BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins BlackBerry (BBRY) executives have a history of making condescending comments to analysts, but this time, Thorsten Heins has really broke new ground in haughtiness. At an Ontario conference, Mr. Heins was asked about the low-end smartphone market and he firmly stated that his company is not going to get into $50-60 segment, Bloomberg reported. This, of course, is pure straw man construction. Nobody thinks BlackBerry should or can get into the $50-60 price segment. Mostly because that price segment does not exist. There are no $50 smartphones.

[More from BGR: Leaked photos may finally reveal Samsung s Galaxy S IV]

No one believes that BlackBerry should get into the $100-120 price segment, either. The thing everyone wants to know is when BlackBerry intends to enter the $200-250 price segment. This is a real smartphone price segment that exists in the real world. This is the price segment where models such as the Micromax Canvas 2 and Karbonn S1 Titanium are making huge market share gains in regions like Asia. This is the price segment where Windows Phones like Nokia s (NOK) Lumia 520 are entering right now. This is the price segment where Samsung (005930) and HTC (2498) are triumphing from Brazil to Malaysia.

[More from BGR: Google X Phone specs reportedly revealed: Quad-core CPU, 4.7-inch HD display, 16MP camera]

You see, the biggest problem BlackBerry is now facing is the global subscriber base erosion that started in the November quarter. BlackBerry s subscriber base shrank for the first time in the company s history, by a relatively sharp 2 million subscribers. This happened because subscriber growth in markets like Nigeria, South Africa, the Philippines and Indonesia is no longer strong enough to offset the weakness in markets like North America and Europe. That BlackBerry sub growth slowdown in Africa and Asia is directly linked to the loss of competitiveness of its cheap Curve product range against Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, Spice and Micromax in the sub-$250 price category.

The question of when a competitive, cheap Curve model debuts in emerging markets is thus extremely important. BlackBerry s future may hinge on when it can get a solid, sub-$250 smartphone out in Africa and Asia. So the decision of BlackBerry s CEO to brush off this question by a snide comment about not entering $50-$60 segment is not only completely inane, it is insulting for the company shareholders.

Nobody is expecting BlackBerry to produce a smartphone that is cheaper than any other smartphone in the world. People simply want to know when BlackBerry intends to enter the price segment where smartphone volume growth is now exploding. Mr. Heins s defensiveness and shiftiness on this topic is not encouraging.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) The dead vulture's feathers snap and crack, breaking apart as its frozen wings are spread for one last flight.

It will soon soar gracefully albeit briefly into a tree in this hilly New Jersey suburb, hoisted to a branch where it will hang, upside down, until spring.

Wildlife officials say it's a sure-fire way to get an estimated 100 black and turkey vultures from roosting in the neighborhood, leaving behind foul-smelling and acidic droppings on roofs and lawns, creeping out residents and even their pets.

Before the black vulture's carcass is strung up, nearly a dozen vultures glide over Bridgewater on a cool, gray Monday morning. Some perch in trees. One rests on a chimney-top.

Neighborhood residents watched as wildlife specialist Terri Ombrello launched a weighted fishing line over a branch with a sling shot. She took turns with partner Nicole Rein tying the bird's legs with another line then pulled the bird about 30 feet off the ground.

Vultures may like to eat road kill but it turns out they don't like the sight of their own dead upside down.

"They don't like seeing their own in that unnatural position," Rein said.

Bridgewater, a town of 45,000 about 40 miles west of New York, became at least the seventh New Jersey community this winter to turn to the wildlife services unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for buzzard-beating help. Black and red turkey vultures are protected species and cannot be killed without a permit.

The birds roost from November to April, settling down as it gets dark, when they are most visible.

Jim Van Allen, 69, lives across the street where the carcass was strung up in Bridgewater. He's lived in the neighborhood practically his entire life. He said it isn't unusual to see vultures there in this community but not this many. He said the vultures started arriving in November, just after Superstorm Sandy.

"They just glide all around, all day long, I mean, just looking for something dead," he said.

The vultures, which have sometimes lined up eerily on rooftops, have not just spooked residents. Mark Nathan said his yellow lab Callie is afraid of the vultures, especially when they fly low.

"She freaks out about them," Nathan said. The dog "barks at them and then she runs inside as fast as possible," he said.

Scavenging vultures are key to the ecosystem because they feed off dead animals, acting as flying garbage disposals. Still, in densely populated areas where they can thrive, vultures pose a serious nuisance.

"Their feces runs down the roof. It looks bad," Van Allen said.

Residents can expect to see fewer vultures within one to three days. While some may still perch on the tree, Rein said, they will not do so for long.

While some New Jersey towns regard the influx of vultures as a problem at least one community is hoping it will get its birds back.

Wenonah started holding a vulture festival in 2006 after nearly 200 turkey and black vultures made the town their winter home. But the town canceled its festival this year, according to Vulture Festival website, because they're no longer roosting there at night.

NEW YORK (AP) No need to say goodbye to Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She's staying put as a co-host of "The View" despite reports insisting otherwise.

Series co-creator Barbara Walters called that story "particularly false" on Monday's edition of the ABC daytime talk show. She says that "we have no plans for Elisabeth to leave."

She also denied reports that Hasselbeck has lost favor with "The View" for her conservative political stances, something Walters says "we value and appreciate."

Hasselbeck has been on "The View" for a decade.

Walters also confirmed that Joy Behar will exit the show in August. Behar was among the first co-hosts with Walters when "The View" debuted in 1997. She announced her planned departure last week.

Besides Walters, the remaining panel includes Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd.

In comics, the first issue is where the story starts and the legend begins.

For readers, a print copy of issue one can be hard to find and expensive to buy. But those rules don't apply to tablets, laptops and smartphones both for comics fans and those curious about characters they may have seen in film or on television.

Part of that fascination with superheroes and their growing cachet in popular culture is why Marvel Entertainment, home to the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers, among others, is making more than 700 first issues available to digital readers starting Sunday for free through the Marvel app and the company's website. After Tuesday, they'll be sold for $1.99 to $3.99 per issue.

The titles go from the 1960s Silver Age to contemporary issues with characters including Wasp, Mr. Fantastic, Power Man and Iron Fist, said David Gabriel, senior vice president of sales.

"This is aimed at attracting fans from all walks of life those who know our characters from the big screen, those who were readers but fell out of the habit and our long-term fans too," he said. "We believe that if we get those fans in the door, they'll stay and help grow this industry, with purchases both in comic stores and via digital comic outlets."

The publisher went through its catalog of more than 13,000 titles that are already available digitally and plucked out the No. 1 issues with historic ones like "Amazing Spider-Man" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko or the "Fantastic Four" by Lee and Jack Kirby as well as modern titles like "Civil War," Joss Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men" and characters and teams like the Uncanny Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, too.

