Bestselling British novelist Philip Pullman offended the Christian community with his new fictional book ‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.’

Pullman, one of Britain's most outspoken atheists, first enraged few members of the Catholic Church in his highly-acclaimed ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy, in which he thinly criticised the organised religion.

However, his latest book features further and more direct examination of the moral foundations the Church and Christianity, combined with the power of storytelling and fascination.

In the book, Jesus has a twin brother named Christ, who records and exaggerates the teachings of his brother secretly.

Speaking to a group of audience in Oxford last Sunday, Pullman said that the novel would probably cause offence.

Nobody has to read this book ... and no one has the right to stop me writing this book".

Even before his novel hits the bookshelves, Pullman revealed he has received several letters that accused him of blasphemy. He was escorted by security personnel to the Oxford event where he publicised his short novel.

"The world is a strange place and getting stranger", he told the media when asked about the heightened security measures. "These are the times we live in and it's very regrettable".

‘The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ’ is set to be released in April by Canongate Books as part of the Myths Series.

Reality TV star and rock singer Bret Michaels remains in the intensive care of the hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage, but has now improved to stable condition from critical, said his publicist on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old front man of the Poison band and a competitor on the latest season of the reality show ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ had been in a serious condition when he was rushed to the hospital Friday. According to the doctors, he suffered a huge subarachnoid haemorrhage, a bleeding at the lowest part of a brain stem.

Michaels’ publicist said he was still going through medical examinations but his condition has now stabilised.

Wally Sychak, Michaels' father, told Extra news site Tuesday that he had talked with his son by phone. "He sounded a little slow, but fine.

The best as they could expect at this time", added Sychak.

Fans and celebrity friends of the star sent messages of support to his official website.

"It's devastating", stated Sharon Osbourne, British rocker Ozzy Osbourne’s wife and Michaels co-contestant on the reality show.

"Your heart goes out to his family, your heart goes out to him. He's the nicest guy in the world", she said to Us Weekly.

Michaels became popular in the 1980s as a member of the band Poison. He was then featured in the VH1's dating contest entitled ‘Rock of Love’ and appears on the latest season of the reality show ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’.

Singer-turned-reality star Bret Michaels is “awake, in good spirits and talking”, after he was hospitalised due to brain haemorrhage, a report by TMZ Web site claimed.

The former Poison lead vocalist was reported to be in critical condition after he was rushed at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles area due to bleeding at his brain stem

However, Ambre Lake, the season two winner of Michaels’ reality dating show ‘Rock of Love’, told the entertainment Web site that she had spoken with the person who claimed he was conscious and in stable condition.

Another source claimed that though he is now stable, it is believed that the next 24 to 48 hours will be crucial in the rocker’s recovery.

People unable to receive appropriate medical treatment after a subarachnoid haemorrhage have 20-30% chance of suffering a second bleed in the first month of recovery – and the chances of surviving after second bleed are very slim, according to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Joann Mignano, Michael’s spokeswoman, confirmed a report by People magazine that the 47-year-old musician was rushed to intensive care unit after a severe headache, doctors then determined that he had suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage

Michaels shot to fame during the 1980s at the helm of glam-rock band Poison whose hits included ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’.

In recent years, he become popular as a reality TV star in shows like ‘Rock of Love’ and in the current season of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’.

‘American Idol’ finalist Crystal Bowersox has done it again, earning the highest praise from judges at the Fox singing contest on Tuesday.

With her own rendition of ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ by Janis Joplin, Simon Cowell told the 24-year-old single mother he would not have changed anything, but bigger reaction was what the other judges wanted.

"These people love you", Ellen DeGeneres pleaded.

Meanwhile, Paige Miles still has a long way to get the attention of the judges, who were against the Houston preschool teacher. Randy Jackson said her version of ‘Against All Odds’ by Mariah Carey was ‘honestly terrible’, while DeGeneres only complimented on Miles standing on-stage in high heels.

