Katsuya Okada, the leader of the Democratic Party of Japan and the main rival to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, has hired PR firm Fleishman-Hillard to help buff his image ahead of the September 11 national election.

Nine months before Antony Loewenstein's book on the conflict in Israel and Palestine, Voices of Reason, has even been published, it's under attack.

Writing in the U.K.