5.15pm:Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World, James Murdoch has announced.
The doomsday scenario might be unlikely — the longest the federal government has ever shut down is 21 days, a record that will fall if the current closure lasts until Saturday — but it is. Mar 20, 2020 Coronavirus: the week the world shut down The empty 9 de Julio Avenue in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Walls have been raised and societies quarantined as people enter a new reality Coronavirus – latest.
It follows a week of revelations about the newspaper's illegal activity. The NOTW hacked into the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and a parent of one of the Soham murder victims, as well as relatives of military killed in Afghanistan.
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Ed Miliband is among those who have called for Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, to resign, although Rupert Murdoch has backed the former News of the World editor, saying she will continue to lead the company.
'News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World,' the company said in a statement.
James Murdoch, deputy chief operating officer of News Corporation and chairman of News International, told staff that 'having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper.
'This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World.
'Colin Myler will edit the final edition of the paper.'
More from Murdoch's statement:
In addition, I have decided that all of the News of the World's revenue this weekend will go to good causes.
While we may never be able to make up for distress that has been caused, the right thing to do is for every penny of the circulation revenue we receive this weekend to go to organisations – many of whom are long-term friends and partners – that improve life in Britain and are devoted to treating others with dignity.
We will run no commercial advertisements this weekend. Any advertising space in this last edition will be donated to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers.
These are strong measures. They are made humbly and out of respect. I am convinced they are the right thing to do.
Many of you, if not the vast majority of you, are either new to the Company or have had no connection to the News of the World during the years when egregious behaviour occurred.
I can understand how unfair these decisions may feel. Particularly, for colleagues who will leave the Company. Of course, we will communicate next steps in detail and begin appropriate consultations.
You may see these changes as a price loyal staff at the News of the World are paying for the transgressions of others. So please hear me when I say that your good work is a credit to journalism. I do not want the legitimacy of what you do to be compromised by acts of others. I want all journalism at News International to be beyond reproach. I insist that this organisation lives up to the standard of behaviour we expect of others. And, finally, I want you all to know that it is critical that the integrity of every journalist who has played fairly is restored.
Some 33 advertisers had withdrawn from the newspaper.
Earlier today it emerged that the News of the World paid bribes worth over £100,000 to Metropolitan police officers, with investigators at Scotland Yard now trying to identify up to five officers who received the cash payments between them.
5.20pm:Here's our lead story on the News of the World's closure, courtesy of James Robinson:
News International announced on Thursday that it is closing the News of the World after this Sunday's edition, with no end in sight to the political and commercial fallout from the phone-hacking scandal after 72 hours of mounting crisis.
Sunday's edition of the paper will be the last, News International chairman James Murdoch told News of the World staff on Thursday afternoon.
Murdoch told employees at the 168-year old title: 'The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed to when it came to itself'.
Murdoch said in a statement: 'Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.'
Murdoch also conceded the company had 'made statements to parliament without being in full possession of the facts. This was wrong'.
James reports that it is the first national newspaper to close since Rupert Murdoch shut News International mid-market tabloid Today in 1995.
5.23pm: And here's News International's full statement on the closure of the News of the World.
5.26pm: It's notable that James Murdoch's statement makes no mention of Rebekah Brooks – who has faced repeated calls to step down over her role in the News of the World's phone hacking.
It remains to be seen if this dramatic move will lift pressure on the embattled News International chief executive – Ed Miliband is among those who have called for her to consider her position.
It also remains to be seen what impact this will have on News Corp's bid to take over BSkyB. It had been tarnished by having the News of the World in its news stable, but with this gone will culture secretary Jeremy Hunt find it easier to approve the bid.
5.31pm: As speculation turns to the space left by the News of the World, twitter user @danbarker has spotted that thesunonsunday.co.uk was registered a mere two days ago.
5.35pm: The announcement that the News of the World will close after this weekend 'was greeted with shock and amazement by journalists at News International', according to PA.
Apparently the statement was received by all News International staff. As they read it 'the first person to read of the News of the World's closure 'swore out loud'.
Staff at the publisher's other newspapers received the statement by chairman James Murdoch and gasps were heard across the newsrooms at Wapping as they reached the line:
'This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World.'
The first person at The Times to read it swore out loud. One member of staff said: 'It took a few minutes for everyone to read through the statement.
'There was a 'f****** hell' from the first person who read it.
'Then there were lots of gasps and general amazement. Everyone is talking about it.
'People are still astonished and a bit worried.'
Journalists at The Sun, the Sunday tabloid's sister paper, wondered what impact the closure would have on them.
Did Disney World Shut Down
One journalist said: 'Everyone here is shocked and in disbelief. It's very sad that the paper is closing.
'We're not sure what this means for us yet.'
5.37pm: The company who have registered sunonsunday.co.uk 'look small', according to a colleague. However Chris Moran also points out that the News of the World also has the sunday.co.uk domain name. At the moment it redirects to newsoftheworld.co.uk, but potentially provides scope for a differently titled Sunday newspaper.
