Sunday’s edition of News Of The World will be the last edition of the paper, News International chairman James Murdoch has announced.
The announcement follows a week of revelations about the News Of The World's illegal phone hacking activity.
The NOTW allegedly hacked into the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and a parent of one of the Soham murder victims, as well as relatives of military killed in Afghanistan.
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Police officers are believed to be trawling through 11,000 of documents in their inquiries. It was also reported today that there are 4000 potential victims of phone hacking relating to News Of the Worlds activities.
In his statement Murdoch revealed that “all of the News of the World's revenue this weekend will go to good causes.”
“While we may never be able to make up for distress that has been caused, the right thing to do is for every penny of the circulation revenue we receive this weekend to go to organisations – many of whom are long-term friends and partners – that improve life in Britain and are devoted to treating others with dignity,” he continued
"We will run no commercial advertisements this weekend. Any advertising space in this last edition will be donated to causes and charities that wish to expose their good works to our millions of readers."
"These are strong measures. They are made humbly and out of respect. I am convinced they are the right thing to do."
Once the pride of News International, NOTW has been haemmoraging advertising dollars in recent days.
The News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks appears to have retained the backing of Rupert Murdoch despite calls for her to resign.
Reactions on Twitter have been cynical, suggesting that the paper will simply rebrand, or that The Sun – also owned by New International – will begin putting out a Sunday edition.
“Sorry to hear about the death of the news of the world. I'm off to hack into the phones of it's relatives to hear how they're coping,” tweeted tomosp.
“Wow. #notw to close. That's the nuclear option. So Brooks keeps her job while everyone at NOTW loses theirs?” writes jemimakiss.
“Oh, no-one's losing any jobs, no-one's being held responsible for anything at all, they're JUST CHANGING THE MASTHEAD. #notw,” says jonnymorris1973.
“Ok, so we re-brand #NOTW as Sunday Sun, Brookes stays, Murdoch washes his hands and James inherits as planned. NOTHING'S CHANGED HERE,” says MitchBenn.
However, former Guardian editor Peter Preston pointed out to the BBC that even if The Sun could produce a Sunday paper, its readership is significantly different to the News of The World and News International will experience serious losses.
