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Murdochs to testify before British MPs
Murdoch may shut down all his UK papers: Report
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Gaddafi plans to blow up Tripoli
if captured
Muammar Gaddafi Somali
pirates active, taking greater risks in Arabian Sea area
Suicide bomber kills 5 at Karzai memorial service
Malik blames wives, girlfriends for Karachi’s ‘target killings’
Malik blames wives, girlfriends
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Murdochs to testify before British MPs
London, July 14 Parliament's media committee "has this morning decided to summon Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch to appear before the select committee at 2.30 pm on Tuesday," the committee said in a statement. But hours later, both Murdoch and his son James said that they will not appear before a committee of the House of Commons. However, Murdoch said he will depose before the judge-led inquiry announced by Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday. Murdoch's chief of UK operations Rebekah Brooks has accepted to appear before the committee next week, the statement said. “Murdoch indicated that he is unable to attend to give evidence," it said, adding that his son had conveyed that he also would not be able to testify on the specified date but offered to appear at an alternative date, the earliest of which was August 10. The Commons Media Committee wants the three to give evidence about the phone hacking, but cannot force Murdoch and his son to appear as they are not UK citizens. Pressure on the media baron grew as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg backed moves to make him and his top associates appear before Commons Select Committee. If the Murdochs had "one shred of responsibility or accountability for their position of power, then they should come and explain themselves before a Commons Select Committee," Clegg said in remarks made to BBC Radio. In a statement, the MPs said that serious questions had arisen about the evidence of Brooks and Andy Coulson, both of them former News of the World editors, gave at a previous hearing in 2003. In a letter to the committee chairman John Whittingdale, Rupert Murdoch said: "Unfortunately, I am not available to attend the session you have planned next Tuesday. However, I am fully prepared to give evidence to the forthcoming judge-led public inquiry and I will be taking steps to notify those conducting the inquiry of my willingness to do so." But, the MPs said, "The committee has made clear its view that all three should appear to account for the behaviour of News International and for previous statements made to the committee in Parliament, now acknowledged to be false." Whittingdale said the Deputy Sergeant at Arms of the House of Commons would now deliver the summons to the Murdochs in person. The BBC said if the media baron did not attend the hearing, the matter would go to the House, which could then decide whether the Murdochs are in contempt of Parliament. Quoting the leader of the House Sir George Young, the BBC said there were a range of sanctions available if individuals failed to respond to summons to the appear before a select committee including fines and imprisonment. — PTI Ex-deputy editor of News of the World held
The British police arrested another former News of the World executive on Thursday in connection with the phone-hacking scandal. Identified as Neil Wallis, the 60-year-old was the former executive editor and deputy editor of the News of the World under Andy Coulson. He had left the paper in 2009. Scotland Yard said the man had been arrested on “suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.”
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Murdoch may shut down all his UK papers: Report
London, July 14 The media mogul discussed this possibility when he met his "inner circle" on Wednesday, the Daily Express said today. Sources said Murdoch was "locked in a series of meetings" to specifically consider the option, following the closure of the 168-year-old News of the World. They said Murdoch was concerned to protect the reputation of the parent News Corporation from further damage after the value of its shares went down. While one said "Murdoch has the ruthlessness to amputate the arm that is threatening the rest of News Corporation," another said a sale was now a "live possibility". Murdoch's American newspaper The Wall Street Journal also reported he was now examining selling News International. "News Corp has informally explored whether there were any potential buyers for its UK newspaper unit," it said. Selling News International could fetch about 300 million pounds. — IANS
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Gaddafi plans to blow up Tripoli if captured
London, July 14 Mikhail Margelov, who recently met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi told Russia’s Izvestia daily: “The Libyan premier told me - if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up. I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan,” he said. The Libyan leader “still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition,” according to the Telegraph. Margelov - who also net senior Libyan officials - questioned reports that Gaddafi could be running out of arms. He said Gaddafi had “still not used” a single surface-to-surface missile. “Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks and cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives,” he was quoted as saying. Russia abstained from a vote on a UN Security Council resolution in March that opened the way for foreign involvement in the Libyan conflict. Gaddafi’s regime has accused NATO of killing more than 1,100 civilians. His regime said it was seeking to prosecute NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for “war crimes”. “As NATO secretary general, Rasmussen is responsible for the actions of this organisation, which has attacked unarmed people, killing 1,108 civilians and wounding 4,537 others in bombardment of Tripoli and other cities and villages,” prosecutor General Mohamed Zekri Mahjubi said in Tripoli. — IANS
