Michael Jackson left a philanthropic legacy almost as large as his cultural one.

In all the financial and personal turmoil that characterized his latter years, it was easy to lose sight of the fact that he was a pioneer not only in popular music but also in charitable fundraising within the entertainment industry.

Jackson, like his close friend Elizabeth Taylor, was one of the first entertainers to enlist in the fight against AIDS/HIV, and he went on to contribute and raise hundreds of millions of dollars to help sick children, set up scholarship funds, and to find new ways for entertainers to raise money and awareness for causes.

He also helped set the standard of generosity for other entertainers, particularly pop stars. His song "We Are the World," which he co-wrote with Lionel Richie in 1985 to help combat famine in Africa, was instrumental in changing the way rock stars generate funds for the causes to which they're devoted. As a brilliant showman, Jackson understood that the way to raise public awareness was to employ the joy of entertainment as the ultimate appeal to people's consciences.

Noted veteran Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman: "He let his actions speak for him, and those actions were big, grand gestures."

Before the financial woes that haunted him in recent years, Jackson was one of the industry's most formidable philanthropists. For example: 

* He donated proceeds from the 1988 song "Man in the Mirror" to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children who suffer from cancer.

* He equipped a 19-bed-unit at Mount Sinai New York Medical Center for cancer research and donated part of the earnings from his Victory Tour to the United Negro College Fund.

* He donated all the money he received from his Pepsi endorsements -- $1.5 million -- to the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City. Jackson had been treated there when he was burned during the production of a Pepsi commercial.

* Before a concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988, Michael met with Prince Charles and Princess Diana, handing over checks totaling more than $400,000 for the Prince's Trust and a children's hospital.

* He founded the Heal the World Foundation to fight illness and poverty among children around the world.

* He boldly joined Ryan White -- a boy who was infected with HIV by contaminated blood transfusions, in his fight against the discrimination of those with AIDS -- at a time of great fear and dread over the AIDS epidemic. In 1993, Jackson was one of the stars to perform at Bill Clinton's presidential inauguration. Before he sang "Gone Too Soon," he talked about the plight of those with AIDS and mentioned Ryan, who died of the disease in 1990.

Seven years later, the Guinness Book of World Records cited Jackson for holding the world record for the "Most Charities Supported by a Pop Star." It's unclear how much Jackson had donated over the years, but some estimates put the number at more than $500 million.

"A lot of the issues he shed a light on were issue that no one felt comfortable talking about at the time, like AIDS," Bragman said. "He was not the guy who would jump on the bandwagon. He was the guy leading the band."

In an interview in Moscow on Tuesday, President Obama told a reporter that "it's important for us to affirm what was best of [Jackson]."

It's More than a decade of charity work in Malawi came full-circle for Madonna on Tuesday (July 11) when, after opening a children's hospital wing in the impoverished South African country, its president named the pop star "the daughter of this nation."

And while President Peter Mutharika's phrasing was meant to reference Madonna's own adoption of four children from Malawi, the singer has tight enough connections of her own to the country for it to feel like home. Since founding the nonprofit Raising Malawi in 2006, the charitable star has led a continuous effort to support the nation's orphaned or otherwise vulnerable children -- whether through hosting benefits, producing a documentary and, now, opening the Mercy James Institute of Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care, the first of its kind in the country. The singer's efforts haven't come without inevitable road blocks -- not to mention a few controversies. But if our roundup of the landmark moments in Madonna's charity efforts in the African country is any indication, the singer will continue to be a "daughter" of Malawi for years to come.

2006: Madonna makes her first trip to Malawi

Madonna was first spurred to visit the South African nation after a Malawian businesswoman, admiring Madonna's previous work with the nonprofit Spirituality for Kids, reached out to the pop star in hopes that she'd be willing to offer a hand in Malawi too. Madonna did much more than that -- shortly after taking up the invitation, the singer made a second trip to Malawi, where she adopted her son David. It wasn't long before Madonna would take a bigger step toward aiding the poverty-stricken country with the founding of Raising Malawi. That same year, the pop star took her charity work to the big screen with I Am Because We Are, a documentary she wrote and produced for the Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by first-timer Nathan Rissman, the film follows Madonna as she journeys through Malawi, introducing viewers to the country's orphaned children and gleaning insights from interviews with professors, experts and even former President Bill Clinton. In January 2012, international youth-serving nonprofit buildOn announced a partnership with Madonna and her foundation to construct 10 primary schools in rural Malawi within 18 months. In fact, the schools were completed in just 12 months. Raising Malawi provided $300,000 to buildOn for the project, which aimed to serve about 1,000 boys and girls in the nation. The success came after a string of setbacks -- earlier in 2011, Madonna's organization had scrapped plans to build a $15 million girls' school in the country due to financial mismanagement. 

