TIMELINE of events

1969 January 2

Rupert Murdoch buys the News of the World

1979

Rupert Murdoch creates news Corporation as a holding company for News Limited. News Limited was created by Murdoch from the assets he inherited in 1952 following the death of his father, Sir Keith Murdoch, and subsequent expansion. The main asset left to him was ownership of the Adelaide afternoon tabloid, The News. News Limited operates today as News Corporation's Australian brand, operating out of Surry Hills, in Sydney.

1981

News Corp bought half of the movie studio 20th Century Fox, buying the other half in 1984.

1994 December

Rupert Murdoch met briefly with the incoming House speaker, Newt Gingrich. One month later, his publishing arm, HarperCollins, signed Gingrich to a two-book contract worth $4.5 million.

1996

Fox established the Fox News Channel, a 24-hour cable news station to compete against Ted Turner's rival channel CNN.

2000

Mrs. Rebekah Brooks(known by her maiden name Wade until her second marriage to horse trainer Charlie Brooks in 2009.) becomes editor of the News of the World at the age of just 32, making her the youngest ever national newspaper editor in the country at the time.

2002 March 21

13 year old Milly Dowler from Surrey, UK, vanishes while walking home from school.

2002 April 14

The News of the World publishes a story about Milly Dowler's disappearance, and makes no effort to conceal their phone hacking, writing, “…it was on March 27, six days after Milly went missing, that the employment agency appears to have phoned her mobile.”

2002 September 20

Milly Dowler’s remains are discovered in a wooded area in Yateley Heath, Hampshire, 25 miles from her home.

2003

Neil Wallis became Deputy Editor of the News of the World. He'd previously been Deputy Editor of The Sun from 1993-8.

2003 January

Mrs. Brooks moves to become editor of the Sun. Coulson takes over as editor of the News of the World

2003 March

Mrs. Brooks appears before the Commons Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, where she openly said that the News of the World had made payments to police officers in the past, in response to a question from Chris Bryant MP.

2003 December

Chris Bryant MP outed as gay by the Sun. Bryant had vocally led the complaints about the press after finding his own phone had been hacked.

2004

Lawsuit was filed by Floorgraphics against News America(owned by News Corporation) accusing them of hacking its way into Floorgraphics's password protected computer system.

2005 November

News of the World royal reporter Clive Goodman writes story saying Prince William has a knee injury. Buckingham Palace complaint prompts police inquiry.

2006 April 9

Goodman publishes a story in News of the World, quoting verbatim a voice message left on Prince Harry’s cellphone.

2006 May 10

'What price privacy?' presented by the Information Commissioner to Parliament, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. It said "This report reveals evidence of systematic breaches in personal privacy that amount to an unlawful trade in confidential personal information." and "Among the 'buyers' are many journalists looking for a story. In one major case investigated by the ICO, the evidence included records of information supplied to 305 named journalists working for a range of newspapers."

2006 August 8

Detectives arrest the News of the World's royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire over allegations that they hacked into the mobile phones of members of the royal household.

2006 December 13

'What price privacy now?' presented by the Information Commissioner to Parliament, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. It provided an update about responses to it's earlier report.

2007

Neil Wallis became Executive Editor of the News of the World

2007 January 26

Goodman jailed for four months; Mulcaire given six-month sentence. News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigns.

2007 March 6

Les Hinton, executive chairman of News International, tells Parliamentary Committee that as far as he was aware Goodman 'was the only person' at the paper who knew about the hacking

2007 May

Harbottle and Lewis, News International's lawyers, review internal emails of Mr. Coulson and executives, but find 'no evidence' they were aware of Goodman's actions.

2007 May 18

The Press Complaints Commission says in a report that it is satisfied no-one else at the News of the World knew Goodman and Mulcaire were tapping phone messages. The report is later withdrawn.

2007 May 31

Then-opposition leader David Cameron announces that Mr. Coulson has been appointed as the Conservative Party's director of communications and planning.

2007 July

Goodman and Mulcaire sue the News of the World for wrongful dismissal. News International pays £80k to Mulcaire and an undisclosed sum to Goodman

2007 December

James Murdoch is made chief executive of News Corporation's European and Asian operations.

2008 January

Ms. Regan accepted a confidential settlement for $10.75 million to settle her claim for wrongful termination by HarperCollins, part of News Corp.. She'd been asked to lie to federal investigators and cover up an affair she had with Mr. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner by a News Corp executive. Court papers filed indicate that executive was Roger Ailes.

2008 January

Dan Cooper, who was fired from the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox channel shortly after its 1996 launch, alleged that Roger Ailes Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group had used phone-hacking.

2008 June

Gordon Taylor paid £700k by News Group Newspapers in settlement for a claim his phone was hacked by Mulcaire

2009 March

Federal case in New Jersey brought by Floorgraphics against News America went to trial, accusing them of hacking its way into Floorgraphics's password protected computer system. The complaint summed up the ethos of News America by saying it had "illegally accessed plaintiff's computer system and obtained proprietary information" and "disseminated false, misleading and malicious information about the plaintiff." . After a few days of testimony, News Corporation settled with Floorgraphics for $29.5 million and then a few days later, bought it, even though it reportedly had sales of less than $1 million.

2009 June

Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World and its sister paper The Sun, named chief executive of News International, News Corp.’s British arm.

2009 June

Appearing on Desert Island Discs, Piers Morgan,ex-editor of the News of the World and the Daily Mirror, when asked how he felt about dealing with "people who rake through bins for a living, people who tap people's phones, people who take secret photographs, who do all that nasty down-in-the-gutter stuff", he admitted "A lot of it was done by third parties rather than the staff themselves", saying he was happy to "sit here defending all these things I used to get up to".

2009 July

Max Clifford sues re phone hacking

2009 July

News of the World editor Colin Myler tells the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee of an internal review in which more than 2,500 emails were read and that 'no evidence' of wrongdoing had been uncovered.

2009 July 8

News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said he wasn't aware of any payments made to settle legal cases in which the company's newspaper reporters may have been involved in criminal activity. "If that had happened, I would know about it" Murdoch said in an interview at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.

2009 July 9

The Guardian alleges that News of the World reporters, with the knowledge of senior staff, illegally accessed messages from the mobile phones of celebrities and politicians while Coulson was editor from 2003 to 2007. Mrs. Brooks responds: "The Guardian coverage, we believe, has substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public."

2009 July 21

Mr. Coulson tells MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that things went ''badly wrong'' under his editorship of the News of the World, but insists he knew nothing about alleged phone-hacking. Coulson tells parliamentary committee he never “condoned use of phone hacking.”

2009 September

Rebekah Brooks, leaves The Sun, to take up role as chief executive of News International.

2009 September

Les Hinton, chief executive of Dow Jones and former executive chairman of Murdoch's newspaper arm in Britain, tells the Culture, Media and Sport Committee any problem with phone hacking was limited to the one, already well-publicised, case. He says they carried out a wide review and found no new evidence.

2009 October

Neil Wallis' own company, Chamy Media, provided "strategic communication advice and support" to the Metropolitan Police on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010 whilst the Met's Deputy Director of Public Affairs was on extended sick leave.

2009 November 9

The Press Complaints Commission says that it has seen no new evidence to suggest anyone at the News of the World other than Goodman and Mulcaire hacked phone messages, or that the paper's executives knew what the pair were doing.

2010 January 30

News Corporation settled with Valassis Communications Inc. for $500 million in a lawsuit filed against the Corporation's News America Marketing unit that was scheduled to go to trial in a Michigan federal court on February 2, 2010. The settlement also covers the $300 million Valassis was awarded in July in a Michigan circuit court that was currently on appeal and a pending state court case in California. Valassis accused News America, a subsidiary of News Corp, of antitrust practices over the exclusivity disputes in the direct marketing mail and coupons markets.

2010 February

The Guardian publishes a report saying three major phone companies in Britain had discovered that customers in 2007 had their voice messages hacked by Goodman and Mulcaire.

2010 February 24

Parliamentary committee finds no evidence that Coulson knew about phone-hacking but states it’s “inconceivable” that no one apart from royal correspondent Goodman knew about it, and accuses News of the World of 'deliberate obfuscation'.

2010 March 9

Guardian reports that Max Clifford dropped his action in return for £1M by News of the World. It later transpired that Mrs. Brooks personally persuaded Max Clifford to drop his case.

2010 April

News of the World writer Dan Evans is suspended following new hacking allegations.

2010 May 11

Mr. Coulson becomes head of the new coalition Government's media operation after Mr. Cameron enters 10 Downing Street as Prime Minister.

2010 June 14

Story breaks of Murdoch's plans to take full control of BSkyB with initial 675p-a-share bid, later raised to 700p, which is rejected.

2010 July 6

MPs call for a debate and regulatory investigation into proposed bid

2010 September 5

The New York Times publishes a long article which claims Mr. Coulson knew his staff were carrying out illegal phone hacking. The story also raises questions about how vigorously Scotland Yard pursued the case.

2010 November 3

News Corporation notifies European Commission of its intention to acquire the shares in BSkyB that it does not already own

2010 November

Mr. Coulson interviewed as a witness by Metropolitan Police detectives investigating the phone tapping allegations. He was not cautioned or arrested.

2010 December

The Crown Prosecution Service says no further charges will be brought over the News of the World phone hacking scandal because witnesses refused to co-operate with police.

2010 December

News of the World later(5 Jan 2011) revealed that they had suspended Ian Edmondson, their editor, after it was discovered his name on Mulcaire papers involved in the Sienna Miller case.

2010 December 17

George Osborne met Mr Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp, for a "social" dinner with a small gathering of people in New York. The Treasury refused to discuss who attended, but insisted that BSkyB was not discussed.

2010 December 21

Vince Cable had his responsibility for media affairs - including ruling on the takeover plans for BSkyB - withdrawn from his role as business secretary. This followed undercover reporters from The Daily Telegraph, posing as constituents, set up a meeting with Vince Cable. Cable stated, in reference to Rupert Murdoch's attempted takeover of BSkyB, "I have declared war on Mr. Murdoch and I think we are going to win.".

2010 December 23

David Cameron held a private Christmas dinner with James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, who was then chief executive of News International, together with their wives and husband.

2011 January 21

Mr. Coulson announces he is standing down as Downing Street communications chief, saying the drip-drip of claims about illegal eavesdropping under his editorship was making his job impossible.

2011 January 26

Scotland Yard launches a fresh inquiry - Operation Weeting - into the phone-hacking controversy after receiving ''significant new information'' from the News of the World's publisher, News International. Meanwhile, the paper sacks its assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson, after he is linked to the scandal in documents relating to legal action by actress Sienna Miller lodged at the High Court.

