Troubled British singer Amy Winehouse went on trial in London Thursday for an alleged assault on a woman at a charity ball last year.

The singer, dressed in a smart grey suit, was besieged by press photographers as she arrived at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London.

Nuala Conway, 26, a former fashion store sales supervisor and devout Roman Catholic, warned of the high risks accompanying her multiple pregnancy, at 14-weeks was given the option of terminating some of the unborn babies.

The New York Times received five Pulitzer prizes Monday for investigative, breaking news and international reporting, feature photography and criticism, leading a field of smaller newspapers in the most coveted awards in the US news industry.

In a year in which online publishers were allowed to compete for the first time, the strength of the award winners showed that journalism still offered tremendous value even as it faces a financial meltdown, said Columbia University, which awards the prizes.

Tehran called on the United States Monday not to politicise the case of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, and to respect the Iranian judiciary's decision and independence.

Saberi was sentenced by an Iranian revolutionary court to eight years in prison for spying for the United States.

Both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed deep concern over the journalist's fate and their disappointment over the verdict. Obama said Sunday that he was confident Saberi was not involved in espionage against Tehran.

In a satirical jibe at stringent censorship imposed by Fiji's military government, the Daily Post newspaper has been filling the space with some no news.

Headlines in Wednesday's edition included "Man gets on bus," over an item reading: "In what is believed to be the first reported incident of its kind, a man got on a bus yesterday. 'It was easy,' he said. 'I just lifted one leg up and then the other and I was on.'"

A month after Iranian officials said they would soon free an Iranian-American radio reporter Roxana Saberi, Washington was still trying to obtain her release, a US official said Monday.

Saberi has been detained since the end of January in Tehran's Evin prison.

"We continue to work to try to get her released," US State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

Myanmar's junta allowed an FM-radio service to open in the Rakhine State for the first time last week and plans to open similar services nationwide by July, government officials confirmed Monday.

"We started test-broadcast to Rakhine State on 27 March, 12 hours daily from 7 am to 7 pm," an official who requested anonymity said. "The station, temporarily named Pyinsawaddi, will cover four townships in the Rakhine State including Sittwe."

Sittwe is a major port city in the Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh.

Los Angeles - US viewers turning to their televisions for comfort and distraction from economic distress might not get what they're looking for these days.

From comedy shows to dramas and reality TV programmes, the traditional haven of fluffy entertainment has veered from the path of mindless escapism to offer recession-hit viewers plenty of sympathy, relevance and righteous indignation.