Washington, April 10 - The US Treasury Department is investigating the trip music icons Jay-Z and Beyonce made to Cuba last week.

Republican lawmakers have requested an explanation about the type of travel authorization they were issued and whether their trip violated the conditions of Washington's economic embargo against the island, The New York Times said.

The rap star and pop diva travelled to Cuba to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.

Washington, April 5 : Film critic Roger Ebert died Thursday in Chicago after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.

The Chicago Sun-Times, the daily where Ebert published his movie reviews for years, announced his death.

Ebert, who was born in June 1942 in Urbana, Illinois, had fought thyroid cancer since 2002 and although the ravages of the disease had left him unable to speak, he wrote extensively about his illness on the social networks and in his blog published by the Sun-Times.

Washington, April 1 - The executive director of Latin content and programming for Billboard, Leila Cobo, has written a biography of the late Jenni Rivera, an intimate portrait of the difficult, successful life of the star of Mexican regional music.

When she died last Dec 9 in an air crash in Mexico, Rivera was at the height of her fame - she was the top selling singer in her musical category and the only Latino artist with her own radio and TV programs, as well as her own lines of makeup and fashion, and even a beneficent foundation.

Miami, March 16 - Actresses Kate del Castillo and Michelle Rodriguez and pop singer Cristian Castro will be among the celebrities taking part in a charity auto race April 20 in Long Beach, California, to benefit children battling serious illnesses, organizers said in a statement.

Rodriguez, an American, and Mexicans Del Castillo and Castro will each climb inside a 200-horsepower Scion FR-S sports car during the 10-lap Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, which will take place in downtown Long Beach.

Miami, Mar 1 - Mexican singer Thalia will go on a short US tour this spring on which she will perform songs from her most recent album, "Habitame siempre", her record label, Sony Music, announced.

The "Viva!" tour will begin March 24 in Chicago and will consist of a series of intimate concerts where she will perform her new songs and the big hits of her more than 20-year career, including "Equivocada", "Amor a la mexicana", "Entre el mar y una estrella" and "Arrasando", among others.

Washington, Feb 20 - Leading actresses who win Oscars are almost twice as weepy as the leading actors at the Academy Awards ceremony, says a study.

Only one director has ever choked up: Steven Spielberg for "Schindler's List" at the 1993 ceremony, says Rebecca Rolfe, Georgia Tech master's student in Digital Media, who analysed 60 years of award-winning acceptance speeches.

However, crying is a recent trend. Seventy one percent of tears have been shed since 1995, including 12 of the last 15 best actresses, adds Rolfe, according to a Georgia Tech statement.

Washington, Feb 5 : Meet Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, a 30-something couple raising two kids in a typical middle class home in the suburbs of Washington circa 1981. The perfect family, living the American dream, except for one little thing - Elizabeth and Philip are Soviet spies.

Welcome to "The Americans", a new TV series in the US that challenges some of the cliches of Hollywood's relentlessly and uniformly negative depiction of Russians.