London, July 29
There was more bad news for Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in Britain with the revelation that the now defunct tabloid ‘News of the World’ hacked the phone of the mother of another murder victim Sarah Payne. Eight-year-old Sarah’s case had been turned into a campaign by the tabloid.

Sara Payne, mother of Sarah, was visited by officers from Scotland Yard, who confirmed that her contact details were on a list compiled by private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

This new twist to the phone-hacking scandal came to the fore last night after it emerged that the police has warned the mother of Sarah that a phone given to her by the News of the World may have been targeted by a detective working for the paper. Sara Payne was given the phone shortly after her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, was abducted and murdered in July 2000.

The police had previously told her that her name was not among those recorded by the NOTW investigator Glenn Mulcaire, but later officers from Operation Weeting said they had found her personal details among the investigator’s notes; the information had previously been thought to refer to a different target.

Friends of Sara said she was “absolutely devastated and deeply disappointed” at the disclosure. Her campaign to give parents the right to know if paedophiles were living in their area was championed by the NOTW, in particular by its former editor Rebekah Brooks. Sara even wrote a farewell column for the paper’s final edition, referring to its staff as “my good and trusted friends”.

Last night, Brooks put out a statement saying it was “unthinkable” that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or others campaigning for Sarah had hacked that phone. “The idea that anyone on the newspaper knew that Sara or the campaign team were targeted by Mulcaire is unthinkable,” she said.

But the Labour MP Chris Bryant, himself a victim of phone hacking, accused Brooks of “utter hypocrisy”. He said he was reminded of the quote from Hamlet that “one may smile, and smile, and be a villain”.

The Labour MP Tom Watson said it was a “betrayal of trust”. He said: “I think we need to know when Rebekah Brooks knew about this, and, having read the statement, I notice that she doesn’t give a categorical denial, so I’d like to hear a bit more from Brooks about what she knew.

“News International not only gave support to Sara Payne but they helped with the campaign. It now seems apparent that when they were doing all that and building a position of trust, their private investigator was targeting her.”

News International said it was taking the allegations “very seriously” and is “deeply concerned, like everyone,” adding it would fully co-operate with any criminal inquiry or civil proceedings.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Sara Payne’s involvement in the phone-hacking scandal is that the News of the World courted her even after it became clear that the paper would have to close.

In the final edition of the paper, an article written by Sara Payne, mother of the murdered schoolgirl Sarah, was given unrivalled prominence, a clear signal that the paper’s original coverage of her story was considered the finest achievement in its long history. — Agencies

London, July 29
A British protester who threw a plate of foam at Rupert Murdoch during a parliamentary hearing into the phone-hacking scandal pleaded guilty in court to assault on Friday and quipped: “this has been the most humble day of my life.”

Jonathan May-Bowles, a comedian who uses the name Jonnie Marbles, was borrowing the phrase famously used by Murdoch when he appeared before a panel of lawmakers earlier this month. Speaking to a crowd of reporters and photographers outside court in London, May-Bowles raised a laugh when he said: “I would just like to say this has been the most humble day of my life.”

The 26-year-old, from Windsor, west of London, hurled the “foam pie” at Murdoch’s face towards the end of a meeting of the British parliament’s influential Culture, Media and Sport Committee. May-Bowles, wearing an open-necked casual checked shirt, pleaded guilty to assault and causing harassment, alarm or distress. He will be sentenced on August 2. — Reuters

Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport (CMS)Committee has said it would be writing to Murdoch asking him for more details about evidence he gave earlier this month about phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World tabloid that has shaken his father Rupert’s media empire. — Reuters

New York, July 29
Nafissatou Diallo, the hotel maid, who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, made her first public appearance here to tell “what has happened to me should not happen to any other woman.”

Ten weeks after her ordeal of a fleeting encounter with Strauss-Kahn, then head of the IMF and contender for French Presidency, the 32-year-old maid, whose day in the court has been delayed got to recount her experience before the public as she appeared at the Christian Cultural Centre in Brooklyn.

“I’m here today to tell everybody how much I’m going through,” Diallo was quoted as saying by the New York Post. “What happened to me, I don’t want to happen to any other woman.” This week, Diallo met with prosecutors for eight hours, in an attempt to revive her case. — AFP

Benghazi, July 29
Libya’s rebel military commander was shot dead in an incident that remained shrouded in mystery, dealing a blow to Western-backed forces labouring in a campaign to topple Muammar Gaddafi.

Rebels said Abdel Fattah Younes, long in the veteran Libyan leader’s inner circle before defecting in February, was shot by assailants on Thursday after he had been summoned from the battlefield for unspecified talks.

Some analysts thought Gaddafi agents may have killed him, others that his own side had done so, revealing deep divisions between Gaddafi defectors and those who never worked with him.

Neither side in the conflict clarified the matter. The killing coincided with a new rebel offensive in the west and further international recognition for rebels, which they hope will help unfreeze billions of dollars in Libyan funds.

The rebels did not say who killed Younes or where, and said on Thursday they did not yet have his body. But on Friday, weeping relatives and supporters brought his coffin into the main square of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to mourn him, and vowed allegiance to remaining rebel leaders.

“We got the body yesterday here (in Benghazi), he had been shot with bullets and burned,” Younes’s nephew, Abdul Hakim, said, crying as he followed the coffin through the square. “He had called us at 10 o’clock (on Thursday morning) to say he was on his way here.”

Officials would not give details of why Younes was recalled on Thursday to Benghazi from the front line near the oil port of Brega for questioning. Rumours had circulated in Benghazi that he had held secret talks with the Gaddafi government.

“If the rumours that General Younes was feeding information to Gaddafi were there then it would make sense that some rogue elements might attempt to assassinate him,” said Alan Fraser, an analyst with London-based risk consultancy AKE.

Rebel defence minister Omar Hariri told Reuters his death was still being investigated and his loss would be great. Ahead of Younes’ funeral in Benghazi on Friday, relatives vowed allegiance to the rebels’ political leader.

Analysts said it was hard to say if Younes had been killed by Gaddafi agents, as rebels have implied, or by his own side. The latter would show deep and damaging divisions within the rebel movement that could hamper their progress and embarrass their Western backers. — Reuters