The song is the first of an expected flood of new music releases by Jackson, who before his death also recorded songs with R&B star Akon and pop singer will.i.am, front man for the hit-making the Black Eyed Peas music group.

Jackson, who died on freshwater pearl ring June 25 aged 50, had spent the previous four months rehearsing in Los Angeles for a gruelling series of 50 concert spectaculars scheduled to begin at London's 02 Arena in July.

More than 800 000 tickets had been sold for the concerts, with organisers promising one of the "most expensive and technically advanced" live shows ever.

Jackson was putting the finishing touches to the show at the time of his death, which authorities in Los Angeles ruled a homicide after cultured freshwater pearl coroners revealed that he had a lethal cocktail of six different drugs in his body.

Video footage from the rehearsals had been intended to help organizers critique the show and was never intended for public viewing. Sony bought the footage for $60m after executives saw only several minutes.

Sony has said an "unprecedented number" of shows across the United States have sold out and other cities - including London, Sydney, Bangkok and Tokyo - experienced similar levels of demand after tickets went on sale in September.

Analyst Jeff Bock of box office tracking firm freshwater perl jewelry Exhibitor Relations said the film could "play bigger than Elvis".

"This is more of a memorial than a movie," Bock told AFP. "I think we could be looking at $70 to $100m in the freshwater pearl bracelet first five days alone, which is extraordinary for this type of film.

The movie got a stamp of approval from Jackson's long-time friend and confidante, actress Elizabeth Taylor.

Taylor, who recently underwent heart surgery, hailed the movie as the "single most brilliant piece of film making I have ever seen" in a tweet on micro-blogging site Twitter.

"It cements forever Michael's genius in jewelry boxes every aspect of creativity."

Despite the anticipation surrounding the film, a group of diehard Jackson fans have launched an online campaign urging devotees of the singer to boycott the movie, claiming it hides the truth about his final days.

The group claims on its website - "This-Is-Not-It" - that the movie attempts to mask Jackson's physical frailty as he maintained a punishing schedule of rehearsals.

"In the weeks leading up to loose pearls Michael Jackson's death, while this footage was being shot, people around him knew that he looked like he might have died," the group said. "Those who stood to make a profit chose to ignore it."

Associates of Jackson have insisted the star was in good health during the rehearsals.

Johannesburg - Power utility Eskom will halve its R40bn debt shortfall - which includes the proceeds of three years of proposed tariff increases - if talks with the World Bank for a R23bn ($3bn) loan agreement unveiled on loose freshwater pearl Tuesday are successful.

Speaking to news agency I-Net Bridge, director-general of the National Treasury Lesetja Kganyago said "alternatives [were] taking place" in respect of Eskom's financing plans. It was easier for Eskom to approach the World Bank than government, he said.

Lesetja was responding to a question on whether government was looking to alternatives to raise money rather than saturating the local capital market.

Interestingly, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan did not mention plans to finance Eskom's R40bn shortfall in cultured pearl jewelry his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement released to parliament on Tuesday.

Gordhan conceded that this meant the shortfall would have to be recovered from the staggering price increases demanded by the state electricity provider. "There is no new money," he said.

Eskom stunned South African consumers earlier in October when plans for three price hikes over the next three years were leaked.

Eskom made an application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to approve the increases, the first of which will become effective in April. Nersa has already permitted Eskom to increase this year's price by 31.3%.

Eskom said the hike would be an average nominal 42.8% or 45% over three years when purchases from freshwater pearl necklace some independent power producers were included.

Kganyago said a number of alternatives to tapping local markets had been considered ahead of opening talks between Eskom and the World Bank, including export credit agencies. Eskom has a facility for $2bn with the African Development Bank, said Kganyago. 

Gordhan said the treasury was deeply concerned about the impact of the Eskom price hikes on households and businesses, and would continue to look for alternative ways to find more funding for the power utility and freshwater pearl strands reduce pressure on consumers.

The adjusted MTBPS sees public enterprises receiving a funding boost to pay the debts of national carrier SA Airways (SAA), as well as the penalty incurred by arms manufacturer Denel in its controversial Airbus contract.

The department converted a guaranteed loan of R1.56bn to SAA into equity to reduce the struggling national carrier's debt, which means it spent about 85% more in the first half of this year compared to freshwater pearl pendant last year.

SAA was given the loan in February when former finance minister Trevor Manuel tabled his last budget.

Gordhan allocated an additional R191.9m to state-owned Denel Saab Aerostructures for a penalty relating to a contract under which the inflatable water games South African military would acquire eight A400M Airbus heavy-lifter freight planes.

It stems from Denel's failure to meet performance targets as part of the deal.

A massive joint European manufacturing project to launch the A400M - the world's biggest military aircraft - has been pearl jewelry dogged by problems, with major partners like Britain threatening to pull out because of delays and soaring costs.

Armscor CEO Sipho Thomo told parliament in October that buying eight of the aircraft would cost South Africa R47bn, compared to the R17bn estimated in 2005 when the deal was inked.

Gordhan said the provision to cover the penalty was no indication of any firm commitment by government to go akoya pearl earrings ahead with the deal.

A decision would be taken by cabinet in the next few weeks, he added.

The new finance minister said there was no policy decision to privatise troubled state-owned enterprises. Public Enterprises Minister Barbara Hogan had hinted at this earlier in the year, which earned her a freshwater perl jewelry stinging rebuke.

"The p-word has not been used," he said.