'Daily News' verdict due today

(First Edition)

THE CHOICE of the next publisher of the Daily News, the New York tabloid acquired by the late Robert Maxwell, should be complete today, officials close to the negotiations said yesterday, writes Larry Black.

Negotiators for the paper's 1,500 employees, the last to hold out in talks over its future, had still not made public their decision late yesterday, when all parties were to report to the New York bankruptcy judge overseeing the sale.

A dollars 300m (pounds 159m) offer by Conrad Black, the Canadian owner of the Daily Telegraph, won the tentative approval last week of the management, directors and creditors, including a number of claimants against the Maxwell estate.

But the employees, who have dragged out the talks in hopes of limiting the concessions they will have to make a new owner, continued this week in their efforts to pit Mr Black's offer against a rival bid by the Canadian-born publisher Mort Zuckerman and the threat of an employee-led buyout.

Judge Tina Brozman, concerned that the Daily News has nearly depleted its cash reserves during a weak advertising period, had insisted that the parties agree on a bid before appearing before her last night. But a meeting of all parties late on Monday with the court-appointed trustee, Harry Jones, failed to produce significant progress.

Mr Black's advisers have repeatedly claimed that the process has been unfairly biased against their client's bid.