Mariah Carey is joining the American Idol judging panel.

The Heartbreaker singer said she is “so excited” to be signing up for the TV talent show, which saw judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez exit at the end of last season.

“This kind of all just happened really quickly,” mum-of-two Mariah revealed. “I can’t wait to get started in the fall (autumn) ... and I will see you in January”.

The show will be back on the air for season 12 in January.

While it remains a ratings leader, American Idol has seen its viewership and pop culture status diminish.

Amelia Earhart’s plane still missing despite search

A mission aimed at locating the plane flown by aviation legend Amelia Earhart has ended without finding any evidence of the wreckage, organisers said.

“As is usually the case with field work, we’re coming home with more questions than answers,” the Earhart Project said on its website.

“We are, of course, disappointed that we did not make a dramatic and conclusive discovery, but we are undaunted in our commitment to keep searching out and assembling the pieces of the Earhart puzzle.”

The expedition searched the area around Nikumaroro island in Kiribati to test the theory Ms Earhart survived the apparent crash of her twin-engine Lockheed Electra aircraft.

The searchers, part of the non-profit International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, said they would analyse the video taken during the mission launched on July 3 for potential evidence.

Two hopes for Aids cure

Investigators are looking into two main paths toward a cure for Aids, based on the stunning stories of a small group of people around the world who have been able to overcome the disease.

Despite progress in treating millions of people globally with antiretroviral drugs, experts say a cure is more crucial than ever because the rate of HIV infections is outpacing the world’s ability to medicate people.

“For every person who starts antiretroviral therapy, two new individuals are infected with HIV,” Javier Martinez-Picado of the IrsiCaixa Aids Research Institute in Spain told the International AIDS Conference in Washington yesterday.

While a cure remains a distant prospect, he said scientists can now “envision a cure from two different perspectives,” either by eradicating the virus from a person’s body or coaxing the body to control the virus on its own.

The most extraordinary case of an apparent cure has been seen in an American man in his 40s, Timothy Ray Brown, who was HIV-positive and developed leukaemia.