News of World Scandal: More Hacks, Arrests Loom

Newly revealed targets: Families of dead troops, Princess Di inquest lawyer
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2011 1:41 AM CDT
Updated Jul 7, 2011 5:00 AM CDT
Tabloid Suspected of Hacking Phones Linked to War Dead
News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is being urged to step down over the scandal.   (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

The families of British service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan can likely be added to the ever-expanding list of people whose phones were hacked by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World, according to the Telegraph. And they're not the only new target to emerge. The AP reports that police suspect phone hackers also hit the lawyer who represented the family of Dodi al-Fayed at the inquest into Princess Diana's death. The scandal might be about to bubble over, reports CNBC: Sources tell it that as many as five News of the World employees will be arrested within days.

Personal details of the families of Britain's war dead have been found in the files of a private investigator employed by the tabloid, which is already accused of hacking the phones of families of terror victims, a murdered girl, and scores of other people connected to major news stories over the last decade. The families of murder victims and of people killed in natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami are now urging police to inform them whether they were among the paper's targets. As the scandal spreads, dozens of firms are scrambling to pull their ads from the News of the World, CNN reports. Ad buyers at media agencies say some of their clients are being phoned and emailed relentlessly as a social media campaign to boycott the paper spreads. (More News of the World stories.)

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