Murdoch hacking scandal: the facts they wish you didnt know

The UK ruling class is in disarray. Its web of corruption, bribery and lies are exposed—and it just keeps getting worse. Simon Basketter looks at the key things we’ve learnt this week

David Cameron has had more than 26 meetings with senior figures from Rupert Murdoch’s media empire since becoming prime minister. (For a full list of Cameron’s dinners with the media and his guests at Chequers, his private residence, go to wwww.socialistworker.co.uk)

Andy Coulson was Cameron’s guest at Chequers in March—two months after disgraced Coulson resigned over phone hacking allegations.

Rebekah Brooks was invited to Chequers twice last year, and James Murdoch once.

Brooks urged Cameron to scrap plans to give the job of Director of Communications to a senior BBC journalist.

Cameron was told it should go to someone who was "acceptable" to News International. Coulson got the job.

The Metropolitan Police employed Neil Wallis, former News of the World executive editor, during the phone hacking inquiry.

He "earned" £1,000 a day to advise Sir Paul Stephenson, ex-commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and senior officer John Yates from October 2009 to September 2010.

Stephenson spent five weeks recuperating from an operation at a luxurious health spa in Hertfordshire in January, at the expense of Outside Organisation—a PR firm managed by Neil Wallis. Wallis was arrested last week.

News International offered Stephenson hospitality on 15 occasions between April 2007 and March 2010—he accepted 14 times. In one instance, he met senior executives three times in one week.

Stephenson and the Metropolitan Police’s director of public affairs, Dick Fedorico, twice tried to convince the Guardian newspaper that Nick Davies’s stories about phone hacking were "over-egged and incorrect".

At meetings in December 2009 and February 2010, the Met’s representatives failed to mention that they were employing Wallis.

John Yates was in charge of carrying out "due diligence" on Wallis before the Met hired him to give PR advice.

"Wolfman" Wallis was reporting back to News International while he was working for the police on the hacking case.

Andy Hayman, chief of the Met’s counter-terrorism unit who ran the

investigation, attended four dinners, lunches and receptions with News of the World editors. This includes a dinner on April 25 2006, while his officers were gathering evidence in the case.

Hayman left the Met in December 2007 and was soon hired to write a column for the Times, a News International paper.

Hayman had his phone hacked by News International. But he was happy to bug prison visits between Babar Ahmad, who was unjustly accused of acts of terrorism, and his local MP Sadiq Khan.

Executives and others at News International enjoy close relationships with Scotland Yard’s top officials.

Since the hacking scandal began in 2006, Yates and others regularly dined with editors from News International papers.

Stephenson dined with company executives and editors 18 times during the investigation—including on eight occasions with Wallis while he was still working at the News of the World.

The MP who questioned Brooks and James Murdoch this week when they appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport committee has close links with News Corporation.

John Whittingdale, the committee’s Tory chair, is an old friend of Les Hinton, who resigned from News Corp on Friday night, and has dined with Brooks.

Brooks is to receive a £3.5 million severance package after resigning from News International.

Two of the company’s senior lawyers, Tom Crone and Jon Chapman, will receive an estimated £1.5 million each. Colin Myler, the final editor of the News of the World, is understood to be in line for

£2 million.

Rebekah Brooks’s PR firm, Bell Pottinger, has previously represented the Bahraini government, Trafigura—the oil company which was fined $1 million for dumping toxic waste in the Ivory Coast—and Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian dictator.

Yates is accused of securing Neil Wallis’ daughter a job at the Met.

Yates, Hayman and Fedorico are all being investigated by the IPCC over their links with Wallis.

Brooks reduced Gordon Brown to tears when she called to say that the Sun was to run a front page of private details of his baby son’s medical condition.

He omitted to say that afterwards he and his wife attended Brooks’ wedding, organised her birthday party and had her over to Chequers.

Piers Morgan, now a CNN broadcaster but formerly editor of the News of the World and the Daily Mirror, was aware of phone hacking during his time in charge of the Mirror.

According to Morgan’s autobiography, "Apparently if you don’t change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don’t answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear all your messages."

In the US, outcry at possible hacking of 9/11 victims’ phones has led the FBI to launch an investigation.

