Hacking probe widens to e-mails

The police investigation into the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked Britain for months has widened to include The Times of London, a lawmaker said Thursday. Labor Party member Tom Watson, involved in Parliament's inquiries into phone hacking, said on his Twitter page Scotland Yard "confirmed to me they are investigating" The Times "over e-mail hacking." A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers investigating matter were "in contact with Mr. Watson in relation to specific issues he wishes to raise" after he sent the police a letter in late January, The New York Times reported. Officers from Operation Tuleta, which is investigating privacy breaches, said they weren't prepared "to give a running commentary" on the investigation, The Guardian said. The exchange indicates the investigation is looking into e-mail hacking, not just illegal voice mail intercepts, which has been at the core of the scandal that shuttered News of the World and led to the arrest of several of the publication's employees and leaders, and others, The New York Times said. News International, the British British newspaper unit of Rupert Murdoch's international media empire, told The New York Times it had no immediate comment on Watson's Twitter message.