Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks are to be charged with perverting the course of justice during the phone-hacking scandal.
Mr and Mrs Brooks said: "We deplore this weak and unjust decision.
"After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station."
The decision from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service comes days after Mrs Brooks lifted the lid about her close relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron as she gave evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards.
Mr Cameron had a habit of signing off texts "lots of love" to Mrs Brooks, and sent her a message urging her to "keep your head up" when she resigned over the phone-hacking scandal.
Mrs Brooks became News of the World editor in 2000 aged 31, landed the top job at The Sun in 2003 and was appointed chief executive of News International in 2009 before quitting in July 2011.
Days later she was arrested over alleged phone-hacking and corruption offences for which she remains on bail without charge.
She was arrested again in March in connection with the separate perverting the course of justice allegation, with her husband and four others.
Mr Brooks, who has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph as well as writing a novel entitled Citizen, met his wife at a party with Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
Mrs Brooks's former PA Cheryl Carter, the company's head of security Mark Hanna, News International chauffeur Paul Edwards and security consultant Daryl Jorsling have also been told they will face charges.
The charges relate to one of five files, totalling at least 20 suspects, being considered by the director of public prosecutions.
The pair were arrested at their home at 6am and are being questioned at a central London police station.
Police said today's operation was sparked by information supplied by News Corporation's management standards committee (MSC), which was set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that led to the closure of the News of the World last July.
The MSC is carrying out internal investigations relating to Rupert Murdoch's remaining UK papers - The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times - and is working closely with the detectives investigating alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to police and other public officials.
Scotland Yard said in a statement: "Today's arrests are the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management standards committee.”
Police launched Operation Weeting, the inquiry devoted specifically to phone hacking, after receiving "significant new information" from News International on 26 January last year.
The scandal has already led to the closure of the News of the World after 168 years.