News Corp donated $1 million to the US bosses’ organisation, the Chamber of Commerce, last summer. Shortly afterwards, the chamber launched a high-profile campaign to alter the foreign corrupt practices act—the same law that could potentially be brought to bear on News Corp now.

The who’s who of the phone hacking scandal

David Cameron: prime minister of Britain.

Rupert Murdoch: overlord of News International and News Corp.

Andy Coulson: editor of News of the World during phone hacking (2003-2007). Director of communications for David Cameron (2007-January 2011).

Rebekah Brooks: worked for Murdoch since 1997. News of the World editor (2000-2003). Sun editor (2003-2009). News International chief executive until July 2011, when she resigned because of the phone hacking scandal.

Neil Wallis: worked for News International from 1986, rising to become deputy editor of the Sun (1993-2003), deputy editor of News of the World (2003-2007), executive editor of the paper (2007-2009). Fellow journalists knew him as "the wolfman".

Sir Paul Stephenson: cop since 1975. Rose through the ranks to commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 2009. Resigned last week over scandal.

John Yates: assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police and was appointed head of Specialist Operations on 9 April 2009. Was top terror cop when police killed Jean Charles De Menezes. Resigned Monday.

Andy Hayman: assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Metropolitan Police (2005–2007).

James Murdoch: son of Rupert. Assumed heir to the empire pre-hacking scandal. Represents News Corp’s interests at BSkyB.

Les Hinton: one of Rupert Murdoch’s closest business associates and head of News International at the height of the News of the World’s phone hacking. Resigned on Friday as chief executive of Dow Jones in New York.

 

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Former City Slicker reporter offers evidence for public inquiry, alleging phone hacking was widespread at Mirror and People

Phone hacking was not confined to the News of the World but was widespread at other newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, a former Mirror reporter has claimed.

James Hipwell, who worked as a financial journalist under the editorship of Piers Morgan, said the practice was "seen as a bit of a wheeze" and offered to give evidence to the public inquiry into hacking ordered by David Cameron.

Hacking also took place at other titles in the newspaper group, including the People, he alleged.

"You know what people around you are doing," he told the Independent. "They would call a celebrity with one phone and when it was answered they would then hang up.

"By that stage, the other phone would be into [the celebrity's] voicemail and they would key in the code, 9999 or 0000. I saw that a lot."

He added: "It was seen as a bit of a wheeze – something that was slightly underhand but something many of them did. What a laugh.

"After they'd hacked into someone's mobile, they'd delete the message so another paper couldn't get the story. There was great hilarity about it."

Piers Morgan, a former editor of the Mirror, and the News of the World, has strenuously denied any link to the phone-hacking scandal.

Hipwell said he had chosen to speak out as he was sick of all the "lies".

The death of phone-hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare fuelled his decision to talk about what went on, he said, condemning the way the former News of the World journalist had been treated as "disgraceful".

Trinity Mirror denied its journalists had broken the law. A spokesman said: "Trinity Mirror's position is clear. Our journalists work within the criminal law and the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) code of conduct."

Trinity Mirror added that Hipwell's claims were "totally unsubstantiated".

Hipwell was jailed for six months in February 2006 for pocketing nearly £41,000 by repeatedly purchasing low-priced stocks, recommending them to readers in the Mirror's City Slickers column and then quickly selling them as values soared.

 

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Piers is in a piss storm of woe over the phone hacking scandal that may make CNN wish they could fold him into an airmail envelope and mail him back to whence he came

Piers is in a piss storm of woe over the phone hacking scandal that may make CNN wish they could fold him into an airmail envelope and mail him back to whence he came. From the Guardian UK:

Phone hacking also rife under Piers Morgan at Mirror, claims ex-reporter

Oh dear. Perhaps it's all an innocent misunderstanding, but it appears many more worms will be emerging from the woodwork before this clusterphuck has run its course. If we can't send him back to Britain, is there someplace else we can send him?

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Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home

Amy Winehouse, the beehived soul-jazz diva whose self-destructive habits overshadowed a distinctive musical talent, was found dead Saturday in her London home, police said. She was 27.


Winehouse shot to fame with the album "Back to Black," whose blend of jazz, soul, rock and classic pop was a global hit. It won five Grammys and made Winehouse — with her black beehive hairdo and old-fashioned sailor tattoos — one of music's most recognizable stars.


