Claims of illegal attempt to gain 9/11 victims’ numbers bring outrage from Democrats and caution from Republicans The battle over Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is splitting American politics along party lines, with senior Democrats calling for investigations into the company while some senior Republicans play down the crisis. Allegations that News International reporters may illegally have attempted to obtain the phone numbers of 9/11 victims have prompted an FBI probe into the company, which last week launched a preliminary investigation into the allegations. But a backlash has begun, focusing on the source of the claim: a single story in the Daily Mirror . The former Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has criticised the decision to investigate, saying there is little evidence so far that the problem of phone hacking had spread to the US and the probe was unjustified. “It seems to me that this is a British issue that needs to be resolved first,” he told Sky News. “I’ve heard of no evidence or allegation yet of anything being done in the United States of America.” His defence is significant not only because he is a senior Republican but also because he has criticised News Corp in the past. In 2001, he publicly questioned its plans to take over the satellite television service DirecTV, citing concerns over media consolidation. The Washington Post yesterday criticised the Mirror report, saying it “appears to be based on a shaky foundation. The Mirror names no specific sources in its reporting, and it relies on a single anonymous second-hand source for its account.” More predictably, support has also come from News Corp’s right-leaning cable channel Fox News, where there has been a reluctance to devote as much time to the story as other outlets, especially the left-leaning MSNBC network. A recent episode of the show Fox and Friends featured a media consultant, Robert Dilenschneider, who said that the scandal was being overplayed and Murdoch had “done all the right things”. Though one Republican congressman, Peter King, has been influential in calling for probes into News Corp, the bulk of the anger has come from Democrats. Four Democratic senators have written letters to the department of justice and the securities and exchange commission asking for investigations. They include powerful figures such as California senator Barbara Boxer and West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller, who chairs the influential senate commerce committee. At the same time John Podesta, a former Clinton chief of staff who is close to Obama, has come out swinging against News Corp. In an interview in Canada last week, he attacked Fox News and declared that the company might have broken US laws if it paid bribes to police in Britain. “This is not one rogue editor. This is an empire that was built on a set of journalistic ethics that’s beginning to explode and unravel,” he said. Liberal campaigning groups have mobilised against News Corp: a protest was organised last week outside Rupert Murdoch’s New York apartment, and there is a petition drive calling for an official investigation into the company. There has also been a focus on the company’s political contributions, notably to the Republican Governors Association and the US Chamber of Commerce. That issue may prove less suitable for clear-cut campaigning, however, because News Corp has given money to politicians from both parties in the past. Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers John McCain US politics United States Paul Harris guardian.co.uk
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Terrified families from East Timor flee as loyalists attack nationalist homes in Portadown in marching season clashes Immigrant families from East Timor fled a Catholic area of Northern Ireland on Friday night when loyalist rioters tried to attack nationalist homes, a Sinn Fein councillor said today. “Around 100 loyalists attacked police who prevented them attacking nationalist homes,” said John O’Dowd, who is a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The families from East Timor packed their bags and ran from their homes in Portadown, Co Armagh on Friday night, when the area was engulfed in violence, he said. “They packed their bags, so distressed were they at the violence. Their neighbours tried to reassure them that they would be safe in their homes but they left,” he told Reuters. A significant number of families from East Timor have settled in the Northern Irish town, where they work in the food packing industry alongside many Poles and Portuguese. For several hours, police were attacked by people armed with petrol bombs, bricks, bottles, fireworks and other missiles in the latest violence surrounding the high point of the loyalist marching season. The police fired around 20 plastic bullets and arrested three people. They confirmed that loyalists provoked the violence when a planned peaceful protest was hijacked by a violent minority. The Mayor of the local Craigavon council, Democratic Unionist Alan Carson, condemned the violence. “This does not do anyone any good. People have a right to live peacefully and feel safe in their own homes. The violence we saw last night is something we assigned to the history books,” he said. In recent days, nearly 50 police have been wounded and dozens have been arrested during violence in both loyalist and republican areas surrounding the annual 12 July parades. More than 500 parades were held on Tuesday across Northern Ireland, the high point of the Orange Order marching season celebrating the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The majority passed off peacefully but they sparked outbreaks of street violence. Northern Ireland Northern Irish politics guardian.co.uk
