Fans praise Jackson concert documentary

Michael Jackson's concert documentary, This Is It, has been warmly received by the late singer's fans after its worldwide premiere, BBC reports from Los Angeles.

Associated Press added, "This Is It" premiered to high praise from fans who applauded at each number as though they were at a concert and marveled as the singer stepped nimbly through his moonwalk and other signature moves.

Jackson, 50 when he died last June, kept pace with backup dancers half his age during rehearsals for such hits as "Thriller," "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Human Nature." The film was shot as Jackson prepared for a marathon concert stand in London that never happened.

Four of Jackson's brothers — Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and Jackie — attended, saying afterward that seeing their brother on film filled them with love and pride.

The movie was pieced together from 100 hours of footage shot at rehearsals for the star's ill-fated comeback shows.

Fan Darryn Wade, in Los Angeles, said: "Judging by that film, it would have been the best show of all time."

But Kasian Daley, 17, at the London premiere, said: "It's an easy way for them to make money off his name."

And Mustapha Duggash, 18, from Nigeria, also at the London screening, said: "I believe it's a nice tribute but the main motivation is the money."

At that premiere, fan Ed Rahmen said the movie proved the concerts at London's O2 Arena would have been "the best thing he had ever done".

David Montalvo, who saw the film in New York, said: "I loved seeing him in action again. It's like you were able to see Michael again for the last time, so it was a good chance to say goodbye to him."

Marilyn Morrison, also in New York, said the footage was "excellent".

She added: "Just seeing all the moves, his original moves, just seeing him doing them again. Just wonderful."

In London, stars including Peter Andre, Spice Girl Mel B and boy band JLS attended the screening at Leicester Square.

Rapper Chipmunk said the film was "absolutely amazing".

He added: "It's given me the package of what his tour could have been if he was still alive."

Some fans protested outside the screenings, saying the film covers up Jackson's declining health.

The dedicated fans, who have set up a campaign called This Is Not It, are accusing concert promoter AEG Live of putting too much pressure on the star during the build up to his 50-date run at London's O2 Arena.

A spokesman for AEG declined to comment.

Jackson, who died on June 25 aged 50, had spent the previous four months rehearsing in Los Angeles.

More than 800,000 tickets had been sold for the concerts, with organisers promising one of the "most expensive and technically advanced" live shows ever.

David Shepherd passes away

Former umpire David Shepherd has died after a battle with cancer, aged 68, BBC reports. Shepherd, who was born in Devon, officiated in 92 Tests and 172 one-day internationals, including three World Cup finals before retiring in 2005.

He was famous for his aversion to the 'Nelson' - scores with a multiple of 111 - which made him hop at the crease nervously between deliveries. Only West Indies' Steve Bucknor (128) and South Africa's Rudi Koertzen (101) have stood in more Tests.

Shepherd had a productive career as a batsman for Gloucestershire, hitting 10,672 runs in a career lasting from 1965 to 1979.

He was appointed as a first-class umpire in 1981 and was swiftly elevated through the ranks, making his Test debut in an Ashes Test four years later.

After his final international match, a one-day game between England and Australia at the Oval, he received a standing ovation from the fans and players.

ICC President David Morgan described Shepherd as a true gentleman of the game.

"He was a fine player and a match official of the very highest quality," he said.

"He will be remembered fondly by players, spectators and administrators as a great entertainer but also as one of the best umpires the game has ever seen.

The current international umpires also issued a collective tribute to their former colleague.

"Shep was one of the truly great cricket umpires that we have seen but more importantly he was one of the true gentlemen of the game of cricket. The international umpires will fondly remember his smiling face, his warm personality and his ever helpful demeanour," said the statement.

He was appointed as a first-class umpire in 1981 and was swiftly elevated through the ranks, making his Test debut in an Ashes Test four years later.

After his final international match, a one-day game between England and Australia at the Oval, he received a standing ovation from the fans and players.

Dickie Bird, who umpired many matches alongside Shepherd, said his former colleague would be missed.

"I feel very saddened this has happened," he said. Former England captain Michael Vaughan said: "There was a huge amount of respect for him. He was a really good umpire, with a bit of character about him.