Police confirmed that a 27-year-old female was pronounced dead at the home in Camden Square northern London; the cause of death was not immediately known. London Ambulance Services said Winehouse had died before the two ambulance crews it sent arrived at the scene.

"I didn't go out looking to be famous," Winehouse told the Associated Press when "Back to Black" was released. "I'm just a musician."

But in the end, the music was overshadowed by fame, and by Winehouse's demons. Tabloids lapped up the erratic stage appearances, drunken fights, stints in hospital and rehab clinics. Performances became shambling, stumbling train wrecks, watched around the world on the Internet.

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British actor Rhys Ifans, who portrays the villain Lizard in the upcoming Hollywood movie "The Amazing Spider-Man," was arrested and cited for battery

British actor Rhys Ifans, who portrays the villain Lizard in the upcoming Hollywood movie "The Amazing Spider-Man," was arrested and cited for battery at the pop culture gathering Comic-Con Friday evening.
"He was abusive, belligerent and aggressive, and shoved a female security guard," San Diego police spokeswoman Lt. Andra Brown said in a statement Saturday.
Brown told Reuters a member of Ifans' "entourage" did not have proper identification to enter Comic-Con, a gathering of science-fiction fans and comic book lovers. for a promotional event to tout the upcoming "Spider-Man" movie.
Story: A 'Twilight' dawn breaks over Comic-Con
Ifans used his hand to push his way past security, Brown said. He cursed the staff, hurled insults at the United States and loudly complained: "I don't live here," she said.
The police spokeswoman added that Ifans' breath "smelled like alcohol" but he was not cited for public drunkenness.

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Cameron faces mounting pressure over hackgate fiasco

David Cameron has returned from his trade mission to Nigeria amidst a media frenzy, as the phone-hacking scandal that has come to embroil the Murdochs’ media empire and the Metropolitan Police edges higher in government.

It emerged from yesterday’s hearing that the then leader of the opposition’s communications guru, Andy Coulson, had been advised by the editor of sacrificed paper the News of the World, Neil Wallis.

Both men have now been arrested for their apparent complicity in the scandal and focus is now likely to turn to the Prime Minister, who may face a similar select committee hearing.

Their connection will be under deep scrutiny following yesterday’s hearings which, after hours of slow deliberating, culminated in Murdoch senior being ‘custard pied’ by anarchic comedian, Jonnie Marbles.

The prime minister has now returned to the UK in a bid to calm speculation, having cut short a trade mission to Africa.

 

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Piers Morgan seeks apology over hacking claim

Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan has demanded an apology from an MP who made claims about him admitting to phone hacking, at the London hearing which quizzed Rupert Murdoch.
In an angry on-air exchange, Morgan, who is now a celebrity interviewer for US television news network CNN, challenged Member of Parliament Louise Mensch to repeat her claim that he had "boasted" of phone hacking in a book about his tabloid editor days.
She declined to do so, saying she had been covered by parliamentary privilege -- which protects her from legal action for anything said inside parliament -- a protection which does not apply if she repeats the words elsewhere.
In the committee hearing which grilled Murdoch and his son James over the phone hacking scandal rocking the tycoon's media empire, Mensch said Morgan had boasted about using a phone hacking "little trick" to win a scoop of the year award.
"That is a former editor of the Daily Mirror being very open about his personal use of phone hacking," she said in the hearing.
But Morgan, a former editor of the Mirror and of Murdoch's now-shuttered News of the World, said he had never claimed to have used phone hacking himself in his 2005 book "The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade."
"I'm amused by her cowardice in refusing to repeat that allegation now that shes not in parliament covered by privilege," Morgan said in the on-air exchange with Mensch, who was in London.
"She came out with an absolute blatant lie during those proceedings. At no stage in my book or indeed outside of my book have I ever boasted of using phone hacking for any stories."
And he added: "For the record, in my time at the Mirror and the News of the World I have never hacked a phone, told anybody to hack a phone or published any story based on the hacking of a phone."
In an increasingly tetchy exchange, during which Mensch said Morgan was a rich man and accused him of threatening her, the former newspaperman added: "I think you should apologize for being a liar."
He repeatedly bashed her for invoking parliamentary privilege and said Mensch should "show some balls" and repeat her claims outside the hearing.
Asking her to produce evidence to back her claim, he said: "If there is no evidence for that, are you going to publicly apologize to me, and to CNN right now for such an outrageous lie?"
"I feel no need whatsoever to apologize," said the lawmaker.

