News Corp firestorm over phone allegations

A public firestorm has engulfed Rupert Murdoch's top-selling British newspapers, with senior News Corp executives facing a full parliamentary probe into allegations that journalists hacked into thousands of mobile telephones belonging to politicians and celebrities. The row, triggered by a report in The Guardian newspaper that News Corp had paid £1m (€1.2m) in out-of-court settlements to several people including a senior official in UK football, has drawn in the police. The controversy has also led to calls for David Cameron, leader of Britain's opposition Conservatives, to fire his head of communications Andy Coulson, who was editor of The News of the World at the time of the alleged incidents and who resigned over a specific episode. Actors Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, Australian model Elle Macpherson and former British ministers were among those targeted by journalists.