Amid the breaking news this morning that Newscorp/News International/Rupert Murdoch are abandoning their takeover bid for BskyB, and with the growing firestorm surrounding the phone hacking scandal at the now-defunct News Of The World becoming something of a Perfect Storm, questions are now being raised if in fact Rupert Murdoch will survive this scandal and if he will abandon the UK as any place to continue his empire.

Bets are on he will, as he has done many times in the past. Whether his son James or his coveted, trusty assistant, confidant, whatever-she-is Rebekah Brooks will survive is another question. Odds are neither Rupert or James will be obliged to testify at the Home Affairs Select Committee Hearings, since neither are actual British Citizens (oh, that citizenship thing again), but Brooks will be since she is a British citizen, and it may make for very interesting theater on Tuesday (the day testimony is tentatively scheduled).

As of yesterday there were calls by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. Jay Rockefeller to begin hearings on Newscorps' possible violations here while stockholders in Delaware are making their discomfort known. It has also been mentioned by various sources there is a wave of gripping fear overtaking Fox News at the moment.

As was indicated last week when the bomb was dropped over the closing of News Of The World, the story is changing constantly and quickly. At the rate this is going, it may change again by Friday.

But for the moment, here is BBC Radio 4's PM Program with the latest as of this morning (afternoon in the UK).

Stay tuned.

Technical note: there is a portion of a 1989 interview with Murdoch missing. It was missing on the PM broadcast.