"We never want fans to feel like they need to have read it all. Of course we want them to want to check out those stories, but the beauty of these No. 1 issues is that each is an entry point," he said. "So with a character like Iron Man, you can choose if you want to start with the recent 'Iron Man' series from Kieron Gillen or go back a few years to when Matt Fraction launched 'Invincible Iron Man' or even before that."

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Moore reported from Philadelphia. Follow him at www.twitter.com/mattmooreap.

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Online: http://www.marvel.com

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Marvel Entertainment is owned by The Walt Disney Co.

LOS ANGELES (AP) Kelly Osbourne says she had a seizure and doctors are trying to figure out why.

The 28-year-old TV personality posted a photo on Twitter late Thursday of an IV in her tattooed left arm. She thanked her fans for their "beautiful well wishes."

Osbourne was hospitalized Thursday after collapsing on the set of E! network's "Fashion Police," where she serves as a panelist alongside Joan Rivers, Giuliana Rancic and George Kotsiopoulos.

Osbourne is the daughter of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and "The Talk" co-host Sharon Osbourne. She was profiled with her family on the MTV reality series "The Osbournes" and has appeared as a contestant on "Dancing with the Stars."

Representatives for E! and Kelly Osbourne didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

LONDON (AP) It's been a rough week for Justin Bieber: Getting booed for being late, struggling to breathe mid-performance and fainting backstage, then caught on camera clashing with paparazzi.

But the 19-year-old pop sensation appeared to have recovered Friday for his final concert in London, singing and dancing to thousands of adoring fans at the O2 Arena.

Earlier Friday, the star made headlines when he got into an altercation with insult-hurling paparazzi, lashing out at a photographer with a stream of expletives as he was restrained by minders.

"Ahhhhh! Rough morning. Trying to feel better for this show tonight but let the paps get the best of me," the singer posted on Twitter soon after the altercation with the photographer, which took place as he got into a car earlier Friday. The scuffle was captured on video by Channel 5 News and widely broadcast by Britain's media.

"Sometimes when people r shoving cameras in your face all day and yelling the worst thing possible at u...well I'm human. Rough week," he wrote on the social networking site.

The clash came just hours after Bieber said he was "getting better" following breathing problems he suffered during the previous night's concert. The star took a short break to go backstage, where he was given oxygen, and had to be briefly hospitalized for a check-up.

A spokesman for the O2 Arena said Bieber was treated backstage during Thursday's concert after becoming short of breath, but recovered and finished his set.

"He was treated by our team of medics and after further examination they didn't find anything more serious or worrying."

A spokeswoman for Bieber said he was feeling "a little under the weather." She demanded anonymity to discuss the star's condition.

Bieber later posted a shirtless photo of himself in a hospital bed, saying he was getting better and listening to Janis Joplin. Before that on Twitter he thanked "everyone pulling me thru tonight."

"Best fans in the world," he wrote. "Figuring out what happened. Thanks for the love."

Video footage from the concert shows Bieber appearing to fade during a performance of his up-tempo hit, "Beauty and a Beat." He slows down, puts a hand to his head then bends over, resting his hands on knees before walking slowly to the back of the stage.

The AP spoke to 18-year-old journalism student Prithvi Pandya, who shot the footage, to confirm its authenticity.

"When he started 'Beauty and a Beat' you could see he was struggling," said Pandya, who was near the front of the crowd. "He took lots of drinks of water, that seemed unusual, and he was really sweaty, sweating a helluva lot.

"Toward the end of it, he went backstage. We didn't see him fainting. They brought on dancers to entertain, and I knew something was wrong at that point."

Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, appeared onstage and told the crowd that the singer was feeling "very low of breath" but would come back to finish the show.

Jazz Chappell, a 20-year-old concertgoer who brought her younger sister and her friend to the show, said that In the nearly 30 minutes he was offstage, some fans started to leave. Once his manager announced what had happened, Chappell said many fans in the audience were gasping and crying, while others kept cheering for him to return.

"I thought, 'Give the guy a break. He just fainted. He's not a performing horse. Let him rest a second,'" said Chappell.

Chappell said Bieber, who is in London to perform four concerts at the O2, later returned and performed low-energy renditions of his hits "Boyfriend" and "Baby."

The incident caps a difficult week for Bieber. He was forced to apologize to outraged fans who accused him of taking the stage almost two hours late for his first concert at the O2 on Monday. He insisted he was only 40 minutes late and blamed "technical issues." He took to Twitter to vent his frustrations with the media's portrayal of the incident.

The star's Believe world tour is due to move on to Portugal on Monday, then continue across Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and North America until August.

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AP writers Gregory Katz in London and Derrik J. Lang in Los Angeles and AP Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://www.justinbiebermusic.com/

Gaming can reduce stress, refine motor skills, improve your vision, and more

Your parents may have tried to kick you off your Super Nintendo just about every time you sat down in front of it because they were concerned about how it might affect your long-term health. Plenty of studies have shown that games that don't require a lot of physical movement can have an adverse effect on children as they grow older. But perhaps counter-intuitively, there have also been several studies touting the health benefits of gaming.

1. Video games are therapeutic for children with chronic illnessesThe University of Utah released a study last year that examined the effects of regular gaming on children diagnosed with illnesses like autism, depression, and Parkinson's disease. Kids who played certain games, including one designed just for the study, showed signs of improvement in "resilience, empowerment, and a 'fighting spirit.'" Researchers believe the games' ability to act on "neuronal mechanisms that activate positive emotions and the reward system" helped improve kids' demeanors as they faced the daily challenges of their illnesses.

2. Video games improve preschoolers' motor skillsLetting a 4-year-old sit in front of a TV with a game controller might not seem like the most productive use of her time. But researchers from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, would disagree. Their study examined the development of 53 preschool-aged children, and found that those who played "interactive games" had better "object control motor skills" than those who didn't. It's not clear, though, whether children with better-than-average motor skills tend to gravitate toward video games in the first place.

3. Video games reduce stress and depression2009's Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine included a study that found that gamers who suffered from mental health issues such as stress and depression were able to vent their frustration and aggression by playing video games and showed a noted improvement. The study hypothesized that games gave certain "Type A" personalities time to relax in "a state of relative mindlessness" that allowed them to avoid reaching "a certain level of stressful arousal" as they tried to relax.

