Brussels: A total of 137 journalists were killed in 2009, one of the most lethal years for media workers on record, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday. The Brussels-based organization said that 113 of the journalists had fallen victim to targeted killings, overshadowing the decrease to 109 killed in 2008. IFJ President Jim [...]

Washington: AT&T announced Thursday that it is to end its sponsorship deal with scandal-tainted golfer Tiger Woods. “We are ending our sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods and wish him well in the future,” the company said in a statement. Accenture and Gillette have already pulled out of sponsorship deals with Woods after he admitted to [...]

London: Music star Simon Cowell has confessed he is envious of the success of popular US animated series “The Simpsons” and says he wants to create a rival show.   Cowell, who earned an estimated $75 million in 2009, has revealed despite being a fan of the animated series, he is jealous of its worldwide [...]

Toronto : An award-winning Canadian journalist and four soldiers were killed Wednesday in a bomb blast in Afghanistan. Thirty-four-year-old Michelle Lang of the Calgary Herald became the first Canadian journalist to be killed in Afghanistan since the NATO-led war against the Taliban began nine years ago. She was killed along with four Canadian soldiers in [...]

Wellington: Movie director Peter Jackson, whose final film “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”, won 11 Oscars in 2004, was named a knight in New Zealand’s New Year honours list, released Thursday. Jackson, who becomes Sir Peter as a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, said it was an [...]

London: Socialite heiress Paris Hilton is in trouble after a shoe company alleged that she had copied their design for her own line of footwear. Executives at New York-based firm Gwyneth Shoes are suing Hilton for trademark and patent infringement, according to documents filed last week, reports dailsystar.com Hilton has been accused of stealing the [...]

London: Hollywood star George Clooney has decided not to attend press conferences anymore becauase he is tired of getting marriage proposals from “fake” journalists and their silly stunts at the meets. The 48-year-old was left embarrassed when a male stripper posing as a journalist took off his clothes while professing his love for Clooney at [...]

Washington, D.C.:VOANews.com, the Voice of America’s (VOA) main Internet site, is ranked in the top 10 percent of websites worldwide, according to Newsknife’s list of Top News Sites in 2009.  Newsknife rankings reflect the number of times a website appears first in a list of major news stories posted on the Google News’ home page. [...]

New York : BET closes 2009 with a bang! The Network had its best year ever in its 29-year history with an average of 512,000 total viewers. For all of 2009, the Network has enjoyed double-digit gains in all four quarters and in all key demographics. This year of historic ratings growth follows an aggressive [...]

New York: The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, has announced an official relationship with the Sundance Institute for a multi-day programmatic event, cineGLAAD, presented by Bud Light and Abreva, which will take place during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in [...]