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Kidnapped Irish priest freed in Philippines

• Missionary was abducted from gated compound
• No ransom paid for release of 79-year-old priest

An elderly Irish priest kidnapped and held captive in the Philippines has been released, it has been revealed tonight.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin confirmed Fr Michael Sinnott has been freed.

The missionary was abducted from his gated compound in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao on October 11.

Sinnott, 79, from Barntown in Co Wexford, has a serious heart condition and has been taken to a centre for a medical check-up.

Irish foreign affairs minister Michael Martin said no ransom had been paid for the release of the priest, who is a member of the Missionaries of St Columban.

"I am personally delighted and relieved to relay the news that Fr Michael Sinnott has been freed by his captives and handed over to the Philippine authorities," said Martin.

"The release of Fr Michael represents the successful conclusion of a major diplomatic effort by the Irish and Philippine governments.

"As in previous kidnaps, no ransom was paid by the Irish government. To do so would only have jeopardised the vital work of aid workers and missionaries around the world - it would also place other Irish citizens in danger."

Sinnott was seized by six gunmen from his gated compound in Pagadian City, on the southern island of Mindanao.

The raiders reportedly duped staff at Columban House, home to 47 missionaries, to gain entry and captured the priest as he was strolling around the gardens.

He had spent the past four years running a school for children with hearing difficulties. He has lived in the Philippines since 1976.

Shortly after Sinnott's capture, Philippine troops and navy gunboats had tried to encircle the kidnappers to pressure them to release him.

At the start of November the kidnappers released a video in which Sinnott said $2m (€1.36m) must be paid for his release.

Gordon Brown pledges new limits on migrants

Migrant workers will only fill jobs temporarily in parts of the economy where there are labour shortages, says PM

Gordon Brown will intervene in the critical issue of immigration, using a major speech tomorrow to promise that migrant workers will only be used to fill jobs temporarily in parts of the economy where there are labour shortages.

He will make it a requirement that government-sanctioned training schemes are created to ensure that unskilled British workers can ultimately take on the jobs in sectors where there are genuine skills shortages, such as catering, supply teaching or some skilled medical and engineering jobs.

The speech will be seen as an effort to give meaning to his promise of "British jobs for British workers". His intervention follows private polling conducted during the summer by the Unite trade union showing that immigration is the single biggest issue leading natural Labour voters to defect either to the more extreme parties, such as the British National party, or into refusing to vote at all.

Ministers have acknowledged that they have ceded ground to the BNP either by not talking about immigration or by not confronting the BNP's true politics.

The issue is likely to become more potent as unemployment increases and the Conservatives claim the number of migrants in the UK is the result of a deliberate government strategy to create a multicultural Britain.

Brown has not made a significant speech on immigration since he became prime minister and tomorrow's speech is seen by some ministers close to the issue as belated, if welcome. Brown has also been accused of coming late to the issue of antisocial behaviour.

Earlier this week Alan Johnson, the home secretary, said: "People think we have shied away from a debate on immigration. They may well be right.

"The public deserves a rational debate on this, rather than what they sometimes get, which is at the extreme end of the scale."

The prime minister, in his speech, will again reject Tory proposals for an annual cap on immigrants, arguing that the policy is unworkable and cannot be implemented due to the free movement of workers inside the EU.

Ministers also claim the flexibility inherent in the government's points system introduced in 2008 allows the government to raise or lower the bar on who can be allowed into the UK, in effect having the same impact as an annual quota.

Brown will also propose a tightening of the "labour market test" that allows employers to recruit migrants from outside the settled workforce for a skilled job only if they can show no suitably qualified settled worker can fill the job.

Under the test, a job vacancy must also be advertised for two weeks before a migrant can be recruited. The prime minister will say that in future the job will have to be advertised for a month. Brown will also highlight the government's decision to require employers to set up accredited skills training schemes in any areas of the economy where there is a shortage of skills requiring employers to recruit from abroad. In an effort to take the heat out of the argument, he will say there has been a 44% fall in net immigration over the last year, and as a result of the points system the number of people who can enter Britain for work without skills has been reduced.

The Migration Advisory Committee, a government advisory body, said in a report last week that the number of people in the government's skills shortage list had fallen in a year from 700,000 to 500,000. That represented less than 2% of all employees. The committee also found: "Net immigration for work-related reasons has fallen throughout 2008, and a net outflow of all nationalities migrating for work reasons was recorded in the year to December 2008."