4. Video games provide pain reliefVideo games don't just provide relief from emotional pain. They can also help those who are suffering from physical pain. Psychologists at the University of Washington developed a game that helps hospital patients suffering from immense physical pain by using an age-old mental trick: distraction. The virtual reality game "Snow World" put patients in an arctic wonderland in which they throw an endless arsenal of snowballs at a series of targets, such as penguins and snowmen. Military hospitals found the experience helped soldiers recovering from their battlefield wounds. The soldiers who played "Snow World" required less pain medicine during their recuperation.

5. Video games can improve your visionMom may have warned you that sitting in front of the TV wasn't good for your eyes. But one developmental psychologist found it could actually be beneficial to your vision. Dr. Daphen Maurer of the Visual Development Lab of Ontario's McMaster University made a surprising discovery: People suffering from cataracts can improve their vision by playing first-person shooter games like Medal of Honor and Call of Duty. She believes these games are so fast-paced that they require an extreme amount of attention, training the visually impaired to view things more sharply. They can also produce higher levels of dopamine and adrenaline that "potentially may make the brain more plastic," she said.

6. Video games improve your decision-making skillsMost video games require fast reactions and split-second decisions that can mean the difference between virtual life and virtual death. Cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Rochester in New York found these games give players' brains plenty of practice for making decisions in the real world. Researchers suggest that action-oriented games act as a simulator for the decision-making process by giving players several chances to infer information from their surroundings and forcing them to react accordingly.

7. Video games keep you happy in old ageResearchers from North Carolina State University looked closely at our aging population to see if there was a link between playing video games and mental well-being i.e. "happiness." They found that senior citizens who said they played video games even occasionally reported "higher levels of happiness, or well-being," says Rick Nauert at PsychCentral. "Those who did not play video games reported more negative emotions" and were more likely to be depressed. It's unclear what exactly is behind this link or if the relationship is even causal.View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

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(Reuters) - The California wildlife sanctuary where an African lion attacked and killed a 24-year-old intern last week will reopen to the public on Sunday, four days after the woman's death.

The Cat Haven preserve, which has been shut since Dianna Hanson's death on Wednesday, will resume regular operations, including offering guided tours to visitors, Cat Haven officials said

Shortly before it opens its gates, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims is scheduled to brief reporters on the latest findings from the investigation.

Hanson, who was on a six-month internship at Cat Haven that began in January and had previously worked in Kenya on a wild feline reserve, will be honored on Sunday with a moment of silence at the sanctuary.

The big cat center, which is located 40 miles east of Fresno, will resume regular operations, including guided tours for visitors, Cat Haven officials said.

"It is important that we attend to (the animals') health and well-being, and we believe returning to a state of normal operations is a part of that process," Cat Haven founder Dale Anderson said in a statement.

Hanson was attacked while cleaning an empty cat enclosure.

A four-year-old male lion named Cous Cous escaped from his feeding pen, apparently by prodding open an improperly secured gate, and pounced on Hanson, fracturing her neck and killing her almost instantly, according to Fresno County Coroner David Hadden.

Sheriff's deputies later shot and killed the lion, which weighed at least 400 pounds (181 kgs), after failed efforts to coax him away from Hanson's body.

Cous Cous and his mate, Pely, were Barbary lions, a species from the region between Morocco and Egypt that is extinct in the wild. He had been handled by humans since he was weeks old.

Cat Haven, a 100-acre (40-hectare) sanctuary run by the group Project Survival and located about 40 miles east of Fresno, is still home to 29 large cats.

State and local agencies are investigating whether Cat Haven violated any safety procedures that could have safeguarded against the attack.

Anderson said the sanctuary was cooperating with the investigation.

Hanson earned a biology degree in 2011 from Western Washington University. Her family says they consider the incident a tragic accident.

"We know that first and foremost, Dianna would want the work that Cat Haven is doing to continue," her mother, Donna Hanson, said in a statement.

The Hanson family has set up a fund in Dianna's honor that will benefit her favorite charitable organizations, including Cat Haven.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tim Gaynor and David Brunnstrom)

San Francisco (Reuters) - The California wildlife sanctuary where an African lion attacked and killed a 24-year-old worker this week is set to reopen to the public on Sunday.

The Cat Haven preserve, which has been shut since the attack on Wednesday, will resume regular operations, including offering guided tours to visitors, Cat Haven officials said.

"It is important that we attend to (the animals') health and well-being, and we believe returning to a state of normal operations is a part of that process," Cat Haven founder Dale Anderson said in a statement.

Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern who had been working at the park since January, was attacked while cleaning an empty cat enclosure.

A 4-year-old male lion named Cous Cous escaped from his feeding pen, apparently by pushing open an improperly secured gate, and pounced on Hanson, fracturing her neck and killing her instantly, according to Fresno County Coroner David Hadden.

Sheriff's deputies later shot and killed the lion, which weighed at least 400 pounds (181 kgs), after they failed to coax him away from Hanson's body.

Cous Cous and his mate, Pely, were Barbary lions, a species from the region between Morocco and Egypt that is extinct in the wild. He had been handled by humans since he was weeks old.

A necropsy, the animal form of an autopsy, was performed on Thursday to determine whether health issues, such as a neurological disorder or a disease like rabies, could have contributed to the attack.

An initial examination found the lion healthy, but full test results are expected to take weeks, said Janice Mackey, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Cat Haven, a 100-acre (16-hectare) sanctuary in Dunlap, California, run by the group Project Survival and located about 40 miles east of Fresno, is still home to 29 large cats.

State and local agencies are investigating whether Cat Haven violated any safety procedures that could have safeguarded against such an attack.

Anderson said the sanctuary is cooperating with the investigation and cautioned that, until law enforcement releases its findings, "anything reported about the accident is purely speculative."

Hanson earned a biology degree in 2011 from Western Washington University and last year she spent six months in Kenya working on a wild feline reserve.

Her family says they see the incident as a tragic accident.

"We know that first and foremost, Dianna would want the work that Cat Haven is doing to continue," her mother, Donna Hanson, said in a statement.

The Hanson family has set up a fund in Dianna's honor that will benefit her favorite charitable organizations, including Cat Haven.

(Editing by Edith Honan and Vicki Allen)

HELENA, Mont. (AP) A northwestern Montana man shot and killed the host of the Sportsman Channel show "A Rifleman's Journal" in an apparent jealous rage while the TV personality was visiting the shooter's wife, police said Friday.

Wayne Bengston, 41, then beat his wife, took his 2-year-old son to a relative's house and drove to his home about 25 miles away in West Glacier, where he killed himself, Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial said.

"It's pretty much an open-and-closed case. Homicide and suicide," Dial said.

Police identified the shooting victim as Gregory G. Rodriguez, 43, of Sugar Land, Texas. Bengston's wife told police that Rodriguez was in town on business and visiting her at her mother's house in Whitefish when her husband showed up Thursday at about 10:30 p.m.

