Tuesday, August 04, 2009 LOS ANGELES: A Los Angeles judge named Michael Jackson's mother as permanent guardian of the star's children Monday, ignoring a surprise late bid by the singer's dermatologist to have a say in their upbringing. Lawyers for Katherine Jackson, 79, and the King of Pop's ex-wife Debbie Rowe had last week agreed details of custody arrangements concerning children Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince Michael II, 7. But what was expected to be a straightforward hearing to approve the agreement on Monday took a bizarre turn when an attorney for Jackson's skin doctor Arnold Klein appeared at the hearing. Lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said Klein wanted to "have a voice" in issues concerning the children's "education, healthcare and welfare." Asked repeatedly by Judge Mitchell Beckloff to state what Klein's interest was, Kaplan said it was due to his client's "longstanding relationship with the children and longstanding relationship with Mr Jackson." Klein was "not a presumed parent," Kaplan said, although Monday's twist is likely to stir up fresh speculation about whether the doctor is the biological father of Jackson's eldest two children. In interviews last month, Klein refused to categorically deny that he was the children's father. "All I can tell you is, to the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children," Klein told media. Judge Beckloff appeared to disregard Klein's request on Monday as a move by "nothing more than a concerned friend" before inking the custody agreement. "It's in the best interests of the minors," Beckloff said, adding that Klein would have to file a formal request if he wanted to challenge the details of the custody agreement.Under the terms of the deal, Katherine Jackson, who attended Monday's hearing, gets permanent custody while Rowe receives visitation rights to Prince Michael and Paris, born during her 1996-1999 marriage to Jackson. The surrogate mother of Jackson's third child, seven-year-old Prince Michael II -- known as "Blanket" -- has never been identified. Rowe will receive no money beyond an existing spousal agreement, reportedly worth some 8.5 million dollars.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
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