News Network

NEW DELHI, India; The wounds of partition festered again this week in India, resulting in the banning of a book and the expulsion of a respected politician. Protesters burn an effigy of Jaswant Singh over his book; the former foreign minister was ousted from his party. The home state of the father of Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi, forbade the sale and circulation of a new book it says spews revisionist history about the birth of secular but predominantly Hindu India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Written by Jaswant Singh, a former federal minister and senior member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the book calls Mohammed Ali Jinnah, considered by Indians the architect of the partition, a great man who is wrongly demonized. Jinnah went on to become the first governor general of Pakistan.
In "Jinnah: India, Partition and Independence," Singh absolves the Pakistani leader as the man responsible for dividing the subcontinent, suggesting instead that it was another beloved independence leader, Sardar Patel, who played a major role. "The book wrongfully portrays the fateful partition of our nation," the Gujarat state government said in a statement. " Such a brainchild has no historic background at all. In the larger interest of society, the state government has decided to impose a ban on the book." The BJP accused Singh of deviating from the party's "core ideology".
"We always respect freedom of expression but can never compromise our ideology," Sidharth Nath Singh, a party spokesman, told CNN. "You just can't eulogize Jinnah and accuse Sardar Patel instead." Singh, a widely respected politician known for his moderate views within the ranks of a conservative party, found it appalling that freedom of expression was threatened in the world's largest democracy.
"The day we start banning books, we are banning thinking," Singh told reporters.
He defended his work and said he did not understand the objection to his writings about Patel, who, as India's first home minister, banned the Hindu revivalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the mother organization of the BJP, after the assassination of Gandhi in 1948.
"I don't know which part of the core belief I have demolished," Singh said. source: cnn.com

A group accused of plotting attacks in Egypt for the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has gone on trial in Cairo.
The 22 defendants in court deny spying on ships in the Suez Canal and plotting attacks on holiday resorts popular with Israelis in Sinai.
At least one defendant said he had been tortured. Another four are on the run and being tried in their absence. Hezbollah's leader has admitted one of the men was an agent for the movement but denied any plan to harm Egypt. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said the Hezbollah member was tasked with smuggling weapons to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. The 26 men - two Lebanese, five Palestinians and 19 Egyptians - are charged with spying for a foreign group and planning attacks against tourists and shipping in the Suez Canal. They are also accused of sending operatives into the occupied Gaza Strip to help Palestinian militant groups there. 'Revenge'
As the charges were read out, several of the accused reportedly shouted: "We live and die as Egyptians. We will never betray our country." At least one of the accused said he had been tortured while in Egyptian custody, Reuters news agency reported, adding that he had been referred for medical checks. A lawyer for the men said the charges against them were "absolutely not true". "There was never any question in this case of a plot for the assassination of figures inside Egypt," said the lawyer, Montaser al-Zaiat.
Hezbollah has said the charges are politically motivated and in revenge for the movement's stance on Egypt's support for the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Hezbollah supports Hamas - the Islamic movement which controls the coastal enclave - and has strongly criticised Egypt for not opening its border with Gaza to relieve the Israeli-imposed blockade on the territory. The trial has been adjourned until October.source: bbc.com

Blog fans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw PittGirl as their masked superhero -- a comedian and local commentator who jibed the mayor without reserve and ranted freely about her hatred of pigeons.
Virginia Montanez says she was fired because she revealed her identity as a local blogger. But despite her effort to keep her real name secret, people started to figure out who PittGirl was.Feeling pressure to take control of her identity before someone else outed her, PittGirl on Wednesday posted pictures of herself on her blog and introduced readers to her real-world self: Virginia Montanez, a 35-year-old married mother of two who worked in the nonprofit sector.
"My friends and family call me Ginny," she wrote on her blog. "But you can continue to call me Your Majesty, because I've grown accustomed."
On Thursday morning, Montanez was fired from her job because of her online persona, she said.Montanez's and other online coming-out stories highlight the complicated way people view anonymity on the Internet and the high stakes that come with trying to keep up an online persona.
The reasons people want to be anonymous online vary. Political whistle blowers fear retribution; employees want to separate the personal from the professional; artists want their work to stand up without an attached biography; and some writers like Montanez take on a sort of Everyman quality by keeping their real names off their posts.source: cnn.com

