Anderson explores Ghana and the 'door of no return' tonight on 360º.

Anna Duning
AC360º Intern

Anderson is in Ghana where President Obama arrived just a couple hours ago. Tomorrow, Anderson will sit down with the President for an exclusive interview. Tonight, we’ll look at why Mr. Obama chose to visit the West African nation. Anderson joins us from the capital city Accra to share the excitement on the streets. And, he’ll take us inside a centuries-old trading post, a dark and eerie place where African slaves were kept before being shipped across the Atlantic.

We also have new developments on the Michael Jackson death investigation. A friend of Michael Jackson for 30 years says the singer was so weak and frail, he shouldn’t have had to prepare for 50 sold-out concerts in London. Concert prompter AEG says Jackson passed a five-hour medical exam. The friend is also sharing new details on what he says was Jackson’s addiction to prescription drugs.

And, we have a 360º follow from Gary Tuchman. He’s traveled to a small town in Mexico where two Americans who were members of polygamist sect have been shot and killed by drug cartels this week. The victims’ families share their emotional story. They talk about how 25 commandoes in camouflage ran up to their house — and the chaos and heartache that followed.

Also tonight, Dr. Sanjay Gupta teams up with activist and lawyer Erin Brockovich for a stunning report out of a small town in Tennessee. In December, one billion gallons of oil mixed with toxic sludge spilled over 300 acres. It’s the largest environmental disaster in U.S. Yes, bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster. Who’s to blame? And, what’s being done to clean up the mess? We’re keeping them honest.

From Ghana to L.A. to Mexico to Tennessee, we give you a 360º view of the world tonight. See you at 10pm ET!

Los Angeles detectives are waiting on the coroner's report on the death of Michael Jackson.

Alan Duke and Saeed Ahmed
CNN

Singer Michael Jackson took more than 10 Xanax pills a night, asking his employees to get the prescription medicine under their names and also personally traveling to doctors’ offices in other states to obtain them, said a confidential document from 2004 that CNN obtained Thursday.

The document from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department contains confidential interviews conducted with two of Jackson’s former security guards as officials prepared for Jackson’s child molestation trial in 2005.

The singer was acquitted after the 14-week trial. But the information about the pills, and the lengths Jackson went to get them, adds to a growing mountain of claims tying the insomniac singer to drugs in recent days.

According to the drug’s Web site, Xanax is for the treatment of panic disorder.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton said Thursday detectives have spoken to a number of doctors who have treated Jackson over the years, and are looking into the singer’s prescription drug history.

Keep reading…

Mourners carry the coffin of Benjamin LeBaron, 32, on Thursday in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

CNN

Mexican officials said they have identified two suspects in this week’s slayings of two Americans in northern Mexico.

A security camera at a toll booth near the municipality of Galeana captured images of the suspects, Chihuahua state Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez said Thursday, the state-run Notimex news agency reported.

Gonzalez declined to name the suspects, other than to say they belong to a crime organization known as “La Linea” (The Line).

The toll booth cameras show four trucks or sport utility vehicles in which 12 suspects were riding, she said.

No arrests had been reported by Friday.

Benjamin LeBaron, 32, and his brother-in-law, Luis Widmar, who was in his mid-30s, were beaten and shot to death after armed men stormed into their home Tuesday morning in Galeana.

Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua attorney general’s office, said earlier this week that a note was found on LeBaron’s body but he could not confirm the contents.

Read more…

From left: Prince Michael Jackson II, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson and Michael Joseph Jackson Jr.

Editor’s Note: On June 29th, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted Katherine Jackson’s request for temporary custody of her son Michael’s three children. Posted below are the documents she filed to gain temporary custody. On Monday, a judge will once again take up the question of who has guardianship of the late singer’s three children. To hear CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin’s take on Monday’s custody proceedings, tune in to AC360° tonight 10p ET.

Katherine Jackson custody claim documents.

Ready for today’s Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture – and you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite! Here is the ‘Beat 360°’ pic:

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama exchange gifts with Pope Benedict XVI in his library at the Vatican. (Photo by Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

Have fun with it. We’re looking forward to your captions! Make sure to include your name, city, state (or country) so we can post your comment.

Program Note: Tune in to AC360º tonight at 10 P.M. ET to hear more from Erin Brockovich as she teams up with Dr. Sanjay Gupta to investigate a toxic oil spill endangering the health of the environment and the citizens of Kingston, Tennessee.

Properties near ground zero of the December 22 Tennessee spill are covered in sludge.

Erin Brockovich
The Brockovich Report

It looks like I may be paying a visit to Tennessee. Numerous residents have asked me to come to the community for a meeting on the coal fly ash disaster around Knoxville, and I think I will be going.

I know the question on everyone’s lips. What is coal fly ash, and why does it need to be contained? The folks around Knoxville are getting to know a lot more about coal fly ash than they ever wanted to learn.

Coal fly ash. It sounds like someone has been burning fly poop or airborne coal. But seriously, it is akin to the creosote that coated those chimneys and chimneysweep boys of Charles Dickens ancient London.

Fly ash comes from chimneys, specifically the chimneys of power plants. The collection point determines exactly what kind of ash it is. Fly ash apparently contains silicon dioxide and calcium oxide as well as trace concentrations of heavy metals. In other words, coal ash is nasty stuff to have floating around in your river, air, and drinking water.

Read more…

Michael Jackson, shown in 2008, was one of the biggest pop stars in history.

Neal Preston
Time

Early shots capture the future King of Pop at play.

Keep reading…

Byrd and Melanie Billings gather with their children.

CNN

Eight children were found in the Florida home of their slain parents, who apparently were the victims of a home invasion, police confirmed to CNN Friday.

The couple was found shot Thursday night in their Beulah home, said Escambia County Police spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy. One of the parents was shot in the head, he said. Beulah is about 17 miles northwest of Pensacola.

The victims were identified as Byrd and Melanie Billings by Jeff Martin, director of the District Medical Examiner’s Office. Autopsies have not been completed, he said.

The Billings have 16 children; 12 of them adopted, some of whom have special needs, the Pensacola News Journal reported.

Keep reading…

Click here to view a digital version of the Michael Jackson Memorial Program Book given out to those who attended the tribute on Tuesday.

President Obama says he chose Ghana partly because of the country's commitment to democracy.

CNN

President Barack Obama was due in Ghana Friday, generating excitement in the west African nation and envy among its neighbors with many seeing his visit as sending a message to governments over their poor records on stability.

Across Ghana, street vendors were stocking miniature American flags while citizens donned attire with pictures of the U.S. leader.

“People in Ghana are printing clothes for this occasion,” said Adrian Landry, general manager of a beach hotel in the capital, Accra.

“The fact that his father is African and he picked us makes us special,” he said. “He is endorsing our strong democracy in Ghana. This is historic.”

The president’s visit to the nation is the third by a sitting American leader. Bill Clinton was the first U.S. president to visit Ghana in 1998 as part of a six-nation Africa tour. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, stopped there as part of a four-nation Africa tour during his last year of office.

Keep reading…