News Corp, Phone-hacking Scandal | featured news

British prosecutors said they're considering criminal charges against 11 people in connection with a long-running police investigation into illegal newsgathering tactics at News Corp.'s British newspapers.

James Murdoch has severed all ties with News Corp's British newspaper business, which is at the centre of multiple investigations over phone and computer hacking and bribery, according to regulatory filings.

Rupert Murdoch's News International has settled nearly all cases in the first wave of phone hacking lawsuits brought against his company.

Police investigating Britain's phone-hacking scandal made another arrest Friday, keeping up the pressure on Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Officers from Scotland Yard arrested a 47-year-old woman early Friday morning in Essex, a county just east of London. Police said she was the 17th person to be arrested as part of Operation Weeting, the official investigation into phone hacking.

Seven public figures have settled their claims against News of the World publisher News Group over phone hacking, News International says. They include former Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten, TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson and celebrities Abi Titmuss and Calum Best. The others were theatrical agent Michelle Milburn, Paul Dadge, who helped survivors of the 7/7 bombings, and former Army officer James Hewitt.

James Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the companies that publish its British newspapers including the now-defunct News of the World tabloid at the center of the phone hacking sandal, regulatory filings show.

A lawyer for many of Britain's phone hacking victims said Friday that legal action would be launched in the United States against Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Even as his company weathers its biggest crisis ever, Rupert Murdoch is still pulling in a huge salary from News Corp.Regulatory filings released on Friday showed that Murdoch's total compensation for the 2011 fiscal year was $33.3 million. As technology writer Peter Kafka noted, this included a $12.5 million bonus. Murdoch also received $8.5 million in stock.

Andy Coulson, who worked as UK PM David Cameron's adviser, continued to receive payments from the newspaper at the centre of the UK phone hacking scandal, after he had left as editor.

News Corp's senior management is starting to think about what the company might do if James Murdoch stepped aside, sources inside and close to the global media empire said.