07/07/2011 World News Today

The This is BBC World News Today with me Tim Willcox. Closing down a

contaminated title - News International says this week's News

of the World will be its last. Clearly certain activities did not

live up to their standards, a matter of great regret for me

personally and for the paper. dramatic decision was made as

detectives think more than 4000 people were potentially phone

hacked. Reports too that relatives of soldiers killed in Afghanistan

and Iraq were targeted. In these actions are proved to be have -- to

be verified I am appalled. I find it disgusting. Fighting inflation

and rising wage demands - the ECB raises interest rates - good news

Hello and welcome. After 168 years Britain's biggest selling tabloid

newspaper the News of the World is shutting down and publishing its

final edition on Sunday. The newspaper at the centre of a phone

hacking scandal is part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation media

empire and the UK's most read newspaper. News International

chairman James Murdoch says the newspaper had become sullied by

behaviour that was wrong and had failed to hold itself to account.

Our Business Editor Robert Peston looks now at the paper's demise.

For years it has been perhaps the most famous Sunday newspaper in

Britain but the 168 year-old News of the World is being shot because

recently it became more famous for all the wrong reasons. This

afternoon the chairman of News International, James Murdoch,

announced that this Sunday's edition will be the last and all

revenues from that edition will go to good causes. It is the

revelations that Journalism when bad that means it will no longer

roll off the presses. The alleged hacking of the mobile phones of

Milly Dowler, and the phone of a parent of one of the so when

victims, and the privacy of soldiers killed in actions. -

Madeleine action. These are why the News of the World had no future.

spoke to a journalist on the paper this afternoon about our before it

happened and they were feeling disgruntled. Rupert Murdoch,

pursued by journalists in Idaho earlier today... I am not making

any comments. He bought the paper in 1969 and four years it was a

huge money-spinner so its closure represents a huge humiliation. So

what prospects for the News of the World's: staff? They are being

invited to apply for other jobs within a media empire that owns the

Times, Sunday Times and the sun. In fact, some believe the News of the

World may be reborn in days as perhaps the sun on Sunday. It is a

typical management stunt of Mr Murdoch, he get rid of problems. In

this case nobody in senior management, Rebekah Brooks a clear

example, none of those go but the workers at the News of the World

going and there is no doubt it will become the Sunday sun. I have to

say I think the kind of culture that has driven all these kind of

circumstances is as much evidence of the same editor of the Sun as

the News of the World. I am interested not in closing down

newspapers, but in those who were responsible being brought to

justice and those who had responsibility for the running of

that newspaper taking their responsibility and they do not

think those things have happened today. The News of the World's

continued existence provided ammunition to those campaigning

against the attempt by a parent company to buy full control of

British Sky Broadcasting, and that prize is another clue to why the

Murdochs have been ruthless in killing of a newspaper that was

their golden goose for years. In a moment we'll hear more of that

interview with James Murdoch. Let's just discuss these dramatic events

now. With me is the veteran British news correspondent Dame Ann Leslie.

In our New York studio is the journalist and author of The Man

Who Owns the News, a biography of Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and

CEO of News Corp. A brutal decision, classic Murdoch perhaps. The

successful adaptation of the contaminated toxic title? --

amputation. I doubt it. For as we Cillian scandals, this is too

little, too late. I think the interesting thing is that it is in

the last 48 hours where it seems the Murdoch family have awakened to

realise the peril area and be drastic steps that might be

required to keep them safe. But again, too little too late. A quick

response from you about this. Is it too little too late? I agree. I

always think Murdoch is the most brilliant gambler. We have to

remember that he gambled on satellite news, all of those things.

We must also remember the gambler is now 80. But I think this

gamble... He had to close News of the World. What he did not do,

which you should have done, was sacked the beautiful auburn-haired

temptress, Rebekah Wade, for soon you -- for whom he seems to have a

great tenderness. It is amazing. I know that they journalists, most of

whom were not involved, are furious because they feel they and the

paper have been sacrificed for the flame-haired temptress. They say he

treats her like a daughter, although it does seem the sun on

Sunday will emerge from all of this. Let's hear more from James Murdoch.