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• Email scott.murray@guardian.co.uk • Hit F5 for the latest or select the auto-refresh button below • Marvel at Paul Lawrie’s hole-by-hole guide to Sandwich • Click here to follow the official Open 2011 leaderboard • Go here for more news, analysis and video highlights • Acquaint yourself with The Joy of Six: Open nightmares • And look what there’s a shiny new edition of! 3.30pm: Fowler drives into a pot bunker on 12, and has to chip out. He only finds the front of the green with his third, but rattles in a long par saver before walking off the green with a smile wider than his hat is white. On 2, Clarke inexplicably misses his birdie putt, pulling it left of the hole. That was hellishly poor, a very miserable prod. [Note: that isn't a Mark James style marching-season gag.] 3.25pm: Mickelson is having a bit of a nightmare with the putter, not for the first time this week: he misses a short one on 6, dropping his third shot of the day to move back to +2 for the championship. Good tee shots into 3 by both Bjorn and Jimenez, giving themselves chances for birdie. But what a shot from Clarke on 2, who knocks his second to four feet. What an opportunity to go two clear of Bjorn (who nearly makes his birdie putt on 3, but has to settle for par). 3.20pm: Ian Truman (3.10pm) has timed his run into this hole-by-hole report perfectly: Rickie Fowler misses the green at 11 and can’t get up and down, dropping back to +1. Instant justification! Thomas Bjorn ties for the lead after rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt on 2; he’s -4. But he can only boast the co-leadership for 60 seconds or so. On 1, Clarke knocks a beautiful second shot to ten feet, and rolls in the birdie putt! He’s -5 – and two clear of his playing partner Lucas Glover, who misses a short one for his par and drops back to -3. 3.10pm: The leaders Darren Clarke and Brian Wilson Lucas Glover are out. Both crack healthy tee shots down the 1st. Clarke is in a very happy and playful mood, chuckling away as he wanders down the hole. I wonder how long that will last in these conditions. “Obviously you’re entitled to your opinion, but how is it only a matter of time before Ricky No-wins Fowler snags a major?” splutters Ian Truman. “He’s an above average American player who wears funny clothes. He’s no more talented than Anthony Kim… who’s turned into a right superstar hasn’t he? He’s playing well today in this lottery golf mind, so I might be wrong.” Heh. Well, I guess we’ll see. But regardless of what happens round here this weekend, I think Fowler’s made of the right stuff and will come good soon enough, consistency being his only real problem. He’s only 22 years old, I’m not sure how many wins he should have racked up by this stage of his career in order to be taken seriously. I will concede that his was the least convincing comedy turn of all the Golf Boys , though. 3pm leaderboard: No moves on this. Only changes from before see Love and Larrazabel topple off it, both having bogeyed the 1st. -4 Clarke (just heading to the tee now, wild cheers ringing in his lugs) Glover (just heading to the tee now, having not bothered to spend much time on the range) -3 Kaymer (just gone out) Campbell (just gone out) Jimenez (1) Bjorn (1) -2 Hansen (3) Johnson (3) Coetzee (3) Lehman (2) Schwartzel (1) 2.55pm: Brilliance from Fowler, who chips to within about three blades of grass on 10. The ball’s got to topple in, surely, but the wind’s blowing from the wrong direction, and he won’t get his birdie. He has to tap in for the shortest shot of the week. Par. McIlroy makes par too, but he’s not happy, hitting a dismal ten-foot birdie effort short, weak and wide. 2.50pm: On 18, Tom Watson takes a putter while still 25 yards in front of the green. Ah the Scottish links game. He so nearly holes the monster, but the ball sneaks six feet past, and another short putt is missed on the way back. So that’s a dropped shot at the last for the old boy, but he’s still signing for a brilliant 72, two over for the day and +4 for the championship. He looks very happy with his day’s work; he’s got every right. 2.45pm: Let us spare a thought for poor Jung-Gon Hwang. The 19-year-old South Korean was three off the lead after an opening round 68, and was only +2 this morning. But he’s just signed for a nightmare 13-over 83, a round including five bogeys on the bounce at the start, and a triple-bogey 8 on 14 (part of a second run of five over-par holes that included a double-bogey as well as that triple). He’s +15 for the tournament, in last place. 2.40pm: Fowler is looking the business. His second into 9 works the bank on the left and gathers to within eight feet of the pin. He’s level par for his round, and with that putt to become the only man under par today. McIlroy tries to follow him in, but flies the ball straight over the flag and into the semi-rough behind the green. He gets a bit of luck, the ball resting near a camera tower, meaning he can chip from the drop zone. His chip down the tricky green is beautifully judged, and should really save his par, resting two feet from the hole. He knocks it in, a great par save. Fowler, meanwhile, misses his birdie putt, sending what looks like a dead-straight putt a couple of inches to the left. It doesn’t break back. What an opportunity spurned to stick two fingers up to this ridiculous weather. 2.35pm: Lewis has a pair of stones on him, you know. Yesterday on 18, he hit a gorgeous recovery from the gravel path behind the green. Today, in a world of nonsense miles left of the green on 3, he drops a brilliant chip to ten feet. Sadly, he can’t make the par putt, but what a wedge: he was in all sorts of bother up there. Mickelson can’t get up and down from the front-left of the green. Both players are now level par for the tournament. Incidentally, the best score in the clubhouse so far today is a four-over 74, by that man Gary Woodland. The best score in the clubhouse, and he finished his round bogey-bogey-triple bogey-birdie-bogey-bogey-par. This is tough. 2.30pm: What a par effort from McIlroy on 8, his putt – up a ridge, and with a big enough break – only just fails to drop. He’s back at +2 now. Fowler – it’s only a matter of time before he lands a major – looks like he fancies it right now, playing a tricky long hole in a no-nonsense way, straight down the middle for a simple par. A lot of trouble for the amateur Tom Lewis on 3, who hooks his tee shot miles, miles wide left of the green. Mickelson’s effort isn’t particularly better, stopping short and left in a tuft of rough, leaving him a hell of a poser for a chip, with not much green to play with. Still, if anyone can manufacture a wedge from there, Lefty can. 2.25pm: McIlroy is in all sorts of bother down 8. With a terrible lie for his second shot, he can only stuff it further down the rough on the left. He’s left with a 90-yard shot for his third, which he leaves well short of the pin, on the wrong level of a two-tier green, his club having snagged in the matted rough. This is going to be at least one dropped shot for Rory, maybe more. 2.20pm: GET IN!!! Watson knocks in his birdie effort on 16, to move back to +3 for the tournament. He’s only +1 today, a wonderful round. Hope he gets home without dropping another shot. To illustrate how good this round is, his playing partner Ricky Barnes, 30 years old and a runner-up in the 2009 US Open and with a top-ten finish at last year’s Masters to his name, has made eight bogeys today and only one birdie. 2.15pm: McIlroy takes a 3-wood for safety off the 8th tee, and hooks it into tousled tat down the left. He’s already struggling to make par, the good work of the last hole undone. The benefits of a sensible drive are further illustrated up on the 15th, where Tom Watson drops another shot after an errant pull off the tee. Still, he’s hit his tee shot at 16 right into the heart of the green, leaving himself an 18-foot effort for birdie. 2.05pm: Mickelson and Lewis have both parred the 1st. McIlroy and Fowler have both parred 6. Then McIlroy birdies 7, a relatively easy hole, by knocking his third shot dead. They’re now playing ahead of Garcia and Spencer Levin, because the latter lost a ball on 4 and took 8. Garcia drains a huge par putt on 5 to remain +2. 2pm leaderboard: Is it worth putting up? No it’s not! But here it is. -4 Glover (3.05pm) Clarke (3.05pm) -3 Kaymer (2.55pm) Campbell (2.55pm) Jimenez (2.45pm) Bjorn (2.45pm) -2 Schwartzel (2.35pm) Larrazabal (2.35pm) Lehman (2.25pm) Love III (2.25pm) Johnson (2.15pm) Coetzee (2.15pm) Hansen (2.05pm) 1.55pm: This year’s amateur hero, Tom Lewis, tees off with Phil Mickelson. First Watson, now Lefty; what a week he’s having. Speaking of Watson, he nearly knocks in a birdie putt from off the front of the par-five 14th, settling for par. There have already been three 7s, two 8s and a 10 on that hole, so that’s quite a result for the 61-year-old genius. 1.50pm: A solid start from Robert Rock, who has quietly gone about his business this week and is level par through 3, and level par through the tournament. He’s had a wonderful year so far – save having to spend $1,000 on a cab to get to Congressional in time for his US Open registration – and it’s continuing here at Sandwich, despite the conditions. Paul Casey, third last year, signs for a 78 today. To his eternal credit, he allows himself to be immediately interviewed by the BBC, and answers the questions about his performance in these terrible conditions with good humour and grace. Footballers, take note, please. 1.45pm: GREAT NEWS. The rain is coming down like rods. But it’s not been able to put out Miguel Angel Jimenez’s Cohiba, which the Spaniard is sucking down on the practice range with a massive smile spread across his face. Would anyone be disappointed if Jimenez won this tournament? That’s right, no they wouldn’t. 1.40pm: Big drives and smart chips from McIlroy and Fowler on 5, one of the few holes offering itself up for a birdie. Fowler knocks in a left-to-right 12 footer for birdie – he’s back to level par for the day – but McIlroy hits a weak effort that dies to the right just before the hole and slides past. What a chance to grab one of those shots back spurned. Fowler’s level par for the championship; McIlroy +2. 1.30pm: Trevor Immelman is worth a mention: he dropped shots on 1 and 2, but has bounced back with birdies on 7 and 9. He’s level par for the day, which is some achievement. The BBC have just reported McIlroy and Garcia crossing each other, looking at each other, and bursting out laughing, so preposterously difficult are these conditions. McIlroy is one turn of the ball away from becoming the first man to birdie 4, but his long putt doesn’t drop and he has to settle for a par. 1.20pm: Another shot goes by for Tom Watson on 12; he’s +3. Gregory Havret has just followed up bogeys on 12 and 13 with a 10 on 14. That is Flitcroftian. I think in weather like this, it’s customary to say “ee, he’s a poor lad” . 