Rodriguez and the woman, who works for a firearms manufacturer in the Flathead Valley, met at a trade show and struck up a casual relationship that police do not believe was romantic, Dial said.

She and Rodriguez were sitting at the kitchen table, talking over a glass of wine, when Bengston entered the house and shot Rodriguez, Dial said.

He then beat his wife on the face and head, most likely with the pistol, he said. She was treated at a hospital and released.

"I think it was a jealous husband, but this is all conjecture," Dial said.

After the shooting was reported, Flathead County sheriff's deputies found Bengston's truck parked in his driveway. Efforts by a police SWAT team to contact Bengston inside the house were unsuccessful, and officers found his body with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said.

Besides appearing on TV, Rodriguez was the founder and CEO of Global Adventure Outfitters. According to the company's website, he was an editor at Shooting Times Magazine and a contributing editor at Petersen's Hunting, Guns & Ammo and Dangerous Game.

He was a mortgage banker before founding Global Adventure Outfitters and has hunted in 21 countries, the website says.

"A Rifleman's Journal" tracks Rodriguez's hunting travels to exotic locations, according to a Sportsman Channel description.

He has a wife and two children, it says.

A woman who answered the phone at Global Adventure Outfitters confirmed that Rodriguez had been in Montana but said the organization would not be making a statement at the time.

Bengston worked for the U.S. Forest Service, Dial said.

(Reuters) - Canadian country singer and folk icon Stompin' Tom Connors, known for songs "The Hockey Song," and "Sudbury Saturday Night" and his staunch patriotism, has died at age 77, his record company A-C-T Records said.

Connors died at his Ontario home on Wednesday of natural causes, A-C-T said in a statement posted on Connors' website.

Born Thomas Charles Connors in Saint John, New Brunswick, Connors was raised by foster parents on Prince Edward Island and hitchhiked across Canada as a teenager.

Connors, who penned hundreds of songs mostly about Canadian history and traditions, earned his nickname from his habit of stomping the heel of his boot while keeping a song's time.

He rose to prominence in the late 1960s, and released more than 20 albums, including "My Stompin' Grounds" and "Believe in Your Country", over a five-decade career.

Connors retired in 1979 and returned his six Juno Awards for Canadian music in protest over the Americanization of the national music industry. He returned to music in 1988.

Connors thanked his fans in a posthumous statement released by his family.

"It was a long hard bumpy road, but this great country kept me inspired with its beauty, character, and spirit, driving me to keep marching on and devoted to sing about its people and places that make Canada the greatest country in the world," Connors said in the statement posted on his website.

"I must now pass the torch, to all of you, to help keep the Maple Leaf flying high, and be the Patriot Canada needs now and in the future," he added.

He is survived by his wife and four children.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy; and Peter Galloway)

(Reuters) - The owners of an Irish pub in northeast Florida said they were shocked to receive a citation for flying the Irish flag but have removed it to comply with a local ordinance banning commercial display of non-U.S. flags.

The four sisters who own Culhane's Irish Pub in Atlantic Beach said Friday they would apply for a temporary permit allowing them to at least fly the green, white and orange Irish flag on St. Patrick's Day, March 17.

"St. Patrick's Day is huge for us," said Aine Culhane, who owns the pub with sisters Mary Jane, Michelle and Lynda.

They showed Reuters a copy of a citation issued by code enforcement officers for the City of Atlantic Beach on February 20, giving them 24 hours to "cease display of flags other than American flag."

The Culhanes said they had flown an Irish flag and an American flag on the front of their pub for eight years and were unaware of the ordinance.

"I couldn't believe it," Aine Culhane said. "We never break the law. We were just shocked and kind of sad that we couldn't hang the flag ... Everybody is upset about it."

City officials did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Acting Mayor Maria Mark told television station WTLV that the city council was reconsidering the ordinance but she doubted any changes could be approved before St. Patrick's Day.

The Culhane sisters are from Shanagolden in County Limerick and have owned the pub since 2005. Michelle and Mary Jane are naturalized U.S. citizens and Lynda and Aine are in the United States on visas, they said.

"We're definitely living the American dream. We love it here. We're proof that anybody can do it We came here knowing no one," Aine said.

But being forced to remove the flag of their homeland was an insult, Michelle said.

"The large contingent of Irish immigrants who fought for this country in numerous wars cannot be treated like this," she said. "Our flag is woven from the fabric of many proud nations and should never be discounted by the pettiness of a few narrow minded council members."

(Editing by David Adams)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Singer Paul McCartney's decision to leave the Beatles and embark on a solo career is the subject of a new comic book that aims to give fans a new perspective on the breakup of the Fab Four, its publisher said on Tuesday.

The 24-page "Paul McCartney: Carry that Weight" is the third comic book by U.S. publisher Bluewater Productions about the iconic British band, which spilt-up in 1970.

Speculation about what caused the breakup has ranged from artistic differences and legal disputes outside the group to John Lennon's marriage to artist Yoko Ono.

McCartney has said that the group, which also included George Harrison and Ringo Starr, had already been winding down by the time Lennon met Ono.

"It is about Paul McCartney leaving the Beatles. We tell that story," publisher Darren Davis said.

"These are comic books. They're meant to be fun but educational, as well," he added.

Although the writer reached out to the former Beatle, Davis said McCartney, 70, did not contribute to the comic book.

Lennon and McCartney co-wrote a string of hit songs including "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and "A Hard Day's Night."

After leaving the Beatles, McCartney enjoyed a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda McCartney.

He will perform at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee in June.

The comic book will be released digitally and be available in stores on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Beech)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) In Poland, speaking out in parliament is a privilege mostly reserved for lawmakers, but the opposition has skirted that regulation with the help of a hand-held tablet computer.

Nationalist opposition party leader and lawmaker Jaroslaw Kaczynski has introduced a non-confidence motion against the Cabinet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and a vote is expected Friday.

But when Kaczynski stood up to speak in the lower Chamber on Thursday, he surprised lawmakers by taking out his tablet and playing a pre-recorded policy speech by Piotr Glinski, his Law and Justice party's shadow prime minister, a non-elected official.

The public-relations stunt was apparently aimed at showing Glinski's leadership potential.

Poland's Cabinet is expected to survive Friday's vote.

Special permission is required for non-members to take the floor in parliament.

NICE, France (Reuters) - The first wine to be sold from a French vineyard owned by Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will go on offer this week to online buyers with a thirst for celebrity.

The first 6,000 bottles of organic "Miraval Ros 2012" will be sold on the Internet on Thursday for $140 a case including shipping to addresses in France.

