McLEAN, Va. — USA Today, the highest circulation newspaper in the country and the flagship of industry leader Gannett Co., announced plans today to eliminate about 45 newsroom jobs. The job losses reflect a cut of almost 9 percent to a current newsroom staff of about 500, USA Today spokeswoman Alexandra Nicholson said. They will be scattered throughout news, money, sports and lifestyle sections...

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the suspended sentence of two months in prison passed by Casablanca court yesterday on AIC Press agency director Mourad Bourja for “disrespect for agent of the state in the exercise of his duties.” “Judicial harassment of the Moroccan press since the start of the year has dispelled any illusions about the government’s talk of a political opening,”...

Reporters Without Borders calls on the government to redouble its efforts to obtain the release of Birendra Shah, a journalist who was kidnapped in the Bara region on 5 October. “The authorities and the leaders of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) must do everything possible to ensure that Birendra Shah is rescued,” the organisation said. “The absence of any news about Shah is very...

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the prolonged detention of journalist Ata Farahat, who was arrested on 30 July and is being held in Al-Jalama prison (14 km southeast of Haifa). The organisation has been told he could be prosecuted for “collaborating with an enemy nation” but this has never been confirmed by the Israeli authorities. “Three months have gone by since Farahat’s arrest and we...

HARARE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe named a new board on Tuesday to consider an application to reopen the country's largest private newspaper, four years after it was banned. The government said it was replacing a commission which had rejected a licence application for Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe's (ANZ) Daily News and Daily News on Sunday, which have been critical of President Robert Mugabe...