One editor convicted, one cleared in British phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch-owned tabloid
One editor convicted, one cleared in British phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch-owned tabloid
LONDON — It was a simple trick — punching in passcodes to listen to messages left on other people’s phones.
For years the illegal technique, known as phone hacking, helped Britain’s News of the World tabloid get juicy stories about celebrities, politicians and royalty.
But the fallout eventually led to the shutdown of the country’s best-selling newspaper, split Rupert Murdoch’s powerful media empire and brought a storm of outrage down on the country’s rambunctious press.
On Tuesday, the scandal brought a criminal conviction for former editor Andy Coulson on a charge of conspiring to hack phones — and an apology from Prime Minister David Cameron, who employed Coulson as his spin doctor.
Fellow News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, a Murdoch protege who was the chief executive of his British newspaper operation, was acquitted of all charges, as were her husband and three other defendants.
Methodist panel overturns decision to defrock pastor who presided over gay son’s wedding
PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania pastor who broke church law by presiding over his son’s same-sex wedding ceremony and then became an outspoken activist for gay rights can return to the pulpit after a United Methodist Church appeals panel on Tuesday overturned a decision to defrock him.
The nine-person panel ordered the church to restore Frank Schaefer’s pastoral credentials, saying the jury that convicted him last year erred when fashioning his punishment.
“I’ve devoted my life to this church, to serving this church, and to be restored and to be able to call myself a reverend again and to speak with this voice means so much to me,” an exultant Schaefer told The Associated Press, adding he intends to work for gay rights “with an even stronger voice from within the United Methodist Church.”
Witnesses: Extremists abduct 91 more people in Nigeria in deadly weekend attacks on villages
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Extremists have abducted 91 more people, including toddlers as young as 3, in weekend attacks on villages in Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday, providing fresh evidence of the military’s failure to curb an Islamic uprising and the government’s inability to provide security.
The kidnappings come less than three months after more than 200 schoolgirls were taken in a mass abduction by Boko Haram members that embarrassed Nigeria’s government and military because of their slow response. Those girls are still being held captive.
The most recent victims included 60 girls and women, some of whom were married, and 31 boys, witnesses said.
Top US archivist: IRS didn’t follow law, report loss of agency executive’s emails in 2011
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service did not follow the law when it failed to report the loss of records belonging to a senior IRS executive, the nation’s top archivist told Congress on Tuesday, in the latest development in the congressional probe of the agency’s targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
In June 2011, IRS executive Lois Lerner’s computer crashed, resulting in the loss of records that are sought in investigations into the agency’s actions. At the time, the agency tried to recover Lerner’s records, but with no success.
When it was determined later in the summer of 2011 that the records on the hard drive were gone forever, the IRS should have notified the National Archives and Records Administration, U.S. Archivist David Ferriero told members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. But Ferriero learned of the lost records on June 13 when the IRS notified Congress.
“Any agency is required to notify us when they realize they have a problem,” Ferriero said.
Lerner is at the center of the controversy and has refused to answer questions from Congress, citing her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself. In May, the House voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress. She retired from the IRS last fall after having been placed on paid leave.
By wire sources