Michael Jackson Embraces Islam And Changes Name To Mikaeel

Michael Jackson has converted to Islam – and has changed his name to Mikaeel, according to reports.According to the ‘Sun’, the 50-year-old singer wore traditional Islamic dress as he pledged his allegiance to the Koran at a friend’s home in Los Angeles.

Mikaeel is the name of one of Allah’s angels.

Jackson, who was raised a Jehovah’s Witness, reportedly decided to convert after discussing religion with a music producer and songwriter on his new album – both of whom were converts to Islam, says reports.

‘They began talking to him about their beliefs, and how they thought they had become better people after they converted. Michael soon began warming to the idea,’ a source said.

‘An Imam was summoned from the mosque and Michael went through the shahada, which is the Muslim declaration of belief. Jacko rejected an alternative name, Mustafa — meaning ‘the chosen one,’ the source added.

Brit singer Yousef Islam, 60 — who was called Cat Stevens until he famously converted — turned up to help Jacko celebrate.

Meanwhile, Jackson is due to give evidence in court next week after being sued by Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, second son of the King of Bahrain.

Sheikh Abdulla, who is seeking 7 million dollars, claims he helped support the cash-strapped Jackson in the aftermath of his child molestation trial.

Abdulla claims Jackson promised to pay back the money, while Jackson says he thought it was a gift. Jackson is expected to give evidence to a London court via video link from LA.

SRK gets Oprah’s suite!!

Shah Rukh Khan bagged the most exclusive suite at the opening party of Dubai’s Atlantis Palm Jumeirah, leaving behind a host ofHollywood celebrities.

The over Rs 18 lakh-a night exclusive suite, suspendedbetween the resort’s two towers, was initially slated for talk show queen Oprah Winfrey but when she pulled out from the party, it went to King Khan,the Daily Mailreported.

Shah Rukh is the most famous filmstar in Middle East. Hollywood legend Robert De Niro [Images] a partner in the Nobu restaurant chain which has a site in the resort — had to make do with an over Rs 11 lakh-a night presidential suite.

Filmstars Lindsay Lohan [Images] and Charlize Theron [Images] bagged Rs seven lakh-a night suite in Lost Chambers submerged, alongside one of the world’s largest aquariums in the depths of the Atlantis resort with a bedroom view of 65,000 sharks, rays and fish, the paper said.

The opening of Dubai’s Atlantis Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island shaped like palm tree, was attended by over two thousand film stars, popstars, supermodels and billionaires from around the world.

The highlight of the ceremony was a performance by Australian singer Kylie Minogue [Images] and her 113-strong dance troupe on the beach. Minogue’s performance was followed by a one-million-rocket firework display with 100 computer-guided rockets, seven times bigger than Beijing [Images] Olympics[Images], which is the largest firework display till date.

Guests included filmstars such as Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Denzil Washington, Mischa Barton [Images] and Lindsay Lohan, supermodels Agyness Deyn, Petra Nemcova [Images] and Yasmin Le Bon, musicans Janet Jackson [Images], Lily Allen and Shirley Bassey, sports legends like Michael Jordan and Boris Becker [Images] and some local royalty — the Royal Family of Dubai among others.

Taare Zameen Par–A STOLEN IDEA??

Shakuntala Devi infuriated

Wow..!! This is certainly something unexpected from Aamir Khan – apparently the ‘perfectionist’ of Bollywood very perfectly plagiarized the story of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ from maths genius Shakuntala Devi.

Shakuntala Devi has accused Aamir Khan Productions of stealing ideas from her own book ‘In the wonderland of numbers’ and dishing out Taare Zameer Par without giving her any credit. What keeps me wondering is if she was locked up in cryogenic sleep all these months? Or was she paid by Aamir Khan himself for a little publicity before ‘Ghajini’ releases. Because its been almost a year since TZP released and NOW she breaks it to the media.

Anyways the 69 year old wizardess is now producing her own movie based on her book. “Some of the things shown in Taare Zameen Par have been taken straight from my book. People ask me why I don’t sue the producer of the Aamir Khan movie,” she said. “I expect him to write a letter explaining why he did this,” she said.

