Toxic Brand

Journalists putting together the final edition of the News of the World for Sunday had an emotional,sometimes angry,meeting with Rebekah Brooks,who told them,according to a staffer who was present,that the title had become toxic.

But the 43-year-old,whose mane of red hair,sharp wit and seemingly charmed relationship with Murdoch have long made her an object of fascination for fellow tabloid journalists,made clear she was staying on to manage News International.

Brooks denied the company,which many assume will fill the gap left by the News of the World by extending publication of its Sun daily to Sundays,was combining a cost-saving measure with a bid to remove a threat to its expansion in television.