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Rebekah Brooks arrested
The rise & fall of Murdoch’s
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Don’t need US military trainers, Pasha tells CIA
Labour leader Ed Miliband has sought new media ownership rules, saying that News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch has too much power in the UK. China observes 60 years of Tibet’s ‘liberation’ Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping arrives to a traditional welcome in Lhasa on Sunday. — AP/PTI Senior PPP activist among 11 killed in Karachi
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scandal Rebekah Brooks arrested
London, July 17 Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International on Friday, was scheduled to appear before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of the House of Commons on Tuesday. Her arrest puts her appearance before in question, but it may go ahead as scheduled if Brooks is released on bail. Under incessant attacks, Murdoch’s group came out with another apology in national newspapers today and promised to make amends to rebuild public trust. Brooks, 43, was arrested by appointment by the police as part of the investigation called Operation Weeting. The police said she was under custody at a London police station. Brooks is the 10th person to be arrested in connection with the scandal, and the second top executive of the News International after former NOTW editor Andy Coulson. She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on corruption allegations. Her arrest comes amidst calls for revision of media ownership rules to prevent concentration and abuse of power in Britain. Labour leader Miliband articulated a growing opinion when he said that Murdoch wielded too much power through his holdings in the press and television industries. His comments found support from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who also sought a re-examination of media policy to ensure plurality and prevention of concentration of power in the hands of an individual or a group. The current investigation is focusing on unethical practices in the News of the World, whose journalists are alleged to have paid bribes to policemen for exchange of information and for hacking into the phones of a number of people, including politicians, celebrities and family members of dead soldiers. The phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler was also hacked during the time Brooks was the editor of the paper. News International placed another advert in a number of Sunday newspapers, declaring that there should be “no place to hide” from the police investigation into phone hacking. Headed ‘Putting right what’s gone wrong’, the advert states that the company will cooperate fully with the probe and pay “compensation for those affected” and that the organisation was “committed to change”. The advert came a day after the company printed apologies in national newspapers, for the wrongdoings and unethical practices adopted by journalists of the now closed News of the World. Miliband demanded cross-party agreement on new media ownership laws that would cut Murdoch’s current market share, arguing that he has “too much power over British public life”. — PTI
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The rise & fall of Murdoch’s
London, July 17 A flame-haired 43-year-old, Brooks became the focus of widespread anger over a phone-hacking scandal at the company she headed. She had a remarkable rise to power in the male-dominated world of UK tabloid journalism, becoming editor of the News of the World in 2000 and the Sun’s first female editor in 2003. In 2009, she was promoted to become chief executive of News International, reporting to Rupert Murdoch’s son James. She became a favourite of Rupert’s, moving the Australian-born magnate to issue a rare statement of personal support as she came under increasing fire last week. She was, until last Friday at least, also a friend and neighbour of Prime Minister David Cameron. “She’s sinuous and clever and probably the most brilliant networker I’ve ever met,” said veteran media commentator Roy Greenslade, a former News International journalist who has known Brooks for many years. Former employees describe her as “one of the lads” who fitted into the macho culture of the tabloids by swearing in the newsroom and drinking in the pub with colleagues, while making it very clear who was boss. “At first, wondered who this person flouncing around the office with big red hair like she owned the place was. I soon found out,” said one ex-Sun reporter. Brooks, known as Rebekah Wade until her second marriage to ex-racehorse trainer and author Charlie Brooks two years ago, spent almost her entire career at News International. After a grammar-school education in the northwestern English county of Cheshire and a short spell in Paris, she joined the News of the World at the age of 20 as a feature writer and rose to become deputy editor. In 1998 she transferred to sister tabloid The Sun, a daily, spending two years as deputy editor there before returning as editor to the News of the World, where she ran a controversial campaign to name and shame child sex offenders. It was under her editorship that an investigator working for the News of the World hacked into the voicemail of missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, later found murdered. One ex-employee from that time describes her as a hands-on editor who led from the front and mucked in with news editors as the weekly publication deadline approached. Despite a sometimes tough demeanour that could intimidate hardened hacks, she was generally charming and wrapped the paper’s male editors around her little finger, current and former colleagues say. “She buttered up a lot of middle-aged men, and she’s good at that. They probably each thought they were a special adviser and confidant. She was very good at keeping those old warhorses truly on her side,” said one ex-employee. — Reuters
