BBC newsie now in hiding

Serb activist calls in death threats, claims Dando murder

By ERICH BOEHM

LONDON -- BBC news chief Tony Hall has been forced into hiding under police guard after receiving death threats.

A person claiming to be a Serbian activist called the BBC claiming to be responsible for the murder earlier this week of BBC presenter Jill Dando, and saying that Hall would be "next."

The caller claimed that Dando's killing, and the targeting of Hall, were reprisals for NATO's attacks on the Serbian national TV company. Hall is chief executive of BBC News, and one of the leading candidates to become the pubcaster's director general when John Birt steps down next year.