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Legendary pop singer Michael Jackson’s children will attend school for the first time.

Jackson’s three children—Prince, Paris and Blanket—will go to school in 2010, for the first time.

Their grandmother Katherine Jackson said she wants to give them a more conventional upbringing after years being indoors and away from the world.

“I’d say I’m a little less strict but I’ve tried to follow the way Michael was raising them,” the Telegraph quoted Katherine as saying.

“But they don’t have friends. They don’t go to school. They have private lessons at home. They’ll be going to a private school in September for the first time,” she added.

Late pop legend Michael Jackson slept with his eyes open, a court is to be told.

The dead star’s ex-wives and lovers are to be called to testify to confirm the latest astonishing fact about his private life, as their evidence will be used by defence lawyers representing Conrad Murray as he fights a homicide charge, reports newsoftheworld.co.uk.

Murray aims to prove how difficult it was to tell whether Jackson was asleep or awake.

Debbie Rowe, mother of the King of Pop’s eldest kids Prince and Paris, Lisa-Marie Presley and nanny Grace Rwaramba, who he called his “wife”, will be quizzed at Murray’s trial this year.

Jackson, 50, died from “acute Propofol intoxication” June 25 last year. Murray, 56, is charged with manslaughter over claims he injected the singer with a fatal dose of the anaesthetic.

The cardiologist’s defence team have evidence the seasoned drug user often appeared awake when asleep.

They say he would have his eyes open and his pupils would be dilated when he was on Propofol.

“Conrad Murray’s future is at stake here and we will do all we can to prove that he did not deliver a fatal overdose to Jackson. We are going to call the significant others in Jackson’s life to talk about his long-term drug use and behaviour,” said a defence source.

“We’ve found he would appear dopey and sleep with his eyes open when he had taken meds. We want the women closest to him to verify this. We’ll also ask his doctors about how he slept after being knocked out. This could be a key part in the defence… This wasn’t a case of a doctor giving a fatal dose to a clean patient. Jackson had a long history of extensive drug use,” the source added.

Murray’s lawyer Ed Chernoff confirmed they will quiz family members about Jackson’s secret life. His defence will claim Jackson killed himself accidentally by self-injecting a fatal dose of the anaesthetic. They say poor health after years of drug abuse prompted a heart attack.

Late pop legend Michael Jackson administered his fatal drugs overdose himself, defence lawyers for his personal doctor, Conrad Murray who stands accused of his death, are set to claim.

The late singer died of acute intoxication by medical anaesthetic Propofol last June, and Murray faces trial for his murder.

Lawyers for the doctor who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter are, however, set to claim it was the singer who administered the powerful drug, not Murray, reports TMZ.com

The defence team say that Murray administered a small dose of 25 mg of Propofol to the singer, then sat with him for an hour making calls.

He then went to use the bathroom, during which time Jackson, 50, awoke and was frustrated that he couldn’t sleep so he reached for the 20 millilitre bottle and administered it intravenously – a huge overdose which lead to his death.

The defence will then tell how Murray re-entered the room, and saw what had happened and immediately started trying to resuscitate the star.

The defence will also argue Jackson was a long time Propofol addict, and a key piece of evidence will be an empty bottle of the powerful drug.

“Los Angeles County Coroner’s investigators took a picture in the room, showing an empty Propofol bottle on the floor, underneath the nightstand by Jackson’s bed,” read the website.

“The defence will argue Jackson grabbed the bottle from the nightstand, injected himself and then dropped the bottle,” it further read.

Last week one of Jackson’s bodyguards, Alberto Alvarez, claimed Murray stopped CPR in order to hide bottles of Propofol.

The defence are expected to ask that if this is the case, then why did he not hide the bottle under the nightstand.

Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, said he is “horrified” by the claims, and that he doesn’t believe them.

“I don’t believe it. It’s not true. Why would he Murray hide all the bottles if such a story were true?” he said.

“The coroner’s report shows the story is not true. This really upsets me to hear this,” he added.