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Don’t need US military trainers, Pasha tells CIA
Islamabad, July 17 The US recently suspended $800 million of its military assistance to Pakistan after the latter expelled American military trainers from the country in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's killing by US personnel in Abbottabad. According to a report in The Nation daily, General Pasha told CIA Acting Director Michael Morrel that Pakistan will not allow resending a number of US military trainers sent back in the wake of the May 2 Abbotabbad raid. However, military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas told the media yesterday that resumption of military aid was not on the agenda of Pasha's visit. He said Pasha had a one-on-one meeting with Morrell during which a range of intelligence issues were discussed and "both sides focused more on the way forward". Pasha also reportedly told the CIA chief that in future the visit of US military personnel to Pakistan would be subjected to ISI clearance. — PTI
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Break up Murdoch empire: Miliband
London, July 17 According to Miliband, Murdoch has too much power through his holdings in the press and television industries. Miliband’s latest offensive is the reflection of Murdoch’s much-reduced influence in British politics, a stark change from a culture in which prime ministers, opposition leaders, ministers and MPs courted him for fear of being on the wrong side of his media empire. “The psyche of British politics has changed... So many people have believed that you can’t win without Murdoch, you can’t win without the Sun... (but now) I think the endorsement of Murdoch will be a pretty double-edged one at the next general election,” he said in an interview to The Observer. Besides Miliband, several leaders have been calling for a close look at Murdoch’s current media holdings and whether they are “fit and proper” to function according to the law in Britain. Miliband demanded cross-party agreement on new media ownership laws that would cut Murdoch’s current market share, arguing that he has “too much power over British public life”. Miliband said that the abandonment by Murdoch’s News International of its bid for BSkyB, the resignation of its chief executive Rebekah Brooks and the closure of the News of the World tabloid were insufficient to restore trust and reassure the public. The Labour leader argues that current media ownership rules are outdated, describing them as “analogue rules for a digital age” that do not take into account the advent of mass digital and satellite broadcasting. — PTI
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China observes 60 years of Tibet’s ‘liberation’ Beijing, July 17 A 59-member delegation headed by Vice-President Xi Jinping, arrived in Lhasa, to attend a series of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Tibet’s “peaceful liberation by China”, government-run Xinhua news agency reported. Chinese national flags and a huge banner headlined, “Warmly welcome the central government delegation” were put up at the Gonggar Airport. Dances were performed and hadas, a typical Tibetan ceremonial white scarf to extend greetings, were presented to members of the delegation, it said. Besides Xi, who is tipped to succeed President Hu Jintao next year, the delegation included Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, Li Jianguo, the vice chairman and general secretary of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Du Qinglin and others. — PTI
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Senior PPP activist among 11 killed in Karachi Karachi, July 17 Two incidents turned out to be flashpoints for the latest round of violence that began yesterday. A senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, who headed the workers union in the national airlines PIA, Aamir Shah, was gunned down with his friend in a drive by shooting incident in the troubled Gulistan-e-Jauhar area, sparking more violence. He had also served as a bodyguard to slain prime minister Benazir Bhutto Afterwards, a protest rally by the Kachi Aman (Peace) committee was fired upon by unidentified gunmen. At least seven people were wounded in the incident. Angry supporters of the committee soon after blocked the main Mauripur road which serves as a main transit route for containers and heavy good trucks, setting tyres and shops on fire. The violence spread following this and at least nine more deaths were reported from different areas of the city in shootings. — PTI
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Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the now defunct News of the World (NOTW), was today arrested in connection with the phone-hacking scandal that has hit Rupert Murdoch’s media empire hard over the last two weeks.
Top Chinese leaders today arrived in the Tibetan capital Lhasa to mark the 60th anniversary of the “liberation” of Tibet by China.
A 59-member delegation headed by Vice-President Xi
Jinping, arrived in Lhasa, to attend a series of celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Tibet’s “peaceful liberation by China”, government-run Xinhua news agency reported.
