News Headlines - 17 May 2016

▽BBC set to launch Britflix rival to Netflix after John Whittingdale approves subscription streaming

The BBC is to push ahead with plans to launch a British rival to Netflix, after getting the go-ahead from the government to develop a new subscription streaming service.
The project - which is understood to have the working title, Britflix - is believed to be a collaboration between the corporation and ITV, its main commercial rival, and is still in the early stages of development.

▽Twitter to Stop Counting Photos and Links in 140-Character Limit - Bloomberg

The social media company will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them.

▽Obama's praise of Finland's heavy metal goes viral - AJE News

Social media reacts after US president says Nordic country's good governance might be linked to its heavy metal culture.

▽China breaks official silence on Cultural Revolution’s ‘decade of calamity’ | The Guardian

China’s Communist party-controlled press has broken its silence on the 50th anniversary of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution, urging readers to consign the decade of turmoil to the history books and claiming it gifted the country a “certain immunity” from civil unrest.

▽Duterte vows to bring back hanging and kill criminals in Philippines | The Guardian

Philippines’ president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has vowed to reintroduce capital punishment, give security forces the power to “shoot-to-kill” criminals and offer cabinet posts to communists.