Chinese language Internet search provider Baidu.com (Nasdaq: BIDU) has launched its online shopping and C2C platform - Baidu Youa. The customers, driven to this platform primarily through Baidu’s search engine, will be able to use a Baidu-branded online payment system, BaiFuBao, to make purchases.

Japan Post Service Co., a mail delivery unit of Japan Post Holdings Co. will open an online shopping mall site for Chinese consumers and Japanese residents in China. Customers will be able to pay for purchases with credit cards and have their orders sent to China by express mail service.

Alibaba.com Limited and SOFTBANK Corp. have formed a joint venture company called Alibaba.com Japan. The new company will take over the operation of Alibaba.com’s existing Japanese-language website which connects small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Japan with buyers and suppliers around the world. SOFTBANK has been a strategic investor in the Alibaba Group for many years.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and online game provider NetDragon Websoft Inc. have officially launched a new co-branded, Unionpay standard credit card, the “Peony NetDragon Credit Card”.

China Electronic Commerce Association (CECA), a government-backed organization is deploying a new authentication device, Fujitsu’s PalmSecure PC mouse equipped with a palm vein biometric sensor, using it as the login mechanism for its employees to gain access to their computers. This is the first deployment of palm vein biometric authentication devices in China.

The online sale of lottery tickets has been banned from Jan. 2 by a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the General Administration of Sports. Telecommunications regulators will punish those caught selling tickets online and violators could face prosecution.

China Southern Airlines, the largest airline in China has launched a new telephone payment system which allow customers to purchase their e-tickets by dialing a number.

On October 30 the ticketing center of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) decided to temporarily halt the domestic ticket sales in the second phase because the issue of the communications jam could not be solved in a short time frame. The center will announce new ticketing information on November 5.

China Southern Airlines has launched its new global website with an e-ticketing system (http://www.flychinasouthern.com), marking another key step for China Southern to tap the international travel market.

B2B marketplace Alibaba.com and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) have recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement under which they will work together to provide business loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to build a joint online platform offering services such as online financing, online payments and financial consulting.