1.15pm: A brilliant line from the BBC’s Andrew Cotter: with pars at a premium, this is “like the US Open on steroids”. That tournament’s champion McIlroy proves the point by flopping to 15 feet, then finding himself unable to make his par putt, his ball just staying up on the high side. These shots are going to be almost impossible to get back, and the grim look on McIlroy’s face suggests he knows it only too well. 1.10pm: There are now no players under par today. Tom Watson hits a lovely tee shot into the par-three 11th, but three-putts, missing a tiddler for par. Bah. 1.05pm: McIlroy duffs his chip from the back of 2, but manages to save his par by sinking a long putt. Fowler can’t save his par, the tee shot killing him on that hole; he’s back on +1 with Rory, whose tee shot on the short 3rd is awful, pulled into an almost impossible position in thick rough up on the left, with not much green to play with. Fowler finds the green, but down on the front level, with not much chance of birdie. Sergio, incidentally, has followed his opening-hole bogey with a couple of pars. 1pm: On 2, Fowler drives into a bunker, and is forced to pitch out. McIlroy is in deep rough down the left, and gets a flyer with his second through the green. This is going to get nasty, one suspects, and not just for this pair. Now then, the leaderboard, for what that’s worth: -4 Lucas Glover Darren Clarke -3 Miguel Angel Jimenez Thomas Bjorn Martin Kaymer Chad Campbell -2 Anders Hansen Dustin Johnson George Coetzee Tom Lehman Davis Love III Charl Schwartzel Pablo Larrazabal 12.55pm: Brilliant from Watson! With little room for his backswing, he scoops his ball out of the bunker to two feet, then pops in the putt. He’s still under par for his round. What a man. 12.52pm: This is how quickly things can go wrong on a links course when the weather’s in a spiteful mood. Woodland, for so long the only man out there under par for the day, has just triple-bogeyed the par-five 14th. That follows bogeys on 12 and 13. He’s now +3 for his round, and +6 for the championship. So the only man left under par for his third round is Tom Watson – who has just seen his second into 10 take a horrendous kick left into a deep pot bunker to the front-left of the green. Dear me, that’ll be a test, even for the greatest links player of all time. 12.50pm: McIlroy can’t get up and down from the bunker at the front of the 1st; he drops back to +1. Fowler – the wind making it hard for him to put his gloves on as he leaves the green , for goodness sake – walks off having made par. These conditions are horrendous. This is the Open, right here. 12.45pm: Garcia can’t make his par putt; he’s +1 now. Sigh. He’s started early today. McIlroy is making a bit of a meal of the hole too; his second, from heavy rough, can only find the bunker front-left of the green. Meanwhile Gary Woodland went out in 33, but the back nine isn’t being so kind to him: he’s dropped shots at 12 and 13 to move back to level par for the day, and +3 for the championship. 12.40pm: Not a great start for McIlroy, who pulls a nervous opening drive into the thick stuff down the left. Up on the green, Sergio’s first putt of the day is a dreadful one: a long effort from off the front of the dancefloor, underhit dreadfully. He’ll do well to save par now. Meanwhile Tom Watson can’t make his birdie effort on 9, but pars are fine, and he’s out in 34 shots. There won’t be too many who can say that. 12.35pm: Tom Watson continues to impress, driving behind a hillock on 9, but clipping a gorgeous second – a low bumper, below the winds – into the green, straight at the pin, leaving himself a 20-footer for birdie. Back on 1, a huge cheer for Sergio Garcia when he drives off – no disasters yet, Sergio fans – and an even bigger one a few minutes later for Rory McIlroy, as he makes his way to the tee. McIlroy fell to pieces in the bad weather at St Andrews last year, shooting 80 in the second round, so it’ll be fascinating to see how he copes with this nonsense. 12.25pm: So, the problems the poor BBC are having with their high-definition cameras. Yesterday, they were covered in midges, crawling everywhere, allowing the viewer to see the world through the eyes of a panicking delusional alcoholic. Today they’re covered in huge swirls of water, as though we’re looking at the world through the bottom of a glass. Do the BBC need to give their cameramen some rags to wipe their lenses, or am I imagining all this? I haven’t had a drink for a week. Is it even raining at Sandwich? 12.20pm: Watson drains a 15-foot left-to-right par putt on 8 to stay at +1. The roar that greets it is similar to the ones usually reserved for eagles. The crowd know how difficult this is. It’s going to be interesting to see how this championship will take shape. There’s such a logjam at the top, it doesn’t really have one yet. Anyone in the top 30, maybe even the top 50, maybe even further out, has a legitimate chance. It’s a big ask to put anything resembling a charge up the leaderboard together, but simply not falling apart and playing par golf may suffice, as players fall back down it. The weather’s predicted to break around 4pm, which will of course favour those already near the top, but weather forecasters? You can’t trust these people. 