Michael Jackson fans who beat the odds began to celebrate today after winning coveted tickets to the pop star’s memorial service at the Staples Centre.

THE more than 1.6 million fans who registered to attend Michael Jackson’s memorial service were yesterday waiting to learn whether they were among the lucky few to win tickets for tomorrow’s ceremony in Los Angeles.

Police officers shot and killed a man when he emerged from his Los Angeles home carrying a young girl following an hours-long stand-off and opened fire, wounding one officer, authorities said.

A man being escorted into court for his rape trial yesterday stole a deputy’s gun, killed the judge and two other people and carjacked a reporter’s vehicle to escape, setting off a massive manhunt and creating widespread chaos across Atlanta.

More than 50 Mexican policemen were detained for eight hours after one of them repeatedly croaked like a frog and barked like a dog over the emergency radio frequency.

Police were today searching across America for possible ex-lovers of embattled congressman Gary Condit.

Prosecutors were today deciding whether to launch a criminal investigation into claims that the congressman at the centre of a Washington intern’s disappearance tried to obstruct police.