News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch and his son James face questions from parliament on Tuesday in a phone-hacking scandal that has rocked Britain's establishment right up to Prime Minister David Cameron.

With a second British police chief quitting on Monday over the scandal, Cameron cut short a trade trip to Africa and was due to return late on Tuesday to attend an emergency debate the following day in parliament, which is delaying its summer recess. Before returning to Britain the prime minister, in Lagos, Nigeria, will give a press conference at 1200 GMT (8 a.m. ET).

The Murdochs' appearance before parliament's media select committee was expected to attract a television audience of millions keen to follow the latest twist in a saga that has shaken Britons' faith in their police, press and political leaders.

"It seems as if there will be standing-room only, that's not surprising as it's the first time Rupert Murdoch has been before a select committee in his 40 years of building up a media empire," said Paul Farrelly, an opposition Labour committee member.

Murdoch's News International British arm had long maintained that the practice of intercepting mobile phone voicemails to get stories was the work of a sole "rogue reporter" on the News of the World newspaper.

That defense crumbled in the face of a steady drip-feed of claims by celebrities that they were targeted.

The floodgates opened two weeks ago when a lawyer for the family of a murdered teenage schoolgirl claimed the paper had hacked her phone when she was missing, deleting messages and raising false hopes she could be still alive.

The ensuing outrage prompted News Corp to close the 168-year-old News of the World newspaper, drop a $12 billion plan to take full control of pay TV operator BSkyB, and saw the arrest of former News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks, a Murdoch protégé.

Cameron has faced questions over his judgment in appointing former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief, while London police chief Paul Stephenson and anti-terrorism head John Yates stepped down within 24 hours of each other over their links to a former deputy editor of the newspaper.

'No circus'

The parliamentary committee has been pursuing the phone-hacking allegations for more than four years, saying in a report in 2010 that it was inconceivable that managers did not know about the practice.

"We intend to be calm and forensic. There will be no circus, no playing to the gallery because we really need to get to the bottom of everything that has gone on," said Farrelly, a former journalist who once worked for Reuters.

"We want to know who knew what, and when, and how wide the whole ambit of illegal activity, of which phone-hacking was only one part, went, and how far any cover up went."

In another twist to a story was news of the death of an ex-News of the World journalist Sean Hoare. It was Hoare who told the New York Times that phone hacking at the tabloid was far more extensive than the paper had acknowledged at the time.

A former show business reporter also told the BBC he was asked by Coulson, who went on to work for the prime minister, to tap phones. Police said the death of Hoare was being treated as "unexplained, but not as suspicious."

News International chairman James Murdoch said earlier this month that the News of the World "made statements to parliament without being in full possession of the facts" and he is certain to be questioned on that statement.

The Murdochs are due to appear at 2:30 pm (9:30 a.m. ET), followed an hour later by a separate hearing for Brooks.

Brooks, a former News of the World editor, resigned as News International chief executive on Friday and was arrested by police on Sunday on suspicion of corruption and intercepting communications before being released on bail.

Former Murdoch editor Bruce Guthrie, who worked for the company in Melbourne, said Murdoch faced a fundamental decision on the fate of the company he has built up into a global media giant from an Australian newspaper business.

"What it boils down to it this, what is more important for Rupert: the survival of the company or the survival of the family's control of the company," he said.

"If he really is bent on saying I want this company remaining in the control of my family, which would be James, I reckon he has to take a bullet for James."

A News Corp board member told Reuters the group's independent directors were fully behind Rupert Murdoch. There has been talk in recent days that Chase Carey would be elevated from chief operating officer to take over from Murdoch, 80, as CEO, with the latter staying as chairman.

On Monday Standard & Poor's Rating Services had put all ratings on News Corp on CreditWatch with negative implications given the business and reputational risks associated with widening legal probes in Britain and pressure for a FBI investigation in the U.S.

Questions for Cameron

Prime Minister Cameron, who took office in May 2010, is facing the worst crisis of his premiership as his decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief comes back to haunt him.

