United Kingdom, Newspaper | featured news

A British lawmaker said Thursday that he and 17 others have been awarded payouts over phone hacking by the News of the World newspaper.

James Murdoch has resigned from the boards of the companies that publish its British newspapers including the now-defunct News of the World tabloid at the center of the phone hacking sandal, regulatory filings show.

Actor Hugh Grant said Monday that he believes his phone was hacked by Britain's Mail on Sunday tabloid - the first time he has implicated a newspaper not owned by Rupert Murdoch in the wrongdoing.

The last edition of the News of the World hit stands Sunday morning, as Britain's best-selling newspaper shuts down in the face of a scandal over illegal eavesdropping and bribery.

Closing Britain's highest-selling newspaper, the 168-year-old News of the World, with just three days' notice in the wake of its phone-hacking scandal may feel like a nuclear option. In practice, it makes perfect commercial sense for Rupert Mudoch's News Corporation.