The controversy has deepened in recent weeks owing to the Office of National Statistics projecting a population increase of 10.4 million to 71.6 million by 2033. Of this 10.4 million, the contribution of immigration, directly or in the form of new births, would be 7 million.

Labour plans 'John Lewis' services

Partnership model would let staff and users control schools and hospitals

Hospitals and schools would be transformed into John Lewis-style partnerships under radical plans that could form a central plank of Labour's general election manifesto.

Public sector bodies, which would also include leisure centres, housing organisations and social care providers, would be allowed to take control of their own affairs if staff and users voted in favour.

According to a senior adviser, the government wants to rescuscitate some of the ways services were run before 1945 when local communities were far more involved.

News of the Labour plan comes after David Cameron delivered a speech outlining his vision of the public sector in which control of public services would be devolved to local groups and charities.

Labour's ideas raise the prospect that teachers and parents could have a direct input into the running of their schools, while nurses and patients could be involved in the way hospitals and trusts are governed, bringing a greater degree of mutualism to healthcare than is currently the case in the already notionally mutual Foundation Trust and a more ambitious format for education than the 200 Co-op schools Ed Balls is currently calling for.

As well as being a return to Labour principles, it may also help the public to come to terms with some of the difficulties of providing care at a time when the population is ageing and services are expensive.

The idea also chimes with a mood for a different model for running big organisations, part of the backlash against the culture of irresponsible risk-taking that led to the financial crisis.

Government advisers point out that successful mutuals already see a 4%-to- 5% increase in their productivity – with employee-owners more prepared to whistleblow on the poor performance of staff – at a time of straitened spending on public services.

Labour strategists are anxious to make public the party's own ideas for devolving power after Cameron's speech in which he said he wanted to encourage the spirit of community by helping parents form new schools and attend police beat meetings.

Cameron also said the Tories were intent on rolling back the state to encourage community groups, cutting to the bone the services local councils provide in what is being called the "easyCouncil" model after the no-frills easyJet airline.

The proposals from both parties are likely to form one of the major battlegrounds in next year's election and define the landscape of public services over the next decade.

The Tories are also considering adopting mutuals as a way of running public services. They announced last week that they want to create employee partnership models within the NHS to improve staff engagement and patient care.

Labour strategists want it known that they are also working on detailed mechanisms to pare back the role of the state, but with safeguards. A senior Labour source said: "We are not going to concede the territory of community action and the battle against inequality to the Tories – we are reclaiming the mutual tradition for Labour."

Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for the Cabinet Office, who is championing the ideas in government, said: "Public service reform has been on a long journey over 10 years. The next stage of reform has to capture the needs and wishes of those who use public services, for them to become more reactive, sensitive and empathetic. We think mutuals have a much broader potential across the public sector, especially now where they can become an expression of the new national soul post-credit crunch."

A senior official involved in drafting the manifesto said: "We have recognised the limits of both the state and markets in the light of the lessons learned from the crisis in the financial sector. We need to explore the space around voluntary and community provision and social enterprise: more bottom-up, greater devolution of power but within a clear framework of funding and guarantees for the individual citizen."

The official said this marked out "clear territory" from the Conservatives, who would not commit themselves to the funding required to stimulate a new wave of social enterprises, "and who do not believe in an approach to performance management that will help to secure good outcomes for the public".

The government is consulting about giving tax breaks that encourage people to set up and run social enterprises and giving them new powers to raise finance such as local bonds.

It also wants to allow city academies to become mutuals owned by and run for the community, as the Co-op is already involved in specialist schools. Labour would also change how inspectorates, including the National Audit Office, work so that social enterprises are encouraged and treated fairly.

This builds on a recent government initiative to give to NHS nurses the right to run their own practice. Officials hold up as an example the organisation of the health provider Central Surrey Health.

Police hunt jars in US sex abuse case

• Five members of same family held in Missouri
• Alleged victims say they buried jars around house

Police were searching a house in rural Missouri today looking for a series of glass jars in which it is believed children may have hidden details of their alleged sexual abuse by relatives some 20 years ago.

Officers could be seen digging in the soil in several acres around the house outside Bates City, where members of the Mohler family lived. The search followed the arrest on Tuesday of five members of the same family, a father and his four sons, who face 14 charges of crimes against children.

The authorities have now launched a huge operation to sift through all missing persons reports as police believe there may be other victims from outside the family, and that one or more may have been murdered.

