World prepares to farewell King of Pop

Hundreds of millions of fans around the world are preparing to bid a poignant farewell to Michael Jackson, as Los Angeles goes into lockdown ahead of the singer's star-studded memorial service.

Nearly two weeks after the death of the King of Pop, America is expected to grind to a standstill tomorrow as Jackson is finally laid to rest.

His family and close friends are to attend a private funeral service at 8:00am (1am AEST Wednesday) at the picturesque Forest Lawn mortuary nestled in the Hollywood Hills above Los Angeles.

From there, attention will turn to a memorial being held at the 20,000-capacity Staples Centre sports arena in the city's downtown.

A staggering 1.6 million people applied to win free tickets for the event allocated via an online lottery over the weekend.

Precise details of the service have been kept under wraps, but organisers today confirmed that Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson are just a few of the stars due to participate.

An additional 1,400 police officers will be on duty to provide security, while city blocks surrounding the venue have already been sealed off.

Organisers of the memorial, which gets underway at 10:00am (3am AEST Wednesday), have appealed to ticketless fans to watch the event on television, fearing chaos if hundreds of thousands take to the streets to mourn.

A live feed of the service is being made available free to television networks, while the event will also be streamed via social networking websites Facebook and MySpace. ABC News Online will also stream the service live.

(source:-www.abc.net.au)