Father and Son Split on Tactics in Murdoch Family Drama

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its $12 billion bid to buy complete control of the satellite giant British Sky Broadcasting, a move intended to calm the torrent of derision directed at the company since journalists at its British newspapers were implicated in a widespread phone-hacking scheme.

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Rupert Murdoch, the embattled News Corporation chairman, in London on Wednesday.

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• Victim’s Family Appears Amid Rage at Tabloids (July 14, 2011)

• News Corp. Newspapers May Face U.S. Inquiry (July 14, 2011)

• The Lede Blog: Day’s Updates on British Phone-Hacking Scandal (July 13, 2011)

Whether or not the announcement will give the company any respite from the growing indignation and official investigations, it seems to have already altered not only the dynamics within one of the world’s most powerful and profitable media companies but also, possibly, the future of the newspaper business within the News Corporation.

The decision to withdraw the bid for BSkyB, as the satellite broadcaster is known, was made as a contentious family drama played out in recent days. James Murdoch, a leading contender to replace his father as chairman and the driving force behind the News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB, argued that the company should press for regulatory approval of the deal, said three people with knowledge of the discussions who declined to be identified because they were revealing confidential company deliberations.

But Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, overruled the younger Mr. Murdoch, consulting him only after the decision was all but final.

The deal to buy the remaining 61 percent of BSkyB that it did not own was the single biggest ever attempted in the long history of the News Corporation, and the withdrawal is perhaps the most significant setback of Rupert Murdoch’s career. Yet Mr. Murdoch is said to remain hopeful that the transaction is salvageable. One person involved in the discussions said that the News Corporation chairman saw the withdrawal as a way to mollify his critics while waiting for the anger to die down.

“Rupert is thinking long term here, I don’t think he believes this deal is dead,” said this person, who did not want to be named while discussing confidential matters. “He’s just looking for ways to relieve pressure for the moment, to give this some breathing room. He fundamentally believes News Corp. can bounce back.”

In a statement released Wednesday, the News Corporation acknowledged that the mood in Britain had become too hostile to pursue the BSkyB purchase. “We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies, but it has become clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate,” Mr. Carey said. But in its statement, the company said it reserved the right to make another bid.

The announcement is particularly fraught for James Murdoch, who ran BSkyB from 2003 to 2007. He has been the principal champion of the BSkyB purchase within the News Corporation, pressing both his father and the company’s board to go along with the deal. With BSkyB reporting to James, who runs the News Corporation’s European and Asian operations, the businesses in his portfolio would account for half of all the News Corporation’s revenue.

But the revelations of phone hacking in Britain have pulled James Murdoch in deeper by the day, with questions swirling in Parliament and the British press over his role in paying settlements to victims of the hacking.

Only a week ago, the News Corporation hoped to contain the damage by taking another dramatic and once unthinkable step: shutting down the 168-year-old News of the World, which Mr. Murdoch purchased in 1969 to form the foundation for his British media empire. But a series of disclosures badly damaged the newspaper, most notably its acknowledgment that it had illegally intercepted the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered in 2002.

Since then, virtually every day has brought dizzying new disclosures and speculation, culminating in the News Corporation’s announcement on Wednesday. Allegations of hacking and other journalistic dirty tricks have spread to other Murdoch papers in Britain, including The Sun and The Sunday Times.

Rupert Murdoch, who had flown to London to deal with the crisis, arrived at the company’s offices around 11 a.m., looking grim. Mr. Carey was also seen entering the building.

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On the road with Hillary Clinton

As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travels the globe, the reporters who join her can observe a small group of staff crafting foreign policy on the move - often after little or no sleep.

The Cadillac stops by the nose of the plane. Diplomatic security agents spill out of three vans. Hillary Clinton emerges from the car and walks up the steps.

After dropping off her handbag in her private cabin at the front of the plane, the US Secretary of State walks back to chat with the dozen reporters on the plane.

Sitting on an arm rest, she tells us about her evening in the Rose Garden at the State Dinner for German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

It was past 11pm on a recent June night, and Special Air Mission 883 was about to embark on a 30,000-mile journey to the United Arab Emirates, Zambia, Tanzania and Ethiopia, starting off with an Air Force catered meal of chicken wings and crudites.

For the next eight days I would be in "the bubble" - "a caravan going from place to place", as Mrs Clinton describes it.

"Sometimes the dogs bark but we still move on. It is for me, a movable adventure," she says.

This was my 16th trip with this American Secretary of State, but being part of that bubble remains a special experience.

The proximity to Mrs Clinton, the access to senior American officials and the unguarded moments on the road, provide a rare insight into diplomacy in action and the real people devising American foreign policy.

Economy seats

Watching them try - and sometimes fail - to control the messy world around them is a reminder of the limits of American power.

On this trip I was given rare access to the preparations in Washington, the plane and pilots, and even to the "secure floor" set up in every hotel on the tour, with its guards, cameras and mobile offices.

It is an impressive operation run by an army of often earnest staffers with a keen eye for detail who say they feel part of history, even when they are sorting out mundane practicalities.

It can also be an unwieldy, invasive machine with diplomatic security agents, sniffer dogs and motorcades blocking off traffic in cities and disrupting people's lives.

We spend long hours in confined spaces, going from motorcade to hotel to presidential palace and back to the plane.

The journalists at the back of the plane get the same food as the Secretary and her staff at the front

The journalists are crammed in the back, in economy seats. There are no boarding passes, so before the trip starts we draw lots to assign seats.

