Superstar Sanjay Dutt was unsure about IPL bid

Like his colleagues Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, Sanjay Dutt also wants his share of the Indian Premier League (IPL) pie. But the actor was not sure whether he would be allowed to bid for team ownership because of his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.

"There`re two new teams in Ahmedabad and Nagpur coming up in December. Sanjay might buy either," a source close to him told reporters.

But the actor-politician, who has been convicted under the Arms Act in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, had a fruitful meeting with Lalit Modi, IPL chairman and commissioner.

"Sanjay`s main concern was, would he be able to buy the team because of his court cases? There are many things that he can`t do, like endorsements etc. Sanjay was assured there would be no problem. With the removal of TADA charges, Dutt now has rights equal to every other Indian citizen.

"Having got that apprehension out of the way Dutt questioned Lalit Modi about the nitty-gritty of the IPL team," the source said.

When Sanjay met Modi, who is also the vice president of Board of Control for Cricket in India, to buy a new team for himself, he wasn`t aware that the media would be informed and waiting for him at the hotel in suburban Mumbai.

"The idea is to let it be known that big stars are getting progressively involved with the IPL. That attracts more money, eyeballs and junta interest. So on Wednesday evening when Dutt reached the Hyatt, he was taken aback to see media persons swarming the place. His first impulse was to flee," said the source.

Shah Rukh and Juhi Chawla are the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders, Shilpa and her beau Raj Kundra own Rajasthan Royals, while Preity Zinta along with her former boyfriend Ness Wadia own Kings X1 Punjab.

Another Bollywood star Salman Khan is also showing interest in buying an IPL team.

There are efforts now to optimise celebrity participation and generation of money through star presence in the IPL.

According to sources, Shah Rukh will be charging neat packets from the public for attending matches and post-match events like dinners where the closer the audience sits to the star, the more it will cost.

Preity has recently taken on a television show where she`ll be seen interacting with all her IPL cricketers. She had made a neat packet from the deal with STAR Plus.

"So you see the stars are working towards building a bigger bucks bank for the IPL," said the source.

Jackson family belatedly leaves for funeral

A funeral procession including about 20 cars from the Jackson family compound is belatedly en route to the service for Michael Jackson at a Glendale cemetery.

The family motorcade departed from Encino more than a half-hour after the 7 p.m. Thursday service at Forest Lawn Glendale was scheduled to begin. The journey is about 20 minutes, even with a police escort.

The likely hourlong delay meant that celebrities — including 77-year-old Elizabeth Taylor — were kept waiting on a muggy night at which temperatures hovered at 90 just before sunset.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP`s earlier story is below.

GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) — Elizabeth Taylor, Barry Bonds and Macaulay Culkin and other celebrities were among the mourners gathered on a hot, muggy Thursday night for Michael Jackson`s funeral, slowly filling rows of white chairs placed outside the mausoleum where the King of Pop will be entombed.

Jackson`s family, including parents Joe and Katherine and the singer`s three children, had yet to arrive as the planned 7 p.m. start of the service came and went. With temperatures hovering at an oppressive 90 degrees, black-garbed mourners used programs for the service at Forest Lawn Glendale to fan themselves as they sat and waited.

A large, inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary "This Is It."

About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over a green surface. Nearly double the number of media credentials, 435, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.

Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, Calif., who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the security perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral.

"Can you please put these flowers on his grave?" she told him. Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park. "They were small and ugly, but I did that with my heart. I`m not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him."

The man consented, adding, "God bless."

Glendale police said all was going smoothly early in the evening and there were no arrests.

Michael Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star`s grave into a shrine.

After the burial, the closest the public will be able to get to Jackson`s vault is a portion of the mausoleum that displays "The Last Supper Window," a life-size stained-glass re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci`s masterpiece. Several 10-minute presentations about the window are held regularly 365 days a year, but most of the building is restricted.

Lisa Burk, who blogs about celebrity graves at http://www.gravehunting.com, said the Jackson family chose well for his final resting place if it was privacy they were after.

"It`s impossible to get in there," Burk said. "It was before, and it will be worse now."

By late afternoon Thursday, media tents had cropped up all along the boulevard across from the wrought-iron gates that serve as the main entrance to Forest Lawn. That vantage point offered no view of any mausoleum — just a fountain and a building containing the gift shop.

The Jackson family had booked an Italian restaurant in Pasadena for a gathering Thursday night, said Alex Carr, assistant operations manager at Villa Sorriso, in the city`s Old Town district. She wouldn`t specify the menu or number of people, but said the entire restaurant, which can accommodate 200 guests, had been reserved for the event and that security would be present.

The ceremony ends months of speculation that the singer`s body would be buried at Neverland Ranch, in part to make the property a Graceland-style attraction. An amended copy of Jackson`s death certificate was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County to reflect Forest Lawn as his final resting place.

