The Evening Star in Ipswich has launched online e-editions of the paper and its football paper, The Green 'Un - and is already attracting subscribers from as far afield as New York.

The electronic version of the Star allows access to the whole newspaper, with every story and advert included, and online subscribers can even get The Green 'Un before the printed paper hits the shops.

Web editor James Goffin said: "The e-edition is great for people who have moved away from east Suffolk so can't get the Evening Star from their newsagent.

"Many people want to stay in touch with what's happening in their home town. One subscriber e-mailed me to say he gets it in New York and really likes to know what's going on here."

The Star's main website, www.eveningstar.co.uk, has also seen a surge in users, with visitor numbers up 75 per cent since the start of the year.

There are now 52,000 visitors a month and 653,000 page impressions, and statistics show that it is read in places as far afield as Bosnia, Oman, Botswana, Antigua, and in September there were 14 readers in Kazakstan.

James said: "Quirky and lighthearted stories seem to be the most popular, and you find other websites pick up on them and set up links to www.eveningstar.co.uk.

"Our Easter story of how hot cross buns were banned at an Ipswich school, was discussed on Jehovah's Witness forums all over the world. Things like that can really spiral, and be quite surprising."