Michael Jackson's son to testify in AEG Live trial

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Michael Jackson's son Prince was set to take the stand Wednesday at his family's trial against tour promoter AEG Live, a day after fans marked the fourth anniversary of the singer's death.

A family spokesman confirmed that the 16-year-old, the eldest of the late star's three children, will testify at the civil trial in which AEG Live is accused of negligently hiring the doctor convicted over Jackson's death.

"He is ready for it! He is very confident," family spokeswoman Angel Howansky told AFP late Tuesday, ahead of the scheduled 9:45 am (1645 GMT) start of testimony in a Los Angeles courtroom.

Prince Jackson will be by far most prominent witness so far at the wrongful death trial, which started at the end of April.

Jackson died at his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009 of an overdose of surgical anesthetic propofol, administered by his personal doctor Conrad Murray to help him sleep.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 over the death of the 50-year-old self-styled King of Pop.

Jackson's mother Katherine is suing AEG Live, alleging that they negligently hired Murray, a cardiologist, and should have known that he was unsuitable to care for the singer.

The current trial, and the 2009 court case, have aired details of Jackson's long-time struggle with insomnia and abuse of a number of drugs, including propofol.

Jackson's daughter Paris was also listed before the AEG trial as among witnesses due to be called. But it is now thought unlikely she will testify, after she was hospitalized earlier this month following a suicide attempt.

Fans of the singer gathered Tuesday at the Forest Lawn celebrity cemetery, just north of Los Angeles, where Jackson's body is buried. Huge numbers of flowers were placed on his mausoleum.

"You are not alone. In a distance we are a

part. Thoughts of you are always in our hearts," read a banner held aloft by one of hundreds of fans, many dressed in black.

As well as thousands of roses, there were hundreds of cards with poems, portraits of Jackson, little banners in front of the mausoleum, and paintings of roses, sunflowers and hearts.

A couple of people had Jackson umbrellas, one had a silver right glove, while a couple of Jackson impersonators had pictures taken with fans.

Yoli Leung, from Hong Kong, said she came every year on the anniversary of Jackson's death. The manager of a Canadian electronics company, she was there with four other Chinese fans.

"It is a long long flight, too tired. We love Michael, we want to be with him," she told AFP. Asked why they love him, she said: "Not only for his music and performance, but also for his message of love and his heart."

Back at the courtroom downtown, a handful of fans turned up, as many of them have almost every day since the AEG trial started.

Spanish fan Raquel Tormo, 35, said she came from Madrid with her 16-year-old daughter Graciela, to pay tribute to Jackson. Her dream was to see Katherine Jackson, who has also been in court regularly, including on Tuesday.

"Michael is not dead, it's all a game," she told AFP. "Michael staged a fake death." Asked why she thinks he is still alive, she replied: "Because I am a believer."

Angelina Jolie Urges U.N. to Join the War Against Rape

Angelina Jolie has played everything from a scantily-clad tomb raider to a CIA-employed housewife to an animated tigress, but there has been no role she's taken more seriously than her latest: special envoy for refugees.

Speaking before the Security Council at the United Nations on Monday, the actress, whose film "In the Land of Blood and Honey" depicted the sexual violence during the Bosnian War, urged the world's nations to make ending rape in war a top priority.

 

Chris Brown Charged With Hit and Run, Faces Jail Time

More legal woes for Chris Brown.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's office has filed hit and run charges against the 24-year-old singer stemming from a May 21 incident, where Brown rear-ended a Mercedes with his Range Rover. He was also charged with driving without a valid license, and could face six months in jail for each of the two misdemeanor offenses.

So why all the hoopla over a fender bender?

At the time of the incident, TMZ claimed Brown allegedly refused to give the driver his driver's license number and also gave the woman incorrect insurance information.

I work my ass off to provide for my entire family. I've made mistakes in the past and have worked hard to be a better person.

Kate Gosselin is speaking out in defense of a photo that surfaced on Monday, which has some critics accusing the former reality TV mom of making a racist gesture aimed at Asians.

On Tuesday, Gosselin took to her official blog to address the controversial snapshot, in which she is wearing a plastic geisha-style wig and uses her index fingers to pull back the skin around her eyes.

"Jon and I were opening fan mail together one afternoon," Gosselin writes, remembering happier times with her ex-husband and father of her eight children.

"We opened this plastic Asian dress up wig sent from a caring fan, we smiled, each taking turns posing in it and snapping photos. Naturally, I 'slanted' my eyes to show him my best Asian impression, which made him smile," Gosselin recalls, adding, "I married an Asian. I have eight biracial children therefore I'm quite certain that I’m the last person that could be called a racist."

While many of Armie Hammer's fans would gladly accept a marriage proposal from the 26-year-old, 6'5" actor, his wife Elizabeth Chambers needed some convincing.

 "When we finally got together, Armie really wanted to get married," Chambers, 30, told Town&Country magazine. "He sat me down and s

aid, 'Look, we don't have to do this. We could just go our own ways, and then one day you'll be 40 and divorced and we'll run into each other, and we'll laugh and go out to dinner and have this same connection, and we'll wonder why we wasted all of that time. Or we could just do it now and enjoy the ride.'"

  Hammer married Chambers in 2010.

While he and his wife seemed open to talking about their love life, Hammer wasn't so eager to chat about the art of acting, telling T&C, "I don’t like to talk about the craft of acting. It's like asking a guy who screws lug nuts for a living to talk about his technique."

Hammer returns to the big screen alongside Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger, hitting theaters July 3, 2013.

It appears that Katy Perry and John Mayer have rekindled their romance.

After splitting twice in less than a year, the chart-topping pair was reportedly spotted packing on the PDA on Monday in New York City at the Waldorf Astoria.

According to People, Katy and John attended Monday's Friars Foundation Annual Applause Awards Gala honoring Don Rickles, where John played.

PHOTOS: Katy Perry Photos: Pop's Flamboyant California Gurl!

"When John performed, Katy was enamored by his performance," a source told the mag. "He sang 'One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).' When they were sitting down, she had her arm around John at one point. They shared kisses."

And that wasn't the only PDA the pair displayed at Monday's event.

"[They] were seen smooching and rubbing one another's backs. They were affectionate towards one another - very lovey-dovey," another source told the mag.

Following the show, Katy and John were spotted exiting the Waldorf Astoria together.

Earlier this month, Katy opened up about her feelings for the rocker, telling Vogue, "I still am madly in love with him."

In April, John told Ellen DeGeneres that "coupling is a tricky thing."

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Katy, 28, and John, 35, previously dated during summer of 2012, before splitting (for the first time) in August 2012. They first began dating after her divorce from Russell Brand, which was finalized in February 2012.

-- Don Kingsley Alabai