Police probe Times newspaper over e-mail hacking

PanARMENIAN.Net - Britain's Times newspaper is being investigated by police in connection with phone hacking allegations that have plagued other publications of Rupert Murdoch's News International group, the BBC reported Thursday, February 2.

The report is based on information from a Labour Party parliamentarian involved in investigating the scandal, which has so far centred on the News of the World (NoW), a Sunday tabloid closed down by Murdoch over the affair last year.

'The Met police have confirmed to me they are investigating Rupert Murdoch's newspaper The Times over email hacking,' Labour member of parliament (MP) Tom Watson is quoted as saying.

The investigations were reported to be linked to allegations that a Times journalist hacked into the email of a police blogger, the BBC said.

A widening of the phone hacking scandal, which is being investigated by a judicial inquiry, would come as a further blow to the Murdoch news empire, which has been severely damaged by the revelation that NoW investigators intercepted mobile phone messages of up to 6,000 people in the past decade, M&C reported quoting DPA.