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Shares in News Corporation recovered ground after Rupert and James Murdoch’s appearance in front of a committee of British MPs.

At the close of trading in New York, News Corp shares were 6% higher.

The move recovers some of the losses sustained as the phone-hacking scandal at its newspaper title, the News of the World, has unfolded.

But pressure on the company continues, with another major shareholder questioning the company’s standards.

The giant Californian public pension fund, CalPERS, has joined the list of those who are unhappy with the way the company has been managed.

CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System), which owns 6.4 million of News Corp’s shares, is in particular unhappy with the shareholding structure that gives the Murdoch family’s ‘B’ shares voting rights, meaning that although they own 12% of the company, they hold the biggest single block – 40% – of the votes.

Other ‘B’ shares are largely held by unnamed investors.

Family power

More than two thirds of the shares are ‘A’ shares, which give investors no say as to who sits on the board, let alone major strategic decisions such as whether to bid for another company.

Its Senior Portfolio Manager, Anne Simpson, who heads its corporate governance program, said: “News Corp does not have one share one vote. This is a corruption of the governance system.

“Power should reflect capital at risk. CalPERS sees the voting structure in a company as critical. The situation is very serious and we’re considering our options. We don’t intend to be spectators – we’re owners.”

Other financially interested parties have this week reviewed their opinion of the strength of the company.

On Monday, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s placed News Corp’s credit rating on a negative watch citing “increased business and reputation risks”.

Also on Monday, another of its shareholders urged it to raise its standards.

The Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York, a small shareholder in News Corp, wrote to the board asking it to improve its transparency and governance:

The Foundation is concerned about News Corp’s political lobbying, particularly payments to organisations that have then campaigned for looser regulation which could potentially benefit its businesses.

News Corp has reorganised its standards committee, set up to investigate impropriety at News International.

News Corporation is the parent company of News International, which runs the Sun, the Times and Sunday Times. Their sister paper, the News of the World, was shut down earlier this month as a result of the phone-hacking scandal.

Gold prices have been rising because of continued concerns over Europe’s debt crisis

The price of gold jumped above $ 1,600 (£1,000) an ounce for the first time as debt worries in the US and Europe continued to trouble investors.

The precious metal rose to $ 1,604 an ounce in London trading Monday, before ending the day at $ 1,602.

The metal has been rising in value while the US dollar and euro currencies have been declining.

Gold is considered a safe investment and usually gains at times of global economic uncertainty.

“Gold hit another milestone… at $ 1,600 as investors lose confidence in the ability of politicians to get a grip with the debt problems weighing down on sentiment,” said Michael Hewson from CMC Markets, a trading group.

“More advances look likely,” he said.

The record breaking price comes ahead of Thursday’s summit of eurozone leaders in Brussels where they will once again try to contain the growing debt crisis.

Investors are concerned that Greece may default on its debt, and countries such as Italy and Spain, who are also struggling with high debt levels, will get pulled into the crisis.

Meanwhile in the US politicians are struggling to reach an agreement on a deficit reduction plan in time to avoid a debt default before the deadline of 2 August.

News Corp is one of Australia’s best-known companies and most widely held shares

Shares of News Corporation, the company owned by Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch, have dropped almost 6% to a two-year low.

The slide comes as an investigation into phone hacking in the UK has widened and a key figure was arrested.

News Corp owns the two newspapers at the heart of the scandal, The Sun and the now closed News of the World.

In morning trading in Sydney, the shares were down 5.5% at 13.91 Australian dollars (£9.20).

Its shares have lost almost a fifth of their value since the start of July.

Widening probe

News Corp is the parent company of News International, which runs The Sun, the News of the World, The Times and Sunday Times.

On Sunday, ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks was arrested by police in the UK on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.

Mrs Brooks has denied wrongdoing and was released on bail at midnight (2300 GMT).

In another twist, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson stepped down for his part in the phone hacking scandal.

Sir Paul, Britain’s most senior police officer, was criticised for hiring former News of the World executive Neil Wallis – who was questioned by police as part of the probe into hacking – as an adviser.

The stress test on banks has failed to calm nerves over Europe’s debt crisis

Stock markets fell on Monday as a healthcheck on banks failed to stem worries about Europe’s debt crisis.

Financial shares were heavy fallers, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 3.8% and BNP Paribas 3.1% lower.

In early trading the FTSE 100 index fell 0.9%, France’s Cac 40 shed 1.4%, and Germany’s Dax was 1.3% down.

