First Sun on Sunday to be printed next weekend: News Int

LONDON: A new Sunday edition of Rupert Murdoch's top-selling British tabloid The Sun will hit the shelves this weekend, the paper said, seven months after the closure of its scandal-ridden sister title.

"Rupert Murdoch said during his visit on Friday that a new Sunday title would be published 'very soon' - and that is a week from today," said an internal memo sent to staff at the company on Sunday.

Murdoch visited News International's London offices on Friday to announce the launch of the Sunday edition and to promise demoralised staff he would stand by them despite the arrest of senior reporters over bribery claims.

The media tycoon said he would extend his stay in Britain "to oversee the launch" of the new publication.

The Sun's online version on Sunday confirmed next week's launch.

"Forty-three years ago when Rupert Murdoch first launched a new-look Sun, we promised that YOU, our readers, would be at the heart of all we do," said the paper.

"Now we are answering your clamour for a Sunday edition of the nation's favourite paper.

"You told us it could not come soon enough, and next weekend the historic new edition of The Sun will rise," it added.

Murdoch earlier stressed that a criminal investigation into claims that journalists paid police and other public officials for information would not cause The Sun to suffer the same fate as its sister paper, the News of the World. (AFP)