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International News Title: Murdoch Now Faces FBI Phone Hacking Probe A law enforcement official says the FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. sought to hack into the phones of Sept. 11 victims. The official spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. New York City-based News Corp. has been in crisis mode. A rival newspaper reported last week that the company's News of the World had hacked into the phone of U.K. teenage murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 and may have impeded a police investigation into the 13-year-old's disappearance. More possible victims soon emerged: other child murder victims, 2005 London bombing victims, the families of dead soldiers and former U.K. prime minister Gordon Brown. The FBI's New York office hasn't commented. There's been no response from News Corp. or to a message left with the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan. Also on Thursday, Rupert and James Murdoch said that they planned to appear before a parliamentary committee investigating Britain's phone hacking scandal after earlier rejecting the summons. A spokeswoman for Murdoch's New York-based News Corp. said that the pair were in the process of confirming their attendance on Tuesday. "The intention is to go," Miranda Higham said. Hours earlier, the Murdochs had refused to appear at a hearing next week before the committee, which is investigating allegations of phone hacking and bribery by employees of their newspapers. In a letter to the committee, James Murdoch, the chief of his father's European and Asian operations, had offered to appear in August. Rupert Murdoch had also said he would appear before a separate inquiry initiated by Prime Minister David Cameron and led by a judge, and was willing to discuss alternative ways of providing evidence to parliament. The chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport committee said he had issued summonses to the Murdochs but was unclear if Rupert Murdoch could be compelled to testify because he is a U.S. citizen. News International chief Rebekah Brooks, a British citizen, said that she would appear Tuesday, chairman John Whittingdale said. He said he especially wanted to question James Murdoch. "He has stated that parliament has been misled by people in his employment," Whittingdale said. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Thursday that Murdoch has an obligation to appear before lawmakers to answer questions about the phone hacking scandal. Murdoch had big questions to answer after the widening accusations of eavesdropping and police bribery forced Murdoch's News Corp. to abandon a bid to take full control of British Sky Broadcasting, Clegg said. Meanwhile, British media say a 60-year-old man arrested on suspicion of phone hacking is Neil Wallis, the former executive editor of News of the World. London police said they arrested a man early Thursday in London but did not name him. The BBC, Sky News and the Press Association said he was Wallis, the paper's deputy editor between 2003 and 2007. Wallis served under editor Andy Coulson, who resigned after two employees of the paper were jailed in 2007 for hacking into the voice mails of royal staff. Wallis became executive editor, left the tabloid in 2009 and is now managing director of the Outside Organization, a leading entertainment PR firm. His arrest is the ninth in police investigations of phone hacking and bribery of police officers. News Corp. has shut down News of The World, the scandal-loving Sunday tabloid that is the focus of police investigations of phone hacking and bribery of police officers. Cameron has appointed a judge for a wide-ranging inquiry into the News of the World scandal and wider issues of media regulation, the relationship between politicians and media and the possibility that illegal practices are more widely employed in the industry. "It clearly goes beyond News International," Clegg said. "It is clearly something much more systemic," Clegg said. "I don't think we should allow ourselves to believe that it is just because of the Murdochs, or Rebekah Brooks, or it's all about one commercial transaction, however significant." Murdoch withdrew his bid Wednesday to gain control of the 61 per cent of British Sky Broadcasting shares that he doesn't already own. The takeover — potentially his biggest, most lucrative acquisition — appeared certain to succeed just over a week ago, despite concerns about the size of Murdoch's hefty share of the British media market. Shares in BSkyB steadied Thursday, rising 0.6 percent to 709.5 pence ($11.43) in early trading in London. The shares closed higher on Wednesday for the first time since they began falling sharply last week amid fresh phone hacking allegations.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Nice!
"Keep Your Goddamn Government Hands Off My Medicare!" - Various Tea Party signs.
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