LONDON – Media mogul Rupert Murdoch resigned as a director of a number of News Corp. boards overseeing his Britain newspapers, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday. He also quit from some of the media company’s subsidiary boards in the United States.

Murdoch stepped down last week as a director of NI Group, Times Newspaper Holdings and News Corp. Investments in the U.K., said Daisy Dunlop, spokeswoman for News Corp.’s British arm, News International. The companies oversee the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times.

It was not immediately clear which of News Corp.’s U.S. boards Murdoch had left. Britain’s Telegraph newspaper, which first reported the news late Saturday, said those details had not yet been disclosed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

News International sought to play down the significance of the resignations, saying in a statement that “this is nothing more than a corporate housecleaning exercise prior to the company split.”

21 people burned walking on hot coals

Fire officials said 21 people at an event hosted by motivational speaker Tony Robbins suffered burns while walking across hot coals and three of the injured were treated at hospitals.

The injuries took place during the first day Thursday of a four-day event at the San Jose (Calif.) Convention Center hosted by Robbins called “Unleash the Power Within.” Most of those hurt had second- and third-degree burns, San Jose Fire Department Capt. Reggie Williams said.

Walking across hot coals on lanes measuring 10 feet long and heated to between 1,200 to 2,000 degrees provides attendees an opportunity to “understand that there is absolutely nothing you can’t overcome,” according to the motivational speaker’s website.

FBI believes missing Iowa girls still alive

Authorities searching for two missing Iowa cousins have information that leads them to believe both girls are still alive, an FBI spokeswoman said Saturday.

FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said authorities “feel strongly” that 10-year-old Lyric Cook-Morrissey and 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins have not been killed. She refused to say what led authorities to that conclusion, but urged anyone with information about their disappearance to contact law enforcement.

“We believe these girls are alive, and we are not discouraged by the passage of time since their disappearance,” Breault said.

Pope’s butler placed under house arrest

Pope Benedict XVI’s jailed butler was released from custody Saturday and placed under house arrest as a decision on whether to indict him neared. Paolo Gabriele was arrested May 23 on suspicion of stealing and leaking documents in a case that embarrassed the pope while exposing corruption, infighting and power struggles at the Vatican’s highest levels.

Gabriele has been allowed to return to his family home within the Vatican pending a decision on whether he will stand trial, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

Gabriele’s lawyers said Gabriele had fully cooperated with the investigation, and that they would be ready to face a trial in case of an indictment. They denied that he was part of any conspiracy.