Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch launched a new Sunday newspaper to replace the defunct News of the World.The NoW was closed suddenly last July when the phone hacking scandal exploded around it.

The new newspaper was called the Sun on Sunday. The Sun is Murdoch's daily tabloid, his most successful and notorious newspaper here. Today the Sun became embroiled in revelations that are arguably more dangerous to the Murdoch empire than the phone hacking at the NoW.

At the Leveson Enquiry, set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal, the Metropolitan Police's Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, in charge of the investigation into illegal activities at News International, publisher of Murdoch's newspapers here, gave an interim report.

She painted a picture of systematic corruption of public officials by The Sun. One public official received £80,000 ($126,500) over a period of years to provide confidential information about individuals to the paper.

UPDATE:  The total number of plaintiffs who settled with News International is now 37. Only 15 have had their names made public including Jude Law.

Phone-hacking victim Jude Law received the largest pay-out: £130,000 ($201,264). Law's attorney  read a statement to the court on the actor's behalf, "no aspect of my private life was safe from intrusion by News Group newspapers, including the lives of my children and the people who work for me."