2011 April 5

Scotland Yard detectives arrest Edmondson and the News of the World's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and unlawfully intercepting voice-mail messages. They are later bailed.

2011 April 8

News International admits liability and apologises ''unreservedly'' to a number of public figures.

2011 April 12

New Statesman publishes article 'The bugger, bugged' by Hugh Grant in which he revealed he'd secretly taped Paul McMullan, an ex-News of the World journalist.

2011 April 14

Former News of the World editor Ian Edmondson, chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and senior journalist James Weatherup are arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept mobile phone messages. They are released on bail until September.

2011 May

News of the World agrees to pay Sienna Miller £100,000 pounds ($161,000) to settle the claim her phone had been hacked.

2011 June 20

Approx. 300 emails retrieved from Harbottle & Lewis passed to Scotland Yard. They allegedly show that Mr. Coulson had authorised payments to police officers.

2011 June 21

Football pundit Andy Gray accepts £20,000 in damages after his voice-mail was intercepted by the News of the World.

2011 June 23

Levi Bellfield, is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler.

2011 June 23

Police investigating the phone-hacking claims arrest a 39-year-old woman in West Yorkshire. She is understood to be Terenia Taras, the (former) partner of Greg Miskiw, who worked in senior roles for the News of the World until 2005. She was released on bail and is due to return to a West Yorkshire police station on a date in mid-October.

2011 June 27

Police arrest journalist Laura Elston, who covers royal stories for the Press Association, on suspicion of intercepting communications. She is released on bail until October.

2011 July 1

Government announces it's ready to give clearance to the BSkyB purchase, Jeremy Hunt gives one week for opponents to raise objections. He has provisionally agreed to proposals that will see Sky News be spun off as an independent company to allay fears the deal would give Mr Murdoch's News Corporation too much control of the media.

2011 July 4

The Guardian newspaper publishes report saying phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler was hacked by News of the World after she went missing in 2002 when Brooks was the tabloid’s editor. Brooks refuses to resign, says she knew nothing about the hacking.

2011 July 5

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks says she is ''appalled and shocked'' that the teenager's phone was hacked, while the Prime Minister calls it a ''truly dreadful act''. News of the World advertisers boycott the paper.

2011 July 6

Allegations emerge that families of people who died in the July 7 2005 London bombings and of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may also have been victims. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson says News International gave Scotland Yard documents indicating "inappropriate" payments were made to officers.

2011 July 6

An emergency debate in the House of Commons showed strong support for a public inquiry into the phone hacking at the News of the World and the conduct of the Metropolitan Police between 2006 and 2011. David Cameron tells Commons there will be a public inquiry.

2011 July 6

Rupert Murdoch appoints News Corp executive Joel Klein to oversee an investigation into the hacking allegations. Rupert Murdoch describes the allegations as "deplorable and unacceptable" as he backs Mrs. Brooks to continue at the helm of News International.

2011 July 7

The Royal British Legion drops the News of the World as its campaigning partner and expresses ''revulsion'' at the latest phone hacking revelations as more and more advertisers pull campaigns from the title.

2011 July 7

News International announces it will close 168-year-old News of the World.

2011 July 8

Coulson arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and suspicion of corruption. He is bailed until October after nine hours at a police station. Goodman arrested again, this time for suspected illegal payments to police. David Cameron announces two inquiries, one to be led by a judge on the hacking scandal, another to look at new regulations for the British press.

2011 July 8

The Central Laborers Pension Fund, Jacksonville, Ill., the New Orleans City Employees' Retirement System and Amalgamated Bank amended an earlier separate suit they filed March 17 against News Corp.'s directors, that initially targeted News Corp.'s purchase of Shine Group, accusing the company of nepotism. The amended complaint accuses Mr. Murdoch and the other directors of breach of fiduciary oversight and corporate governance failures in the phone hacking scandal, claiming it caused losses of "hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions" in shareholder value.

2011 July 10

News of the World’s final edition. Rupert Murdoch flies into London to deal with the crisis.

2011 July 11

News Corp. withdraws offer to spin off Sky News in attempt to save bid for complete control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, means bid will now be referred to competition commission. Reports emerge of phone hacking attempts against leading royals and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

2011 July 12

Cameron backs opposition motion urging Murdoch to back out of BSkyB bid.

2011 July 13

News Corp. pulls its bid to take full control of BSkyB.

2011 July 14

Neil Wallis(ex-Executive Editor of the News of the World) became the 9th person arrested by the Metropolitan Police investigating the News of the World phone hacking scandal. Upon this announcement Outside Organisation edited their website, and removed his listing as MD and a part of his biography which had stated 'What he [Wallis] doesn’t know about journalism and media isn’t worth knowing'.

2011 July 14

Rupert Murdoch and his son, after first declining, eventually agree to appear before a parliamentary committee after receiving a summons from the Commons' serjeant-at-arms; defends News Corp.’s handling of scandal. Rupert Murdoch had initially refused to testify in front of the Commons Select Committee while James said he was too busy to attend until mid-August (when, somewhat conveniently, Parliament would have broken up for the summer recess).

2011 July 14

Reports emerge that FBI opens investigation into possible phone hacking of 9/11 terror victims.

2011 July 15

Mrs. Brooks resigns as CEO of News International, is replaced by Tom Mockridge, former head of News Corp.’s Sky Italia television unit.

2011 July 15

Les Hinton, executive chairman of Murdoch's News International between 1995 and 1997, resigned. Hinton was head of News International (NI) - owned by Murdoch's News Corporation - from 1995 to 2007. Hinton stood down as Dow Jones boss. In total, Hinton spent 52 years working at the media firm for Murdoch and was head of NI at the time of the phone hacking.

2011 July 15

Rupert Murdoch apologises to family of Milly Dowler. They met at a London hotel after the family refused to have him in their home.

2011 July 15

Actor Jude Law takes legal action against The Sun, claiming the Murdoch owned tabloid hacked into his voice mail, in the US.

2011 July 15

The Massachusetts Laborers' Pension and Annuity Funds, Burlington, filed suit against Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.'s other directors, seeking to recover "millions of dollars" in losses and strengthen corporate governance over alleged mismanagement and breaches of fiduciary duty exposed by the phone hacking scandal, according to the lawsuit.

2011 July 16

Rupert Murdoch publishes apology in all major British newspapers.

2011 July 17

Rupert Murdoch publishes further apology and action plan in all major British newspapers.

2011 July 17

Mrs. Brooks arrested.

2011 July 17

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigned.

2011 July 18

Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner John Yates has tendered his resignation.

2011 July 18

News of the World phone hacking whistleblower Sean Hoare found dead - he was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking. It was Sean Hoare who told the New York Times in 2010 that his former friend and editor, Andy Coulson, had actively encouraged him to hack into voicemail. His death is not currently being treated as suspicious.

2011 July 18

News Corp. (NWSA) Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons Lachlan and James were sued in Manhattan federal court by a shareholder, Gregory Shields, who says the phone-hacking scandal damaged the company and who described their actions as "damning". Shields alleges Murdoch and the other defendants breached their fiduciary duties by their actions, engaged in "gross mismanagement" of News Corp. and wasted corporate assets.

2011 July 19

It's come to light that Mrs. Brooks ordered/approved News International to continue paying Ian Edmondson, a former news editor, even after he was sacked in January and arrested in April.

2011 July 19

Standard & Poor's has warned News Corp that its credit rating could be cut. It placed News Corp's BBB+ rating on a negative watch, a prelude to a potentially costly downgrade, citing "increased business and reputation risks" from investigations into the widening phone hacking scandal.

2011 July 19

At the Commons media select committee James Murdoch admits News Corp paid, and continue to pay, Glenn Mulcaire's legal fees. Rupert Murdoch attacked with 'custard pie' during hearing.

2011 July 20

The Home Affairs Committee report 'Unauthorised tapping into or hacking of mobile communications' is published. The report says 'We deplore the response of News International to the original investigation into hacking. It is almost impossible to escape the conclusion voiced by Mr Clarke that they were deliberately trying to thwart a criminal investigation. We are astounded at the length of time it has taken for News International to cooperate with the police but we are appalled that this is advanced as a reason for failing to mount a robust investigation.'

2011 July 20

News Corp have terminated the agreement to pay the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire.

2011 July 20

Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry team will comprise Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty; former Daily Telegraph and Press Association journalist George Jones; former political editor for Channel 4 News Elinor Goodman; former chairman of the Financial Times Sir David Bell; Lord David Currie, former chairman of Ofcom; and former chief constable of West Midlands police Sir Paul Scott-Lee.

2011 July 20

The High Court ordered the Metropolitan police to hand over information to Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan in relation to the alleged hacking of their voicemail messages by an investigator hired by the News of the World and other newspapers.

2011 July 20

Harbottle & Lewis reported that they asked to be released from their duty of client confidentiality so they could respond to "inaccurate statements" in the Murdochs' appearance before the Commons committee yesterday - but News International has refused.

2011 July 20

Ex-Labour minister Nick Raynsford claimed in the Commons that a senior civil servant had his phone hacked while Andy Coulson was in No.10.

2011 July 20

Operation Weeting, the police investigation into phone hacking, is being expanded from 45 to 60 officers, according to DAC Sue Akers, the officer in charge.

2011 July 20

Just 2 and a half hours later, News International have changed their mind and lifted the confidentiality agreement on lawyers Harbottle & Lewis. It's currently unclear if this is a qualified lifting or not.

2011 July 21

The Murdoch owned Times published this ill-considered cartoon that caused widespread anger.

2011 July 21

It's been reported that NoW editor Dominic Myler and legal chief Tom Crone are contradicting James Murdoch's testimony at the Culture committee - "... James Murdoch's recollection of what he was told when agreeing to settle the Gordon Taylor litigation was mistaken." and " In fact we did inform him of the 'for Neville' email which had been produced to us by Gordon Taylor's lawyers."

2011 July 21

Matt Nixson features editor of the Sun has been sacked over allegations of serious misconduct while he was working for the News of the World.

2011 July 21

It's been reported that three solicitors representing phone hacking victims were themselves targets of the News of the World.

2011 July 22

The U.S. Justice Department is preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations into News Corp. relating to alleged foreign bribery and alleged hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims, according to a government official.

2011 July 22

Australia's competition watchdog has expressed concern at a bid by Rupert Murdoch's cable television operation to buy rival Austar, saying it would create "a near monopoly" of pay TV service in the country.

2011 July 22

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that they have received a letter from Tom Watson about James Murdoch's evidence to the Select Committee.