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Somali pirates active, taking greater risks in Arabian Sea area London, July 14 Pirate attacks on the world's seas totalled 266 in the first half of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre reported today. More than 60 per cent of the attacks were by Somali pirates, a majority of which were in the Arabian Sea area, said the report titled, “Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships.” The Indian Navy and Coast Guard have prevented a number of attacks by the sea pirates, mostly Somalians, in the past few months and apprehended over a 100 pirates. On March 26, the Navy had apprehended 16 sea brigands and rescued 16 crew members after battling with the Somalian pirates off the western coast of Lakshadweep Islands. On March 13, the Indian Navy foiled a pirate attack and apprehended a pirate mother ship rescuing 13 crew members and caught 61 Somali sea brigands about 600 nautical miles off the western coast in the Arabian Sea. As of June 30, Somali pirates were holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding ransoms of millions of dollars for their release, the IMB said. “In the last six months, Somali pirates attacked more vessels than ever before and they're taking higher risks,” said IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan. “This June, for the first time, pirates fired on ships in rough seas in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season. In the past, they would have stayed away in such difficult conditions. Masters should remain vigilant," Mukundan said. — PTI
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Suicide bomber kills 5 at Karzai memorial service
Kandahar, July 14 At least 15 persons were also wounded in the midday attack at the city’s Red Mosque, the Interior Ministry said. Cabinet ministers and relatives of President Hamid Karzai had been among the mourners, but escaped unhurt. The attack came just two days after a trusted family associate killed Ahmad Wali Karzai, probably the most powerful and controversial man in southern Afghanistan, at his home. His death has created a dangerous power vacuum in Kandahar, that some fear could spark a wave of greater violence in an already volatile city. Karzai buried his brother yesterday and moved swiftly to give another brother a key tribal role left vacant, in an apparent attempt to pre-empt political infighting. Karzai had returned to Kabul after the burial so was not at the service, his spokesman Waheed Omer said. — Reuters
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Karachi, July 14 Angry mobs went on a rampage and burnt vehicles after Mirza urged the people of Karachi and Hyderabad, the second-largest city of Sindh, to “stand up ... and rid yourselves” of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). He also criticised Mohajirs - the descendants of Urdu speakers, who migrated from India, for being ungrateful for the home they were given after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Provincial home minister Manzoor Wasan said 14 persons were killed and 25 injured in violence since last night. At least one person was killed in Hyderabad. Several protests were held in Karachi and other cities of the province, where protesters burnt tyres, chanted slogans against Mirza and burnt his effigies, demanding his removal as a minister. Many roads were closed in Karachi after protesters torched several vehicles. Later, Mirza apologised for his comments. “My statement was my personal view and was not meant to hurt anybody’s sentiments. However, if it has done that, I sincerely apologise,” he said in a statement. — Reuters
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Malik blames wives, girlfriends for Karachi’s ‘target killings’
Islamabad, July 14 In comments that were ridiculed all over the media, Malik told reporters during an interaction in Quetta yesterday that more people had been killed by those who wanted to get rid of their wives, girlfriends and boyfriends than those responsible for “target killings” in Karachi. He was responding to a question on the killing of more than 150 persons in recent clashes in the port city. “According to my personal experience in Karachi, if, let’s say, it is said that 100 persons have died in target killings, when I did the investigation, I found that there were only 30 target killings,” Malik said. “Seventy per cent were those people who wanted to get rid of their wives and girlfriends or girlfriends who wanted to get rid of their boyfriends. All figures are with me, they killed them,” he added. The Interior Minister’s comments invited ridicule of TV talk show hosts and users of popular micro-blogging website Twitter, who posted the video footage in which Malik was seen making the remarks. After a recent assault on a naval airbase in Karachi that killed 10 security personnel and destroyed two maritime surveillance aircraft, Malik had claimed that the attackers were like "Star Wars characters". Tensions between the ruling PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls most of Karachi, has triggered violent clashes in the city that left over 150 people dead in recent weeks. Fresh clashes erupted last night after senior PPP leader made derogatory remarks about Sindh's Urdu-speaking residents, who mostly support the MQM. — PTI
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Malik blames wives, girlfriends
Islamabad, July 14 He was responding to a question on the killing of more than 150 persons in recent clashes in the port city. — PTI
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Forced to shut down his largest selling tabloid in the UK and back down from a bid to take control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, the woes of Rupert Murdoch worsened today with lawmakers formally asking him to appear before them on Tuesday, but the media baron said he will not.
London, July 14
