A media company based in the Middle East is launching a London-based weekly newspaper aimed at Muslim people across the world.

The paper, which is backed by the Pakistani pay-TV operator ARY Digital and will be able to tap its network of reporters covering south Asia, is earmarked to launch early in the new year.

ARY, known for broadcasting the Pakistani version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, also broadcasts to several Gulf states and in North America and the UK, where it launched in 2000 as the Pakistani Channel on Sky.

The paper, which does not yet have a name, will be edited by Burhan Wazir, a former deputy features editor at the Times who was named young journalist of the year in 1999.

Wazir said the title, which will also be published in Pakistan and several Gulf states, will serve the Muslim diaspora in the countries where it is available.

It will be a liberal title aimed at a young and relatively affluent readership aged between 20 and 45, including second- or third-generation British Muslims.

Wazir added that its target audience of young readers with Muslim backgrounds will share a modern, cosmopolitan outlook. “I suppose you could say they have a foot in both camps,” he said.

Britain’s Sky will launch Sikh TV in early October.When it hits the air for the first time, Sikh TV will sit alongside a number of other religion-themed channels that are currently available on Sky.These include the Sikh Channel and Sangat TV, while an array of ‘Christian’ options – including Open Heavens TV, Gospel Channel Europe, The Word Network and GOD Channel – are also shown by the broadcaster.(Editorial note: We monitored the ‘God Channel’ while on vacation recently, and wonder who in his right mind would slap the label ‘Christian’ on it. What a sad parade of charlatans, heretics, and air-heads! When the channel first popped up Benny Hinn was right there. Sure enough he was talking about money within the next minute. Sigh…)

TALKERS, ‘The Bible of Talk Radio and the New Talk Media,’ lists the ‘250 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America‘ — a popular annual feature that includes what has become known as the “Heavy Hundred.’

When Aaqil Ahmed became the first Muslim to be the BBC’s head of religious broadcasting, he probably anticipated the controversy that it would cause among some Christians. What he did not expect, however, was that his faith would be an issue with the director-general of the corporation, Mark Thompson.Ahmed has, though, let it be known that he was told not to discuss his religion by his boss. “Mark Thompson said to me, ‘you must stop talking about this Muslim thing’,” Ahmed disclosed.

Twitter tip: Follow Rachel Zoll, Associated Press national religion writer.

“The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere,” a newly released report by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), offers an extensive overview and analysis of the increasingly prominent role played by blogs in shaping the contemporary dynamics of religion, academia, and public life.

Drawing on a review of the work of nearly 100 blogs, as well as detailed survey responses, “The New Landscape of the Religion Blogosphere” provides both empirical data and reflection on the impact of blogging at the intersection of religion, academia, and public life.

As the Religion Newswriters Association meets today through Saturday at the Menger Hotel for its annual convention, its 560 members face an environment in which many religious leaders are suspicious of journalists’ attitude toward faith; many journalists handle religion stories with inadequate knowledge; and declining advertising revenues have killed “faith and values” sections in newspapers including the Dallas Morning News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A popular comic strip that poked fun at the Rev. Jerry Falwell without incident one week ago was deemed too controversial to run over the weekend because this time it took a humorous swipe at Muslim fundamentalists.

Christiane Amanpour is on vacation in France. Sort of. The CNN star also is putting the finishing touches on a six-hour documentary airing next week about the often volatile mix of politics and religion.

The CNN reporter’s three-part series on the subject, scheduled to air next week on the cable news channel, looks at Jews, Christians and Muslims who have aggressively brought their religious faith into the political arena.

The show, tentatively named Religious Indian Idol, will be an interactive musical talent contest between teenagers from universities and religious colleges. Instead of pop tunes, they will perform devotional songs from the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain faiths.

Inside KFI-AM, the face of this Jesus looks nothing like familiar images of Christ. Bald and goateed sans moustache, he wears a hoop earring and bears the tattoos of a rebellious youth.

New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.

Some poor countries, such as Mauritania and Haiti, improved their record in a global press freedom index this year, while France, the United States and Japan slipped further down the scale of 168 countries rated, the group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.

Channel 4 is to broadcast a documentary showing a human corpse being hung on a cross to depict Christ’s suffering. Anatomist Gunther von Hagens will use a real body to show how people died when crucified in the 90-minute film.