Blog Posts by Reuters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Witnesses on day two of the Michael Jackson death trial on Wednesday told of a panic-stricken doctor and the pop star's children crying in disbelief with their father lying unresponsive on his bedroom floor, mouth agape and eyes wide open.

Faheem Muhammad, the ex-chief of Jackson's security team, testified that Jackson's oldest children reacted in horror when they saw their father's lifeless body.

Other witnesses said Dr. Conrad Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death, telephoned the singer's assistant before calling an ambulance and may have sought to hide evidence of drug use.

Prosecutors claim Murray not only caused Jackson's death by giving him the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, along with other sedatives but that the physician also was negligent in his care of the "Thriller" singer and failed to get timely medical assistance.

Murray has admitted giving Jackson propofol -- the principal cause of his death -- but his

Pop singer Katy won a leading nine nominations for the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday, reducing eccentric superstar Lady Gaga to also-ran status with just three nods.

Sultry British singer Adele, whose second album "21" is the world's top-selling record this year, earned seven nominations -- all of them for her hit single "Rolling in the Deep."

Rapper Kanye West was the top male nominee, with seven nods for his futuristic "E.T" collaboration with Perry as well as his own music videos for "All of the Lights" and "Power."

Soulful "Grenade" singer Bruno Mars earned four nominations while Beyonce, Eminem, rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars and female rapper Nicki Minaj racked up three nods apiece. The awards will be handed out during a televised live show in Los Angeles on August 28. Winners are picked by public voting.

The nine nods for Perry, 26, were the climax of an extraordinary 12 months that has seen the once struggling gospel singer reinvent herself as a pop sex kitten