International Glance
New Zealand security officials suspect Israeli Mossad agents were trying to obtain sensitive information from the state's databases, reported the local Southland Times newspaper on Tuesday. Authorities suspect that one of the agents was Ofer Mizrahi, one of three Israelis killed in the earthquake in the city of Christchurch last February.
Authorities have launched an investigation into what a senior security official called "suspicious activities of several groups of Israelis during and immediately after the earthquake."
Rupert Murdoch's News International has been found by a parliamentary committee to have "deliberately" tried to block a Scotland Yard criminal investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, the Guardian has learned.
David Cameron was drawn further into the phone hacking scandal tonight when Tory Central Office was forced to admit that Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor of the News of the World who has been arrested and questioned over hacking, may have advised Andy Coulson, Mr Cameron's closest press adviser before the last election.
One of Scotland Yard’s most senior officers, John Yates, has resigned over his handling of the phone hacking scandal and his links to Neil Wallis, the former News of the World executive.
Ossur Skarphedinsson, Icelandic Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his entourage had their trip to Gaza interrupted yesterday when Israeli soldiers obstructed the path of their cars with large rocks.
A News Corp. stockholder group Monday sued Rupert Murdoch, saying they found it hard to believe he was unaware of the phone-hacking scandal at a tabloid. The shareholder group includes banks and pension funds. The shareholder group accused Murdoch of "rampant nepotism" and viewed his media holdings as a "family candy jar," The Guardian reported.
The Israeli parliament has passed a controversial law that will punish any Israeli individual or organisation boycotting West Bank settlements. Rights groups say the legislation stifles freedom of speech and compromises Israeli democracy.