Cadaver dogs are being used to search the land, and excavation equipment has been brought in.

The surviving victims are now in their 20s and 30s and are believed all to be relatives of the arrested men. They have told investigators that they buried the glass jars around the house and in its surrounding land.

The jars are said to be filled with messages the children wrote about "what was happening to them".

Though details remain sketchy, the victims are understood to be four girls and a boy, though Bill Lowe of the Missouri highway patrol cautioned that the number could rise.

The arrested men are Burrell Mohler, a former firefighter aged 77, and his four sons – Burrell Jr, 53, David, 52, Jared, 48, and Roland, 47. They have all been charged with sex crimes against their children or siblings, in most cases with children under 12, including forcible sodomy and rape, bestiality and using a child in a sexual performance.

The abuse is said to have occurred between March 1988 and March 1995.

One woman, aged 26, has told police that she was abused by her relative at least eight times and forced to watch the abuse of her brother. According to legal documents, the woman was forced to have an abortion at the age of 11 and was made to "marry" several of her relatives.

The documents state that the victim and her four sisters were made to take part in mock marriage ceremonies that were convened before they were forced to endure sex. The ceremonies were elaborate, with flowers put in the girls' hair and special dresses worn for the occasion.

A woman has also alleged she was forced to have sex with a dog.

Enke 'feared losing second daughter'

• Footballer had spent years trying to hide illness
• Country in shock as star player dies under train

On the surface, Robert Enke's career appeared to be going from strength to strength. Widely seen as Germany's number one goalkeeper, the 32-year-old was at the peak of his professional powers. But beneath the surface, he was a deeply troubled man.

Enke threw himself in front of a train on Tuesday night, shocking the football world and leaving his wife to come to terms with a life cut short by his struggle with depression.

Teresa Enke described how her husband spent years trying to hide his mental illness, fearful it might destroy his career and cause the authorities to take away their adopted daughter, before he finally killed himself.

His suicide has shocked Germany, leading many to ask how it was possible that such a high-profile sportsman could have concealed his depression for so long.

Speaking at a press conference today at the headquarters of Enke's club, Hannover 96, Mrs Enke spoke of her efforts to help him overcome his depression.

"We thought we were capable of managing everything. We thought love would make it possible. But sometimes you just can't manage it," she said.

Dressed in black and her voice shaking, she spoke movingly of how she and her husband had dealt with the death in 2006 at the age of two, of their first daughter, Lara, who had been born with a weak heart.

In May this year they adopted a child called Leila who is now eight months. Enke, she said, had lived in fear that were his depression to be discovered, he might lose custody of the child, and could jeopardise his career and he had therefore resisted treatment.

"He was fearful he would lose Leila … I repeatedly tried to reassure him that it wasn't a problem, that … everyone knew how lovingly he cared for his daughter, until the end," she said.

Enke, 32, who was a favourite to start in goal for Germany at the World Cup in South Africa next year, having overcome a series of personal tragedies and professional setbacks, left a suicide note in which he apologised to family and friends.

In the note, which has not been made public, Enke said he had deliberately deceived his doctors and family over his mental state over the past few weeks, in order to be able to realise his plans to take his own life.

Fans flocked through the day to the ground of Hannover 96. Many wept as they queued to sign condolence books, lit candles and laid flowers.

Tributes flooded in throughout the day, from Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, Franz Beckenbauer and other figures from international football. Referring to Enke as a "great person, a talented footballer" and a "modest young man of great character", Theo Zwanziger, president of the German Football Federation (DFB), said the organisation would endeavour to discover how his illness could have gone unnoticed for so long.

"The question as to why has been with us since [Tuesday] evening … the team, the trainers, the players, the football fans and people in this country … want to know why," Zwanziger said.

"I can't answer that question, but we can say with certainty that we'll try to never let it happen again that someone who gave us so much … sees no alternative but to take his life."

Even though it has ruled out any connection between Enke's death and football, the DFB has said it is keen to answer why a young, talented and celebrated footballer such as Enke, was driven to such an extreme measure and felt he could not ask for help.

As a goalkeeper Enke had sometimes been subjected to a level of abuse which he had found it hard to cope with, such as in his first game while playing for the Turkish side Fenerbahçe in 2003 when fans pelted him with mobile phones and beer bottles after he made a decisive error.

After the incident, Enke, who was himself the son of a sports psychologist, said that he had been shocked by the anger and had "not deserved the hate they showed me".

