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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

At least nine people are reported to have been killed in north-west Pakistan in a suspected US missile strike. One or two missiles targeted a compound in the village of Dande Darpa Khel in the tribal region of North Waziristan, Pakistani officials said. The village is believed to be frequented by associates of an Afghan Taliban leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani.
There have been dozens of such drone strikes in the past year in the restive region, which borders Afghanistan.
Residents of the main town in the region, Miran Shah, reported hearing a huge blast which shattered windows and blew out doors, said the AFP news agency. Officials said some people had also been wounded in the attack. The US military does not routinely confirm drone attacks but the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Agency operating in Afghanistan are believed to be the only forces capable of deploying drones in the region.
Pakistan has been publicly critical of drone attacks. The government says that they fuel support for the militants. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, is though to have died in a similar drone strike on 5 August. But some Taliban elements have denied he is dead.
source: bbc.com

Three technology heavyweights are joining a coalition to fight Google's attempt to create what could be the world's largest virtual library.
Amazon, Microsoft and Yahoo will sign up to the Open Book Alliance being spearheaded by the Internet Archive.
They oppose a legal settlement that could make Google the main source for many online works. "Google is trying to monopolise the library system," the Internet Archive's founder Brewster Kahle told BBC News.
"If this deal goes ahead, they're making a real shot at being 'the' library and the only library."
Back in 2008, the search giant reached an agreement with publishers and authors to settle two lawsuits that charged the company with copyright infringement for the unauthorised scanning of books.
In that settlement, Google agreed to pay $125m (£76m) to create a Book Rights Registry, where authors and publishers can register works and receive compensation. Authors and publishers would get 70% from the sale of these books with Google keeping the remaining 30%.
Google would also be given the right to digitise orphan works. These are works whose rights-holders are unknown, and are believed to make up an estimated 50-70% of books published after 1923. Comments on the deal have to be lodged by September 4th. In early October, a judge in the Southern district of New York will consider whether or not to approve the class-action suit. In a separate development, the US Department of Justice is conducting an anti-trust investigation into the impact of the agreement.
'Open access'
Critics have claimed the settlement will transform the future of the book industry and of public access to the cultural heritage of mankind embodied in books. The Internet Archive scans around 1000 books a day at 30 cents a page
"The techniques we have built up since the enlightenment of having open access, public support for libraries, lots of different organisational structures, lots of distributed ownership of books that can be exchanged, resold and repackaged in different ways - all of that is being thrown out in this particular approach," warned Mr Kahle. source: bbc.com

A Michael Jackson film built around rehearsal footage shot before his death will be released in a limited two-week run worldwide, Sony Pictures has said.
The distributor added it had brought forward the release date of This Is It by two days, anticipating huge demand.
The film, directed by Kenny Ortega - the choreographer of Jackson's planned shows at London's O2 arena - offers a behind-the-scenes look at preparations.
This Is It will be released in cinemas on 28 October. "This film is Michael's gift to his fans," Ortega said. It would give them a "very private, exclusive look" into the world of a "creative genius", he added.
"For the first time ever, fans will see Michael as they have never seen him before, this great artist at work. "It is raw, emotional, moving and powerful footage that captures his interactions with the This Is It collaborators that he had personally assembled for this once-in-a-lifetime project." source: bbc.com