5.41pm: Hannah Waldram has been tracking the musings of our commenters below the line:
niteroi wonders:
What's the Daily Mirror and Daily Mail going to do now for their Monday editions?
All they used to do was copy the previous day's NOTW.
ArthurTheCat:
I want to celebrate . . . but I'm very sad for any of the staff who were blameless in all of this and are now going to lose their jobs in a recession.
5.45pm: No news of the impending closure on the News of the World's website as yet. It prominently carries public statements from Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks and Colin Myler, but all are from yesterday and do not mention that Sunday will be the last edition.
The website is also still offering a 'four week free trial'.
5.51pm: Below the line commenter Delenn also points out the www.thesunonsunday.com was registered two days ago. (We already know that sunonsunday.co.uk has been recently registered).
Opportunistic domain shark or News International strategy? Or neither?
5.55pm: Roy Greenslade writes that the closure of the News of the World is 'breathtaking, but entirely proportionate' from Rupert Murdoch (assuming he had something to do with son James's historic statement).
Greenslade reckons Murdoch 'had to do something dramatic because it was clear that his company was so badly tarnished by the almost hourly revelations of wrong-doing by the paper'.
However he adds that 'if this dramatic, arguably heroic, gesture by Rupert is to have any value at all it must mean that she should go'.
James Murdoch's statement is a comprehensive climbdown from the company's previous statements. And it covers all the bases.
It admits that the paper's staff had been guilty of unethical behaviour. It admits, to quote him, that it had been 'inhuman' to indulge in phone hacking and admits that there had been lies told to parliament.
So the paper famed for 168 years is within one issue of closure. The Sunday newspaper king is dead. Long live - well, what?
With Wapping staff having been told they will move to a seven day operation, does it mean the king will live on in a different guise?
Will we be getting a Sun on Sunday? (The Sunday Sun title already exists in Newcastle, and Murdoch once tried to obtain it 30 years ago). If so, will it mean a clear-out of the current News of the World editorial?
In fairness, most of the real hacking culprits are long gone. Only Rebekah Brooks survives - but if this dramatic, arguably heroic, gesture by Rupert is to have any value at all it must mean that she should go.
This should not draw a line under the whole scandal. To close one title and open another cannot stop the inquiries into what happened, and who did what and to whom and why.
The Screws has been screwed. Indeed, it screwed itself. But now, to continue the analogy, it's time to nail the truth.
5.57pm: Ed Miliband says that the closure of the News of the World 'doesn't solve the problem' and is a 'concession to the public up and down the country'.
More from the Labour leader as we get it.
5.59pm: Ken Clarke on News of the World closure: 'All they are going to do is rebrand it'. (According to the BBC).
6.01pm: In what surely must be a record, a spoof twitter account has already been set up under the name @TheSunOnSunday. Three tweets so far:
• Hello world! #notw @BBCNews @polleetickle @jonronson @guardiannews @badjournalism
• I'm not sure if red is my colour. I might go for a lovely green top #notw
• New beginning, new staff. First I need an editor. I've got my eye on that Johann Hari guy #notw #johannhari
6.04pm: Jo Adetunji has spoken to one senior journalist at News International journalist: 'Holy f*ck. Killing paper to save executive ass,' they told her.
Meanwhile The Times religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill has posted on Twitter:
@RuthieGledhill Now I am crying. sobbing. OMG. I cannot believe what I have just read in my inbox. oh it is so sad..#notw
6.06pm: More from Ed Miliband:
'It's a big act but I don't think it solves the real issues,' he told the BBC.
'One of the people who's remaining in her job is the chief executive of News International who was the editor at the time of the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone.'
Miliband said people were right to be appalled by the allegations which had emerged in recent days, adding:
'What I'm interested in is not closing down newspapers, I'm interested in those who were responsible being brought to justice and those who have responsibility for the running of that newspaper taking their responsibility and I don't think those two things have happened today.'
He said of Wade: 'She should go, take responsibility.'
6.09pm:Where were you when you heard of the News of the World closure? Rupert Murdoch was at a conference in Idaho, being pestered by journalists:
On the day the News of the World is shut, Rupert Murdoch, is surrounded by media as he arrives at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesMurdoch apparently 'walked briskly and did not respond to any of the questions fired at him, including why he was standing by Rebekah Brooks'.
'I'm not making any comments at all,' he said.
6.18pm: Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has issued the following statement in reaction to the News of the World closure.
James Murdoch's statement describes the crisis at the News of the World as eloquently as anything that has been written in the Guardian. He admits - as we have been reporting for two years - that the paper has been 'sullied by by behaviour that was wrong..and inhuman.' He concedes - as we reported - that the paper has misled parliament and that he was wrong personally to make the out of court settlements which the Guardian revealed in July 2009.
Mr Murdoch blames 'wrongdoers' who 'turned a good newsroom bad.' He does not say who these wrongdoers were - and that is the crucial question people will be asking, including those who are paying with their jobs and who are angry about the loss of a 168-year old newspaper title.
