The author of a controversial novel about the Prophet Muhammad has postponed its UK publication.
American writer Sherry Jones has also cancelled her promotional tour next week for The Jewel of Medina.
The novel, which focuses on Muhammad’s relationship with his child bride Aisha, has been dismissed by one academic as “softcore pornography”.
A member of staff at its UK publisher in London was recently targeted in a suspected petrol bomb attack.
Three men have since been arrested and charged with conspiring to damage Martin Rynja’s home and office.
Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas, was quoted in the US media as saying the book took “sacred history” and turned it into “softcore pornography”
It is not an easy call for any author, particularly in the case of a debut novel that attracts so much attention from the British media
Spokesman for publisher
A spokesman for Gibson Square Publishers said: “We respect Sherry Jones’ decision.
“In her view the best thing to do is to postpone her visit and the publishing of the novel in Britain.
“It is not an easy call for any author, particularly in the case of a debut novel that attracts so much attention from the British media.
He added that “despite the controversy of the past two weeks, Sherry Jones’ intention remains as it was from the start to engage with a current debate in a positive way”.
In August US publisher Random House decided not to release the book becaue of fears it could spark violence.
The novel was subsequently bought by Beaufort Books.

As if unwashed men and women subsisting on one meal a day—and sleeping inches away from other unwashed people whom they don’t trust one bit—need to be reminded that they should think twice before getting too comfortable.
Fang may have redeemed itself last week with consecutive challenge wins, but all bets were off Thursday on Survivor: Gabon as both tribes were subjected to unexpected makeovers, resulting in a couple of new pecking orders and one unruly game of floating lacrosse.
Find out who scored, who sank and whether the latest twist made any difference when it came time for Tribal Council…
• Randy Bailey calls Danny “G.C.” Brown a “cancer” that’s going to have to be “cut out” when the time is right. A strong individual but a lousy leader, if G.C. goes, at least his former tribe mates can use his acid-green shirt as a hammock.
Instead of a reward challenge, Kota and Fang are asked to rank their members according to value within the tribe. From strongest to weakest, Kota choses Marcus Lehman, Ace Gordon, Bob Crowley, Charlie Herschel, Jacquie Berg, Corinne Kaplan, Jessica “Sugar” Kiper and Kelly Czarnecki. Fang goes with Matty Whitmore, Dan Kay, Randy, Crystal Cox (”What the hell? I’m out there busting my butt, and they’re gonna rank me No. 4 behind someone who can barely walk and barely do anything?”), Ken Hoang, G.C. and Susie Smith.
• Well, isn’t that special? Time to trade teams! Deemed the strongest of them all, Marcus and Matty are appointed as captains of the about-to-be-revamped Kota and Fang.

Just one week after the fatal plane crash that left DJ AM critically injured, a rep for the Hollywood spinner confirms that the artist otherwise known as Adam Goldstein has been released from the hospital.
“Adam Goldstein has been released from Doctors Hospital,” AM’s publicist said in a statement. “While he is deeply saddened by the events, he is thankful for all of the love and support he has been receiving from fans and friends worldwide.
“We ask that you continue to respect his privacy as he rests and heals and mourns the loss of his friends.”
While it’s unclear exactly when the music man was released, a source tells E! News that Goldstein is already back in Los Angeles.
The 35-year-old was said to have suffered second- and third-degree burns to his upper body and head when a private plane chartered by him and Travis Barker apparently busted a tire during takeoff and burst into flames.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan A huge suicide truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan’s capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and starting a fire that raged for hours in a sickening reminder of the threat in a country vital to the U.S.-led war on terror.
The blast left a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the main building. Rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies from the gutted structure — which officials feared could collapse.
The five-floor Marriott is a favorite place for foreigners as well as the Pakistani elite to stay and socialize, despite repeated militant attacks over the years.
Officials said about 250 people were injured. Hospital staff and other officials said they included four Britons, four Germans and one each from the U.S., Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon and Afghanistan. The Saudi ambassador said several staff from the kingdom’s national airline were missing.
The attack came hours after new President Asif Ali Zardari addressed Parliament for the first time. It underscored the fragility of his administration as the country finds its footing after a decade of military rule

Texas officials warned residents still in mandatory evacuation areas Friday to “get out” now before Hurricane Ike hits the Gulf Coast some time in the next 24 hours.
“Time has run out,” Houston Mayor Bill White said at a press conference Friday morning.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett went even further: “If you live in mandatory evacuation areas and the storm surge comes, you won’t have a house. It’s not a question of riding it out.”
Residents of Galveston, a barrier island 50 miles south of downtown Houston, were warned by the National Weather Service they could “face certain death,” and were ordered to evacuate, as were those in low-lying sections of the Houston area.
President Bush said Friday morning he’s “monitoring the situation very carefully.”

NEW YORK — Family members, guests and officials marked the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks Thursday morning at Ground Zero in New York City, in Shanksville, Pa., and at a new memorial at the Pentagon outside Washington, D.C.
In New York, where four moments of silence were planned to commemorate the precise times that hijacked jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and in Shanksville, family members bearing bouquets of flowers, wreaths and photographs of loved ones gathered for the ceremony.
People began arriving at a small park across the street from the World Trade Center site nearly two hours before the events began.

A BABY sits amid a huge pile of £20 notes – in a snap that helped send his thieving dad to jail.
Money-mad Adu Bunu, 34, posed the picture to show his family back in Romania how well he was doing in the UK.
The immigrant and a pal – who later fled abroad – raked in £43,000 in weeks by fixing fake fronts to cash machines, which let them pinch users’ account numbers and PINs.
Cops found the snap of his son, plus bank details and fake ATM fronts, in a raid on his home.
Bunu, of Wakefield, West Yorks, was yesterday convicted at Hull Crown Court of theft and conspiracy and got five years’ jail.

Thomas Beatie gave birth to a baby girl on Friday.

Beatie - who received national attention when he appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in April - was born a female, but had his breasts surgically removed and legally changed his gender to male.

Due to the appearance of such a masculine-looking individual with a baby bump, Beatie has been the talk of tabloids for months. In reality, it’s not particularly astounding:

He kept his female sex organs, making this pregnancy far from ground-breaking.

“It doesn’t make me want to go and shave my legs or something,” he told Winfrey. “I’m a man, I just happen to be a pregnant man.”

On the contrary, Thomas Beatie, what differentiates a man and a woman is their sex organs. You’re a woman who takes testosterone.