2011 July 22

A lawyer for Floorgraphics, has told NBC that he was visited this week by two federal prosecutors and an FBI agent, investigating allegations that News Corp's advertising arm in America hacked into their computer systems(see 2009 March).

2011 July 22

With the current concern about potential illegal activity by News Corp. in the US, the Ms. Regan settlement(see 2008 January) has been highlighted, see this article published back in February.

2011 July 22

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have confirmed that a Strathclyde Police investigation into claims of phone hacking and breaches of data protection in Scotland has commenced. It relates to the trial of Tommy Sheridan following allegations made against the News of the World. The investigation will also consider if Coulson committed perjury when denying he knew of phone hacking and authorised bribes to police officers.

2011 July 22

The Guardian is reporting that detectives hired by Telegraph to discover the source of the leaked comments that cost Vince Cable his responsibility for the BSkyB deal have 'strong suspicions' that Will Lewis, and another former Telegraph colleague who also joined News Corp's UK subsidiary News International last year, was involved. Lewis recently relinquished his responsibilities as News International general manager and been seconded to News Corp's MSC, which is investigating alleged phone hacking and payments to police officers by the now-defunct News of the World.

2011 July 22

Hagens Berman, an investor-rights class-action law firm, announced that it is investigating News Corporation for potential securities law violations. A class action has been filed for investors who purchased News Corporation common stock between March 3, 2011, and July 11, 2011. and claims that by failing to disclose the hacking, News Corporation made misleading statements to investors, causing the company's stock to be traded at an artificially high price.

2011 July 22

In a letter to three MPs, the communications watchdog's boss, Ed Richards, outlined a change of direction for Ofcom's handling of BSkyB - "I can confirm that Ofcom is not precluded from acting by the ongoing police investigations," and "I can also confirm that Ofcom's process is not dependent upon a criminal conviction being secured by the police and that we are looking at a range of evidence that may be available.".

2011 July 22

Jon Chapman, former director of legal affairs at News International, said through an attorney that he wants to correct "serious inaccuracies in statements made to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.".

2011 July 23

James Hipwell, a former journalist on the Daily Mirror claimed that phone hacking was "endemic" at the newspaper during his time there. He said he would give evidence to a public inquiry into hacking headed by Lord Justice Leveson.

2011 July 23

It's been reported that Vince Cable's attitude to Murdoch's attempt to buy BSkyB may have been influenced by a campaign of bullying against senior Liberal Democrats, by News International, in an attempt to force through the company's bid for BSkyB.

2011 July 24

It's been claimed that the Conservative party abandoned plans developed in 2008 to share money from the BBC's licence fee with other broadcasters after being asked to do so by James Murdoch.

2011 July 25

Harbottle and Lewis has written to Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons home affairs committee, outlining the firm's ability to disclose information to the committee, which the firm suggests is quite limited. The Harbottle letter says the firm is "free to explain the position in general terms, without commenting at all on the circumstances in question", citing solicitor-client confidentiality.

2011 July 26

The Independent has reported that the former Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Lord Macdonald was warned by his own employees as far back as 2006 that there were a "vast array" of News of the World phone-hacking victims.

2011 July 26

Publisher Trinity Mirror has launched an investigation into alleged phone hacking. The publisher took the step after shares fell by 9.8 per cent following allegations of phone hacking. James Hipwell, who used to work at the Mirror, has alleged that hacking was a common tactic among his former colleagues.

2011 July 26

It's been reported that James Murdoch could earn performance-related bonus of up to $12m and Rupert Murdoch $25m, on top of salaries of $3m and $8.1m respectively.

2011 July 26

In a letter to MPs on the home affairs select committee, Glen Atchison, Harbottle & Lewis's managing partner, said: "We are in the process of making a full and complete disclosure to the police now that our duty of client confidentiality has been waived by News International."

2011 July 27

It has re-surfaced that, despite recent denials, in June 2009 while appearing on Desert Island Discs, Piers Morgan admitted that he'd published stories based on the findings of people paid to tap phones and rake through bins.

2011 July 28

News International's technology contractor, HCL Technologies (based in India), has been ordered by the home affairs select committee to answer questions by tomorrow about its knowledge of the deletion of emails seen as vital to discovering the scale of phone hacking at the newspaper company.

2011 July 28

Lord Justice Leveson, appointed by David Cameron to look into the fall-out from the phone-hacking scandal, has warned that the terms of reference of his inquiry have been so broadened that he may not be able to complete the first part of the inquiry within the planned timescale of a year. Lord Justice Leveson said he will focus on the culture, practices and ethics of the press, in relation to the public, police and politicians.

2011 July 28

The phone hacking scandal hit another 'new low' as it was claimed that a private detective linked to the News of the World targeted the mother of murdered eight-year-old Sarah Payne. The evidence is said to relate to a phone given to her as a gift by the paper's former editor Rebekah Brooks to help her stay in touch with her supporters.

2011 July 28

James Murdoch has received the unanimous backing of the BSkyB board to remain as chairman.

2011 July 29

It's again being reported that on 19th October 2006, in a Daily Mail 'apology' to Paul McCartney, Piers Morgan wrote "at one stage I was played a tape of a message Paul had left for Heather on her mobile phone".

2011 July 29

The Press Complaints Commission has confirmed that it's chariman Baroness Buscombe will step down in January. In November 2009 Buscombe had come under fire for a report in which the PCC appeared to clear the News of the World of phone tapping, and she had to pay damages and make a high court apology following libel action bought against her over comments she made to the Society of Editors annual conference.

2011 July 29

The New York Times is reporting that some of the emails passed to Harbottle & Lewis contained explicit references to payments to police officers.

2011 July 29

It's been highlighted that Mirror Group paid notorious blagger £442,878 for illegally obtained information - 65 invoices paid by Piers Morgan's Daily Mirror according to information obtained from operation Motorman.

2011 July 30

An investigation, called Operation Tuleta, into allegations of computer hacking is to be launched by a team of police officers from Scotland Yard. It follows claims that emails had been intercepted and computer files were hacked by individuals working on behalf of newspapers.

2011 July 31

The New York Magazine published a list of US politicians on the Murdoch payroll at some time, recognising that it was 'incomplete'.

2011 August 1

Rumours abound that High Court claims about phone-hacking are being prepared against the publisher of titles including the Daily and Sunday Mirror and The People.

2011 August 1

In a letter to the home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz , the technology firm HCL has revealed it was aware of the deletion of hundreds of thousands of emails at the request of News International between April 2010 and July 2011.

2011 August 2

Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor and one-time public face of the News of the World, has been arrested by police investigating allegations of phone hacking and of bribing police officers to leak sensitive information.

2011 August 2

It's been reported in the Wall Street Journal, a Murdoch paper, that "in 2000, a reporter for the Sunday Mirror testified under oath that he paid £50 to a police source in exchange for a tip about the arrest of the brother of a government minister, according to two lawyers for the plaintiff."

2011 August 4

The Daily Mail's publisher has quietly initiated a review of editorial controls and procedures across its national newspapers, bringing in its former chief lawyer to handle the exercise.

2011 August 4

Embarrassment for Alex Salmond as the extent of his wooing of Rupert Murdoch becomes apparent "He has spent more of his media time in the last year with News International than any other party leader in Britain.".

2011 August 4

The FBI is widening its investigation of News Corporation's activities within the US to look at whether alleged computer hacking by one of its subsidiaries(News America) was an isolated case or part of a "larger pattern of behaviour", Time magazine has reported.

2011 August 5

It's been reported that in 2006 David Leigh, then assistant editor of The Guardian, admitted using phone hacking.

2011 August 5

It's been suggested by teachers' union leaders, in a letter to state officials, that New York should drop a $27 million contract with Wireless Generation, a Rupert Murdoch owned student data tracking company, in light of News Corporation's alleged wrongdoings. Michael Mulgrew said in an interview "While he was chancellor of New York City, he [Klein] was funneling money to the work of this company, Wireless Generation, then Rupert Murdoch buys the company, and Joel Klein takes a job there. Something's not right."

2011 August 5

Police officers who allegedly took payments from newspapers and private investigators could face hefty fines and criminal prosecution after it emerged HM Revenue & Customs is reopening personal tax records to check if payments were fully disclosed.

2011 August 5

The Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal is reporting that News Corp. and Elisabeth Murdoch have shelved plans for her to join the board of the media company as the company attempts to defuse shareholder impatience with its corporate governance.

2011 August 6

It's been reported that despite resigning Rebekah Brooks is still drawing a salary from Murdoch's News International.

2011 August 6

Rupert Murdoch's News International has plans to sponsor an academy, with a possible location in east London, near the media company's Wapping headquarters.

2011 August 8

It appears that Rebekah Brooks remains a News International director. A director's resignation must by law be notified to companies house within 14 days, which should have been by 29th July considering her 'resignation' date, but this has not happened yet.

2011 August 8

In the wake of the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal and the Australian Greens' call for an inquiry into Australia's media, the Australian Press Council has launched its own standards project to examine the journalism practices at newspapers and magazines.

2011 August 9

An "enhanced" golden goodbye scheme drawn up by News International executives for axed News of the World employees, is receiving flack from former staff.

2011 August 10

Rebekah Brooks resigns from 18 directorships - but there are more to go.

2011 August 10

The Metropolitan Police have arrested another person in connection with allegations of phone hacking. Scotland Yard confirmed this afternoon that a 61-year-old man, former News of the World News Editor Greg Miskiw, was arrested by appointment at a London police station.

2011 August 10

Metropolitan police press chief Dick Fedorcio given extended leave over IPCC probe into links with ex-News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis.

2011 August 11

Rebekah Brooks severs more News International links, resigning from more directorships.

2011 August 15

The Press Complaints Commission, and editors, aim to save press self-regulation with new protocols. All editors have received a letter from the commission's director, Stephen Abell, urging them to answer a number of specific questions about their editorial controls and activities. The PCC's financing body, PressBof has also advertised in today's Guardian for a new chairman to replace Peta Buscombe.

2011 August 15

It's come to light that the Daily Mirror's Irish edition published a story detailing how to hack mobile phones as early as 1998, admitting that it had eavesdropped the voicemail messages of Ireland's then prime minister, Bertie Ahern. The Mirror was then edited by Piers Morgan.

2011 August 16

The Murdochs and their former editor Andy Coulson face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of a letter written by Clive Goodman, News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent.
Comment from MP Tom Watson - "Let me be clear, if what Goodman says is accurate, then it's very, very serious for Andy Coulson and Tom Crone the lawyer. If it's not accurate, the central question is why did Les Hinton, the Chief Executive of News International at the time, on receiving this letter not mention it to a Parliamentary inquiry that he gave evidence to only days afterwards and why did he not immediately call in the police? After all there had been an allegation of widespread criminality in the organisation in 2007 and he didn't want to clear it up. That contradicts what Rupert Murdoch told us which us he takes a zero tolerance policy to wrongdoing in News Corp."

