In death, Michael Jackson is topping charts all over the world again.

Stores across the country are seeing a surge in sales for Michael Jackson’s music.

Jackson’s albums hold the top nine positions of Billboard’s “Top Pop Catalog Albums” chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan sales data released Tuesday.

Jackson’s albums are not eligible for the current Billboard 200 chart, which is for newer albums. But if they were eligible, his record sales would bounce the Black Eyed Peas’ current No. 1 album to fourth place, Billboard said.

Jackson’s albums “Number Ones,” “The Essential Michael Jackson” and “Thriller” all sold more than 100,000 copies last week, close to 20,000 more copies than the Black Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D.”

Scores of listeners have downloaded Jackson’s music on iTunes as well.

Jackson’s songs were on the Top 10 download lists in 21 countries, according to iTunes’ Web site early Wednesday.

In the United States and United Kingdom, Jackson’s introspective song, “Man in the Mirror,” was No. 1 in iTunes downloads. In France and the Netherlands, “Billie Jean” was No. 1. In Sweden, “Smooth Criminal” was in the top spot, while pop fans in Luxembourg preferred “Earth Song.”

Of the 22 countries that iTunes tracks, Japan was the only one without a Jackson song in its Top 10.

Jackson had 25 songs on the Top 75 “Hot Digital Songs” chart, according to Billboard. Twenty-one of the songs were solo tunes, while the other four included Jackson’s siblings.

Five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is through to his 21st grand slam semifinal in a row after crushing big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in straight sets on another scorching afternoon on Centre Court on Wednesday.

Federer continued his march towards a sixth Wimbledon title with a crushing victory over Ivo Karlovic.

The second-seeded Swiss, who is attempting to win a record 15th major title, will now face unseeded Tommy Haas for a place in Sunday’s final, after the German repeated his Halle final victory over Novak Djokovic by ousting the fourth-seeded Serb in four sets.

“It’s difficult against Karlovic because there aren’t many baseline rallies on his serve or mine,” Federer told the BBC after going through 6-3 7-5 7-6 in just one hour and 42 minutes.

“It’s tough mentally because it’s hard to break him. So I was happy to break him and win the match. To be in my 21st consecutive major semifinal shows how consistent I have been and injury free.

“I’m playing well at the moment but there are some big matches still to come.”

Going into the match, 6ft 10in (2.08 meters) Karlovic had not dropped serve in the tournament and had won 79 service games in four rounds, facing just four break points and firing a massive 137 aces in the process.

But second seed Federer ended that streak in the fourth game with a superb backhand return — and was never in danger from then on as he continued his march towards a sixth All England Club title.

Federer must now overcome Haas — the oldest man left in the draw at 31 — who pushed the Swiss maestro to the brink of defeat at the French Open when he took a two-sets lead.

Former world number two Haas, who is seeded 24th here, continued his recent renaissance with a 7-5 7-6 4-6 6-3 win to reach the semifinals for the first time.

If Haas can cause a sensation by defeating Federer, he would be one win away from becoming the oldest Wimbledon champion since Arthur Ashe in 1975.

It is seven years since Haas was rated as the second best player in the world but a succession of injuries, including a recurring shoulder problem, have forced his ranking outside the top 30.

After beating Djokovic in the final of the grasscourt tournament in Halle last month, Haas has spent over 10 hours on court at Wimbledon — much of it in sweltering heat — to get to this stage for the first time.

The father of a teenage girl who remarkably survived a plane crash off the Comoros islands has described how his daughter was ejected from the plane into the Indian Ocean.

Kassim Bakari said he thought he would never see his wife or daughter again after learning of the crash.

“She didn’t feel a thing. She found herself in water,” Paris-based Kassim Bakari told French radio RTL after speaking to his 13-year-old daughter Bahia who was recovering Wednesday in hospital in Moroni.

“She could hear people talking, but in the middle of the night she couldn’t see a thing. She managed to hold on to a piece of something,” said Bakari, whose wife was also on board the doomed flight and is presumed to be among the 152 victims.

“She said she was ejected from the plane,” Bakari said.

Bahia, who lives in Marseille, escaped with just cuts to her face and a fractured collar-bone as the Yemenia Airways Airbus A310 tried to land at Moroni airport at the end of a four-stage flight from France.

A local surgeon said Bahia was doing well in hospital. “Her health is not in danger. She is very calm given the shock she suffered,” Ben Imani told Reuters.com at Moroni’s El Marouf hospital. The girl is expected to be flown home to France on a ministerial plane, Agence France-Presse reports.

Earlier Kassim Bakari told France Info, a French radio network, that his wife and daughter were flying to Comoros to visit relatives.

