Under fire,Murdochs respond

Following are highlights of Rupert and James Murdochs testimony.

JAMES MURDOCH: First of all I would just like to say how sorry I am and how sorry we are to particularly the victims of the illegal voicemail interceptions and to their families. It is a matter of great regret,of mine,of my fathers,and everyone at News Corp. These actions do not live up to the standards that our company aspires to everywhere around the world and it is our determination to put things right.

JAMES MURDOCH: I have no knowledge and there is no evidence that I am aware of that Mrs Rebekah Brooks or Mr Les Hinton or any of those executives had knowledge of that phone hacking and their assertions,certainly Brooks assertion to me,of her knowledge of those things has been clear.

RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked if he was mislead: Very. This is not an excuse. Maybe its an explanation of my laxity. News of the World is less than one per cent of our company.

RUPERT MURDOCH: I was absolutely shocked,appalled and ashamed when I heard about the Milly Dowler case only two weeks ago.

RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked if he has commissioned an investigation into allegations the FBI is investigating 9/11 hacking: We have seen no evidence of that at all and as far as we know the FBI havent either.

JAMES MURDOCH: Asked if News International would launch a new Sunday tabloid: There are no immediate plans for that.

RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked if they would think more carefully about the wording of headlines in future: I think all our editors certainly will. I am not aware of any transgressions. I am sure there are headlines that occasionally give offence but its not intentional.

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RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked if familiar with the legal term willful blindness: Ive heard of the phrase before and we were not ever guilty of that.

RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked who he blamed for the closure of the News of the World and pulling out of a bid to take full control of BSkyB: A lot of people had different agendas I think in trying to build this hysteria. All our competitors in this country formally announced a consortium to try to stop us and they caught us with dirty hands and they got the story around.

Asked if it was therefore competitors stopped him: No. I think a mood developed which made it really impractical to go ahead with the BSkyB bid.

JAMES MURDOCH: Asked if News International made any payments to private investigators Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire after their convictions: I was very surprised to find the company had made certain contributions to legal fees.

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RUPERT MURDOCH: Asked if he will instruct a halt to any legal fees still being paid: Provided it is not in breach of a legal contract,yes.