Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie invited to Microsoft co-founder’s Olympics-themed yacht party in Canary Wharf
Knees-up ... Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Published: Today at 01:55
BRAD Pitt and Angelina Jolie are in luck if their computer is on the blink.
The Hollywood stars have been invited to an Olympics-themed party on a yacht owned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft.The minted American has moored his vessel in Canary Wharf, east London, especially for the Games.
And Brangelina tops the guestlist for his knees-up.
A source said: “Paul’s party is going to be amazing.
“Some big names have been invited but Brad and Ange are easily the most glamorous.”
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest men, is also expected to attend.
The contents of his wallet will come in handy if catering staff run out of napkins.
Lord Jason Scott
Looking forward to working with @nomadfooddesign tomorrow @INDLondon and seeing Caroline Issa ,one of the most photographed women in fashion
Then off to see the most photographed couple in the world
at the Victoria and Albert Museum: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in
honour of Ali.
London Olympics parties begin
by Rebecca Cope / 24 July 2012 /
The International Olympics Committee was treated to a royal welcome at Buckingham Palace at a reception hosted by the Queen, before being whisked off to the Royal Opera House to listen to London mayor Boris Johnson perform an Olympic ode in ancient Greek.
A host of Hollywood stars as well as some of the world's wealthiest men, Lakshmi Mittal and Roman Abramovich, have already begun to descend on the capital ready to attend exclusive parties, with luxury yachts mooring in Canary Wharf and a private beach installed in Docklands. Lakshmi Mittal even played host to a glittering reception for Indian athletes yesterday at the Serpentine Gallery, with Bollywood's finest also in attendance.
In the fashion world, tonight marks the launch of Karl Lagerfeld's Olympics-themed t-shirt collection in Selfridges and Bazaar will of course be at the cocktail party launch to speak to the man himself. Later in the week, we'll be schmoozing with the music world at the Warner Bros Music Olympics party.
The most highly anticipated event of the party season is Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s rumored UK-themed soiree taking place on Wednesday at the V&A, with Rihanna expected to perform and guests mooted to include David and Victoria Beckham, Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Held in honour of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, the charity black-tie dinner of fish and chips and beef Wellington is thought to be followed by an after party at the couple’s £20 million townhouse.
Elsewhere, Nicole Kidman and Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps are rumoured to be attending a cocktail reception and secret garden party hosted by Omega at its Greek Street store in the coming weeks.
gee♥ast.
so last saturday my cousin was a personal bodyguard for muhammed ali, and tomorrow its for angelina jolie and brad pitt, wow!
Eyewear By Olga @eyewearbyolga
Bloomberg TV
Eyewear By Olga
Angelina Jolie wearing the beautiful Bluebird! So simple and elegant! http://fb.me/A63Niy8r
Angelina Jolie in her #DITA shades..Bloomberg TV
Former News Of The World Editors To Face Phone-Hacking Charges; Alleged Victims Include Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jude Law
| Tuesday July 24, 2012 @ 3:57am PDTRebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson among eight journalists who WILL BE charged over phone-hacking
- Mrs Brooks faces two charges including one relating to the alleged accessing of Milly Dowler's phone messages
- The former News International chief executive says she's 'distressed and angry' about the charges and vowed to 'vigorously defend' the accusations
- The eight people will face a total of 19 charges and will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court at a later date
- Prosecutors claim more than 600 people including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt allegedly had their phones hacked
By Emily Allen
|
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are to be charged over the alleged phone hacking of murder victim Milly Dowler, the Crown Prosecution Service said today.
Brooks, a former News International chief executive, and Coulson, David Cameron's former spin doctor and former editor of News of the World, are among eight ex Murdoch employees who will be prosecuted.
Brooks will face three charges including one relating to the alleged accessing of Milly's voicemails and another relating to former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.
Coulson will face four additional charges linked to accusations of accessing phone messages, including those belonging to Milly, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.
Facing charges: Andy Coulson (right), walks to
make a statement to the press outside his home in Dulwich, south east
London today after it was announced he will be prosecuted
Investigation: Former News International chief
executive Rebekah Brooks, left, and NOTW's former editor Andy Coulson,
pictured today, will be charged over the alleged hacking of murder
victim Milly Dowler's voicemails
REBEKAH BROOKS WHO ROSE TO THE TOP OF NEWS INTERNATIONAL
Rebekah
Brooks was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when she
became editor of the Sun, before rising to become News International
chief executive.
