16 Jul 2011

News International chief executive resigns

5:41 am on 16 July 2011

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has resigned after coming under intense pressure in the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World newspaper in Britain.

Ms Brooks was editor of the News of the World until 2003 and had been under intense pressure from the phone hacking scandal at the newspaper.

It was during her time as editor that the phone of murder victim Milly Dowler was hacked.

In a statement announcing her resignation, Ms Brooks said she felt a ''deep responsibility for the people we have hurt''.

She said she wanted to ''reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place''.

''I have believed that the right and responsible action has been to lead us through the heat of the crisis. However my desire to remain on the bridge has made me a focal point of the debate, the statement said.

''This is now detracting attention from all our honest endeavours to fix the problems of the past.''

She has been replaced by Tom Mockridge, who was in charge of News Corporation's Italian broadcasting arm.

Newspaper apologises for report

The Guardian newspaper has apologised to The Sun after it claimed the newspaper had obtained the medical records of former prime minister Gordon Brown's son.

The Guardian had reported that The Sun had accessed the Brown family's medical files without their knowledge to find that the former prime minister's son Fraser had cystic fibrosis.

However, The Sun denied the claim, insisting its source was a member of the public.

In a statement printed in its corrections and clarification section on Friday, The Guardian acknowledged it was wrong.