 

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Former Olympic 100m champion Linford Christie crashed head on into a taxi with two newly-weds inside while driving the wrong way up the A413 in Buckinghamshire, a court has heard.

The 51-year-old former athlete, from Twickenham, denies dangerous driving in Chalfont St Peter on 8 May last year.

Mr Christie clambered from his badly-damaged Audi A8 after the collision, Aylesbury Crown Court heard.

Soon after he said: "Oh my God, it's all my fault", the jury was told.

Mr Christie was driving towards Amersham when he found himself on the wrong side of the A413, the court heard.

Eight seconds later, his car - with the personalised number plate 100 RUN - hit a silver Mercedes travelling in the opposite direction.

Dragged from taxi
The taxi was propelled on to a grass verge, while the Audi came to a halt in the middle of the carriageway.

Mr Christie, who had recently moved to the area and was on his way back to his girlfriend's home, was able to walk away from his vehicle but newly married Peter Ashton had to be dragged from the taxi.

Opening the case, prosecutor Nigel Ogborne said Mr Christie, of Sherland Road, Twickenham, west London, ploughed into the taxi some time between 2330 and 2340 BST.

"He drove for some 185m (600ft) and, the prosecution say, he drove on the wrong side of the road.

"He was driving on the opposing carriageway and a car was driving the other way and there was a head-on collision."

The court was told Mr Christie was searching for the turning to his girlfriend's home when he collided with the taxi carrying three people - Mr Ashton, his new wife Claire Lloyd-Ashton, her uncle Michael Burt and driver Naeem Akhtar.

Mrs Lloyd-Ashton said: "This male, he said, 'Oh my God, it's all my fault, it's all my fault. He seemed very distressed."

Jurors heard how Mr Christie told a police officer he believed he had been driving at about 30mph (48km/h) that night and the accident happened because he had a "lapse".

The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.

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Cheryl Cole has cancelled the 'family' get-together she planned to attend with former husband Ashley Cole.

Cheryl Cole has cancelled the 'family' get-together she planned to attend with former husband Ashley Cole.

The singer thought her love cheat ex had changed his ways but is now furious that Ashley is still acting like a single man.

Air stewardess Kerry Meades, 29, alleges she slept with the footballer in LA in June.

'Just as Cheryl's getting back on track and working really hard on her music, he does this. She's humiliated,' says a source. 

'Ashley had organised a family gathering, a barbecue, for when he got back from pre-season training in the Far East.

'This has now been scrapped.'

But Cheryl, who's demanded Ashley, 30, deletes her number, isn't letting the upset get her down.

Instead the Girls Aloud star, 28, is in the studio recording a new album so she can launch her music career in America.

'Cheryl's determined to keep her head down now and focus on work,' the source tells the Daily Mirror.

'What will be with Ashley will be. But it can wait.'

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George Michael has called Jeremy Clarkson a 'pig-ugly homophobe' after the Top Gear presenter made jokes at his expense on the hit BBC show.

Earlier this month Michael had joked the show needed to camp it up, posting a video of a pink car on Twitter and urging Clarkson to buy one.
On Sunday’s episode of Top Gear, Clarkson appeared to make a joke about the Wham! singer’s sexual habits, saying while reviewing the new Jaguar XKRS.
He said: ‘It’s very fast and very, very loud.
‘And then in the corners it will get its tail out more readily than George Michael.’
Michael denied he had been trying to rile Clarkson, saying: ‘That's sooo funny! I wasn't trying to have a go at good old Jeremy! I said I sounded I sounded like him with someone's finger up his arse!!
'In other words I thought I sounded camp on my iPhone review of a bright pink bentley.’
But after initially laughing off Clarkson’s comments, he added: ‘Good grief Mr.Clarkson, I wasn't implying your towering heterosexuality was in question. I had no desire to insult you!
‘But I do now, you pig-ugly homophobic tw*t!!!!!’
George Michael isn’t the only one displeased with Clarkson this week.
Veteran presenter Stuart Hall called the 51-year-old a ‘deluded snob’ in a piece for Radio Times, after Clarkson said he would rather quit Top Gear than move to Salford.