12.10pm: Another player is under par for the day. And there should be no surprise who it is: the master of links golf, the maestro, Tom Watson. The Open champion in 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1983 and 2009 – I’ve got a new policy of simply not acknowledging the existence of Stewart Cink, it’s better in this world, come on in and try it – birdies 7 to move to +1 for the tournament. Midday: OK, so here’s the leaderboard as it stands, which you’ll note is exactly how it stood after the first two rounds. It’s not going to change for a while – the leaders don’t go out for a couple of hours, and precious few players are going to make a charge up the board in this weather – but the Open leaderboard is the Open leaderboard, so here we are: -4 Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys Lucas Glover Darren Clarke -3 Miguel Angel Jimenez Thomas Bjorn Martin Kaymer Chad Campbell -2 Anders Hansen Dustin Johnson George Coetzee Tom Lehman Davis Love III Charl Schwartzel Pablo Larrazabal 11.55am: Bubba Watson and Jason Day – both major champions in waiting, surely – take to the 1st and clank lovely drives down the track. Woodland has made it through 10 now and he’s still -2 for the day, having yet to drop a shot. That’s quite an achievement in this tempest. Woodland is one of the USA’s great hopes, a big-hitting player whose irons whistle through the air for ludicrous passages of time. This is his Open debut, so today’s performance is some achievement, especially in this tempest. There’s bound to be some slapstick scoring today. This is links golf all right. Play is already well under way on day three, and only one man is currently under par. That’s Gary Woodland, -2 through 8 and +1 for the tournament), while 1999 champion Paul Lawrie reached the turn in 40, +5 for the day and +9 overall, even with an eagle three at the 7th . This is going to be tough. And very entertaining. Here’s a list of who starts running up huge scores when: 11.55am: Bubba Watson and Jason Day 12.05pm: Charles Howell III and Rory Sabbatini 12.15pm: Richard Green and Raphael Jacquelin 12.25pm: Spencer Levin and Sergio Garcia 12.35pm: Rickie Fowler and Rory McIlroy 12.50pm: Yuta Ikeda and Simon Dyson 1pm: Fredrik Jacobson and Robert Rock 1.10pm: Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker 1.20pm: Zach Johnson and YE Yang 1.30pm: Anthony Kim and Kyle Stanley 1.40pm: Ryan Palmer and Jeff Overton 1.50pm: Tom Lewis (a) and Phil Mickelson 2.05pm: Adam Scott and Anders Hansen 2.15pm: Dustin Johnson and George Coetzee 2.25pm: Tom Lehman and Davis Love III 2.35pm: Charl Schwartzel and Pablo Larrazabal 2.45pm: Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn 2.55pm: Martin Kaymer and Chad Campbell 3.05pm: Lucas Glover and Darren Clarke Welcome to the great British summer, folks. It is positively Scottish down in the furthermost corner of Kent today: it’s cold, rainy and windy, with some added rain and wind thrown into the mix to make things interesting. “It’s a challenge we enjoy,” deadpans the immensely likeable Bubba Watson , his neck being snapped this way and that by the buffeting gale. It really is quite wet; I’m not sure these quantities of water have been televised in Britain on a Saturday morning since the glory days of Tiswas . The Open 2011 The Open Golf Scott Murray guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 for the latest or select the auto-refresh button below • Watch video highlights of every stage from the race so far • Check out our brilliant interactive guide to the 2011 race • And email your thoughts to paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk • You can even follow Paolo on Twitter, if that’s your thing 12.05pm: All the riders are now over the Portet d’Aspet, but we already have a significant breakaway, with a group of 20 having escaped early on and already established a gap of almost five minutes from the peloton. The group is made up of Linus Gerdemann, Jens Voigt, Gorka Izagirre, Bauke Mollema, Luis-Leon Sanchez, David Millar, Rémy Di Gregorio, Kristjan Koren, Maxime Bouet, Christophe Riblon, Xabier Zandio, Sylvain Chavanel, Sandy Casar, Mickael Delage, Arthur Vichot, Manuel Quinziato, Julien El Fares, Anthony Charteau, Egor Silin and Marco Marcato. Stage 14: Saint Gaudens to Plateau de Beille Morning folks. It’s a grey, grim day here in central London, but the sun shines brightly over the Col de Portet-d’Aspet in south-west France, where the peloton is right this moment attacking the first of today’s summits. Make no mistake, today is A Big Day for this year’s Tour – perhaps the most significant stage yet in sorting the wheat from the chaff, the potential winners from the inevitable losers. The stage profile is unrelenting. At a glance it resembles an extreme parody of the ‘calorie burn’ setting on the stationary bike at your local fitness centre: incline after incline after incline – each one raising higher than the one that preceded it. They are punctuated only by the briefest stretches of level ground. In all there are five rated climbs, with gradients rising as steep as 10%, and the stage finishes with a 15.8km grind at 7.9% up to the Plateau de Beille. There we will see what Cadel Evans, Sammy Sanchez, Ivan Basso, Alberto Contador and the Schlecks are truly made of. On each of the four previous occasions that the race has climbed to the Plateau de Beille, the victor has gone on to win the whole Tour. Anyway, more updates shortly, but in the meantime, why not check out our video highlights from Stage 13, as Thor Hushovd roared to victory and Jérémy Roy suffered further heartbreak in the Pyrenees. Tour de France 2011 Tour de France Cycling Paolo Bandini guardian.co.uk