2011 August 16

The Goodman letter, addressed to Hinton who'd fired him, is also bad news for Hinton. It was only 4 days later that Hinton testified to the parliamentary committee that he believed that Goodman was the only one involved, yet the letter says that Goodman hacked with the "full knowledge and support" of staff members whose names were redacted in the letter.

2011 August 16

The Covering Letter From Harbottle and Lewis has been published and is further bad news for the Murdochs.
Harbottle: "the firm rejects News Int's self-serving view of the firm's role in events"
Harbottle: "was not retained to provide News Int with a 'good conduct certificate' which it could show to parliament or anyone else"
Harbottle: "rejects evidence of Mr James Murdoch that News Int 'rested on' the (Harbottle) letter" for belief Goodman was lone rogue reporter.

2011 August 16

The select committee has published the recent correspondence between it and the key players. The select committee has called for the first time attendance of Daniel Cloke, News International's former head of human resources, and Jon Chapman, the former head of legal affairs at News International. It was Chapman that the Murdochs dumped on in the last select committee.

2011 August 16

The select committee says the fresh evidence they've received is "devastating" and that James Murdoch is "likely" to be recalled for a second grilling.

2011 August 16

James Murdoch reveals in his letter to the select committee that News International paid a whopping £246,000 to lawyers acting for Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the scandal. News International also paid £243,502 to Clive Goodman after he pleaded guilty to phone hacking, including £13,000 in legal fees - that contradicts Brooks' evidence in 2009 that they were forced to settle with Goodman because it could cost more than £60,000 and the amount they agreed on was less than that. She's being asked to clarify her statement.

2011 August 16

An investigation into Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia by Italy's competition authority for its acquisition of the rights to air the 2010 and 2014 World Cups has been extended to include the News Corp subsidiary's UEFA Champions League rights.

2011 August 16

Andy Coulson could be in for more legal trouble after the revelations in the Goodman letter - when he gave evidence at the Tommy Sheridan perjury trial in December last year he said "I don't accept there was a culture of phone hacking at the News of the World. All I can tell you is that, as far as my reporters are concerned, the instructions were very clear: they were to work within the law and within the PCC code. It's in their handbooks. "

2011 August 17

It's been revealed that Rebekah Brooks has been allowed to keep her chauffeur-driven car for two years by News International, despite her resignation.

2011 August 17

It's been discovered that earlier this year Rupert Murdoch's daughter Elisabeth collected $214M from the sale of her British TV production company, Shine Group, to her father's media company. The controversial purchase of Shine by News Corp. triggered shareholder lawsuits, and in one, filed in a Delaware court, claimed that Shine was worth far less than the $675M that News Corp. paid.

2011 August 17

Another revelation in the Sheridan perjury case that involved Andy Coulson - the former vice girl Fiona McGuire, who branded Tommy Sheridan a sex cheat, has been told by police that the News of the World hacked her phone.

2011 August 17

The former Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, has been cleared of misconduct during the phone hacking inquiry, the police watchdog has ruled. The IPCC report also cleared former Assistant Commissioners John Yates, and Andy Hayman, and the former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of misconduct over phone hacking.

2011 August 17

The media select committee said it would seek submissions from two News International law firms, Farrer & Co. and BCL Burton Copeland. Farrer has been advising the media group on the phone-hacking civil litigation, including the negotiations leading to Gordon Taylor's settlement, which emerged in 2009. Burton Copeland, the criminal law specialists were brought in by News International to oversee the investigation and co-operate with police following the arrest of Clive Goodman, its royal reporter, in 2006.

2011 August 17

In its annual report News Corp said its reputation could be damaged by the crisis and has warned that it is "not able to predict the ultimate outcome or cost" of the phone-hacking scandal, admitting it could "impair" its ability to conduct its business. The report also revealed that Freud Communications, the public relations firm run by Matthew Freud, Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law, was paid $202,000 by News Corp in the financial year ended 30 June 2011 for "press and publicity activities". Elsewhere in the report, it revealed that Rupert Murdoch's wife Wendi Deng was paid $92,000 in 2010 and $100,000 in 2009 to "provide strategic advice" to Myspace in China.

2011 August 18

Further signs of unrest among News Corp shareholders as influential shareholder Christian Brothers Investment Services , has called for Rupert Murdoch's replacement as chairman. It's petitioning News Corp to include the issue on the proxy voting form ahead of its annual general meeting in October.

2011 August 18

In a one-page letter received from Linklaters, a City law firm now working for News Corporation, MPs have been officially informed that Burton Copeland had only a limited role in helping News International comply with police requests for information in 2006, following the arrest of Clive Goodman. The letter states that Burton Copeland did not conduct an investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World and their role was "only about helping the police", which would seem to be at variance with earlier statements by News Corp representatives.

2011 August 18

The News of the World journalist James Desborough has been arrested,the 13th by Operation Weeting, on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977. From April 2009, he worked in Los Angeles for the tabloid covering the US celebrity scene.

2011 August 18

Actress Leslie Ash and her husband Lee Chapman, a former footballer, have settled their phone hacking claim against the News of the World for a 'healthy six-figure sum'.

2011 August 18

It has been reported that Natalie Rowe, the former dominatrix who was linked to George Osborne, was targeted by the News of the World's phone hackers. Rowe, 47, a former madam who supplied prostitutes to wealthy clients, was photographed alongside the future Chancellor, with what she claims was a line of cocaine in front of them(but he denies) - the picture was a front page story in the News of the World and the Sunday Mirror in October 2005.

2011 August 18

Rupert Murdoch's News International says it has been sued by Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the centre of the phone-hacking scandal, in an attempt to force the company to pay his legal bills.

2011 August 18

A 51-year-old detective constable was arrested in relation to leaks during the Scotland Yard phone-hacking investigation.

2011 August 19

Glenn Muclaire, the private investigator at the centre of the News of the World phone hacking, has been ordered by a court to reveal who instructed him to access the voicemails of model Elle MacPherson and five other public figures.

2011 August 19

A man, aged 35, arrested by appointment as part of the Met's Operation Weeting is understood to be former News of the World reporter Dan Evans.

2011 August 22

It's been revealed that Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World, received several hundred thousand pounds from News International after starting work as the Conservative Party's Director of Communications in July 2007.

2011 August 23

Labour MP Tom Watson call for the Electoral Commission to investigate whether News International payments and benefits to former No 10 communications director Andy Coulson amounted to political donations

2011 August 24

The government has published a tranche of documents relating to News Corporation's aborted £8bn bid to take full control of BSkyB.

2011 August 24

The Murdoch empire was accused of another cover-up, it's been claimed to be secretly paying the legal fees of Andy Coulson. The alleged payments, to City law firm DLA Piper, form part of a deal between the former News of the World editor and his ex-employer, and is the first indication that News InternationaI still has a financial relationship with Coulson.

2011 August 26

Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire has revealed the names of the News of the World staff who instructed him to carry out phone hacking, his solicitor has confirmed. The information was passed in a letter to Steve Coogan's lawyers in accordance with a court order.

2011 August 27

New York scraps $27 million education contract with Murdoch firm. "In light of the significant ongoing investigations and continuing revelations with respect to News Corp., we are returning the contract with Wireless Generation unapproved" State Controller Thomas DiNapoli's office wrote to the Education Department.

2011 August 28

Labour tries to secure cross-party support for an emergency change in the law to prevent News Corporation from renewing its bid to take full ownership of BSkyB.

2011 August 29

It's been reported that Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, are to be questioned about the phone hacking scandal under oath in the High Court; Lord Justice Leveson will hold his inquiry at the Royal Courts of Justice. The proceedings will start in October.

2011 September 2

News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch received a $12.5 million bonus while his company was beset by scandal. That means his total payday will be $33 million, 47% more than last year. Murdoch's son James, chairman and CEO of News Corp. Europe & Asia, received a $6 million bonus for a total of $18 million - 74% more than last year.

2011 September 2

A 30-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice and phone hacking at the News of the World. The man was identified as Ross Hall, a former reporter.

2011 September 2

Gordon Brown has stepped up his campaign against Rupert Murdoch's News International media group, sending tape recordings to the Metropolitan Police earlier today which he says challenge the Sunday Times's assurances that it broke no laws when investigating his personal financial affairs.

2011 September 2

James Murdoch said he turned down the bonus awarded to him this year, because of the phone hacking controversy. 'I will consult with the Compensation Committee in the future about whether any bonus may be appropriate at a later date,' Murdoch said in a statement, suggesting he may try to take it at a less politically sensitive time.

2011 September 3

The police have been handed evidence which suggests that private investigators compiled dossiers about the personal life of a lawyer of victims of News of the World phone hacking.

2011 September 4

It's been revealed that Tony Blair was even closer to Rupert Murdoch than previously believed. In an interview with Vogue, Murdoch's wife Wendi said that Blair is godfather to her daughter, Grace, 9, and was present at her baptism as well as their other daughter, Chloe, 8.

2011 September 5

News Corp.'s U.K. News International division will sell the 15-acre U.K. headquarters site in London's Wapping area following a review of its real estate portfolio, the company said in a statement today. The company's newspapers now operate from an adjacent site at Thomas More Square.

2011 September 6

The first sessions of the Leveson enquiry have started with contributions from Daniel Cloke and Jon Chapman. MP Tom Watson gets Chapman to admit his former employer Rupert Murdoch was "wrong" to blame Harbottle & Lewis for not concluding there was evidence of widespread phone-hacking at News International when it was asked to review internal emails. When James Murdoch wrote to the committee to say that Cloke and Chapman had signed off the payments - he was wrong - they may have initialled financial approval but it was Hinton that signed the payments.

2011 September 6

It was announced that more than 100 jobs are set to be axed at News International.

2011 September 6

Colin Myler and Tom Crone took part in the second session of the enquiry. The pair say they are both certain James Murdoch knew about the critical "for Neville" e-mail that suggested phone hacking was wider than one "rogue reporter", but were vague about details of their discussions. Tom Crone admits that a "freelance journalist" was hired to create a "dossier" on the private life of a claimant lawyer but declines to say whom either were due the police investigation.

2011 September 7

Detectives investigating phone hacking by the News of the World have arrested a 35-year-old at his home on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. The man is believed to be Raoul Simons, who was appointed deputy football editor of the Times in 2009.

