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Culture: Thousands of miles from the North Pole, Yiwu in Zhejiang province is filled with factories that produce Christmas products for the whole world. The city's Christmas production industry has grown from 10 factories in 2001 to more than 600 now. Yiwu produces 60 percent of the world's Christmas decorations and more than 90 percent of China's. "Maybe it's the Chinese New Year for foreigners," a 19-year-old Yiwu factory worker surnamed Wei tells Sina News while discussing the holiday.

Bilingual news: A restaurant in Tokyo has announced that it will refuse to serve couples on Christmas Eve because their happiness would remind single members of staff of their loneliness. The owner of PiaPia, a pasta restaurant in the west Tokyo suburb of Hachioji, has placed a handwritten sign in the window that reads, "We will refuse entry to all couples on December 24, with no exceptions!"

Buzzword: "Google tax" is the name given by the British media to a new measure announced by Treasury chief George Osborne. He introduced a 25 percent tax on foreign companies' profits derived from economic activity in the UK. He singled out tech companies as particular abusers of the system, although he did not name names.