HONG KONG :  A newly launched Asia-wide online news magazine hopes to fill the gap left by the demise of a brace of English language current affairs publications, its editor said on August 01. Asia Sentinel went online Monday at www.asiasentinel.com offering a diet of news, lifestyle and business articles from around the region.

Editor John Berthelsen said he hoped to pick up readers lost in a radical shake up of Asia's media in the past few years. "English-language readers in Asia have been let down by a shrinkage of news coverage from the region," Berthelsen told AFP. "That's why we're doing this."

The region's media have been transformed with 24-hour rolling TV news and Internet site eclipsing traditional newspapers and magazines, which have also been challenged by rising print and distribution costs.