There are numerous outstanding unanswered questions - over the behaviour of the police and the complete failure of the current News International management to uncover what had gone on inside the company. We welcome Mr Murdoch's belated statement of regret. If he and Rebekah Brooks had taken the Guardian's accusations seriously two years ago it is doubtful whether the News of the World would now be closing.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Murdoch's words will be matched by a genuine attempt to get to the truth.
6.29pm: The News of the World website has been updated with the news of its own closure.
Under the headline 'James Murdoch closes the News of the World' – with a picture of the aforementioned, the website carries an edited version of Murdoch's earlier statement.
It adds:
News International today announces that this Sunday, 10 July 2011, will be the last issue of the News of the World.
6.33pm: Henry McDonald writes that the son of Northern Ireland's former First Minister Ian Paisley has welcomed the closure of the News of the World.
Ian Paisley Junior said the shut down of the tabloid was a 'major indication of guilt' and should prompt a full public inquiry into the phone hacking saga.
'This is absolutely outstanding news,' the North Antrim Democratic Unionist told Ulster Television tonight.
He also claimed that he too may been the victim of the News of the World's phone hackers.
'It indicates to me a major indication of guilt and fact that News International could not sustain the overturning of a stone and all that would have crawled out from underneath it.
'If anything sustains the call for a full public inquiry into what was taking place it must be this admission. There is clearly now room to look into why such a drastic action was required because clearly what was going on there was completely untoward and unacceptable,' Paisley junior said.
Henry adds that the Irish edition of the News of the World will also close – 'despite having a healthy circulation both in the Republic and Northern Ireland'.
'In recent years the Sunday tabloid had deepened its Irish coverage and hired a number of top Irish journalists and columnists including the crime reporter and best selling author Paul Williams.'
6.35pm: Former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, one of the alleged victims of phone hacking, has said that closing the paper would not resolve the problems at News International.
'Cutting off the arm doesn't mean to say you've solved it. There is still the body and the head and the same culture and that's why there has be a public inquiry into it,' Prescott said.
I cannot accept for a moment that at the top of the company, Mr Murdoch - certainly Rebekah Brooks - didn't know what was going on.
Now some poor suckers on the News of the World are now going to be put on the dole simply because they've decided to make a cost-cutting exercise which they said they were going to do a week or so ago.
6.34pm: Unconfirmed, but the BBC is reporting that a 'small group of Sun reporters' have walked out of their office in a show of solidarity with their Sunday colleagues.
6.39pm: Bit of a common theme developing in reaction to the News of the World closure – that it does not resolve the problem.
Liberal Democrat media spokesman Don Foster has said the demise of the News of the World was not the end of the matter.
'This is a commercial decision that will affect many staff who had nothing to do with the phone hacking scandal,' he said.
'We need to find out the full extent of the phone hacking scandal and of the alleged police corruption and see those responsible for these vile actions prosecuted before we can close this dark chapter in British media history.'
The comments echo those of John Prescott and Ed Miliband.
6.40pm: Reports that the NUJ is to strike on 15 July and 29 July – according to BBC journalist Nick Lawrence.
More as we get it.
6.44pm: So it must be an incredibly chaotic evening for culture secretary Jeremy Hunt, who has been under huge pressure to halt News Corporation's bid to take full control over BSkyB. In addition he now has the closure of the country's best selling newspaper on his hands, as well as senior government figures insisting this is not enough and Rebekah Brooks must step aside.
Oh, and there's a Harry Potter premiere too:
@Jeremy_Hunt World Premiere of #HarryPotter outside @DCMS tonight. Congrats to @wbpictures & @jk_rowling for over 10 years of British films at their best
(Thanks to colleague Benji Lanyado for the link).
6.47pm: Milly Dowler's family's solicitor Mark Lewis said the closure 'won't make any difference at all to anybody's civil claims'.
'Any crimes, any phone hacking, any other activities that were done weren't done by the News of the World, they were done by people working for it,' he told Sky News.
It's sad that other people have been sacrificed, will lose their jobs, but the people who are responsible are still there.
They're going to be subject to criminal inquiries and, if appropriate, prosecutions, but the management of News International stays the same.
There are questions asked about Rebekah Brooks. She was editor of the News of the World at the time the Milly Dowler situation was happening.
She is still in her post. So she might be crying at other people losing their jobs, but perhaps she ought to lose her job and let them have theirs.
Sftp backup client. Yet another prominent figure in the phone hacking story to say that the closure does not resolve the problem.
6.49pm: Nick Davies, the Guardian journalist who broke the phone hacking story, talks of how the scandal has escalated in this video.
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6.52pm: Rebekah Brooks 'offered her resignation twice', but it was turned down both times, News of the World staff were reportedly told today.
Journalist Neal Mann, a prolific news tweeter under the @fieldproducer moniker, posts:
@fieldproducer Source tells me News Of The World journalists were told Rebecca Brooks offered her resignation twice and she was turned down both times
@fieldproducer I'm told all journalists at the News of the World cheered when a staff member said they would accept her resignation #NOTW
6.59pm: Peter Walker has been compiling some of the reaction from News of the World journalists to the news that the paper will close.
