Her former spokesman, Tim Bell, said that the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher had died Monday morning of a stroke.

To her fervent admirers, battling Maggie was an icon, a national savior who ended Britain's post-World War II cycle of confrontation and decline — eclipsed as a 20th-century British leader only by Winston Churchill.

Her vehement critics, however, saw her as a bellicose figure at home and abroad, a destroyer of industries and, with it, a way of life.

She was a sharply divisive figure even within her Conservative Party, especially on the issue of European integration; the party declined into a bickering shambles after she fell from power.

Between 1979 and 1990, her governments sold a string of nationalized industries into private ownership, crushed the once-mighty labor unions, defeated Argentina in the Falkland Islands war and preached military readiness to the Western alliance.

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The long-simmering scandal has already led to scores of arrests and some criminal charges. Dozens of cases have been settled out of court after victims of press intrusion sued. Here are some of the cases the Leveson inquiry has investigated:

MILLY DOWLER

The 13-year-old girl was abducted and murdered in 2002. In July 2011, it was reported that employees of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid had hacked into her telephone while police were still searching for her, giving her parents false hope that she was alive. Her mother, Sally Dowler, told the inquiry that when she could again leave a message on her missing daughter's phone, she shouted: "She's picked up the voice mails! ... She's alive!" Outrage over this case prompted Prime Minister David Cameron to commission the Leveson inquiry.

KATE and GERRY McCANN

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Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news and current affairs, and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, have handed over their responsibilities to others for the time being "to address the lack of clarity around the editorial chain of command," the corporation said.

"Consideration is now being given to the extent to which individuals should be asked to account further for their actions and if appropriate, disciplinary action will be taken," the statement said.

The BBC, meanwhile, faced criticism for agreeing to a 450,000 pounds ($715,000) payoff - a year's salary - for George Entwistle, who resigned as director general on Saturday after a BBC news program bungled reports that powerful Britons sexually abused children.

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman on Monday criticized the payoff for Entwistle, who led the BBC for just 54 days.

"Clearly, it is hard to justify a sizeable payoff of that sort," spokesman Steve Field told reporters, but added it was for the BBC to justify the decision.

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In the first photographs released by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham since she arrived from Pakistan on Monday, Malala Yousafzai appeared with her eyes open and alert as she lay in a hospital bed.

It was a series of positive developments since the shooting, which was a brazen bid by the Taliban to silence the girl, who has been an outspoken advocate for girls' eduction rights.

Still, doctors said she shows signs of infection and faces a long, difficult recovery with uncertain prospects.

"She is not out of the woods yet," hospital medical director Dr. Dave Rosser said. "Having said that, she's doing very well. In fact, she was standing with some help for the first time this morning when I went in to see her."

He said Malala had agreed to the release of medical information and photos and that she wants to thank people throughout the world for their interest and support in the difficult days since she was gunned down in Pakistan.

He said her bullet wound has become infected.

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She was best known for her depictions of human relationships and their crises in such books as "Circle of Friends" and "Tara Road," based mainly in the small towns of Ireland but also in London.

"We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

The Irish Times, her former employer, told The Associated Press it had spoken to Binchy's family and said the acclaimed author had died in a Dublin hospital on Monday with her husband, Gordon Snell, by her side.

"She was an outstanding novelist, short story writer and columnist, who engaged millions of people all around the world with her fluent and accessible style," said Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins.

"In recent years she showed great courage and thankfully never lost her self-deprecating humor, honesty and remarkable integrity as an artist and human being," Higgins said.

Binchy wrote 16 novels, four collections of short stories, a play and a novella. Her work landed her on The New York Times' bestseller list and in Oprah's Book Club.

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She was best known for her depictions of human relationships and their crises, mainly in the small towns of Ireland but also in London.

"We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

The Irish Times, her former employer, told the AP it had spoken to Binchy's family and said the acclaimed author had died in a Dublin hospital on Monday with her husband Gordon Snell by her side.

"She was an outstanding novelist, short story writer and columnist, who engaged millions of people all around the world with her fluent and accessible style," said Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins.

"In recent years she showed great courage and thankfully never lost her self-deprecating humor, honesty and remarkable integrity as an artist and human being," Higgins said.

