Zambia's chief government spokesman Mike Mulongoti has denied South African media reports that President Levy Mwanawasa had died in a French hospital Thursday.

Shares of most major media companies continued to advance with the broader market Friday morning, as investors were encouraged by a better-than-expected government jobs report.

Rupert Murdoch expects the capital markets to lurch through the next 12 months as Wall Street banks sift through mountains of bad debt related to the mortgage crisis, the News Corp. chairman said Wednesday.Brokaw, Bloomberg, Murdoch & others in Sun Valley

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is asking his government to establish a 24-hour news monitoring system to combat what he calls a ''media war'' against his administration.

The news is bleak for media outlets in the Caucasus and Central Asia, according to an annual report released by Freedom House on April 29. And the forecast calls for periods of repression, heavy at times.