US – Sunday, July 5
National
Assets go into trust for family
Details of Michael Jackson’s will began to emerge Wednesday with all of his multimillion-dollar estate being placed in a family trust, even as plans for his highly anticipated funeral remained sketchy.
 
International
Last will of Michael Jackson
I, MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON, a resident of the State of California, declare this to be my last Will, and do hereby revoke all former wills and codicils made by me. 
 
The Word
The Beckhams’ island getaway
GOSSIP. According to the Sun, David Beckham is planning a trip to Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island hideaway, to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary with Victoria Beckham. And the best part? It only costs $51,000 a night to have the whole island to themselves.
 
Movies
The gangster of Hollywood
FEATURE. Johnny Depp doesn’t know what time it is. Though he technically calls an adorable village in France home and owns an island in the Caribbean, the mercurial actor spends so much time working that his internal clock is all out of whack.
 
 
Business
Sales pressure seen hurting consumers
Consumer and labor groups demanded Bank of America Corp. and other lenders reform their sales practices so that workers under pressure to meet sales quotas do not saddle customers with costly and unnecessary products.
 
Consumer Trends
Got smart-phone envy?
You’re in an elevator, on the subway or waiting in a line, and while those around you are tapping away on their BlackBerrys and iPhones, you take out your plain old cell phone and can’t help but feel a little … inadequate. Worry no more. Here are a handful of phones and programs that will help you quash those feelings of cell phone shame.
 
Updated 23:30, December the 8th, 2008
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 For the record Arianna Huffington, blogger, media person of the year

 
HuffingtonHuffington
 

Huffpost: Sometimes there is only one side to the story

Background

Name: Arianna Huffington
Age: 57
Born: Athens, Greece
Lives: Los Angeles
Family: Daughters Christina and Isabella
Background: M.A. in economics from Cambridge University; author of books on Picasso and Maria Callas; TV commentator; columnist; former candidate for governor of California
In the news: As founder of the Internet news phenomenon Huffington Post

 

INTERVIEW. Arianna Huffington may arguably be the most influential woman in American media.

Greek-born, she runs the Huffington Post Web site, which covers politics, lifestyle and gossip, and has just been named I Want Media’s Person of the Year.

Since its launch in 2005, the site has become America’s biggest news phenomenon. In September, it had 4.5 million visitors, a 472 percent increase from September 2007. The site’s columnists range from politicians to celebrities like Alec Baldwin and Mia Farrow.

Huffington’s latest book, “Right is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe” has just been published in the U.S.

How do you convince so many famous people to blog for HuffPost?
It doesn’t take as much convincing as it did when we first launched. People understand now that it’s a very good way express their thoughts and opinions. They realize that what they write will be read and picked up by the mainstream media. They also have control over their message. Nobody reads press releases any more — if you want to say something, you blog about it.

News, not views, has long been the central pillar of journalism. Has that changed? HuffPost often doesn’t pretend to be neutral.
We [at the Huffington Post] offer both news and views. The success of HuffPost is, of course, partly the result of new technology, but also of traditional papers losing credibility. They always present two sides of an issue as if they are equal. Sometimes it’s not like that.

Will HuffPost and other blog sites lead to the decline of traditional newspapers?
Not necessarily. More and more people get their news online, but they also read newspapers for other information. A lot of papers are also moving their content online. You have to, now that people expect to get news around the clock.

HuffPost added celebrity and lifestyle reporting about a year ago. What are your future plans for the site?
We now have a green section and international reporting. We don’t have foreign correspondents; instead we primarily aggregate foreign news.

Do you have any plans to get involved in Greek politics?
No. I love Greece and feel completely Greek, but my home is America.

Elisabeth Braw
Metro World News