'Just lost my job on the News of the World. Absolutely devastated that a talented group of people are suffering right now,' tweeted Tina Campanella, a news reporter at the paper, roughly half an hour after it emerged this afternoon that this Sunday's edition of her paper would be the last.
Tom Latchem, the TV editor summed it up thus: 'Thanks for all your kind words all – we will all survive, nobody died. Viva NOTW!!' Another senior staff member, Rachel Richardson, editor of the Fabulous magazine supplement, wrote: 'Feeling pretty numb right now but wanted to say long live @Fabulousmag. The best mag team in Fleet Street. Fact.'
Others rounded on the Twitter hordes rejoicing at the paper's demise. Ian Hyland, a columnist, entered into a somewhat bruising tweet exchange with the comedian Rufus Hound. It ended with Hyland labelling his opponent a 'right tit'.
Outsiders piled in to make similar points, one freelance journalist noting: 'My mate with 4 kids, not a hacker, honest journo, now lost his job, shame on the bosses at #NOTW.' He added, in a sentiment not publicly expressed by the paper's staff but surely shared by many: 'But at least Rebekah Brooks has still got her job, Jesus!!!!'
@frasereC4 Exclusive: #NOTW phone hacking private investigator Glenn Mulcaire tells Channel 4 News he lost his 'moral compass'
7.10pm: James Murdoch has said that Rebekah Brooks's leadership is 'crucial', my colleague Benji Lanyado reports.
'Brooks' leadership of the company is the right thing,' Murdoch Jr said.
'She is doing the right thing. Her leadership is crucial right now.'
7.13pm: Krishnan Guru-Murthy tells Channel 4 news that there was a 'lynch mob mentality' after News of the World were told the news.
Rebekah Brooks was reportedly escorted from the building by security staff.
7.17pm: BSkyB's market value has fallen by the curious figure of £666m this week, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports.
Over in New York, News Corporation shares have been clawing back the losses suffered yesterday. At one stage they were trading at $18.23, up 1.6%, on optimism that Murdoch had somehow fixed his problems. More recently, though, they've been losing some ground. As things stand, News Corp is worth roughly $400m less than at the start of this remarkable week.
The news broke just after trading ended in London, so we won't see how BSkyB shares react until 8am on Friday. They closed at 812p in London, compared with 850p last Friday evening. That means that the value of BSkyB has fallen by £666m this week. Coincidence, I'm sure...
The immediate reaction from financial analysts is that closing the News of the World is a classic Murdoch move, which might keep the BSkyB takeover deal on track. There's also been chatter on Wall Street that News Corp might be better off without those pesky newspapers.
Louise Cooper, market analyst at BGC Partners, is one of the first to react: 'Mr Murdoch was clearly not willing to jeopardise his bid for Sky - talk of the media regulator looking at whether News International was a 'fit and proper' owner must have been a wake up call and clearly not a risk he wanted to take given the scale of the rest of his UK media business. The financial impact of the paper's closure will be small to the group, far less than the value wiped off the News International's share price by the scandal.'
Stephen Adam of Aegon Asset Management, a BSkyB shareholder, has said the closure is 'a reflection of News Corp's desire to progress the BSkyB bid'. But Reuters have also spoken to an unnamed banker who predicts further scalps at the company, including Rebekah Brooks.
'People are out for blood,' he said.
We also received an interesting research note from Nomura earlier. This line, about the UK newspaper division, is worth mentioning - 'Perhaps ironic is the fact that the least valued division of the corporation by investors is creating the most negative headlines'.
7.21pm: Worth reading this Adam Curtis blog charting the history of Rupert Murdoch's rise through the UK media, and how he seized control of the News of the World back in 1969:
The News of the World was a salacious rag, but it was run by Sir William Carr who was a member of an old establishment family. He had already received a hostile bid from the publisher Robert Maxwell. Carr hated Maxwell because he was not British (he was Czech).
Then Murdoch arrived. He wasn't British either, but he told Sir William he would buy the paper but they would run it jointly together.
Maxwell warned Sir William not to trust Murdoch. He told him - 'You will be out before your feet touch the ground'.
Sir William replied - 'Bob, Rupert is a gentleman'
But Lady Carr began to worry. She took Rupert Murdoch out to lunch in Mayfair. She reported that he had little small talk, no sense of humour and that he had lit up a cigar before the first course.
The BBC got interested in Murdoch - and they put out a profile of him. It was shot with him at work and at home in Australia. It has a great interview with Murdoch's secretary about what a sensitive man he is - and how upset he gets when he has to fire someone.
Robert Maxwell would go on to become one of the greatest criminals in British business history. And then he would fall off a boat in the Atlantic and drown in 1991
But Robert Maxwell was right in his warning. Within three months Murdoch forced Sir William Carr out - and took over complete control.
7.25pm: Tom Watson has said there is more evidence to come which will implicate more News International newspapers.
The Labour MP, who has been one of the key players in driving the phone hacking agenda, told Channel 4 news that there is more evidence against the Murdoch empire, which involves 'the use of computer hacking', and will 'cross over into other News International newspapers'.
