Janet Jackson to Pay Tribute to Michael Jackson at 2009 MOBO Awards

Organizers for 2009 MOBO Awards have confirmed that Janet Jackson will make an appearance at the event as a part of Michael Jackson tribute. "Janet is a music icon in her own right and a previous MOBO presenter. We loved her past involvement with the show and MOBO will continue to support her music and champion her career," a spokesperson for the show told The Sunday Mail. Furthermore, it is revealed that the tribute will have a positive, celebratory tone, rather than putting a dampener on the proceedings. "We hope it will be an opportunity to celebrate his legacy and show that his music lives on not only in the heart of his millions of fans worldwide but also in his music and in the music of his contemporaries," the spokesperson explained. This year's The Music of Black Origin Awards will be .....more

Taliban 'very aggressive,' top U.S. general says

WASHINGTON - Taliban militants are moving beyond their traditional strongholds, forcing a shift in U.S. troop deployments, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan said in an interview published Monday in The Wall Street Journal.
"We've got to stop their momentum, stop their initiative," Gen. Stanley McChrystal, speaking from his office in Kabul, told the Journal.
The Taliban is "a very aggressive enemy right now ," he said.McChrystal is preparing an interim assessment that is expected to be a sober accounting of the difficulties of fighting......more

Hajj draw today

ISLAMABAD: Ballot for government applications for Hajj 2009 will be held today in which names of 80,000 successful applicants will be announced.Applicant declared successful after the balloting will have to submit their Machine Readable International Passport within five days of the hajj draw in their respective banks. Applicants who remained unsuccessful for consecutive two previous years shall be declared successful this year without balloting.Unsuccessful applicants of this year will be declared successful in the next year, if they choose not to withdraw Haj dues deposited by them. At least 16,000 Pakistani pilgrims will perform hajj this year.

Teen gets Britain's first eyelash transplant: surgeons

LONDON: One of Britain's biggest comestic surgery clinics claimed Sunday to have carried out the nation's first-ever eyelash transplant on a 19-year-old with a hair-pulling disorder.During a four-hour procedure -- pioneered in the United States -- that cost 3,500 pounds (5,850 dollars, 4,100 euros), hairs were removed from the back of the teenager's head, then replanted into cuts in the eyelid.

The lashes should gradually thicken between four and six months after surgery, said Transform, a network of 22 cosmetic surgery clinics that also claims to be Britain's leading .....Full Story

US to target ‘Afghan drug lords’

The US has put 50 Afghans suspected to be drug traffickers with Taliban links on a list of people to be "captured or killed", the New York Times reports.

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Two American generals have told the US Congress that the policy is legal under the military's rules of engagement and international law, the paper says.
In a report, yet to be released, it was described as a key strategy to disrupt the flow of drug money to the Taliban.
The move is a major shift in America's counter-narcotics drive in Afghanistan...Full Story

Jackson friend claims paternity

Mark Lester, a former child star and long-time friend of Michael Jackson, says he could be the father of one of the late pop star's children.

Speaking to the News Of The World, Lester said he had donated sperm to the King of Pop and was willing to take a paternity test.
"I believe Paris could be my daughter," he said, and noted she bore a physical resemblance to his daughter, Harriet.
Calls to Lester's home in Cheltenham were not immediately returned.
The 51-year-old, who rose to fame playing Oliver Twist in the 1968 film of the stage musical, had been friends with Jackson for nearly 30 years.
He is godfather to Paris, 11, and Jackson's two other children, 12-year-old Prince, and Prince Michael II, seven...more

Typhoons kill 51 in Taiwan, Japan, China and Philippine

BEIJING: A powerful typhoon killed eight people, toppled houses, flooded villages and forced nearly 1 million people to flee to safety on China's eastern coast before weakening into a tropical storm Monday.Named Morakot, the storm struck after triggering the worst flooding in Taiwan in 50 years, leaving dozens missing and bringing down a six-story hotel. It earlier lashed the Philippines, killing at least 22 people.....Full Story