BBC News with Iain Purdon
Britain's top police officer Sir Paul Stephenson has resigned, the latest casualty in the scandal over phone hacking and alleged corruption by journalists at Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group. Sir Paul said he was stepping down because of associations about the links between the police and Rupert Murdoch's News International media group. He denies any wrongdoing. Naomi Grimley reports.
Sir Paul Stephenson is just the latest high-profile casualty of this scandal. As commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, he was having to
field
difficult questions about his force's failure to
uncover
the true extent of wrongdoing at the News of the World. And he personally had been under pressure to explain his force's links with a public relations company run by a former journalist at the newspaper. In a statement announcing his resignation, Sir Paul defended his own conduct, but said he was going because the scandal was becoming a
distraction
.
Earlier, Rebekah Brooks, formerly one of Mr Murdoch's most senior executives, was arrested in London
on suspicion of
phone hacking and corruption.
Police in Afghanistan say a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai has been killed in an attack on his home in the capital Kabul. The adviser, Jan Mohammad Khan, was a former provincial governor. Earlier, Afghan security forces took over control of security in the province of Bamiyan from Nato troops, the first transition of its kind. Sanjoy Majumder reports from Kabul.