THE OVAL, LONDON, England -- England regained the Ashes with a 197-run victory over Australia on the fourth day of the fifth and deciding Test to spark scenes of joyous celebration at The Oval on Sunday.
Strauss and his men hold the Ashes aloft after completing a 2-1 series win over Australia. Michael Hussey scored a defiant 121 to hold up the home side, who had been strong favorites after setting Australia a near-impossible 546 for victory.
But he was the last wicket to fall, caught by Alastair Cook at short leg off the bowling of Graeme Swann to give England a 2-1 series victory with two matches drawn.
England had regained the Ashes on home soil in a classic series in 2005, but the world's top-rated Test team won them back in Australia 18 months later.
Australia had been 80 without loss overnight, but England kept plugging away as wickets fell at regular intervals. Swann took four wickets for 120 in a marathon spell and paceman Steve Harmison claimed three wickets. There were also two decisive run outs, with Andrew Flintoff throwing down the wicket to send back Australian captain Ricky Ponting for 66. It was the key dismissal and a fitting end to Flintoff's international Test career as he retires at the end of the match. The other run out involved Michael Clarke, Australia's leading run scorer in the series.source: cnn.com

Comedian Dan Antopolski has won a prize for the funniest joke of this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
The funnyman, who has previously been nominated for the Perrier award, picked up the trophy from TV channel Dave.
Nine comedy critics sat through thousands of jokes before choosing 27 for viewers to vote on.
The winning joke was a one-liner from 36-year-old Antopolski's show Silent But Deadly - "Hedgehogs. Why can't they just share the hedge?"
The Londoner proved popular with critics and viewers and another of his jokes made the top 10 list.
The Top 10 jokes were judged to be:
• 1) Dan Antopolski - "Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?"
• 2) Paddy Lennox - "I was watching the London Marathon and saw one runner dressed as a chicken and another runner dressed as an egg. I thought: 'This could be interesting'."
• 3) Sarah Millican - "I had my boobs measured and bought a new bra. Now I call them Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes because they're up where they belong."
• 4) Zoe Lyons - "I went on a girls' night out recently. The invitation said 'dress to kill'. I went as Rose West."
• 5) Jack Whitehall - "I'm sure wherever my dad is; he's looking down on us. He's not dead, just very condescending."
• 6) Adam Hills - "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. You know you're going to get it, but it's going to be rough."
• 7) Marcus Brigstocke - "To the people who've got iPhones: you just bought one, you didn't invent it!"
• 8) Rhod Gilbert - "A spa hotel? It's like a normal hotel, only in reception there's a picture of a pebble."
• 9) Dan Antopolski - "I've been reading the news about there being a civil war in Madagascar. Well, I've seen it six times and there isn't."
• 10) Simon Brodkin (as Lee Nelson) - "I started so many fights at my school - I had that attention-deficit disorder. So I didn't finish a lot of them."
The judges sat through an average of 60 comedy performances each before creating a shortlist of 27 jokes.
More than 3,000 comedy fans voted, with almost 18% choosing Antopolski's one-liner.
Antopolski said: "I'm delighted to get the prize. Although I have won things before at the Fringe, this definitely means the most to me and that it should unite my loves of hedgehogs, comedy and Dave makes this prize very special."
The judges also listed some of the worst jokes at this year's Fringe.
• Carey Marx - "I'm not doing any Michael Jackson jokes, because they always involve puns about his songs. And that's bad."
• Frank Woodley - "I phoned the swine flu hotline and all I got was crackling."
• Alex Maple - "Michael Jackson only invented the moonwalk so he could sneak up on children."
• Phil Nichol - "She's got a face like a rare Chinese vase - minging."
• Alistair McGowan - "I've just split up from my girlfriend, which is a shame, because it was a long-standing arrangement. Perhaps if we'd sat down a bit more..." source: bbc.com