She resigned from her position in July 2011 after Rupert Murdoch closed down the News of the World after 168 years of publication following allegations that Milly Dowler's voicemails had been hacked after she went missing in Surrey in 2002.
She is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
She also faces two additional charges, relating to allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.
She resigned from her position in July 2011 after Rupert Murdoch closed down the News of the World after 168 years of publication following allegations that Milly Dowler's voicemails had been hacked after she went missing in Surrey in 2002.
She is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
She also faces two additional charges, relating to allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist.
ANDY COULSON WAS DAVID CAMERON'S RIGHT-HAND MAN
Andy
Coulson was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007. He
became Downing Street's head of communications and was at the heart of
David Cameron's communications operation in opposition and when the Tory
leader entered No 10. He quit the role in January last year.
Coulson was notoriously given a 'second chance' by Mr Cameron after his resignation from the newspaper.
He is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
He will face four further charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly Dowler, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.
Coulson was notoriously given a 'second chance' by Mr Cameron after his resignation from the newspaper.
He is charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October 2000 to 9th August 2006.
He will face four further charges linked to accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly Dowler, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and George Best's son Calum Best.
These are ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former reporter James Weatherup.
The announcement was made this morning by the Crown Prosecution Service's (CPS) legal adviser Alison Levitt QC, who said a total of 19 charges would be brought.
Today Ms Brooks said today she was not guilty of phone hacking, saying in a statement: 'I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.
'I am distressed and angry that the CPS have reached this decision when they knew all the facts and were in a position to stop the case at this stage.'
Allegations: Former assistant editor of the News
of the World Ian Edmonson, left, faces eleven further charges and
former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, right, face seven further
charges relating to alleged phone hacking
The former Sun editor said the accusations over Milly Dowler were especially upsetting.'The charge concerning Milly Dowler is particularly upsetting, not only as it is untrue but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for victims of crime.
'I will vigorously defend these allegations.'
Meanwhile, Coulson today said that he never had done anything to harm the Milly Dowler investigation and would 'fight these allegations'.
Speaking outside his home in south-east London, he said that the now-defunct newspaper had worked on behalf of victims of crime.
He said that he did nothing to damage the investigation into Milly Dowler’s murder.
Thurlbeck said he was 'most surprised and disappointed' that he will face charges over phone hacking and vowed to 'vigorously fight to clear my reputation'.
Charges: Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, left, will face four charges and ex-managing editor of News of the World Stuart
Kuttner, right, faces two further charges relating to Milly Dowler and The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Edmondson, who was first arrested in
April last year, said he only learned he would be charged when he saw
news reports this morning.He said: 'For the past 18 months my family and I have suffered in silence. I have not given interviews or spoken out in order to get my points across or to correct reported lies or inaccuracies.
'I have much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it. I will clear my name at trial when the truth finally emerges.'
Ms Levitt said that 13 files were passed to the CPS by the police and she had decided that there was a 'realistic prospect of conviction' in relation to eight of them.
Accusations: Former news editor of the News of
the World Greg Miskiw, left, faces nine further charges and former
reporter at the News of the World
James Weatherup, right, faces seven further charges
All will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on August 16, the CPS said.
Prosecutors will claim that more than 600 people, including Hollywood superstars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, were victims of the alleged offences.
Victims: Some of the charges relate to the
alleged accessing of voicemails belonging to murdered schoolgirl Milly
Dowler, left, and actress Angelina Jolie, right. Prosecutors say more
than 600 people were victims
Ms
Levitt told the media that Brooks will face two additional charges, relating to
allegedly accessing the voicemails of Milly Dowler and former trade
union boss Andrew Gilchrist.VICTIMS, MPs AND CELEBRITIES: WHOSE PHONE WAS 'HACKED'?
Murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler
Former trade union boss Andrew Gilchrist
The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
Calum Best, son of late footballer George Best
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson
Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie
Celebrity chef Delia Smith
Actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
Footballer Wayne Rooney
Former Lib Dem MP Mark Oaten
The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
7/7 survivor Professor John Tulloch
Lord Frederick Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
Sir Paul McCartney and his former wife Heather Mills
Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
Kuttner is accused in relation to Milly Dowler and David Blunkett, and Miskiw faces charges linked to Milly Dowler, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Abi Titmuss and John Leslie, Andrew Gilchrist, David Blunkett, Delia Smith, Charles Clarke, Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and Wayne Rooney.
