Fresh from speculation that he has bought a luxury 14 acre (5.67 hectare) property in Bahrain, popstar Michael Jackson is now reported to be checking out property in Dubai. While spending a week in the Emirate as a guest of the son of the King of Bahrain, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Jackson, according to the UAE newspaper Khaleej Times, visited the Palm Jumeirah and World developments.

Source: AKI

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - He ate Buffalo wings. He took a speedboat to a luxury villa on a manmade island. He buzzed around the Emirate with a race car driver and a prince. In contrast to the frail Michael Jackson cleared of child abuse charges in June, the king of pop appeared relaxed and friendly during his ongoing visit to this Gulf sheikdom.

The 47-year-old performer was even been spotted looking over some of the world’s most audacious real estate developments in flashy Dubai, a booming luxury resort and one of the world’s fastest growing cities.

“He wants to see more of this area. He likes it here,” said Mohammed Bin Sulayem, the Emirates champion rally driver who escorted Jackson on sightseeing tours, alongside their mutual friend, Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of Bahrain’s king.

Local newspapers are flush with speculative articles about the singer taking up residence. Bin Sulayem said he wasn’t yet sure whether Jackson was ready to join the other westerners buying up luxury villas in this seaside emirate.

“I’m sure he won’t have a problem finding something in Dubai,” Bin Sulayem said. “I’m sure people are making him offers. He’s just looking. I would love to see him come to this part of the world and live - or even just to have a second house.”

Dubai has lured a growing number of the world’s rich and famous to bask in the over-the-top luxury of its resorts. Bin Sulayem noted that soccer star David Beckham and rally driver Michael Schumacher have already bought property here.

Source: Associated Press

Michael Jackson nemesis Diane Dimond has been given the boot by Court TV.

Dimond, TV’s best-known correspondent covering the Michael Jackson child-molestation case, left the network yesterday after she was told her contract would not be renewed for next year.

“I had a very good ride,” said Dimond, who wrote a weekly column for The Post during the Jackson trial. “We all knew what was going to happen and that it was eventually going to be over.”

The New York-based reporter — who sources said earned around $400,000 a year — and her team of investigative journalists were dropped from Court TV for economic reasons, she said. Her contract expires at the end of this year.

The network offered Dimond office space through December, but she chose to leave this week, sources said.

Among those who worked on the investigation team with Dimond for the Jackson case was Joe Hamill, the brother of famed New York newspaperman, Pete Hamill.

Joe Hamill is fighting a debilitating illness and recently went on disability insurance. A network source said Hamill was still considered an employee of Court TV and would remain one.

Dimond became famous for her dogged coverage of Jackson over the years. Jackson fans called her reporting one-sided and hated her so much they cursed at her on sight when she was spotted at the courthouse. At one point, she even filed a restraining order against one heckler.

“She came to us with the Michael Jackson story, and she owned it,” a Court TV official said. “Her contract was pretty much for what we estimated the duration of the story would be.”

Dimond’s tough coverage also angered Jackson’s defense team who had mixed feelings about her departure.

Jackson’s lead attorney Thomas Mesereau was said to be “dancing in the streets” yesterday, according to sources. Mesereau did not return calls.

But Jackson attorney Brian Oxman — who says he still represents the pop singer for civil cases — called Dimond a “worthy adversary” and told The Post he was not pleased by Court TV’s decision to drop Dimond.

“Where would Ali be without Frazier or Foreman?” he said.

Dimond said that, despite her departure, the relationship she has with the network is still good and Court TV is planning to throw her a book party next fall. Her new book, titled “Be Careful Who You Love,” is a 400-page investigative bio of Jackson that covers the last 15 years of his life.

Source: NY Post

A Personal Message from La Toya Jackson

I would like to give all of you heartfelt thanks for your continued voices of encouragement and for your amazing support of Michael during the trying days that now, thankfully, lie behind us. Thank you so very much!

It has meant a great deal to me, to Michael and to our whole family.
It is truly wonderful to have such amazing and loyal fans!

This is a very big victory for Michael and we are all very proud that he has been completely and totally vindicated in court, as we were certain he would be.

I am pleased to tell you that he is finally getting some rest and is regaining his appetite as well.

The end of the trial and the ‘not guilty’ verdicts on all counts, clearing Michael of all charges, mean that he can now concentrate on the future and his art.
He will be beginning a brand new chapter in the Michael Jackson LEGEND.

