The newspaper business is booming in much of the world, as new newspapers are springing up in developing countries, gaining both readers and advertising money, the International Herald Tribune reported Monday.

Despite difficulty in the newspaper industry in North America and Europe, circulation is rising in the double-digits at existing newspapers in Africa and much Asia, and new newspapers “are springing up from Rwanda to Tajikistan,” the IHT article states.

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As part of a newsroom reorganization, the London Evening will be putting an end to the position of media correspondent, the Guardian reported Monday.

Amar Singh, the last to hold the position, started at the paper in 2005, and has been promoted to senior reporter as the media role was axed.

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Facebook has raised US$100 million (£51 million) to expand its server capacity in order to deal with an explosive growing numbers of users.

The social networking site is borrowing $100 million from the venture loan company TriplePoint Capital to finance the plan, Media Guardian reported.

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Seoul's first free afternoon paper celebrated its first year in business last week, Newspaper Innovation reported Thursday.

The City has a circulation of 400,000, while total circulation of free newspapers in Seoul is about two million.

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As the economic outlook for advertising remains uncertain, Trinity Mirror Plc announced it will remain cautious, but predicts its performance for the year will not change from previous forecasts, Reuters reported Thursday.

The British newspaper publisher stated it is still poised to deliver £7 million in cost savings by the end of 2008.

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Sir Paul McCartney will give away his latest album with editions of the Mail on Sunday, Gigwise.com reported Tuesday.

The Beatle alum's album, “Memory Almost Full,” will be free with the May 18th edition of the newspaper. It was released on Starbucks' Hear Music label last year.

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MediaNews group, a newspaper company that publishes 57 U.S. dailies, has outsourced its customer care to a Philippines-based company, APAC, according to a company statement Saturday.

Joseph Santiago, chairman of the House committee on information and communications technology, said the decision will push MediaNews’ rivals to do the same in order to stay economically competitive.

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Dutch citizen photojournalism Web site Skoeps will be closing down, after being unsuccessful at finding a sustainable business model, Reuters reported Friday.

Skoeps is owned by Dutch media groups PCM Uitgevers and Talpa Media, and has 7,500 registered users.

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New media became increasingly necessary to Americans from 2002 to 2007, while traditional media forms lost ground, according to a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey.

According to the latest survey in 2007, more than half of respondents said they could not live without their mobile phones, followed by 45 percent who say they couldn't give up the Internet. The Blackberry/wireless e-mail devices category, though only picked by 36 percent, has grown six-fold since 2002.

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The Times has become the latest British paper to offer readers a prepaid payment card, a trend started by the Daily Mirror, the Guardian reported.

The Times MasterCard prepaid card and "eccount" was launched by Tuxedo Money Solutions, which provided a similar services for The Sun and News of the World since last year.

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STAR India, a subsidiary of STAR Hong Kong owned by News Corp., is exploring the possibilities of getting into the print media market in India, the Business Standard reported.

Last week, top STAR executives met in Bangalore to discuss possible joint venture partners for the print foray.

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Parent company of The Dallas Morning News, A.H. Belo Corporation, reported a US$8.7 million loss in its first quarter as an independent firm, The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

During the period from January to March, A.H. Belo also saw revenue slide nine percent from the same quarter the year before, to $160.2 million.

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Ring launched last week in Bucharest, making itself Romania's second freesheet, Media Details reported.

The free daily has a print run of 50,000 copies, and is handed out through a street delivery network and at subway stations.

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The Financial Times will on Tuesday launch a Middle East regional edition, which will be based in the United Arab Emirates, the Guardian reported Monday.

Every Tuesday and Thursday there will be page dedicated to the Middle East, and the new regional edition will feature a new masthead specific to the edition.

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Trinity Mirror will shut down eight loss-making free weekly newspapers in Derby and Peterborough, including the Peterborough Herald and Post and the Derby Trader, the Guardian reported Thursday.

When the company’s offices in Derby and Peterborough close, 23 employees, including six in editorial, will be made redundant.

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