Edmondson faces charges in relation to David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, Jude Law, Sadie Frost, Sienna Miller, Mark Oaten, Wayne Rooney, Calum Best, Tessa Jowell and David Mills, John Prescott, Professor John Tulloch, Lord Frederick Windsor and Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills.
Mulcaire faces charges over Milly Dowler, Gilchrist, Smith and Clarke.
It is understood that former News of the World journalist Ross Hall, who wrote under the name Ross Hindley, freelance journalist Terenia Taras and former Evening Standard sports reporter Raoul Simons have all been told that no further action will be taken against them.
Police also asked Ms Levitt to defer making a decision over two remaining suspects while they make further inquiries.
Eleven journalists and one non-journalist were due to answer police bail today. When the eight who are facing prosecution do so they will be charged.
Once police have contacted all the alleged victims, a list will be made available, she said.
This morning, Labour leader Ed Miliband, speaking during a visit to Paris, said: 'Everybody was very shocked at the revelations of the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone.
'I said at the time we needed to get to the bottom of what had happened.
'It is now right that justice takes its course. This is now a matter for the courts.'
Spotlight:
A series of former News of the World staff are to be charged today
after prosecutors decided it was in the public interest. It follows an
investigation by the Metropolitan Police lasting several months
All the people named today -
with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire - will be charged with conspiring to
intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October
2000 to 9th August 2006
CHARGE SHEET: WHO FACES WHAT ALLEGATIONS OVER PHONE HACKING?
All,
with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire, will be charged with conspiring
to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3rd October
2000 to 9th August 2006.
In addition, each will face a number of further charges of conspiracy unlawfully to intercept communications, as follows:
Rebekah Brooks will face two additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Andrew Gilchrist
Andrew Coulson will face four additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
3. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
4. Calum Best
Stuart Kuttner will face two additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Greg Miskiw will face nine further charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Sven-Goran Eriksson
3. Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie
4. Andrew Gilchrist
5. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
6. Delia Smith
7. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
8. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and
9. Wayne Rooney
Ian Edmondson will face a further eleven charges, relating to
1. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4. Mark Oaten
5. Wayne Rooney
6. Calum Best
7. The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
8. The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
9. Professor John Tulloch
10. Lord Frederick Windsor
11. Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
Neville Thurlbeck will face a further seven charges in relation to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Sven-Goran Eriksson
3. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
4. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
5. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
6. Mark Oaten
7. The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
James Weatherup will face a further seven charges in relation to
1. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
5. Wayne Rooney
6. The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
7. Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
For legal reasons Glenn Mulcaire does not face the first of these charges. However, he will face four charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Andrew Gilchrist
3. Delia Smith
4. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
In addition, each will face a number of further charges of conspiracy unlawfully to intercept communications, as follows:
Rebekah Brooks will face two additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Andrew Gilchrist
Andrew Coulson will face four additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
3. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
4. Calum Best
Stuart Kuttner will face two additional charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
Greg Miskiw will face nine further charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Sven-Goran Eriksson
3. Abigail Titmuss and John Leslie
4. Andrew Gilchrist
5. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
6. Delia Smith
7. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
8. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and
9. Wayne Rooney
Ian Edmondson will face a further eleven charges, relating to
1. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4. Mark Oaten
5. Wayne Rooney
6. Calum Best
7. The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
8. The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
9. Professor John Tulloch
10. Lord Frederick Windsor
11. Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
Neville Thurlbeck will face a further seven charges in relation to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Sven-Goran Eriksson
3. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
4. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
5. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
6. Mark Oaten
7. The Rt Hon Dame Tessa Jowell MP and David Mills
James Weatherup will face a further seven charges in relation to
1. The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP
2. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
3. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller
4. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
5. Wayne Rooney
6. The Rt Hon Lord Prescott
7. Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
For legal reasons Glenn Mulcaire does not face the first of these charges. However, he will face four charges, relating to
1. Milly Dowler
2. Andrew Gilchrist
3. Delia Smith
4. The Rt Hon Charles Clarke
Two Ex-Editors for Murdoch Charged in Phone Hacking Scandal
By JOHN F. BURNS and RAVI SOMAIYA
LONDON — After a year of furious controversy over the widespread phone hacking by one of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers, British prosecutors brought criminal charges on Tuesday against eight of the most prominent figures in the scandal, including Andy Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron’s communications chief at 10 Downing Street until the scandal forced his resignation last year.