In court on Wednesday, it was disclosed that 12 burial spaces were being purchased by Jackson`s estate at Forest Lawn Glendale, about eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but no details were offered on how they would be used.

The King of Pop died a drug-induced death June 25 at age 50 as he was about to embark on a comeback attempt. The coroner`s office has labeled the death a homicide, and Jackson`s death certificate lists "injection by another" as the cause.

Dr Conrad Murray, Jackson`s personal physician, told detectives he gave the singer a series of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep. But prosecutors are still investigating, and no charges have been filed.

Keanue Reeves to take DNA test over child claims

Keanu Reeves has agreed to take a DNA test after a woman claimed he`s the father of her four grown-up children.

Karen Sala, who is seeking millions in spousal and child support from the `Speed` star, filed a suit against Reeves in May this year, seeking a paternity test to prove he fathered her offspring, who are all now in their mid-20s, reports femalefirst.co.uk

`The Matrix` actor denied he`d had a relationship with the 46-year-old, and was seeking a court dismissal over the claims but he has now finally given in to her demands to officially verify whether he is the father by undergoing a DNA test during the next few weeks.

Mourners gather for Michael Jackson funeral

Elizabeth Taylor, Barry Bonds and Macaulay Culkin and other celebrities were among the mourners gathered on a hot, muggy Thursday night for Michael Jackson`s funeral, slowly filling rows of white chairs placed outside the mausoleum where the King of Pop will be entombed.

Jackson`s family, including parents Joe and Katherine and the singer`s three children, had yet to arrive as the planned 7 p.m. start of the service came and went. With temperatures hovering at an oppressive 90 degrees, black-garbed mourners used programs for the service at Forest Lawn Glendale to fan themselves as they sat and waited.

A large, inflated light, the type used in film and television production, and a boom camera hovered over the seating area placed in front of the elaborate marble mausoleum. The equipment raised the possibility that the footage would be used for the Jackson concert documentary "This Is It."

About 250 seats were arranged for mourners over a green surface. Nearly double the number of media credentials, 435, were issued to reporters and film crews who remained at a distance from the service and behind barricades.

Maria Martinez, 25, a fan from Riverside, Calif., who was joined by a dozen other Jackson admirers at a gas station near the security perimeter, gave a handful of pink flowers to a man with an invitation driving into the funeral.

"Can you please put these flowers on his grave?" she told him. Martinez said she picked them from a nearby park. "They were small and ugly, but I did that with my heart. I`m not going to be able to get close, so this is as close as I could get to him."

The man consented, adding, "God bless."

Glendale police said all was going smoothly early in the evening and there were no arrests.

Michael Jackson will share eternity at Forest Lawn with the likes of Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and W.C. Fields, entombed alongside them in the mausoleum that will be all but off-limits to adoring fans who might otherwise turn the pop star`s grave into a shrine.

After the burial, the closest the public will be able to get to Jackson`s vault is a portion of the mausoleum that displays "The Last Supper Window," a life-size stained-glass re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci`s masterpiece. Several 10-minute presentations about the window are held regularly 365 days a year, but most of the building is restricted.

Lisa Burk, who blogs about celebrity graves at http://www.gravehunting.com, said the Jackson family chose well for his final resting place if it was privacy they were after.

"It`s impossible to get in there," Burk said. "It was before, and it will be worse now."

By late afternoon Thursday, media tents had cropped up all along the boulevard across from the wrought-iron gates that serve as the main entrance to Forest Lawn. That vantage point offered no view of any mausoleum — just a fountain and a building containing the gift shop.

The Jackson family had booked an Italian restaurant in Pasadena for a gathering Thursday night, said Alex Carr, assistant operations manager at Villa Sorriso, in the city`s Old Town district. She wouldn`t specify the menu or number of people, but said the entire restaurant, which can accommodate 200 guests, had been reserved for the event and that security would be present.

The ceremony ends months of speculation that the singer`s body would be buried at Neverland Ranch, in part to make the property a Graceland-style attraction. An amended copy of Jackson`s death certificate was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County to reflect Forest Lawn as his final resting place.

In court on Wednesday, it was disclosed that 12 burial spaces were being purchased by Jackson`s estate at Forest Lawn Glendale, about eight miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but no details were offered on how they would be used.

The King of Pop died a drug-induced death June 25 at age 50 as he was about to embark on a comeback attempt. The coroner`s office has labeled the death a homicide, and Jackson`s death certificate lists "injection by another" as the cause.

Dr Conrad Murray, Jackson`s personal physician, told detectives he gave the singer a series of sedatives and the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep. But prosecutors are still investigating, and no charges have been filed.