NEW YORK – College student John Park and gospel singer Jermaine Sellers were sent home Thursday along with female semifinalists Michelle Delamor and Haeley Vaughn as “American Idol” voters trimmed the field to 16 rivals on the Fox singing competition show.
Park, a 21-year-old from Northbrook, Ill., said he left the show with no regrets when [...]

LOS ANGELES – “Heroes” co-star Sendhil Ramamurthy is joining USA Network’s new drama series “Covert Affairs” as a regular.
The spy drama centers on Annie Walker (Perabo), a multilingual CIA trainee unexpectedly promoted to field operative while reeling over a mysterious ex-boyfriend who appears to be of particular interest to her agency bosses.
Ramamuntry will play a [...]

LOS ANGELES – Miss America may be searching for a new home, but NBC said Monday it has renewed its deal with Donald Trump and the Miss Universe organization to televise “Miss Universe” and “Miss USA” for three more years, beginning 2011.
Telemundo, NBC’s Spanish-language sibling, is on board to simulcast Miss Universe. This year’s Miss [...]

It’s uncertain how many young people today still believe in a “Tiger curse” on girls, but age-old Chinese folklore suggests that girls born in the Year of the Tiger are destined to bring bad luck to their families.
If past records hold true to form, fewer baby girls can be expected in 2010, the Year of [...]

A man in his late 40s lost an eye after a fireworks accident last week, one of 380 pyrotechnics injuries reported in the capital during Spring Festival.
The man, from Shunyi district, was injured on Thursday night, a time when many Beijingers set off fireworks as a traditional way to welcome the “God of Wealth”.
According to [...]

Six-year-old Zhu Xuan had little say when her parents and her grandmother decided to rent out their two-story house in Beijing’s Changping district and move into a two-bedroom apartment closer to one of the capital’s best primary schools last August.
Enduring a cold winter in unfamiliar surroundings, Zhu has been longing to play hide and seek [...]