I love you guys so much because you have the courage to have a dream. That’s what Steven Tyler told the remaining three American Idol contestants tonight. Alas, for one of Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet, the dream is now over. So… following a painful Ice Age 3 tie-in and a performance by Adam Lambert , who got voted out of season 11? JOSHUA LEDET! The talented crooner takes it very well and even brings his mom on stage as he sings farewell via “Man’s Man’s Man’s World.” This leaves Jessica Sanchez, likely the best voice of the season, and Phillip Phillips, the obligatory cute-white-guy-with-a-guitar-who-wins-every-season, to square off on next week’s finale. Do you think Ledet deserved to be voted off? Who will win American Idol?
Merely one week after having to dance for his life against Gavin DeGraw in the bottom two, Jaleel White is back on top of the Dancing With the Stars heap. Tying for first in last night’s Motown Week performances, White and Kym Johnson danced the cha cha to The Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” White admitted during rehearsal, “I’ve definitely been feeling a lot of stress this week and it’s taken its toll on me.” You wouldn’t know it after this: Jaleel White & Kym Johnson – Rumba (DWTS Week 6) “You’re back,” head judge Len Goodman announced, proudly. Bruno Tonioli, never one to hold back, added, “That was biggest sizzler of the season! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and you’ve come back big time.” Carrie Ann Inaba was the final judge to weigh in on the former Family Matters actor, saying, “Consider the A game brought to the table. Welcome back.” For Jaleel, who has battled tabloid adversity in the form of accusations by Bridget Hardy , as well as the standard DWTS scrutiny, it was a triumphant return indeed. Sitting atop Monday’s Dancing With the Stars scores , he’s all but secured a place in the next round. How far do you think he can make it this spring?
The rogue state of North Korea is making headlines again for issuing threats, but this time of a more specific nature than their typical over-the-top, vague rhetoric. North Korea’s military interrupted state TV Monday with a special report, vowing to reduce areas of neighboring South Korea “to ashes” in less than four minutes. The threat comes amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, the recent ascension of Kim Jong Un to the dictatorship and the North’s latest failed missile test . North Korea Issues New, Specific Threats According to the AP, the scary statement from North Korea was unusual in promising something soon and in describing specific locations and periods of time. The North Korean military threatened to “reduce all the rat-like groups and the bases for provocations to ashes in three or four minutes … (or) in much shorter time, by unprecedented peculiar means and methods of our own style.” Yeah. Real normal. South Korean officials responded, urging North Korea to end the threats. “We urge North Korea to immediately stop this practice,” Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said, according to the Associated Press. The South Korean leader added, “We express deep concern that the North’s threats and accusations have worsened inter-Korean ties and heightened tensions.” The April 13 launch of what the United States called a “disguised ballistic missile test” disintegrated just minutes after its launch, humiliating North Korea. South Korean officials say new satellite images show that North Korea has been digging a tunnel in what appears to be preparation for a third atomic test. For months the North has castigated South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and the conservative administration for insulting their leadership and criticizing a new cruise, nuclear-armed missile capable of striking anywhere in the south. Meanwhile, in a meeting Sunday with a North Korean delegation in Beijing, China’s senior official on foreign policy praised the leadership shown by Kim Jong Un. How far he pushes the envelope remains to be seen, but he’s clearly put the world on notice that like his father Kim Jong Il, he’s not afraid of posturing.
Former aide Andrew Young, the star witness in the trial of former presidential candidate John Edwards, began his testimony against his former boss Monday. Edwards is accused of using hundreds of thousands of dollars from 101-year-old Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and Fred Baron to conceal his affair with Rielle Hunter . Young, testifying as the first witness Monday, said Mellon was an enthusiastic supporter who apologized for not being able to give more than $1 million. “She said she was close personal friends with Senators John and Bobby Kennedy and felt like Edwards was the best combination of them,” Young testified. Prosecutors say Edwards broke federal law by accepting about $725,000 from Mellon and more than $200,000 from Fred Baron, a now-deceased Texas lawyer. The money was used to pay for Rielle Hunter’s living and medical expenses, travel and accommodations to quash the scandal while he sought the presidency. Edwards is accused of concealing the money from the public and the Federal Election Commission, which polices political contributions, in the 2008 campaign. Federal prosecutors say he filed false and misleading campaign disclosure reports to do this, though Edwards denies any (legal) wrongdoing in the case. The defense argues the money he received from Mellon and Baron was for personal reasons – to protect Edwards’ wife, Elizabeth, who was dying of cancer. Basically, he says he did it to hide his cheating from his family, and that the donors would have given the money regardless of these rare circumstances. Of course, by concealing it from his family, he also hid it from the public, and made a serious run at the White House in the process. Needless to say, the John Edwards trial represents a murky legal gray area. Young, who is married, initially claimed he was the father of Hunter’s child. He went on to become the author of The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down . In the book, he accuses Edwards of using money from his rich benefactors to maintain his relationship with Hunter, breaking the law in the process. Edwards admitted to his affair with Hunter in 2008, after his presidential ambitions foundered. In 2010, he admitted he was the father of Hunter’s daughter.
Facing The Voice’s instant elimination round , Cheesa knew she had to make an impression that lasted with coach Cee Lo Green, his fellow panelists, and America. Her courageous performance of Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” did just that. It earned a standing ovation from Christina Aguilera, who’s been surprisingly hard to please at times this season. “That is a beloved song,” the coach said. “Those are huge shoes to fill and you still managed to do you own thing. I loved it.” Cheesa – I Have Nothing (The Voice Audition) Do you agree with Christina? Cee Lo did, at least to the point where James Massone got the boot and Cheesa lived to sing another day. Will she survive tonight? That’s up to the viewers of The Voice. The top vote-getter among Cee Lo’s remaining three team members will advance, with the coach picking the other semifinalist.
Photo: AP It has been a successful Indy 500 race with a fine weather around but just like any other race, accidents are really inevitable. In this year’s race, Mike Conway has been the unlucky one to experience it. The thing happened during the remaining three laps. Closing to 2.9 seconds when a half-lap behind the Nos. 37 and 24 cars of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway touched wheels, sending Conway’s car airborne and slamming into the catch fence. “I had nowhere to go,” Hunter-Reay said after the race. Conway suffered an injury to his left leg and was airlifted to nearby Methodist Hospital because of the heavy post-race traffic. He never lost consciousness and the injury was not considered life-threatening. He was able to finished 19th as the race ended. Here’s a video of the terrifying crash: Click here to view the embedded video. Indy 500 Crash Video: Mike Conway Suffers Leg Injury Yet Survived is a post from: Daily World Buzz Continue reading →
