Phone-hacking Scandal, Phone-hacking | featured news

The phone hacking investigation of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers in Britain has broadened to include allegations that information was obtained from stolen cellphones, a senior police officer told a judicial inquiry Monday.

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.

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.

James Murdoch was aware that another News of the World reporter was seemingly implicated in illegal tapping, despite his statements to the contrary, say two top executives of the now-defunct newspaper. Media executive James Murdoch knew of a damaging piece of evidence three years ago that phone hacking was practiced by more than one reporter at the News of the World tabloid, despite his statements to the contrary, two of his former colleagues said Tuesday.

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.

Harbottle & Lewis, the law firm embroiled in the phone-hacking scandal sweeping Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, has taken the unusual step of fighting back against its former client to preserve its reputation.

A high-profile parliamentary panel investigating phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World tabloid released embarrassing new evidence Tuesday that the practice of intercepting voice mail had been widely discussed at the newspaper, contradicting assertions by its owners and editors.