Coulson quit as News of the World editor in 2007 when the paper's royal reporter was jailed for phone hacking. Coulson said he knew nothing of the practice but took responsibility.

Coulson quit as Cameron's spokesman in January when the long-running scandal came back to life. He was arrested earlier this month and is also free on bail.

Cameron's position has been made worse by a parting shot from London police chief Stephenson, brought low by the force's decision to hire a former News of the World deputy editor now implicated in the scandal as a media adviser.

Stephenson drew a subtle contrast between his decision to step down and Cameron's conduct.

Few expect the prime minister to quit but he appears weakened as head of a deficit-cutting coalition and might find his room for maneuver limited.

Stephenson and John Yates, the other senior officer to resign, are both due before parliament's home affairs committee Tuesday lunchtime in what will be a prelude to the main event with the Murdochs.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's parliament Friday gave definitive approval to a 48 billion euro austerity package aimed at averting a full scale financial crisis but there were growing questions about the government's capacity for further reforms.

After what business daily Il Sole 24 Ore called an "absolute first," government and opposition parties set aside differences to pass the austerity measures in a matter of days.

The final vote in the lower house was 314 in favor and 280 against.

A few hours earlier, the government easily cleared a confidence vote called to speed up the package, a mix of spending cuts and tax raising measures.

The rapid political accord helped calm the violent sell off of Italian assets at the start of the week. But in a sign of continuing market nerves, yields on Italian 10-year government bonds climbed to about 5.7 percent and spreads over benchmark German bonds rose above 300 points Friday.

As market uncertainty continued, Italian media questioned the approach of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has not made a public appearance since last week and who has made only one written statement in response to the market panic.

Instead it has been left to President Giorgio Napolitano, an 86-year-old former communist, to shepherd government and opposition parties to an accord which should ensure the government's austerity package is passed.

"The noisy silence of the great communicator," Italy's leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, commented in a front-page editorial.

"Perhaps we will read a long interview from him somewhere today but for the moment, it is a worrying silence," it said.

After several days in which he has not been seen in public, Berlusconi came to parliament for the vote where he met Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti and Umberto Bossi, head of his Northern League coalition allies.

Speaking to supporters in the chamber, he rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced several times as if describing an episode of physical discomfort. One deputy quoted Berlusconi as saying he had slipped in his bath and hit his head.

Apart from an uncharacteristically solemn statement on Tuesday, Berlusconi's last public remarks were in a newspaper interview in which he accused Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti of arrogance and said he was "not a team player."

TECHNICAL GOVERNMENT

The crisis appears to have strengthened Tremonti, a firm proponent of fiscal discipline widely seen as the best guarantor of financial stability, who has piloted the austerity package through to its expected final parliamentary approval.

Speculation has grown that Berlusconi, mired in scandal and fighting four separate trials on corruption and sex charges, may be forced to step down before his term ends in 2013, possibly making way for a so-called "technical government" which could steer Italy into calmer waters.

With a crushing debt burden equal to 120 percent of gross domestic product and chronically weak growth, which has held back efforts to cut back the debt, Italy faces a long, grinding battle to return to economic health.

In its monthly report for July, the Bank of Italy called for further action to consolidate public finances.

But there is uncertainty over the government's capacity to make sensitive reforms in areas such as labor markets to spur growth, and ratings agencies have pointed to doubts on reform implementation as grounds for questioning Italy's credit rating.

"This budget in a sense resumes what Italy's been doing over the past few years. It's good on fiscal consolidation but there is still more to do on the growth side," said Fabio Fois, an economist with Barclays Capital in London.

He said Italy's primary budget surplus, expected to reach 5.2 percent by 2014 would be a strong positive signal to markets but it would not be enough on its own.

"The primary surplus in 2013 and 2014 should help to strengthen the position of Italy, but Italy has to show something more on structural reform to boost real GDP growth," he said.

