Los Angeles - An unfinished "workprint" version of the upcoming 20th Century Fox movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" has leaked onto the BitTorrent file-sharing network, and has already been downloaded more than 75,000 times, according to TorrentFreak. [more..]

Washington - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday said that video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, makers of the "Grand Theft Auto" franchise, has paid $3 million to settle SEC charges that it backdated stock options. [more..]

Berlin - Repeating a scenario recently seen in the U.K., Google's YouTube has blocked music videos on its site in Germany, after licensing negotiations with local royalty collection society GEMA broke down, Billboard reported. [more..]

New York - Media giant News Corp. on Wednesday named former AOL head Jonathan Miller as its chief digital officer and the chairman and CEO of its new Digital Media Group. [more..]

San Francisco - Online social network hi5, which currently claims 62 million monthly unique users, has laid off around 50% of its 100-member staff after failing to secure an anticipated round of new funding, VentureBeat reported. [more..]

San Francisco - The U.S. venture capital industry is suffering through its worst liquidity drought on record, with not a single venture-backed company completing an initial public offering (IPO) in nearly eight months, according to new statistics from Dow Jones VentureSource. [more..]

San Diego - Online video portal Veoh Networks has laid off 25 employees as part of a restructuring that will see the company re-focus on its video browser video plug-in, VentureBeat reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Buzz Media (formerly Buzznet), a network of more than 40 entertainment websites that includes Stereogum, Idolator and Just Jared, has cut over 20% of its staff, and now counts around 75 employees, PaidContent reported. [more..]

North Hollywood, Calif. - Disney Online announced on Wednesday that it will acquired the Web asses of Canada's Kaboose, Inc., a network of entertainment sites for kids and resource sites for parents, for about $18.4 million. [more..]

Emeryville, Calif. - TubeMogul, a provider of Web video distribution and analytics services, has raised $3 million in first round funding, led by Trinity Ventures, NewTeeVee reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - HitFix, a start-up entertainment news and analysis website, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $950,000 in its first round of financing, from female-focused angel fund Golden Seeds, and private investors. [more..]

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group, announced that it has aided authorities in shutting down what it claims was Brazil's largest Web community offering links to illegal music files. [more..]

Las Vegas - Yahoo on Wednesday announced the availability of a mobile application for Apple's iPhone, and said it soon plans to launch a version of Yahoo Messenger for the device. [more..]

Los Angeles - A Bay Area band called Moonalice, whose members include GE Smith and Barry Sless, said on Wednesday that it will post links to download free live recordings from its upcoming CD release party gig on Twitter, in real-time as they are completed onstage. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace will tomorrow launch its first online game show series, "BFF," which will see friends tested on how well they know each other, Variety reported. [more..]

Espoo, Finland - Nokia announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with "Heroes" TV show creator Tim Kring to develop original content for its Ovi Store, which from May will sell applications and content for Nokia mobile devices. [more..]

New York - SellaBand, a fan-financed recordings Web community, said on Wednesday it has partnered with Amazon.com's CreateSpace, and will let consumers purchase albums o from a dedicated SellaBand Web store through the manufacturing-on-demand service. [more..]

Redwood City, Calif. - Electronic Arts has announced that it will release its "Madden NFL 10" in North America on August 14. [more..]