“When I had her on the phone, I asked her what happened and she said, ‘Daddy, I don’t know what happened, but the plane fell into the water and I found myself in the water … surrounded by darkness. I could not see anyone,’” Bakari said.

French junior foreign minister Alain Joyandet met the girl in hospital on Wednesday and heard how she was pulled from the sea.

The head of the rescue team in the Comoros also told RTL the teenager survived astonishing odds. “It is truly, truly, miraculous,” said Ibrahim Abdoulazeb. “The young girl can barely swim.”

Another rescuer told France’s Europe 1 radio the girl was spotted in the rough sea among bodies and plane debris in darkness about two hours after the crash.

“We tried to throw a life buoy. She could not grab it. I had to jump in the water to get her,” the rescuer said, according to AFP.

“She was shaking, shaking. We put four covers on her. We gave her hot, sugary water. We simply asked her name, village.”

Bakari said he did not believe he would see his wife or daughter again after learning of the crash.

“She is a very, very shy girl. I would never have thought she would have survived like this. I can’t say that it’s a miracle, I can say that it is God’s will,” he said.

Kassim Bakari said his daughter had been told her mother survived the crash. “When I spoke to her she was asking for her mother. They told her she was in a room next door, so as not to traumatize her. But it’s not true. I don’t know who is going to tell her.”

Former pilot and aviation analyst John Cox said the girl’s discovery reminded him of the 1987 crash of Northwest Flight 255 in Detroit, Michigan, in which only a 4-year-old girl survived, while 156 others died.

The UN has backed moves to reinstate Mr Zelaya

The Organization of American States (OAS) has given the current leaders of Honduras three days to restore exiled President Manuel Zelaya to power.

If Honduras fails to comply, it could face being suspended from the group.

The army ousted Mr Zelaya on Sunday over his plans for constitutional reform, which his critics said were aimed at prolonging his presidency.

Mr Zelaya denies seeking to extend his term and has vowed to return, but he has been warned he faces arrest.

Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of Congress who was sworn in as interim president, said Mr Zelaya would face charges of violating the constitution, and having links with organised crime and drug-traffickers.

After an emergency meeting of the OAS, the head of the regional grouping Jose Miguel Insulza condemned what he described as “an old-fashioned coup” in Honduras.

“We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted,” he said.

“We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere.

“If within 72 hours the reinstatement doesn’t happen, the assembly … will meet again to suspend Honduras.”

Four years

Mr Zelaya had said he would return home on Thursday, accompanied by Mr Insulza and the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador.

There have been demonstrations both for and against Mr Zelaya

However, it is not clear if his plans will be delayed until the weekend given the OAS deadline.

Mr Zelaya, 57, was ousted amid stiff opposition to his proposals to amend the constitution from the courts, military, Congress and even some members of his own party.

He had wanted to hold a non-binding referendum on constitutional change.

His critics say this could have paved the way for the president - elected in 2006 and restricted to only one term - to run for re-election. The Supreme Court and Congress deemed the ballot illegal.

The vote had been set for Sunday, but instead troops stormed the presidential palace at dawn, bundled the president to an airbase and flew him to Costa Rica.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Zelaya said he was not aiming to stay in office but was determined to complete his term which ends in January 2010.

“I am not going to convene a constitutional assembly, and if I was offered the possibility of remaining in power, I would not do it. I am going to fulfil my four years, I’m going to fight to have the four years respected,” he said.

Falling popularity

The UN passed a resolution on Tuesday calling “firmly and categorically on all states to recognise no government other than that” of Mr Zelaya.

The president’s expulsion has been widely condemned by leaders ranging from US President Barack Obama to Mr Zelaya’s regional allies, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Among the diplomatic moves, Spain is recalling its ambassador.

But thousands of people have been demonstrating in the capital, Tegucigalpa, against the return of the ousted leader, whose popularity has slumped in opinion polls to around 30% in recent months.

The BBC’s Stephen Gibbs in Tegucigalpa says they are very determined to prevent him being reinstated and appear to outnumber his supporters, at least in the capital.

On Monday, groups of his supporters defied a curfew, clashing with police in the city centre.

Experts say we should sleep for eight hours a night

Lack of sleep raises a woman’s risk of heart disease more than it does for a man, research suggests.

Sleeping less than the recommended eight hours a night has been linked to a raised risk of heart problems.

Researchers found levels of inflammatory markers - indicators of heart disease - vary significantly with sleep duration in women, but not men.

The study, by University College London and the University of Warwick, appears in the journal Sleep.

