Britain's News of the World tabloid on Sunday publicly apologised to victims of phone hacking, as the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper sought to draw a line under the long-running scandal.
In an apology printed in its latest edition, the paper said it had admitted liability in some cases and planned to pay compensation from a fund being set up.
Referring to the victims, the News of the World said: "Here today, we publicly and unreservedly apologise to all such individuals."
"What happened to them should not have happened. It was and remains unacceptable," added the paper, in the piece on page two headlined "Voicemail interception: An apology".
The News of the World's public statement came after the paper's owner, News International, said sorry for phone hacking on Friday.
In Sunday's apology, the paper said that some people had taken action against the paper for breach of privacy over "wrongful voicemail interception" between 2004 and 2006, and others were threatening to do so.
"Evidence has recently come to light which supports some of these claims," it said.
"We hope to be able to pay appropriate compensation to all these individuals, and have asked our lawyers to set up a compensation scheme to deal with genuine claims fairly and efficiently," it added.
Actress Sienna Miller is believed to be among those offered settlements from the compensation fund which is reportedly worth around £20 million (ê33 million, 23 million euros).
But responding to News International's apology, Miller showed little sign of dropping ongoing legal action against the paper.
Her lawyer Mark Thomson insisted on Saturday the star's "primary concern is to discover the whole truth and for all those responsible to be held to account."
As well as Miller, former Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell and sports commentator Andy Gray are reported to be among those offered payoffs.
The News of the World's apology capped a turbulent week for one of Britain's most popular papers, in which the scandal of journalists at the paper illegally accessing phone voicemails to track down stories came to a head.
On Tuesday, the paper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and a former news editor Ian Edmondson were arrested on suspicion of having unlawfully intercepted mobile phone voicemail messages.
The controversy has dogged the paper -- and Australian-born media mogul Murdoch -- for the past few years.
In 2007, the initial police investigation into phone hacking led to the News of the World's royal correspondent Clive Goodman and a private investigator being jailed.
It emerged they had hacked into the mobile phone messages of Princes William and Harry to obtain information for use in stories.
The News of the World insisted then that Goodman and investigator Glenn Mulcaire were acting alone.
But a steady stream of fresh allegations and criticism of the original probe prompted London's Metropolitan Police to reopen their investigation in January.
That move came days after the tabloid's former editor, Andy Coulson, quit as head of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron.
Coulson had resigned as editor when Goodman was jailed but insisted he knew nothing of the phone hacking. He continues to deny wrongdoing, but said the continuing scandal was distracting him from his job with Cameron.
The fresh controversy comes at an awkward time for Murdoch, as his News Corp. -- the parent group of News International -- is poised to take full control of broadcaster BSkyB in the face of resistance from media rivals.
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