AUSTRALIA

Paper Used by Murdoch to Launch Empire Closes: The Adelaide News, Australia’s last afternoon daily and the launch pad for press baron Rupert Murdoch, closed Friday after years of financial problems. The newspaper was a victim of a recession that has hit advertising and readership, news editor Tony Baker said. The Australian Journalists Assn. said 140 employees will lose their jobs. The News, which had a circulation of 112,000, was established in 1923. Sir Keith Murdoch, father of the media magnate, bought a major personal stake in 1952. Rupert Murdoch joined the newspaper as a 23-year-old cub reporter in 1953. He became managing director in 1959, using the newspaper as the first step in building his worldwide publishing empire, News Corporation.