Here's a breakdown of its evolution:
* Middle English: "newes"
* Modern English: "news"
The singular form "new" was once common, but now the plural form "news" is the standard way to refer to current events.
While it's not an abbreviation, the concept of N-E-W-S has been used to represent the four cardinal directions (North, East, West, South) in journalism and cartography. This is simply a mnemonic device, not the origin of the word itself.