Dear Commons Community,

Chairman Rupert Murdoch is “not a fit person” to lead a major international company, U.K. lawmakers said, after his U.K. unit misled Parliament about the extent of phone hacking at its News of the World tabloid.  Bloomberg News is reporting:

“Murdoch “turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies and publications,” the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee said in a report published in London today. “This culture, we consider, permeated from the top throughout the organization and speaks volumes about the lack of effective corporate governance at News Corp.”

Three executives at the News International unit — Les Hinton, Tom Crone and Colin Myler — gave misleading testimony to the committee in 2009, the panel said. The company failed to disclose documents and made statements that “were not fully truthful,” and Murdoch, 81, and his son James must ultimately take responsibility, the lawmakers said.”

The 11-member committee has been working on its report since July, when the Murdochs were summoned to testify about their roles in the scandal. They told a media-ethics inquiry last week underlings, particularly Crone and Myler, were to blame for their failure to detect any wrongdoing at the now defunct newspaper.

“The News of the World and News International misled the committee about the true nature and extent of the internal investigations they professed to have carried out in relation to phone hacking,” the panel said. “Their instinct throughout was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing.”

Tony

Dear Commons community,

Occupy Wall Street protesters across the country will attempt to rejuvenate the movement with a May Day “general strike” today, May 1st.

In New York, organizers have scheduled  activities across the city all day–including a “guitarmy,” a concert in Union Square, flash meditation mobs, and a climatic “solidarity march”

See the full schedule for New York City’s “A Day Without the %99” .

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

One World Trade Center surpassed the height of the Empire State Building yesterday  to lay claim to the title of New York City’s tallest skyscraper, standing just a little over 1,250 feet.

The signature skyscraper under construction at Ground Zero in New York is being built by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that owns the 16-acre World Trade Center site where the original eight-story 6 World Trade Center once stood.

The skyscraper has 104 stories and, at the time of its expected completion in 2013, will be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the third-tallest building in the world, reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet, in reference to the year of American independence.

A great day for New York!

Tony