 

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Rupert Murdoch was pelted with a white foam during his appearance before MPs today.

Mr Murdoch's wife Wendi and his son James jumped to his defence as the attack was launched as the final questions were being asked by MPs.


The hearing was suspended as a man wearing a checked shirt with what appeared to be foam splashed across his face was detained by police.

Mr Murdoch, 80, was apparently pelted with a plate of foam.

MP Chris Bryant condemned the attack in which he said the media mogul had the plate pushed into his face.

James Murdoch was in mid-sentence as the attacked was launched.

Wendi Murdoch, who had sat behind her husband throughout his appearance before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, appeared to strike back at the assailant in defence of her husband.

Eyewitnesses said a member of the audience sat at the back of the room stood up and walked around to the front where Mr Murdoch was giving evidence and threw what appeared to be a paper plate covered in shaving foam at him.

As the protester was being taken from the room, Mr Murdoch's wife threw the empty paper plate at him.

The session was then suspended.

As the man was being led away in handcuffs escorted by a single police officer, he refused to give his name, saying: "As Mr Murdoch himself said, I'm afraid I cannot comment on an ongoing police investigation."

His shirt and hair was covered in what appeared to be white shaving foam.

Shortly after the foam attack, police were seen leading someone through the glass lobby of Portcullis House towards the underpass which leads to the Houses of Parliament.

An unmarked police car with flashing blue lights was seen arriving at the main entrance to the Palace of Westminster.

The hearing resumed ten minutes after the attack with Mr Murdoch now wearing shirt sleeves but apparently unharmed.

The alleged perpetrator was named on Twitter as Jonnie Marbles.

Marbles, who describes himself as an activist and comedian, wrote on the website just before the incident: "It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before £splat."

The Independent's Whitehall editor Oliver Wright said: "If you are facing the way the Murdochs were facing, he came from the left-hand side.

"The police were on the other side of the room and this rather overweight copper, as they tend to be round here, rushed over but Wendi (Rupert Murdoch's wife) got to him first. She hit him with what appeared to be a paper."

When the hearing resumed, Labour MP Tom Watson, a vociferous critic of News International, concluded his questioning by telling Mr Murdoch: "Your wife has a very good left hook."

The start of the keenly-awaited hearing in the Wilson Room of Portcullis House was also briefly disrupted as protesters were removed.

The fact that one remained and was able to launch his attack is likely to be the subject of an urgent review of security by Westminster authorities.

During the hearing, Mr Murdoch admitted mistakes were made over the phone hacking scandal as he repeatedly apologised and declared: "This is the most humble day of my life."

He said he had been misled and people he had trusted with his British newspaper business had been betrayed.

But he said he had not considered resigning, adding: "Because I feel that people I trusted let me down and they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me and it is for them to pay."

He added: "I am the best person to clean this up."

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Pop group Take That have been forced to cancel a show for the first time in their lengthy career after Robbie Williams suffered a bout of food poisoning

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The singer became violently ill on Friday night and was unable to recover in time to perform at Saturday night's gig in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to the reformed group.

A statement released by the group said it was "truly devastated" that the show did not go ahead.

"This is the first show that we have ever had to cancel in our career as a band," it said. "It was a horrible decision to make and one we agonised over.

"On Friday night, Rob suffered serious food poisoning from something he had eaten after the show. He was violently ill all night and well into the morning."

The band said the singer's dressing room was relocated to the stadium on Saturday morning in the hope that he could recover and prepare for the show. But despite taking prescribed medication, Williams was still vomiting at 4pm and doctors insisted he was not fit to perform.

The statement said that the band made a "group decision" to cancel the show as they felt it was "fairer" to the fans as the tour was about celebrating their reunion.

It added: "We cannot believe what has happened. Rob is still very unwell, and we are all just focusing on getting him better so we can put on our show in Amsterdam this coming Monday."

They added that they were "truly sorry from the bottom of our hearts" to those that had purchased tickets.