Margot Dunne, a Germany-based football reporter and broadcaster, said footballers found it difficult to admit to depression because the sport was notorious for punishing players for showing vulnerabilities.

"Signs of weakness in the past have been seized on by fans and players have suffered bullying from the terraces as a result," she said.

"Players are under pressure to be the ultimate examples of mental and physical strength. Being depressed … doesn't fit into that image as far as many fans are concerned."

Neil Lennon, the former captain of Celtic was one of the first players to break the taboo and write about his battle with depression.

In his book Man and Bhoy he said: "It's very difficult to come forward and talk about it, but … it is an illness, it's like getting the flu or breaking a leg. It happens, and it can happen for no reason."

Ulf Baranowksy, manager of Germany's Professional Footballers' Association, said while Enke's death had come as a shock, he could not rule out that it was linked to the increasing psychological pressure under which footballers find themselves.

Modern Warfare 2 breaks UK sales record

Modern Warfare 2 sold more than 1m copies on its day of release – more than double the previous record set by GTA IV

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the video game only officially released on Tuesday, has sold 1.23m units in its first day – more than double the previous record set by Grand Theft Auto IV in April 2008, according to figures released by the games software association Elspa.

The game is estimated to have grossed around £47m in the UK alone – not quite double the amount that GTA IV, which sold 631,000 units and grossed £27.2m, managed.

Activision, the company behind the game, expects that up to 3m copies could be sold in the first week in the UK alone, earning up to £150m – and sales in the US will be proportionately larger.

Although it does not yet put the game into the ranks of highest-grossing films – where the top weekend opening, the traditional measure by which the initial success of a film is measured, is $158m for The Dark Knight in July 2008 – it is more evidence that video games have become as integral a part of modern culture as films, music and television.

Michael Rawlinson, director general for Elspa, the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association in the UK, called the sales figures "astonishing" and said: "Video games are now mainstream in the UK. Our form of interactive entertainment has completely come of age."

Before the game's release there had been controversy over the depiction in part of its gameplay of a scene where the player, in the guise of an undercover agent amidst a group of terrorists, has to kill civilians in an airport.

Responding to that, Rawlinson said: "Just like some movies and books, this is specifically intended for an adult audience and accordingly has emotional, adult content. So, as an 18-rated video game, it is important that this game is not played by children, and parents should be appropriately vigilant. We ask everyone to make sure they check the packaging of games to ensure they are suitable for their players, especially as we enter the festive season when video games are one of the most popular gifts of the holiday."

The game had sparked its own mini-controversy within Parliament, with the Labour MPs Keith Vaz and Tom Watson debating its merits. Vaz seemed worried about the possibility of children getting hold of the game, but Watson, a former Cabinet Office minister, responded: "UK gamers need their own pressure group. I want to help [them] to start one up."

It remains to be seen whether the success of the game will persuade ministers to accede to requests from the gaming industry for a series of tax breaks to encourage games writing and publishing companies to remain in the UK. Other countries such as Canada have brought in such schemes with some notable successes, but the UK has seen a loss of talent, games companies complain, due to unfavourable tax conditions.

Related: read our reviews of Modern Warfare 2 by: Charlie Brooker; Mike Anderiesz

EU leaders split over Lisbon treaty posts

• No consensus on foreign minister and president
• Decision may be made at emergency summit

The decision on who should be Europe's first council president and foreign minister may have to go to a vote next week, Sweden said todayas agreement among EU leaders proved elusive.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister and EU president, said an emergency summit would take place in Brussels next Thursday to settle the two plum posts created by the Lisbon treaty, the reform blueprint finally ratified last week. Reinfeldt appeared frustrated as he disclosed that after taking soundings from the other 26 heads of government this week, there was no sign of a consensus.

He dismissed Polish proposals for a more open contest by declared candidates as unrealistic, confirming that the first big decisions under the Lisbon treaty, which is claimed to make the EU more democratic, transparent, and accountable, would be taken in secret and without any contenders formally declaring they were after the jobs.

Reinfeldt said he intended to table only one name for each post at next week's summit, but admitted he might not have the names ready until the summit began and that he could not be sure of the outcome.

Unknown dark horses could also emerge at the last minute, he added.

Massimo D'Alema, Italy's former leftist prime minister, has emerged as frontrunner for the post of foreign minister or high representative for foreign and security policy after David Miliband killed off speculation that he would be interested. The foreign secretary repeated his rejection of the post today. "I came into politics to serve the British people in Britain," he said. The job is supposed to go to a social democrat and European social democrat leaders in Brussels tonight reached a near consensus on D'Alema. But that does not guarantee him the job.

