News Corp’s board of directors came out in full support of Rupert Murdoch yesterday, more than 24 hours after a British parliamentary committee had described chief executive Rupert Murdoch as unfit to run a major international business.
News Corp said the board met yesterday and announced its full confidence in Mr Murdoch’s fitness and support for his continuing to lead News Corp into the future as chairman and CEO. “The board based its vote of confidence on Rupert Murdoch’s vision and leadership in building News Corporation, his ongoing performance as chairman and CEO, and his demonstrated resolve to address the mistakes of the company identified in the select committee’s report,” it said. News Corp was left reeling from a damning criticism of its handling of the phone hacking scandal at News of the World by the select committee of culture, media and sport on Tuesday. – (Reuters)
A Kosovo Albanian politician and close ally of prime minister Hashim Thaci was acquitted of war crimes yesterday after the case against him collapsed with the suicide of the central prosecution witness. Fatmir Limaj, a senior guerrilla fighter during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, and three co-defendants, were accused of killing and torturing Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians in the most high-profile case to be tried in the Balkan country.
They were found not guilty by three judges in the Kosovo capital, Pristina. Six other ex-guerrillas were acquitted last month. Serbia called the verdict “shameful and unjust”. The case against them was compiled by a prosecutor from the EU’s police and justice mission in Kosovo. Much of it was based on the testimony and diaries of Agim Zogaj, an ex-prison guard, but in September last he was found dead, apparently having taken his own life. – (Reuters)