The Sun-Times Media Group Inc. will suffer a US$8 million financial blow in the fourth quarter for job cuts at its flagship Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers.

The one-time, pre-tax charge largely comes from severance expenses for those employees, as the publishing group, formerly controlled by Conrad Black, takes measures to reduce annual operating costs by $50 million before June, Editor & Publisher reported Wednesday.

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Yahoo has been losing ground due to its rival Google as well as newcomers like Facebook, which take up more of online users’ time, a major factor eroding the company's financial results.

Yahoo yesterday reported its profit declined again. Jerry Yang, the co-founder and chief executive, acknowledged that the company needed a big shift in strategy. He also warned that there will be "headwinds" this year, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

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European media group Mecom will cut 80 positions at two of its regional newspapers in the Netherlands, in the southern province of Limburg, Newspaper Innovation reported Friday.

Dagblad de Limburger and the Limburgs Dagblad “are household brand names, with a readership of c200,000,” UK-based Mecom states on its Web site.

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As many as 16 advertising positions in the production and display of design ads at The News & Observer will be exported overseas, the Raleigh, North Carolina newspaper announced Thursday.

The News & Observer Publishing Company is working with Chicago company Affinity Express, which has production facilities in the Philippines and India, the Associated Press reported Friday.

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The Boston Globe will raise its newsstand price from 50 cents to 75 cents beginning Feb. 4, the newspaper announced Friday.

The price hike applies to newspapers sold in Greater Boston, as the daily Globe already costs 75 cents beyond 30 miles from the city.

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As it reorganises to better compete with Google Inc., Yahoo! Inc. will cut about 700 jobs, or five percent of its employees, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing “a person with knowledge of the plans.”

Reducing its employee numbers to about 14,000 could be announced Jan. 29, the same time it will report earnings, the news agency reported.

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The Chicago Sun-Times business editor resigned Thursday, telling his staff he anticipates the paper will be sold in just months, and would rather leave now than be laid off due to staff cuts in the future.

Dan Miller, 62, said he will stay with the paper and work on special projects until March. His announcement comes just two days after the Sun-Times debuted a smaller size just and days after the Sun Times Media Group began announcing newsroom layoffs in an effort to cut costs by $50 million.

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The Seattle Times Co. will lay off 17 non-newsroom employees at its flagship newspaper, the Seattle Times, and cut another 69 jobs through attrition, claiming it will save about $21 million, the newspaper announced Wednesday.

Vice President Jill Mackie said the Times will also reduce the newspaper's width by 1 inch in 2009 to save on newsprint, consolidate some weekday and Sunday features sections and stop publication of a Sunday tabloid news section for Southeast King County readers, which was launched in spring 2007.

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The Santa Barbara News-Press and its owner violated federal labour laws when it fired eight reporters for taking part in union activities, an administrative law judge has ruled, ordering the newspaper to rehire the former staffers.

The California newspaper's actions showed a “widespread, general disregard for the fundamental rights of the employees,” Judge William G. Kocol ruled last week, according to a Tuesday report by the Los Angeles Times. Kocol also ruled that the reporters are entitled to return to their positions with back pay.

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