7.29pm: Benji Lanyado has been following the Labour MP Chris Bryant's comments to the BBC news channel. (Bryant is a suspected hacking victim himself).
'A cynical move,' Bryant said.
Another attempt to evade responsibility, Everything today proves that there is another layer of despicable behavior there. People carrying the can are the writers.
If Rebekah Brooks had a single shred of decency in her she would resign. If she won't resign, James Murdoch shows a singular lack of judgement.
He added: 'We will look back on this and say this was the biggest scandal in british journalism and policing in 50 years.'
7.32pm: Dan Sabbagh has been told by News Corporation sources that Rebekah Brooks did not offer to resign.
Earlier reports suggested News of the World journalists were told Brooks had offered to resign twice.
7.35pm: Hacked Off, a group campaigning for a proper investigation and inquiry into the phone hacking scandal, has said James Murdoch's statement does not alter the need for a full inquiry and actually 'raises further questions' about the conduct of executives at News International.
The announcement by News International that this Sunday's News of the World will be the last does not alter the need for a full public inquiry into phone hacking and related matters.
Indeed James Murdoch's statement raises further questions about the conduct of senior figures at the company. We feel that the closure of a 168-year-old title, with the consequent loss of jobs, is a destructive act which actually underlines the need to get to the truth.
Hacked Off will continue to press for a judge-led public inquiry, with full powers to establish:
· The extent of the use of illegal information-gathering methods by the press, directly and through intermediaries;
· The conduct of the Metropolitan Police Service in investigating these matters, and its relations with the press;
· The communication between press and politicians in relation to these matters;
· The conduct of the Press Complaints Commission and of the Information Commissioner, and of other relevant parties such as mobile telephone companies;
· The lessons to be learned from these events and actions to be taken to ensure they are not repeated.
7.39pm: David Wooding, associate editor at the News of the World, told Sky News one of his colleagues 'was in tears' and other people 'were standing around looking dazed', David Batty reports.
Wooding said the NOTW had 'been taken off the face of the world' because, unlike the other News International titles, it 'isn't blemish free'.
He offered a robust defence of the current staff at the NotW, saying when he came to the paper 18 months ago it was a 'clean outfit' and the people who caused the scandal 'all left five years ago'. But the associate editor also complained that current staff were carrying the can for the sins of their predecessors.
Wooding presented the problem largely in line with News International's rogue element defence, laying the blame squarely with Glenn Mulcaire whom he described as an unscrupulous private investigator. The editor also questioned whether the thousands of people whose names were discovered on lists compiled by Mulcaire had actually had their phones hacked. He said all those guilty of unscrupulous activity had been 'thrown out' of the paper. 'About three people who were there then are still there, the rest are gone.'
Wooding later told BBC News that when he returned to the office this afternoon upon hearing of the paper's closure, 'everyone was standing around looking dazed as if some nuclear bomb hit the place.'
Blaming the previous regime he said: 'We had no idea this was going on'. He said while the current staff at the paper were blemish free it was' the News of the World brand that has been hit.' Current staff had been thrown out because of the actions of unscrupulous people who had been thrown out.
7.43pm: Channel 4 News is screening a secretly filmed interview with Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator jailed for hacking phones.
Mulcaire said he was given the names of targets to hack 'by committee'.
This would appear to contradict News International consistent defence that the hacking was the result of one rogue reporter.
Mulcaire admitted some of his actions were morally questionable.
'It does bring you into areas that are grey,' he said.
Mulcaire also said his family had suffered as a result of the hacking scandal.
7.44pm:Andy Coulson is to be arrested over phone hacking tomorrow.
7.47pm: Amelia Hill broke the news of Andy Coulson's impending arrest. A second 'former senior journalist' at the News of the World is also to be arrested within the next few days.
Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested on Friday morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the News of the World.
The Guardian understands that a second arrest is also to be made in the next few days of a former senior journalist at the paper.
Leaks from News International forced police to speed up their plans to arrest the two key suspects in the explosive phone-hacking scandal.
The Guardian knows the identity of the second suspect but is withholding the name in order to avoid prejudicing the ongoing police investigation.
Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's director of communications in January, was contacted on Thursday by detectives and asked to present himself at a police station in central London on Friday, where he will be told that he will be formally questioned under suspicion of involvement in hacking.
7.53pm: Colin Myler, editor of News of the World, has said this is the 'saddest day of his professional life,' according to Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News.
7.58pm: The Sun – News of the World stablemate – will become a seven-day newspaper, the BBC is reporting.
Earlier we heard that the sundaysun.co.uk and sundaysun.com domain names had been registered two days ago.
8.05pm: Potentially more information implicating Rebekah Brooks, from .er. George Michael:
@GeorgeMichael Rebekah Brooks sat two feet from me in my own home and told me that it was never the public that came to them with information...
@GeorgeMichael on celebrities, and that the Police always got there first. I think thats enough to be going on with. (Don't ask me how she got there).
8.06pm:The News of the World paywall has apparently been taken down. Every cloud..
