Michael Jackson to be buried in Muslim tradition

The family of Michael Jackson is considering a traditional Muslim burial for the pop icon who had converted to Islam months prior to his death, says a new report.

X 17 online, a celebrity website reported quoting sources close to the family that Jackson's new found will states that he will be buried in the traditions of his new faith.

"The family is considering following the Muslim burial traditions because Michael would have wanted to be laid to rest in keeping with his new-found religious beliefs.

Michael's brother Jermaine is educating the family as to the special rites," the source said Jackson had reportedly converted to Islam in November last year and taken the name of 'Mikhaail'.

Meanwhile, a public viewing of the performer will take place on Friday at his fantasy themed abode California ranch, Neverland. There has been no official confirmation from Jackson's family on the location where his body will be laid to rest.

Jermaine Jackson fought back tears on TV on Thursday morning as he recalled seeing his brother Michael lying lifeless in the hospital, and admitted he "wished" he was the one who had died.

In the grieving family's first official interview since the sudden passing of the pop icon last week, Jermaine described how "empty" he felt as he came to terms with the shocking news.

Speaking on the "Today" show, he said, "There's nothing that can compare to this. We lost our brother, our healer. The world is mourning, we are mourning, the fans are mourning, it's unbelievable.

"I wanted to see Michael and see my brother. Seeing him lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me, but I held myself together because I knew he was very much alive and his spirit (lives on).

"I was just a shell. I kissed him on his forehead, I hugged him and I touched him and I said to him, 'Michael, I'll never ever leave you. You'll never leave me.' I felt really, really empty."

And Jermaine, who is Muslim, admits he would give anything to trade places with his younger brother so that Michael could continue his "good" work on this earth.

The 54 year old adds, "This sounds strange but ... I wish it was me because I always felt that I was his backbone. Someone to be there for him. Things he couldn't say, I would say them.

"Michael is a gift from Allah and He has taken him back. The world didn't appreciate him. The world loved him, but certain people, certain industries, didn't appreciate him.

"His time on this earth, he did good for everyone. He saw the good in people who were claimed to be bad, but he wanted to change things. He sent messages through his songs, through his lyrics, through his actions, going to hospitals, going to orphanages trying to cure children of cancer, trying to bring them enlightenment."

Michael Jackson to be buried without his brain

Michael Jackson is to be buried without his brain, it has been reported.

Following an autopsy at the Los Angeles Coroner's Office, the singer's brain has been detained for neurological tests - including ones to see what drugs he had taken.

Rather than postpone the funeral, the Jackson family has instead decided to bury him without it.

The tests, which cannot be done until the brain has sufficiently hardened, are expected to show up any past drug or alcohol abuse, or overdoses the star may have suffered.

According to The Sunday Mirror, a source from the coroner's office said that removing the brain was 'the only way to carry out the tests'.

'The tissue has to be examined. I can't tell you how long that is going to take,' he said.

The test results could also play a crucial role in criminal investigations into the star's death, the Sunday Express has claimed.

Six of his doctors now face being quizzed by the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the State Attorney General Jerry Brown has ordered an investigation into which pills were

prescribed and dispensed to Jackson - and by whom.

'If there has been abuses, charges will follow,' a spokesman for Mr Brown said.

The star's funeral is taking place on Tuesday morning in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Los Angeles County, after planning permission for burial at Neverland was refused.

The family had initially planned a funeral procession from the morgue to Jackson's 2800-acre ranch, where a viewing of the body would be open to the public.

Now, however, they are holding a closed-casket family ceremony followed by a public send-off at LA's Staples Centre, during which Stevie Wonder will perform.

Fans have been allocated 11,000 tickets for the event, with an additional 6500 to watch it on giant screens at the nearby Nokia Theatre.

They were up for grabs over the weekend via an online lottery system. Demand was so great, the website crashed when half a million people tried to access it in the first 24 hours, and the televised concert is expected to attract a global audience of three million people.

Meanwhile, a custody battle for Jackson's children looks set to break out.

The singer sensationally named Diana Ross as his children's guardian if his mother Katherine could not fulfill the role - but according to the News of the World, his ex wife Debbie Rowe has said: 'They are my flesh and blood. I'm going after my children.'

New 'family' pictures unearthed by the paper show Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe with babies Prince and Paris - casting doubt on claims the former nurse was nothing more than a surrogate who had no bond with the children.

Taken two weeks after Paris' birth in 1998, the pictures show Rowe's first meeting with her daughter, whom she kisses and cradles.

'It was obvious Debbie loved her children and there was a strong connection between them. It looked like she was treasuring every second, laughing, kissing and playing with them for about two hours,' the photographer said.

Following her 1999 divorce from Jackson, Rowe signed away her parental rights in exchange for a £5.2million payout.

The star denied bleaching his skin, and claimed he was not gay

But in the wake of child abuse claims in 2003, she then made a bid to regain temporary custody, it has emerged.

In a legal declaration, Rowe claimed her attempts to contact the children were continually thwarted by Jackson, and said she feared he was about to flee the country with them.

The paper also claims that legal documents prove Rowe was impregnated by artificial insemination using donated sperm.

