Michael Jackson’s 2nd autopsy report leaked
Jun 30, 2009 News & Events
A post mortem examination done on Jackson following his death last week found the 1.78-metre tall pop superstar weighed just 51 kilograms, Britain’s The Sun newspaper reported.
The 50-year-old’s stomach was reportedly empty except for some partially-dissolved pills and his hips, thighs and shoulders were pockmarked with needle wounds – believed to be the legacy of injected narcotic painkillers.
Jackson was also almost completely bald, with just a covering of “peach fuzz” left on his scalp, the pathologist noted in the alleged report. He died wearing a wig.
The report stated Jackson several broken ribs caused by rescuers pumping his chest to try to resuscitate him after he went into cardiac arrest.
Four injection marks on his chest revealed attempts to pump adrenaline directly into his heart, The Sun reported.
The description of the dead star came as his former in-house doctor, Conrad Murray, denied having injected Jackson with a powerful painkiller before his death.
“There was no Demerol. No OxyContin,” Dr Murray’s lawyer, Edward Chernoff, told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
“He checked for a pulse. There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR.”
Mr Chernoff said his client was stunned by Jackson’s death.
“He was the one who suggested the autopsy to the family while they were still in the hospital. He didn’t understand why Michael Jackson had died,” he said.
Tags: Michael Jackson
US withdrawal from cities brings joy to Iraq
Jun 30, 2009 News & Events
PressTv
Iraq is filled with joy as American troops hand security duties over to Iraqi forces and end their presence on the streets of the country’s towns and cities.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi people rushed to the streets and held giant parties on Monday and Tuesday to mark the withdrawal of US soldiers.
As part of a security accord between Baghdad and Washington, American soldiers will only be able to enter cities if requested by the Iraqi government.
Iraq has declared June 30 a national holiday, calling it “a day of national sovereignty” with large parties planned to mark the US pullout, which will hand over more security control to Iraqi forces.
On Monday, Iraqi soldiers paraded through the capital carrying flowers and Iraqi flags to mark the eve of the handover. Patriotic songs were played at all checkpoints in Baghdad.
Authorities have tightened security across the country and Iraqi troops are on high alert for militant attacks during the changeover.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has repeatedly warned that militant attacks are likely to rise in the coming weeks to “undermine confidence in Iraq’s own security forces”.
All US troops are expected to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
Thousands of Pakistani hold anti-US rally
Jun 29, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
Thousands of Pakistanis march in the southern port city of Karachi to denounce the ‘unwelcome’ influence of the US in the nuclear-armed country.
About 10,000 participants, holding party flags, banners and placards, chanted anti US slogans and demanded the government to Washington’s policies on Sunday.
Member of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), a religious political party, also burnt American flags and chanted anti-US slogans.
The protesters also accused US president Barack Obama of pursuing the same policies of his predecessor in the volatile region.
The demonstrators chanted slogans like “Leave America, Leave!” and “Down with the US,” while holding banners which read “No to American Slavery,” a Press TV correspondent reported.
Addressing the rally, JI chief Munawar Hassan held US responsible for political and economic instabilities in Pakistan.
While condemning the US drone attacks in Pakistani tribal region, protestors held President Obama responsible for the killing of what they believe “innocent people”.
Washington says the drone attacks are aimed at suspected militants, but Pakistani media say only one-sixth of US missiles actually hit militant hideouts.
Hundreds of Pakistani civilians have lost their lives in such attacks, which started under the Bush administration. Islamabad has repeatedly condemned the US raids, demanding an immediate end to the imprecise drone attacks.
The demonstration comes as the Pakistani military is preparing to mount an all-out assault on pro-Taliban militants in the South Waziristan tribal region along the Afghan border.
At least Thirteen Pakistani troops and 18 Taliban insurgents were killed in clashes in the volatile region over some past 24 hours.
‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson is dead
Jun 26, 2009 News & Events
Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums — including “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” — and electrifying stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time, died Thursday, CNN has confirmed.
He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.
Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office said an autopsy would probably be done on the singer Friday, with results expected that afternoon.
“Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “To say an ‘icon’ would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by.”
Jackson’s blazing rise to stardom — and later fall from grace — is among the most startling of show business tales. The son of a steelworker, he rose to fame as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band he formed with his brothers in the late 1960s. By the late ’70s, as a solo artist, he was topping the charts with cuts from “Off the Wall,” including “Rock With You” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
In 1982, he released “Thriller,” an album that eventually produced seven hit singles. An appearance the next year on a Motown Records 25th-anniversary special cemented his status as the biggest star in the country.
For the rest of the 1980s, they came no bigger. “Thriller’s” follow-up, 1987’s “Bad,” sold almost as many copies. A new Jackson album — a new Jackson appearance — was a pop culture event. iReport: Share your memories of Michael Jackson
The pop music landscape was changing, however, opening up for rap, hip-hop and what came to be called “alternative” — and Jackson was seen as out of step.