8.13pm: My colleague David Batty has more on the Channel 4 news piece with Glenn Mulcaire, including a clarification on his statement that phone hacking victims were chosen 'by committee'.
Mulcaire secretly filmed by one of his hacking victims, admitted that the decision to order phone hacking was made 'by committee'. A statement sent to the programme by his lawyer clarified that Mulcaire did not mean there was a specific committee at the paper responsible for order phone hacks, rather that it was carried out on the orders of several individuals on the newsdesk, not a lone reporter.
The phone hacking victim who secretly filmed the former private investigator was a victim of sexual assault whose personal details were leaked to the press. She told the programme that journalists were aware of the detail of her personal statement about the assault she suffered. She said it was 'traumatic' that the press 'seemed to know everything about me.'
C4 News also spoke to Steve Roberts, former head of the Met Police anti-corruption squad, who said he was aware of information being leaked by officers to the press. But there was a reluctance to take on the media over the issue.
Paul McMullan, former features executive, told the programme more details about how payments were made to police officers for information. He said money was passed on via officers' relatives rather than directly. He repeated his claim that senior figures at the paper, including Rebekah Brooks, were aware of the practice. 'If it wasn't a significant amount it would be put on my expenses and that would be authorised by my boss - Rebekah Brooks.'
8.19pm: The National Union of Journalists has confirmed that journalists at The Sun walked out in protest at the treatment of their News of the World colleagues.
An NUJ official told the Guardian 'the whole subbing desk' walked out – 'around 30-35 people'.
The NUJ has published the following statement on its website:
In solidarity with colleagues at the News of the World, tonight Sub-Editors at The Sun newspaper have walked out of work in protest.
At the same time as the protest, inside the building, News of the World staff were being told about the redundancies.
The company has told staff they will receive a 90 day payment which covers the legally required consultation period for job cuts.
This exposes the cynical deceit of James Murdoch who earlier today said: 'We will communicate next steps in detail and begin appropriate consultation.'
8.35pm: This is David Batty and I'm taking over the live blog for the rest of the evening.
Paul McMullan, former features executive at the News of the World, has again laid into Rebekah Brooks - this time on Sky News. He accused Brooks and Andy Coulson of failing to take responsibility for the phone hacking scandal and sticking up for their staff. McMullan said Brooks should have stood up for the paper's reporters and defended their practices, which he described as a 'grey area' necessary for exposing corruption.
'Instead she's said, 'No, I didn't know .. I just happened to be the editor'. She's trashed the reputation of the News of the World, she's closed the paper, she should be sacked.'
8.45pm: MediaMatters, which monitors the US media, suggests that Murdoch's US operations could be damaged by the fallout from the hacking scandal because of his decision to make Les Hinton publisher of the Wall Street Journal.
Eric Boehlert writes:
Prior to taking over Murdoch's American publishing jewel, Hinton ran the mogul's British newspapers, including News of the World. And Hinton ran the newspapers at a time when the tabloid was hacking mobile phones at an astonishing rate. But perhaps even more troubling is the fact that Hinton oversaw News Corp.'s initial internal investigation into the phone hacking scandal and came away convinced there was no evidence of widespread wrongdoing in the company, and that the hacking had been confined to just one reporter.
Hinton, a veteran journalist himself, was tasked with finding out the truth about phone hacking inside News Corp.'s tabloid. He came away with Pollyannaish findings, claiming Murdoch's operation was clean, except for one bad apple. (..) It's an investigation that, in light of recent developments, looks to have been incompetent at best, and a fraud at worst. In fact, it looks to have been part of a failed cover-up.
For the record, Hinton also authorised payments to the News of the World reporter at the heart of the hacking scandal, as well as for the private detective that reporter hired. Hinton authorized the payments after both men had been jailed.
8.50pm: More on the reports that subeditors at the Sun have walked out in protest at the sacking of colleagues on the News of the World. A source told the Guardian that some subs left their desk for 30 minutes but are now back at them.
A News International spokeswoman said 'a few' Sun journalists had left work at the same time as their News of the World colleagues, when it was the end of the working day.
8.54pm: There's been more reaction from staff at the News of the World about the paper's closure.
Features editor Jules Stenson told Sky News that staff showed 'quiet pride' rather than 'mob anger' when the announcement was made.
There was shock, bewilderment, there were a few gasps, there were lots of tears from the staff. It's been reported that there was a lynch mob mentality which is completely untrue, there was none of that.
There was bewilderment, there was disappointment but there wasn't any kind of mob anger, quite the contrary. There was a lot of quiet pride from a team of brilliant journalists.
Dan Wootton, the paper's showbiz editor, said he and his colleagues were 'devastated' and that some had been in tears. He also claimed many staff felt sympathy towards Brooks.
There is devastation and fear. It is grief for the newspaper, that is what it is. It's not anger, it's grief. We were devastated. There were tears, and I know from a personal level we had huge sympathy for Rebekah Brooks delivering that news.
Wootton added that in recent years the paper had changed:
For the last four years we have delivered a quality newspaper, a newspaper that bears no resemblance to the newspaper that I have been reading about in the press this week.
