| New political funding row hits UK
A SENIOR British minister faced accusations today that he had accepted illegal political donations, the latest funding row to hit Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government. Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper said a donor channelled £3334 ($7500) to Health Secretary Alan Johnson through a proxy, which is banned under political funding rules brought in by the ruling Labour Party to prevent sleaze. The Johnson row is the third party funding dispute to hit Mr Brown's government since he took office in June last year, pledging a fresh start after a Labour funding scandal that overshadowed Tony Blair's final months in office. Mr Johnson denied any wrongdoing, saying there had been no reason to believe the money had come from a third party and his team had declared the donation to the authorities correctly.
Chinese Raise Storm Online Over Official Abuses
A man in central China's Hubei province on Monday saw dozens of state-employed officials scuffling with local residents who were upset about the dumping of garbage near their homes. He stopped his car and began to record the incident on his mobile phone.
Some of the officials then turned on Wei Wenhua, ordered him to delete the footage and then assaulted him so badly, Chinese media reported, that when he was taken to hospital he was declared dead on arrival.
After the incident was widely reported, discussed and protested on Internet sites and chat rooms, Xinhua reported on Wednesday that police had detained four people and were investigating more than 100 in connection with Wei's death.
One reason why China's state media are not ignoring such cases may be because, from the top of the CCP down, a drive is underway to end corruption and abuse.
Netflix lifting limits on streaming videos
Girding for a potential threat from Apple, online DVD-rental service Netflix is lifting its limits on how long most subscribers can watch movies and television shows over high-speed Internet connections. The change will become effective today, the eve of Apple's expected move into the movie-rental industry. Until now, Netflix restricted how long its more than 7 million subscribers could use the streaming service each month, based on how much they pay to rent DVDs. With today's change, virtually all subscribers will be able to stream as many movies and TV shows as they want from a library containing more than 6,000 titles. There will be no additional charge for the unlimited access. Apple plans to charge $3.99 for movies that can be downloaded and played for up to 24 hours, according to media reports citing people familiar with the company's rental plans.
|