He gave a detailed interview about why he has taken this decision and

also about the future of Rebekah Clearly the practices of certain

individuals did not live up to the standards and quality of Journalism

we believe in, I believe in and that this company believes in. This

company has been a great investor in Journalism, in media in general

and do something we believe very strongly in. And clearly certain

activities did not live up to those standards. It is a matter of great

regret for me personally and for the company. Have you spoken to

your father about this? Is he personally ashamed? He was very

clear in a comment made yesterday that these allegations are shocking

and usually regrettable. This is the way we all feel in the company,

not least the many journalists around the world to work and News

Corporation, who really believe and what they do and work very hard to

do a good job for readers. When they started I had heard rumours

that phone hacking was rife. Rebekah Brooks was a journalist who

came through your organisation, she was the editor of the News of the

World when this was going on, she was paying out large amounts of

money to people conducting some of these activities, is it really even

vaguely conceivable that she and many others did not know what was

going on at this -- what was going on? Rebekah Brooks and are I are

committed to doing the right thing, as is this company. It is about co-

operating and working fully with the police investigations into

there is alleged practices and activities. It is also about making

sure we are putting in place the processes, that we understand what

happened and we have processes in place to make sure these things do

not have an again. But my question was is it conceivable? You were

looking people in the eye and saying she did not know you're

paying out enormous sums of money to these people. Is that really

conceivable? I am satisfied that her leadership of this business and

her standard of ethics and conduct throughout her career are very good.

I think what she and we have shown with our actions around

transparently and practically working with the police have recall

it is the process of information discovery proactive in voluntary

that started these investigations to be opened again by police

earlier this year. It is the proactive and transparent handing

over of information to police to help them in their inquiries. We

have led that and I am confident those actions show we are doing the

right thing and we are committed to doing that.

Picking up on that, the future of the company and the defence of

Rebekah Brooks, how much... Sorry, go on. It is extraordinary what we

have just heard. A classic non denial denial. Effectively, if you

listen to this he was asked twice, did she know? In neither instance

did he say she did not know. These There is just no credibility left

here. In terms of the bigger picture and the fat that News

International want to buy the remaining stake in British Sky

Broadcasting, all been decided on plurality, do you think they have

done enough to do that now? I think there are two things at work here.

There is the screaming for blood in the streets, then areas -- then

there are the regulatory issues of buying BSkyB. Those are handled in

two different ways and the News Corp and the Murdochs have always

been good at behind the scenes manoeuvring. They know how to use

influence, the power of their organisation and I think they have

done it in such a way that has cleared a path for the BSkyB deal.

Now the question is whether the baying for blood in the streets

will derail this. I do not know. It is suddenly a possibility.

comment about the parameters of the debate of that is plurality,

nothing to do with whether somebody is fit to run the organisation.

It is significant that the decision on it has been delayed until

Whether it was to me documents, or they are waiting for the fuss to

die down, I do not know. In a funny way, I have never met him, never

met James, I have only met Rebekah Brooks a couple of times, I think

there is a bloodlust against Murdoch and his cohorts. The fact

is, actually, in his own way, like most businesses he obviously tried

to corner a market, he is a businessman, but he did introduce a

certain plurality. We had a very stagnant media world which was

ruled by the unions. But this is very clearly not the issue any more.

The issue is they broke the law again and again and again. And then

they covered it up. Not whether he did something good in the past!

is not just news International. A lot of politicians are saying this

is a problem which has infected a lot of Fleet Street. Especially the

tabloid end. All we know is that News International did it, they

said they did not do it, they were proved to have done it. I am not

arguing with you on the illegality. If you prosecute this down the

middle, which I trust will happen, they have to take responsibility.