My colleague Marina Hyde writes:
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I know this story is moving so preposterously fast that by midnight Dan Wootton will have become Walter Kronkite, but can we just remind ourselves, before it is lost to the mists, of time what even a benign version of his 'quality newspaper' looked like?
9.10pm: This rather bluntly named website rather sums up the mood of those disgusted by the latest phone hacking revelations - and, no doubt, many of those News of the World staff who have paid the price for the scandal rather than their boss Rebecca Brooks.
9.14pm: There's been more reports of the anger in at Wapping when News of the World staff were informed the title was to be shut.
One member of staff described the reaction to Brooks announcement as 'a seething fury', Sky News reports. Another told the broadcaster: 'She has kept her job and sacrificed the jobs of 500 people to do so.'
9.21pm: There have been reports on Twitter and via email that the News of the World's Fabulous magazine will survive the paper's closure.
A friend of one member of staff emailed us and said she was 'told this afternoon she was losing her job - then told hours later Fabulous's future was safe'.
This perhaps suggests that the magazine will become part of a replacement Sunday title.
9.23pm: Scotland Yard has confirmed it was considering allegation that emails as well as mobile phones have been hacked.
It was understood that officers had not yet been decided whether the matter would fall under the new phone hacking investigation Operation Weeting.
10.04pm: The Press Complaints Commission is a 'toothless poodle' that should be replaced by a new self-regulatory watchdog, Ed Miliband will say tomorrow.
The Guardian reports that Miliband will say the PCC failed in its investigations into allegations about illegal phone hacking.
The Press Complaints Commission has totally failed. It failed to get to the bottom of the allegations about what happened at News International in 2009.
Its chair admits she was lied to but could do nothing about it. It was established to be a watchdog. But it has been exposed as a toothless poodle. It is time to put it out of its misery. The PCC has not worked. We need a new watchdog.
But the Labour leader will say he still believes in self-regulation.
A new body would need far greater independence of its board members from those it regulates, proper investigative powers and an ability to enforce corrections.
10.10pm: David Cameron is to meet with Miliband next week to discuss the status and membership of the inquiries into the phone hacking scandal.
10.13pm: Former deputy prime minister John Prescott has told Irish television that the closure of the News of the World won't fool anyone, writes Lisa O'Carroll.
Speaking on on Primetime on RTE, Prescott, whose phone was hacked, said:
Isn't it funny these guys, they always get rid of the Indians and not the chiefs, particularly Rebekah Brooks who was in charge and an editor of this paper.
This is another management exercise by Mr Murdoch, on the one hand he used to tell told us it was the work of one rogue reporter, despite we know there were several reporters involved in these criminal acts. Picsart add background.
He's now wanting us to believe it was one rogue newspaper.
Cutting off the arms doesn't solve the problem. The problem is in the head and the body and hacking off and throwing people on the dole and suggesting what money will be saved will be given to charity is so typical of Murdoch operation.
10.17pm: Pressure is mounting in America on Rupert Murdoch to prevent the phone hacking scandal from adversely affecting his financially crucial US media interests.
The Guardian reports that the News of the World's closure prompted 'expressions of astonishment from analysts who saw it as a sign of how deeply it has affected the US heart of Murdoch's empire.'
Martin Dunn, former editor of the Murdoch rival paper the New York Daily News, said the extent of illegal activity by the British tabloid had revived anxieties in US about Murdoch's style of journalism that had been rife when he first bought the New York Post in 1976.
10.20pm: The closure of the News of the World could be a cunning ploy to legally shred any incriminating evidence linked to the phone hacking scandal, according to a prominent media lawyer.
Mark Stephens, head of media with Finers Stephens Innocent lawyer, said under British law the paper 'may not be obliged to retain documents that could be relevant to civil and criminal claims against the newspaper—even in cases that are already underway.'
If News of the World is to be liquidated, Stephens told Reuters, it 'is a stroke of genius—perhaps evil genius.'
All of the assets of the shuttered newspaper, including its records, will be transferred to a professional liquidator (such as a global accounting firm). The liquidator's obligation is to maximize the estate's assets and minimize its liabilities. So the liquidator could be well within its discretion to decide News of the World would be best served by defaulting on pending claims rather than defending them. That way, the paper could simply destroy its documents to avoid the cost of warehousing them—and to preclude any other time bombs contained in News of the World's records from exploding.
10.34pm: The Guardian's editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, has told Newsnight that Murdoch's closure of the News of the World was 'baffling'.
I think it's baffling. No-one called for the News of the World to be closed. It seems perverse to be closing down the newspaper. Paragon ntfs read only.
Rusbridger said it was clear that phone hacking was 'systematic' at the paper. He said he spoke to a reporter from the tabloid yesterday who said that every time a journalist presented a story they were asked, 'Where are the [phone] messages?'
The programme also heard from Sean Cassidy, whose son Ciaran died in the Russell Square explosion, says Cameron surely knew what was going on when he hired Coulson.
