News of the World, the tabloid discredited by an ongoing phone hacking scandal, will be closed, it was announced, while Andy Coulson, its former editor and subsequently the British government's spokesman, was detained by the police.

The arrest of Andy Coulson came shortly after Cameron told a press conference that he took "full responsibility" for hiring the former editor of the Sunday newspaper.

The 168-year-old News of the World tabloid will be closed by its owner, News Corporation, after this Sunday's edition due to allegations that its journalists tapped the voice mails of murder victims and paid police officers for stories.

British Prime Minister, James Cameron, has declared that James Murdoch, the head of News Corporation's Europe and Asia operations, has questions to answer from the police over his role in the phone-hacking affair and subsequent cover-up, The Guardian reports.