Also charged was Rebekah Brooks,
the chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper empire in Britain until
she, too, resigned last summer. Others who were indicted include five
journalists who played prominent roles at The News of the World,
the tabloid where Ms. Brooks and later Mr. Coulson were the top editors
at the time that the hacking is alleged to have occurred, from 2000 to
2006.
The criminal charges — and the possibility of prison terms if
prosecutors win convictions — are a sharp turning point in the affair,
adding the drama of high-profile trials to a saga that has already
thrown the worlds of politics, policing and journalism in Britain into a
prolonged fit of self-examination and shaken the foundations of the
Murdoch empire.
The eighth person charged was Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who
served a prison term in 2007, together with The News of the World’s
reporter specializing in coverage of Britain’s royal family, for hacking
into the cellphones of younger members of the royal family and their
aides. Those convictions remain the only ones so far in the hacking
furor.
After Tuesday’s announcement by Alison Levitt, the senior legal adviser
at the Crown Prosecution Service, headlines in Britain focused on Mr.
Coulson and Ms. Brooks, both of whom have strong personal links to Mr.
Cameron — Mr. Coulson through his years at Mr. Cameron’s side, in and
out of government, and Ms. Brooks because of the friendship she and her
husband, Charlie Brooks, had with Mr. Cameron before the scandal
erupted.
Political analysts said the fact that the two now face criminal trials
that seem certain to run on at least through the next year, attracting
wide news coverage, posed a potentially serious hazard to the prime
minister. With a general election due in 2015, the analysts said, Mr.
Cameron and the Conservative Party are now potentially vulnerable to any
new revelations that might emerge from the trials, in the form of
hitherto unpublished e-mails or testimony touching on the prime
minister’s dealings with Mr. Coulson or Ms. Brooks.
The prime minister’s judgment in the affair — particularly his
recruiting of Mr. Coulson as the Conservative Party’s media chief in
2007, and his decision to take him to Downing Street after the 2010
election, long after the hacking that took place on Mr. Coulson’s watch
at The News of the World became known — is already a major dent in Mr.
Cameron’s political armor. He has also faced extensive questioning as to
whether his close relations with the Murdoch elite have skewed
government policy favorably toward the media mogul.
With a bloc of about 100 Conservative members of Parliament already
deeply restive about other aspects of his stewardship as prime minister,
mostly because of the political compromises he has struck on important
social and economic issues with the left-leaning Liberal Democrats,
junior partners in the ruling coalition, the criminal charges against
Mr. Coulson, in particular, seem likely to intensify questions that
Conservative dissenters have been raising about his judgment.
The charges, the most significant so far in a scandal that has rocked
British public life and shaken faith in the media, politics and the
police, relate to allegations that hundreds of celebrities, politicians
and others named in news stories had their voice mail messages
intercepted by The News of the World in a search of scoops. They refer
specifically to more than a dozen high-profile figures, including the
actors Jude Law, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who prosecutors say were
targeted between 2000 and 2006.
Other well-known figures listed by Ms. Levitt, the prosecutor, as having
been targeted include Sir Paul McCartney and his former wife, Heather
Mills; the actresses Sienna Miller and Sadie Frost; Wayne Rooney,
perhaps Britain’s best-known professional soccer player; Sven-Goran
Eriksson, a Swede who is England’s former soccer manager; four former
Labour party cabinet ministers, David Blunkett, Charles Clarke, Tessa
Jowell and John Prescott, who held between them some of the most
powerful posts in government in the years when the hacking is alleged to
have occurred; and Lord Frederick Windsor, a great-nephew of Queen
Elizabeth II.
The criminal charges against a senior tranche of his former employees at
The News of the World, the 168-year-old publication Mr. Murdoch shut
down last year as a result of the burgeoning scandal, also have major
implications for Mr. Murdoch and the News Corporation, his $53 billion
global media giant. Ms. Brooks was a personal choice of Mr. Murdoch, 81,
to head his British newspaper subsidiary, News International, and he
made a priority of defending her last July, when he took an urgent
flight to London to take over management of the crisis and to supervise
the closure of the The News of the World, one of Britain’s most
profitable newspapers.
