Police drop bid to force paper to reveal phone-hacking sources

Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger: "We're happy that good sense has prevailed."The Metropolitan Police say there was no intention to target journalistsThe Guardian's editor: "We're happy that good sense has prevailed"The newspaper has taken a lead in reporting on the phone hacking claims

London (CNN) -- Police in London dropped their bid Tuesday to force The Guardian newspaper to reveal confidential sources who provided information on the phone-hacking scandal.

After taking legal advice, the Metropolitan Police Service said it decided "not to pursue, at this time, the application for production orders" against the paper and one of its reporters. A hearing had been scheduled for Friday.

"This investigation ... has always been about establishing whether a police officer has leaked information, and gathering any evidence that proves or disproves that. Despite recent media reports there was no intention to target journalists or disregard journalists' obligations to protect their sources," police said in a statement.

News International to settle in hacking scandal

The Guardian has taken a lead in reporting on the scandal around alleged phone hacking at the News of the World newspaper, which may have affected scores of celebrities, politicians and victims of crime.

In a story posted on its website Tuesday, the newspaper cheered the decision to withdraw the "ill-judged order."

"We would have fought this assault on public interest journalism all the way. We're happy that good sense has prevailed," the paper quoted its editor, Alan Rusbridger, as saying.

News of the World was shuttered in July amid public outrage that followed the Guardian's July 4 accusation that the voice mail of missing teenager Milly Dowler, later found murdered, was hacked by the paper's reporters.

Far-reaching tentacles of the hacking scandal

More than a dozen people have been arrested and bailed so far in the course of the Metropolitan Police investigation into the allegations, codenamed Operation Weeting. A second inquiry is looking at claims that police were bribed.

The phone-hacking scandal has forced two top police officers to resign and put Prime Minister David Cameron under pressure for hiring another former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, to be his spokesman. Coulson resigned from that job earlier this year.

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Fourth missing miner found dead, Wales police say

Police direct emergency vehicles at a cordon as rescue workers try to rescue four Welsh miners.STORY HIGHLIGHTSRescuers locate the body of the fourth and final man missing in a Wales coal mineThe mine flooded on ThursdayAll four bodies have been recovered; three other miners escaped

LONDON (CNN) -- The search for missing workers in a flooded Wales coal mine ended tragically Friday as rescuers discovered the fourth and final man's body, South Wales police said.

Authorities identified the men as Phillip Hill, 45, from Neath; and Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, and Garry Jenkins, 39, all from the Swansea Valley.

Searchers have recovered all of the bodies, police said.

Three other miners escaped Thursday after water rushed into the area where the men were working, apparently after they broke through to a neighboring abandoned mine, Rescue Officer Andrew Watson said. One of the surviving miners was hospitalized. His condition was not immediately known.

First Minister Carwyn Jones, who leads the Welsh government, paid tribute to the efforts of rescue workers and families of the miners before the discovery of the fourth was announced.

"My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with all of the families as this horrifying news filters through," he said.

"The people of Wales, and indeed people across the world stand together in solidarity with the families through this terrible tragedy."

The British government will carry out a full investigation into the incident, Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan said in a statement released Friday.

As of June 2011, 1,500 people in Wales worked in the mining industry. according to government figures.

In a drift mine like the one where the men were trapped, coal is excavated from the side of a hill using shafts that are almost horizontal.

CNN's Laura Perez Maestro and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.

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