Michael Jackson’s Doctor Gets 4 Years – The doctor who killed Michael Jackson was preparing to blackmail the singer, a judge said last night as he gave the disgraced physician a four-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Judge Michael Pastor said that Conrad Murray had committed “medicine madness” to gain “money, fame, prestige”. [theaus]

Piers Morgan “Set The Culture At The News Of The World” [Video] – Giving his testimony to the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking and media ethics, former deputy features editor at NOTW, Mr McMullan made a succession of startling claims about the “at all costs” culture at the newspaper. Mr McMullan pointed the finger at Mr Morgan, who became editor at the tabloid in 1994, who he alleged “set the trend” for untoward practices in the pursuit of the sales. [telegraph]

Mickey Mouse Crashes In Cape Town – A hang glider reported to have crashed into the sea at Logies Bay in Cape Town on Tuesday afternoon turned out be nothing more than a lost Mickey Mouse balloon. NSRI Hout Bay station commander Brad Geyser said a crew of sea rescuers were sent out at 13:47 after a witness reported seeing a hang glider plunging into the at Logies Bay, Llandudno. [news24]

Mugabe Supporters Call For Nando’s Boycott – A militant youth group loyal to Zimbabwe’s president is calling for a boycott of Nando’s, whose latest advertisement depicts the ageing, authoritarian president as “the last dictator standing”, state radio has reported. The radio quoted the head of the group calling for Nando’s to withdraw the President Robert Mugabe ad or face punitive action. [story / video]

Comedian Patrice O’Neal Dies – EW has confirmed that comedian Patrice O’Neal has passed away after a long-term battle with diabetes. The news came today from the official Twitter stream of The Opie & Anthony Show, on which O’Neal was a regular guest. His booking agent Matt Frost released this statement: [ew]

Samsung Tablet Ban Lifted In Australia – Samsung has won its fight against a court order banning the sale of its Galaxy tablet computer in Australia, but rival electronics maker Apple has already foreshadowed a High Court appeal in the case it launched earlier this year.[smh]

Facebook Agrees To settle Privacy Charges – Facebook has agreed to a settlement with the FTC over charges that the social network had deceived its users about privacy. The FTC had accused Facebook in an eight-count complaint of not living up to its own promises. Among them: sharing users’ personal information with third parties without their knowledge or consent, changing privacy practices without informing users, and claiming to have a program to verify the security of apps when it didn’t. [mashable]

Bieber Beats Kardashian As “Most Searched Person” – Justin Bieber has overtaken Kim Kardashian as the most-searched person in 2011, according to the search engine Bing. Kardashian was the queen of search last year, but the combination of Bieber’s My World 2.0 Tour, hit concert movie “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” “Saturday Night Live” hosting job, Christmas album, romance with Selena Gomez and the little matter of the now-pulled paternity suit over Mariah Yeater’s baby were enough to push him to the top spot. [latimes]

British Strike Set To Be ‘Biggest For A Generation’ – Up to two million public sector workers are staging a strike over pensions in what is set to be the biggest walkout for a generation. Schools, hospitals, airports, ports and government offices will be among sites disrupted, as more than 1,000 demonstrations are due across the UK. I’m fed up, Dawn. [bbc]

Mixed Feelings Over Zuma’s Special Investigating Unit Replacement – There was mixed reaction on Tuesday over President Jacob Zuma’s replacement of Willie Hofmeyr with Willem Heath as head of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was “shocked” that Hofmeyr had been replaced. [mail&guardian]

Mallett Still Mulling Over England Job – Nick Mallett has indicated he could yet take up a coaching role with England – but not until next season at the earliest. The former South Africa and Italy coach turned down the Rugby Football Union (RFU), reeling from the post World Cup resignation of Martin Johnson, when approached earlier this month. [supersport]

American Airlines Bankrupt – American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure cost-cutting labor agreements and sitting out a round of mergers that dropped it from the world’s largest airline to No. 3 in the U.S. With the filing, American became the last of the so-called U.S. legacy airlines to seek court protection from creditors. [bloomberg]

S&P Cuts Ratings For 15 Banks, Including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley & JP Morgan – Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday downgraded some of the world’s largest financial institutions, another blow to an industry that continues to struggle three years after the darkest hours of the financial crisis. The agency lowered by one notch its long-term credit ratings on some of the biggest and best-known banks in the United States, including Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase. [washpo]

Graffiti Artists Not Pleased With J-Lo – A group of Bronx graffiti artists is seeing red because one of their murals is being used without permission in a car commercial featuring Jennifer Lopez driving around town professing love for her old neighborhood. The Fiat spot has already come under fire because the scenes where she’s supposed to be driving through the Big Apple were actually shot in LA. [nypost]

Kelly Brook Oozes Grecian Glamour At British Fashion Awards – The model, who turned 33 last week, could have been accepting an award herself as she turned up to the event, held at London’s Savoy Hotel, looking more glamorous than some of the fashion house designers who were also in attendance. [metro]