News

Following are the top ten English daily newspapers in India, according to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) 2009 Round 1 released recently by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC). The survey was conducted by Hansa Research. Note: These are all readership figures (in lakhs) and not circulation numbers. TOP 10 ENGLISH DAILIES Rank Newspaper IRS 2008 ROUND 1 IRS 2009 ROUND 1 1 The Times of India...

Yemeni security forces raided the Aden compound of the country's most popular independent newspaper on May 13, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. One passerby was killed. Just before noon, a group of security forces clashed with guards at the offices of Al-Ayyam, firing teargas and bullets and wounding at least two guards and killing the passerby, according to local and...

Iraqi trade minister Abdelfalah Al-Soudani’s has decided to withdraw the lawsuits he had brought against two independent daily newspapers, Al-Mashriq and Al-Parlament, over articles linking him directly to cases of alleged corruption. The minister had been demanding 150 million dinars (95,000 euros) in damages from Al-Mashriq and 50 million dinars (31,500 euros) from Al-Parlament. The move was...

A new wave of obstacles has been imposed by Myanmar's junta on Internet usage besides expelling two American journalism teachers on May 6. It is getting steadily harder for the Myanmarese (Burmese) to send emails or access websites while all means of communication were cut on May 14 around opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s home. “The increased restrictions on Internet usage following Aung San...

The situation in the Swat Valley has turned alarming with the Pakistani armed forces stepping up their operations against the Taliban there. Newspapers had already stopped publishing after the military imposed a curfew. Now journalists are fleeing to safer areas. The Khyber Union of Journalists has now urged the government to allow the media access to Mingora, the largest city in the valley. At a...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías should refrain from making threatening statements and ensure the press is allowed to work without government interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Chávez accused private media outlets of destabilising democracy in comments earlier last week. During his weekly radio and TV programme "Aló, Presidente" on Sunday, Chávez said...

Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reiterated its call for an investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) following a new round of revelations about the spying on journalists and news media by the DAS, an intelligence agency that reports directly to the president’s office. The phone-tap scandal was first exposed by the weekly Semana in February. “Ever since...

Cuban dissident journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, a reporter for the Habana Press news agency, was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has learnt. Arrested on April 18 on a charge of “disrespect for authority,” he had been transferred to a prison on May 10. RSF does not expect his appeal to be successful. “Hastily tried just two days...

A murder attempt was recently made against Mohamed Ould Zeine, editor of the independent Arab-language daily in Mauritania El Wattan and star presenter on Radio Mauritania, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The journalist was left for dead after being battered and slashed by two men wielding baseball bats and knives on the evening of May 12. He suffered a very serious...

The scheduled arraignments of former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey IV, and his associate Antoine Mackey have been postponed again on May 13 until May 29, after Mackey’s court-appointed attorney expressed doubts about being able to take on the case, according to Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) . Bey’s lawyers also won a court motion temporarily preventing anyone involved...