2011 September 7

A Guardian newspaper reporter, Amelia Hill, has been questioned under caution by detectives probing alleged leaks from the investigation into News International. It's understood Hill had a friendship with a detective who works on Operation Weeting. A Scotland Yard officer has been arrested and suspended on suspicion of leaking information to the Guardian.

2011 September 7

Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World and the prime minister's former personal communications director, is reportedly refusing to appear before the Commons select committee that is investigating phone-hacking, citing "concerns" about "parallel inquiries and investigations and the publicity generated by them".

2011 September 7

Technology company, Delhi-based HCL Technologies, asked to delete hundreds of thousands of emails by News International had been requested to do so on four more occasions than the nine previously disclosed, a committee of MPs has been told. These requests for deletions came after the Guardian newspaper began its investigation into the extent of phone hacking in 2009.

2011 September 13

The Australian government has promised an inquiry into the country's media as politicians complain that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns too many newspapers. News Corp owns 70% of Australia's newspapers.

2011 September 13

The mother of 7/7 victim Christian Small, Sheila Henry, has launched legal action against the publisher of the News of the World after being told that her son's phone was targeted by the private investigator who worked for the paper. In the high court this morning Mr Justice Vos said he would take the mother's case as one of the lead actions against the Sunday tabloid.

2011 September 13

News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers' barrister Michael Silverleaf QC told the high court at a pre-trial hearing "Two very large new caches of documents have been [discovered] which the current management were unaware of", and that these caches contained "many tens of thousands" of new documents and emails that could contain evidence about the scale of phone hacking at the paper.

2011 September 13

A prominent group of US banks and investment funds with substantial investments in News Corporation has issued a fresh legal complaint accusing the company of widespread corporate misconduct extending far beyond the phone-hacking excesses of News of the World.

2011 September 15

New commissioner of Metropolitan police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, calls in Durham police force to examine evidence from Operation Weeting

2011 September 16

The Metropolitan police seek a court order under the Official Secrets Act to make Guardian reporters disclose their confidential sources about the phone-hacking scandal.

2011 September 16

Prosecutors investigating hacking and bribery allegations at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. are seeking to interview a former employee of a U.S. unit who claims knowledge of illegal activity at the company, according to a person familiar with the matter.

2011 September 19

Presidential republican hopeful Rick Perry shared a meal with Rupert Murdoch at The Post House, a steak house just a few blocks from Mr. Murdoch's Fifth Avenue apartment.

2011 September 21

News Limited, the Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire News Corporation, is to change its name in the wake of the phone hacking scandal - the company plans to rebrand itself as News Australia.

2011 September 23

The former News of the World executive Neil Wallis was secretly paid more than £25,000 by News International during his time at Scotland Yard - including a payment of £10,000 for a single 'crime' story.

2011 September 24

Former News of the World editor and Downing Street aide Andy Coulson is suing News Group Newspapers, a division of News International, after it stopped paying his legal fees over the phone-hacking scandal.

2011 September 27

James Murdoch's press adviser, Alice Macandrew, has quit amid disagreements over the handling of the phone-hacking scandal

2011 September 27

News of the World's former chief reporter taking the defunct paper's publishers, Rupert Murdoch's News Interrnational, to an employment tribunal, claiming he was a whistleblower.

2011 September 28

A second News of the World journalist, former assistant editor Ian Edmondson, is taking publisher News International to an employment tribunal claiming unfair dismissal

2011 September 29

Some 11 million News International emails, that could disclose the full extent of phone hacking at the News of the World, have been handed to detectives from Operation Weeting investigating the illegal practice.

2011 September 29

Murdoch paper, the Wall Street Journal, tweaks the privacy policy on it's whistleblower site to gather more user details without consent.

2011 September 29

Murdoch tabloid claimed to have paid rival newspaper's workers for tips on stories.

2011 October 5

News International now faces more than 60 claims in respect of phone hacking.

2011 October 7

Interior designer Kelly Hoppen has settled her phone-hacking claim against the publisher of the News of the World, after it agreed to pay her compensation of £60,000 plus costs.

2011 October 7

Rupert Murdoch's News International has set up a hotline for staff to report suspicious colleagues in a crackdown on "illegal activities."

2011 October 7

Full report of the first seminar in the inquiry into media standards and ethics, where those appearing include former News of the World editor Phil Hall.

2011 October 12

A senior executive, with the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal, quits in ethics row, accuses the paper of blurring lines between news and advertising.

2011 October 13

More than 100 demonstrators marched outside the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, which was hosting the two-day National Summit on Education Reform. The protesters, joined by activists from the Occupy Wall Street movement, chanted, banged drums and held signs with pictures of Murdoch and slogans such as "Hey Murdoch! Our Schools are Not For Profit."

2011 October 14

Hermes Equity Ownership Services (HEOS), the shareholder advisory service affiliated to Britain's largest pension fund, advised investors to vote against all Murdoch family re-elections to the board of the embattled media group at next week's AGM on October 21.

2011 October 15

America's two largest public pension funds have increased the pressure on Rupert and James Murdoch to step down from the board of News Corporation just days before they face a showdown with shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

2011 October 19

Julian Pike, a partner at Farrer & Co, the law firm whose clients include the Queen, told MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee on Wednesday that he was aware News International's "rogue reporter" defence was untrue, but had not acted because of client confidentiality.

2011 October 19

According to News International lawyer Julian Pike, James Murdoch held two meetings with the editor of the News of the World about the phone-hacking scandal in 2008, not one, which he told MPs in his evidence to parliament in July.

2011 October 24

Les Hinton repeatedly pleads ignorance, seven times, at phone hacking inquiry

2011 October 26

Julian Pike, a lawyer for Murdoch's News Group Newspapers earlier this year accused the BBC of pursuing an investigation of alleged computer and phone hacking to "undermine" Murdoch's bid to acquire full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB, while he was aware the News International's "rogue reporter" defence was untrue. The BBC confirmed that it had "written to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. seeking advice in relation to their rules governing the conduct of solicitors.". The Solicitors Regulation Authority in July had launched a "formal investigation into the role of solicitors in events surrounding the News of the World phone hacking crisis" and would make no further comment while that inquiry was under way.

2011 October 31

John Beggs QC, counsel for Surrey Police, told the Leveson inquiry - "My instructions are that it is very likely that a number of Surrey Police officers themselves, at the time of launching the Milly Dowler investigation in March nine years ago, were themselves victims of hacking."

2011 November 1

The law firm Farrer & Co., which represented Rupert Murdoch's London tabloids, has turned over to the British parliament documents which could embarrass his son James when he returns to testify before a committee investigating a phone-hacking scandal.

2011 November 3

The Metropolitan police have confirmed that the number of likely victims of phone hacking by News of the World investigator Glenn Mulcaire is now close to 5800, more than 2000 up on the number previously identified.

2011 November 4

Detectives investigating corrupt payments between journalists and police officers arrested a 48-year-old man, believed to be Jamie Pyatt, a journalist on the News International title The Sun.

2011 November 4

James Murdoch has hired Jeremy Sandelson, global head of litigation at Clifford Chance, one of the world's biggest law firms, to represent him over the phone-hacking scandal.

2011 November 5

It's been reported that Rebekah Brooks, the former News of the World editor, and favourite of Ruper Murdoch, who resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the phone-hacking scandal, received £1.7m in cash, the use of a London office and a chauffeur-driven limousine as part of her severance package from the newspaper group.

2011 November 7

News International, the UK newspaper arm of News Corp admitted its staff had ordered surveillance to be carried out on two lawyers representing victims suing the media group. This occurred when Rupert Murdoch's son James was executive chairman of News International. Private detective Derek Webb said he had been hired by the now defunct News of the World paper to spy on lawyers Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris, who represent some of the most high-profile victims.

2011 November 8

It was revealed that a private investigator carried out surveillance of Prince William and scores of other targets for the News of the World

2011 November 9

Detectives investigating phone hacking have seized a dossier of evidence which apparently shows News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck warned the paper's editor two years ago that phone hacking was widespread.

2011 November 10

James Murdoch gave evidence to the Commons select committee which, if taken at face value, suggests he agreed the Taylor payout without seeing the key documents or asking for the details that would explain why such a huge payout was required. He claimed he was squeaky clean but Myler and Crone had misled the committee. Questions have to be asked about either his competence to run a major corporation or his honesty/recall.

2011 November 10

C-SPAN has a video of James Murdoch's testimony.

2011 November 10

James Murdoch refused to rule out closing the Sun if evidence of phone hacking at the News International title emerges.

2011 November 14

Lord Justice Leveson opens inquiry into media ethics and phone hacking

2011 November 14

Some stats from the Leveson enquiry:-
2,266: Number of times Glenn Mulcaire was allegedly tasked with carrying out private investigations
690: Number of audio recordings police found when they raided Mulcaire's offices in 2006
586: Number of voicemails, intercepted by Mulcaire between 2001 and 2009
318: Number of calls Mulcaire allegedly made to other people's voicemail numbers

2011 November 18

News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rupert Murdoch sold 3.6 million shares of the media company's Class A shares, according to a regulatory filing today. Murdoch sold the shares for about $61.7 million, according to prices in the filing - prior to the sale, he held 12.8 million Class A shares based on the company's most recent proxy statement filed in September.

2011 November 19

Derek Webb, a private detective employed to put hundreds of people under surveillance, has said he was commissioned by as many as 30 journalists working on the News of the World. He's said he'll act as a witness if any of his targets(including Princes William and Harry, Angelina Jolie and MP Tom Watson) opt to take legal action against News International. Webb was one of several former police officers turned private investigators employed by the News of the World.

2011 November 23

Murdoch's rival news group in Australia, Fairfax Media, ran reports that former National party Senator Bill O'Chee said he was told by a News Ltd executive at a lunch in 1998 that he would be "taken care of" if he opposed proposed legislation creating digital television in Australia. The Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp denied these allegations.

2011 November 23

The Leveson Inquiry continues to hear a catalogue of press intrusion and misdeeds, and their unfortunate consequences on many individuals. Many tales highlight the inadequacies of the PCC and the vindictive way various papers pursued those who refused to co-operate with them.

2011 November 23

Companies House filings show James Murdoch has stepped down from the boards of both News Group Newspapers Limited, publisher of The Sun, and Times Newspapers Limited, which operates The Times and Sunday Times. James Murdoch remains chairman of NI and also continues as a director of key holding company NI Group Limited and of Times Newspapers Holdings, the editorial board set up in 1981 to ensure the independence of the paper when Rupert Murdoch bought it.

2011 November 24

An unidentified 52-year-old man, from Milton Keynes, was arrested by officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta( the investigation into computer hacking by the press that is running parallel to other inquiries).