11.00pm: The phone hacking scandal has finally made the front page of the Sun, leading with the closure of its sister title.
12.01am: Former home secretary Alan Johnson has suggested that James Murdoch could face jail over the phone hacking scandal.
Speaking on the BBC1's This Week, the former Labour minister said Murdoch's statement yesterday in which he admitted that the News of the World and News International failed to get to the bottom of the issue could lead to a prosecution under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) 2000.
Johnson pointed to Murdoch's comment that he personally (and, he admits, wrongly) approved out-of-court settlements to victims of phone hacking, including a payment to Gordon Taylor of the Professional Football Association believed to be worth around £700,000. The MP raised the prospect this could place the News International chairman in breach of section 79 of Ripa. This states:
Where an offence under any provision of this Act (..) is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body he (as well as the body corporate) shall be guilty of that offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
The News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in January 2007 after they admit intercepting voicemail messages on royal aides' phones in breach of the Ripa.
But a criminal lawyer has told the Financial Times that Murdoch was 'a million miles' from being prosecuted because the payment of reasonable compensation to victims was allowed under the law. The lawyer told the paper: 'You would have to show that he had knowledge at the time rather than after the fact.'
1.01am: We're wrapping up this live blog now but coverage will continue later this morning.
In the meantime here's a re-cap of Thursday's dramatic developments in the phone hacking scandal:
• The News of the World is to be shut down, with the paper's final edition to be published on Sunday, ending the 168-year history of the title. The shock move, seen as a desperate attempt to limit the political and commercial fallout from the phone-hacking affair engulfing Rupert Murdoch's media empire, comes at the loss of the paper's 200 staff.
• Andy Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested this morning over suspicions that he knew about, or had direct involvement in, the hacking of mobile phones during his editorship of the paper. The arrest of Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron's director of communications in January, is likely to raise further questions about the prime minister's judgement and his relationship with the Murdoch empire.
• Rebekah Brook, who edited the Sunday tabloid at the time journalists ordered the hacking of murdered teenager Milly Dowler's mobile phone, remains in place as News International's chief executive. News of the World staff say she offered her resignation but it was refused. News International denies that claim.
• Labour leader Ed Miliband said the paper's closure failed to resolve the 'real issues' raised by the scandal and repeated his calls for Brooks to go.
• The closure was announced by Murdoch's son James, who runs his UK titles. He said in a statement: 'The News of the World is in the business of holding others to account. But it failed when it came to itself.'
• The closure came after more companies, including O2, the mobile phone company 3, Sainsbury's and Boots said they would not be placing adverts in the paper on Sunday.
Thanks for reading and thanks for your comments.
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The worldwide impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic seem endless. But geologists and those in atmospheric science say the Earth is already seeing positive, visible impacts due to our world pretty much shutting down. Take, for instance, the canal waters in Venice becoming crystal clear again since that country first went on lockdown.
There are virtually no people on the streets, vehicles on the road, planes in the sky, or industries at work. 'I think a lot people are finding it kind of weird to be where it's so quiet all of a sudden, which is a good thing,' said UNCC geologist and Associate Professor of geology Dr. Andy Bobyarchik. 'It makes us appreciate the natural world.'
Scientists, like UNC Charlotte Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science Dr. Brian Magi, are now examining a different kind of a coronavirus-related data. 'Kind of an unintentional experiment where we're seeing it unfold,' Magi said.
Lockdowns in other countries and stay-at-home orders across the United States, Magi says, could aid the environment, particularly air quality. 'One thing we look at is carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere, and that is partly from carbon emissions,' Magi explained. While the data is only about three weeks old, Magi says, 'We're seeing hints, especially in some of the most polluted parts of the world.'
He says history can provide some clues. 'What we've seen is that carbon emissions have decreased, temporarily, during a crisis, but then have rebounded after the crisis,' Magi added. It will take time to know for sure. 'We are looking to see whether the signals are real and can be attributed to COVID-19.'
But geologists like Bobyarchik do have some hard data already about how the lack of human interference has already impacted planet Earth. 'The background noise, which is what all that stuff is, has gone quiet in many places,' Bobyarchik explained.
Seismologists at the Royal Observatory of Belgium first detected it. They found a 30 to 50 percent reduction in ambient seismic noise since lockdowns in that country first went into effect. 'What the noise dropping down does is make it easier to detect really small natural events, like very low-magnitude earthquakes and landslides,' Bobyarchik explained.
In other words, Earth is vibrating less. You can see it on the seismogram from Bobyarchik's home seismograph. 'There's a large part of that seismogram where there aren't a lot of wiggles in the trays,' he said.
Its activity, Magi says, can open up our perspective even though we're relatively closed off. 'We see that our activities, as a collective group, have an effect on the environment,' Magi said. It's an effect we're seeing when billions of people around the world collectively stay home. 'That's gonna be useful to seismologists in the future because it's gonna give us a better picture of what the real natural world environment is like without so much human interaction,' Bobyarchik added.
Scientists around the world say these environmental signals will only become true benefits if there are policies that follow in the recovery phase of this pandemic.
