CANNES, France, Oct 12, 2008 (AFP) - A golden age for television beckons as established TV companies go head on with the Internet and other new digital media platforms to woo audiences worldwide.

And with a fast growing variety of new forms of audiovisual entertainment being rolled out for audiences of all ages, viewers are firmly in the driving seat.

NEW YORK, Oct 12, 2008 (AFP) - She was plucked from obscurity to become the most watched woman in America, but now vice presidential pick Sarah Palin's very image is at risk of being hijacked by a hugely successful impersonator.

WASHINGTON, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - The US State Department said Friday it expressed its concern to the Syrian authorities that they had held two American journalists for several days without notifying the US government.

JUBA, Sudan, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - A local newspaper editor said Saturday he was being held by southern Sudanese authorities for publishing an article critical of corruption in the semi-autonomous, post-conflict region.

CAIRO, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - A court on Saturday fined an opposition editor and a reporter 80,000 pounds (14,600 dollars) each for publishing a doctored picture of Egypt's leading cleric wearing a papal robe, a judicial source said.

ROME, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was mocked Saturday in Italian newspapers for remarks the day before on the international financial crisis which he immediately contradicted.

TASHKENT, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - An independent Uzbek journalist who worked for Western media outlets was sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug charges Friday, his lawyer said, in a case condemned by human rights groups.

KIRKUK, Iraq, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi journalist on Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police said.

Diyar Abbas Ahmed, 28, was gunned down by unidentified attackers near a hotel in the city centre, police Brigadier General Torhan Yusuf said.

DUBAI, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Computer hackers claiming to be Shiite shut down the website of Saudi-owned satellite channel Al-Arabiya on Friday, a month after Iran reported similar attacks on many of its websites by hardline Sunnis.

SOFIA, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Bulgaria's security agency admitted Friday to having conducted 'unjustified' surveillance of journalists while investigating the leaking of classified information to the media.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 9, 2008 (AFP) - The financial crisis has people flocking to the Internet for the latest money news along with tips on how to salvage investments and save on the routine costs of living.

BEIRUT, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Two American journalists have gone missing in Lebanon after checking out of their hotel, Lebanese security officials told AFP on Wednesday.

'Since October 1 we have lost trace of Taylor Luck and Holli Chmela,' one official said, requesting anonymity.

VIENNA, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - The International Press Institute Wednesday condemned Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa's decision to press charges against a Finnish journalist who alleged he took bribes in an arms deal.

BEIRUT, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Two young US journalists on holiday have gone missing in Lebanon for the past week after checking out of their hotel, Lebanese security officials told AFP on Wednesday.

'Since October 1, we have lost trace of Taylor Luck and Holli Chmela,' one Lebanese official said, requesting anonymity.

WASHINGTON, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - The New York Times is to merge the website of its Paris-based sister paper, the International Herald Tribune, with its own flagship site, NYTimes.com, the newspapers announced on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - A former interior ministry official in Russia's Ingushetia region was charged in the killing of opposition reporter Magomed Yevloyev, a Russian news agency said Wednesday, citing an attorney of the victim's family.

NIAMEY, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Moussa Kaka, a prominent radio journalist in Niger, was released provisionally on Tuesday after one year in detention for allegedly undermining state security.

Last month an appeals court in Niamey revised the original charge of 'complicity to undermine the authority of the state' to the less serious 'actions liable to harm national defence.'

DUSHANBE, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Tajikistan's supreme court has handed a 15-year jail sentence to a man who took part in the 1995 killing of a BBC Persian service journalist, a court spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Four men will go on trial in a military court on October 15 in connection with the murder of Russian investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, a court spokesman said on Tuesday, news agencies reported.

LJUBLJANA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Slovenia's outgoing Prime Minister Janez Jansa has decided to press charges against a Finnish journalist who reported that he had taken bribes, his lawyers' office said Tuesday.

MOSCOW, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Kremlin critics rallied in Moscow on Tuesday to mark the second anniversary of the death of investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya and to demand an open trial of the murder suspects.

NIAMEY, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - An appeals court in Niger ordered Tuesday the provisional release of a prominent radio journalist detained for just over a year for allegedly undermining state security, his lawyer said.

Moussa Kaka, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI), was arrested in September 2007 over telephone calls he made to Tuareg rebels based in the north.

LONDON, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - A top BBC presenter, known for his aggressive interviews, slammed the publicly funded broadcaster Tuesday for 'fawning' over Britain's royal family in its news coverage.

CARACAS, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - President Hugo Chavez said Sunday he will suspend his weekly radio program, 'Hello Mr. President' until after the November 23 local elections, but that Venezuelans will still be able to see him on the news.

MOGADISHU, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Somali radio journalist arrested after covering a mortar attack on the home of Somalia's parliamentary speaker said Monday he has been released on bail.

'(The police) released me late Sunday (on) bail and they told me that investigations against me will be going on for seven days,' Ali Ilyas Abdullahi told AFP.

MOGADISHU, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Somali radio journalist arrested after covering a mortar attack on the home of Somalia's parliamentary speaker said Monday he has been released on bail.

'(The police) released me late Sunday (on) bail and they told me that investigations against me will be going on for seven days,' Ali Ilyas Abdullahi told AFP.

CAIRO, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday pardoned an outspoken editor sentenced to two months in jail after his newspaper published rumours on Mubarak's health, state-run MENA news agency reported.

VIENNA, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - The International Press Institute (IPI) Monday called on Russia to bring journalist Anna Politkovskaya's killers to justice on the eve of the second anniversary of her murder.

'Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Anna Politkovskaya at this time,' said IPI director David Dadge in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Tina Brown, the high-profile former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, unveiled a new website on Monday, a collection of news, opinion, blogs, links and video known as 'The Daily Beast.'

WASHINGTON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - If the US presidential election was being held in cyberspace, Barack Obama would win in a landslide.

The Democratic candidate has raised tens of millions of dollars more than Republican John McCain online and proven much more savvy overall at harnessing the power of the Internet, according to political and Web analysts.

YANGON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - With the colour fading from his hair and lines wrinkling his face, Myanmar's newly freed political prisoner, Win Tin, still manages to defy his 79 years.

Despite suffering numerous serious ailments while locked away for 19 years in Yangon's notorious Insein prison, the former journalist remains spry and said he has never regretted his move into politics.

Somali police arrested a radio journalist as he was apparently
preparing to report a rebel attack on the house of the parliament
speaker

TEHRAN, Oct 4, 2008 (AFP) - A new national newspaper, the 'Khorshid' or 'Sun', hit the newsstands on Saturday, published by an aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Like its mass-circulation British namesake, the full colour daily will cover all topics from political issues to sport and soap opera.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4, 2008 (AFP) - With a 700-billion-dollar (508-billion-euro) bailout plan for Wall Street finally in place, major US newspapers said Saturday it remains to seen whether it will be enough to avert greater financial disaster.

NEW DELHI, Oct 4, 2008 (AFP) - Twentieth Century Fox announced Saturday it had struck a multiple movie agreement with a top Indian producer, part of a Hollywood trend to reach out to Indian cinema.

Fox STAR Studios, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, said it had clinched the deal with Indian producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah, one of the most successful producers in Hindi-language cinema.

NEW YORK, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - Venerable US magazine The New Yorker came out in favor of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama in its edition this week.

In a lengthy article signed 'The Editors,' the news magazine gave its reasons for supporting Obama and showered withering criticism on current President George W. Bush and Republican candidate John McCain.