UK's News of the World to close amid scandal

LONDON - A phone hacking scandal that brought down Britain's mass-circulation News of the World tabloid threatened to ensnare Prime Minister David Cameron with Friday's expected arrest of his former press chief.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch killed off the 168-year-old tabloid in a stunning move on Thursday as the spiraling phone hacking crisis threatened to infect the rest of his empire and taint the country's leader.

Andy Coulson, who resigned as editor of the paper when the hacking was proven to have occurred in 2007, was told by police that he was to be arrested on Friday over claims that he knew about the hacking or was directly involved, the Guardian said.