News

Shareholders of Kasturi and Sons Ltd, the publisher of the Hindu newspaper, are believed to be in talks with Australia’s Fairfax Media Ltd for a possible sale of a minority stake in the Chennai-based company, a first for the 130-year-old, family-owned group, says a report in Mint. Some details: The financial details of Kasturi and Sons could not be obtained as it is an unlisted and closely held...

Kasturi and Sons Ltd are believed to be in talks to sell a minority stake to Australia's Fairfax Media Ltd, the Mint paper said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the Indian firm. The paper cited sources close to Kasturi shareholders as saying discussions were on to sell a stake. Under Indian law, the maximum foreign holding permissible is a stake of up to 26 percent. The family-owned Indian...

Police in Somalia raided and closed an independent radio station in the capital Mogadishu on Thursday, arresting five journalists, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. "A dozen of policemen aboard minibus entered the building and they arrested five of my colleagues including the editor," said Omar Habeb, a producer at Radio Voice of Peace. Mohamed Ali Irole, the radio station's director, said...

A young Afghan journalist, sentenced to death in January for spreading feminist criticism of Islam, has been granted an appeal, according to one of the international organizations monitoring his case, Bloomberg News has reported. Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, was transferred on March 28 from prison in the remote province of Balkh, in northern Afghanistan, to capital Kabul, according to Jean...

A court in Zimbabwe on Wednesday acquitted a US journalist and a British freelancer of covering the country's March 29 elections without accreditation, saying the state had failed to prove the offence and ordered them to be released, news agencies have reported. Magistrate Gloria Takundwa said the state's evidence against New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak and Britain's Stephen Bevan, a...

A Reuters cameraman was killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in what appeared to be an Israeli military strike, the news agency reported. Fadel Shana, a 23-year-old Palestinian, was covering violence in the enclave. Two bystanders were also killed in an explosion after Shana stepped from his vehicle, apparently to film Israeli forces positioned several hundred meters (yards) away. His soundman...

The US military released Associated Press (AP) photographer Bilal Hussein on Wednesday after holding him for more than two years without filing formal charges. Hussein, 36, was handed over to AP colleagues at a checkpoint in Baghdad. He was taken to the site aboard a prisoner bus and left US custody wearing a traditional Iraqi robe. He was smiling and appeared in good health. "I want to thank all...

An award-winning Iranian journalist was due to return to prison on Tuesday after being allowed three months' leave because of illness, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting his lawyer. The return to jail of Emadeddin Baghi, who heads a prisoners' rights group and has openly campaigned against the death penalty in Iran, came just a week after he was awarded a major journalism prize in...

The Associated Press (AP) will further cut fees paid by struggling newspaper members and develop an advertising-supported service that will deliver stories and photos to advanced cell phones. The service, which will carry local news from participating newspapers as well as national and international news from AP, is being tested with several newspaper companies and is expected to launch in the...

Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media barons who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent times, are among four new members joining the board of directors of the Associated Press (AP), it was announced Monday at the news cooperative's annual meeting. Four incumbent directors were re-elected to three-year terms. They are William Dean Singleton, who is vice chairman and chief executive officer of...