Binchy, author of "Circle of Friends" and "Tara Road," wrote 16 novels, four collections of short stories, a play and a novella. Her work landed her on The New York Times' bestseller list and in Oprah's Book Club.

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Murdoch had defended Brooks in the face of demands from politicians that she step down, and had previously refused to accept her resignation. He made an abrupt switch, however, as his News Corp. company struggled to contain a U.K. crisis that is threatening his entire global media empire.

Brooks was editor of the News of the World tabloid between 2000 and 2003, including the time when the paper's employees allegedly hacked into the telephone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler when police were searching for her. That has raised allegations of interfering in a police investigation.

That allegation last week provoked outrage far beyond previous revelations of snooping on celebrities, politicians and top athletes, and knocked billions off the value of News Corp. In quick succession, Murdoch closed the 168-year-old News of the World and abandoned his multibillion-pound attempt to take full control of the lucrative British Sky Broadcasting, while Prime Minister David Cameron appointed a judge to conduct a sweeping inquiry into criminal activity at the paper and in the British media.

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The chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport committee said it had issued summonses to the Murdochs but it was unclear if Rupert Murdoch could be compelled to testify because he is a U.S. citizen.

In a letter to the committee, James Murdoch, the chief of his father's European and Asian operations, offered to appear in August.

Rupert Murdoch said he would appear before a separate inquiry initiated by Prime Minister David Cameron and led by a judge, and was willing to discuss alternative ways of providing evidence to parliament.

News International chief Rebekah Brooks, a British citizen, said that she would appear Tuesday, chairman John Whittingdale said.

He said he especially wanted to question James Murdoch.

"He has stated that parliament has been misled by people in his employment," Whittingdale said. "We felt that to wait until August was unjustifiable."

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The fallout from a phone hacking and police bribery scandal at Murdoch's U.K. newspapers roiled unabated across Britain's political landscape Wednesday and grew near to striking its hardest blow yet at the media baron's global empire.

"There is a firestorm, if you like, that is engulfing parts of the media, parts of the police, and indeed our political system's ability to respond," Cameron said in the House of Commons. He said the focus must now be on the victims, and make sure that the guilty are prosecuted.

The Daily Mirror newspaper had claimed that some journalists had approached a private investigator in the U.S. to try to access the phone data of some of the victims of 9/11. Cameron told lawmakers Wednesday that he will look into the claims.

In an about-face, Cameron has put his party's weight behind an opposition Labour Party motion up for a vote Wednesday that declares that Murdoch's News Corp.'s bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting would not be in the national interest.

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Brown's furious denunciation of the politically powerful News International papers came a day after questions were raised about how The Sun newspaper obtained confidential information in 2006 that Brown's infant son Fraser had cystic fibrosis.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp., Brown said he and his wife Sarah were in tears after being informed by Rebekah Brooks, then the editor of The Sun and now the chief executive of News International, that the paper knew about his son's illness.

Brown also accused The Sunday Times of employing criminals to hack into his bank and tax records.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Brown had highlighted what "looks like yet another example of an appalling invasion of privacy and the hacking of personal data," and said he was determined that the current investigations would get to the bottom of it.

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Rupert Murdoch's media empire on Thursday shut down the 168-year-old muckraking tabloid, which has been engulfed by allegations its journalists paid police for information and hacked into the phone messages of celebrities, young murder victims and even the grieving families of dead soldiers. The revelations horrified both ordinary Britons and advertisers, who pulled their ads en masse.

London police said a 43-year-old man was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of corruption and "conspiring to intercept communications." They did not name him but offered the information when asked about Andy Coulson, Cameron's once-powerful aide and a former editor of News of the World.

The Press Association news agency reported that Clive Goodman, the former News of the World royal editor who served a jail term in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal aides, was re-arrested Friday on suspicion of making illegal payoffs to police for information.

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The Royal British Legion said that it was dropping the newspaper as a partner in campaigns related to veterans' issues and had suspended all other ties until the allegations are resolved.

The Legion said it was also reviewing its advertising in other News International papers, including The Times and The Sun.

The Legion acted after The Daily Telegraph reported that telephone numbers of relatives of dead military personnel had been found in files amassed by a detective formerly employed by the News of the World.