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Friday’s strike sees Robert Peston and Laura Kuenssberg missing from TV and radio news, as Newsnight goes off air The strike by BBC journalists on Friday leaves the corporation’s TV and radio services without star reporters including Nick Robinson, Robert Peston and Laura Kuenssberg on one of the biggest days so far in the phone-hacking story following the resignation of Rebekah Brooks. BBC2′s Newsnight, which has enjoyed a ratings boost in the past two weeks as viewers have tuned in to catch up with comment and analysis of the latest twists and turns in the phone-hacking saga, is also off air on Friday night because of the 24-hour strike by members of the National Union of Journalists. The current affairs show, which was to have been presented by Gavin Esler, is being replaced by a 2010 repeat of Have I Got News For You. However, BBC1′s main news bulletin at 1pm went out as normal and the 6pm and 10pm bulletins are due to go ahead as planned. Robinson, the BBC political editor, and Kuenssberg, the chief political correspondent about to join ITV News as business editor, have been regular fixtures on TV and radio bulletins and the BBC News channel as key elements in coverage of the News International scandal played out at Westminster. Peston has also delivered several scoops about the unfolding story, leading rival media organisations to accuse News International of leaking stories to the BBC journalist. Viewers and listeners tuning in to BBC News programmes on Friday morning found disruption to the breakfast shows on BBC1 and Radio 5 Live and Radio 4′s Today . BBC1′s Breakfast was off air, replaced by a BBC News channel simulcast, while the regular 5 Live Breakfast hosts Nicky Campbell and Rachel Burden were replaced by Ian Payne and Julia Bradbury. Listeners to Radio 4′s Today were treated to a repeated documentary about the Russian communist revolution in the runup to 7am. However, from 7am the BBC’s flagship radio news programme ran pretty much as normal with regular presenters Sarah Montague and Justin Webb, who is in Japan reporting on the aftermath of the tsunami that struck earlier this year. The World at One and PM, Radio 4′s flagship evening news programme at 5pm, are also off air. The 1pm World at One news programme was replaced by a 15-minute bulletin, with the rest of the hour-long show taken up by a repeat of an edition of The Prime Ministers on 19th-century statesman Robert Peel. In place of PM will be a repeated of the contemporary history show Document, about the Polaris missile, with an edition of Soul Music at 5.30pm. Radio 4′s 8pm political discussion show Any Questions has also been taken off air. Replacing the scheduled broadcast of the panel programme which usually hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby will be an omnibus edition of Radio 4′s series exploring Winston’s Churchill’s life outside politics, Churchill’s Other Lives. Saturday’s edition of the follow-up call-in programme Any Answers will be replaced by an edition of My Teenage Diary, according to the BBC. The late night Radio 4 news programme The World Tonight is giving way to an edition of Meeting Myself Coming Back just after the 10pm news bulletin. Radio 5 Live is running a slightly slimmed-down news service with short news bulletins on the hour and half hour, with 15-minute bulletins planned for 1pm, 5pm and 6pm. The BBC World Service’s English-language service will be running five-minute news at the top of the hour and two minutes on the half hour. Picket lines were mounted from midnight on Friday outside BBC premises across the country, with the NUJ predicting a “solid response” to the walkout. The BBC admitted it expected widespread disruption to services and said it was disappointed by the industrial action and apologised to viewers and listeners. Negotiations with the NUJ over compulsory redundancies at BBC World Service and BBC Monitoring continued until the eve of the strike, but no agreement was reached. The NUJ general secretary, Michelle Stanistreet, accused the BBC of “provoking” a strike over a handful of job losses, but the corporation said there were 100 posts for which compulsory redundancy was “regrettably unavoidable”. Stanistreet said the union offered a number of solutions to the dispute, adding that an offer from the conciliation service Acas for peace talks had not been taken up by BBC management. “There are so many people who want to leave the BBC that this could be resolved through negotiations. The NUJ has a longstanding policy of no compulsory redundancies, and it is clear that our members at the BBC are fully prepared to stand up for their colleagues under threat,” she said. “Jobs are being saved and created at management level, but journalists are losing theirs. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that BBC management wants thousands of its journalists to go on strike rather than settle the dispute.” A BBC spokesman said: “We are disappointed that the NUJ is intending to strike and apologise to our audience for any disruption to services this may cause. “We have had to reduce the number of posts in World Service and BBC Monitoring by 387, following significant cuts to the central government grants that support these services. In a significant majority of cases we have been able to reach this through voluntary redundancy or redeployment. “However, there are in excess of 100 BBC posts for which compulsory redundancy is regrettably unavoidable, and this is our focus, regardless of whether staff are members of unions.” A further 24-hour strike is due to take place on 29 July. •
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Daily Mail & General Trust could launch title next weekend to cash in on News of the World’s demise The owner of the Daily Mail is understood to be planning a new mass-market Sunday tabloid to cash in on the closure of the News of the World. Daily Mail & General Trust could launch the title as soon as next weekend, with a dummy edition planned for this Sunday. Possible names for the paper include the Sunday and the Sunday Lite, echoing DMGT’s now-defunct London freesheet , London Lite, according a report by Reuters . The news agency said former Sun columnist Kelvin MacKenzie, who left the paper last month to join the Mail , could be a columnist on the new launch. Rival Sunday titles have scrambled to fill the gap left by the News of the World, which was published for the final time last Sunday in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that on Friday led