London Police Make 16th Arrest in News Corp. Phone-Hacking Probe c.2011 Bloomberg News

Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- London police investigating phone hacking at News Corp.'s defunct News of the World tabloid said they arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voice-mail messages.

The unidentified man is in custody at a north London police station after being arrested at his home, according to an e-mailed statement. He is the 16th person arrested since the Metropolitan Police renewed a probe of the newspaper in January.

Four former executives at News Corp.'s U.K. unit testified yesterday before Parliament, including two men who challenged testimony given to lawmakers in July by James Murdoch, the company's deputy chief operating officer, about details surrounding his knowledge of the scandal.

The police investigation, and revelations that the News of the World hacked the voice mail of a murdered school girl, led to News Corp.'s decision to close the tabloid and scrap a planned bid for British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. Authorities are also probing whether police officers were paid for news and whether journalists hacked computers for stories.

A press office for New York-based News Corp.'s U.K. unit didn't answer calls today.

Previous arrests include former editors and journalists who worked at the newspaper when private detective Glenn Mulcaire was paid to hack into celebrities' voice mails.

Former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson and former managing editor Stuart Kuttner are among those that have been questioned by police this year.