The opposition has repeated its regular calls for Berlusconi to resign and make way for a broadly based government of technocrats along the lines of the one led in 1995 by Lamberto Dini, a former senior official of the Bank of Italy.

The outlines of what could be such a government have already been seen in the unusually rapid response to the crisis shown by parliament, with opposition parties agreeing not to hinder the austerity package despite objections to many of its elements.

Deputies from both the ruling PDL party and the opposition center-left say that Napolitano, who as head of state usually stands above daily political affairs, has taken an unusually direct role in coordinating a response to the crisis.

"The Berlusconi government is in hiding but during these hours, it's obvious that there's another government in the country," said one deputy from the government side, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Berlusconi himself has always rejected any suggestion he may stand down before 2013 and has named Justice Minister Angelino Alfano as his preferred successor as center-right leader.

That has infuriated his coalition allies in the pro-devolution Northern League party who have made it clear they expect to have a big say in the future of the center right.

French search engine company 1PlusV said it is suing Google for 295 million euros ($417.7), alleging the company used its market dominance to block the development of alternative services.

The French company is one of four, including Microsoft, that has accused Google of abusing its dominant position by demoting rival sites in search results and giving preference to its own services. The allegation has triggered an investigation by the European Commission.

1plusV, which runs the Ejustice.fr legal website and search engine, says that Google prevented it from developing specialised “vertical” search engines and crippled its ability to generate business and advertising and the claim is for lost profits.

“Between 2007 and 2010, no less than 30 vertical search engines created by 1plusV were black-listed, some of which showed significant business potential,” it said.

A lawyer for 1PlusV said Google had been served notice of the damage claim on Monday. The claim will be filed with the Paris commercial court on Tuesday or Wednesday and piles on more scrutiny of Google following the opening last week of a formal probe into its business by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

1plusV accused Google of suffocating rivals through its policy of tying its advertising service Adsense to its own search engine.

Google's Adsense allows advertisers to buy keywords which when typed in as a search query produce a commercial link alongside the search results. Thus rival search engines wanting to access vital clients and revenue were forced to adopt Google technology.

The European Commission is now investigating the complaints. The European Union executive, with the power to fine companies up to 10 percent of their global turnover for breaching EU rules has hit Microsoft with total fines of more than 1 billion euros.

Two SA Reserve Bank (SARB) shareholders have formally requested an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the privatisation of the central bank's ownership.

"We must also clarify shareholders rights and this we cannot do at the annual general meeting," Michael Duerr, one of the shareholders, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Duerr, who lives in Germany, said Mario Pretorius, a South African shareholder, had also requested an extraordinary general meeting within 60 days of April 20.

He said the request was made in a letter to SARB secretary Tiyani Mongwe.

Nearly 13 percent of SARB's private shareholders have reportedly asked for an extraordinary general meeting.

According to FinWeek, Duerr has asked for the discussion of 11 proposals, among them that:

-- the SARB board not discuss, recommend or raise the issue of the Bank's nationalisation before obtaining shareholders' mandate by way of a referendum;

-- SARB annually declare a capital distribution equal to 10 percent of its net profit to shareholders; and

-- Private sector benchmarks not be used in setting the remuneration of the governor and deputy governors.

He also wanted talks on the issue of the rands issued to Zimbabwe to run its economy, and the effect this could have on South Africa.

Duerr's concerns arise from ANC hints at buying out private shareholders, who have in turn indicated that, should this happen, they will demand thousands of rands per share.

SARB's two million shares in private hands trade for about R10 a share --a mechanism intended to shield the Bank from too much government interference. The Bank pays an annual divided of 10 cents a share.

FinWeek reported that while the share price valued the Bank at R20m, shareholders claimed they owned the bank's assets, including USD38 billion in gold and foreign exchange reserves.

On Wednesday, Duerr said he was "pressing hard" to solve outstanding issues.

He had approached both the German Chancellor and German Foreign Minister "because what the SARB is doing is in opposition to one of the treaties between Germany and SA".

