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(Reuters) - Canadian teen pop star Justin Bieber tweeted that he was "getting better" after collapsing on stage from shortness of breath during a performance in London and being rushed to the hospital on Thursday.

Bieber's spokeswoman, Melissa Victor, told Reuters that the singer had fainted on stage at his concert at London's O2 arena and had been taken backstage where he took a 20 minute break and was given oxygen by doctors.

Bieber, 19, returned to the stage after the break and his representatives said he was OK. Victor said the "Boyfriend" singer ignored doctors orders and returned to the O2 Arena stage to finish the performance.

The singer tweeted to his 35 million Twitter followers following the incident, "thanks for everyone pulling me thru tonight. best fans in the world. figuring out what happened. thanks for the love."

His manager, Scooter Braun, told audiences at the arena after the singer's collapse that Bieber was "very light of breath, the whole show he has been complaining," in amateur videos posted on the Internet.

Bieber had not been suffering from any health issues prior to the show, the spokeswoman added.

Fans quickly began circulating the hashtag "#justintakeabreak" on Twitter after news of his collapse spread on the social network.

This is not the first time Bieber has collapsed on stage during a performance. He previously suffered a concussion during a concert in Paris last June after falling into a glass wall.

Bieber's London leg of his sold out "Believe" world tour hasn't been without its problems.

On Tuesday, the first of his four nights at London's O2 Arena, Bieber angered fans by turning up on stage nearly two hours late, blaming technical issues for his delayed performance.

Media outlets also reported that the singer, who celebrated his 19th birthday in London last week, tried to take 14-year-old Jaden Smith, son of actor Will Smith, to a club, where he was turned away, along with Bieber and his entourage.

Bieber took to Twitter and Instagram to vehemently deny the reports that he tried to take underage Smith to a club, saying instead that he was forced to leave the venue when the club's security guards club behaved aggressively towards his fans who were lined up outside.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lawmakers have picked up the baton from the White House in the effort to make it legal for cellphone users to switch their devices to any mobile carrier.

At issue is whether cellphone buyers, who often get new devices at a heavily subsidized price in return for committing to long-term contracts, should then be able to take their gadgets with them when they change carriers.

Opponents argue that the phones should be "locked," or prevented from moving freely across networks, because of the subsidies that carriers provide to buy the phones. The subsidies help get the devices into the hands of more people.

Senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday, the second in that chamber, adding to a similar effort in the House of Representatives that hopes to overturn the ban on switching imposed by the Library of Congress and took effect in January.

The White House on Monday responded to an online petition, signed by more than 100,000 people, protesting the ban. The Obama administration sided with the petitioners and said it would support "narrow legislative fixes.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has also encouraged a legislative solution, saying the ban raised "serious competition and innovation concerns." The FCC is also weighing regulatory or industry fixes, he said.

Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut together with Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah introduced a bill that would direct the FCC to ensure the consumers could legally unlock their phones.

Democratic Rep. Anna Eschoo of California is expected to introduce a companion bill in the House.

Thursday's bill follows a proposal from another Democrat, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, whose bill unveiled on Tuesday would update the copyright law to allow unlocking of devices.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, and other lawmakers have pledged to back similar legislation, welcomed by consumer advocacy groups.

The wireless industry group CTIA has said that U.S. carriers already have "liberal, publicly available unlocking policies" and customers have easy access to full-priced unlocked devices in the marketplace.

But the online petition to the White House, signed by 114,322 people, argued that preventing "unlocking" reduces consumer choice and the resale value of phones, which can cost hundreds of dollars without subsidies from carriers such as AT&T Inc, Verizon Wireless and Sprint.

"Consumers should have flexibility and choice when it comes to their wireless service and they deserve to keep and use cell phones they have already purchased," Klobuchar said in a statement on Thursday.

The Library of Congress, which among other things is responsible for setting rules and deciding on exemptions related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said on Monday the issue would benefit from further debate and that its intention was not to supplant public policy discussion.

(Reporting by Alina Selyukh; Editing by Ros Krasny and Bob Burgdorfer)

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WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) - BlackBerry has gotten its new touchscreen mobile device on store shelves in more than 20 countries and is very encouraged by the traction that the smartphone is gaining, Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on Thursday.