The results also are consistent with the idea that sleeping seven or eight hours per night appears to be optimal for health Dr Michelle Miller University of Warwick

Previous research has suggested people who sleep less than five hours a night have an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, compared to those who get the full eight hours.

The latest study found levels of a molecule called interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is known to trigger inflammation, were much lower in women who reported sleeping eight hours, compared to those who slept for seven hours.

Levels of another molecule, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) - which is linked to heart problems - were significantly higher in women who reported sleeping for five hours or less.

Hormones

Researcher Dr Michelle Miller said the findings added to the growing body of evidence suggesting that sleep duration played a key role in heart health.

She said: “The results also are consistent with the idea that sleeping seven or eight hours per night appears to be optimal for health.”

Dr Miller said more work was required to pin down why lack of sleep potentially had a greater effect on women.

However, she said differences in hormone levels might be key. There is work to suggest that inflammatory marker levels are different in pre- and post-menopausal women.

The study was based on data from more than 4,600 London-based civil servants aged 35 to 55, of which 73% were men.

Dr Janet Mullington, of Harvard Medical School, said there were many questions still to be answered about the effect of sleep deprivation.

She said it was possible that the change to inflammatory markers produced in sleep deprivation experiments were merely short-term reflections of the battle against sleepiness.

They might also be influenced by the unusual conditions, such as the interaction between the participants and the researchers.

June Davison, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “Previous research suggests that a good night’s sleep may help to keep our heart and circulation healthy, and this study could point to an underlying reason behind that finding.

“We should all try to get enough sleep - as it’s likely to be good for heart health as well as overall health.

About half of the participants were vegetarians

Vegetarians are generally less likely than meat eaters to develop cancer but this does not apply to all forms of the disease, a major study has found.

The study involving 60,000 people found those who followed a vegetarian diet developed notably fewer cancers of the blood, bladder and stomach.

But the apparently protective effect of vegetarian did not seem to stretch to bowel cancer, a major killer.

The study is published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Researchers from universities in the UK and New Zealand followed 61,566 British men and women. They included meat-eaters, those who ate fish but not meat, and those who ate neither meat nor fish.

Overall, their results suggested that while in the general population about 33 people in 100 will develop cancer during their lifetime, for those who do not eat meat that risk is reduced to about 29 in 100.

Special protection?

The researchers said they found marked differences between meat-eaters and vegetarians in the propensity to cancers of the lymph and the blood, with vegetarians just over half as likely to develop these forms of the disease.

In the case of multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer of the bone marrow, vegetarians were 75% less likely to develop the disease than meat-eaters.

The reduction was less notable for fish-eaters with these cancers. The reasons, researchers said, were unclear, but potential mechanisms could include viruses and mutation-causing compounds in meat - or alternatively that vegetables confer special protection.

There were also striking differences in rates of stomach cancer. Although the numbers of cases were small, fish-eaters and vegetarians were about a third as likely to develop the disease as meat-eaters.

Previous research has already implicated processed meats in stomach cancer, so these findings were not entirely surprising. It is thought N-nitroso compounds found in these meats may damage DNA, while the high temperatures they are cooked at may also produce carcinogens.

But the same reduction for vegetarians was not found with cancers of the bowel, one of the most common forms of the disease. The vegetarians in the group in fact had a slightly higher rate of cancers of the colon and the rectum, although not significantly so.

But the relative risk for fish-eaters and vegetarians of cervical cancer was twice that of meat-eaters. The number of cases was small, and could be down to chance but the researchers said it was possible that dietary factors influenced the virus behind cervical cancer.

Professor Tim Key, the lead author, said it was impossible to draw strong conclusions from this one single study.

“At the moment these findings are not strong enough to ask for particularly large changes in the diets of people following an average balanced diet.”

Vegetarian diets tend be lower in fat and higher in fibre, but they can require careful planning to ensure necessary protein and vitamins - notably B12, which is mainly derived from animal products - are taken in sufficient amounts.

‘Complex process’

A spokesperson for Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, said: “These interesting results add to the evidence that what we eat affects our chances of developing cancer. We know that eating a lot of red and processed meat increases the risk of stomach cancer.

“But the links between diet and cancer risk are complex and more research is needed to see how big a part diet plays and which specific dietary factors are most important.

Myeloma UK said this was the first data of its kind for the bone marrow cancer “and for that reason we are treating it with caution.

“Dietary advice to myeloma patients remains aligned with national guidance - that they should eat a healthy, balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fat, salt and red and processed meat.”

Dr Panagiota Mitrou, Science and Research Programme Manager for the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “The suggestion that vegetarians might be at reduced risk of blood cancers is particularly interesting.

