Senator Calls for News Corp Probe

If journalists working for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. hacked the phones of any Americans, "the consequences will be severe," warns the chair of the Senate Commerce Committee. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who says he's concerned that the hacking "may have extended to 9/11 victims or other Americans," has called for US authorities to investigate whether US laws were broken, reports the BBC.

Murdoch is already facing no fewer than six investigations in Britain and has been asked to report to Britain's parliament for a grilling next week, Bloomberg notes. Murdoch axed the 168-year-old News of the World over the scandal, and circulation at his other three British papers has fallen so dramatically that he is rumored to be thinking of selling them off, according to the Telegraph. The eight major papers Murdoch owns in Australia have launched a review of editorial expenditures to "confirm that payments to contributors and other third parties were for legitimate services," said the chief of News Corp.'s Aussie subsidiary. (More News International stories.)