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- After bagging three gold medals and setting two world records at the Berlin world championships, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt told CNN he didn't expect to be so successful.
Bolt received a commemorative slab of the Berlin Wall as he celebrated his world championship success.
"I didn't see this coming," Bolt told CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. "I guess it's competition. I keep telling people competition is good for the sport. I had to be at my best, and I was at my best."
During the championships, Bolt smashed his own 100 meter world record with a time of 9.58 seconds. In the 200 meters, Bolt took gold in a phenomenal 19.19 seconds, shaving just a tenth of a second off the mark he set in winning the competition at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. He also nabbed a third gold in the 4 x 100 meter relay on the penultimate day of the championships on Saturday, running the third leg for Jamaica. "My secret's just hard work and dedication," Bolt told CNN. "I'm really dedicated to being a champion. I want to be a legend, so I have to work really hard." Bolt told a cheering crowd at a news conference in the German capital, "I will never forget being here." He told CNN he has been training for this ever since 2007, when he suffered defeat at the Osaka world championships. He and his coach analyzed that performance, and he went back and worked on some aspects of his sprinting, he told CNN.
How much faster can he go? "I don't know," Bolt, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday, told CNN. source: cnn.com

A man suspected of murdering his wife near Los Angeles has been found dead in a motel room in the Canadian province of British Columbia, police say. Ryan Jenkins, 32, had been the subject of a massive manhunt after the naked body of Jasmine Fiore, a 28-year-old former model, was found in a suitcase. He had reported his wife missing, and then disappeared himself. His boat was was found near the US-Canada border. Police said it was unclear how long Jenkins' body had been in the motel.
Fiore and Jenkins were married in March
Sgt Duncan Pound of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police says investigators were alerted after police had responded to a call about a dead person at the Thunderbird Motel in Hope, east of Vancouver. "Preliminary evidence suggests that he took his own life," said Sgt Pound.
A police source in California said that Jenkins had hanged himself and was identified by his fingerprints. Mangled body Jenkins had been taking part in the show Megan Wants a Millionaire. Described as an investment banker, Mr Jenkins was one of several wealthy young men trying to win the affections of a young woman in the show.
Jasmine Fiore was found dead 10 days ago
The TV channel VH1 cancelled the series after he was identified as a suspect. Ms Fiore had no connection with the show, but she and Mr Jenkins had married in Las Vegas in March. Her mangled body was found in a suitcase in a metal rubbish bin in Buena Park, south of Los Angeles, on 15 August. She was identified by a serial number on her breast implants. After several days of searching, police found Jenkins' boat more than 950 miles (1,500km) north of Los Angeles - in the town of Point Roberts on the Canadian border."We continue to believe that Mr Jenkins was solely responsible" for the murder, said a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office in California, after his death was announced. source: bbc.com

Some classified sections of a CIA report into the torture of US terrorism suspects are due to be made public. US newspapers claim they will reveal the use of mock executions and an electric drill to frighten detainees.
A heavily-censored version of the 2004 internal CIA review was released last year. A US federal judge ordered an edited version to be released on Monday, after a legal challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lawyers for the US Justice Department and the CIA have been scrutinising the report since June to determine how much of it can be made public. Classified sections
The CIA inspector general's review of the detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects was written in 2004. It was first made public last year but in an almost meaningless form, because so much remained classified, the BBC's Daniel Sandford reports from Washington.
Parts of the contents page were obscured, and all of the introduction and the conclusions withheld.
One page was completely black apart from references to "enhanced interrogation techniques" and "the waterboard technique", our correspondent adds. The US has banned harsh interrogation methods, including death threats. source: bbc.com