Shakuntala Devi spilled these beans during an interview in Beijing. Apparently this is the second time a film producer has stolen her ideas. A Rajesh Khanna starrer, Red Rose used ideas from her short story, The whole world is mad , which was published in Femina magazine, she said. While Red Rose was a big pile of unmentionable, it still matters that the producers gave her squat credit.

She said she had talked to several producers including Kamal Haasan to turn her book, In the wonderland of numbers into a movie. In case you’re wondering, the story is about a nine-year-old girl who goes through a transformation from being a mathematics hater to a mathematical genius.

“One producer asked if he can show the heroine as an 18-19 year old girl and introduce a disco number. I said it will destroy the whole purpose of the movie. My mission is to make people fall in love with mathematics and feel the joy of it” she said.

“I am considering Rajnikant or some other producer for the movie. I wrote the book as a movie script”, she said.

She said Kamala Haasan told her the proposed movie could cause a worldwide sensation if she found an intelligent producer capable of utilising the material in the book. “But he cannot make this movie. He is usually the hero of his movies. Also, he does not love numbers that much,” she said.

“From childhood, I have been asked to compete against computers and I somehow regarded it as my enemy,” she said laughing. But her dream project in Bangalore will involve experts from the IT industry as well as rope in Sanskrit scholars who can make sense of intricate Vedic mathematics.

“You know a lot of mathematical knowledge is stored in shlokas and sutras and it is not easy to make the most out of them. We need specialists to research and develop this area,” she said.

She has penned as many as 22 books as of now. The maths geek has been shocking audiences across the world since childhood with her prodigious talent of twirling numbers. She is in the process of setting up a global institution on mathematics that will train young minds and do research in Vedic Mathematics. Shakuntala Devi is worried that the advent of computers is harming the thinking ability of children, who are increasing losing interest in mathematics. “Mathematics has already lost its popularity in the West. Now, I feel this is happening in India as well,” she said.

14-year old girl lives 118 days without heart

 

  A 14-year-old girl,D’Zhana Simmons will soon be on her way back home after two heart transplants and surviving without a heart for nearly four months between the surgeries. Miami University Jackson Memorial Hospital said the surgery had no analogue so far. This is the first time that two pumping devices have been used to temporarily replace the heart of a pediatric patient.

The new heart didn’t work properly after first transplantation, and it was removed two days later. The girl lived with artificial heart pumps, but no heart, for the 118 days between the transplants. 

The second surgery was successful.Doctors said D’Zhana should be able to do most things other teenagers do, but she does have a 50-50 chance of needing another heart transplant before she turns 30. 

D’Zhana Simmons says she felt like a “fake person” for 118 days when she had no heart beating in her chest. “But I know that I really was here,” the 14-year-old said, “and I did live without a heart.”

As she was being released Wednesday from a Miami hospital, the shy teen seemed in awe of what she’s endured. Since July, she’s had two heart transplants and survived with artificial heart pumps — but no heart — for four months between the transplants.

Last spring D’Zhana and her parents learned she had an enlarged heart that was too weak to sufficiently pump blood. They traveled from their home in Clinton, S.C. to Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami for a heart transplant.

But her new heart didn’t work properly and could have ruptured so surgeons removed it two days later.

And they did something unusual, especially for a young patient: They replaced the heart with a pair of artificial pumping devices that kept blood flowing through her body until she could have a second transplant.

Dr. Peter Wearden, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh who works with the kind of pumps used in this case, said what the Miami medical team managed to do “is a big deal.”

“For (more than) 100 days, there was no heart in this girl’s body? That is pretty amazing,” Wearden said.

The pumps, ventricular assist devices, are typically used with a heart still in place to help the chambers circulate blood. With D’Zhana’s heart removed, doctors at Holtz Children’s Hospital crafted substitute heart chambers using a fabric and connected these to the two pumps.

Although artificial hearts have been approved for adults, none has been federally approved for use in children. In general, there are fewer options for pediatric patients. That’s because it’s rarer for them to have these life-threatening conditions, so companies don’t invest as much into technology that could help them, said Dr. Marco Ricci, director of pediatric cardiac surgery at the University of Miami.