That effort quickly collapsed amid outrage over a police disclosure that
one of the targets of the newspaper’s cellphone hacking had been Milly
Dowler, a 13-year-old schoolgirl who disappeared in 2002 and was
subsequently found murdered. The hacking occurred when she was the
subject of a massive police hunt, but before her body had been
discovered. The episode prompted Ms. Brooks’s resignation and led Mr.
Murdoch to apologize personally to Milly’s parents at a luxury London
hotel — and to offer a settlement that was reported at the time to run
into several million dollars.
Five of the eight people now facing criminal charges are accused of
involvement in the hacking of the schoolgirl’s phone. They are Ms.
Brooks, Mr. Coulson, Mr. Mulcaire and three other journalists who worked
in senior newsroom positions at The News of the World: Stuart Kuttner, a
former managing editor; Greg Miskiw, another senior editor; and Neville
Thurlbeck, the paper’s longtime chief reporter.
The other journalists charged with involvement in phone hacking, though
not in the Dowler case, are Ian Edmondson and James Weatherup, who were
also senior editors at the tabloid.
“I am not guilty of these charges,” Ms. Brooks said in a statement,
referring to her time as editor of The News of the World. “I did not
authorize, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship.”
Mr. Coulson did not respond to a call seeking comment and a spokesman for News International also declined to comment.
A spokesman for the prime minister said he had no comment on the matter,
beyond his public statements — he has stopped short of issuing an
apology, but has told Parliament that he regrets hiring Mr. Coulson, and
that with hindsight he would not have done so. Privately, according to
people with knowledge of his thinking, Mr. Cameron and his office remain
concerned about the matter. Speeches are vetted to omit references that
might fuel jokes about it, and lawyers have been taking statements from
staffers on their relations with the Murdoch family and their senior
executives.
Ms. Brooks also faces three criminal counts of conspiring to obstruct
justice, which were announced by prosecutors in May. She, her husband
and four members of her staff at News International were accused of
concealing documents, computers and other material from detectives
investigating phone hacking at around the time The News of the World was
closed. She also strenuously denied those charges.
Tuesday’s charges, which carry a maximum jail sentence of two years,
mark a spectacular fall for Ms. Brooks, who joined The News of the World
when she was 20 and by her early 40s had risen to the top of its parent
company as one of Mr. Murdoch’s closest lieutenants. She and her
husband were neighbors of Mr. Cameron, and they have admitted to
exchanging frequent text messages and riding horses together.
The eight defendants will appear in court on Aug. 16, prosecutors said.
But the charges brought on Tuesday are probably only the beginning:
three police investigations — into the phone hacking, payments to public
officials and data hacking — continue, Scotland Yard has said. So far,
more than 50 current and former journalists, public officials and others
have been arrested, and prosecutors have yet to decide whether they
will be prosecuted.
Over the weekend, a News Corporation spokeswoman confirmed that Mr.
Murdoch resigned last week from directorships at a cluster of companies
that have oversight over his British papers, which also include the
tabloid Sun and two major broadsheets, The Times and The Sunday Times.
The spokeswoman described the move as no more than “a corporate
housecleaning exercise” ahead of the company’s move to split its
operations into two separate companies: one that will own the company’s
newspaper and book publishing assets, including the British papers and
The Wall Street Journal, and the other to operate the company’s far
more profitable television and film assets, including the Fox
broadcasting channels and the 20th Century Fox movie franchise.
But the resignations from the boards of the British newspaper companies
fueled speculation, already rife among media analysts on both sides of
the Atlantic, that Mr. Murdoch has decided that his lifelong passion for
newspapering is outweighed by the financial and reputational costs of
hanging on to the British papers, a major steppingstone in building his
global empire. A powerful bloc of News Corporation investors has long
favored selling the papers off, and the prospect of protracted criminal
trials seems likely to intensify those pressures.
Mr. Murdoch also faces dozens of civil suits from a pool of more than
2,000 people the police have told might have been victims of phone
hacking. And when all the court cases have been cleared, a process that
could take years, a British public inquiry will begin sifting the
evidence of wrongdoing in the Murdoch media empire once more.
If it is found that voice mail interceptions occurred on American soil,
as some have alleged, Mr. Murdoch’s profitable American business
interests could also suffer. A spokeswoman for the Crown Prosecution
Service declined to comment on the matter, saying that the defendants
are accused of conspiracy, not of actual interceptions.
