LOS ANGELES (AP) – Paramount Pictures Corp. President Gail Berman has stepped down, effective immediately, the film studio said Wednesday.Berman’s departure comes 18 months since she joined Paramount with a mandate to turn the ailing studio around.Paramount did not specify why Berman was stepping down, nor who would take over her duties in the near […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jay Leno gets to be king in the upcoming animated feature “Igor.”The “Tonight” show host will be the voice of King Malbert, ruler of Malaria, in the saga of a mad scientist’s hunchbacked assistant who dreams of winning the annual Evil Science Fair, Exodus Film Group said Wednesday.The movie, scheduled for […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Theme-park operator Six Flags Inc., which has been struggling with falling attendance and a large debt load, said Thursday it will sell seven of its parks for $312 million.Shares of Six Flags gained 41 cents, or almost 8 percent, to $5.84 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange after […]

NEW YORK (AP) – A YouTube video from a British man calling for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq has stoked a small online protest and tested the video sharing site’s potential for viral demonstration.A 26-year-old user named warren25smash last week posted a video titled “The YouTube Get Out of Iraq Campaign.” Speaking into […]

Steps are being taken by Fred Paige of Penn Yann, N.Y., who is interested in forming a State of Maine baseball league here next season to have a meeting of the managers of the various teams to meet about Feb. 1 and discuss plans for the formation of a league. Mr. Paige hopes to get […]

The rhythmic step dancing is infectious in the otherwise formulaic underdog flick “Stomp the Yard” – so much so, you’ll want to see more of it and less of a plot.It’s good enough to make you wish that director Sylvain White had taken a documentary approach to the material, something along the lines of David […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Golden Globe gift basket is no more.The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service to satisfy past tax obligations on the plush gift packages given to awards-show presenters.The end result: No such swag […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Failed state attorney general candidate Jeanine Pirro will trade the campaign trail for the small screen with a syndicated talk show to be produced by Warner Bros., according to a published report.Pirro, the former Westchester County district attorney who once made People magazine’s list of 50 most beautiful people, will be […]

NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump has called Barbara Walters a liar and Rosie O’Donnell a loser. On Wednesday, they both fired back.“Well, he’s at it again,” said O’Donnell, referring to a letter written to her by Trump and reported Tuesday by the media. The letter said Walters had told him that working with O’Donnell […]

MUMBAI, India (AP) – Richard Gere urged thousands of sex workers in Mumbai on Wednesday to insist their clients use condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.“No condoms, no sex!” the 57-year-old actor shouted at an AIDS awareness event in Mumbai, the country’s financial and entertainment hub. Gere urged the crowd of more than […]