Duerr said he had also contacted Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies on SARB's "disregard of the law and the rules".

He said he had even met President Jacob Zuma.

"This is about governance."

Asked now much the exercise was costing him, Duerr said "not much -- but it will cost the SARB money at some stage".

He said he favoured SARB's return to the JSE -- "then anyone can sell the shares as they wish".

"It's not about me making money through selling shares -- what it's about is rectifying what is wrong at the SARB."

Duerr said his goal was improved communication and decision-making in matters that concerned shareholders and an overall lowering of tension between the Bank and the shareholders.

He also had complaints about SARB's remuneration committee, as it had granted increases to board members "completely outside the norm and inflation targets."

Duerr contended that the public was entitled to question the SARB governor on monetary policy.

"The uniqueness of the general public's shareholding in the central bank is an important further factor contributing to transparency," he said.

SARB confirmed that it had received a request from shareholders -- signed by Mario Pretorius -- for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of the Bank.

"The request was received on Wednesday, April 21 2010," SARB said.

"The matters raised in the letter are receiving the attention of the Bank.

"We will respond to Mr Pretorius." SARB said.

At a SARB AGM in 2008, Duerr claimed items of special business had deliberately not been circulated to shareholders.

These, he claimed, included flagrant contraventions by SARB employees which appeared not to have been investigated or acted on "despite these matters having been brought to the attention of the board".

The Bank's then governor Tito Mboweni found him out of order.

After the meeting, Duerr, who holds five percent of SARB's shares, issued a statement claiming the influence of shareholders had been gradually and drastically inhibited since 1920.

"The inherent value of their investment has been undermined," he contended.

Duerr, who is German, said that because he was not allowed to speak at the meeting, he would call an extraordinary general meeting.

However, SARB counsel Johann de Jager said at the time that a shareholder had to hold 10 percent of voting shares to call an extraordinary meeting.

Pretorius took Mboweni to the Equality Court for discrimination over what he claimed were racist comments made at the same meeting.

The court ruled that the utterances were nothing more than a storm in a teacup.

Government's decision to "pull the plug" on the pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) project by slashing its funding will cost South Africa the lead it has in this area of nuclear research, trade union UASA warned on Monday. "By pulling the plug on [the] PBMR project, government may be about to pour more than R7,2 billion down the drain, together with a ten-year lead in a technology that is becoming increasingly desired in other countries," UASA sector manager Willie van Eeden said in a statement.

In the recently-announced 2010/11 Budget, spending on the project had been slashed -- from over R1 billion a year, to 11.4 million in the current financial year.

"The monumental damage that is done to South Africa's nuclear research was clearly driven home at the International Conference on Access to Civil Nuclear Energy held in Paris recently. "Mr Luís Echavarri, director-general of the Nuclear Energy Agency, forecast that fourth-generation nuclear reactors would not be available in the marketplace for 20 or 30 years, and would not be operating commercially for another ten years after that. "Although delayed, South Africa's PBMR would have been ready much earlier," Van Eeden said. But instead of making use of this opportunity to be at the forefront of international nuclear research, state funding for the PBMR had been "savagely cut".

Although a final decision on the future of the PBMR was expected in August, the funding cut "in effect already amounts to a final decision". Not even the fact that South Africa was acknowledged internationally as a world leader in PBMR technology had stopped the government.

Van Eeden said up to 800 highly-skilled staff at the PBMR company looked set to lose their jobs. "South Africa will lose a magnitude of high-level nuclear skills if government does not reconsider its assistance to the PBMR project. "This would have a serious adverse effect on the new technology civil nuclear capabilities for this country," he warned. No response was received to questions sent to PBMR (Pty) Ltd two weeks ago by Sapa querying, among other things, the future of the project.

Mining giant Anglo American reported plummeting profits as it released its results for the first half of the year on Friday.

The group -- which rejected a merger proposal from rival Xstrata PLC last month -- said underlying earnings slumped by almost 70 percent in the first half of the year as the global meltdown took its toll on demand for commodities.