TLC pop star 'missing' in US

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, one third of R&B chart stars TLC, has been reported missing after failing to attend family and press events this week.

The public alert was issued after the 29-year-old singer missed a family gathering in Atlanta and a major press conference in Las Vegas.

Lopes was last seen a week ago by a friend. The star is famous for unusual behaviour, however, including burning down a boyfriend's mansion after a row.

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Crowe injury halts production

Gladiator star Russell Crowe has been forced to put his new film on hold after injuring his shoulder.

The actor, 36, was in Austin, Texas, recording with his band and preparing for the film when the injury occurred. Details have not been disclosed.

The movie - Flora Plum - teams Crowe with Claire Danes (Romeo + Juliet) under the direction of Jodie Foster.

Shooting has been postponed, and no new date has yet been set.

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Pesci signs for TV comedy

Oscar-winning movie tough guy Joe Pesci has signed to star in a TV sitcom about a mobster who acquires a comedy club as collateral for a debt.

Pesci, best known for violent roles in films like Goodfellas, will star in the pilot before taking on a recurring role in the as-yet-unnamed US series.

Lawrence Lyttle, of production company Big Ticket TV, likened Pesci's role to Carl Reiner in the Dick Van Dyke Show - a looming presence over the action.

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King moves early on novel film option

Stephen King has sold the film rights to his next novel, The Dreamcatcher, a year before publication.

He will get a seven-figure sum if the film is made. Castle Rock Entertainment have bought the option, to add to King adaptations including Stand By Me, The Green Mile, Misery and The Shawshank Redemption.

The story, to be scripted by William Goldman, centres on a group of friends who, after a heroic childhood act, find they all possess a strange gift.

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Opera legend Callas 'had Onassis' baby'

Opera star Maria Callas bore the child of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis but the baby died, according to a new biography printed in Vanity Fair.

Biographer Nicholas Gage offers 1960 birth documents found among Callas' private papers after her death.

The baby, named Omero Legrini, was delivered by caesarean section and lived for about two hours, Gage claims.

Callas made many visits to the baby's grave in Milan before her death in 1977

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Plan for cop drama set in Ancient Rome

Dreamworks - the studio behind hit film Gladiator - is teaming up with NYPD Bluecreator David Milchto develop a cop drama set in ancient Rome.

Gladiator director Ridley Scott would direct a two-hour pilot for the project - which has attracted interest from US networks NBC, ABC and Fox.

The series would be set in the reign of Nero in 65 AD - nearly 100 years before Gladiator - and focus on the Urban Cohort, the Roman police force.

Hollywood paper Variety says the project has been dubbed NYAD.