Gloucestershire chairman John Light also paid tribute to Shepherd.

"As an umpire he has always been a familiar and much-loved face, not only here but at cricket grounds around the world," he said.

Who dominates U.S. medical tourism

These are heady days for the medical tourism industry. With U.S. healthcare prices spiraling upward, more and more insurers and individuals are looking abroad for treatment. By some estimates, 650,000 Americans will check into foreign hospitals from Mexico to Thailand this year. Reuters reports from New York.

The boom has created rich opportunities for entrepreneurs catering to first-time medical travelers, start-up businesses and eager hospital managers in developing countries.

Enter lawyer couple Jonathan Edelheit and Renée-Marie Stephano.

Edelheit and Stephano, both 37, are the founders of the Medical Tourism Association (MTA), a non-profit association they created to further "quality of care, transparency, communication and education" in the industry. They are also the organizers of the industry's annual top conference, under way this week in Los Angeles.

In many ways, Edelheit and Stephano have become the face of medical tourism. That has caused admiration, envy and unhappiness in the tight-knit industry.

Former MTA board members and industry colleagues have stories of how their collaborations with the couple have become marred by a sense of disillusionment and legal threats since the organization was founded in 2007. Their concerns center on three issues:

- Edelheit has been accused of selling unauthorized insurance in Washington and Montana. The first probe has been settled. Edelheit dismisses the allegations and says the second investigation will be settled in his favor.

- Edelheit and Stephano have threatened several critics with legal action and have filed one lawsuit against a competing non-profit. Edelheit calls it legal diligence to protect themselves and the MTA's members.

- The couple set up a thriving annual conference, but critics say the profits go into their private corporation rather than the industry association. Edelheit says the arrangement benefits the MTA.

Rudy Rupak of medical tourism facilitator Planet Hospital captured the feelings of many industry players in December when one slide of his Powerpoint presentation said: "The biggest threat to our industry is the MTA."

Former Nazi member Boere put on trial

A former member of the Nazi SS has gone on trial in Germany charged with the wartime murder of three civilians in the Netherlands, BBC reports.

Heinrich Boere, 88, has previously acknowledged shooting dead three people in 1944, as reprisals for attacks by the Dutch resistance. The trial went ahead after an appeal court ruled he was fit to be tried. However, the hearing was adjourned when the five-judge panel said it needed time to consider more legal argument.

The trial is due to resume on Monday, court officials said BBC news. Anti-Nazi protesters had gathered outside the court in Aachen as the trial opened. Relatives of some of the victims were also in court.

Correspondents said Heinrich Boere entered the courtroom in a wheelchair with a doctor by his side, but appeared alert and attentive as he answered questions. The hearing was adjourned shortly afterwards.

The defendent is charged with killing three men: Fritz Bicknese, a chemist and father of 12; bicycle seller Teun de Groot, who helped Jews go into hiding; and resistance member Frans Kusters. He admitted the killings to Dutch authorities while in captivity after the war, but escaped before he could be brought to trial. He later fled to Germany.

Agassi used crystal meth to escape ban

American Andre Agassi has admitted in his new autobiography he lied to tennis authorities about his use of crystal methamphetamine to escape a ban, a BBC report says.

According to the report of the BBC, Eight-time grand slam winner Agassi said he wanted to share "my bad decisions which, in a few instances, nearly ended in catastrophe".

The 39-year-old, who retired in 2006, also stated it was "not easy being so candid" and "brutally honest".

Agassi admitted he used the drug with ex-assistant "Slim" in 1997.

"I felt my story was one from which many people could learn," he added in a video promoting the book.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) said it could not comment because it withdrew a doping case against Agassi.

In response, the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) called on the association to "shed light" on the case.

Meanwhile, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said it was "surprised and disappointed" by Agassi's remarks.

Writing about the first time he used crystal meth, Agassi says: "vast sadness and regret" followed his taking of the drug.

"Slim dumps a small pile of powder on the coffee table," writes Agassi in his book, which the Times is serialising.

"He cuts it, snorts it. He cuts it again. I snort some.

"Then comes a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I've never felt so alive, so hopeful - and I've never felt such energy."