The wine, praised by one wine critic for its "dynamism" and "expressive fruit", was produced from Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault grapes grown in the scenic Var region of southeastern France on the 40 hectares owned since 2008 by the A-list couple.

Pitt and Jolie partnered with the Perrin family of vintners to create and market the 100,000 bottles of ros wine that will be sold to independent wine stores and restaurants.

Miraval, bearing the name of the couple's chateau, is expected to follow up on its ros debut with red and white wine.

"With this 2012 ros , Miraval reveals the extraordinary potential of wines from Provence. This unique terroir naturally expresses itself in the aromatic wine with a round mouthfeel that is full of freshness," the Perrin family said in a statement.

Wine critic Thierry Desseauve described the wine as boasting "energy, dynamism, with persistence and freshness" due to its "expressive fruit".

The stout bottle, more akin to a Champagne bottle, has a discrete circular black, white and gold label. The only mention of the photogenic couple is on the back: "Bottled by Jolie-Pitt and Perrin."

(Reporting by Matthias Galante, Writing by Alexandria Sage, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

(Reuters) - British blues-rock guitarist Alvin Lee, who was best known for his performance with rock band Ten Years After at Woodstock in 1969, died on Wednesday at age 68, his family said.

"With great sadness we have to announce that Alvin unexpectedly passed away early this morning after unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure," the family said in a statement on the singer's official website.

They did not say what sort of procedure Lee underwent or where the musician died.

Lee and Ten Years After rose to international prominence after a much-lauded performance at the 1969 Woodstock music festival in New York state.

The band's song "I'm Going Home," which featured Lee's singing and extended guitar solos, opened the band to bigger audiences after it was included in the documentary "Woodstock" in 1970.

Ten Years After's biggest hits followed Woodstock, including "Love Like a Man" in 1970 and "I'd Love to Change the World" in 1971.

Lee formed Ten Years After in 1966 but left the band in 1973 to focus on a solo career only to reform the group in 1988.

In a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Lee lamented how after the Woodstock performance audiences wanted more rock-driven songs from the band.

"We had respectful audiences then who would appreciate a jam or a swing," Lee said. "But after Woodstock, the audience got very noisy and only wanted to hear things like 'I'm Going Home.'"

He added: "I've always been much more of a guitar picker but I began to feel forced into a position of being the epitome of a rock and roll guitarist."

Ten Years After released 11 studio albums between 1966 and 2008. Lee put out 14 solo albums, the most recent was "Still on the Road to Freedom" in 2012.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Beech)

New research points to a link between video games and happiness for senior citizens

The question: Plenty of studies have suggested that video games can help keep the minds of senior citizens sharp, but how does the digital exercise affect their emotional well-being? In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University looked closely at our aging population to see if there was a link between playing video games and mental well-being i.e. "happiness." In particular, they wondered if gaming could help stave off depression.

How it was tested: The team, led by Dr. Jason Allaire, an associate professor of psychology at NCSU, surveyed 140 people ages 63 and older. Participants were asked if and how often they played video games, and were later administered a series of tests to assess their emotional and social well-being.

SEE MORE: 10 things you need to know today: March 6, 2013

The outcome: 61 percent of seniors said they played video games occasionally, while 35 percent said they played at least once a week. (What games they played, specifically, are unclear.) Overall, participants who said they played video games even occasionally reported "higher levels of happiness, or well-being," says Rick Nauert at PsychCentral. "Those who did not play video games reported more negative emotions" and were more likely to be depressed.

SEE MORE: Hugo Chavez's death: Who's mourning, and who's cheering

What the experts say: While correlation doesn't mean causation, the established link is worth a closer look. "The research published here suggests that there a link between gaming and better well-being and emotional functioning," says Dr. Jason Allaire in a news release. "We are currently planning studies to determine whether playing digital games actually improves mental health in older adults." And if the relationship is causal, it remains unclear why video games cause older adults to be happier.

The lesson: Maybe it's worth setting aside some time with grandma or grandpa to school them in the the nuances of dual thumbsticks. Just look at how happy this guy is:

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HONOLULU (AP) The Hawaii state Senate passed the so-called Steven Tyler Act Tuesday, a bill that seeks to protect celebrities from overeager paparazzi by creating a civil violation if people take unwanted photos or videos of others in their private moments.

The Aerosmith frontman from Massachusetts asked Sen. Kalani English to sponsor the legislation after unwanted photos were taken of him and his girlfriend last December and published in a national magazine, causing family drama.

Tyler owns a multimillion dollar home in Maui, which is part of English's district. English said the proposal could help increase celebrity tourism in Hawaii.

Twenty-three of the state's 25 Senate members voted in favor of the bill, which now goes to the House for consideration.

Sen. Sam Slom, the body's only Republican, opposed the measure.

"We have been the butt of many editorials and jokes across the country for this proposed legislation," he said.

Slom said senators had fun with the bill, but Hawaii has adequate laws protecting privacy and this proposal is an attack on First Amendment rights.

"My final remarks to Steven Tyler as he sang so eloquently are, 'Dream on, dream on,'" Slom joked.

Sen. Les Ihara also voted against the measure.

Besides Tyler, other celebrities have supported the bill, including Britney Spears, Mick Fleetwood and the Osborne family.

They say intrusive paparazzi make it difficult to enjoy simple activities with family and friends.

But national media organizations worry about the proposal's impact on freedom of the press. The National Press Photographers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists were some of several national media organizations that submitted testimony opposing the bill.

The Senate Judiciary Committee responded to criticism of the measure's vague language by replacing the original version with the text of an existing California anti-paparazzi statute.

But longtime media lawyer Jeff Portnoy said the bill is still problematic.

"It's better, but it doesn't change its fatal flaws," he said. The measure's language is still ambiguous and it is unnecessary, given Hawaii's existing laws, Portnoy said.

"Our only chance to get some sanity into this is in the House," he said.

NEW YORK (AP) Michael Smerconish is jumping from traditional talk radio to satellite, saying the media form he has loved essentially left him.

The Philadelphia-based radio talk show host is syndicated in more than 80 markets nationally. Smerconish said Wednesday he will move his three-hour program to SiriusXM on April 15, airing weekdays at 9 a.m. ET with a repeat at 6 p.m. ET.

Smerconish changed his voter registration from Republican to independent three years ago, and believes the rigid ideology of many hosts is a dead end for radio. He's been gaining in popularity, moving to No. 9 on Talkers magazine's list of the "Heavy Hundred" political talk hosts from No. 19 last year.

"It gives me the opportunity to move away from an environment that, quite frankly, is not conducive to the type of program I'm offering," he said. "I don't do ideologically-driven talk, I do content-driven talk. I'm not on the air to carry anybody's water on a day-to-day basis."