Phone hacking: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson face charges
Alison Levitt QC: "This statement is made in the interests of transparency and accountability."
Eight
people, including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, will face a total of
19 charges relating to phone hacking, the Crown Prosecution Service has
said.
The two ex-News of the World editors are to be charged in
connection with the accessing of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's
phone messages.They are among seven of the now-defunct paper's former staff facing charges of conspiring to intercept voicemails.
The CPS said the charges related to 600 alleged victims between 2000 and 2006.
The eight, who are to be charged when they answer police bail later, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 August.
The revelation that 13-year-old Milly's phone had been hacked by the News of the World (NoW) after she went missing in Surrey in 2002 led to the closure of the Sunday tabloid newspaper in July last year.
Mrs Brooks, who is also a former chief executive of the paper's publisher News International, faces three charges relating to the alleged accessing of phones belonging to Milly and former Fire Brigades Union boss Andrew Gilchrist, CPS legal adviser Alison Levitt QC said in a statement.
In a statement, Mrs Brooks said: "I am not guilty of these charges. I did not authorise, nor was I aware of, phone hacking under my editorship."
Continue reading the main story
Phone-hacking timeline
- September 2010: Scotland Yard faces pressure to reopen phone-hacking investigation as celebrities launch legal actions for answers
- April 2011: Officers from Operation Weeting, the re-opened investigation, make three arrests
- July 2011: Rupert Murdoch closes down the News of the World after 168 years of publication. The same month, its former editor Andy Coulson is arrested, followed by Rebekah Brooks two weeks later. Other journalists are arrested during the course of the year
- November 2011: The Leveson Inquiry opens in London
- July 2012: Met Police say 74 people arrested to date, 26 in connection with Operation Weeting. Seven journalists and one private investigator charged in relation to phone hacking
She added that the charge
concerning Milly was "particularly upsetting, not only as it is untrue
but also because I have spent my journalistic career campaigning for
victims of crime".
Mr Coulson, who also used to be Prime Minister David
Cameron's communications chief, will face four charges linked to
accusations of accessing the phone messages of Milly, former Labour home
secretaries David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, and Calum Best, the son
of the late footballer George Best.He told reporters outside his house he would fight the allegations and said anyone who had worked with him "would know that I wouldn't, and more importantly, that I didn't do anything to damage the Milly Dowler investigation".
"At the News of the World we worked on behalf of the victims of crime, particularly violent crime, and the idea that I would then sit in my office dreaming up schemes to undermine investigations is simply untrue," he added.
BBC chief political correspondent Norman Smith says many people will now be pondering how the PM came to appoint someone to his inner circle who had these question marks against him.
It will not be a short, sharp difficulty but a long, slow protracted problem for the government with the build-up to the court case and the trial itself likely to go on for months, he says.
Mr Cameron will be concerned about the bolt-from-the-blue factor - not knowing what will emerge from the court case, our correspondent adds.
'Surprised and disappointed' The others facing charges are former NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant editor James Weatherup and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr Thurlbeck said he was "most surprised and disappointed" that he would face charges and would "vigorously fight to clear my reputation".
Mr Edmondson said he had "much to say on this subject and I now look forward to saying it" and that he would clear his name at trial "when the truth finally emerges".
Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and Neville Thurlbeck are among the eight facing charges.
The charge carries a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine.
Mr Mulcaire faces four charges relating to Milly, Mr Gilchrist, Delia Smith, and Charles Clarke.
Prosecutors will allege that more than 600 people, including Hollywood actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, were victims of this offence, the CPS said.
Other victims of alleged hacking named in connection with the charges were former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, television stars Abi Titmuss and John Leslie, chef Delia Smith, actors Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller, and footballer Wayne Rooney.
Ms Levitt said that no further action would be taken in relation to three other suspects, former NoW reporter Ross Hall, sports reporter Raoul Simons and Terenia Taras, a former partner of Greg Miskiw.
Police have asked Ms Levitt to defer making a decision over two remaining suspects who have been re-bailed while officers make further inquiries.
The BBC understands they are former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis and Dan Evans, who was a reporter on the paper.
Mrs Brooks was editor of the News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when she became editor of the Sun, before rising to become News International chief executive. She resigned from her position in July 2011.
She already also faces three charges of perverting the course of justice arising from the investigation into phone hacking, charges she has denied.
Mr Coulson was NoW editor between 2003 and 2007. He later became Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman but quit in January 2011.
