House of Lords first to invite public to submit views through YouTube

October 1st, 2009 Supreme Court justices sworn in ahead of openingLONDON — Britain's new Supreme Court won't hear its first case until Monday, but the justices are already at work. Shortly after the newly titled justices of the Supreme Court were sworn in Thursday, they got down to business — an impromptu administrative hearing relating to a case they'll decide later this month.

September 1st, 2009 LONDON - A video of a four-year-old McDonald's burger still not gone bad has become an instant hit on the internet. Diet writer Julia Havey has posted the video footage of the cheeseburger, which does not have a single speck of mould on it, on YouTube.

July 15th, 2009 Britain prepares to open first Supreme CourtLONDON — They've already ditched the wigs and hung up their ermine-trimmed robes. Now Britain's most senior judges are preparing to leave the House of Lords entirely, moving from Parliament's upper chamber to a dedicated Supreme Court in a major upheaval of Britain's messy — and unwritten — constitution.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Taliban and al Qaeda should be treated more like criminals than holy warriors, according to a new book. Today many of these terrorists are motivated more by greed than religion or ideology, according to the author Gretchen Peters, whose book, "Seeds of Terror: How Heroin is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda," was recently published by Thomas Dunne Books.

June 22nd, 2009 UK lawmakers elect new speaker of House of CommonsLONDON — British lawmakers elected a new speaker of the House of Commons on Monday, part of a bid to put the political storm over their lavish taxpayer-funded expenses behind them. Opposition lawmaker John Bercow was elected to replace former speaker Michael Martin, the first presiding officer forced out in more than 300 years.

June 11th, 2009 LONDON - Britain's nine Law Lords have passed a ruling that has left the ruling Labour Party's anti-terrorist control orders in disarray. The Law Lords blasted the use of "secret" evidence to slap tough restrictions on terror suspects, and said three suspects can appeal against their control orders because they do not know what evidence is being used against them.

June 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA has created a web site for the review of US Human Space Flight Plans Committee to facilitate a two-way conversation with the public about the future direction of the agency's space flight programs. In addition to providing documents and information, the site will allow the public to track committee activities, receive regular updates and provide input through Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter, Flickr, user-submitted questions, polls and RSS feeds.

May 21st, 2009 LONDON - Britain's upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, Wednesday suspended two members over corruption allegations in a move not seen in more than 350 years. The two Labour peers, Lord Truscott and Lord Taylor of Blackburn were found guilty by a probe last week of offering to try to change legislation in return for money.

May 3rd, 2009 LONDON - A Bangladeshi-origin politician who became Britain's first Muslim woman member of the upper house of parliament is facing inquiry calls after allegations she claimed around 100,000 pounds in official expenses on a flat she does not live in. Baroness Paula Uddin, who became a Labour member of the House of Lords in 1998, has been claiming allowances intended for peers living outside London although she resides only four miles from the Lords, the Sunday Times reported.

April 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Video experts have come up with a list of Top 12 most popular online videos based on analysis of major sites. Unruly Media examined view counts on video sharing sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Dailymotion and Metacafe.

April 17th, 2009 NEW YORK - In another step in its transformation from an online jumble of amateur videos to a destination for mainstream TV programs and movies, YouTube said Thursday that it had signed deals with Hollywood studios to showcase thousands of TV episodes and hundreds of movies on its Web site. Google, which owns YouTube, said it might eventually bring another innovation to the site: payment for some premium content.

March 25th, 2009 LONDON - Music mogul Simon Cowell had turned down US President Barack Obama's dinner invite - because he "wasn't available". In an interview to US chat show host Jay Leno, the X-Factor judge revealed that he rejected a dinner invite Obama because he was too busy.

March 11th, 2009 LONDON - Video sharing website YouTube has blocked all premium music videos for British users after it failed to reach an agreement with the Performing Right Society (PRS) over licensing issues. Contactmusic.com reports that while YouTube's director of video partnerships Patrick Walker said the move was 'regrettable', the PRS has expressed its 'outrage' at the decision.

January 24th, 2009 LONDON - Ruling Labour Party members of the House of Lords - Britain’s unelected upper chamber of parliament - are prepared to accept fees of up to 120,000 pounds a year to amend laws on behalf of business clients, a Sunday newspaper found after a sting operation. Four Lords, including two former ministers, offered to help undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists obtain an amendment in return for cash.

January 24th, 2009 LONDON - The leader of Britain's House of Lords - the upper house of the parliament - said Sunday she was prepared to order a probe into claims that four peers were prepared to accept money to help amend legislation. Lady Janet Royall said she was 'deeply concerned' over the allegations, made by the Sunday Times newspaper, that four lords of the ruling Labour party had shown themselves open to being 'bought'.