Most of the conservative talk show hosts bash President Barack Obama for four hours a day, whether the president deserves it or not, Smerconish said.

Talk radio is a place where incivility is the norm, and program directors haven't responded to his warning that their audiences are getting "too white, too male, too angry and too old" to promote future growth. He said he believes that talk radio contributes to gridlock in Washington.

Smerconish, who also appears on MSNBC, said independents are the fastest-growing segment of the population and rarely hear their views reflected on the radio.

"The only people that I meet for whom the issues are hard left or hard right, the only people who see the world through ideological glasses, are those who have a microphone in front of them," he said.

Still, the desire to do a show where the opinions aren't predictable puts Smerconish at a disadvantage on terrestrial radio, said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers.

"Although he really is a conservative, he has broken away from the mold and is truly independent," Harrison said. "He's not afraid to judge issues on an issue-by-issue basis. He's one of the few conservative hosts, if any, that Barack Obama has granted interviews to."

SiriusXM currently has 24 million subscribers. Smerconish's show will appear on the service's P.O.T.U.S. political channel.

PRAGUE (AP) A court has acquitted the frontman of a U.S. heavy metal band of causing a teenage fan's death at a concert in the Czech Republic.

Lamb of God's Randy Blythe was charged in December in Prague with causing bodily harm to another person with lethal consequences. Blythe was accused of pushing the 19-year-old man from the stage during a 2010 concert at Prague's Abaton club.

The man later died of a head injury. Blythe pleaded not guilty.

The court spokeswoman, Marketa Puci, confirmed Tuesday's ruling by Prague's Municipal Court.

The state prosecutors, who had demanded a five-year prison term for Blythe, have appealed the verdict.

LONDON (Reuters) - Gun-toting adventurer Lara Croft is back in the latest "Tomb Raider" game to fight for new players but she comes gadget-free, without the improbable curves and trademark braid, and with an adults-only rating.

Development company Crystal Dynamics, has stripped Croft of her previous history in the game published by Japan's Square Enix, and reinvented her as a 21-year-old novice with no experience of raiding tombs, climbing or shooting.

Instead of the confident Croft seen in previous games and in the two movies with Angelina Jolie, the first "Tomb Raider" game in three years begins with the archaeologist as a terrified woman who is unsure of her footing but is desperate to survive.

The story of the new "Tomb Raider" was written by Rhianna Pratchett, ex-gaming journalist and daughter of fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett, who relished the challenge of rebooting and reimagining one of gaming's few female protagonists.

"That's a real once-in-a-lifetime thing, especially with Lara Croft, as pretty much everyone knows who she is, whether they're into games or not. My mum knows who Lara Croft is," Pratchett told Reuters.

The rebooted Croft was devised after years of declining sales for "Tomb Raider" which is now ranked at about 28th in a list of best-selling video game franchises with sales of 35 million copies, according to "Tomb Raider" website figures.

The 11th "Tomb Raider" game is based on an island where Croft and her team are shipwrecked while looking for a lost city. They soon discover the island is inhabited by a mysterious cult who will kill outsiders to protect their secret society.

Croft herself finds herself separated from the rest of her colleagues and vulnerable.

It's not just the character of Croft that has changed but also the appearance of the female adventurer who was first unleashed internationally back in 1996.

Her exaggerated curves are toned down to almost normal proportions, her hair braid is gone, and the tight shorts are replaced by more comfortable trousers.

"She's unsure of herself. She looks for others for help until she comes to the realization that she has to save herself and has to put one foot in front of the other and get herself out of this," said Pratchett.

Noah Hughes, creative director of the "Tomb Raider" project at Crystal Dynamics, said they wanted to explain the mechanisms of Croft's character to people.

"We felt in an origin story you could actually get to know the character and bring her to life as someone you could relate to and understand and then take her on this amazing journey," he said.

As the game progresses, the characteristics of the old Croft start becoming more tangible in the gameplay as the hardening of her personality is brought about by a series of brutal events. This explains the game franchise's first Mature 17+ rating.

Hughes denied reports that the game featured an attempted rape scene but said there were scenes where she fights for survival and that is crucial to her character development.

"Before she was fighting with guns, we wanted to show her in a situation that was going to push her to that extreme. How does a person get to the point where they're willing to kill someone? And in Lara's case, it's a kill or be killed situation," he said.

"Tomb Raider" goes on release in Britain and the United States on March 5 with early reviews saying that Croft is back on top of her game.

(Reporting by Rollo Ross, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

SEFFNER, Florida (Reuters) - A wrecking crew on Sunday partly razed a Florida house where a sinkhole had swallowed up a man as he slept but the demolition team went about its job as carefully as possible to preserve the home's contents for survivors.

Rescue workers had given up the search for Jeff Bush, a 37-year-old landscaper, on Saturday. He was presumed dead after disappearing into the hole, which opened up under his bedroom Thursday night. Sinkholes are common in Florida due to the state's geology and they are virtually impossible to predict.

With a crowd of a few dozen family members and others watching, a boom crane clawed at the one-story suburban home for about two hours, demolishing about half of it. The job was due to be completed on Monday.

Jeremy Bush, Jeff's brother, who had jumped into the sinkhole in a futile attempt to save him, said the family was discussing plans for a memorial service and a possible marker at the site.

Asked how he was feeling, Bush, 36, told Reuters: "Just sad, sad that they couldn't get my brother out."

"He was a good guy. He would give you the shirt off his back," Bush said of his brother.

Five other people in the house, which is owned by the family of Jeremy Bush's fianc e, had been preparing for bed Thursday when they heard a loud crash and Bush screaming.

STABILIZING THE PIT

Once the house is torn down, efforts will begin to stabilize the sinkhole, said William Puz, a spokesman for Hillsborough County. The hole was about 30 feet wide and 60 feet deep and filled with clay and debris.

The crane's bucket first removed the garage eaves from the house and a U.S. flag there, carrying it to the sidewalk. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue workers folded the flag and handed it to family members.

The crane then probed through the master bedroom and swept family memorabilia, boxes, luggage, dresser drawers, framed photos, a woman's purse and other items out of the house and placed them near the sidewalk.

Crane operator Dan Darnell spoke to family members after work halted and "it was an incredibly emotional meeting," Puz said.

Before the demolition started, Jeremy Bush, a landscaper like his brother, was escorted by a deputy sheriff to the mailbox at the start of the driveway. He knelt and put flowers on the ground, bowing his head for a few minutes before getting up and retreating behind police tape.

Wanda Carter, 49, who had grown up in the house, said she could not watch as it was being torn down.

