Rupert Murdoch, chairman and CEO of New York-based News Corp., has built a fortune on the scandals of others. Now, at age 80, Murdoch finds himself at the center of his own ever-widening scandal, one that threatens his hold on the billion global media empire he started building in Perth, Australia, a half-century ago. Allegations that journalists working for Murdoch’s publications illegally hacked into the phones of the British royal family, celebrities and ordinary citizens are driving a series of government inquiries into Murdoch’s business operations and his newspapers’ relations with politicians and police. Murdoch and his son James, who heads the company’s British subsidiary, News International, were summoned to appear before a committee of Parliament on Monday to answer for the behavior of the company’s news operations. “This is the most humble day of my life,” Murdoch told the Parliamentary panel.…