Crystal meth is classified in the UK as a class A drug - the category for those considered to be the most harmful and which attract the most serious punishments and fines.

It looks like small ice crystals and is a very powerful and addictive form of the stimulant speed, which can be eaten, inhaled through the nose or injected.

Agassi, who is widely considered to be among the greatest tennis players of all time, recounts in the book, which is called 'Open', being introduced to the drug in 1997 by his one-time assistant.

Agassi was enduring the worst year of his professional career in 1997 as he struggled with a wrist injury, and his world ranking slumped to a low of 141 in November of that year.

The 39-year-old revealed he failed a drugs test that year but escaped a ban by saying his use was accidental.

Agassi, who is married to former women's world number one Steffi Graf, later writes that he received a call from a doctor working for the ATP in the autumn of 1997 to inform him that he had failed a drugs test.

The Las Vegas-born American says he wrote a letter to the ATP to argue the use was accidental, blaming his former assistant Slim.

"My name, my career, everything is now on the line. Whatever I've achieved, whatever I've worked for, might soon mean nothing," Agassi writes.

"Days later I sit in a hard-backed chair, a legal pad in my lap, and write a letter to the ATP. It's filled with lies interwoven with bits of truth.

"I say Slim, whom I've since fired, is a known drug user, and that he often spikes his sodas with meth - which is true. Then I come to the central lie of the letter.

"I say that recently I drank accidentally from one of Slim's spiked sodas, unwittingly ingesting his drugs. I ask for understanding and leniency and hastily sign it: Sincerely.

Iran wants big amendments of nuclear deal

The European Union's foreign policy chief Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday there was no need to rework the U.N. draft as Iran wants big changes within the framework of a U.N. nuclear fuel deal. Tehran says it broadly accepts, a move that could unravel the plan and expose Tehran to the threat of harsher sanctions.

According to a report of the Reuters, ElBaradei said he and France's foreign minister suggested Tehran would expose itself to tougher international sanctions if tried to undo the plan.

Iran's state television Al Alam said, among the central planks of the plan opposed by Iran -- but requested by the West to cut the risk of an Iranian atom bomb -- was for it to send most of its low-enriched uranium reserve abroad for processing all in one go, .

Iran says it is enriching uranium only for nuclear power plant fuel, not for weaponry. But its history of nuclear secrecy and continued restrictions on U.N. inspections have raised Western suspicions of a covert bomb agenda.

Citing an unnamed official, the Arabic-language satellite television station said on Tuesday Iran would present its response to the proposed agreement within 48 hours, a week after a deadline set by its author, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

Al Alam said Iran would "agree to the general framework of the draft proposal but will request some important amendments."

But senior lawmakers have said Iran should import foreign fuel rather than send abroad by the end of this year much of its own low-enriched uranium (LEU) stock -- its crucial strategic asset in talks with world powers -- as the proposal calls for.

Iran's foreign minister said on Monday it may want to do both under the deal, hinting Tehran could ship out much less LEU than the amount big powers want to delay by at least a year the possibility of Iran "weaponizing" enriched uranium.

The draft pact calls for Iran to transfer around 75 percent of its known 1.5 tons of LEU to Russia for further enrichment by the end of this year, then to France for conversion into fuel plates. These would be returned to Tehran to power a research reactor that produces radio-isotopes for cancer treatment.

Beckham keens to play for Milan

BBC confirmed that David Beckham will definitely rejoin AC Milan on loan in January, according to the Italian club's chief executive Adriano Galliani.

Beckham, 34, is keen to play for Milan to maximise his chances of making the England squad for the 2010 World Cup.

Galliani told Italy's Sky TV: "It's 100% certain. The only thing missing is the signatures, the agreement is done."

The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder had a loan spell at Milan last season, during the Major League Soccer off-season.

He joined Milan on an initial three-month deal in January that was extended to the end of the season.

Beckham was a big success in Serie A and negotiations have been under way to repeat the arrangement.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player said the deal was "95% done" after appearing for England as a substitute during their 3-0 World Cup qualifying win over Belarus on 15 October, adding: "I don't see why it isn't going to happen. I always wanted to go back."