Michael Jackson Dies But the Legend Lives On

The world is in continual turmoil, with daily news of death, destruction and displacement in Pakistan, and Iraq, hardline anti-dissent crackdown in Iran, and the ever explosive situation between Israel and Palestine.

Yet we have been gripped by the news of the death of a singer - Michael Jackson, King of Pop. Are we losing our priorities? I think not.

Michael Jackson was an icon. Amongst the mundane cruelties and injustices surrounding us, there has to be a time to admire or at least to pay heed to the unusual creative talent of someone like Michael Jackson.

He stood head and shoulders high above the rest. He was indeed rightly crowned the King of Pop. Though relatively quiescent in recent years, he was the standard-bearer, he was the one who set and breached the limits. His acts were perhaps outrageous at times, but the artistry was inherent. He was not to be ignored. He was a true cultural icon.

His personal life sems tragic, despite the wealth he was able to amass and dissipate. His mysterious physical transmogrifications, albeit born out of some illness, were mesmerising. He was not quite human, by which I mean he was somewhat surreal.

His passing at a relatively young age simply solidifies the legend that he had become and which will remain with us.

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Barack Obama Arrives in the Middle East

Image by Shabbir Siraj via Flickr

President Barack Obama is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, en route to Cairo.

There is no doubt that this is an important mission, and may well be pivotal in turning the tide in Arab/Muslim-American relations. He will be making a much anticipated speech in Cairo. The Muslim world senses that Obama is sympathetic to their feelings and aspirations, and is looking forward, if tentatively, to more concrete actions.

For too long, the US has been totally indulgent to Israel, right or wrong. And when it was wrong, many lives in the Middle East were the price that had to be paid. The Arab world, as well as other Muslim nations and peoples, have felt discriminated against, slighted, side-lined, brushed off and even demonised. These have become deep-seated feelings of mistrust of the US.

This is a time of repairing the damage that has been inflicted by the Bush administration. This seems to be Obama's objective, but whether he can deliver remains to be seen.

*picture shows the Prophet's Mosque, Al- Masjid al-Nabawi, in Medina, Saudi Arabia

Air France Plane Crash Still a Mystery

It now seems quite certain that Air France Flight 447 crashed into the sea off the coast of Brazil. Something drastic, catastrophic, happened to the plane before it went down.  There is a theory that, because of the state of the debris found in the sea, the plane might even have broken up before going down.

Nothing is certain until the plane's black box is found, but hopes of finding it are not high.

There is no indication that the flight had any technical problems before taking off from Rio de Janeiro.

Amongst the passengers was a Spanish lady on her way back from her honeymoon in Brazil. She was travelling on the plane by herself as she wanted to visit her family in Spain, while her husband went directly back to their home in Dubai.

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