Take That's latest reunion show begins with a medley of songs performed by Jason Orange, Mark Owen, Gary Barlow and Howard Donald - who reformed without Williams in 2006. Williams, who returned to the original line-up last year, then sings a list of his own solo hits before the band reel off past and present songs as a five-piece.

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An air-hostess claimed she slept with Ashley Cole just days before he flew back to London for ex-wife Cheryl’s birthday.

But shortly before her bash, where the couple made a very public reunion in front of their family and friends, the singer was left stunned when her ex-husband Ashley Cole asked her to re-marry him, it has been claimed.

According to The People, Chelsea and England player Ashley called Cheryl last Wednesday at a hotel in Los Angeles and asked her if she wanted to tie the knot again.


Speaking out: Air hostess Kerry Meades has claimed she enjoyed a series of romps with Ashley Cole around time he asked Cheryl to remarry him, it has been claimed

A source told the paper: ‘Yes he did decide to ask Cheryl to marry him again, it’s true.’

But now the Girls Aloud singer has now been dealt a fresh blow with the claims of Virgin Atlantic steward Kerry Meades who alleges that she bedded the footballer while he was in LA last month, The Sunday Mirror has reported.

Kerry added to the paper that she had already slept with Ashley in 2004 before bumping into him at Supper Club in Hollywood on June 17.


Will they or won't they? Ashley and Cheryl Cole's reunion seems doomed as further accusations against the footballer emerge

The stewardess claims the footballer propositioned her on the night but she refused his advances, but later arranged to meet him at his rented mansion.

She told the paper: ‘Once we got inside the villa, Ashley asked “Shall we go upstairs now?”’

She alleged the pair shared a jacuzzi and he got her a drink.

Kerry explained: ‘He came back and repeated “Can we go upstairs yet?”

'We went inside and started walking up a big spiral staircase. Just then the door opened and everyone standing in the kitchen could see us.’

‘We were holding hands and at least six or seven people must have seen but he didn’t care.’


Loverat: Ashley, pictured here at the Dead Man Running premiere in 2009, has been caught red-handed again

She added: ‘He was very caring and made me feel very special.’

Reports that Cheryl and Ashley were getting back together gathered pace after he jetted back from a holiday in New York earlier this month to attend the singer's 28th birthday party.

Cheryl is currently in America with her brother Garry Tweedy.

Although a spokesman last week refused to be drawn on Cheryl’s personal life, a source said: ‘Cheryl wants to resuscitate her profile in Hollywood, but she is focusing on her musical career for the time being.’

Kerry isn’t the only girl who claims to have bedded the footballer, as two other girls, believed to be bikini models, have made similar allegations after apparently meeting Ashley in Hollywood.

Max Clifford told the Mail: ‘In recent weeks, three girls have been in touch with me claiming to have had recent relationships with Ashley Cole.

'They will be coming to see me and I’ll see if there is any evidence to back up these allegations.’

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DMX's Rep Slams Drug Smuggling Reports

A representative for DMX has blasted reports the embattled rapper has been caught sneaking drugs into prison, insisting he has "never" smuggled anything into his cell.

The hip-hop star, real name Earl Simmons, was due to walk free from an Arizona correctional facility on Wednesday after serving seven months behind bars for a probation violation. However, his release date has been postponed until next week following allegations he committed seven disciplinary infractions throughout his time behind bars.

Official records obtained by TMZ.com show the star had been found guilty of possessing drugs or narcotics, failing or refusing a drug test, disrespecting staff, smoking when not authorized, and being disruptive and disorderly.

Nonetheless, DMX's spokesperson has challenged the smuggling claims and played down reports of other bad behavior.

His rep tells AllHipHop.com, "DMX never snuck anything into the prison. As far as him smoking in jail, there is an area where inmates are allowed to smoke. A guard felt that DMX was smoking outside of a designated lined area in the smoking court and started harassing him, which resulted in the charge."

And the publicist is adamant DMX will be back to work in no time.

The rep adds, "DMX is looking forward to being released from prison and resuming his career."

 

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Incarcerated rapper Lil Boosie is facing extra time behind bars after he was accused of attempting to smuggle drugs into his prison cell for the second time in two months.

