He wore rhinestone-studded glove for famous 1983 moonwalk dance

NEW YORK - The shimmering, white glove Michael Jackson wore when he premiered his trademark moonwalk dance in 1983 was auctioned off for $350,000 — plus tax — on Saturday.

Winning bidder Hoffman Ma of Hong Kong will pay $420,000, including taxes and fees, for the rhinestone-studded, modified golf glove Jackson wore on his left hand for his moonwalk on Motown’s 25th anniversary TV special.

The glove was the top item in a collection of Jackson memorabilia on the block at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. Its pre-auction estimate was $40,000 to $60,000.

“It was a fairly good discount,” said Ma, a 36-year-old Jackson fan who bought the pop-music treasure on behalf of the Ponte 16 Resort Hotel in Macau.

As the price of the glove soared, fans roared and squealed — echoing the kind of frenzy that accompanied the late pop star when he toured the world.

“That’s what death brings upon celebrity,” said Brendan Doyle, a college student munching chicken fingers from a plate in his lap. “Jackson’s death was such a tragedy at such a young age that it pushed up prices.”

The pop icon, who died June 25 at 50, had given the glove to Walter “Clyde” Orange, of the singing group the Commodores.

A jacket that Jackson wore on his 1989 “Bad” tour fetched $225,000 — 20 times its low estimate of $8,000.

The sale, held by Los Angeles-based Julien’s Auctions, also included a fedora Jackson wore for the moonwalk. It sold for $22,000, against a $2,000 high estimate.

New Yorker Linda Derogene said she was willing to spend up to $5,000 for a material link to the performer she’s idolized all her life, but never got a chance to see in concert.

“I can’t even tell you what it would mean for me. It would be like a dream come true,” she said as she waited to bid on something she could afford.

After long era of mistrust, nations merge training, intelligence, technology

MEXICO CITY - To avenge the arrest of their leader, Mexican drug cartel commandos went on a rampage this summer across the lawless state of Michoacan, seizing 12 Mexican police officers and dumping their bound and stripped corpses in a pile beside a busy highway.

The slaughtered federal agents, it later emerged, had something in common: All had been vetted and trained by the U.S. government to work alongside its anti-narcotics agents. Officials said the American connection made them high-value targets for the cartels, which are lashing back ruthlessly against a military crackdown involving unprecedented cooperation between the two countries.

After decades of mistrust and sometimes betrayal, Mexican and U.S. authorities are increasingly setting aside their differences to unite against a common enemy. According to interviews in Washington and Mexico City, the two countries are sharing sensitive intelligence and computer technology, military hardware and, perhaps most importantly, U.S. know-how to train and vet Mexican agents. Police and soldiers secretly on the cartels’ payroll have long poisoned efforts at cross-border cooperation against some of the world’s most dangerous criminal organizations.

“The recognition by both sides, at the highest levels, that we have a shared responsibility for drug trafficking and serious crime in Mexico is a watershed change,” said John Feeley, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.

The newly robust partnership is still risky, uneasy and freighted with old suspicions. U.S. law enforcement officials said it is being forged with the assurance by the U.S. State Department that Mexico’s weak law enforcement agencies will overcome a history of incompetence and corruption, and that the closed ranks of the Mexican military, which operates with virtual impunity, can get past its hostility to outsiders.

A gamble
U.S. officials also acknowledge that the growing cooperation is still a gamble. With their almost limitless resources, drug traffickers have corrupted top crime fighters in President Felipe Calderón’s administration, including the head of the attorney general’s organized-crime unit. A cartel spy penetrated the Interpol office here and claims to have worked inside the U.S. Embassy to steal secrets from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The new relationship goes well beyond, and builds upon, the Merida Initiative, the $1.4 billion U.S. anti-narcotics package to Mexico launched by the Bush administration. That three-year agreement includes the promise of Black Hawk helicopters, night-vision goggles and gamma-ray scanners to search for guns and cash at the U.S.-Mexico border.

But now, for the first time, the U.S. and Mexican armed forces regularly exchange classified intelligence in real time, often through Mexican officers embedded at the U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs and at an interagency task force in Key West, Fla. The task force, which is responsible for military satellite and maritime surveillance over the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, relays information to the Mexican navy and air force to interdict drugs moving north.

Some sellers still certain their nine-figure properties will attract buyers

Built by Candy and Aaron Spelling, this 4.7-acre estate is just outside of Los Angeles. It’s valued at $150 million.

Last year, a 40-acre Greenwich, Conn., property with a 21,897-square-foot, 14-bedroom Jacobean manor was listed for $125 million. It was the world’s second most expensive home for sale.

It now sports a $60 million price tag and falls just short of making this year’s list.

It’s no secret sellers across the country are resorting to measures such as price cuts of 20 percent and higher to move their homes. What’s new: That group is increasingly including owners of eight- and nine-figure properties. Last year, investor Marty Zweig pulled the $70 million Pierre Hotel penthouse off the market after it was listed for four years. Financier Leonard Ross, who had asked $165 million for the Hearst Mansion in Beverly Hills, Calif., de-listed it in September 2008. A few months later, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia removed his $135 million Aspen ski lodge from the ranks of available listings. This year, “Hillendale,” in Stamford, Conn., fell victim to the depressed housing market. It was listed for $95 million. It’s no longer for sale. Others, such as the owners of an $85 million Wallace Neff-designed mansion, are leasing their properties until the market picks up.

