China to punish Baidu for illegal music downloads

China's ministry of culture is to punish search engine company Baidu for providing illegal music downloads, a move that may hit its soaring share price. Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported the government will punish 14 websites that have provided illegal music downloads, including Baidu, China's top search engine. Xinhua reported that an official said the websites continued to provide illegal downloads after repeated warnings not to do so. Details about the punishment were not released. Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo said it would act quickly to remove links to files identified by the ministry.