His next release, 1991’s “Dangerous,” debuted at No. 1 but “only” produced one top-ranking single — “Black or White” — and that song earned criticism for its inexplicably violent ending, in which Jackson was seen smashing car windows and clutching his crotch.
Pakistan’s road to glory
Jun 25, 2009 Pakistan
A journey through the World Twenty20 champions’ win against the odds
Tribal Leader Who Revealed Taliban Israeli-U.S. Links Assassinated
Jun 24, 2009 News & Events, Pakistan, pakistan politics
A tribal leader who earlier defected from Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud and revealed the militants group’s ties with the US and Israel has been shot dead.
The assassination of Qari Zainuddin comes days after he revealed that their comrade was pursuing a US-Israeli agenda across the violence-wracked country.
Zainuddin, a 26-year-old rising tribesman who had called Mehsud “an American agent” was killed by a gunman in northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday.
Zainuddin, who broke away from Mehsud, was also increasingly critical of Mehsud’s use of suicide bombings targeting civilians.
In an interview with local media the defector said that Mehsud had established strong links with Israeli intelligence services, which were destabilizing the nuclear armed country. “These people (Mehsud and his men) are working against Islam.”
Mehsud, a warlord in his late 30s, has claimed responsibility for dozens of devastating string attacks on both civilians and security forces throughout the feared region.
Insurgents have stepped up their attacks on civilian and religious centers in major cities across Pakistan, which has fueled anti-Taliban sentiments among the Pakistani people.
The US invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago to allegedly eradicate insurgency and arrest Taliban and al Qaeda leaders.
The US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has resulted in the spread of violence into neighboring Pakistan. Taliban militants have turned the restive tribal belt between the two neighbors into a scene of daily violence.
Tags: Qari Zainuddin, Taliban Leader
How Neda Divided My Family
Jun 24, 2009 News & Events
Not everyone believes the shocking video of a woman shot in Tehran. Telmah Parsa writes from Iran on why many Iranians—including his mother—refuse to accept the horrific video tells the whole truth.
Last night I watched a disturbing video clip that has captivated Iranians and audiences around the world:
On a backstreet, a girl in her 20s, wearing blue jeans and white sneakers, is shot. The bullet has apparently pierced her chest. She collapses to the ground as a few men rush to help her and apply pressure to her gunshot wound. A man tells her: “Natars”—Farsi for “Don’t be scared.” Suddenly, out of her mouth and nostrils blood gushes forth. Then her eyes lose their focus and her head bends toward the camera. By now her face is soaked with blood. The same man who had told the girl not to be afraid now shouts: “Neda, bemoon!”—“Neda, stay with me!”
But Neda cannot stay. She dies.
Watch this Video
Iran’s constitution has no Second Amendment. Only the state’s officials are allowed to bear arms. Neda was killed by a member of Basij paramilitary forces Saturday in Tehran. The video clip of her murder has circulated widely, turning Neda into a rallying cry for many struggling in the streets. (CNN ran the video in a pixilated version because of its graphic nature.)
After watching the video my brother’s eyes were full of tears. I was too incensed to cry. But not everyone was disturbed by the video.
“That’s what comes from pouring into the streets,” was my mother’s casual reaction when I showed her the clip. My mother is hardly a callous person. On Friday, when the supreme leader declared in his nationally broadcast sermon that he is willing to give his life for “upholding Islam,” my mother—like most people listening, including a prayer hall filled with grown men—wept.
She was not touched by the video of Neda because it was not compatible with her essential presumptions. She cannot believe, for instance, that a Basij member could kill an innocent girl. To my mother, Basij members are the embodiment of everything admirable: They are deeply religious and completely devoted to the supreme leader. Their demeanor resembles that of the “martyrs”—those killed during the Iran-Iraq war. My mother’s brother was a young Basij member who was killed during the war. She could not believe someone so much like her brother could have murdered an innocent girl.
There had to be another explanation for what had happened to the girl in the video. But as it was difficult to come up with any, she shrugged off the problem by saying: “Well, that’s what comes out of pouring into the streets.”
Her offhand reaction, however, offended me. She was quick to detect my indignation. “Son, you and your brother have been brainwashed by the Western media…Why do you believe everything they say?” This is our parents’ typical line when they encounter the deep chasm that separates our way of thinking. It is completely futile to debate and determine who is actually being brainwashed. Like us, they have not suddenly formed their outlook in a day, as a result of open debating with someone.
My brother and I often forget that the state-run TV is almost the only way our parents, like many Iranians of their generation, get information. The state knows this very well. That’s why Jam-e-Jam, Islamic republic’s broadcasting building, is one of the most heavily fortified sections of Tehran. (A tank sits parked in front of the building as I write.)
TheDailyBeast
Tags: iran, Iran Protest, Neda, Tehran
