Bizarre in life, Michael Jackson's complex personal affairs are taking even stranger twists in death.

After five days of television replays of Jackson's hit songs and glowing tributes to his musical genius, attention has turned to the murkier side of the Thriller singer.

Celebrity website TMZ.com reported the entertainer was not the biological father of his three children and that his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, was not the genetic mother of the eldest two.

Celebrity magazine Us Weekly said the biological father of Michael Jr, 12, and Paris, 11, was Jackson's Beverly Hills dermatologist, Dr Arnold Klein, for whom Rowe once worked. The identity of the surrogate mother of Prince Michael II, 7, has never been known.

Klein's attorney issued a statement neither confirming nor denying the report, but Rowe's attorney told entertainment news outlet E! News that her client is definitely the mother.

Jackson's mother Katherine has temporary guardianship of the children and control of his estate until a July 6 hearing.

Elsewhere, Jackson family lawyer Brian Oxman told Life & Style Weekly the singer "feared somebody wanted to kill him".

"He was even concerned people would kill him to somehow try to take control of the Beatles' back catalog," Oxman told the magazine, referring to Jackson's lucrative joint venture.

The cause of Jackson's death has not yet been determined. Results of toxicology tests are expected in about 4-6 weeks.

Financial affairs

Also on Tuesday, it was learnt that Jackson was recently in shaky financial health. In the most detailed account yet of the singer's tangled financial empire, documents obtained by the AP show Jackson claimed to have a net worth of $236.6 million as of March 31, 2007.

Since that time both Jackson's debts and assets grew substantially - he refinanced loans later that year that increased his debt load by tens of millions of dollars, but the Sony/ATV Music Publishing joint venture he is a part of also spent hundreds of millions acquiring new songs.

'Jackson' in Ukraine

Residents of a Ukrainian village want to rename it after the late pop superstar, a lawmaker who represents the village said yesterday.

Oleg Kislitsyn, a deputy in the regional parliament, said villagers in Oktyabrskoye, located in the Zaporizhia region in the country's southeast, had approached him with a proposal to rename the village "Jackson".

"There are many fans of Michael Jackson there. They want to immortalize him," said Kislitsyn, adding that he was in favor of the proposal.

"They want to create a house-museum and collect his records there. This is a depressed region, all the factories are closed. They hope this will attract tourists," he added.

Kislitsyn's advisors went to meet with villagers yesterday to discuss the proposal. The village's municipal council is to consider the plan in August.

Source: China Daily/agencies