Murray’s lawyers have yet to comment. The doctor’s trial is expected to go ahead later this year.

After legendary pop star Michael Jackson’s death there were many reports of women claiming to be the singer’s secret wife. But Jackson’s estate has just filed legal papers declaring that the late star had no secret wife.

“Michael Joseph Jackson did not have a surviving spouse. He was not married at the time of his death,” tmz.com quoted Jackson’s lawyer as saying.

Ian Halperin who penned “Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson” is working on a documentary about the late pop singer to be released in June.

Halperin’s tribute documentary titled “Gone Too Soon”, uses audio and video footage of the star shot before his death last June, reports contactmusic.com.

It also includes interviews with the “Thriller” singer’s personal manager, chef, spiritual adviser, hairstylist, trainer, bodyguard and attorney.

According to the filmmaker, the family of the 50-year-old star, who died of acute Propofol intoxication, are aware of the project, though they do not appear in it.

The 88-minute documentary is expected to cover the star’s personal life, including allegations of child abuse, but Halperin insists he is showing a “balanced tribute” to the King of Pop.

“This is the film Michael and his fans deserve,” he said.

Chris Grant, the president of distributors Shine International, is confident the documentary will “eventually be known as a really important piece of the Michael Jackson saga”.

“Ian’s done an incredible job telling the story of what actually happened to Michael. We’ve teased it a bit and the reaction has been tremendous,” he said.

The film will be unveiled at the MIPTV conference in Cannes, France, next month and will receive a limited cinema run in Canada and France June 25, the anniversary of Jackson’s death.

There has been no confirmation about release in other countries as yet.

Child protective services are investigating the presence of a stun gun at the house where the children of Michael Jackson live, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.

Quoting an attorney for the children’s grandmother, Katherine Jackson, the report said that the investigation was launched after one of the children’s cousins bought a Taser gun on the internet and played with it in the house. However, the attorney, Adam Streisand, insisted that there was no danger posed to anyone from the incident.

“Two weeks ago, Jermaine Jackson’s 13-year old son, Jaafar, who lives with his mother Alejandra at the home of Katherine Jackson, received a package with a stun gun he ordered online,” the statement said. “Jaafar opened the package alone in his bathroom and tested it on a piece of paper”.

According to the statement, Katherine Jackson and a security official heard the sound and immediately confiscated the weapon. Streisand said none of Michael Jackson’s children were ever in any danger from the weapon.

“All of the kids are happy, healthy and wonderful and that is Mrs Jackson’s only objective and concern,” Streisand said.

Jackson’s three children, Prince, Paris and Blanket, have been living at the family compound since their father died on June 25, 2009, from a drug overdose.

Late pop legend Michael Jackson’s “unsettled” spirit has apparently begged ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley to forgive him at a seance, her friend Karen Fayehas revealed.

Faye, who was Jackson’s make-up artist, said she and Marie Presley, 42, contacted the King of Pop using a psychic last week where he asked for forgiveness for his wrongs to her, reports thesun.co.uk.

“He seemed to be on a mission to reach out to people in his life and be forgiven. Michael spent his time explaining his faults and wanting us to forgive him. He seemed unsettled,” said Faye.

Faye insisted the medium had “no idea” of their link to Jackson, who died aged 50 last June.

“There were definite, deep insights that would have been difficult to make up. It was detailed on the inner dynamics of his family and his levels of pain and emotional inability,” she said.

She further informed Jackson would not discuss manslaughter charges faced by his doctor Conrad Murray in Los Angeles.

“He said he was detached from things,” he said.

Jackson married Marie Presley in 1994 before splitting after 18 months.

Over seven months after his death, Michael Jackson is etched in the hearts of millions of fans – and also in 12 feet of black granite that its maker plans to ship to the late king of pop\’s Neverland Ranch in California.

The statue is drawing curious crowds at the ninth International Granites & Stone Fair being held in the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (AIEC), about 20 km from here.

“It’s a personal tribute to the greatest pop singer of our times! He lives in our hearts as he was on stage for years,” R. Chandrasekaran, managing director of RC Golden Granites Ltd, told IANS.

