The Sun on Sunday will be launched next weekend as the successor to the defunct News of the World, which was closed down last July following revelations of phone hacking at the tabloid.

In an email that acknowledged the parent company's past wrongdoing but also struck a defiant tone, staff were told the launch date by News International's chief executive, Tom Mockridge.

He said that Rupert Murdoch, who told staff at the Sun's Wapping headquarters on Friday that a new Sunday newspaper would be coming out "very soon", will remain in London to oversee the publication of the new title, which is expected to be a seventh day of the Sun rather than a separate, standalone newspaper.

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