"We can't with any conscience campaign alongside News of the World on behalf of armed forces families while it stands accused of preying on these same families in the lowest depths of their misery," the Legion said.

"The hacking allegations have shocked us to the core."

The detective, Glenn Mulcaire, served a prison sentence after being convicted in 2007 of hacking voice messages in phones of the royal family.

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Prime Minister David Cameron called for inquiries into the News of the World's behavior as well as into the failure of the original police inquiry to uncover the latest allegations now emerging.

London's Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, confirmed they were investigating evidence from News International, parent of the tabloid, that some officers illegally accepted payments from the newspaper in return for information.

"It is absolutely disgusting what has taken place," Cameron said, speaking in the House of Commons shortly before the debate opened. However, he said any inquiry into the News of the World would have to wait until the police investigation is concluded.

News International, the British linchpin of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire, was under intense pressure following reports that its tabloid had hacked into the cell phone of missing 13-year-old Milly Dowler in 2002, deleting messages and giving her parents and police false hope that the girl was still alive.

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The oil company said its board would meet Monday evening, a day before it announces earnings for the second quarter.

"BP notes the press speculation over the weekend regarding potential changes to management and the charge for the costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP confirms that no final decision has been made on these matters," the company said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange.

Shares were up 2.2 percent at 407.6 pence ($6.31) in early trading in London.

British media reported over the weekend that Hayward was negotiating the terms of his departure ahead of its second quarter results announcement on Tuesday. A U.S. government official also said on condition of anonymity that Hayward is on his way out as CEO.

However, the Financial Times reported Monday that he was likely to stay on for two more months while BP continues work on drilling relief wells, seen as the permanent solution to the leak.

The BP board would have to approve a change in company leadership.

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AIG, which was rescued in a $182.5 billion bailout by the U.S. government in September 2008, will get $25 billion in cash -- $20 billion of that from a Prudential rights issue -- and $10.5 billion in new shares and securities for the sale of AIA Group Ltd.

The combined group will be the leading life insurer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, as well as the biggest foreign life insurer in China and India, Prudential said.

Prudential shares fell 11 percent to 535.5 pence on the London Stock Exchange following the announcement.

"Whilst in the longer term we can see the advantages of this audacious and opportunistic acquisition, on a 12 month view, we think that the shares will underperform," said Barrie Cornes, analyst at Panmure Gordon.

Prudential said it expected to complete the acquisition in the third quarter, subject to approval from regulators and shareholders.

"This transaction is hugely exciting and a one-off opportunity to transform the group," said Prudential CEO Tidjane Thiam.

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The board of Cadbury PLC, maker of Creme Eggs and Dentyne gum, gave up a four-month fight to remain independent and on Tuesday recommended shareholders take Kraft's offer of 840 pence ($13.78) per share, amounting to 11.9 billion pounds.

Cadbury shareholders would also get a 10 pence dividend previously promised by Cadbury.

The revised bid is for 500 pence cash and 0.1874 new Kraft shares for each Cadbury share, still somewhat less than some analysts believed the company is worth but 50 percent higher than Cadbury's market value before Kraft went public with its approach in September.

A previous offer of 10.5 billion pounds ($17.1 billion) valued Cadbury at about 770 pence, but was dismissed by Cadbury as "derisory."

Kraft Foods Inc., maker of Toblerone chocoloate, Velveeta processed cheese and Oreo cookies, still has to persuade a majority of Cadbury shareholders to accept the deal, and the door remains open until 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) Monday for The Hershey Co. to jump in with a rival bid.

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"He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor," Paul McCartney told reporters outside his London home. "He is really just my baby brother."

Ringo Starr said he would miss the band's lead guitarist "for his sense of love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter."

"George was a best friend of mine. I loved him very much and I will miss him greatly," he said in a statement from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Harrison was 13 when he befriended McCartney at their school in Liverpool, England, in 1956. McCartney introduced Harrison to John Lennon, and their friendship was the nucleus of the band that was finally completed with the addition of drummer Starr.

At Liverpool's town hall, the flag was lowered to half-staff Friday morning in tribute. Harrison, 58, died Thursday in Los Angeles after a long battle with cancer.

Gerry Scott, Liverpool's mayor, said Harrison was "a warm, peace-loving man who was more than just a talented musician."

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