Rebekah Brooks arrested by hacking police

Ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been arrested by police investigating phone hacking and bribery at the News of the World.

The 43-year-old was arrested by appointment at a London police station and remains in custody.

She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.

She quit News International on Friday as pressure mounted over her role in the deepening scandal.

Mrs Brooks was editor of the paper between 2000 and 2003, during which time the phone belonging to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler was tampered with.

BBC Business Editor Robert Peston said News International was not aware that Mrs Brooks would be arrested when her resignation was being discussed at the company on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. She eventually resigned on Friday.

The last edition of the News of the World has been published, its front page declaring: "Thank you & goodbye."

"Thank you & goodbye," proclaims the final front page, over a spread of memorable scoops exposing the frailties of sports and TV stars, politicians and royalty - the familiar formula that still attracted seven-and-a-half million readers.

This week it could be more. The paper has doubled its print run, calculating that more people will want to mark a moment in history than protest at the alleged phone-hacking of Milly Dowler and victims' relatives, which brought the paper's downfall.

This time last week, no-one could have foreseen that Britain's biggest-selling paper would today be published for the last time.

For Rupert Murdoch, it's a bitter blow, closing the newspaper which - when he bought it 42 years ago - laid the foundations of his media empire, and now threatens to do it serious damage.

News of the World to close amid hacking scandal

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."

Who, What, Why: Can phone hackers still access messages?

The News of the World phone hacking scandal has prompted an emergency debate in Parliament, but how were voicemails illicitly accessed and could it still happen?

When mobile phones were analogue, would-be snoopers could listen in using scanners. When mobile phones became digital, this option largely disappeared. But by then another way of snooping on people's private lives had presented itself - hacking into voicemail.  Mobile voicemail was introduced during the mid-1980s with users dialling a number, such as 121, to retrieve their messages. Because of poor network coverage, short battery life and people needing to listen to messages while abroad, mobile operators offered customers the chance to access messages remotely from another phone.

To do this customers would either ring their mobile number or a generic remote access number and, when they got through to a voicemail greeting, press a key such as * or # and enter a personal identification number (Pin).

For many years the mobile phones came with a default four-digit Pin such as 1234, 0000 or 3333. In theory customers were expected to change their Pin, but in practice very few people did so.

This presented tabloid journalists and private investigators with a golden opportunity. They could simply ring the number and if the caller didn't answer, enter the default Pin and access the person's messages.

"Security has been tightened but I don't think it's enough”

End Quote Carsten Maple Professor of applicable computing

Another ruse was to change the voicemail Pin from the default to prevent other journalists having access to it. Prominent hack victims were Sienna Miller, the publicist Max Clifford and Professional Footballers Association chief Gordon Taylor.

News of the World vows action on Milly phone hack claim

News International boss Rebekah Brooks has promised the "strongest possible action" if claims that the phone of Milly Dowler was hacked are proven.

Rebekah Brooks new international bos

It is alleged a private investigator working for the News of the World hacked into the voicemail of the murdered girl while she was missing.  In a memo to staff, Mrs Brooks called it "almost too horrific to believe".  MPs will hold an emergency debate on Wednesday on whether to hold a public inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.

"I have to tell you that I am sickened that these events are alleged to have happened," Mrs Brooks wrote.  "Not just because I was editor of the News of the World at the time, but if the accusations are true, the devastating effect on Milly Dowler's family is unforgivable."  She said that she had written to the Dowler family to assure them that the media group, which publishes the News of the World, would "vigorously pursue the truth and that they will be the first to be informed of the outcome of our investigation".  Her statement to News International staff added: "I hope that you all realise it is inconceivable that I knew - or worse - sanctioned these appalling allegations."