Two former executives broke ranks with News Corp. for the first time over whether James Murdoch knew in 2008 that the phone-hacking scandal at its now-defunct U.K. tabloid likely involved more than just one rogue reporter.  The Justice Department is preparing subpoenas as part of preliminary investigations into News Corp. relating to alleged foreign bribery and alleged hacking of voicemail of Sept. 11 victims, according to a government official.  Two former executives at News Corp.'s News of the World tabloid disputed a key part of this week's parliamentary testimony by James Murdoch on phone hacking at the paper.  Neil Wallis, a former editor of the News of the World, is a figure at the intersection of tabloid journalism, police and politicians.  U.K. lawmakers released a damning report that accused London's Metropolitan Police of making a "catalog of failures" during its investigation of phone hacking.  U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron faced a barrage of accusations over his relationship with News Corp. and his former senior aide Andy Coulson, a key figure in the phone-hacking scandal.  A law firm that helped advise News Corp.'s U.K. newspapers unit on a phone-hacking related review was authorized by the company to answer questions from police and parliamentary select committees about the work it did.  The penalty for missteps in the early phase of a corporate crisis -- expense, lost reputation, distraction -- can be brutally high. Witness News Corp., John Bussey writes.  The Prime Minister's performance at the British Parliament today makes it likely that the News of the World scandal has hit its high-water mark.  News Corp. said that it will terminate any arrangement to pay the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire, the former private investigator at the center of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.  News Corp.'s Australian unit said there is no connection between events in the U.K. and its newspapers Down Under, in response to comments made by Prime Minister Julia Gillard that people want to ask some hard questions, in light of the U.K. hone-hacking scandal.  Deals of the Day gathers all the biggest news of the morning related to mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, financing and private equity.  U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a robust defense of his staff and explained his own handling of the phone hacking scandal as he sought to prevent himself being dragged deeper into the spiralling crisis.  As Nixon did, the News of the World leaves the world a better place.  Rupert Murdoch's testimony on the phone-hacking crisis reinforced the views of some News Corp. shareholders that he should step aside as CEO. A director said the board supports him.  The FBI has informally contacted New York police as it looks into an allegation that News Corp. employees tried to hack into voice mails of Sept. 11 victims. The NYPD said right now there is no basis for an investigation.  Rupert Murdoch forcefully apologized to victims of phone hacking by his employees but declared he was not to blame—deflecting the responsibility for the fiasco to other managers, saying "they behaved dreadfully" and "it's for them to pay."  With the latest twists, the News Corp. scandal over dubious reporting tactics suddenly seems scripted by a master of the spy genre—replete with social drama, cloak-and-dagger mystery and farce.  Two of Britain's most senior police officers denied to British lawmakers that they had a tight relationship with the U.K. arm of News Corp., but expressed regret at the police's handling of the phone-hacking scandal that has claimed them both among its biggest casualties.  During a hearing in front of a U.K. Parliament committee, News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch was attacked with what appeared to be a plate of white cream. A look at the history of cream assault.
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