2011 November 29

The Leveson Inquiry continues to unearth a litany of unedifying tales of newspaper/journalist misdemeanours, distasteful behaviour and even illegal activities. Evidence from journalists Nick Davies, Paul McMullan and Richard Peppiatt confirms the extent of the malaise. The regular message is that the current regulatory framework doesn't prevent the press making up stories and harassing/intimidating people, or provide any real penalties or disincentive for such appalling behaviour. It seems that some journalists are at last coming to realise the extent of the appalling abuse by others in their profession.

2011 November 29

James Murdoch has been re-elected BSkyB chairman, despite 18.76% of shareholders voting against him, with around 6.2% abstentions. Some key shareholders voted against him at the firm's AGM, as they'd like a fully independent chairman rather than an executive of News Corp.

2011 November 30

Police said a 31-year-old woman, thought to be Bethany Usher who worked as a reporter based in Manchester for the News of the World, had been detained on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages and was being questioned in northeast England.

2011 December 6

Charlotte Harris, who's acting on behalf of alleged phone-hacking victims and works for London firm Mishcon de Reya, told the Leveson Inquiry into press standards that she had seen documents which revealed that she was put under surveillance by News Group Newspapers. She said the company had also made enquiries about information concerning her young children.

2011 December 7

Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Weeting arrested a 41 year old man, now identified as Glenn Mulcaire, in London on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages. He's the 18th arrest in Scotland Yard's Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking.

2011 December 7

Andy Coulson, former News of the World editor, took his ex-employer News Group Newspapers to the High Court over its refusal to reimburse his legal fees arising from the phone-hacking affair.

2011 December 7

James Murdoch's lawyers have confirmed that Labour MP Tom Watson was put under surveillance for a week in 2009, in a letter sent to Parliament, and that three News International employees were involved in setting it up.

2011 December 8

James Murdoch has written to MPs claiming that Rebekah Brooks reached a settlement with Max Clifford in 2010 over his phone hacking-claims against the News of the World without seeking authorisation with him or discussing its terms.

2011 December 8

Neville Thurlbeck, the News of the World's former chief reporter, has provided written evidence to MPs accusing executives on the paper of "withholding information" about the extent of phone-hacking at the title.

2011 December 10

It has now been revealed that Rupert Murdoch met David Cameron at Downing Street twice during BSkyB bid - No.10 admits the Prime Minister met executives of News Corp and subsidiaries more than all other media groups combined during period.

2011 December 10

Ex-home secretary David Blunkett reported to have shared in £300,000 payout over allegations his phone was hacked by News of the World

2011 December 12

News International pays ex-Labour cabinet minister Tessa Jowell £200,000 in settlement after police said her phone had been hacked by News of the World.

2011 December 13

A new set of emails released today will likely cause more trouble for James Murdoch, and further weaken him. The emails sent to Murdoch make multiple references to phone hacking and Glenn Mulcaire, and they make it clear that Taylor was looking to expose the wrongdoing at the News of the World. In his letter to the Parliamentary committee, Murdoch said that he was "confident" that he didn't read all the emails because he was responding quickly from his Blackberry.

2011 December 15

Lucy Panton, 37, former crime editor at the News of the World, has become the seventh suspect arrested in Operation Elveden by police investigating corrupt payments to police for information. It's reported that Panton is married to a serving Scotland Yard detective.

2011 December 15

It's been reported that James Murdoch's admission that he received an email in 2008 warning him that hacking was "as bad as we feared" increases the risk he could be pursued under the US's Racketeer Influenced and Corruption Organisations (RICO) Act.

2011 December 15

Derek Webb, the private investigator who tailed more than 100 celebrities and public figures including Prince William for the News of the World, tells Leveson inquiry he had no experience or qualifications as a journalist but they told him to join the National Union of Journalists. He was also asked to stop using his company name, Silent Shadow Services, and to change his email address. His evidence comes just a day after Tom Crone, the former legal chief of News of the World, testified that he believed that Webb was an accredited freelance journalist.

2011 December 17

It was revealed that the News of the World paid £125,000 to the fund supporting the search for Madeleine McCann as part of an apology for publishing Kate McCann's diaries - on condition that the terms of the deal remained secret.

2011 December 19

The Leveson Inquiry heard from the brother of News of the World whistle-blower Sean Hoare, who died in July, claiming that phone-hacking was a "daily routine" at both newspapers. Stuart Hoare told the inquiry that the practice of phone-hacking had started at the Sun and had been taken to the News of the World.

2011 December 19

Matthew Driscoll, a former sports reporter for the News of the World admitted to the Leveson Inquiry that Sir Alex Ferguson's medical records were 'blagged' before being used as a bargaining chip to get stories about Manchester United.

2011 December 20

News International said it had reached agreement with a further seven people, including a former lover of Princess Diana and a former politician, after it admitted hacking into phones. The seven were Mark Oaten, Ulrika Jonsson, Abi Titmuss, Michelle Milburn, Paul Dadge, James Hewitt and Calum Best.

2011 December 21

Andy Coulson, former editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World and once the British prime minister's spokesman, lost his case to force the tabloid's publisher to pay his legal fees relating to phone-hacking charges. News Group however lost a similar case against Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator used by the News of the World to hack phones, and will have to resume paying his fees as he defends himself against scores of civil claims.

2012 January 2

It has been reported that British police have found evidence that private investigators working for newspapers hacked into the email account of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown while he was finance minister.

2012 January 4

The former editor of the recently closed News of the World, Colin Myler, was appointed as editor in chief of the Daily News of New York.

2012 January 6

A 47-year-old woman became the 17th person arrested under Operation Weeting, the Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking. The woman was later identified as Cheryl Carter, the long-serving personal assistant to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.

2012 January 19

Rupert Murdoch was today forced to make 18 humiliating apologies and a series of huge payouts to victims of hacking by News International. More than £1 million was paid out in damages and costs as 37 people agreed to settle their claims - among them film star Jude Law, who received £130,000 after a three-year "sustained campaign of surveillance, pursuit and harassment". Some settlements have remained undisclosed, around 70 other cases are still in the pipeline, and some will go to the courts.

2012 January 19

In details released today it became obvious that the illegal activity of the Murdoch News of the World didn't stop at phone hacking. Mr Shipman, whose father was found guilty of 15 murders but is thought to have killed at least 215, had emails containing sensitive legal and medical information intercepted by the newspaper in 2004.

2012 January 19

Perhaps the most significant aspect in the settling of the 37 cases was that the Murdoch team effectively admitted that in addition to routine invasions of privacy and bribery, Murdoch executives may also have been guilty of destroying evidence in order to cover up the company's crimes. The corporation told the judge he could approve levels of compensation "as if senior employees and directors of News Group knew about the wrongdoing and sought to conceal it by deliberately deceiving investigators and destroying evidence.". In ordering News Corporation to turn over three of their executives' laptops and six desktop computers he said News Group "are to be treated as deliberate destroyers of evidence."! The fall out from the apparently deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice may be far worse for the Murdochs than the hacking itself.

2012 January 23

News of the World journalists who hacked Milly Dowler's phone told a string of lies and interfered with the investigation into her disappearance in 2002, according to a report by Surrey police. The report, based on police logs from 2002, depicts a news organisation that tried to bully detectives into backing its own misguided theories, as police searched desperately for clues about the girl who went missing on 21 March 2002.

2012 January 28

British police searched the offices of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers today after arresting a police officer(a 29-year-old serving officer in the Metropolitan Police's Territorial Policing Command) and four current and former staff of his tabloid The Sun as part of an investigation into police bribery by journalists. London's Metropolitan Police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London, while a 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

2012 January 28

The arrested journalists are believed to be Fergus Shanahan, 57, who was Rebekah Brooks's deputy during her editorship of the Sun from 2003 to 2009, who now works as a comment writer; Chris Pharo, 42, the current head of news; Graham Dudman, 49, a former managing editor, who now works in a training role for News International; and Mike Sullivan, 48, the paper's long-serving crime editor.

2012 January 30

Rupert Murdoch's News International has reportedly handed over to police a data file containing hundreds of millions of its emails, as part of ongoing phone and email hacking investigations.

2012 January 31

It was revealed that the News International chief, James Murdoch, was contacted in 2008 by the paper's editor Colin Myler who forwarded a chain of emails suggesting that phone-hacking was not confined to a single reporter and warned 'unfortunately it is as bad as we feared'. News International have admitted to MPs that the email was deleted from Mr. Murdoch's account by an IT worker on January 15, 2011 - eleven days before the Metropolitan Police launched Operation Weeting into accusations of phone hacking. Mr Myler's copy of the message was also lost from the email server that held News International emails following a 'hardware failure'. The deletions meant that the email did not form part of the initial evidence sent by News International to the Metropolitan Police.

2012 February 6

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers told the Leveson Inquiry that 6,349 potential victims of phone hacking have been identified by name so far, with some 4,375 telephone numbers found in documents belonging to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire. Akers also reported "We are looking at 57 separate allegations of data intrusion, computer hacking and other medical and confidential records. The allegations are of an historic nature, some of them are concerned with investigations that go back as long ago as the late 1980s". The Metropolitan Police currently has 90 officers investigating phone hacking at the News of the World, 40 looking into corrupt payments to police officers, and 20 working on the computer hacking inquiry, all reporting to DAC Akers

2012 February 7

Police are investigating allegations of email hacking at The Times. The editor of The Times, James Harding, told the Leveson Inquiry he "sorely regrets" the Nightjack incident, in which a journalist hacked into the email account of a blogger, a Lancashire police detective. He also admitted that evidence of his paper's involvement in email hacking was previously withheld from the high court.

2012 February 8

It emerged in the high court that around 50 public figures are preparing fresh phone hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, after the company reached settlements with another 21 victims - the company paid out over £363,000 in declared damages(with 10 settlements undisclosed) on top of £645,000 paid out to 37 other people last month.

2012 February 11

Metropolitan Police officers from Operation Elveden arrested five top journalists at the Sun, believed to include the newspaper's deputy editor Geoff Webster, on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers and other officials. All five were arrested on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906; aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy. Searches have taken place at the homes and offices of those arrested. Others arrested were a 39-year-old serving police officer with Surrey Police, a serving member of the armed forces and a Ministry of Defence employee.

2012 February 15

Cheryl Carter, the personal assistant to Rebecca Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, has been prevented from moving to a new job in Australia after having her passport confiscated, it has been reported. Ms Carter, who was arrested last month by officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Weeting team, had planned to leave the UK with her family to start a new life with News Ltd, part of Murdoch's News Corp.

