BRITISH CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer George Osborne has met senior News Corporation executives 16 times since he took office,

BRITISH CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer George Osborne has met senior News Corporation executives 16 times since he took office, including one meeting that took place after a Conservative minister was put in charge of deciding on the company’s bid for satellite broadcaster BSkyB.The information was contained in a long list of contacts between British government ministers and News Corporation and its UK subsidiary, News International, published yesterday on the orders of prime minister David Cameron.Last night, Mr Osborne’s spokesman said the BSkyB takeover bid had been raised at one meeting while Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable was in charge of deciding on the issue, but was not raised again after Mr Osborne made it clear he had no role in the matter.Mr Osborne met Rupert Murdoch...

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police team investigating phone hacking has been boosted from 45 to 60 officers

The police team investigating phone hacking has been boosted from 45 to 60 officers, Scotland Yard has said.Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight.Meanwhile, the investigation into alleged misconduct by newspapers may be spreading beyond News International.Police have asked for files of an earlier inquiry into the use of private investigators, the BBC has learned.According to BBC Radio 4's The Report, the files from Operation Motorman, which was run by the Information Commissioner's Office in 2003, were requested three months ago.'12,000 victims'They contain 4,000 requests from 300 journalists and 31 publications for confidential information from a private investigator, which in many...

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Questions remain unanswered in the phone-hacking scandal

Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corp, told the Commons select committee last week that, in his monthly calls to the editor of the News of the World, he would ask: "What's doing?" What's doing, over the past three weeks, has been that the News Corp carousel of money, power and politics, once so firmly controlled by Murdoch and his offspring, has seemed to spin faster and faster out of control.But has calamity yet turned into catastrophe for the Murdochs? What key questions remain whose answers might indicate whether News Corp is a "fit and proper" organisation to wield power in this country, let alone take full control of...

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Strathclyde Police are to investigate phone hacking and breaches of data protection in Scotland, the Crown Office has confirmed.

Strathclyde Police are to investigate phone hacking and breaches of data protection in Scotland, the Crown Office has confirmed.The probe will centre on allegations that witnesses gave perjured evidence in the trial of ex-MSP Tommy Sheridan.In December he was found guilty of lying during his successful defamation case against the News of the World (NoW) newspaper in 2006.The NoW was closed at the beginning of July over the hacking scandal.Sheridan, former Scottish Socialist Party leader, was jailed for three years for lying under oathHe had won £200,000 in damages over its claims he was an adulterer who visited swingers clubs.Asst Ch Con George Hamilton said: "Following our discussions with the Crown, we have now been instructed to carry out a full investigation into allegations that witnesses...

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