The company's Z10, the first in a line of smartphones powered by the new BlackBerry 10 operating system, is on sale in the UK, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, India, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa, among other countries. Launches in other countries are coming soon, said Heins.

A U.S. launch is due later this month.

"The feedback is very encouraging," Heins said at the Communitech Tech Leadership Conference in the company's hometown of Kitchener-Waterloo. "What has been a real surprise for us is that BlackBerry 10 as a platform and product is attracting users that are currently on other platforms."

"We are just five weeks into this. We have just one product out in 21 countries, so it is early indications, but we are encouraged by what we see and hear from our carrier partners," he told an audience of leaders of local technology start-ups.

Heins declined to give figures on Z10 sales, as the company is in a quiet period ahead of the March 28 release of its fourth-quarter results.

He said the high-end Z10 had surpassed BlackBerry's expectations in emerging markets like India, where cheaper entry-level devices are typically popular.

"I was surprised when we launched in India how well the Z10, which is a high-end device, sold," said Heins. "We shipped into the channel product that we thought would have been good for at least five days and I got an emergency call from our manager in India, saying that they were sold out in two days,"

"Now we are scrambling to re-load that channel."

BlackBerry, a one-time smartphone pioneer, has bled market share to the likes of Apple's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy line and other devices powered by Google Inc's market-leading Android operating system.

In a make-or-break move to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced the new smartphone to much fanfare in January, and said it was abandoning its old name, Research In Motion, and renaming itself BlackBerry.

A more traditional BlackBerry with a physical keyboard will go on sale next month.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Janet Guttsman and Steve Orlofsky)

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NEW YORK (AP) Elizabeth Olsen will soon be a star-crossed lover she'll star in an off-Broadway version of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet."

Classic Stage Company said Thursday that the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen will help will kick off its 2013/2014 season. There's no word yet on who will play Romeo.

The actress, who has gotten good notices for the films "Silent House" and "Martha Marcy May Marlene," is currently filming the Spike Lee-directed film "Old Boy" opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Brolin.

Her other films include "Liberal Arts" opposite Josh Radnor and Zac Efron, and "Red Lights," with Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver. She and Dakota Fanning also play best friends in "Very Good Girls," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

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Online: http://www.classicstage.org

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(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Thursday will launch a line of products from small, women-owned businesses on its website, its latest push to position itself as a leader in women's economic empowerment.

More than 200 items, from jewelry and iPad cases to coffee beans and apparel, will be sold on the "Empowering Women Together" section of Walmart.com, the world's largest retailer said on Thursday, a day before International Women's Day.

The products currently come from nine countries including Cambodia, Haiti and the United States and include a $9.88 Women's Bean Project soup mix and cornbread mix gift set and a $20 dress from the Rwandan women's company Gahaya Links.

Wal-Mart continues to work on transforming its image from a corporation that critics say underpays workers and does harm with its large stores into an outspoken corporate citizen that hires more veterans, reduces its impact on the environment and works with local suppliers.

The women's items will be part of the "Store for Good," a project Walmart.com is working on for products that do good for others, for consumers or for the environment. Future goods may include eco-friendly items and healthier food, it said.

Walmart.com will highlight the new section of its site on its main page. For now, the goods will only be sold online, not in Walmart stores.

In September 2011, three months after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out women's massive class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart, the retailer laid out broad plans for women's economic empowerment.

Wal-Mart's goals include spending $20 billion over five years through 2016 with women's businesses that provide goods for the company's U.S. business, up from about $2.5 billion a year previously. It also aims to double sourcing from international suppliers run by women.

Wal-Mart's partners in the Empowering Women Together project include Full Circle Exchange and Global Goods Partners, non-profit organizations that sell products made by women.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Alden Bentley)

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ST. CHARLES, Mo. (AP) A St. Louis-area animal shelter has found a home for a 37-pound cat named Biscuit. It even found him a sympathetic shoulder to meow on.

