News Summary: WikiLeaks claims new funding channel

The Associated Press

DONATIONS: WikiLeaks says it could now accept donations through a French non-profit to bypass a financial blockade.

OBSTACLES: Visa and MasterCard were among half a dozen U.S. payment firms to pull the plug on WikiLeaks, shortly after the group made its controversial decision to begin publishing some 250,000 secret State Department cables in December 2010.

UNCERTAINTY: It's not clear whether Visa or MasterCard would tolerate the move. In 2011 WikiLeaks briefly opened a funding gateway - through Icelandic payment processor DataCell - only to see it shut down by Visa on short notice.