On Friday, five European banks failed a stress test on their finances, while another 16 were said to be near the danger zone.

Meanwhile, the price of gold topped $ 1,600 an ounce for the first time as investors put money into the haven commodity.

Concerns among investors have also been fuelled by the Obama administration’s failure to agree a debt-ceiling deal.

The US risks defaulting on its debts unless Congress can agree new rules that will allow Washington to borrow more money.

Ed Miliband said current media ownership rules were “outdated”

Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for new media ownership rules to limit the “dangerous” concentration of power in Rupert Murdoch’s hands.

Mr Murdoch had an “unhealthy” market share that led to “abuses of power”, Mr Miliband told the Observer.

It comes as Mr Murdoch’s company, News International, placed a second round of adverts in national newspapers saying how it will address wrongdoing.

Its newspaper, the News of the World, shut amid phone hacking allegations.

With that closure, The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and 39% of digital broadcaster BSkyB remain in the News Corporation stable.

Calling for new ownership rules, Mr Miliband said: “I think that we’ve got to look at the situation whereby one person can own more than 20% of the newspaper market, the Sky platform and Sky News.

“I think it’s unhealthy because that amount of power in one person’s hands has clearly led to abuses of power within his organisation. If you want to minimise the abuses of power then that kind of concentration of power is frankly quite dangerous.”

He told the Observer that current media ownership rules were outdated, describing them as “analogue rules for a digital age” that do not take into account the advent of mass digital and satellite broadcasting.

‘Backfired terribly’

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police has disputed reports that a journalist arrested over the phone-hacking scandal had arranged a stay at a luxury health resort for its commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.

Sir Paul Stephenson denied he accepted hospitality from a former News of the World journalist

Scotland Yard made the statement in response to newspaper reports that former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis was a PR consultant for Champneys health spa when Sir Paul stayed there earlier this year after an operation.

“The accommodation and meals were arranged and provided by Stephen Purdew, MD of Champneys, who is a personal family friend who has no connection with, or links to, his [Sir Paul's] professional life,” the Met said.

Mr Purdew said he was “outraged” at the suggestions that the stay had anything to do with Mr Wallis.

‘Rebuild trust’

The advert placed by News International in national newspapers on Sunday describes how the company is “putting right what’s gone wrong”.

It says it has set up an independent management and standards committee to see how the company can prevent similar instances happening again.

It has also asked law firm Olswang to carry out an investigation and a former High Court judge is overseeing the compensation scheme for hacking victims.

News International still owns three national newspapers after the News of the World was closed

So far, celebrities including actress Sienna Miller and football pundit Andy Gray have accepted damages from the compensation fund, believed to be worth £20m.

The advert says: “It may take time for us to rebuild trust and confidence, but we are determined to live up to the expectations of our readers, colleagues and partners.”

The Liberal Democrats have written to media regulator Ofcom calling for it to investigate whether the owners of the BSkyB licence are “fit and proper” following the allegations around News Corp.

Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes, media spokesman Don Foster and party president Tim Farron asked the watchdog to investigate in light of “the manifest public concern about News International’s activities, the close integration of News International with its parent company News Corporation, (and) News Corp’s effective control of BSkyB”.

A spokeswoman for Ofcom said: “We received this letter early on Friday evening. We will be considering our response next week.”

She added that the regulator was continuing to gather information and has already written “to a number of relevant authorities and can confirm that follow-up meetings will now be taking place.”

The austerity measures demanded by the IMf and EU have caused outrage in Athens

Greece’s enormous debts are sustainable but on a “knife’s edge,” according to the International Monetary Fund.

A 110bn-euro (£96bn) rescue package for Greece is being implemented but investors still fear a default.

Given the situation, Greece must stick to its reform programme, IMF Athens mission chief Poul Thomsen said.

His comments came as UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he was “incredibly worried” about the Greek debt crisis.

Greece under Prime Minister George Papandreou has passed several rounds of austerity measures, including tax increases, pay cuts, privatisations and public sector redundancies, to get aid from the IMF and the European Union.

Poul Thomsen, the IMF’s mission chief to Athens, said that Greece must now implement these reforms.

“Policies must be applied as planned, or the sustainability of the debt will be placed in doubt,” he told Greek newspaper Ethnos.

