to industry speculation that the company may be plotting a direct assault on U.S. soil.

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By Paul Carsten BEIJING (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd reported quarterly results which showed net income rising 15.5 percent to $1.11 billion for the July-September period, meeting forecasts. It was the Chinese e-commerce giant's first report to investors since its record-setting $25 billion listing in September. The non-GAAP net income – which excludes the share-based compensation expenses and amortisation of intangible assets – compared with a consensus estimate of $1.17 billion based on a Thomson Reuters SmartEstimate poll of 21 analysts. Revenue rose 53.7 percent to $2. …