A new picture of Fidel Castro has been published in a state-run newspaper, apparently showing Cuba's ailing former leader in much better health.
Mr Castro, 83, was dressed more smartly than in other recent photos, wearing a white shirt rather than a tracksuit. Later he appeared on television for the first time in 14 months, chatting to Venezuelan students, in a meeting which reportedly took place on Saturday. He has not been seen in public since undergoing an operation in 2006. Mr Castro stepped down and his younger brother, Raul, took over his various offices. Since then he has undergone a series of major intestinal operations, although the state of his health and whereabouts remain state secrets.
Neatly combed
The photograph in Juventud Rebelde, the Communist Youth newspaper, showed Mr Castro talking to Ecuador's left-wing President, Rafael Correa.
There was speculation that Fidel Castro's health had deteriorated significantly at the end of last year in the run-up to the 50th anniversary of Cuba's revolution, says the BBC's Michael Voss in Havana. But his health does appear to have visibly improved in recent months, our correspondent adds. In the latest photograph Mr Castro appears stronger: his greying, almost white hair is neatly combed back and even his trademark beard appears to have grown a little.
He remains an influential figure behind the scenes in Cuba and publishes regular editorials in the state-run media. Occasional photographs of him are published, usually showing him greeting visiting dignitaries. source: bbc.com

A Malaysian model, who was set to become the first woman caned in the southeast Asian country for drinking beer in public, was inexplicably spared her sentence Monday, her father said.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was inexplicably spared her sentence for drinking beer in public. Authorities had picked up Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, 32, from her father's house Monday morning and were taking her to a prison in the eastern state of Pahang when the van turned around and brought her back."They sent her back to the house. They said the top official asked them not to bring her to Kuala Lumpur," said Kartika's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib.It was not immediately known whether authorities had dropped the sentence or postponed it. It was also not clear who had ordered Kartika returned.
"Now I am frightened and I am going to the police station to make a report," the father said. "I don't want them to say that Kartika ran away when they came here. I want them to know she was returned."Kartika refused to get out of the van until her release had been confirmed in writing.Don't Miss
Model says she feels regret, shame
An Islamic, or sharia, court in the eastern state of Pahang had fined Kartika -- a Muslim -- $1,400 (5,000 Malaysian ringgit) and sentenced her to six strokes with a rattan cane for drinking at a hotel bar two years ago.Kartika, a 32-year-old part-time model and mother of two, was visiting Malaysia from Singapore at the time.She pleaded guilty, paid the fine, and wanted her caning to be carried out in public.
She said she lost her job as a nurse in Singapore and took up modeling to support her husband in raising their children. Her 7-year-old son has cerebral palsy; her 5-year-old daughter, a heart condition."I want to move on. This case has been hanging over me for a long time," she told CNN last week.On Monday morning, Kartika hugged her children, bade a tearful goodbye to the throngs of people gathered at her father's house, and boarded the van.
She was to be taken to a prison on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. The caning would have been carried out within seven days after that, making her the first woman to be caned in Malaysia under sharia law.source: cnn.com

Thousands of residents of Athens' northern suburbs have spent the night away from their homes as wildfires continue to threaten the area.
At least six major blazes are reported to be still out of control, and strong winds have been fanning the flames.
As the fires raged for a third day, they burnt dozens of homes and large areas of forest near the Greek capital. To the north, the town of Marathon, with important archaeological sites, was said to be encircled by fires.
More than 90 fires are thought to have started since Saturday and more than 37,000 acres of land have been burnt. While no casualties have been reported, a regional Athens governor, Yiannis Sgouros, has called the fires an "ecological disaster".
'Begging for help' AT THE SCENE
Malcolm Brabant, BBC News, Drafi, Athens
In leafy suburbs like Drafi, barely a tree has been left standing. A once beautiful green valley has been turned into a giant ash bowl. But almost all the expensive houses somehow survived.
We had to leave our modest home just before dawn as fire raced up the hill, but the flames stopped at the back garden wall. Many residents have similar narrow escapes to recount.
But the biggest casualty has been the environment. The loss of so much foliage is going to have an enormous negative impact on air quality in Athens. The wooded hillsides on the outskirts of the capital acted as its lungs and air conditioning units, providing much needed oxygen and cooler air.
Brabant flees home as fires rage Almost the entire population of Agios Stefanos, 23km (14 miles) north-east of Athens, fled on Sunday by vehicle or on foot. But others refused to leave, carrying out a desperate defence of their homes with garden hoses, buckets, and shovels, the BBC's Dominic Hughes reports from Athens. source: bbc.com