The hip-hop star, real name Torrence Hatch, is currently serving a four-year sentence for drug and gun possession and violating parole from a previous conviction.

He is also due to stand trial next month after pleading not guilty to a first-degree murder charge relating to a 2009 shooting in Louisiana.

But his legal woes have gone from bad to worse after he was indicted for reportedly conspiring to get hold of codeine syrup behind bars at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

He has been charged with one count of criminal conspiracy to take contraband to and from a penal institution, and another of inciting a felony.

The new allegations could land Hatch an additional five years in prison, according to AllHipHop.com.

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Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by police investigating allegations of phone hacking by the News of the World and allegations that police officers were bribed to leak sensitive information

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The Metropolitan police said a 43-year-old woman was arrested at noon on Sunday, by appointment at a London police station.

Brooks, 43, resigned on Friday as News International's chief executive. She is a former News of the World editor and was close to Rupert Murdoch and the prime minister, David Cameron.

A spokesman for Brooks said she did not know she was going to be arrested when she handed in her resignation.

Brooks was taken into custody at midday on Sunday, after agreeing to attend a London police station for questioning. Her spokesman, Bell Pottinger chairman David Wilson, said she did not know she was to meet with police until late on Friday, and that she did not know the appointment would result in her arrest.

The News International chief executive announced her immediate departure from the company on Friday morning. She had agreed to give evidence this coming Tuesday to the culture select committee's inquiry into allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World.

Her lawyers are currently in discussion with the committee about whether she should attend. Wilson said: "It's left Rebekah in a very difficult position and has left the committee in a very difficult position".

An arrest by appointment on a Sunday by police is unusual.

In a statement the Met said: "The MPS [Metropolitan police service] has this afternoon, Sunday 17 July, arrested a female in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.

"At approximately 12.00 a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting [phone hacking investigation] together with officers from Operation Elveden [bribing of police officers investigation]. She is currently in custody.

"She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

"The Operation Weeting team is conducting the new investigation into phone hacking.

"Operation Elveden is the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police. This investigation is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

"It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details regarding these cases at this time."

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Is CNN's Piers Morgan the next to fall in the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal?

CNN, which has given the scandal plenty of play, is starting to face questions about its treatment of allegations implicating its own Larry King replacement.

Seems Morgan was once an editor of the News of the World, the British tabloid that started all of this -- though his alleged improprieties were during his tenure as editor of a different tabloid: the Daily Mirror.

On Monday, a British politics blog titled Guido Fawkes claimed Morgan condoned hacking during his editorship.

"James 'Scottie' Scott, the Daily Mirror's showbiz reporter at the time, was listening into (English TV star) Ulrika Jonsson's voicemails when he was flummoxed by messages in her native Swedish," Fawkes wrote.

"Morgan decided to let '3AM Girl' Jessica Callan break the illegally obtained story under her byline in order to try and rid the column of its banal reputation."

The blog never supplied much evidence, but one of his sources might be Morgan's book, "The Insider," in which Morgan talks about a "little trick" that sounds a whole lot like hacking.

While different news outlets have begun to pick the story up, CNN has remained silent. Adweek pointed this out to CNN, which defended its silence by saying that Morgan has not been summoned to testify.

But while he has not been formally summoned like the Murdochs, MPs have said Morgan should face questioning.

Morgan himself addressed the speculation on Monday, telling the CBS daytime show "The Talk" that he had not broken any laws. However, neither CNN nor Morgan have responded to the allegations since then.Piers Morgan, the British journalist and talk show host who took over for CNN’s venerable Larry King earlier this year, is a former editor of the now-defunct News of the World, the tabloid at the center of the hacking scandal. Moreover, Morgan has been implicated in a separate celebrity phone hacking scandal while he was editor of the U.K’s Daily Mirror.
But so far, CNN has failed to report any of this. A ThinkProgress search covering the last 30 days of several media monitoring services and CNN’s own website, show the network has not so much as mentioned Morgan’s connection to the failed News Corp. tabloid, nor the separate Mirror allegation.
A CNN spokesperson confirmed the lack of coverage to Ad Week last week, “saying that the network hasn’t covered the matter because Morgan has not been officially called to testify in England.”
Morgan himself did address the issue on Monday, telling a CBS talk show that neither he nor his former publication have broken any laws.
The allegations are especially troubling given this passage from Morgan’s 2005 book, The Insider: The Private Diaries of a Scandalous Decade:
Apparently if you don’t change the standard security code that every phone comes with, then anyone can call your number and, if you don’t answer, tap in the standard four digit code to hear all your messages. I’ll change mine just in case, but it makes me wonder how many public figures and celebrities are aware of this little trick.
As Ad Week notes, “Morgan has been sounding a fairly sympathetic note about Murdoch.” In the CBS interview, he said, “I’m not going to join the Murdoch bashing. I’ve always been a big admirer of his. He gave me my first break in journalism. He made me editor of [News of the World] when I was 28 years old.”

