This Sunday's edition of the News of the World will be its last, News International chairman James Murdoch has said, after days of increasingly damaging allegations against the paper. The 168-year-old tabloid is accused of hacking into the mobile phones of crime victims, celebrities and politicians.
On Thursday, the Met Police said it was seeking to contact 4,000 possible targets named in seized documents. Its editor Colin Myler said it was "the saddest day of my professional career". He added that "nothing should diminish everything this great newspaper has achieved". The News of the World, which sells about 2.8million copies a week, is famed for its celebrity scoops and sex scandals, earning it the nickname, the News of the Screws.
Downing Street has said it had no role or involvement in the decision to close. Mr Murdoch said no advertisements would run in this weekend's paper - instead any advertising space would be donated to charities and good causes, and proceeds from sales would also go to good causes. News International has refused to comment on rumours that the Sun could now become a seven-day-a-week operation.
"What happens to the Sun is a matter for the future," a spokeswoman for News International said. The Sun, another News International tabloid, is currently published from Monday to Saturday. The spokeswoman also refused to say whether the 200 or so employees at the paper would be made redundant, saying: "They will be invited to apply for other jobs in the company."
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