If they do that, they must lose their positions within the company

and actually quite possibly go to jail. I do not think that will

happen. I challenge you... No. are both shouting at each other. We

do know Scotland Yard are expected to make five more arrests. One of

them will not be Rebekah Brooks. Maybe not this week but in weeks to

come. Really? What did they know, when did they know it? The form of

this scandal is very clear. The outcome I would say is not so hard

to imagine. How high art in your view, does this go? -- high art.

Directly to the Murdoch family which is why they closed the paper

and why they are so scared. Is it not also because the News of the

World has always been considered to be the cash cow, it was not doing

so well recently. It was causing problems. That is not true but the

way. The sum was or is a greater cash cow than use of the world.

They it was always regarded as that and it was not that successful and

it was expensive. So it was a business decision parley. -- party.

The final 4 - we now hear the sun on Sunday and -- there have been

some registered domain names. Is this a sleight of hand? Everything

will carry on as normal. It will be This is about credibility. They

have lost that over the four year cause of this scandal. If they do

that, if this is just a slight of hand... There is little future for

It's a halt and and a final thought, is the whole industry in the dock?

I have never have to phone, and I have been in the industry 50 years.

I have never knowingly met a private investigator either. Most

journalists to do not do what the News of the world were doing it, I

am not interested in the sex lives of the starlets -- News Of The

World. But there are some newspapers who are rare -- riveted

by that because their readers are. I think that their readers, and

this is a real danger to the Murdoch empire, they are moving off

into things like magazines and, on lined stuff, I think in a way the

celebs market, which was confined to the News Of The World and the

sun, is now so dispersed that I am sure that it really doesn't matter

that much any more. I am sure -- sorry for any newspaper to close,

because a lot of journalists will lose their jobs. But for millions

of people, it is an institution. We will be coming back to this story a

bit later on, but we are out of time. Then did to both of you. --

thank you to both of you. That catch up on some of the day's

other news. Details are emerging of the devastating impact of the

drought in the Horn of Africa on people fleeing from Somalia to

Ethiopia. The World Food Programme says more than 110,000 have now

arrived at remote camps in South- Eastern Ethiopia. It's described

them as the lucky ones. Rebels in Libya have advanced

against Government forces on a strategically important road south

of the capital Tripoli. A BBC correspondent says the rebels have

moved between ten and 15 kilometres in the last 24 hours towards the

town of Gharyan, which is held by Colonel Gaddafi's forces.

In a landmark judgement that could pave the way for a flood of

compensation claims, the European Court of Human Rights has ordered

Britain to pay tens of thousands of dollars to relatives of Iraqis

killed by British troops during the occupation. Correspondents say the

ruling will be watched closely by other countries whose soldiers

served in Iraq. A man wanted by the Spanish

authorities in connection with an attempt to assassinate King Juan

Carlos in 1997 has said he will fight moves to extradite him to

Spain. The 44-year-old - who's suspected of being a member of the

Basque separatist group ETA - appeared in court in London. And

was remanded in custody. The European Central Bank has

raised its main interest rate by a quarter of one percent. The rate is

now 1.5 percent. It's a controversial decision by the bank,

because the countries already struggling with government debt

crises - particularly Greece, Ireland and Portugal - will now

face higher borrowing costs. At a press conference in Frankfurt

earlier today, the President of the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, explained

the reasons for the rise. decision will contribute to keeping

inflation expectations in the Euro- zone firmly anchored in line with

our aim of keeping inflation rate below but close to 2% in the medium

term. Such anchoring is a prerequisite for monetary policy to

contribute to economy Growth -- growth. At the same time, interest

rates remain low, thus the monetary policy stays cumulative, lending

support to economic creativity and job creation. Let's go to Berlin,

we can talk to Dr Ferdinand Fichtner. Trying to curb inflation

and further price rises, good news for Germany, but not for many other

peripheral countries in Europe. That is probably true. This is

obvious be the big problem BCB currently faces, that we have solid

growth -- this is obviously the problem the ECB currently faces.

