Of course, since it seems Murdock owns just about every "news" outlet these days, News of the World does fall under his jurisprudence.
The developments came a day after Britain's Parliament on Wednesday collectively turned on Rupert Murdoch, the head of the News Corporation, which owns The News of the World, and the tabloid culture he represents, using a debate about the widening phone hacking scandal to denounce reporting tactics by newspapers once seen as too politically influential to challenge.
But though he joined in the chorus of outrage, Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative Party benefits from Mr. Murdoch's support, stopped short of calling for an immediate investigation into behavior by the Murdoch-owned News of the World and other tabloids. Such an inquiry would have to wait, he said, until the police had concluded their own criminal investigation.
Unease about the phone hacking tactics of some reporters has been stirring for months, but the public mood turned to shock and revulsion this week after The Guardian reported that the targets of the voice mail interception - originally presumed to be restricted to the famous - included the phone of a 13-year-old school-girl abducted and murdered in 2002. Then, new reports said the families of people killed in the July 7 London bombings had also been listened to without their knowledge or permission.
In the latest accounts on Thursday, The Daily Telegraph said a private detective working for The News of the World may have hacked into the phones of bereaved families after they were informed of the death of relatives serving with the British Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a statement, a spokesman for News International, which runs News Corporation's British newspaper operations, said its "record as a friend of the armed services and of our servicemen and servicewomen is impeccable."
"If these allegations are true, we are absolutely appalled and horrified," the spokesman said. bolding courtesy of political hack Cameron
Kinda damning if it's true, huh?
________________________
About fuckin' time.
U.S. court tells military to stop discharging gays
A federal appeals court ordered a halt Wednesday to the armed forces' policy of discharging openly gay service members, citing the impending demise of "don't ask, don't tell" and the Obama administration's escalating criticism of antigay laws.
Congress has already voted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," the 1993 law that barred military service by gays and lesbians who disclose their sexual orientation. But the repeal was due to take effect only after the Pentagon certified that the change in the law would not interfere with military readiness or recruiting, a finding the Obama administration had projected for the end of this year.
On Wednesday, however, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco - which had previously allowed the government to follow its own timetable - reinstated a federal judge's injunction that had briefly barred enforcement of the law last fall before it was suspended.
____________________
Serious dedication.
Latest threat: surgical bomb implants
US security officials are warning airlines that terrorists are considering surgically hiding bombs inside humans to evade airport security. And as a result, travelers may find themselves subjected to more scrutiny when flying in the heart of summer vacation season, especially to the United States from abroad.
Bombs-in-the body is not a brand new idea, but recent intelligence indicates a fresh interest in using this method, as people-scanning machines in airports aren't able to detect explosives hidden inside humans. Still, there is no current information that points to a specific plot involving surgically implanted explosives, a US security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss such sensitive matters.
______________________
Follow the money.
Romney leads rivals in fundraising
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised $18.25 million over the past three months, a sum likely to put him head and shoulders above his rivals for the 2012 Republican nomination in the money chase.
"Voters are responding to Mitt Romney's message that President Obama's policies have failed and that we need new leadership in Washington," Romney national finance chairman Spencer Zwick said. "Our fundraising for the second quarter represents the strong support Mitt Romney has across the country."
All of the money Romney raised is for the primary race; he ended June with $12.6 million in the bank. Romney raised more than half of his total for the entire quarter during a single call day in Las Vegas in May.
Romney's total is short of the $23.5 million he raised in the first quarter of 2007 during his last presidential race and includes roughly $2.5 million of his own money. Romney did not make any personal contributions during this reporting period, although he has not ruled out doing so during the course of the 2012 campaign. In the 2008 race, Romney donated $44.5 million of his own money to his effort.
_______________________
Can you imagine if this story was in a US paper with this headline how much the wingnut's heads would explode?
US 'hate groups' bolstered by Obama's election
Did the election of Barack Obama as US president boost the growth of right-wing and so-called "hate groups"?
A curious thing happens when you walk down the street in Spokane, Washington, first thing in the morning. Complete strangers look you in the eye, and say, with a little smile: "Good morning."
It is that kind of a town; if not close-knit, then, compared to some of the other towns and cities in America, human in scale and friendly to strangers.
Which makes the attempted bombing here of a civil rights march in January all the more difficult to comprehend.
The man alleged to have left a rucksack filled with explosives and shrapnel - covered in rat poison so as to stop blood clotting - is Kevin Harpham, an Army veteran with an interest in neo-Nazi groups.
The difficult truth for Spokane, for Washington State, for neighbouring Idaho and for all of the US, is that hate groups - anti-black, anti-Jew, neo-Nazi - are on the rise again.
And nearly everyone, including members of those groups, agrees that the election of Barack Obama has been a catalyst for the increase in support.
"I wouldn't say it surprises me," says Spokane's mayor Mary Verner, "though it is alarming to me".
"We are seeing a resurgence in hate groups because we are seeing democratic activity and empowered citizens who are not Anglo-Saxon Protestants."
There was the same sort of reaction from the local sheriff, Ozzie Knezovich, when he heard that a bomb had been left beside the route of the Martin Luther King Jr Day march.
"Surprised? No," he says. "We live in a different world now - hate seems to be a widespread phenomenon right now." |
