News Round Up: Facebook pics popularity, BT to sell improved broadband, BBC spends more than £600k on employment disputes

BT is to sell a new broadband service that allows video content to be viewed in a better quality than other material, reports the Telegraph. Critics of the service, which gives broadband providers the opportunity to charge content owners for high quality distribution of their videos to consumers, say it will create a two-tier internet. BT's new service would ensure that videos can be streamed to mobile devices without interruption, even at peak times. Open Rights Group, a consumer campaigns organisation, has suggested that the network breached the principle that all web traffic should be treated equally.

EasyJet to buy $1bn of Airbus aircraft

The Times reports that EasyJet has agreed to buy 15 Airbus A320 single-aisle aircraft worth $1.1 billion (£707 million) and secured an option to buy another 33. The announcement is an important vote of confidence in the future of the airline whose expansion strategy had been contested by its founder, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who still owns a sizeable chunk of the business. Under the new plans, EasyJet will operate 220 aeroplanes by September 2013, compared with 196 in September last year. The airline, which is recovering well from the global downturn, also plans to increase revenue by attracting more business travellers.

BBC spent £600k on employment claims

The BBC paid out more than £600,000 dealing with employment tribunal claims last year, claims Press Gazette. A total of £379,125 went in payments to aggrieved staff to settle cases and a further £203,627 plus VAT was spent in external lawyers' fees in 2009-10, figures released by the corporation in response to a Freedom of Information request show. The total does not include work done by in-house employment lawyers or claims brought against BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm. Thirty-three employees brought employment tribunal claims against the BBC last year, according to the Freedom of Information response.

Facebook users upload 750 million photos over New Year weekend

A record 750 million photos were uploaded to Facebook over the New Year’s weekend, reports Techcrunch this morning. The stat was tweeted by Facebook marketing director Randi Zuckerberg (who is also founder Mark Zuckerberg’s sister). In July Facebook revealed that more than 100 million user photos are uploaded every day. The New Year stats show the power and reach of the social network. In comparison, photo sharing website Flickr had its 5 billionth photo uploaded in September 2010 — Facebook would reach that target in a week or two if photos were uploaded at the rate they were last weekend.