to the resignation of the News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks. DMGT already publishes the mid-market tabloid Mail on Sunday, which will up its print run this weekend, as will the red-top Sunday Mirror and the People, both owned by Trinity Mirror, with all three titles planning price cuts of up to 50% in some areas. Richard Desmond’s Daily Star Sunday is increasing its print run by 1.2m and launching a new magazine, OK! Extra. However, the launch of a brand new Sunday red-top tabloid by DMGT would dramatically raise the stakes in the battle for the 2.67 million readers who previously bought the News of the World, according to the ABC circulation figures published on Friday for June, the paper’s last full month of publication. News International is understood to be planning to launch a Sunday edition of the Sun to replace the News of the World as early as August, with the former NoW deputy editor Victoria Newton strongly tipped to be editor. Executives from NI are said to have been testing the water for a potentially swift launch of a Sunday edition of the Sun in conversations with advertisers and media buyers. The publisher will also be running full-page ads apologising for the phone-hacking scandal in the national press at the weekend, the News Corporation deputy chief operating officer, James Murdoch, confirmed on Friday . DMGT announced this week it was raising the price of the Daily Mail in a bid to counter rising newsprint costs and a deteriorating advertising market, prompting the company’s share price to hit an 18-month low. The Mail on Sunday is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closure of the News of the World, with an average sale in May of 1.92m copies. It is followed by the Sunday Mirror, with an average circulation of 1.09m, and the Sunday Times, with 1.05m. The People averaged 481,224, ahead of the Daily Star Sunday with 305,984. A DMGT spokesman had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Daily Mail Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Daily Mail & General Trust Media business Newspapers Daily Mail & General Trust News of the World News International John Plunkett guardian.co.uk
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The News Corp boss ‘held his head in his hands’ as he apologised to the murdered girl’s family over phone hacking Rupert Murdoch has made a “full and humble” apology to the family of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler at a private meeting held at a central London hotel. The global head of News Corporation “held his head in his hands” and repeatedly told the family he was “very, very sorry”, according to the Dowlers’ lawyer Mark Lewis. “He was very humbled and very shaken and very sincere,” said Lewis speaking outside the meeting at the five-star hotel. “I think this was something that had hit him on a very personal level and was something that shouldn’t have happened. He apologised many times. I don’t think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times and say that they were sorry.” Moments before Lewis emerged Murdoch had appeared outside the hotel to shouts of “shame on you” from a handful of protesters. Addressing a scrum of reporters he said it was a private meeting and he had apologised before leaving. Lewis said Murdoch had called the meeting at which Milly Dowler’s parents Sally and Bob and her sister Gemma had told Murdoch his newspapers “should lead the way to set the standard of honesty and decency in the field and not what had gone on before”. Murdoch had replied that the News of the World’s actions were “not the standard set by his father, a respected journalist, not the standard set by his mother”. It emerged last week that Milly Dowler’s mobile phone had been hacked after her death. Voicemails were accessed on behalf of the News of the World, and messages were deleted to make room for more recordings. This gave the family false hope that she was still alive. Since then her family have found themselves at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal, meeting the prime minister, the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg this week. Lewis said: “It has been a big week for the Dowlers to hear people say they are sorry. Both on a political front – the deputy prime minister, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition – [and now] Rupert Murdoch.” Asked by journalists if the family forgave Murdoch for the hacking of their dead daughter’s mobile phone, Lewis said: “It is a question of forgive but not forget … they won’t necessarily forgive the people who intruded on their privacy.” Phone hacking Rupert Murdoch Milly Dowler Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Scandal claims first US News Corp casualty, while former News of the World editor also resigns Les Hinton, the chief executive of Dow Jones and Rupert Murdoch’s right-hand man, resigned from News Corp on Friday night, a statement from the company said. Hinton, who led Murdoch’s News International when the phone-hacking allegations first arose, quit hours after Rebekah Brooks, News International’s chief executive, also resigned. Their departures came on the day the phone-hacking scandal engulfing Murdoch’s empire led him to issue a widespread, abject apology for what he described as “serious wrongdoing”. Less than 24 hours after insisting the company had made only “minor mistakes” in handling the crisis, a contrite Murdoch arranged a private meeting with the family of Milly Dowler and issued a full-page apology in every national newspaper for his company’s behaviour. The dramatic turn of events came 10 days after the Guardian revealed that private investigators working for the News of the World