LONDON: The scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media empire exploded in several directions on Monday, with fresh reports of phone hacking attacks against some of the nation's most powerful figures, including royals and former prime minister Gordon Brown.
Adding to the intrigue, Scotland Yard released an unusual statement accusing unidentified individuals of trying to sabotage its sprawling investigation. The police — themselves accused of accepting bribes from Murdoch's journalists — said somebody was deliberately planting distracting information in the press.
No one, it seems, had been safe from the prying eyes of corrupt journalists. Police officers betrayed members of the royal family to the News of The World, according to several reports. Other papers said Brown had his bank account broken into by a con man acting for Murdoch's Sunday Times.
The reports couldn't be confirmed, but they added to a sense of disbelief that has spread across Britain. “The events of last week shocked the nation,” Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt told lawmakers Monday. He said Britain's proud press tradition had been “shaken by the revelation of what we now
know to have happened at the News of The World.”
The British press has been furiously reporting allegations that journalists at the News of the World tabloid may have hacked into phones of young murder victims, families of dead servicemen and terrorism victims. The widening scandal has prompted Murdoch's News Corp. to close the tabloid and withdraw its promise to spin off Sky News — a move that forced Hunt to refer its bid for British Sky Broadcasting to competition authorities. The decision will delay the bid, although it was not immediately clear whether Murdoch hoped to buy time with the ploy in the hope the scandal would die down, or whether it was an implicit acknowledgement that the bid was dead.
A failure to clinch the $19 billion takeover would represent a huge setback for Murdoch, but even as the mogul was in London to try to contain the damage, as allegations against his empire rushed in. Media reported that Brown was one of thousands targeted by News International, saying that his personal details — including his bank account and his son's medical records — had been targeted by people working for titles including the Sun and the Sunday Times.
Ukraine’s Yanukovich fails in move to strengthen powers
(Reuters) – Allies of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich failed on Saturday in a first attempt to push through changes to the constitution that could significantly boost his political powers in the ex-Soviet republic.
Parliament launched a debate on Friday on a proposal by Yanukovich’s Regions Party that would allow for a referendum to decide whether curbs on presidential powers, agreed in 2004, should be lifted.
Political commentators said allies of Yanukovich, who was elected last February after a bitter political campaign against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, sought particularly to boost presidential authority over the government.
At the moment, the president can propose candidates only for foreign and defense ministers — and even they have to be accepted by parliament.
If the curbs were lifted, commentators said Yanukovich would effectively rule in a presidential system similar to that of many other former Soviet states, including Russia, with the right to name government ministers.
But when parliament met on Saturday in exceptional session several parties voiced opposition to agreeing on a referendum now. They included the Communists and the Lytvyn bloc which are part of the majority underpinning Yanukovich’s government.
Further debate on proposal was put off until September.
The present limits on presidential powers were imposed in 2004 when the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko came to power after the “Orange Revolution” street demonstrations, and partly contributed to his downfall.
Yushchenko’s five years in power were marked by constant confrontation with parliament and with Tymoshenko, his prime minister, and he crashed to a humiliating first-round defeat when he sought re-election this year.
Since he came to power with the financial backing of key business figures, Yanukovich has gradually tightened his grip in the country, appointed close allies to key positions in the power structure and tilted foreign policy back toward Ukraine’s old Soviet master, Russia.
But he said last month that the limits on the power of the presidency had produced a crisis of authority and he urged a change in the constitution.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Maria Golovnina)