A petition calling for the UK’s three main party leaders to bring in a new press watchdog backed by law has attracted more than 56,000 signatures since being launched by high profile victims of media intrusion yesterday.

A major inquiry called for laws to underpin a tougher watchdog for Britain’s “outrageous” newspapers in a verdict that sets up prime minister David Cameron for a bruising political battle.

After an inquiry into press intrusion lasting more than year, Lord Justice Leveson today delivered a damning verdict on decades of “outrageous” behaviour by newspapers.

British prime minister David Cameron warned the newspaper regulation system is unacceptable, as he received a key judicial report into the Rupert Murdoch phone-hacking scandal.

Future regulation of the press should “err on the side of freedom”, British foreign secretary William Hague has warned, before Lord Justice Leveson’s eagerly anticipated reform proposals.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are said to be “saddened” by claims made by a French magazine that it will publish topless photographs of Kate today.

The press watchdog tonight said it would be “inappropriate” to open an investigation into the Sun’s publication of nude photos of Prince Harry.

Prince Harry resorted to a little finger wagging tonight to persuade one cheeky little boy not to bring up the subject of his naked romp in a Las Vegas hotel.

There have been 3,600 complaints to the press watchdog about naked photographs of Prince Harry published in the Sun.

Olympic superstar Usain Bolt ran rings around his opponents at London 2012 but can he tackle the hills of Donegal?

A wealthy businessman who sued after a tabloid made allegations about his involvement in a “sick Nazi orgy” called today for the creation of a press tribunal with powers to fine a newspaper group up to 10% of its turnover.

Ireland's Press Ombudsman has been called to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry next week.

Ireland’s Press Ombudsman has been called to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry next week.

The closeness of David Cameron’s links to the Murdoch media empire were further exposed today when it was revealed Rebekah Brooks told him they were “definitely in this together”.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown accused media tycoon Rupert Murdoch of misleading a government-sponsored inquiry into press ethics with incorrect testimony alleging Brown had threatened war against Murdoch’s company.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair today told an inquiry into press ethics that he found it difficult to be "objective" about the issue of media relations.

Julian Assange has claimed he has suffered from inaccurate and negative media coverage “possibly on a scale not seen since the abuse of the McCanns”.

The Sun on Sunday sold three million copies after it hit news stands across the country for the first time, Rupert Murdoch said.

Rupert Murdoch’s newest newspaper launched with a familiar mix of celebrity news, scantily clad women and defiant language.

The press watchdog felt it had been made a “scapegoat” over its handling of the phone-hacking scandal, the Leveson Inquiry heard today.

THE owner of the Daily Express and Daily Star said his newspapers were “scapegoated” for their coverage of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance.

A COALITION of women’s groups has called on the Leveson inquiry to widen its investigatory scope and include sexism and the negative portrayal of women in the British media.

Newspapers and magazines in the UK have agreed to two new rules in the Editors’ Code of Practice to “explode some popular fallacies about press self-regulation”, the editor of the Daily Mail said today.

Newspapers that engage in immoral behaviour to boost sales should be allowed to go to the wall, a Tory MP said today.

A former Daily Star journalist claimed today that he received threats and may have had his phone hacked after he quit the paper in protest at what he claimed was its anti-Muslim propaganda.

JK ROWLING described how journalists drove her out of her home and targeted her five-year-old daughter at school.

JK Rowling today told the UK's Leveson Inquiry that Britain's media watchdog the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) was “toothless” and journalists appeared “free to breach its code”.

Former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis was arrested today over phone hacking at the newspaper, sources said.

BRITAIN’S media watchdog said it will contact police to determine if phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World are relevant to whether News Corp would be a “fit and proper” owner of satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

As we analyse British media practices, a comparison with other countries’ methods is needed too, says Kate Holton

The British Prime Minister sounded the death knell of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) today.

The British Prime Miniser David Cameron has said a judge will be appointed to run an independent inquiry into how the News of the World phone hacking scandal was allowed to happen.

British Prime Minister David Cameron today promised action to “get to the bottom” of the phone hacking scandal but said it was not just about the press but about the police and “about how politics works too”.

A scandal uncovered five years ago today resulted in the demise of Britain’s best-selling newspaper after 168 years.

BRITISH police believe the News of the World hacked phones belonging to relatives of the victims of the July 7, 2005, bombings in London, it emerged last night.

News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks said today she was “appalled and shocked” by allegations that a private investigator working for the News of the World hacked into schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone after she went missing.

A TWITTER user has set up an account claiming to expose a series of celebrities and high-profile public figures who have obtained injunctions to prevent reporting about their private lives.

Lawyers for The Sun newspaper in the UK will ask for an injunction banning the identity of the well-known footballer at the centre of a controversial privacy ruling to be lifted, the newspaper said on its website.

KATE MIDDLETON’S family have contacted the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to raise their concerns following alleged “harassment” by photographers.

SCOTLAND YARD was battling to stop the phone hacking scandal spiralling out of control last night amid a storm of fresh revelations.

A complaint by Heather Mills that claims that Piers Morgan had introduced her to ex-husband Sir Paul McCartney were inaccurate has been rejected by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in the UK.

ENGLAND officials have been warned to sweep team venues for listening devices on a regular basis to avoid being bugged.

Allegations of phone tapping at Britain’s best-selling Sunday newspaper were dismissed today by the industry’s watchdog.

Police have received a complaint about an article written by newspaper columnist Jan Moir about the death of singer Stephen Gately, Scotland Yard said today.