Al Jazeera hires CNN’s Newman

Lucia Newman, CNN’s first and only correspondent based in Havana, has jumped to the new Al Jazeera International network, which plans to begin operations later this spring.

Newman will be based in Al Jazeera’s bureau in Buenos Aires. Journalist Mariana Sanchez, a former news anchor for Panamericana Television, will also work for Al Jazeera International in a Caracas, Venezuela, bureau, the network said Wednesday.

The English-language network, which expects to premiere in late May, will be an offshoot of Al Jazeera, the influential Arabic network that has come under fire from the Bush administration. As yet, no U.S.-based cable or satellite company has said it will carry Al Jazeera International.