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Amy Winehouse has been forced to change her cell phone number

Amy Winehouse has been forced to change her cell phone number because her jailed ex-husband Blake Fielder-civil has allegedly been hounding the star with calls.
The troubled Rehab hitmaker divorced Fielder-Civil in 2009 after two years of marriage, and he has since moved on with fiancee Sarah Aspin, who gave birth to their first child, son Jack, earlier this year (11).
Aspin claims Winehouse has been constantly trying to contact Fielder-Civil and has sent him a string of saucy text messages in recent weeks - and she's had enough.
She tells Britain's The Sun, "She needs to keep her hands off him. He is mine and we are a family now. I've had enough of her thinking she can click her fingers and get him back whenever she wants. She phones him when she is really out of it (drunk) and her texts are even signed off 'your wife'."
But a representative for Winehouse has hit out at the allegations, insisting it is Fielder-Civil who is harassing the star.
Winehouse's spokesperson tells the publication, "She's had to change her number. He has been calling her more than 10 times a day. He uses a mobile (cell phone) in jail."
Fielder-Civil is currently serving a 32-month sentence for burglary and possession of an imitation firearm.

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JLo's 'bare all' plans spoilt marriage

Looks like Jennifer Lopez's new role in 'What To Expect When You're Expecting', where she is due to strip off in, might have been a reason behind her shocking break-up with Marc Anthony after seven years of marriage.

Reports suggested earlier this week that Lopez, 41, would be baring almost all in the comedy film, based on the pregnancy book of the same name.

"According to the script, Jennifer's character, Holly, bares her breasts to help convince her husband, played by Rodrigo Santoro, that they need to adopt a baby boy," the Daily Mail quoted a source as telling Life And Style magazine.

It is not only in this movie that she is going nude, as Lopez is apparently also planning to get racy alongside Jason Statham in crime thrilled 'Parker'.

While it remains to be seen whether the roles had something to do with the split, Lopez has kept her nudity to a minimum since she has been with Anthony.

There also have been claims that Lopez's desire to rejoin 'American Idol' for a second season might have caused problems with Anthony.

However, according to other sources, it was actually Anthony's 'bad attitude' that caused the split.

 

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Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by officers investigating allegations of corruption and phone hacking.

The 43-year-old went to a London police station by appointment at midday today and is being held on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption allegations.
Operation Weeting has been launched to investigate claims that newspaper journalists hacked into the phones of high-profile figures and even victims of crime.
Mrs Brooks resigned as chief executive of News International (NI) on Friday to avoid distracting attention from the company's efforts to "fix the problems of the past".
She was editor of the News Of The World (NOTW) when missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone was hacked and messages were deleted. The teenager was later found murdered.
Mrs Brooks is the tenth person to be arrested in connection with the NOTW scandal since detectives reopened their investigation earlier this year.
The arrest puts her in a difficult position in terms of her scheduled appearance at the meeting on Tuesday. Rebekah's lawyers will be seeking guidance as to the course of action in regards to attending the meeting on Tuesday.
Mrs Brooks' spokesman
A separate investigation, titled Operation Elveden, is looking at allegations of inappropriate payments to police.
Mrs Brooks' spokesman said Mrs Brooks is "assisting police with their enquiries".
"Rebekah was informed about a pre-arranged interview with the police on Friday. She was arrested upon arrival at the police station today.
"Rebekah has been offering to help police with their enquiries since January. The police explicitly said they did not need to speak to her.
"As late as last week the police still maintained they did not need to speak to her.

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