AUSTRALIAN media group APN saw its first-half net profits rise 11%, on a year-on-year basis, for the six months to the end of June.

INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) has further reduced its overall debt by selling its remaining 5.7% interest in Indian media group Jagran Prakashan (JPL) for €32 million.

Independent News & Media have sold its remaining shares in Indian newspaper group Jagran Prakashan Limited on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India for approximately €32m.

INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) is likely to sell its remaining €34 million interest in Indian media group, JPL, in order to further reduce its debt levels, according to analysts.

BRITAIN’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has effectively approved Independent News & Media’s (INM) proposed sale of its two London-based newspapers to Russian tycoon, Alexander Lebedev – although no update on the sale process has actually been given by the company itself.

Independent News & Media has sold 23.5 million ordinary shares in Jagran Prakashan Limited ("JPL") on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India.

MULTI-DISCIPLINED Indian media giant Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL) – in which Independent News & Media (INM) holds a 13.5% stake – has reported a 56.4% year-on-year increase in first-quarter after-tax profits to €7.4 million.

THE Limerick Leader yesterday announced that it was seeking 3.5 redundancies from the 28 journalists on the newspaper.

THE Dublin newspaper market’s leading two daily “free-sheet” titles – Herald AM and Metro Ireland – have agreed merger terms, following long-running negotiations.

Independent News & Media (INM) today announced that it has sold 22 million ordinary shares in Jagran Prakashan Limited (JPL), reducing its stake in the Indian publisher to 13.5% from 20.8%

Scientists have sped up their Mars lander mission after a short circuit cast doubt over the future of the probe.

Scientists have begun releasing the robotic arm on Nasa’s new Mars spacecraft, one day late because of a radio problem.

Nasa’s Phoenix Mars Lander spent its first full day in the Martian arctic plains checking its instruments in preparation for an ambitious digging mission to study whether the site could have once been habitable.

A Nasa spacecraft successfully slipped into orbit around Mars, joining a trio of orbiters already circling the Red Planet after a critical firing of its engA Nasa spacecraft successfully slipped into orbit around Mars, joining a trio of orbiters already circling the Red Planet after a critical firing of its engines.

IRISH INDEPENDENT owners Independent News & Media (INM) said on Wednesday its 20.2% stake in Jagran Prakashan was now worth €62.5 million, after the Indian company completed an initial public offering (IPO).

PUBLISHING group Independent News & Media expects a double-digit rise in earnings in 2005.

Nasa’s Opportunity rover sent its first pictures of Mars to Earth, delighting and puzzling scientists just hours after the spacecraft bounced to a landing.

NASA'S Opportunity rover zipped its first pictures of Mars to Earth early yesterday, delighting and puzzling scientists just hours after the spacecraft bounced to a landing on the opposite side of the red planet from its twin rover, Spirit.

THE Spirit rover successfully rolled onto Mars early yesterday, placing its six wheels on solid Martian ground for the first time since the robot bounced down on the red planet nearly two weeks ago.

AFTER seven months of interplanetary travel, the search for life on Mars begins. NASA’s Mars rover, Spirit, rolled to a full stop on the surface of the red planet early yesterday morning.

A Nasa spacecraft was today closing in on Mars, carrying a six-wheeled vehicle that is to roam the Red Planet’s rocky surface in search of geologic evidence that Mars was once suitable for life.

Nasa scientists are struggling to get a tape recorder to work so they could retrieve some of the final data gathered by the ageing Galileo spacecraft.