Tonight in Paris, the French and German leaders, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel, were also understood to have discussed the posts. Sarkozy said they would present a joint candidate for the president's job, although that was not confirmed by the Germans.

Whatever Paris and Berlin decide, the wrangling is getting messier and a backlash is building in eastern Europe and Scandinavia against a Franco-German stitch-up. Diplomats confirmed there was a gap between the various national positions. "You get more names than there are jobs to offer," Reinfeldt said. He was aiming for "total agreement" over the posts but the decisions would be taken by qualified majority vote "if needed", meaning there could be no national vetoes. It would be highly unusual to take the first big decisions on the Lisbon treaty with some countries opposed, not least because the person who gets the job of presidentfor up to five years, would know that they did not have the support of certain prime ministers.

Reinfeldt said he had "many names" for both positions. Diplomats said that as many as 10 people had been proposed for each job. While they said that things could crystallise quickly over the next few days around a few names, they also warned that the wrangling could intensify.

Andrew Duff, the Lib Dem MEP, said Reinfeldt had launched his attempt to produce a consensus "far too late. That's why we're in this mess."

While canvassing the various leaders' views, Reinfeldt said he did not ask Herman Van Rompuy or Jan-Peter Balkenende, the Belgian and Dutch prime ministers seen as frontrunners for the president post, whether they were candidates.

Officially, Gordon Brown is still pushing for Tony Blair to be given the job. The uncertainty over the posts is such that Blair's chances could yet be resurrected. While Brown has named his preferences to Reinfeldt, British officials declined to reveal who he proposed for foreign minister.

Despite the social democratic backing for D'Alema, it is not clear if Brown, one of Europe's few social democratic prime ministers, will vote for him. Conservatives in eastern Europe are also opposed to D'Alema because of his communist past. The Italian could run into problems because of being perceived as anti-Israeli in the Middle East and mildly anti-American.

The Israeli embassy in Brussels is understood to have voiced objections to a possible D'Alema appointment as foreign policy chief.

Man charged with 1977 Nairac murder

New accusation against Kevin Crilly at Newry magistrates court

A man has been charged with the murder of undercover British army officer Robert Nairac, 32 years after he went missing in South Armagh. Kevin Crilly, 59, from Jonesborough, County Armagh, appeared in a Northern Ireland court today charged with killing the 29-year-old Grenadier Guardsman close to the Irish border in 1977.

Nairac is one of up to a dozen men and women kidnapped, killed and buried in secret by the IRA during the Troubles. Crilly is already facing charges of kidnapping and falsely imprisoning Nairac, who was seized from a pub car park close to Jonesborough. The body of the army officer has never been found.

Prosecutors put the murder charge before Crilly as he appeared at Newry magistrates court for a routine bail hearing on the two lesser counts, with which he was charged last year. Crilly, who had lived in the US since the late 1970s before moving back to Northern Ireland, was later granted bail.

Nairac was kidnapped by the IRA's notorious South Armagh brigade outside the Three Steps Inn at Drumintee, a short distance from the border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, on 14 May 1977. The Ampleforth-educated officer was beaten up and then taken by car to a location in the Ravensdale forest just across the border. He was tortured for several hours and later shot dead.

Former members of the Provisional IRA have claimed that the soldier's body was disposed of at a local meat processing plant. It is believed the officer's remains were disposed of to hide the terrible injuries he suffered before he was killed.

Nairac was later hailed as a hero by his military colleagues and was awarded the George Cross. The citation for the posthumous award praised his resistance to his abductors and bravery under "a succession of exceptionally savage assaults" that failed to break him. But Nairac has also been portrayed by others as a brave but reckless soldier, whose romantic view of his undercover role in Ireland cost him his life. "Robert certainly stuck his neck out. He thought he could get away with it, but in a way we all do," his sister, Gabrielle, is quoted as saying. "As a small boy he had read Bulldog Drummond, so you can imagine his approach."

One man, from Dundalk in the Irish Republic, was convicted of murdering Nairac at the special criminal court in Dublin in 1985 and released in December 1997 after serving 12 years. He told gardai he had shot the soldier and that another of the IRA group had pretended to be a priest in an unsuccessful attempt to get information out of Nairac, who was a Catholic.

