Detectives investigating allegations of phone hacking by the News of The World have arrested two men - the news editor and the senior reporter.

The pair, aged 50 and 42, were held on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages.

They were arrested when they called at separate police stations in south west London this morning.

They are the first arrests since the Metropolitan Police reopened its inquiry into claims that staff at the top-selling Sunday newspaper hacked into the answerphone messages of celebrities and politicians.

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