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| Roman helmet found in Cumbrian field fetches £2m A bid by a Cumbrian museum to buy a rare Roman helmet fails - after an anonymous phone bidder bought it for £2m bbc.co.uk |
Police ask Guardian for phone-hacking evidence Paper's editor, Alan Rusbridger, points out that police already have access to material on practices at the News of the WorldRead Alan Rusbridger's letter to the Metropolitan policeThe Metropolitan police have written to the Guardian asking for any new material the paper holds about phone hacking at the News of the World.The request follows a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary last week that contained further evidence that the practice was widespread at the tabloid paper.The programme featured an anonymous ex-News of the World journalist who said the then editor Andy Coulson listened to recordings of voicemails that had been illegally obtained.Coulson, who is now David Cameron's director of communications, has always insisted he did not know about the practice.Detective Superintendent Dean Haydon, who is leading the Met's review of the phone-hacking case, has written to the Guardian's editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, asking for any new material that may have come to light.In his reply, Rusbridger points out that police already have access to evidence that would help with their inquiry, including transcripts of voicemail messages that were intercepted by News of the World employees from a mobile phone belonging to the PFA chief executive, Gordon Taylor."[The Guardian journalist] Nick Davies was able to reveal incontrovertible evidence of the involvement in phone hacking of other NoW reporters and executives: the material is sitting in your own files, and was obtained by lawyers acting for Gordon Taylor," Rusbridger wrote.The Guardian revealed in July last year that the News of the World had paid £1m in out-of-court settlements to three people, including Taylor, after messages left on their mobile phones were intercepted by Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator on the News of the World payroll.Mulcaire and the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman were jailed for listening to phone messages belonging to members of the royal household in January 2007.Rusbridger said that Davies had been able to publish fresh revelations about the extent of the practice over the past year by "taking the trouble to interview a large number of people who were working at the News of the World at the relevant time". He suggested the police do the same."That, it seems to us, would be a more productive route than seeking to interview other journalists who have looked into the story," he said."It has been open to the MPS to [interview News of the World journalists] since your colleagues arrested Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman in 2006," Rusbridger pointed out. "But the MPS decided at the time that they would interview no other NoW journalists than Mr Goodman himself."Rusbridger also criticised the Met for interviewing under caution ex-News of the World journalists who have come forward this year to talk about phone hacking at the paper."Many external observers are troubled that the MPS is adopting the intimidatory approach of seeking to interview these whistleblowers under caution – ie treating them as potential defendants as opposed to potential witnesses," he said.Since the Guardian published its initial revelations last year, a huge amount of new evidence has come to light about the number of journalists who were involved in the practice, and dozens of public figures have spoken out about being targeted by the paper.Its publisher, News Group Newspapers, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, is facing a raft of expensive legal cases.There have also been several parliamentary inquiries into how much News International executives knew about the practice. One former journalist, Sean Hoare, has said Coulson "actively encouraged" phone hacking and an executive, Paul McMullan, claimed that the former editor must have been aware of it.The New York Times ran a lengthy exposé into phone hacking at the News of the World in July. A Channel 4 Dispatches documentary on the issue was broadcast last week."The fact that three separate news organisations have been able to uncover this story must give you hope that you, too, could got to the bottom of it without too much trouble," Rusbridger told Haydon.• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".News of the World phone-hacking scandalThe GuardianNews of the WorldNewspapers & magazinesNewspapersNews InternationalNational newspapersPoliceAlan RusbridgerJames Robinsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Drivers warned on prescription drugs The Royal College of GPs is calling on the pharmaceutical industry to have a clearer warning on the effects of legal drugs bbc.co.uk |
Airport security change signalled Transport Secretary Philip Hammond signals his willingness to change the regulations on security checks at UK airports. bbc.co.uk |
Rescue launched for crew on burning ship Thirteen people who remained aboard factory fishing vessel Athena manage to bring fire under controlNearly 100 people were rescued from lifeboats today after the ship they were on caught fire 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly.The Athena, a 105-metre (345ft) fish factory ship, caught fire in the early hours of this morning, forcing 98 crew members to take to rescue boats while the rest of the crew brought the blaze under control.Coastguards were alerted to the fire just after 6am, and a Royal Navy helicopter was on put standby, but coastguards said the ship was too far out to sea for an airborne rescue.There were no reports of injuries among the crew, which includes Chinese, Russian, Peruvian and Scandinavian personnel.The coastguard said the 13 crew remaining aboard brought the blaze under control after a passing container ship, the Vega, rescued the 98 people from lifeboats.A spokesman for Falmouth coastguard, which co-ordinated the rescue, said: "At the moment 13 crew members remain on board the Athena, with 98 on the Vega."We've been very fortunate in this case that no one was injured in the initial fire, or moving the crew to and from the life rafts."The 13 members on board continue to fight the fire as it is still ongoing, but they have it contained in a compartment and are able to operate the rest of the ship.The coastguard said that just after 6am they had been alerted to a major fire on board the Faroese-registered fish factory ship Athena, 230 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly and 270 nautical miles west of the Pointe Du Penmarche at Brittany.The coastguard said a Falcon 50 fixed-wing aircraft had been scrambled from a French airfield this morning to provide a communications link with the Athena, and a Royal Navy helicopter from RNAS Culdrose had been scrambled to the Scillies to refuel.The Athena is owned by the shipping company Thor, which is based in the Faroe Islands. It was built in 1992 but needed refitting in China earlier this year after suffering another fire, according to a report in Lloyd's List. The ship, which flies under the Faroese flag, has a maximum capacity of 125 crew and a top speed of 14.5 knots.Falmouth coastguard relayed the stricken vessel's mayday signal into the area, and five ships responded to the emergency call.A spokeswoman for Thor Offshore and Fisheries said the fire appeared to have started in a packing-material storage area.Coastguards said the vessel had 50% power and was sailing towards Britain at a speed of 10 knots, where it was expected later tomorrow.Adam Gabbattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |