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London - The final edition of Britain's best-selling newspaper, the News of the World, hit the newsstands on Sunday before being shut down over a damaging phone-hacking scandal.
"Thank you and goodbye," read the front-page of the tabloid as it saluted its readers for one last time.
"After 168 years, we finally say a sad but very proud farewell to our 7.5m loyal readers," it said in a closing issue that celebrated many of the scoops that had made it famous.
In what was expected to become a collector's item, the paper acknowledged that mistakes had been made.
"Quite simply, we lost our way. Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry."
At the same time, "when this outrage has been atoned, we hope history will eventually judge us on all our years," it said.
Meanwhile, News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the company that decided to shut the paper, was expected in London to address the outrage over an investigation that has revealed how 4,000 people had been subjected to illegal phone-hacking by investigators and News of the World journalists.
The scandal has also tarnished British Prime Minister David Cameron, who hired former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, one of the figures at the centre of the investigation.
The News of the World has been accused of intercepting not only the mobile phones of politicians and celebrities, but also of victims of horrific crimes, as well as the families of Britain's war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Advertisers deserted the paper in droves as the allegations emerged. Among others, investigators for the paper are accused of hacking into the phone of Milly Dowler, a teenager who was abducted and murdered in 2002, after she went missing.
It was alleged that investigators erased messages from the girl's voicemail, giving her parents the "false hope" that she was still alive.
In Britain, Australian-born Murdoch also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times. His current plan to take over full control of BSkyB, the British satellite broadcaster, has come under intense scrutiny in light of the scandal.
"Thank you and goodbye," read the front-page of the tabloid as it saluted its readers for one last time.
"After 168 years, we finally say a sad but very proud farewell to our 7.5m loyal readers," it said in a closing issue that celebrated many of the scoops that had made it famous.
In what was expected to become a collector's item, the paper acknowledged that mistakes had been made.
"Quite simply, we lost our way. Phones were hacked, and for that this newspaper is truly sorry."
At the same time, "when this outrage has been atoned, we hope history will eventually judge us on all our years," it said.
Meanwhile, News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of the company that decided to shut the paper, was expected in London to address the outrage over an investigation that has revealed how 4,000 people had been subjected to illegal phone-hacking by investigators and News of the World journalists.
The scandal has also tarnished British Prime Minister David Cameron, who hired former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, one of the figures at the centre of the investigation.
The News of the World has been accused of intercepting not only the mobile phones of politicians and celebrities, but also of victims of horrific crimes, as well as the families of Britain's war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Advertisers deserted the paper in droves as the allegations emerged. Among others, investigators for the paper are accused of hacking into the phone of Milly Dowler, a teenager who was abducted and murdered in 2002, after she went missing.
It was alleged that investigators erased messages from the girl's voicemail, giving her parents the "false hope" that she was still alive.
In Britain, Australian-born Murdoch also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times. His current plan to take over full control of BSkyB, the British satellite broadcaster, has come under intense scrutiny in light of the scandal.
