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Prime Minister David Cameron faced a televised grilling over the nature of his relationship with Rupert Murdoch's press group on Thursday at an inquiry that has turned into a slow-motion political disaster for the British leader.

David Cameron signed off messages to tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks with an affectionate "LOL", she told an inquiry on Friday, conjuring the embarrassing image of a British prime minister-in-waiting fawning over a Rupert Murdoch protégée.

Murdoch was smiling at the end of the day Thursday after News Corp. announced a profit increase that dwarfed their scandal-related expenses.

If the phone hacking scandal gripping Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. empire has a familiar ring, it might be because you've heard the story before. Scrappy outsider turns modest newspaper business into international media conglomerate. Ambition turns to hubris. Mogul dramatically falls from grace....

Rupert Murdoch blamed News of the World journalists for conspiring to cover up a culture of phone-hacking at the tabloid, saying they hid their activities from his son James and protégée Rebekah Brooks and that he personally was not paying attention.

Media baron Rupert Murdoch on Wednesday scoffed at suggestions that he wields undue political influence in Britain, called critics of tabloids "elitist" and dismissed phone hacking as "a lazy way" for reporters to do their jobs.

James Murdoch, the son of media titan Rupert Murdoch, testified Tuesday that he had no idea phone hacking was widespread at the News of the World tabloid and that he would have insisted the company "get to the bottom of what was going on" had he known.

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.

News Corp suspended half the voting rights of its non-American shareholders to comply with a U.S. law that limits foreign ownership, after the media company found it had breached the rule.

Rupert Murdoch's Times of London is facing a claim for exemplary damages after admitting hacking into the email of an anonymous police blogger to expose his identity, lawyer Mark Lewis told Reuters on Friday.