2012 February 17

In a memo to employees, Rupert Murdoch confirmed he will begin publishing The Sun seven days a week by launching a new paper called The Sun on Sunday "very soon". Rupert Murdoch also told staff at the Sun that suspensions had been lifted on employees arrested over allegations of corrupt payments to police officers.

2012 February 21

Philip Campbell Smith, the man who allegedly hacked a former army spy's computer for News of the World, has been convicted of conspiring to illegally access private information for profit.

2012 February 21

Mrs Cherie Blair launched proceedings against News Group Newspapers Ltd. and Glenn Mulcaire at the High Court in London, over claims that the News of the World hacked her phone.

2012 February 24

Court documents, released by by Mr Justice Vos, show that on July 29, 2010, an email was sent by an unnamed News of the World executive who was anxious to press on with the secret policy of deleting emails that could be "unhelpful" in any future litigation.

2012 February 24

Matt Nixson, a former news editor of the News of the World, said the newspaper regularly paid prison officers, civil servants and members of the armed forces for exclusive stories and tips and would typically pay between £750 and £1,000 for tips that produced exclusive stories.

2012 February 24

A 50-year-old man was arrested at his home in Hertfordshire on Friday morning and a 51-year-old man arrested in Surrey at 4.15pm by officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta. Both men are suspected of committing offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

2012 February 24

Court papers show that News Group Newspapers accepts that three unnamed reporters at the News of the World, in addition to Clive Goodman, the former royal editor who was jailed in 2007, "intercepted voicemail messages using information provided by" Glenn Mulcaire. One such attempt, an attempt to access the voicemail of the interior designer Kelly Hoppen, happened as recently as June 2009.

2012 February 27

The Leveson inquiry heard that Scotland Yard tipped off Rebekah Brooks, then editor of The Sun, about phone hacking in 2006, and assured her in 2006 that it was not planning to extend its phone-hacking inquiry to include News of the World staff other than Clive Goodman.

2012 February 27

Philip Campbell Smith, a private investigator who is alleged to have hacked emails on behalf of the News of the World, was today jailed for eight months on separate charges of "blagging" information from the Police National Computer, HM Revenue and Customs and Interpol. Campbell Smith, 53, a former British Army Intelligence officer, and three co-defendants, including a former Metroplitan Police detective, used a range of deceptive techniques to obtain bank account and mortgage details, medical records and information from the Police National Computer.

2012 February 27

Charlotte Church today said she had been "sickened and disgusted" by the News of the World's behaviour as she and her parents accepted £600,000 in damages and costs for phone hacking. She said they "bullied" her mother Maria into revealing details of her own self-harming and attempted suicide after finding out information by intercepting voicemails, and had been "prepared to go to any lengths" to cover up their wrongdoing, by destroying documents relating to the "industrial scale" of the hacking.

2012 February 27

At the Leveson inquiry, the Metropolitan Police's deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers reported "There was a culture at the Sun of illegal payments while hiding the identity of the officials. Payments to sources were openly referred to within the Sun". She told the inquiry that there were "payments to a wide range of public officials: military, police, prison, health. Payments were being made to officials in all areas of public life" and that journalists had a network of "corrupt officials". She also reported "There is a recognition by the journalists that this behaviour is illegal, reference being made to staff 'risking losing their pension or job', to the need for 'care' and to the need for 'cash payments'. There is also an indication of 'tradecraft', i.e. hiding cash payments to 'sources' by making them to a friend or relative of the source. The evidence further suggests that the authority level for such payments to be made, is provided at a senior level within the newspaper."

2012 February 27

Labour MP Tom Watson has published his letter to HM Revenue & Customs in which he says: "I am writing to ask you to investigate allegations that News International, and their subsidiary companies, reportedly made payments to public officials that have been undeclared to the Revenue for tax purposes.". He reports "My own confidential source, who has knowledge of company payments, has told me that these cash in hand transactions amounted to at least a seven figure sum, and were deliberately made without deduction of tax and National Insurance contributions."

2012 February 27

Mr Justice Vos, the High Court judge who is dealing with damages claims by hacking victims, was told today that 14 more people have issued writs against News Group Newspapers, and another 180 have contacted solicitors with a view to doing the same.

2012 February 27

Personal details of people in the witness protection programme were discovered on a computer belonging to the News of the World private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, the Leveson Inquiry was told yesterday.

2012 February 28

Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who received £30,000 in damages from NI in January to settle his News of the World phone-hacking claim, told a Westminster Hall private members' debate on media regulation on Tuesday that his "poor researcher" had counted 486 lies told by News International to Parliament, the police and other organisations about phone hacking and related investigations.

2012 February 29

James Murdoch resigned as chairman of News International.

2012 March 1

The Sun's defence editor, Virginia Wheeler, was arrested by police investigating corrupt payments to public officials. She becomes the 23rd person arrested as part of Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden, investigating allegations that journalists at News International had paid police officers and other public officials for information.

2012 March 1

Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, who has since retired, reported to the Leveson Inquiry that News International "closed ranks" immediately and refused to help the police during the original phone hacking investigation. He added that it was unusual that the company refused to co-operate with the police because most companies under investigation "bend over backwards to try to preserve their reputation".

2012 March 5

Dame Elizabeth Filkin's report entitled "The ethical issues arising from the relationship between police and media."

2012 March 5

It has emerged former Labour home secretary John Reid received two briefing papers about Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigation the day after News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman's arrest. Reid had told the Guardian on Friday he hadn't received a briefing suggesting there was widespread hacking. Lord Justice Leveson said he wanted to see all relevant documents.

2012 March 13

Rebekah Brooks and her husband are among six people arrested on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, by police officers from Operation Weeting investigating allegations of phone hacking.

2012 March 14

Neville Thurlbeck, ex-chief reporter at the News of the World, was arrested in connection with suspected intimidation of a witness.

2012 March 27

The BBC documentary programme Panorama alleged that a German hacker, Oliver Koermmerling, obtained codes belonging to BSkyB rival ITV Digital, and posted them online to allow viewers to watch for free. Koermmerling said that he was recruited by News Corp-owned NDS and its head of security, Ray Adams. This contributed to the collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 just four years after it was launched.

2012 March 28

The Australian government has called for a police inquiry into corporate hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, after the release of more than 14,000 emails allegedly showing that the company used a secret unit to sabotage competitors. This could derail the $2bn bid by Foxtel - the Australian pay-TV operation 25pc owned by News Corp - for rival network Austar.

2012 March 29

Scotland Yard's communications chief Dick Fedorcio resigned after the force decided to launch disciplinary proceedings against him over the awarding of a contract to ex-News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis. Mr Fedorcio had been on extended leave from Scotland Yard since August pending the investigation into his relationship with Wallis, who was arrested on suspicion of phone-hacking in July 2011.

2012 March 31

A computer piracy website that openly promoted advice on how to hack BSkyB's rivals was secretly supported by one of Rupert Murdoch's companies, according to documents obtained by the Observer. Emails also reveal that a senior employee of Murdoch's NDS insisted he was personally responsible for setting up The House of Ill Compute site.

2012 April 3

James Murdoch quits as BSkyB chairman

2012 April 5

Sky News admitted that one of its senior executives, Simon Cole(managing editor of Sky News), authorised a journalist, Gerard Tubb, to conduct email hacking on two separate occasions that it said were "in the public interest" - even though intercepting emails is a prima facie breach of the Computer Misuse Act, to which there is no such defence written in law.

2012 April 13

Mark Lewis said that his firm is suing the Murdoch owned Times of London over e-mail hacking. A reporter, no longer with the Times, hacked into the e-mail account of Richard Horton, a police detective who ran an award-winning blog under the pseudonym NightJack. James Harding, the editor of The Times, apologized on behalf of the newspaper at a Leveson inquiry session in February, saying "I sorely regret the intrusion" into the e-mail account, an acknowledgment that reversed earlier denials by the newspaper.

2012 April 19

Police arrested Duncan Larcombe, The Sun's 36-year-old royal editor, a 42-year-old ex-serviceman and a 38-year-old woman in connection with the investigation into illegal payments made to police and public officials by journalists.

2012 April 21

Matthew Doyle, a key Labour aide who worked for Tony Blair and David Blunkett had his messages intercepted while employed at the highest levels of government, according to papers filed yesterday against Rupert Murdoch's News International - one of 46 new claimants involved in a second tranche of phone-hacking lawsuits against the company. Matthew Doyle, joined footballer Wayne Rooney, actor James Nesbitt and Sir John Major's former daughter-in-law, Emma Noble, in filing damages claims.

2012 April 24

The Leveson enquiry revealed an embarrassing series of emails that laid bare the secret collusion between Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, and News Corporation, as the company was trying to buy BSkyB. Labour have called for the resignation of Jeremy Hunt.

2012 May 1

The report of the Leveson inquiry concluded that "News International and its parent News Corporation exhibited wilful blindness, for which the companies' directors, including Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch, should ultimately take responsibility", and that "Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company". The report also said that throughout the scandal News International's approach "was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing". The report singled out former News International executive chairman Les Hinton, former News of the World legal manager Tom Crone and the newspaper's final editor Colin Myler as having misled the committee.

2012 May 12

Paul Maley, an ex-News International chauffeur has claimed to have had a 40-minute encounter with Jeremy Hunt where he told Hunt he'd handed over more than a dozen packages containing cash to police officers. He alleges Mr Hunt 'fobbed him off' - claims which were strenuously denied by the Cabinet Minister.

2012 May 15

Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, will be charged with 3 counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the alleged destruction of evidence relating to phone-hacking. Brooks and five others(Charles Brooks, Cheryl Carter, Mark Hanna, Paul Edwards, Daryl Jorsling) were told of the CPS's decision moments before it was publicly announced.

2012 May 24

Latest revelations show that when David Cameron removed Vince Cable for being anti-Murdoch he had no qualms about appointing Jeremy Hunt who'd already indicated to Cameron his support for Murdoch. The culture secretary's words to David Cameron show he was eager to placate a "pretty furious" James Murdoch and he'd tried to get Cameron to lean on Cable over the BSkyB deal. Adam Smith, Hunt's aide, gave evidence that suggested a far too close link between government and the Murdochs, with a continual leak of information to them.

2012 May 26

Clodagh Hartley, the Sun's Whitehall Editor, was arrested as part of the investigation into illegal payments to public officials, and questioned under the Operation Elveden investigation.

2012 May 28

A 42 year old woman was arrested on suspicion of money-laundering offences, and questioned by officers from Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigation which is investigating allegations of further phone hacking at News International titles.