But we had huge differences between the member states. We have solid

growth in Germany, we are looking at another year of above 3% growth,

but on the other hand we have stagnation in southern Europe, like

Spain, Italy and Greece. Clearly it is a difficult situation, but the

ECB has to make policy for the whole euro area, and in this sense,

I guess it is fair that the EC be increased -- increased rates today,

and it is very sensible not to do this have to strongly because this

would stall growth in the crisis economies of the peripheries.

Listening to Jean-Claude Trichet, it did seem that further interest

rises are on the way and that will push those countries further into

the economic mire. I actually don't think that it makes such a big

difference in Greece, for example. It is not the interest rate which

posed the problem, it is the levels of debt of the Government, it is

the levels of debt of households in Spain, for example. So it is not

really about interest rates, which increase by a weak demand. The

European Central Bank has to make policy for the whole area. In

Germany, we are facing the inflation rate of 2.5%. In the euro

area, it is an average of 2.7%. We have strong growth, so in the next

year, we can expect strong wages which will feed into higher prices.

So there could be the second-round effect in Germany, in the

Netherlands and possibly France. So the ECB has to react, just have to

signal to the people that it has looked at prices, that prices are

its main priority, and that other tasks have to stay behind.

Ferdinand Fichtner, thank you for joining us.

At least one person has been killed after part of the roof of a Dutch

football stadium collapsed. The stadium is home to FC Twente.

One of those injured but the key to escape with his life. Lucky as well

that it is off season, preventing what could have been an even larger

tragedy. The male of the home city says they are using sniffer dogs

and cameras to find anyone who is trapped -- the mayor. TRANSLATION:

Beat southern side of the stadium is currently being renovated to

increase the number of seats. A large part of the roof collapsed

and that number of people were trapped and as far as we know, one

person has died. The mayor says it is to rally to know why the brute K

been, but eyewitnesses say a crime -- it is too early to know why the

roof caved in, but eyewitnesses said the crane may have collapsed.

Eyewitnesses said it felt like a pack of cards. Another said he

thought it was an earthquake. 25 ambulances from around the region

have rushed to the scene. The stadium was undergoing renovations

to expand its seating capacity to accommodate the many fans that

Bashir's national champions FC Twente gather. And -- last year's.

Let's return briefly to that dramatic decision by News

International to make this week's News Of The World its last edition,

following be deepening scandal of the packing of fire -- celebrities

and grieving families and soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Let's go to Naomi grimly. Something of a problem still for the

Government. What has the reaction been? The Government has made it

very clear that they put no pressure on News Of The World to

close, but there is still all these big questions. For a start,

questions about David Cameron's judgment in befriending too fat --

former editors of the News of the world, Andy Coulson and Rebekah

Brooks, who is still in place as the most senior executive. And also

the question about what happens to the takeover bid for BSkyB. It is

clear the Murdoch family are still very keen on that prize, but there

is more and more pressure on ministers to park the whole thing

because of the questions about corporate ethics. Just speaking off

the record to those marketing people who have had close links to

News International, this idea of a seven day Sun newspaper has been

discussed for a long time and some interesting domain names have been

registered. That is correct, at the Sun on Sunday has been registered.

There is a lot of speculation that that he might happen and most MPs

are very cynical and think it will be a rebranding exercise, or old

wine in new bottles. They may at Westminster, thank you very much. -

- may omit. Let's just remind you of that news

today that News International has taken the dramatic decision, after

168 years of being in control of Britain's biggest selling tabloid

newspaper and has decided to shut it down. News Of The World will

publish its final edition on Sunday. The paper has been at the centre of

a phone hacking scandal, it is part of Rupert Murdoch's empire. Shares

in News Corporation yesterday dropped by three. % -- 3.6%. We

have heard by James Murdoch, saying the newspaper had become sullied by

eight behaviour that was wrong and had failed to hold itself to