“The Greek debt is sustainable but it is, as we say, on a knife’s edge.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday on a visit to Athens that “the US strongly support the Papandreou governement’s determination to make the necessary reforms to put Greece on a sound financial footing”.

Greece has more than 350bn euros of debt, and the IMF warned last week than it needs an additional 100bn in aid on top of last year’s bail-out to avoid a default.

The eurozone members will hold a special summit on 21 July to discuss the debt crisis and provide fresh aid for Greece.

‘Direct impact’

Mr Clegg told the BBC on Sunday that the crisis is “immensely serious”.

“This has a direct impact on British jobs and the livelihood of people in this country,” he said.

“I believe we should play an active role behind the scenes, because we are not a member of the euro, to help eurozone members make the reforms necessary to make a strong, prosperous eurozone in the future.”

The Irish Republic and Portugal have had bail-outs since Greece received its aid package, and markets last week suggested they were worried that Italy will be the next.

On Friday, the European Banking Authority (EBA) said eight out of 90 European banks have failed stress tests designed to ensure they can withstand another financial crisis.

None of the tests included what would happen to the banks if Greece defaulted on its debt.

Five Spanish banks failed, as well as one in Austria and two in Greece.

The news came just as Italy’s parliament approved a 70bn-euro austerity package.

According to the Bank for International Settlements, UK banks hold a relatively small $ 3.4bn (£2.1bn) worth of Greek sovereign debt, compared with banks in Germany, which hold $ 22.6bn,

Gill’s Cruise Centre holidaymakers visited such destinations as the French port of Nice

Thousands of people booked onto cruises have been told they will still be able to go on holiday after a Cardiff-based travel company stopped trading.

Gill’s Cruise Centre took bookings for operators including P&O, Cunard and Royal Caribbean.

Travel association Abta says it has withdrawn the firm’s membership due to “a financial failure”.

Gill’s could not be contacted for comment and its website said it could not accept new booking queries.

Customer Brian Jenkins said he had visited the company’s shop in Cardiff on Friday after hearing they were facing potential financial problems.

Mr Jenkins said he was hopeful that the trip he had booked for his wife and himself to the Norwegian fjords will still be going ahead.

“I’m going to ring P&O to clarify there are no problems as soon as I get home,” he added.

Abta said any cruise booked through Gill’s was fully financially protected.

It said people who may have booked their flight and cruise directly with Gill’s under their Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing (Atol) licence should contact the Civil Aviation Authority.

If the cruise and flight have been booked with different suppliers they were advised to contact the cruise company.

A message on Gill’s website said it regretted that it was unable to accept new booking inquiries.

It added: “Our existing clients with queries should telephone our client service department on 0845 460 6094.”

The company is described on its website as “family owned and established in 1957″.

Booking advice

It has a sales office in Paddington Central, London, while in Cardiff it has a client services team based at Llanishen and a retail centre in Rhiwbina.

One company no longer working with Gill’s is Carnival UK, which includes P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises and Seabourn Cruises.

Carnival UK’s sales and customer services director Giles Hawke said his company severed the agency relationship with Gill’s earlier in the week week because of increasing concerns about its financial position.

He added that if customers had booked a Carnival cruise with Gill’s their holiday was safe.

Rochelle Turner, head of research for Which? Travel, said the travel industry had been through some turbulent times over the past two years.

“Gill’s is the most recent in a long list of travel companies that have suffered as a result of the economic downturn,” she said.

“Fortunately for Gill’s customers, the majority of holidays booked were Atol-protected and people can expect to get their money back.”

The advice to anyone booking a holiday was to protect themselves in case the worse happened, she added.

“Look out for the Atol symbol or check that your travel insurance covers you if your travel company goes bust. Paying for your holiday on a credit card or Visa debit card may also offer you extra protection.”

Mr Hinton was formerly head of News International, the UK newspaper arm of Mr Murdoch’s empire

One of the most senior executives of Rupert Murdoch’s embattled News Corporation has reportedly quit.

Les Hinton, chief executive of the media group’s Dow Jones, is standing down, according to the Wall Street Journal newspaper.

Mr Hinton is the most senior executive to leave the conglomerate, which has been engulfed by a phone-hacking scandal.

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, also resigned on Friday.

Mr Hinton has worked for News Corp for more than half a century after joining the business as a teenage cub reporter with the Adelaide News in Australia.

He was formerly head of News International, the UK newspaper arm of Mr Murdoch’s empire, from 1995 to 2007, a period in which the News of the World was hacking phones.