2012 May 30

FORMER Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson was arrested on suspicion of committing perjury during the Tommy Sheridan trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Coulson, while employed by Downing Street as director of communications, told the trial in December 2010 he had no knowledge of illegal activities by reporters while he was editor of the News of the World.

2012 June 14

Officers from Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan police investigation into the alleged illegal payments, arrested two men and a woman in Corby and Croydon. This takes the total number of arrests by Operation Elveden to 33. One of the individuals arrested is a Sun journalist and one a former prison officer.

2012 June 28

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has announced plans to split the $60bn media giant into two companies. The move should ringfence News Corp's profitable film and media business from its UK newspaper business, which is embroiled in a phone-hacking scandal. News Corp's Fox networks in the US and its stake in UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB would form a film and media unit. Book publisher HarperCollins would join newspaper titles such as the Sun. Murdoch will be chairman of both firms.

2012 July 4

Greig Box Turnbull, 37, a former Daily Mirror journalist, was arrested on suspicion of corruption, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office by detectives from Operation Elveden. Police also arrested a 46-year-old prison officer at his home in south-east London and a 50-year-old woman at a railway station in Kent as she travelled to work, both on suspicion of corruption, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

2012 July 4

Britain's Supreme Court ruled that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, convicted of eavesdropping for a Rupert Murdoch owned tabloid, must reveal who ordered him to do it.

2012 July 19

Rhodri Phillips, a journalist at the Sun, has been arrested by police from Scotland Yard's Operation Tuleta on suspicion of handling stolen goods.

2012 July 21

Rupert Murdoch has stepped down as a director from the boards overseeing the Sun, Times and Sunday Times newspapers.

2012 July 24

Two of Rupert Murdoch's former editors, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, are being charged with conspiring to hack the phone of the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler. A total of seven senior News of the World journalists are being charged with conspiring to intercept the voicemails of a total of 600 victims, the Crown Prosecution announced; the others include senior tabloid journalists Stuart Kuttner, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and Ian Edmondson. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, whose extensive notes have been at the center of the scandal, is also being prosecuted.

2012 July 30

The Sun's chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker, 51, was arrested by police on suspicion of handling stolen goods and was bailed to date in late September - the Met said the arrest relates to a suspected conspiracy involving the gathering of data from stolen mobile phones. Mr Parker had previously been questioned in February by officers from the Operation Elveden inquiry into alleged corrupt payments to public officials

2012 July 31

A 37-year-old male journalist from The Sun newspaper was arrested by officers investigating a suspected conspiracy to gather data from stolen mobile phones, as part of Operation Tuleta, the Metropolitan Police investigation into computer hacking and other breaches of privacy.

2012 August 7

A 29-year-old Sussex police officer and a journalist from The Sun have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation, Operation Elveden, into corrupt payments.

2012 August 16

Andy Coulson and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, appear before magistrates to face phone-hacking charges. Coulson and Mulcaire appear in court alongside Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor of the News of the World, Ian Edmondson, former assistant editor (news), Greg Miskiw, a former news editor, Neville Thurlbeck, former chief reporter, and James Weatherup, former assistant news editor.

2012 August 17

Former news editor of the News of the World Scotland, Douglas Wight, was arrested by Scottish police over evidence he gave in the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010 and charged with committing perjury and conspiracy to hack telephones.

2012 August 29

Patrick Foster, 28, a former media reporter at Rupert Murdoch's paper The Times, was arrested at his North London home this morning for allegedly hacking into the email account of an anonymous police blogger named Nightjack in 2009.

2012 August 29

Bob Bird, the former Scotland editor of the News of the World, was arrested and charged by police investigating allegations of perjury and phone hacking linked to Tommy Sheridan's conviction for lying in court.

2012 August 30

Tom Crone, the former legal manager of the News of the World has been arrested by police investigating the phone hacking scandal.

2012 September 3

Ex-News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court to face three allegations of phone hacking, including that of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and ex-trade union leader Andrew Gilchrist.

2012 September 7

News International is expected to face at least 230 new compensation claims from alleged victims of News of the World phone-hacking, following a high court case-management conference overseen by Mr Justice Vos on Friday, during which it emerged that 68 new civil claims for phone-hacking damages have now been lodged. New names include former England footballer Sol Campbell, former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona, her ex husband Brian McFadden, formerly of boyband Westlife, and The Apprentice contestant Ruth Badger.

2012 September 12

A former News International security guard, Lee Sandell, is the seventh defendant to be charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in relation to the phone hacking inquiry.

2012 September 13

A serving member of the armed forces and his wife were arrested today on suspicion of corruption contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, misconduct in a public office and suspicion of conspiracy to commit both offences, by detectives investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to public officials by journalists. The arrests take to 46 the number of suspects questioned as part of Operation Elveden, which is running in conjunction with Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's inquiry into phone-hacking.

2012 September 17

A former undercover policeman, Derek Haslam, who infiltrated Southern Investigations said that it burgled MPs' homes in an attempt to obtain embarrassing information for the News of the World. This first suggested link between the News of the World and burglary is being investigated by Operation Tuleta, the police inquiry into illegal newsgathering techniques other than phone hacking and corruption. Southern Investigations are also alleged to have put former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens under surveillance at the behest of the News of the World.

2012 September 19

A 39-year-old serving officer with Wiltshire Police was arrested at his home by officers working on Operation Elveden, the Metropolitan Police said. At the same time a 51-year-old journalist was arrested at his home in Bristol and a 32-year-old journalist was held at his house in south-east London, both on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

2012 September 20

In an Ofcom ruling that found BSkyB a 'fit and proper' company to hold a broadcasting licence, it savaged James Murdoch saying his behaviour was "difficult to comprehend and ill-judged" and he "repeatedly fell short" of his duties as chairman.

2012 September 24

The Crown Prosecution Service has announced that Detective chief inspector April Casburn, who works in specialist operations at the Metropolitan police, has been charged with misconduct in public office after allegedly contacting the now-defunct News of the World with information.

2012 October 22

The Mirror and People have been accused of phone hacking with legal action being started by various celebrities including Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former nanny to David Beckham's children, Abbie Gibson, Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati and the former Blackburn Rovers captain Gary Flitcroft.

2012 October 23

A 34-year-old woman, who previously worked for the MoD, and a 31-year-old man who is a serving member of the Armed Forces, were arrested in a dawn raid at their home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire as part of Operation Elveden. The woman was detained on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and corruption, while the man was being questioned on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and money laundering.

2012 November 20

Prosecutors have announced new criminal charges against the former News International editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, this time over alleged illegal payments to public officials. The Crown Prosecution Service announced that four former News International employees, and a defence official alleged to have been paid £100,000 for information, should stand trial. The others charged are Clive Goodman and John Kay along with Ministry of Defence official Bettina Jordan Barber.

2012 November 29

The Leveson Report was published. You can read it here

2013 January 10

Senior Met Police detective, Det Ch Insp April Casburn(53) from Essex, was convicted of trying to sell information on the phone-hacking probe to the News of the World.

2013 January 17

Two police officers and a journalist were arrested today by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials. One of the police officers, a 47-year-old man, is from the Metropolitan Police Specialist Operations command was arrested in Surrey on suspicion of misconduct in public office and corruption; the other, a 30-year-old man, from the Met's Specialist Crime and Operations command was held in Surrey on suspicion of the same offences. The journalist is Anthony France, 39, the Sun's crime reporter. All three were held on suspicion of offences between 2004 and 2011.

2013 January 22

The Sun's defence editor, Virginia Wheeler, and Paul Flattley, a former Metropolitan Police constable, have been jointly charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office over alleged payments for stories.

2013 February 1

Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn, became the first person to be convicted as a result of the Yard's Operation Elveden anti-corruption inquiry when she was found guilty of misconduct in public office. She was jailed for 15 months.

2013 February 11

The Sun's defence editor, Virginia Wheeler, will stand trial at the Old Bailey over allegedly paying PC Paul Flattley, between 2008 and 2011, a total of £6,450 for stories. Flattley 30, who has now left the Metropolitan Police, and Wheeler face one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

2013 February 12

The arrest of a 50yr old police officer in the Territorial Policing command in a south London borough, has brought to 100 the number of people arrested by detectives investigating hacking and corrupt payments to public officials.

2013 February 13

Six current and former journalists, including two staff members at The Sun, have been arrested under a fresh police investigation into phone hacking. The three men and three women arrested all previously worked for the News of the World and are being interviewed at police stations in London and Cheshire. The individuals are believed to be Rachel Richardson, Jane Atkinson, Jules Stenson, Matt Nixson, Rav Singh and Polly Graham.

2013 March 14

Detectives from Scotland Yard's Operation Weeting detained former Sunday Mirror editor, Tina Weaver and the current editor of The People, James Scott, as well as former People Editor Mark Thomas and current People deputy editor Nick Buckley, in a series of dawn raids across London this morning, as part of a fresh phone hacking probe at the Sunday Mirror newspaper dating back to 2003 and 2004.

2013 March 20

Geoff Webster, deputy editor of The Sun, has been charged over alleged illegal payments to public officials; with two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, in connection to alleged payments he authorised, of £6,500 and £1,500 made to public officials in return for information, between July 2010 and November 2010.

2013 March 27

As a result of Operation Elveden, a former police officer and a prison officer have been jailed for selling private information to The Sun newspaper. Former Surrey constable Alan Tierney was sentenced to 10 months after admitting two counts of misconduct involving payments for information on John Terry's mother and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood. Prison officer Richard Trunkfield was jailed for 16 months for selling information about James Bulger's killer Jon Venables.

2013 April 18

The Crown Prosecution Service announced that Fergus Shanahan, the executive editor of The Sun, is to be charged with one count of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. It's alleged that between August 2006 and August 2007 he authorised a journalist to make two payments totalling £7,000 to a public official for information.

2013 April 24

News Corp has reached a $139M settlement with U.S. shareholders, whose action stated that the News Corp board "has not lifted a finger to engage in any oversight of Murdoch's role... even when it was presented with clear and unmistakable warnings that News Corp's business practices were not only unethical but also illegal". News Corp is also understood to have agreed to tighten oversight and set up an anonymous hotline for whistleblowers to report misconduct.

2013 October 30

At the Old Bailey, the jury were told that Neville Thurlbeck, the News of the World's former chief reporter, Greg Miskiw, a former news editor at the paper, and James Weatherup, a former senior reporter at the tabloid, have pleaded guilty to phone hacking. A private detective employed by the paper has also admitted intercepting the voicemails of Milly Dowler.

2014 June 24

Andy Coulson has been found guilty of plotting to hack phones at the Old Bailey - but his former colleague Rebekah Brooks has walked free after the jury in the hacking trial cleared her of all criminal charges.