had hacked into the phone of the murdered girl during a police investigation into her disappearance. The subsequent outrage and evidence of further wrongdoing led to the closure of the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid, the scrapping of the News Corp bid for BSkyB and the arrest of former NoW employees. In his resignation statement Hinton said he had watched “with sorrow from New York as the News of the World saga has unfolded”. He added “In September 2009, I told the [parliamentary] committee there had never been any evidence delivered to me that suggested the conduct had spread beyond one journalist. “If others had evidence that wrongdoing went further, I was not told about it.” In a separate development, No 10 admitted that David Cameron hosted Andy Coulson at Chequers in March, two months after his resignation as the Downing Street director of communications. Labour accused the prime minister of an “extraordinary lack of judgment” in extending an invitation to Coulson, who was arrested last week. The former NoW editor denies any knowledge of phone hacking. The fallout from the scandal is placing intense pressure on Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met police commissioner. Cameron is said to be furious that Stephenson did not tell him he had hired Neil Wallis, the former NoW deputy editor arrested this week, to advise him on media relations. Stephenson has been asked to explain himself to Theresa May, the home secretary. It was unclear what had prompted the Murdochs to accept the resignation of Brooks, after steadfastly standing by her in the face of calls for her to go from the leaders of all the main political parties, including the prime minister. It is understood, however, that the decision was not made overnight. Her departure was planned with military precision during a series of family summits and transatlantic phone calls with shareholders over the last few days. The resignation comes just four days before she is due to appear before parliament alongside Rupert and James Murdoch, chairman of News International, to answer questions about the scandal. In her resignation statement, Brooks said : “The reputation of the company we love so much, as well as the press freedoms we value so highly, are all at risk.” Hours after that statement, Rupert Murdoch met the parents and sister of Dowler in London. “He was very humbled and very shaken and very sincere,” said Mark Lewis, the Dowler family lawyer. “I think this was something that had hit him on a very personal level and was something that shouldn’t have happened. He apologised many times. I don’t think somebody could have held their head in their hands so many times and say that they were sorry.” Lewis said Milly’s parents, Sally and Bob, and her sister, Gemma, had told Murdoch his newspapers “should lead the way to set the standard of honesty and decency in the field and not what had gone on before”. Murdoch had replied that the News of the World’s actions were “not the standard set by his father, a respected journalist, not the standard set by his mother”, Lewis said. In a full-page apology in the Guardian and other newspapers today, the News Corp boss says: “We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred. We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected. We regret not acting faster to sort things out.” Such an admission represents a volte face after Murdoch praised the company’s handling of the scandal in his first interview on the issue, given to one of his own newspapers, the Wall Street Journal. The printed apology also suggests that the company will do more to atone for the mistakes of the past. “I realise that simply apologising is not enough,” he writes. “In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us.” In his own statement to staff at News International, which still owns the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun, James Murdoch admitted that the company had made mistakes but praised “one of the outstanding editors of her generation”. Brooks is to be replaced by the head of Sky Italia, Tom Mockridge. Downing Street welcomed her resignationbut the prime minister’s spokesman said Brooks should still give evidence to the media select committee next week. The prime minister’s spokesmanHe said of the resignation: “He thinks it’s the right decision. He said the other day he would have accepted her resignation.” No 10 hopes that releasing details of the prime minister’s contacts with the media and setting out the full scope of the judge-led inquiry will help as he attempts to regain the initiative. The prime minister hopes to finalise the membership of the inquiry and agree its terms of reference by the end of next week. But Labour believes that he will continue to face pressure until Coulson’s position is clarified. News Corporation News International Les Hinton Rebekah Brooks Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers United States Rupert Murdoch Jane Martinson Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Put down that gecko: The Philippine health department is warning citizens that using geckos to treat AIDS, asthma, and tuberculosis doesn’t work and endangers those who don’t seek proper treatment. There’s no scientific evidence to the folklore behind the practice, and it’s caused an increase in illegal trade of the…
Continue reading …President Obama’s troop drawdown has begun: About 650 troops left after their rotations ended Wednesday, and they will not be replaced. “As part of the drawdown the first US troops have left Afghanistan,” says a military spokesperson. About a third of the 100,000 US forces in the country will…
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