Also falling further from the judges’ favour was 20-year-old Tim Urban form Duncanville, Texas. He slid across the stage on his knees to punctuate his rendition of ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ by the Queens.

DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi compared his move to an awful audition of ‘High School Musical’, while Jackson said: "The dopest thing that you did was the slide, dude".

Several singers were able to stay on the judges’ good graces, such as Lee Dewyze with her The Box Tops' ‘The Letter’; Aaron Kelly with Aerosmith's ‘I Don't Want to Miss a Thing’; and Casey James with ‘The Power Of Love’ by Huey Lewis and The News.

Unless the panel makes a decision to save a finalist, another will be eliminated on Wednesday based on votes from viewers.

The book entitled ‘The Lost Battles: Leonardo, Michelangelo and the Artistic Duel that Defined the Renaissance’, which sets to find out who the better artist was between Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, will hit the shelves on Thursday.

Author Jonathan Jones said the 16th century competition was not new to art historians, yet to his knowledge this subject had not been put in a book.

Published by Simon & Schuster Inc, the book, which describes a defining and dramatic moment in the history of art, revealed that the rivalry profoundly influenced the legacies of Renaissance titans.

Nonetheless, Florence officials agreed that Michelangelo inched past his rival. This decision had helped the young British art critic launch his career and put him on glorious track with Rome’s key commissions.

Meanwhile, Da Vinci was sidelined in spite of being deemed as the Renaissance man.

"You are not left in much doubt that it was a competition", said Jones in a telephone interview. "The Florentine Renaissance was obsessed with competition".

The government of Florentine commissioned artists to create rival battle murals – the ‘Battle of Cascina’ of Michelangelo and the ‘Battle of Anghiari’ of Da Vinci – to be hang in the civic palace’s hall.

None of the paintings were finished and are both lost, though both survived to some extent through sketches and engravings. However, the British artist is in slight doubt that Michelangelo emerged as the winner of the dispute.

_For the first time, a book containing the seven unheard interviews of Jacqueline Kennedy months after the assassination of her husband will be released, said the publisher Hyperion on Tuesday.

In the interviews, former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy speaks of the plans of President John F. Kennedy to run for another term. The series of interviews were conducted by Pulitzer Prize-winning US historian and Kennedys’ chronicler Arthur Schlesinger in 1964 in the White House.

The former first couple’s child, Caroline Kennedy, made the decision to release the series of interviews on the 50th anniversary of the late president's inauguration next year, said The Walt Disney Co.-owned Hyperion.

Poised and graceful Jackie Kennedy had asked to keep the interviews secret for an uncertain amount of time, said Hyperion.

The interviews were made during that time for the oral history project in John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum that captured the people close to the president months after his assassination on 22 November 1963.

"My mother's passion for history guided and informed her work in the White House", said Caroline Kennedy in a statement. "She believed in my father, his vision for America, and in the art of politics.

The book deals’ financial terms remained unreleased.

"It is a privilege for me to honour the memory of my parents by making this unique history available", said Kennedy in the statement.

_The epic drama ‘Bodyguards and Assassins’, which focuses on a group of individuals who volunteered to protect Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of China, received seven awards during the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday.

The film’s awards include best director, best film, best cinematography, best action choreography, and best supporting actor.

Nicholas Tse, the singer-cum-actor who played as a rickshaw puller and became a ‘bodyguard’ of Sun during his Hong Kong visit to talk about plans to end the Qing Dynasty during the 1900s, received the Best Supporting Actor award.

The low-budget drama ’Echoes of the Rainbow’, set in Hong Kong during the 1960s, was considered the annual awards’ second biggest winner after it received the Berlin International Film Festival’s Crystal Bear prize.

The film got four awards, which include best actor and best screenplay.

According to director Alex Law, he was thankful for several unexpected surprises the film had given him.

"My starting point was to make a film to remember my elder brother", said Law. It even helped protect a street from demolition”.

The director was talking about the decision of the Hong Kong government to stop a plan to demolish Wing Lee Street, the setting of the film, after the publicity made by the Berlin Award.