Five South Armagh men were also charged in Belfast in connection with the murder, the first time anyone had been charged in Northern Ireland with an offence committed in the Irish Republic.

Two were convicted of murder and sentenced to life. One was acquitted of murder, but found guilty of manslaughter and given 10 years.

The other two received five years and two years respectively on lesser charges.

Charlie Brooker talks about his new book

WARNING: This podcast contains language which may offend. A lot of it.

However, if you're not offended - you might like to purchase Charlie Brooker's new book, The Hell of it All. It's available now in all good book stores, but why not save yourself the journey by heading to the Guardian Bookshop instead.

And if you still want more, have a look at our video of this interview too.

Guardian News & Media to cut 100 jobs

Newspaper group says revenues have fallen by a worse-than-anticipated £33m

More than 100 editorial and commercial jobs are to be cut at Guardian News & Media, staff were told today.

Staff in GNM commercial departments are due to be told about the impact of the latest cost cutting on their jobs by 9 December, while changes at editorial will take longer to complete because cuts are being managed through voluntary redundancies and redeployment. GNM publishes the Guardian, the Observer and the guardian.co.uk website network, which includes MediaGuardian.co.uk, and employs about 1,700 people.

GNM also revealed in the series of staff briefings today that the Guardian's Thursday Technology print section will cease publication at the end of the year.

A series of publishing cuts at the Observer were revealed to the paper's staff yesterday, including the closure of the Music Monthly, Woman and Sport Monthly supplements, the Escape travel section and the separate business and personal finance section.

The redesigned Observer will hit newsstands next year with four weekly sections and supplements – news, sport, the Review and Observer Magazine – along with Observer Food Monthly.

Travel coverage will be incorporated into Observer Magazine and business and personal finance into the main news section, while the Review section will be expanded.

The changes at the Observer will save £2m. A core editorial staff will continue to work solely for the Observer. Other Observer journalists will be integrated into the editorial teams that work across the Sunday paper, the Guardian and guardian.co.uk.

Tim Brooks, the GNM managing director, revealed that revenues have fallen by a worse-than-anticipated £33m and that the organisation has already cut £25m from its editorial and commercial budgets. The round of cost cutting announced today will be in addition to this.

He added: "In editorial departments, we are seeking voluntary redundancies and redeployments, and until the deadline for requesting redundancy has passed we cannot offer clarity about who is leaving and who is redeploying."

Carolyn McCall, the chief executive of GNM's parent company, Guardian Media Group, revealed that Trader Media Group has made £55m profit in the six months since 1 April and that Emap has made £40m in the same period. Both businesses are run as joint ventures between GMG and private equity firm Apax Partners.

"At GMG and GNM we can control our own destiny. If we do the right things now, which I believe we are doing, GNM and its journalism will continue to enjoy both security and stability," McCall said.

"We are confident about the long-term prospects of our portfolio of businesses and investments, and about the cash we have – and will have – to support GNM. But that confidence is conditional on the successful implementation of the changes we are making at GNM – specifically a substantial further reduction in costs."

The Guardian News & Media editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said that 68 jobs had been cut in editorial over the past year through voluntary redundancy, from a staff of about 850.

This formed part of £10m cuts to GNM's editorial budget that have already been implemented. Commercial operations have also been cut by £10m, with 82 job losses earlier this year.

Rusbridger added that the number of further editorial job losses would depend upon who applied for the reopened voluntary redundancy scheme. He said that he anticipated between 8% and 10% of editorial staff would leave.

He said that the organisation should "not be paralysed by change, but galvanised by change".

However, the National Union of Journalists expressed concern about the proposed cuts. Its head of publishing, Barry Fitzpatrick, said: "We are extremely concerned that these changes are motivated solely by cost-cutting as we have not seen any creative plans for the future."

In September GNM confirmed that the Observer would continue to be published, ending a summer of speculation about the 200-year-old paper's future, but also put all company staff on notice of further integration and possible job cuts.

Like other newspaper groups, GNM is suffering from the effects of the advertising downturn and a long-term decline in print circulation as readers migrate to the internet.

In its annual results GMG revealed that GNM had made an operating loss of £36.8m in the year ending on 29 March.

GMG, which also runs regional newspapers, radio stations and the Trader Media Group and Emap joint ventures, recorded a pre-tax loss of £89.8m.

This loss was attributed largely to GMG's restructuring of its portfolio, particularly the sale of 49.9% of Trader Media Group to Apax, and non-trading losses.

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