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  A News of the World sign is seen by an entrance to a News International building in London, Wednesday, July 6, 2011. Britain's tabloid phone hacking scandal dominated the airways Wednesday as it swelled to allegedly involve more missing schoolgirls and the families of London terror victims. News International, the British linchpin of Rupert Murdoch's global News Corp. media empire, was under intense pressure due to its News of the World tabloid, which has admitted hacking into the phones of celebrities but now stands accused of possibly interfering with police investigations into missing girls who were found murdered. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) LONDON (AP)--News International says it is shutting down the News of the World tabloid that is at the center of Britain's phone hacking scandal. James Murdoch, who heads the newspaper's European operations, says the 168-year-old newspaper will publish its last edition Sunday. The scandal has cost the paper prestige and prompted dozens of companies to pull their ads. The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid is accused of hacking into the cell phone messages of victims ranging from missing schoolgirls to grieving families, celebrities, royals and politicians in a quest for attention-grabbing headlines. Police say they are examining 4,000 names of people who may have been targeted by the paper. The Sunday-only newspaper has acknowledged that it hacked into the phones of politicians, celebrities and royal aides, but in recent days the allegations have expanded to take in the phones of missing children, the relatives of terrorist victims and families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan. James Murdoch said if the allegations were true, "it was inhuman and has no place in our company." "Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad," he said, "and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued." Lawmakers, advertisers and outraged citizens turned up the heat on News of the World as more accusations surfaced Wednesday of possible hacking attempts by the paper into cellphones belonging to the relatives of victims of criminal and terrorist attacks. Prime Minister David Cameron backed calls for public inquiries into the reporting practices and ethics of journalists at the News of the World and into why a previous police investigation failed to uncover the allegations now emerging. But those inquiries would have to wait until the current police investigation is completed, Cameron said. The British leader expressed revulsion at the possibility that a private investigator hired by the tabloid had targeted the phones of family members of three murdered English schoolgirls and victims of the 2005 suicide attacks on the London transport system, which killed 52 people six years ago Thursday. Previously, the hacking allegations had centered on the cellphones of movie stars, athletes and other famous figures. "We are no longer talking here about politicians and celebrities. We are talking about murder victims, potentially terrorist victims, having their phones hacked into. It is absolutely disgusting," Cameron told Parliament, which convened a three-hour emergency debate on the issue.

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