A rhinestone-encrusted glove worn by Michael Jackson the first time he performed the Moonwalk has been sold at auction for $350,000 (£212,000).

The glove, among 70 items belonging to the late singer which went on sale in New York, was sold for nine times the expected price.

A jacket worn by Jackson on his 1989 “Bad” tour was sold for $225,000 while a fedora hat went for $22,000.

The auction in New York attracted thousands of bidders around the world.

Auctioneer Darren Julien said the 1983 television appearance when Jackson first displayed the Moonwalk - wearing the glove - had been his “most historical performance”.

The glove was bought by a Hong Kong businessman

Mr Julien said he had had no idea the sale would be so big.

Prices for Michael Jackson memorabilia now outstrip those for items belonging to Elvis or Marilyn Monroe, he added.

“It’s a tribute to his life and career - he’s truly an amazing artist,” said Mr Julien.

The glove was bought by Hong Kong businessman Hoffman Ma on behalf of a hotel in Macau China, where it will now go on display.

Including taxes and fees, the final amount paid was $420,000.

Michael Jackson died at his home in Los Angeles in June at the age of 50 after a drugs overdose.

At least 23 people are now reported to have died after a ferry sank off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia.

But more than 200 others were rescued from the sea after the accident, which happened early on Sunday.

Officials blamed the incident on bad weather and high waves. They say some people are missing but it is not clear how many.

Some reports suggested that the ferry, which had a capacity of 273 people, may have been overloaded when it sank.

According to its manifest, about 240 people were on board the Dumai Express 10 ferry when it sailed, but it is not clear if this was accurate.

Indonesia’s sea transport director-general, Sunaryo, said rescue efforts were being hampered by bad weather.

“The waves are as high as six metres, it’s difficult for small ships to reach the location,” he told a news conference in Jakarta.

Search efforts have now ceased for the night but officials say they will resume in the morning.

‘Traumatised’

The Dumai Express 10 was travelling from Batam island to Dumai in Riau, Sumatra, when it sank.

Officials said it rolled over before capsizing about 90 minutes into its voyage.

Rescue efforts were aided by the fact that the ferry went down in the busy Malacca Straits between Indonesia and Malaysia.

It is not clear exactly how many people have been picked up.

The chief of police in Riau told the BBC that 218 had been rescued; earlier other officials gave totals of 292 and 232.

The total number of people on board the vessel remains unknown.

A navy spokesman said it was not clear whether anyone was still inside the ferry, which was now completely submerged.

“We’re not sure if anyone is trapped in the ferry. Those who have been rescued are traumatised,” Iskandar Sitompul said.

Another ferry, the Dumai Express 15, was reported to have run aground in bad weather as it travelled between Batam and Moro islands.

All 278 passengers and crew on board were said to be safe.

Ferry accidents linked to over-crowding and poor vessel maintenance kill hundreds of passengers in Indonesia each year.

The country’s large population is spread out over 17,000 islands and relies on ships and ferries to travel around.

In the last three years, at least 800 people have been killed in ferry accidents in Indonesia.

A former Iranian vice-president has been sentenced to six years in jail for attempting to destabilise the country following June’s disputed elections.

Mohammed Ali Abtahi is one of the most high-profile reformers to be convicted of fomenting street protests.

Around 80 have been jailed and five have been sentenced to death over the unrest that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed poll victory.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called for government restraint.

“The government should not intimidate people to change their path,” he was quoted as saying on his Kaleme website.

Mr Mousavi, who was Mr Ahmadinejad’s leading challenger for the presidency, has vowed to continue the struggle against what he says was a fraudulent election.

“This movement will continue and we are ready to pay any price,” he said.

Forced confession?

Mr Abtahi’s lawyer said his client - who served as vice-president under former President Mohammad Khatami - had 20 days to appeal the verdict.

The UN has criticised harassment of the opposition since the election

Official news agency Irna said the charges against Mr Abtahi and some 100 fellow accused included “having ties with counter-revolutionary groups”, rioting and conspiring against the ruling system.

In August, Mr Abtahi was quoted by Fars news agency as telling his trial: “The issue of fraud in Iran was a lie and was brought up to create riots.”

He said that the aim was to create a “velvet revolution”, referring to the overthrow of Communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Mr Abtahi also appeared on television admitting to provoking riots, but his family said the statements were made under duress.

Mosharekat, Iran’s biggest reformist party and a leading backer of Mr Mousavi, dismissed the proceedings as a “laughable show trial”.

UN resolution

The protests after June’s disputed polls were the largest mass demonstrations seen in Iran since the 1979 revolution, which brought the current Islamic regime to power.

Mir Hossein Mousavi has said opposition protests will continue

On Friday, a key UN committee voted to approve a non-binding resolution condemning Iran for its post-election crackdown.

The resolution also repeated annual criticism of Iran’s human rights record, including the use of torture and a rising number of executions.

It urged Tehran to end persecution of political opponents and release those imprisoned for their political views.

Iran’s UN ambassador dismissed the resolution as politically motivated.

At least 30 protesters have been killed in clashes and thousands arrested since the elections. Some 200 opposition activists remain behind bars.

Foreign media, including the BBC, have been restricted in their coverage of Iran since the election protests turned violent.