Michael Jackson was laid to rest on Thursday at a funeral attended by family and celebrities, more than two months after the pop star died at age 50 of a drug overdose that has been ruled a homicide.

Tight security kept fans, reporters and even aircraft well away from the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, where Jackson will lie in the stellar company of such Hollywood icons as Walt Disney and Humphrey Bogart.

Influential Bollywood director and producer Yash Chopra will be honoured as filmmaker of the year at one of Asia's biggest film events, South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival, organisers said on Thursday.

Chopra will receive the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award, considered one of the top cinema honours in Asia, during the festival that runs from October 8 to 16 in the South Korean southern port city.

Dominick Dunne, the American author and journalist best known for his coverage of high-profile court cases such as the O.J. Simpson murder trial, died on Wednesday at the age of 83.

Dunne died at his home in Manhattan after a long struggle with bladder cancer, his son, the actor Griffin Dunne, told Vanity Fair magazine.

Multitaskers of media activities like watching YouTube, writing e-mail and talking on the phone are not very good at any of their tasks, according to a Stanford University report on Monday.

Researchers who published the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said the results had surprised them. They were looking for the secret to good media multitaskers but instead found broad-based incompetence.

By Arshad Mahmud

The mystery surrounding the sudden death of Michael Jackson, who died two months ago, may have been resolved on Monday after a coroner concluded that the pop star died from a deadly dose of the powerful anesthetic drug propofol.

The coroner's conclusion has put the spotlight on Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, who reportedly administered the lethal drug at Jackson's urging to put him to sleep.

Rock icon Bob Dylan will sing the old yuletide standards "Winter Wonderland" and "Little Drummer Boy" on his first ever Christmas album, with royalties going to charity, his record label said on Wednesday.

Dylan's "Christmas in the Heart" album is due out on October 13, nearly six months after the release of his last studio album, "Together Through Life," which topped the charts.

Miss Venezuela, Stefania Fernandez, was crowned Miss Universe 2009 on Sunday, giving her country its sixth title in the international beauty pageant.

Fernandez, an 18-year-old brunette, became the 58th winner of the title in a show broadcast live around the world from the Atlantis, Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas.

Rio Ferdinand has released singer Nia Jai's debut album on his own label. He does a bit of rapping himself, too. What is it with footballers and music? Tim Walker investigates

The Independent

AP, WOODSTOCK — Standing in the rain wasn't going to dampen Donovan's spirits.

He had come to a field in this Catskills arts colony to be photographed, looking every bit the '60s troubadour of "Mellow Yellow" fame with a calf-length, black velveteen coat and long graying curls. The flower-power effect was only heightened when a Woodstock Film Festival staffer — Donovan was here to perform and to flog a biographical DVD — handed him a bright pink umbrella.

Reuters, Los Angeles - Oliver Stone's film portrait of President George W. Bush was always going to be controversial given the director's liberal leanings.

Ex-EastEnders star Wendy Richard is due to marry her partner later before starting treatment for terminal cancer, reports BBC.

REUTERS, NEW YORK - Want to know what was going through Britney Spears' head during her darkest days? Tune in to MTV's 90-minute documentary "Britney: For the Record" to find out.

REUTERS, NEW YORK - More than a decade after its conception, Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" will finally see the light of day before year's end, sources close to the situation told Billboard.

BBC Online

Forest Whitaker is to star in, and direct, Louis Armstrong biopic What a Wonderful World, according to reports.

X Factor winner Leona Lewis pulled out of opening the Harrods winter sale last year because of her vegetarian beliefs, it has emerged, reports BBC.

AP, NEW YORK - Broadway has found its Nathan Detroit for the upcoming revival of "Guys and Dolls" — Oliver Platt.

AP, NEW YORK - When it comes to members of the Beatles, even doodles are a treasure.

AP, LOS ANGELES - Misty May-Treanor is too hurt to keep dancing.

AP, MINNEAPOLIS - Former "American Idol" contestant Paris Bennett has given birth to a daughter named Egypt.
Bennett was in labor for five hours before her 5-pound, 15-ounce baby was born Monday.

AP, NEW YORK - Even though he's considered one of rap's all-time greats, when Slick Rick is asked about his most significant accomplishment, he doesn't mention having a platinum-selling record, classic hits like "Children's Story" or even his most recent accolade — getting saluted as a pioneer at the "VH1 Hip-Hop Honors."
Instead, he cites: owning a home.