A 13-year-old video has also emerged - during which Jackson is questioned about child-abuse allegations and insists he isn't gay.

The video, from 1996, shows the star being grilled by a team of lawyers, as part of a lawsuit brought by Neverland staff for unfair dismissal.

During the footage, found by the News of the World, the star giggles nervously when asked about having sex with McCauley Culkin - and brands the allegations lies.

'You get to a point where you get tired of people lying. I get tired of situations like this, where people completely lie on me, and I'm sick of it. I want to set the record straight,' he said

The star also denied bleaching his skin white, and maintained he was heterosexual: 'I'm a black American and I'm proud of it. And I'm honoured of it. The bleached skin rumour...is a rumour. I don't bleach my skin,' he said. 'And I'm not gay.'

Tamil issue a big problem for Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, June 23 (UPI) -- The Sri Lankan military's victory ending the 26-year Tamil Tiger rebellion is only weeks old, but already the euphoria is giving way to rising international concerns about what awaits the country's Tamil-speaking minority in the future.

The plight of the minority in the predominantly Buddhist country of about 21 million is reflected in the humanitarian crisis of the about 300,000 Tamil civilians now housed in poorly supplied, military-run shelters after being driven from their homes by the war in which several thousands died.

The current Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is firm that these internally displaced persons would be resettled in six months, but outsiders disagree.

The government, already facing calls for a probe into alleged human-rights abuses in the final stages of the war, is coming under increasing pressure to address the plight of the IDPs, many reported to be living in deplorable conditions in the shelters.

Many of the Tamils were originally brought to the island nation from India by colonial British in the past two centuries to work as laborers on tea and coffee plantations. Their assimilation has been problematic ever since and became worse after Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948.

The resources of Sri Lanka, a poor country even in peace times, are stretched thin as a result of the prolonged civil war. International aid agencies also face problems in the current global financial crisis as they must deal with similar monumental refugee problems from Darfur to Pakistan.

Sri Lanka is receiving more attention as it celebrates its victory even as questions arise whether it can win the peace.

In a report this month, the Human Rights Group in New York said for more than a year, the Sri Lankan government has detained virtually everyone displaced by the fighting in military-run camps in violation of international law.

It said the Sri Lankan government should end the "illegal detention of nearly 300,000 ethnic Tamils" and warned that past government practice and absence of any concrete plans for their release raise serious concerns about indefinite confinement.

There is still no firm figure of the number of civilians killed during the final assault on the Tiger rebels, but estimates have ranged as high as tens of thousands.

The beleaguered Sri Lankan government has given greater access to the shelter camps for aid agencies, but the agencies say it is still not enough. The government says unrestricted access is not possible until it has determined the IDPs have no links to Tiger rebels or that no rebels are hiding among them.

One U.N. Official, quoting senior Sri Lankan military officials, has been quoted as saying he fears many of the displaced Tamils may still be in these camps a year from now despite government promises. A BBC report said the United Nations is concerned the shelters appear to be of a permanent nature, as efforts were under way to set up phone lines, schools and banks.

The Sri Lankan military may claim to have decimated the Tamil Tigers' leadership. However, in a recent article on TamilNet.com, a Web site the Tigers frequently use, the rebels' remnants said they have formed a "transnational government" to strengthen their Tamil diaspora and to "achieve the goal of independence and sovereignty … in the home country and to meet the international challenges internationally."

The article's message to fellow Tamils was the "contemporary world system including its apex body the United Nations, have shown least regards for the life, safety, dignity and human rights of Eelam Tamils."

The concern among some Sri Lankans is that their country in its current vulnerable situation might be exploited by outside powers.

The plea in some Sri Lankan media is that the Tamils and their Sinhalese counterparts now have a chance to meet free from fear of terrorism to achieve racial amity and national integration.

That would involve, among other things, the government allowing as much self-government as possible to the Tamils.

But before that happens, the civilian refugees must be resettled.

"Any long delay in resettling these war-ravaged Tamil people will further alienate them," Sri Lankan analyst D.B.S. Jeyaraj told the BBC, adding the future depends on how the Rajapaksa government reaches out to win the hearts and minds of the Tamil people.

Reasons for Lanka’s failure

London: The failure of two top performers — Tillakaratne Dilshan and Ajantha Mendis — in the final against Pakistan jolted Sri Lanka’s hopes of lifting the Twenty20 World Cup.

Dilshan and Mendis cut a sorry figure as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by eight wickets.

Sri Lanka’s batting mainstay Dilshan lasted mere five balls and in-form Mendis gave away 34 runs in his four overs against the fired up Pakistanis, who seemed to have done their home work well.

Dilshan was in terrific form in the tournament and had either come inside the line or made room to thrash or scoop the ball for most of his runs.

But Pakistan’s bouncers on Dilshan in the final worked as the right-hander failed to free his hands or swing his bat in an arc and ultimately fell cheaply trying for a pull to short fine leg.

To the much disappointment of the Sri Lankans, the Mendis charm too appeared to have outlived its course in the summit clash.

