London: A lawyer for Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group says the company could face 500 lawsuits from victims of tabloid phone hacking -- far more than have so far been filed.
Michael Silverleaf told a court hearing on Friday that "we are dealing with 500 claims, potentially" from people who say their voicemail messages were intercepted by the now-defunct News of the World.
Murdoch's News Group Newspapers has paid millions to settle lawsuits from 60 actors, athletes, politicians and other public figures whose voicemails were hacked by the tabloid.
More than 45 new cases are due to go to court, with claimants including soccer star Wayne Rooney and Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair....
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12:21 AM, Jun 02, 2012
London: James Murdoch's exit from the chairmanship of BSkyB moves his father Rupert into the firing line in Britain, just as an inquiry into a phone-hacking scandal turns its focus on his peculiar influence in the country. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp's chief executive, is due to appear before a judge-led inquiry into ethics and standards in the British press, which will be turning its attention to newspaper proprietors and politicians....
03:03 AM, Apr 05, 2012
London: James Murdoch is stepping down as executive chairman of News Corp's UK newspaper arm, the company said on Wednesday. News Corp said James, the son of 80-year-old media scion Rupert Murdoch, has relinquished his position at News International to focus on the company's international TV business. He will remain deputy chief operating officer of News Corp. James and his role at News International have come under scrutiny amidst Britain's...
08:14 PM, Feb 29, 2012
London: The wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is suing Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper company over phone hacking, her lawyer said Wednesday. Cherie Blair was suing "in relation to the unlawful interception of her voicemails," lawyer Graham Atkins said in an email, making her one of the most high-profile people to have challenged Murdoch's News International over the illegal eavesdropping campaign waged against politicians, celebrities, athletes and others...
09:17 AM, Feb 23, 2012
British police arrested 4 Sun newspaper journalists in the phone-hacking controversy. ...
09:38 AM, Jan 29, 2012
London: British Police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers, police and the newspaper's publisher said. Police also searched the paper's London offices at publisher News International, News Corp's British arm, in a corruption probe linked to a continuing investigation into phone hacking at its now closed News...
07:09 AM, Jan 29, 2012
London: As inquiries continue at various levels into the phone-hacking row, News International chairman James Murdoch on Tuesday admitted that he had received an email in 2008 that detailed phone-hacking at the News of the World tabloid, but claimed he did not read it in full. The email is a key factor in the row, and Murdoch's defence before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee has been that he did...
07:28 AM, Dec 14, 2011
London: More than 800 people have had their telephones illegally hacked by the now-defunct News of the World tabloid, British police investigating the alleged practice said on Saturday. A statement by London's Metropolitan Police said 2,037 people had been contacted during the year-long investigation, of whom 803 are alleged victims of hacking by the best-selling tabloid, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. It was the first time police provided an...
12:26 AM, Dec 11, 2011
London: Newly disclosed evidence in Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal confirmed on Wednesday that an outspoken critic of Rupert Murdoch was put under surveillance by his now defunct tabloid the News of The World. Lawmaker Tom Watson, who has led efforts to expose the extent of malpractice in Britain's newspaper industry, was followed for five days in 2009 by private investigator Derek Webb, a former police officer. Law firm Linklaters,...
04:57 AM, Dec 08, 2011
London: James Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, was on Tuesday re-elected chairman of British broadcaster BSkyB even though a fifth of shareholders voted against his reappointment. Several key shareholders of BSkyB voted against James Murdoch at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday. News Corp, which owns 39 per cent of BSkyB, is also the parent company of News International (NI), of which Murdoch is also the...
05:02 AM, Nov 30, 2011
London: The phone-hacking story on Monday went beyond titles owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International with celebrity actor Hugh Grant alleging that the Mail on Sunday tabloid may have hacked his phone for information to be used in sensational stories. Deposing before the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, ethics and practices of the British press, Grant said he could not think of any other way it could have got its...
11:44 PM, Nov 21, 2011
London: Evidence is growing that hacking of both telephone voice mail and email was pursued by journalists from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World for years after the arrests of a private detective and reporter who worked for the weekly tabloid. As recently as last week, News International, publisher of Murdoch's remaining three British print publications, had maintained that phone hacking at the News of the World ceased in 2006,...
01:07 AM, Nov 16, 2011
London: News Corp's James Murdoch was "kept in the dark" about the scale of phone hacking at the News of the World by his subordinates who tried to manage the problem, the newspaper's former chief reporter said on Monday. Neville Thurlbeck has become a key figure in the scandal because he appears to be named in a crucial piece of evidence that critics of the company have seized on as...
01:54 AM, Nov 15, 2011
London: James Murdoch, fighting for his career, held his line that he was innocent of covering up phone-hacking at the News of the World tabloid and blamed other former executives in a UK parliamentary hearing on Thursday. But the 38-year-old News Corp executive and son of media mogul Rupert had no answer during his two-and-a-half-hour grilling to accusations he should have asked more questions, particularly when approving a huge payoff...
01:33 AM, Nov 11, 2011
London: News Corp's deputy chief James Murdoch on Thursday will appear before the British Parliament's Special Committee for a second round of questioning in connection with the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. Analysts say how James handles the questions on the corruption that took place at News International will determine if he stays on in the company as father Rupert Murdoch's sucessor. ...
03:50 PM, Nov 10, 2011
New York/ London: James Murdoch is about to face his day of reckoning. The News Corp deputy chief operating officer will appear before a special committee of Britain's parliament on Thursday for a second round of questioning about a phone-hacking scandal at his company's now-defunct News of the World tabloid. According to company insiders, Murdoch family confidantes, analysts and industry observers, the committee's success in pinning the widespread corruption that...
04:35 AM, Nov 10, 2011
London: Hacking of phones of individuals at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World was conducted on an "industrial scale", according to new revelations made on Tuesday, putting more pressure on his media empire in Britain and elsewhere. Covert surveillance was conducted not only of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler, but the targets included Prince William, Prince Harry s girlfriend Chelsy Davy, former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, and Harry Potter star...
02:18 AM, Nov 09, 2011
London: British police increased their estimate on Thursday of potential phone hacking victims of the News of the World tabloid to 5,795 people. The acknowledgment that hundreds of potential victims had been missed by police is a further embarrassment for London's police force, whose reputation has been tarnished by its failure to get to grips with the scandal. Two of the force's most senior officers have resigned amid criticism they...
03:33 AM, Nov 04, 2011
London: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News International has reached an agreement to pay 2 million pounds to the family of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked for information at the behest of the now defunct News of the World tabloid. Besides, Murdoch is personally donating 1 million pounds to six charity organisations, as agreed earlier this year. The settlement relates to the hacking of Milly s phone messages...
01:58 PM, Oct 22, 2011
Los Angeles: British lawmaker Tom Watson grilled News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch about covert surveillance techniques by company employees as News Corp held its first shareholders meeting following a phone-hacking scandal. More than 100 people demonstrated on Friday outside the lot of News Corp's Fox Studios. Watson asked Murdoch whether he was aware that a person who had left prison was hired by News Corp and hacked the computer of...
03:53 AM, Oct 22, 2011
