Hit by hacking scandal, Murdoch to close tabloid

LONDON: James Murdoch, chairman of News International, today announced the closure of ' News of the World', Britain's best-selling Sunday tabloid, following a ruckus over its news gathering practices that involved the illegal hacking of phones.

The sensational tabloid has been at the venture of controversy for some years, but public unease turned into anger with revelations that it commissioned a private investigator to hack messages left in mobiles of celebrities, victims of crime, and kin of soldiers killed in Iraq.

Published on Sunday, the forthcoming issue will be its last, James Murdoch, son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, said.

The tabloid's continuation had become untenable after several major advertisers suspended their insertions following the latest revelations.

Sky News, part of Murdoch's media empire in Britain, said income from the last edition of the tabloid on Sunday would be given to good causes.

Elsewhere, ministers, MPs and media managers scurried to deal with the phone-hacking scandal, as the police revealed that they were contacting as many as 4,000 people whose phone details were found in seized documents.

Public revulsion at the scandal increased today, the sixth anniversary of the July 7 London bombings, when it was revealed that the mobile phones of the victims were also targeted for hacking by a private investigator commissioned by the tabloid for information to be used in stories.

A growing number of companies have decided to suspend their advertising to the tabloid, including Ford, Vauxhall, Mitsubishi, the Co-op, Lloyds, Virgin Holidays and Npower.