Simon Yam, who starred as the head of the struggling shoemaking family in the film ‘Echoes’, received the Best Actor award.

_Producers of ‘Jersey Boys’, the blockbuster hit on Broadway, filed a lawsuit against a stage show entitled ‘The Boys’, saying it closely imitates and unfairly competes with the original show.

The hit stage musical show ‘Jersey Boys’ tells a rags-to-riches story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, making it among the highest grossing shows of Broadway since its premier five years ago.

Music from The Beach Boys to Motown...and of course...The Four Seasons!"

‘The Boys’ stole the texts and songs of the original production, according to the suit, and imitated its entire appearance, marketing and staging techniques for their shows in Los Angeles, New York, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Chicago.

The suit, which asserts copyright infringement or the unauthorised use of works under the copyright law, was filed the previous week in Manhattan federal court and presented to the public Monday.

The court transcripts also stated that the title ‘The Boys’ was ‘confusingly similar’ to the title ‘Jersey Boys’.

The similar advertising materials and cast photos used by the production were considered "a deliberate and willful attempt to create public confusion and foster the misimpression" that the shows are "associated or connected", said the lawsuit.

The show ‘Jersey Boys’ asked for injunction against the continuous shows of ‘The Boys’ that uses very similar materials and demanded $150,000 worth of damages for every copyrighted song used by ‘The Boys’.

Ken Wirth, the business manager of ‘The Boys’, refused to give comments about the issue.

_Business magnate Bill Gates, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Jordan’s Queen Rania have extended their helping hands as they joined a campaign on microblogging site Twitter that aims to end deaths caused by malaria.

Host Ryan Seacrest, actor Ashton Kutcher, and other Hollywood stars have also signed up to join the campaign. Beginning Wednesday, the stars will send ‘tweets’ to encourage the populace to donate. The proceeds will be used to buy bed nets, which offers protection against mosquitoes that spread mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria in Africa.

Last Wednesday, Gates also took part in American Idol’s fundraiser concert ‘Idol Gives Back’ to raise awareness about malaria as well as other health problems.

Organisers of the Twitter fund-raising programme are working hand-in-hand with Raymond Chambers, the United Nations Special Envoy for Malaria.

“It's one of the few campaigns I'm aware of where $10 buys a bednet which can save a child's life”, said Chambers. “

The UN targets to dramatically lessen the deaths caused by the disease to almost zero in the continent by 2015. To date, the organisation has over four billion dollars fund to eliminate the disease, mostly donated by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and government agencies.

Chambers said the UN aims to help 800 million individuals susceptible to malaria with the bed nets; however, their funding is still short by almost 50 million of those mosquito nets.

_Shaquille O'Neal of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the happiest celebrity on micro-blogging site Twitter, a recent study has revealed.

Researchers from the Business School Department at Edinburgh University analysed tweets of 13 stars using the social networking site. By using a computer programme, they examined word patterns to point out underlying emotions and figure out their relative happiness.

Based on the results, the 38-year-old basketball star came on top, followed by American cyclist Lance Armstrong and British TV and radio presenter Jonathan Ross.

Veteran comedian John Cleese closely followed on the fourth spot, whilst comedian Russell Brand and Scottish tennis player Andy Murray were tied in fifth. Meanwhile, Grammy Award-nominated American rapper Snoop Dogg came out as Twitter’s least happy celebrity.

The study also found that politicians, such as US President Barack Obama, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and environmentalist Al Gore, tended to show high emotions on single issues, such as healthcare or climate change.

TV presenter Philip Schofield, politician Boris Johnson, and pop star Britney Spears were also part of the study.

Researchers also discovered that majority of celebrities’ tweets were positive and happy, especially when they spoke about upcoming gigs or fellow celebrities.

The team now plans to use the computer programme to analyse the relations between important lifestyle issues and emotion. They aim to discover whether prevalent social problems like alcoholism and obesity have emotional links, which could be discerned by following the online communications of an individual.