''The Asian Today'' is a free fortnightly community newspaper published and distributed in the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is a community newspaper providing the region's

south-Asian South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; T ...

community access to important news stories, current events and encouraging community interaction and dialogue as well as provoking debate and discussion. ''The Asian Today'' began in September 2002 under its original name, '' The Asian Leader'', before briefly adopting ''Your Leader'' in August 2005 and then permanently rebranding itself as ''The Asian Today'' in September 2005. The newspaper is one of the few

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

newspapers circulated in the

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

community but is said to be the widest read ethnic newspaper in the Midlands. Its distribution and readership spans

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

and

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

, largely encompassing areas with a high south-Asian population where it can be collected in takeaways, supermarkets, taxi ranks, community centres and entertainment and cultural outlets. The newspaper has broken numerous national stories including an exclusive interview with Dr Mohammad Naseem on the subject of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

, which was followed up by the mainstream press as well as shocking revelations of systematic abuse of a veiled Muslim woman, Mrs Mahfooz Bibi, at the hands of police officers, which was widely cited by national and international press and in religious and cultural forums and even picked up by the Muslim Voice UK. Most recently, the newspaper featured the threat of violent protests from prominent UK Sikh leader, Sewa Singh Mandla, after the

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

community was angered by the

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

film,

Jo Bole So Nihaal ''Bole So Nihal'' ( pa, ਬੋਲੇ ਸੋ ਨਿਹਾਲ, meaning "Whoever utters, shall be fulfilled.") is a '' Jaikara'' or war cry or Clarion call'' of Sikhs given by the Tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh. Use ''Bole So Nihal...Sat Sri Akal ...

, which they believed committed

sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

and also exposed the case of a

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

imam who was suing a lottery-funded mosque. The newspaper is published by Birmingham-based Urban Media Ltd. who also produce ''

Desi Xpress ''Desi Xpress'' was a weekly national entertainment newspaper, published in the United Kingdom by Urban Media Limited. Background ''Desi Xpress'' was first launched in the Midlands region in England in September 2004 before becoming national in Se ...

''. The editor of ''The Asian Today'' is Zakia Yousaf.

Media coverage

All of the stories relating to Mahfooz Bibi were published after the Asian Leader Midlands broke the story and the subsequent follow-up.

IndyMedia UK

''Evening Mail''
"West Midlands Police 'Racist' - Alleged Systematic Abuse"
Mathaba News
"Police force Muslim woman to remove veil"
Muslim Voice UK
"Police force Muslim woman to remove veil"
www.Islam4you.co.uk

''Evening Mail'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Asian Today Newspapers published in Birmingham, West Midlands Publications established in 2005 2005 establishments in England

Related links

Media coverage