LONDON — The BBC has chosen a former head of its news division to lead the broadcaster as it struggles to recover from a child abuse scandal. Tony Hall, currently chief executive of the Royal Opera House, was announced as the BBC's new director general Thursday. Hall served as director of news for a decade before taking the Royal Opera post in 2001. He succeeds George Entwistle, who resigned on Nov. 10 after just 54 days as director general. The BBC has been shaken by controversy over a decision not to run a report that one of its former stars, Jimmy Savile, was an alleged serial sexual abuser of young women. It also aired a report falsely linking a politician to child sex abuse. — AP