"We have each other and that's all that matters," Carter told reporters as she clutched a massive family Bible, its cover torn off and bearing marks from the crane's bucket.

The risk of sinkholes is common in Florida due to the state's porous geological bedrock, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

As rainwater filters into the ground, it dissolves the rock, causing erosion that can lead to underground caverns, which cause sinkholes when they collapse.

Two nearby houses have been evacuated because the sinkhole has weakened the ground under them, and their residents probably will never be allowed inside again, said Jessica Damico of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.

They were allowed 20 to 30 minutes in their homes on Saturday to gather belongings.

(Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Daniel Trotta, Philip Barbara and Bill Trott)

NEW YORK (AP) Most people who've done time in jail can't wait to get away. But this week, New York City authorities accused one former inmate of sneaking back in.

Yonkers resident Matthew Matagrano, 36, was arraigned in Manhattan on Saturday on charges that he impersonated a Department of Correction investigator.

Officials say that for at least a week, Matagrano used phony credentials to get into multiple city lockups, including Rikers Island and the Manhattan Detention Center, where he mingled with inmates for hours.

Investigators said the case was still unfolding, but some of the allegations were detailed in a criminal complaint describing Matagrano's entry into the Manhattan jail on Thursday.

It said that when questioned, Matagrano had admitted to arriving at the jail at around 3:30 p.m. and gaining entry by showing a gold shield and saying he was an investigator from the department's intelligence unit.

According to the complaint, he stayed until 11 p.m., giving cigarettes to inmates and smoking with them in a common area. He is also charged with stealing a radio from an office while inside.

Surveillance cameras recorded video of Matagrano during the visit, the complaint said.

It wasn't clear if or when Matagrano would face similar charges for entry into other city jails. A spokesman for the Bronx district attorney, which often handles cases related to crimes committed on Rikers Island, said Saturday that he had no information on the case.

Matagrano has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for sodomy and sexual abuse. He's on the state's sex offender registry.

It's not clear why he wanted to get into jails, but he had previously been caught posing as a Board of Education worker to enter two schools and rifle through student files. In 2004, he pleaded guilty to attempted burglary in connection with that case.

His court-appointed lawyer, Andrej Bajuk, couldn't immediately be reached by phone for comment. No one responded to a message left at the public defender's office that handled his arraignment.

Department of Correction spokespeople did not immediately return phone messages Saturday.

A judge set bail at $50,000 for Matagrano. He also faces charges of burglary, possession of forged instruments, larceny and promoting prison contraband. He is due back in court Wednesday.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Philadelphia police said Friday they're seeking witnesses after a gunman fired into a crowd of people surrounding the tour bus of rapper French Montana, killing one person and injuring another, and prompting others in the crowd to return fire.

The shooting happened late Thursday night as the bus, followed by several cars loaded with friends and family, arrived at a hotel near Penn's Landing for a post-concert party after the rapper had headlined a sold-out show at the Theatre of Living Arts.

A black sedan with tinted windows pulled up and someone fired shots into the crowd from a passenger side window, Homicide Capt. James Clark said. Two people in the crowd fired back, Clark said, and police were mulling whether to file charges against them.

The New York rapper and members of his entourage were interviewed at police headquarters and are cooperating in the investigation, but police don't know if they were targeted, Clark said.

On Friday evening, French Montana took to Twitter to express sympathy for the victims. He also tweeted that his bus was merely located "in the vicinity of the incident."

"I had a peaceful concert and was not involved," he wrote.

Investigators are searching for any surveillance footage that may provide clues.

"We believe someone saw something," Clark said. "It could have been a lot more tragic."

The man killed was identified by police as 26-year-old Jowann King, of Flushing, N.Y. Police did not release the name of the man who was injured.

French Montana, a Morocco-born rapper whose real name is Karim Kharbouch, posted a photo on Twitter showing a police officer interviewing a person after the shooting, and also posted photos of himself with Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill at the show.

Mill was on the tour bus Thursday night, Clark said.

Montana was scheduled to play Brighton Music Hall in Boston on Friday night as part of a tour to promote his upcoming debut album, "Excuse My French," which features Nicki Minaj. However, the venue's website posted a notice Friday evening saying the show was canceled.

Last month, three people were killed and five injured in a shootout and crash on the Las Vegas strip; police think that shootout may have started as an argument at the valet area of the upscale Aria resort-casino the same night Montana was playing at Aria's signature nightclub, Haze.

BlackBerry BlackBerry (BBRY) is at the start of a very long haul as the struggling smartphone maker attempts to stage a comeback for the ages. Early sales of the company s first next-generation BlackBerry 10 smartphone appeared strong, but a series of subsequent claims suggested limited supply was responsible for many of the BlackBerry Z10 stock-outs being reported in the United Kingdom and Canada. We now know Z10 sales to date are likely nothing to scoff at, however BlackBerry s Z10 is outselling the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S III at a major Canadian retailer and BGR has confirmed an even more important indicator of BlackBerry s early success: Half of BlackBerry Z10 sales in Canada and one-third of UK sales have been made to users coming from other platforms.

[More from BGR: Nokia CEO says Windows Phone can beat Android, iOS]

CIBC analyst Todd Coupland reported last month that 50% of pre-registration for the Z10 in Canada came from users who did not already own BlackBerry devices. Interest doesn t always translate to sales though, and it was unclear if BlackBerry would be able to get these iPhone and Android users to commit to the Z10 following its release.

[More from BGR: Apple hipsters lament that the company was better before it became cool]

BGR has now learned from multiple trusted sources that BlackBerry has indeed managed to pull off the coup it so desperately needed. Several high-level BlackBerry executives have confirmed internally that half of all BlackBerry Z10 sales in Canada have been made to new customers coming from other platforms.

What s more, one-third of Z10 sales in the UK, another key market for BlackBerry, have been made to customers who did not already own BlackBerry smartphones.

BlackBerry declined to comment.

Early reviewers including us here at BGR worried that while BlackBerry 10 showed great promise and the Z10 was a terrific early effort, the new operating system didn t offer any compelling differentiation that might draw users away from the iPhone and Android smartphones. If early performance in these two key markets is any indication, however, BlackBerry s new platform may be a bigger draw than we expected.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is going back to his bodybuilding roots.

The action movie star turned politician will become group executive editor for the magazines Flex, and Muscle & Fitness, writing monthly columns in the publications and their online websites, American Media said on Friday.

The "Terminator" star, who began his Hollywood career as a bodybuilder and went on to win five Mr. Universe titles, held the same position at the magazines before he was elected California governor in 2003.

