Jurors at Michael Jackson's child-sex trial were expected to get their instructions yesterday before listening to closing arguments and then starting their deliberations.
The eight women and four men of the jury who will decide the pop star's fate could start deliberating as early as tomorrow.
The King of Pop could face up to 20 years behind bars if he is convicted on all 10 charges that he fondled a 13-year-old cancer survivor, served him alcohol and conspired to hold the boy and his family captive.
PHOTO: AP
Jackson has pleaded innocent to all the charges, but has not testified in his own defense at the trial in the California town of Santa Maria, near his Neverland estate where he allegedly committed the crimes in 2003.
The pop idol's spokeswoman, Raymone Bain, has said Jackson is confident he will be vindicated. On Tuesday, she vehemently dismissed a report in Vanity Fair magazine that claimed Jackson was "scared silly" over the prospect of going to jail.
Charity rocker Bob Geldof has announced plans for five star-studded concerts aimed at pressuring world leaders into eradicating African poverty. Twenty years after the Live Aid sensation, the man dubbed "Saint Bob" for organizing the 1985 concert to save the starving in Ethiopia wants to influence the G8 group of industrialized nations, which meets in Scotland in July.
PHOTO: ANP
One of Hollywood's hottest couples may be having difficulty persuading the public their romance is genuine, but actress Katie Holmes says her love for screen star Tom Cruise is real.
"I couldn't be happier. I'm so happy," Holmes said on her way into the world premiere of her latest movie, Batman Begins.
"He's the most amazing man in the whole world," she said in Tokyo on Tuesday.
PHOTO: AFP
Christian Slater was arrested on Tuesday and charged with sexual abuse and forcible touching after a woman accused him of groping her buttocks, authorities said. Slater, 35, was accused of groping the woman, a stranger, at a small store after he was seen arguing with his girlfriend, prosecutors said.
Viacom Inc's MTV Networks said it plans to launch a Caribbean music-and-culture cable network by October across the region, and in North America by 2006. The new advertising-supported network, called Tempo, will feature originally produced shows as well as acquired movies, specials and series to be distributed by Innovation Cable TV and other distributors by October.
A British children's home immortalized in the Beatles hit Strawberry Fields Forever closed on Tuesday after 69 years of looking after Liverpool's disadvantaged youngsters. The Salvation Army said all the children had left the Strawberry Field home and childcare provision at the Beaconsfield Road site ended today.
A hip-hop fan said he was beaten by rapper Snoop Dogg and other artists during a concert near Seattle over the weekend. Richard Monroe, 24, said he was invited onstage during a concert by Snoop Dogg, The Game and Oowee on Saturday at the White River Amphitheater in Auburn, a Seattle suburb.
"They just beat me, stomping me, and beat me with a microphone," Monroe said. "They took my diamond earrings off my ear, my jewelry off my fingers, they took my wallet and my cell phone."
Paris Hilton decided to marry into the maritime business by agreeing to tie the knot with her boyfriend of nine months, Greek shipping scion Paris Latsis.
Being the daughter of a rock star and a staple on reality TV can easily get you a recording contract, but respect and success in the music business are much harder to come by, according to Kelly Osbourne. The daughter of heavy-metal icon Ozzy Osbourne, Kelly became famous in her early teens as the bratty progeny of Black Sabbath's singer in MTV's hit reality series The Osbournes.
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and