LONDON (AP) - Rupert Murdoch's media company has agreed to pay damages to 36 high-profile victims of tabloid phone-hacking, including actor Jude Law, soccer player Ashley Cole and former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
They are among dozens of people who were suing News Group Newspapers after their mobile phone voicemails were allegedly hacked by the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.
Other cases settled include those of former government ministers Chris Bryant and Tessa Jowell, ex-model Abi Titmuss and Sara Payne, mother of a murdered girl.
In all, Murdoch's company was facing 60 hacking lawsuits, though the number of victims is estimated to be in the hundreds. Details of the settlements were read out at a court hearing in London on Thursday.