As a diehard follower of the American singer who died suddenly June 25 last year, Chandrasekaran, 40, plans to gift the 3.5-tonne statue carved out of black granite to Jackson’s estate in California.

Jackson’s sprawling estate is located at the Neverland Valley Ranch in Santa Barbara County. The rock singer lived there from 1988 to 2005.

“I have written to Jackson’s family that I want to donate the statue for installing it in his famous estate. I will bear the freight charge, which is about $2,500,” an elated Chandrasekaran said, while spectators thronged his company’s stall to touch and feel the legendary singer in awe.

The Chennai-based granite firm spent a whopping $25,000 (Rs.1.2 million) in sculpting the statue out of a single block of huge rock that was quarried from a mine near Kanakapura, about 50 km from Bangalore.

“We employed six artisans to chisel the granite into Jackson’s shape in 45 days at our factory in Kancheepuram. As black granite is brittle, the aesthetic art work was a test of patience, diligence and skill. His face and eyes were the most challenging as we wanted the statue to be expressive and poignant,” Chandrasekaran said.

The company plans to ship the statue to the US west coast by next month after the family’s consent in writing for securing clearances.

This is not the first time the four-year-old export firm has carved a statue for an icon, as it had sculpted a skeleton in black and white granite last year in aid of the campaign against smoking launched by former central health minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

“We specialise in sculpting exquisite monuments, statutes and other artefacts carved out of granite rocks, which are the oldest geological formations on earth. All our creations are exported to European customers on order,” Chandrasekaran noted.

The skeleton statute, seated on black granite and titled “Hell’s Preferred Citizen”, was displayed at the Granite Monument Stone Fair in February 2009 in Chennai and at a fair against tobacco products in Mumbai, March 2009.

“The statue, dedicated to the anti-smoking campaign, has been installed at Nirman Bhavan in New Delhi where the health ministry is housed,” Chandrasekaran noted.

As a music lover, Chandrasekaran also plans to create a statue dedicated to music maestro A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars and two Grammys for the film “Slumdog Millionaire”.

“We will take Rahman’s consent for making a granite statue in a pose and colour of his choice. At such a young age, he has brought so much fame and acclaim to our country from the world over,” Chandrasekaran said.

Besides Jackson’s statue, the four-day expo during Feb 4-7 is showcasing a Taj Mahal and a statue of Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in granite created and displayed by other companies.

The family of Michael Jackson is pressing for murder charges to be brought against the doctor who administered the injection of hospital anaesthetic that caused the pop-star’s death, their lawyer said Wednesday.

The family’s Attorney Brian Oxman told CBS’ Early Show that reports that prosecutors planned to charge Dr Conrad Murray with involuntary manslaughter were “just a slap on the wrist, and a slap on the face.”

Oxman argued that Murray should be charged with second degree murder because he was “reckless” in administering the drug propofol as a sleeping aid to the frail singer.

“Michael Jackson was someone who we knew was in danger of being brought to his knees, brought (to) his death, by the use of these medications,” Oxman said.

His comments followed a statement from Murray’s attorneys that the controversial doctor was ready to surrender to authorities if charges were pressed.

“I don’t have any specific information that leads me to believe he is going to be charged this week,” Murray’s attorney Ed Chernoff told the Los Angeles Times. “But if he is, we’ve made it clear he’s available to turn himself in.”

Murray, 56, has acknowledged giving Jackson propofol after other medications failed to help him sleep. Shortly after receiving the drug Jackson suffered a massive cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead June 25, 2009.

The music video of Michael Jackson’s hit track ‘Thriller’ has been voted the greatest of all time.

The 14-minute mini movie released on December 2, 1983, was named the best ever on the eve of its 26th anniversary.

It was directed by John Landis.

In 2006, the Guinness World Records listed it as the most successful music video, selling over 9 million copies.

“By merging film and music, Thriller set a new precedent for the industry,” the Daily Star quoted Graeme Slattery of pollsters Muzu.tv, as saying.