"Bodybuilding has always been part of my life, and I know Muscle & Fitness and Flex will continue to motivate others - as it did me - to lift weights and lead a healthy lifestyle (and) promote the sport of bodybuilding," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger's relationship with the two magazines goes back to 1968, when he was just 21, and he has appeared on their covers more than 60 times.

Schwarzenegger, 65, has taken a diverse path since stepping down as California governor in January 2011, returning to movies in films like "The Last Stand" and "The Expendables 2," writing an autobiography, and launching an eponymous global policy think tank at the University of Southern California's Los Angeles campus.

Muscle & Fitness and Flex are part of American Media Inc, whose other titles include the National Enquirer tabloid, and celebrity magazine OK!

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German book retailers have teamed up with Deutsche Telekom to produce their own eReader to challenge the dominance of Amazon.com in the growing market for digital books.

Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel and Club Bertelsmann will start selling the 'Tolino' eReader from March 7, with over 300,000 books available for download, to compete with Amazon's Kindle and Apple's tablets, the companies said in a joint statement on Friday.

As in Britain, where chains like Waterstones have come under pressure from the likes of Amazon, German book retailers have also suffered.

Thalia, the biggest German book retailer is undergoing restructuring and closing shops and saw sales fall 2 percent to 915 million euros ($1.2 billion) in its business year to end-September.

"The future of the German book industry should remain in our hands and not those of listed American groups," Carel Halff of publisher and retailer Weltbild said.

While e-books make up over 10 percent of the book market in the United States, that proportion is at just 3.2 percent for the German market.

But the market is growing fast, with sales of e-books tripling in 2012 to 102 million euros, according to market research group GfK. E-books could account for 17 percent of sales on the German book market by 2015.

Amazon had total sales of $8.7 billion in Germany in 2012, more than its sales in the UK of $6.5 billion, according to a recent stock exchange filing.

An article by specialist magazine Buchreport earlier this month estimated Amazon had book sales of 1.6-1.8 billion euros in Germany in 2012, equivalent to a 20 percent share of the German book market, which was worth around 9.6 billion euros in 2011.

A spokeswoman for Thalia, owned by perfumes and beauty retailer Douglas , said the eReader partnership had not come too late.

"This is exactly the right moment," she told Reuters. "It's about offering the customer a good alternative to Amazon and Apple now, in order to secure a position in the market for the future."

The Tolino has a touch screen, a battery life of up to 7 weeks and can store around 2,000 books. Thalia said it will be selling the device at 99 euros. The cheapest Kindle on amazon.de is 79 euros.

The companies are open to other book retailers joining the partnership, they said.

($1 = 0.7649 euros)

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

LONDON (AP) British customs agents made a creepy discovery when an airline passenger was found with 94 kilograms (207 pounds) of caterpillars in his luggage.

The man claimed they were intended as food for personal consumption.

The U.K. Border Force said Friday that inspectors at London's Gatwick Airport found the dried caterpillars shrink-wrapped in cellophane and packed into hessian bags carried by a passenger travelling from Burkina Faso via Istanbul.

The caterpillars were seized by authorities after the Feb. 23 find because they breached restrictions on importing animal products. The 22-year-old passenger was let off with a warning.

Border Force spokeswoman Ingrid Smith said "the vigilance of our officers has stopped these dried insects from entering the U.K., and possibly posing a risk to our food chain."

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - American country singer Craig Morgan calls himself a survivalist, and he is in for a frigid challenge at an upcoming sled dog expedition in the Scandinavian arctic.

Morgan, a Tennessee native who is best known for hits "That's What I Love About Sunday" and "Redneck Yacht Club," said he could not pass up an invitation to test his survival skills in the annual Fjaellraeven Polar sled dog expedition.

"I've jumped out of airplanes, been on scuba trips, and I was just in the Bahamas in a cage with sharks," Morgan, 48, told Reuters. "Still, this is pretty extreme in my book."

The harrowing 205-mile dog-led adventure from the frozen mountains of Norway to Sweden takes place April 9-13 and promises to teach ordinary people how to last through sub-zero temperatures and lashing Arctic winds.

Morgan, who will learn how to handle sled dogs along with 20 other participants, will also bring along the camera crew from his reality show "Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors" on the Outdoors Channel to chronicle the expedition.

"I had not heard about this event before I was asked to participate," said Morgan, who will bring along his son, Kyle.

"Once they asked me I said, 'Absolutely,'" he added. "I'm a survivalist; anytime I get the opportunity to test my survival skills I jump at it."

On his TV show, Morgan tests his survival instincts in situations such as skydiving and aerial bow fishing.

Morgan, a U.S. Army veteran whose only prior sub-zero experiences include stays in Korea and blustery Iowa, said he looks forward to learning how to work with the sled dogs.

"I love dogs, have dogs of my own, but these dogs are completely different," he said.

"They sleep outside in the snow ... the language that you give the commands is different. I'll have to get into their world and work the way they are used to."

Morgan is also the host of the Outdoor Channel's "Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge." He has released six studio albums over his 13-year career, most recently "This Ole Boy" in 2012.

(Reporting by Vernell Hackett; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Jackie Frank)

LOS ANGELES (AP) The company behind the "Girls Gone Wild" video empire has filed for bankruptcy in a move it says is an effort to restructure its legal affairs after several disputed court judgments.

GGW Brands LLC and several subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in Los Angeles, listing more than $16 million in disputed claims.

The largest claim is $10.3 million that Wynn Resorts Limited is seeking from the company for judgments entered against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis over a gambling debt and statements he has made about the casino and its founder, Steve Wynn.

The figure does not include a $19 million judgment Wynn won against Francis in a slander trial last year. The case, which centered on Francis' claims that Wynn threatened to kill him over the gambling debt, is being appealed.

Francis no longer GGW Brands, which has made a fortune selling videos and magazines of young women flashing their breasts. Subsidiary companies GGW Magazine and GGW Events have also filed for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy proceedings generally halt efforts to collect judgments in other courts.

"Girls Gone Wild remains strong as a company and strong financially," the company said in a statement, likening itself to other businesses such as American Airlines and General Motors that have filed for bankruptcy to restructure. "The only reason Girls Gone Wild has elected to file for this reorganization is to re-structure its frivolous and burdensome legal affairs."

The second largest claim listed in the proceedings is a nearly $5.8 million judgment a St. Louis woman won against Francis last year in a Missouri court. Tamara Favazza sued after she learned she had been featured on a "Girls Gone Wild" DVD over an incident when she was a 20-year-old college student and someone lifted her tank top at a bar and flashed a camera.

Francis and his company, Mantra Films, are seeking to have the judgment overturned in federal court.

The bankruptcy filing also lists unspecified legal fees in the Wynn and Favazza cases.