We are separated from the front of the plane by a lavatory that marks an invisible barrier called "the line of death". Beyond it are all the senior officials accompanying Clinton, usually poring over classified documents.

The plane is not fancy, nothing like Air Force One. The 13-year-old Boeing 757 is part of a fleet of four which is at the disposal of Mrs Clinton and others like the Vice President and the First Lady.

The private cabin is modest - a fold-out couch, two seats, a desk, a lavatory but no shower, a tall mirror, a map of the world and communications equipment so Mrs Clinton can speak to President Obama or other world leaders while in the air.

'Evergreen'

In the belly of the plane, there is a metal trunk on wheels packed with gifts.

David Solomon and Katie Jack from the protocol office in Washington will not reveal what Mrs Clinton is taking with her for the presidents and prime ministers she will be meeting. It could cause tension if one leader felt his neighbour got a nicer gift.

They do reveal that the lower level gifts include cufflinks, paperweights and key chains. Mrs Clinton's autobiography, Living History, is apparently a favourite, and always comes with a personal handwritten note.

America is still a superpower, so Secretaries of State get to see presidents and kings, unlike most other foreign ministers, who only meet their direct counterparts.

But Mrs Clinton also has personal relations with world leaders dating back to her days as First Lady, so they "would see me under any circumstances," says says.

In the White House, the Secret Service called her "Evergreen", and several incarnations later, the code name remains.

The great advantage of travelling with the Secretary is never having to go through passport control or wait by the luggage belt. State Department staffers stamp us in and out of countries, and our suitcases are delivered directly to the hotel.

The downside is that while we pay for our seat, we do not get air miles. And while we may go to a lot of exotic, interesting destinations, we cannot fully experience or understand a country while in the bubble.

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PM concerned over US aid suspension

QUETTA: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Wednesday said the entire world was benefiting from the war on terror that Pakistan was engaged with, and expressed serious concern over the suspension of US military aid to Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s relations with the US are based on mutual interests but we now have serious concerns about the suspension of US aid,” the prime minister said while addressing a press conference at the CM Secretariat here following the special session of the federal cabinet.
Regarding Afghanistan, he reiterated that Pakistan fully supported the reconciliation process in Afghanistan, adding that any decision in this regard should be made taking Pakistan onboard since US, Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of the core group.
Referring to the break up of political ties with the MQM, the prime minister said “We have had good relations with the MQM for over three years, and will endeavour to redress their concerns.”
However, the MQM has its own manifesto and so the Pakistan People’s Party will move ahead, he said. To a query regarding the issue of missing persons in Balochistan, PM Gilani said his government was seriously concerned over the issue, which was already in the court of law and a commission had also been constituted by the government to resolve it. “I am ready to hold talks with the leadership of Balochistan to resolve the issues of the province and have formed a committee in this regard,” the prime minister said. “I have authorised the chief minister to coordinate in this regard.”

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Jairam for new law on land acquisition

The impact of Jairam Ramesh moving into the Rural Development Ministry was evident on the first day itself — he ordered that a fresh new legislation on land acquisition be drafted instead of the ongoing effort to amend an existing 1894 law in this regard.

Ramesh is also learnt to have told officials to prepare just one draft law incorporating provisions for both land acquisition as well as resettlement and rehabilitation of people whose land is taken away. Presently, the government is working on drafting a separate Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill to complement its efforts to amend the Land Acquisition Act.

Land acquisition for infrastructure, industrial or housing projects has become a politically sensitive subject of late in view of an increasing number of protests and agitations being witnessed all across the country. The subject is extremely close to the heart of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been fighting a pitched political battle in Uttar Pradesh protesting against the land acquisition policies of the Mayawati government.

 

The government had committed itself to amending the 1894 Act which continues to govern land acquisition to bring it in tune with the present requirements. The amendment Bill is supposed to be brought in Parliament in the monsoon session.

Ramesh said he would strive to introduce a new comprehensive draft legislation in the monsoon session but only after putting it through a wide public consultation process. “After finalising a draft legislation, I intend to put it in the public domain for inviting suggestions and comments for a short period of three weeks,” he said.

Incidentally, the amendment Bill that was being drafted until now was not supposed to be put up for public consultations.

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Mumbai blasts: Indian Mujahideen suspected

New Delhi: Three blast rocked the city of Mumbai on Wednesday leaving the country in a state of panic. On the investigation front, the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad and the Mumbai Police have formed teams to investigate the serial blasts.

In a late-night high-level meeting of senior police officials, details of the initial examination of the blast sites were discussed.

Home Minister P Chidambaram also visited the blast sites and met Maharashtra Chief Minister, Prithviraj Chavan. He has also called for a high-level meeting in the wake of the blasts.

Sources have told CNN-IBN that since vehicles were ostensibly used to plant bombs at 2 of the 3 spots, two alleged Indian Mujahideen operatives Mohammed Mobin Abdul Shakoor Khan alias Irfan (32) and his cousin Ayub Raja Amin Shaikh (28) arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on July 6 will be questioned as these operatives had allegedly supplied the cars which were used to plant bombs in the the Gujarat serial blasts of 2008.

A 7-member team of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) from New Delhi and another 5-member team from Pune have been deployed. An NSG team is currently inspecting the blast site in Dadar.

The investigators' face a tough task ahead as it rained all through Wednesday evening and vital forensic evidence may have been washed away.

Along with the state ATS, a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is also probing the blasts.

The injured have been admitted to several hospitals including the JJ Hospital, GT Hospital, KEM Hospital and St George's Hospital.

Security alerts have been issued in all major cities including New Delhi and Kolkata after the blasts in Mumbai.

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