“However, this finding should be treated with caution since not much is known about the link between diet and these types of cancer. Further studies of vegetarians are needed before we can be confident this is actually the case.”

Confidence has improved slightly in Japan, but firms are still struggling

Business confidence in Japan has improved for the first time in two-and-a-half years, according to the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey.

The confidence index for major manufacturers rose to minus 48 from a record low of minus 58 in March.

Factories have begun to come back to life, amid signs Japan may be through the worst of its steepest recession since World War II.

But overall, firms remained gloomy about the future, the survey showed.

Recent indicators for Japan’s economy have been good, but so savage has been the recession that any improvement is from a very low level, says the BBC’s Roland Buerk in Tokyo.

The latest Tankan survey, which canvasses more than 10,000 firms, shows business confidence has gone up after the record pessimism of three months ago.

However, Japan has been hit hard by falling global demand and a collapse in exports.

Companies have slashed production, laid off workers and cut hours. Now stocks of unsold goods are running down, they are starting to increase factory output again.

But economists say a fully-fledged recovery is unlikely until a sustained pick-up in demand in Japan’s export markets, such as the US and Europe. And unemployment is expected to continue to rise, making shoppers in Japan reluctant to spend.

The economic downturn has hit demand for air travel

British Airways says it has asked the conciliation service Acas to intervene in a bid to reach a deal with unions on jobs and pay.

Talks between BA and the Unite and GMB unions over cost savings at the airline have so far failed to reach agreement.

BA wants staff to accept a two-year pay freeze, according to documents seen by the BBC.

The company had already announced it was looking for 3,000 redundancies among crew and administrative staff.

“It has not proved possible to conclude an agreement with the trade unions on our pay and productivity discussions by the deadline of 30 June,” BA said.

“We have therefore asked the conciliation service ACAS to facilitate any future meetings we may have.”

BA is struggling as the economic downturn continues to hurt its business. It recently asked staff to work for nothing to save money.

BA is also pushing for significant changes in working conditions.

‘Unrealistic’

The Unite and GMB unions have said they are seeking “a mutually acceptable way forward which protects the long- term interests of our members, loyal BA customers, investors and the company”.

Last week, British Airways said 800 workers had volunteered to work for nothing for up to a month, following the airline’s request to cut costs.

Another 4,000 employees are taking unpaid leave, 1,400 people have volunteered to work part-time and a further 740 overseas workers have also agreed to the cost-cutting measures.

The airline had put the proposal to 40,000 staff.

BA chief Willie Walsh has already agreed to work unpaid in July, forgoing his month’s salary of £61,000.

Unions said asking staff to work for nothing was “unrealistic”.

Critics have praised Law’s performance in the play

Actor Jude Law is to take his current West End portrayal of Hamlet to Broadway, it has been announced.

Following its sold out run at the Wydham’s Theatre, the Donmar production will spend 12 weeks in New York.

It marks the actor’s return to Broadway for the first time since 1995, when he made his Tony Award-nominated debut in Jean Cocteau’s Indiscretions.

The play will open at the Broadhurst Theater on 6 October, with previews from 12 September.

Law will be joined in New York by the rest of the Donmar Theatre cast from London.

Hamlet will finish up in London on 22 August and then travel to Elsinore Castle in Denmark - where the play is set - for a short run of performances before heading to Broadway.

Michael Grandage, artistic director of the Donmar, said: “Following our recent productions of Frost/Nixon and Mary Stuart, I am delighted we have been invited to bring another of our productions to Broadway.

“We feel very privileged to be part of such a vibrant theatre community and it is exciting to think that so many people will get to engage with our work and to witness Jude Law’s extraordinary performance.”

Johnny Depp was at the UK premiere of Public Enemies on Monday

Johnny Depp “almost religiously” avoids watching himself on screen, the actor has revealed.

In an interview with Radio 4’s Front Row, the Sweeney Todd star said his children had watched more of his own films than he had.

“I prefer to walk away with the experience as opposed to walking away with the product,” he explained.

Depp is in London to promote new film Public Enemies, in which he plays the gangster John Dillinger.

Character

Depp said: “I’ve not seen the film, so I don’t know what it looks like.”

He added: “I like to portray a character, inhabit a character and build character, but I don’t want to watch the end result necessarily, because it becomes about money then and I’d rather not think about that.

“My children have seen more films of mine than I have. They’ve seen all of them within reason - many more than I have.

He added: “I have no plans to see them - any of them.”

Depp also said he does not even check his on-screen appearance during the shooting of a film.

“I wouldn’t dare watch a playback or rushes or anything like that,” he said.