Shortly after Madonna spent Thanksgiving in Malawi with her adopted Malawian children, Mercy James and David Banda, Mutharika added a new title to Madonna's belt: the nation's Goodwill ambassador for child welfare. At the time, the singer had also just launched her now-fulfilled goal to open the Mercy James Institute -- and was still recovering from the tabloid mess that ensued after her very public falling-out with Malawi's former president, Joyce Banda. The singer and several Rising Malawi team members took a trip to Malawi last year to ensure that the Mercy James Institute was coming along smoothly. During the trip, they also met with Muthrika to discuss girls' education and visited the Home of Hope orphanage, where they played soccer with the school's children. "Children are the future," Madonna says in a video documenting the trip (below). "Ultimately, my children have been my teachers. A benefit held by Madonna in Miami last winter -- and held smack in the middle of the city's annual Art Basel fair -- invited 450 guests to bid on art and experiences in a live auction. The event raised $7.5 million toward Raising Malawi's goal to open the Mercy James Institute. To thank attendees for their donations, the glamorous party closed with a performance by Madonna herself. The pediatric surgery and intensive care unit, named after one of Madonna's adopted Malawian children, finally celebrated its official opening July 11. Located at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in the city of Blantyre, the institute has already completed its first surgery, Madonna said at the ceremony, where she was praised by Mutharika for her service. "You started by adopting four Malawian children," he explained. "Now we are adopting you as the daughter of this nation."

A police officer who became ‘fixated’ with a married man hacked his social media accounts and posted slurs about his wife, a court heard yesterday.

Ashley Boyd, 26, developed an obsession with Kevin O’Connor, who is married to her former friend, and sent messages to his pals, pretending to be him, about his ‘unhappy marriage’.

She even cancelled a hospital appointment for his wife Rhona by pretending to be her. Boyd changed his relationship status on Facebook to ‘single’ and posted an offensive comment about his wife on his Twitter account, posing as him.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court yesterday, Boyd, of Moodiesburn, Lanarkshire, pled guilty to ‘engaging in a course of conduct which caused Rhona and Kevin O’Connor fear and alarm’ by stalking, from June to September last year.

She also admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The court heard there was ‘absolutely no romantic or sexual relationship’ between Mr O’Connor and Boyd. Prosecutor Andrew Beadsworth said: ‘Boyd appears to have become fixated upon Kevin O’Connor. Mrs O’Connor and Boyd became friends when they worked in Boots, but the friendship had deteriorated by the end of 2013.

Boyd resigned in March 2015 and joined Police Scotland later that year. She resigned from the force in December 2016.

In January 2014, while serving Mr O’Connor at Boots, Boyd told him she knew his wife and hinted a number of women in the shop ‘fancied’ him. They used the same gym and Boyd told a friend she had a ‘fancy for him’ and went to the gym knowing he would be there.

In 2016, the O’Connors were on holiday when his sister texted him to say his Facebook page had been changed to say he was single.

He also received a text from a colleague saying she had a ‘strange’ conversation on Facebook. The woman claimed Mr O’Connor told her he was unhappy in his marriage and asked if it was him she had been speaking to.

Mr Beadsworth said: ‘Mr O’Connor was concerned and angry. Efforts by him to delete the Facebook account were unsuccessful because Boyd had changed the password.’

Back at home, Mr O’Connor examined all his social media and discovered his email account appeared to have been hacked.

He noted the IP address used to gain access to his Facebook and also saw his Twitter account had been hacked days earlier.

An offensive tweet with slurs including ‘wouldn’t want to go near that’ and the hashtag ‘wife’ was posted.

He then contacted the police about the matter.

Mr Beadsworth said: ‘The comment was posted next to several pictures of a television character whom it was assumed was meant to be Mrs O’Connor.’

The court heard he was ‘upset and angry’ and his colleagues were ‘also angered by the deception’.

Police investigated the IP address used to access the Facebook account, which led to Boyd’s mobile number.

Last September, Mr O’Connor took his wife to Glasgow Royal Infirmary for an appointment. 

A teenager whose grandfather killed himself during his trial after she accused him of rape has written a heartfelt letter to her grandmother asking for forgiveness.

Megan Morrison, 17, gave evidence in court saying she was raped and sexually assaulted by her grandfather Malcolm Harrison, 74, between the ages of eight and 10.

He denied the charges and was later found dead in a burning car in a suspected suicide on the final day of his trial before he could be convicted of any offences.

But Miss Morrison, of Sinfin, Derby, stood by her story, which has resulted in an estrangement with her grandmother Vivienne Harrison, 62.

After bravely waiving her anonymity to speak out about her ordeal, the teenager says she hopes to rekindle her 'strong relationship' with her grandmother.

Communications broke down after the accusations were made and the pair still aren't talking despite numerous attempts from the teenager.

In the emotional note, Miss Morrison tells her grandmother: 'I still love you.'

In the hand-written letter she adds: 'Everything I said was true. I know it's hard to believe because he was your husband. I miss you so much....Please don't hate me.' 'I have written nan a letter telling her that everything I told the police and said in court is true and that this did happen to me.

'I have told her in my letter that I know it is hard for her to believe because he was her husband and I didn't say anything because I didn't want to lose her.

'I love my nan so much and I just want her to believe what happened to me and we can be friends again. I would take her back in a heartbeat.

'He would say to me 'don't tell your mum, this is our little secret'. But when I was 10 I told him if he didn't stop then I would tell someone and the abuse did stop then.'