As Pakistani openers took roots at the crease, Mendis was pressed into attack in the sixth over, only to see a belligerent Kamran Akmal smote him for a six. Brought again in the ninth over, it was other opener Shahzaib Hasan’s turn to feast on him with two drives in the deep for fours with the mystery spinner conceding 21 runs in his first two overs.

It was a key moment as Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara had to look for an alternative, but unfortunately didn’t find any.

Sangakkara, later in the press conference, admitted that Younis Khan’s men had worked out Mendis well.

“They have played him often. It worked in their favour,” stated Sangakkara.

As a matter of fact, earlier this year Younis slammed a triple century against the Lankans in a Test match at Karachi in which Mendis registered woeful figures of one for 157 from 59 overs. — PTI

T20 cricket win brings joy in embattled Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — The National Assembly on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution commending the Pakistan cricket team for winning the Twenty20 World Cup in England, and bringing some happiness to the people of Pakistan. Syed Naveed Qamar presented the resolution after several members from across party lines expressed a wish to congratulate the cricket team for winning the world cup, and bringing joy to the people of the country at a time of distress. Faisal Karim Kundi, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, said the whole nation was happy over the team’s victory, and hoped the country would similarly overcome the ongoing insurgency in Pakistan. staff report

Security concerns meant Pakistan's Twenty20 World Cup-winning team was whisked away from disappointed waiting fans upon their return home early Tuesday.

Captain Younis Khan arrived separately from the rest of the team in Karachi. Geo Television showed a smiling Khan surrounded by fans and family members at the Karachi Airport, and he was showered with rose petals.

Other team members arrived earlier in Lahore, and officials drove them away amid tight security.

"We changed the plan due to security reasons and drove players and team officials in a bus to the National Cricket Academy," police official Umar Virk told Aaj Television, without mentioning any specific threat to the team.

Fans started to gather at the Lahore airport hours ahead of the 3:30 a.m. arrival time after watching Pakistan win the T20 World Cup.

The excited fans - mostly youngsters - danced to the beat of drums and chanted slogans "Pakistan zindabad" (long live Pakistan) before they realized the cricketers had already left from another terminal.

"Our hearts are broken as we could not greet our heroes," 20-year-old Danish Shams said. "We came here only to have a glimpse of them, but now the police officials are saying that they (players) have already left in a bus."

Zeeshan Qaiser was upset after not getting to welcome of any of the Pakistan team.

"Not only me, everyone who is present here is hurt," he said. "We just wanted to have a glimpse of them, we are tired from shouting slogans in praise of them and now they didn't show up."

Khan was able to soak up the adulation. He announced his retirement from Twenty20 after Pakistan defeated Sri Lanka by eight wickets in the final at Lord's on Sunday. However, he will continue to lead Pakistan in Test and one-day play.

"It was in my mind before going to the World Cup that if we win it and I gave a good performance I will retire from Twenty20 cricket," Khan said.

The Pakistan captain defended his description of Twenty20 cricket as "fun cricket" during the tournament.

"I said this because I didn't want my players to come under pressure, it was part of the plan which paid off," he said.

"I stayed cool and calm throughout the tournament and knew if we played well we can win."

The Pakistan players were elated over their victory - the country's biggest since winning the 1992 World Cup - but were also disappointed that fans could not greet them at the airport.

Sri Lanka send hosts Malaysia crashing to their first defeat

PETALING JAYA: Three-time champions Sri Lanka sent Malaysia crashing to their first defeat in the Asian netball championship, winning the Group B match 72-52 at the Juara Stadium in Bukit Kiara yesterday.

Goal shooter Tharjini Sivalingam was the toast for Sri Lanka, scoring 66 points in a closely-contested match. The Sri Lankans led Malaysia by one point (33-32) at half time.

Sri Lanka went on to score 39 points in the second half while Malaysia could only manage 20 with S. Aruna as their top scorer on 39 points.

Malaysia, who beat India 78-15 in the opening game, have two matches more to play in the group — against Pakistan (today) and Hong Kong (tomorrow).

Singapore are through to the semi-finals from Group A after they picked up their second win, thrashing Maldives 67-19 yesterday.

Group A: Singapore 67 Maldives 19; Taiwan 52 Thailand 39.

Group B: Pakistan 12 Hong Kong 76; Malaysia 52 Sri Lanka 72

Group A: Singapore vs Thailand (4pm), Maldives vs Taiwan (8pm).

Group B: India vs Sri Lanka (2pm), Pakistan vs Malaysia (6pm).

Sri Lankan refugees returning home

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, June 20 (UPI) -- A United Nations agency says it is helping thousands of displaced Sri Lankan residents return to their village homes.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a news release Friday it helped 2,231 people return to Sri Lankan villages June 6 in the wake of the defeat of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.

Many villages in northwestern Sri Lanka have been abandoned for years as a result of the rebel group's 25-year-long clash with government forces.

"Most of the villages in this area were deserted. The only signs of life before the recent returns were soldiers or cattle left behind when people fled," Pathmanathan Sivananthan, one of those displaced by the violence, said. "I thought it was time to come home."

UNHCR official Roka Kudo said the U.N. agency was working to make residents' return to their homes sustainable by offering aid packages containing emergency supplies such as hurricane lamps and clothing.