This means that I am not the only person ‘Startin’ Over’ -
Michael is now STARTING OVER as well.

As a matter of fact, this will be a brand new beginning for all of us.

Thank you!

Lots of Love

Source: Latoya Online

Dubai has made a big impression on Michael Jackson who was thrilled by the development he saw, and the hospitality he experienced, during his first visit to the Emirate.

The pop superstar has just spent a week exploring the sights of Dubai in the company of H.H.Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamed Al Khalifa, son of the King of Bahrain.

Top Arab motor sport personality Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who escorted Jackson and Sheikh Abdullah around his home city, said: “Michael had a wonderful time and he was surprised and impressed by what he found in Dubai.”

“He had heard that some amazing developments are taking place here, but he was still astonished to see the scale of the expansion and particular projects like The World and The Palm Jumeirah.”

The pop world’s most famous entertainer, who has been staying in Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah, chatted happily with delighted staff at the offices of major developer Nakheel before taking a boat trip to see how The World and The Palm have emerged as internationally recognised landmarks.

“He was incredibly polite and pleasant with everyone he met,” said Sulayem, the 14-times Middle East rally champion and organiser of the UAE Desert Challenge, the world championship motor sport event.

“Michael is very special for many reasons. We all know about his music and his incredible career, but not many people realise what a genuinely nice person he is.”

“He has achieved so much and is such a unique entertainer, but one of his greatest gifts is that he is an extremely warm and friendly individual who quickly puts you at ease when you meet him.”

Jackson, whose best-selling album of all time, “Thriller”, has sold over 51 million copies, hopes to return to Dubai in the near future.

Said Sulayem: “He would love to be able to spend more time here and will always be welcome. He enjoyed and appreciated the hospitality he was shown, and that is one of the reasons why he feels so comfortable in this part of the world.”

Source: Albawaba

Michael Jackson feels “vindicated” by the charges against his accuser’s mother.

Janet Arvizo is alleged to have collected £10,000 in welfare payments and not told officials she had just won £80,000 in a lawsuit settlement.

Sexual molestation claims by her son Gavin, 15, sparked the Jackson trial, which ended in the singer’s acquittal in June.

Yesterday, the superstar’s lawyer, Brian Oxman, said: “Michael feels vindicated by this.

“We do not wish this woman any ill will but we wanted to vindicate Michael and we have done.”

Oxman investigated Arvizo’s finances to prepare the singer’s defence case.

After the trial finished, Oxman handed over his records to authorities.

The attorney subpoenaed hundreds of bank account records and welfare records.

The fraud charges against Arvizo, 37, cover a time she was claiming that Michael Jackson was holding her family against their will.

Oxman added: “The existence of fraud at the same time that Michael Jackson was supposedly holding these people captive shows this was impossible.”

At Jackson’s trial, Arvizo refused to testify about the welfare matter.

The jury said afterwards that one reason for their decision was partly because they distrusted the boy’s mother.

Source: DR

Michael Jackson has sailed around The World — man-made islands in the shape of a world map — on a trip to the Gulf emirate of Dubai where he is reportedly eyeing property, local newspapers said Monday.

The superstar has secretly been in Dubai since August 20, arriving from the small Gulf kingdom of Bahrain where he has been staying since being acquitted of child molestation trial in the United States.

Braving the summer heat, Jackson wore his signature black hat and sunglasses as he cruised in the hot waters off the coast of Dubai around The World and other palm tree-shaped islands.

The papers published pictures of the self-styled King of Pop touring the city with Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, son of Bahrain’s king, and UAE champion rally driver Mohamad bin Sulayem.

“Why would one go around these top-of-the-shelf properties unless one had at least a fleeting interest in acquiring some? This is the million dollar question thats doing the rounds of the city,” said the Khaleej Times.

Source: AFP

Five Michael Jackson jurors are the latest to plan a deliberation-room tell-all book.

The four angry women and one angry man — Eloise Aguillon, Tammy Bolton, Paulina Coccoz, Melissa Herard and Michael Stevens — hope to counter scripts pushed by fellow former jurors Ellie Cook and Ray Hultman.

“We just want to set the record straight,” said Stevens, 22, an aspiring sports journalist.

Hultman, in “The Deliberator,” and Cook, in “Guilty as Sin, Free as a Bird,” claim to have been bullied into exonerating Jackson on child-molestation charges.

