The FBI has begun a preliminary inquiry based on concerns in the US Congress over a report that media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp sought to hack into the phones of September 11, 2001 victims, a law enforcement official said.

Irish company Wavebob Ltd has secured a grant of $2.4m (€1.83m) from the US Department of Energy to prepare for a commercial-scale wave energy demonstration project planned for US waters in 2013.

BP will today publish the findings of an investigation into the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster which led to the largest offshore spill in history.

Six-nation talks on Washington’s demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions ended today with no breakthrough, but envoys promised to discuss the ”first steps for de-nuclearisation” of the North before meeting again by the end of September.