Scandal, Tabloid | featured news

James Murdoch, the executive at the epicenter of the phone hacking scandal at his father's British newspapers, is stepping down as executive chairman of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper arm, the company announced Wednesday.

A British lawmaker said Thursday that he and 17 others have been awarded payouts over phone hacking by the News of the World newspaper.

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.

Horror stories of car chases, intense paranoia, spitting paparazzi, and most of all an ineffective regulatory system peppered today’s inquiry into News Corp’s News Of The World phone hacking scandal by a British government-backed inquiry into UK press ethics and practices. Notably appearing in London Thursday were actress Sienna Miller and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

The defense offered by James Murdoch in a Thursday appearance before the committee of Parliament tasked with getting to the bottom of the phone hacking scandal can be summed up in three parts: I didn't know about it. Blame the people who should've told me about it. The people who say they did tell me about it are wrong.

The phone hacking scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's News Corp threatened to spread to other titles on Friday, as sources said a journalist at the Sun newspaper had been arrested over allegations of police bribery.

News International is expected to pay about three million pounds($4.7 million) to settle hacking claims by the family of murder victim Milly Dowler against the now defunct News of the World newspaper, sources close to the case told Reuters on Monday.

Former senior News Corp. executive Les Hinton is being recalled to testify before a parliamentary committee over a phone-hacking scandal involving journalists at the now defunct News of the World newspaper, a spokesman for the panel said Tuesday.

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.

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.