Source: NY Post

LOS ANGELES - The woman whose son accused Michael Jackson of child molestation in a trial that led to Jackson’s acquittal was charged with welfare fraud Tuesday in a complaint alleging she collected $18,782 in payments while making false claims she was indigent.

The five charges against the woman include four felony counts of “perjury by false application for aid” and one count of “aid by misrepresentation,” a violation of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

Each perjury charge carries a potential sentence of two to four years in prison. The welfare code violation carries a potential sentence of 16 months to three years.

The district attorney’s office recommended bail of $50,000 for the woman, who is scheduled to surrender to authorities and be arraigned Sept. 7.

At Jackson’s trial, she invoked her Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and refused to testify about the welfare matter. She has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached Tuesday.

The Associated Press is withholding her name to protect the identity of her son.

Jackson’s lawyers presented evidence during his trial that she and her family had received a $150,000 settlement in a 2001 lawsuit against a department store at a time when she was claiming to be indigent. They also showed the woman was receiving money from her boyfriend to pay the rent on her apartment.

The complaint filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Bureau of Fraud and Corruption Prosecutions alleged that the woman hid from authorities the fact that she had received the settlement and also failed to report the receipt of $637 for payment of her rent in January 2003.

It said the payment occurred in February 2003 but was not discovered until a social services investigator received a tip from a private investigator on Feb. 2, 2005. That was just before the Jackson trial began.

The mother of the accuser was a key witness for the prosecution against Jackson. Many jurors said her lack of credibility on the witness stand was a major factor in their verdicts of not guilty.

Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau said of the welfare-related charges, “In light of the evidence at the trial, I’m not surprised. This is certainly warranted.”

District attorney’s spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said the charges send a message that, “You’re taking taxpayers’ money when you steal from the welfare system. Whether it’s a nickel or a lot of nickels, you can’t use the welfare system as your personal piggy bank.”

Mesereau said the tip from the private investigator mentioned in the complaint did not come at his behest. He said he was aware of the welfare situation before the trial and didn’t want it reported to authorities then because it might discourage the woman from testifying.

“I knew that she had committed welfare fraud and perjury,” Mesereau said, “and I wanted her on the witness stand. I didn’t want anything done to discourage her from testifying.”

He said he knew if she testified, she would be exposed as a perjurer.

At the trial, Mesereau portrayed the woman and her family as money hungry grifters who had attached themselves to celebrities before. He said they invented accusations against Jackson in an effort to pull “the biggest con of their careers.”

He called witnesses to suggest that her suit against the J.C. Penney store that led to the settlement was based on fraudulent claims of assault.

Social services employees identified documents in which the woman signed sworn applications saying she was still in need of aid after receiving the settlement and money from her boyfriend.

The complaint said that between Nov. 15, 2001 and March 31, 2003, the woman received $18,782 in welfare aid to which she was not entitled.

It also said that on Nov. 15, 2001, Dec. 1, 2001, Oct. 23, 2002 and Feb. 3, 2003, she certified under oath that she needed to renew her welfare aid and medical assistance and said no one had received money from an insurance or court settlement in the last three years.

Los Angeles attorney Tony Capozzola told The Associated Press that he was the one who prompted the welfare fraud investigation with a letter to the district attorney’s office last Jan. 24.

Capozzola claimed his actions helped the defense because the prosecutor was forced to admit that his key witness had committed perjury in the past.

Brian Oxman, a member of the defense team who was subsequently fired, said he produced a 700-page memo on the welfare fraud allegations and gave it to Capozzola who sent it to the district attorney’s office.

Both lawyers were asked why they sent the letter if Mesereau opposed it. They said they were working directly for Michael Jackson who approved sending the letter.

Gibbons said the letter was received by District Attorney Steve Cooley and prompted an investigation.

“It was a very solid investigation, not something we did lightly,” she said.

Source: Associated Press

Michael Jackson’s trial may be over but Court TV Valkyrie Diane Diamond hasn’t forgotten him. Diamond, whose tough coverage of the singer had his fans cursing her outside the Santa Barbara courthouse, is writing an investigative bio of Jackson that covers the last 15 years and weighs in at more than 400 pages. The title, “Be Careful Who You Love,” is taken from his hit “Billie Jean.”

Diamond “has sources no one has ever heard from,” says an insider.

Simon & Schuster is planning for an October release

Source: Edited from NY Daily News