• We'll be seeing more of Obama's half-brother Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who will make a cameo on an upcoming Chinese movie "Let the Bullets Fly" as a priest. [People's Daily Online]
• MSN China is in trouble for ripping off popular microblogging service Plurk. Shame! SHAME! [Plurk]
• A Chinese cop who died after being forced to drink too much at a banquet has now been named a martyr. [Associated Press]

Who knew officials had so much in common with college kids in the West? While China's students may not suffer much from the effects of firewater (mostly because they don't partake in the stuff), Chinese officials are going into comas and dropping dead because of too much boozing. Most recently, a deputy directory of water resources in Hubei died after a banquet dinner. Hospital records indicated that the official's heavy drinking had triggered a heart attack. In the same week, another official - this one a district chief in Guangdong, fell into a coma thanks to excessive amounts of alcohol. But the weirdest little tidbit comes from an over-drinking story from last year, when a family planning official died in Hunan and was later recognized as an "Excellent Party Member" who had died with "honor." Last we checked, puking up a storm and drunkenly stumbling face first onto the floor wasn't all that honorable, but perhaps we're going about alcohol poisoning the wrong way. Source: China Daily more ›