Police make arrests in hacking probe

Police make arrests in hacking probe

LONDON

Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks and her racehorse- trainer husband, Charlie, were arrested in dawn raids that also netted four other suspects in the spreading phone-hacking scandal.

Police said the six people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The charge is an indication that investigators may be focusing on a possible cover-up of the scope of phone hacking rather than the illegal hacking itself.

It was the most arrests in a single day since the police investigation into phone hacking began.

Views vary in polls on Muslim spying

NEW YORK

Two polls of New Yorkers offered conflicting views Tuesday about the police department’s gathering of intelligence on Muslims as it guards the city against another terrorist attack.

A survey by Quinnipiac University showed most voters in the city believe police have acted appropriately toward Muslims, while another, broader poll by Baruch College found New Yorkers evenly divided over whether the department should be focusing on Muslims.

Polling experts attributed the divergent findings to differences in wording and question order.

Encyclopedia to end print editions

CHICAGO

Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. said Tuesday that it will stop publishing print editions of its flagship encyclopedia for the first time since the sets originally were published more than 240 years ago. The book-form of Encyclopaedia Britannica has been in print since it was first published in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. It will stop being available when the current stock runs out, the company said. The Chicago-based company will continue to offer digital versions of the encyclopedia.

2 UN peacekeepers guilty of sex abuse

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

Two United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti have been sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor after a rare trial found them guilty of sexual abuse and exploitation, a U.N. spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Spokeswoman Sylvie Van Den Wildenberg said the United Nations was informed last week that the two Pakistani police officers were convicted by a Pakistani military court in the Haitian port city of Gonaives and were discharged. No U.N. personnel or Haitian officials were present for the trial, she said.

Warm spell in US expected to last

CHICAGO

Break out the beach towels, flip-flops and baseball bats: Warm weather is arriving early across much of the U.S., even in northern states where perplexed residents are swapping their snow shovels for golf clubs. The unseasonably warm weather was pushing throngs of people outside to play Tuesday from the Plains to New England, where March is feeling like May with temperatures ranging from the high 60s to low 80s — smashing dozens of record highs.

Emergency toilet paper buy planned

TRENTON, N.J.

Officials in New Jersey’s capital say they’ve resolved a fight over toilet paper.

Trenton’s The Times newspaper reports Mayor Tony Mack’s administration will move forward with an emergency purchase of toilet paper and paper towels. Supplies of both dwindled in city buildings while the administration and city council quarreled over a contract to resupply city government.

Associated Press