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Thursday, July 02, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Funeral plans for Michael Jackson remained clouded in uncertainty Wednesday, with a burial at the pop icon's Neverland Ranch reportedly ruled out as the singer's will emerged for the first time. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Jackson family's hopes of burying the music legend at his sprawling fantasy estate had been dashed because local officials in Santa Barbara County were unable to circumvent local regulations. "It's nobody's fault. Everybody in Santa Barbara feels bad about it," the source was quoted as saying by the Times. Santa Barbara County officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earlier reports had indicated Jackson's body would be placed on public display at Neverland on Friday before a private service for his family at the Ranch on Sunday.A stampede of international media and fans rushed to the sleepy town of Los Olivos near Neverland following the reports, with hotels acr...

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 WASHINGTON: Brushing aside Indian concerns on American assistance for Pakistan, the United States has said the Indians should not worry about Washington’s support for Islamabad and rather back the effort to ratchet up its neighbor’s ability to overcome economic and militancy challenges.Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, rejected the reported contention by visiting Indian parliamentarians last week that Pakistan might divert U.S. aid to build up its forces against India. The senior diplomat acknowledged Islamabad’s focus on tamping down militancy in its troubled areas and reaffirmed the Obama Administration’s commitment to dramatically increase economic assistance for Pakistan.“I do not think India needs to be concerned about U.S. assistance to Pakistan.As you know, the new focus in terms of our relationship with Pakistan is to dramatically increase economic assistance to help that country overcome its economic challenges and to extend t...

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 NEW YORK: Spurred by a broad coalition of religious, labor and immigrant groups, the City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday to add two of the most important Muslim holy days to the public schools’ holiday calendar.But the vote, which was nonbinding, put the Council in conflict with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has the final say to designate the days off and has said he is resolutely opposed to the idea.The mayor told reporters before the vote that not all religions could be accommodated on the holiday schedule, only those with “a very large number of kids who practice.”“If you close the schools for every single holiday, there won’t be any school,” he said. “Educating our kids requires time in the classroom, and that’s the most important thing to us.” The current school calendar recognizes major Christian and Jewish holy days like Christmas and Yom Kippur, but no Muslim holy days. Bloomberg’s stance has irritated advocates of the measure,...

Wednesday, July 01, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iranian-based firm for its alleged ties to North Korea’s missile proliferation network.The firm, identified as Hong Kong Electronic, located in Iran’s Kish Island, provided support to North Korea’s Tanchon Commercial Bank and Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID).Those two North Korean entities had been designated by the United States and the United Nations Security Council for nuclear proliferation activities.“North Korea uses front companies like Hong Kong Electronics and a range of other deceptive practices to obscure the true nature of its financial dealings, making it nearly impossible for responsible banks and governments to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate North Korean transactions,” said Stuart Levey, Treasury under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.The Treasury Department said that Hong Kong Electronics has since 2007 transferred millions o...