Mother Vanessa White, who works as a nurse, added: 'When I found out about the allegations, she started crying down the phone saying she didn't want to lose her nan. 

“I would like to be a queen in the hearts of the people.”

“The worst illness of our time is that so many people have to suffer from never being loved.”

“Your patron has never been happier to see you. Whatever uncertainties the last few weeks may have brought I want you to be certain of this our work together will continue unchanged. Especially at Christmas. The sick, the old, the handicapped and the homeless, the lonely, the confused and the simply unloved who are needing your help more than ever.”

“Two things stand like stone – Kindness in anothers trouble – courage in your own”

Charity Work of Princess Diana

Throughout her life Diana was something of a rebel. Her work with victims of AIDS could in some ways be seen in this regard. She was one of the first very high profile people to be pictured touching those afflicted with AIDS this had a significant impact in changing people’s opinions and attitudes to the disease it was certainly a charity not following the protocol and tradition of the Royal family. AS Princess Diana said:

“HIV does not make people dangerous to know. You can shake their hands and give them hug heaven knows they need it”

Diana had a very personable touch. She was very at ease in meeting people from any background and even if they were  ill or in hospices. The patients would react very favourably to her meetings, they warmed to her life energy and heartfelt sympathy. Part of her appeal was her sympathy and natural compassion. She could empathise with people’s suffering, having suffered much herself.

To the media Diana often portrayed a very stoic and positive energy, but an aid suggested that at the same time these engagements often drained Diana emotionally at the end of some engagements she felt depleted.

As well as working on charities such as AIDS she lent her name to the campaign to bad landmines. Her personal support is said to have been a significant factor in encouraging Britain and then other countries to support the Ottawa Treaty which sought to introduce a ban on the use of anti – personnel landmines. When Robin Cook brought the second reading of the landmines bill to the house in 1998 he made a point of paying tribute to the contribution of Princess Diana.

Diana Princess of Wales – Charities

Landmines & Explosive Remnants of War

Continuing the commitment of Diana, Princess of Wales we champion the issue of landmines, supporting the campaign for a worldwide ban and speaking up for those whose everyday lives are blighted by landmines.

Prisoners’ Families

The Fund supports young people in prisoners’ families – an invisible group stigmatised by society and judged guilty for a crime they did not themselves commit.

Palliative Care

Enabling people to die with dignity and with the least possible amount of pain. For this reason it has launched a £5 million initiative on Palliative Care.

Princess Diana with AIDS Sufferers

“Princess Diana showed deep understanding and sympathy and said Diana said it was a shame that people with AIDS had to suffer the stigma and fear of others.”

This week Yemen reaches a grim milestone: half a million people are sick with suspected cholera this year, almost 2,000 of whom have died. It’s the world’s worst cholera outbreak in the midst of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Conflict, hunger and disease are daily affairs in this war battered country: two thirds of the population – 17 million people – do not know where their next meal will come from; 5,000 more Yemenis fall ill with cholera or acute watery diarrhoea every day.

Cholera is an old and insidious disease. It thrives where there is famine, poverty, conflict and weak governance. It goes after the most vulnerable: half of all suspected cholera cases and a quarter of associated deaths in Yemen are among children; a third of those who die of cholera are aged over sixty. Hunger and malnutrition exacerbate vulnerability to cholera and acute watery diarrhoea – and disease, in turn, can drive malnutrition: a deadly cycle. Two weeks ago in Yemen, we met a young boy at al-Sabeen Hospital in Sana’a. Less than five years old, he was breathing heavily on a hospital bed, an IV attached to the veins of his small hands to help him battle cholera and malnutrition. We were so focussed on his desperate condition that we almost missed his mother, sitting nearby, who was also very ill, and needed attention. 

Their suffering is mirrored many thousands of times over across the country. 

While in Yemen, we talked with the sick, their families and the health workers caring for them.

We saw the tragic state of a health system in ruins, with less than half of its facilities able to offer the most basic medical care.

We saw the impossible conditions that health workers face day in day out; 30,000 have not been paid their salaries in nearly a year.

But we also saw that coordinated action can save lives and bring an end to this epidemic. 

More than 99 per cent of people sick with suspected cholera or severe acute watery diarrhoea who can access health services are now surviving.

The number of reported assaults in care homes has more than doubled in three years, shocking figures reveal today.

Police forces from across England and Wales received almost 2,500 reports of assaults in care homes in the 12 months to April – up from the 1,100 reported three years previously.

In total, officers recorded a staggering 5,400 reports of crimes in care homes last year – including reports of neglect, ill-treatment, blackmail and even a case of 'administered poison'.

Worryingly, the true toll of crime is likely to be even higher as less than half of police forces responded to the Freedom of Information request.

The figures are the latest to illustrate the scale of the crisis in the social care sector, which has been beset by funding problems, care home closures, staff shortages and allegations of ill-treatment. 

• Number of reported assaults in care homes has more than doubled in 3 years 
• Police forces from across England and Wales heard of almost 2,500 assaults 
• Officers recorded a staggering 5,400 reports of crimes in care homes last year