Operators of the St. Charles County shelter say recent news coverage of the tubby tabby's plight led to more than 100 adoption requests for him.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/10gClxR ) reports that Biscuit will go to live with Ed and Lisa Pyatt next week. The Eureka couple adopted another fat cat, Max, several years ago, and Ed Pyatt says it'll be good for Max to have a buddy.

Biscuit is roughly three times the weight of a normal adult cat and will have to stay on a strict diet. His previous caretakers had to give him up because they could no longer care for him.

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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com

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LONDON (Reuters) - Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has written the music for Armenia's entry to the annual Eurovision Song Contest, bringing a heavy metal pioneer to an event described by the media as a "kitschfest" and "bad taste party".

The musician, a founding member of the influential British band, said the song called "Lonely Planet" was a "demo idea" which was eventually voted Armenia's Eurovision contender.

It is due to be performed by the Dorians in the semi-finals on May 16 in Malmo, Sweden, Iommi said.

Iommi has connections in Armenia as he was one of several rock stars who helped raise funds after a huge earthquake in 1988 killed 25,000 people and let tens of thousands homeless in the then Soviet Armenia.

He was given an order of honour by Armenia during a visit in 2009 and became involved in another project, to re-build a music school there.

Despite critical derision, Eurovision is watched by a television audience of tens of millions each year, and has helped launch the career of one of the biggest acts of all time, Abba, which won in 1974 with "Waterloo".

Last year's Eurovision Song Contest was held in Azerbaijan and won by Swedish act Loreen. The victory means Sweden hosts the competition this year.

Iommi has joined fellow founding members Ozzy Osbourne (vocals) and Geezer Butler (bass) to record Black Sabbath's first new album in 33 years, 13", which is due out in June.

Drummer Brad Wilk joined them after original band member Bill Ward pulled out of the reunion recording over a contract dispute.

The band's plans for a tour in 2012 were scaled back drastically after Iommi was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment for lymphoma.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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MOBILE, Alabama (Reuters) - The professional wrestling community on Wednesday mourned the death of William Moody, a real-life undertaker who gained fame as a wrestling manager with the ring name Paul Bearer.

Moody, 58, who managed the entertainment sport's champion The Undertaker and helped launch the careers of wrestlers Kane and Mankind, died Tuesday night at a hospital in his hometown of Mobile, Alabama, according to a hospital employee. The hospital did not release a cause of death.

"WWE is saddened to learn of the passing of William Moody, aka Paul Bearer," the wrestling organisation said on its website.

"Moody made his WWE debut in 1991 as the manager of The Undertaker and went on to become a memorable part of WWE over the course of the next 20 years," the site said.

For his spooky character, Moody wore pasty makeup, carried an urn and spoke in a high-pitched wail. He made his last television appearance for WWE in April 2012, the organisation said.

Angie Daniel-Poteet, co-owner of Coastal Funeral Home and Cremations in Moss Point, Mississippi, where Moody worked for about five years until 2010, described him as an upbeat person who always made time for fans and friends.

"He could still put us in our place with 'that look,'" Daniel-Poteet said on Wednesday, referring to Moody's signature facial expression, a wide-eyed scowl. "But it wasn't serious, and he never trash-talked fellow wrestlers like others in the wrestling community."

Moody earned the respect of both the national professional wrestling and local funeral home communities, said Phillip Gilmer, a close friend and owner of Gilmer's Funeral Home in Mobile.

Moody had been having problems in recent months with breathing and sleep apnea, Gilmer said.

"Bill Moody was a gentle giant, a great person with a heart as big as Texas," he said.

(Reporting by Kaija Wilkinson; Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Dan Grebler)

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) A television consultant claims that former Vice President Al Gore and others at Current TV stole his idea to sell the struggling network to Al-Jazeera.

Los Angeles resident John Terenzio is demanding more than $5 million in a lawsuit quietly filed in San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday.

Al-Jazerra announced Jan. 3 that it would pay $500 million for San Francisco-based Current TV.

Terenzio alleges he first brought the idea of the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera's purchase of Current TV to board member Richard Blum in July, and he expected to be paid if his plan was used. The lawsuit claims Blum was open to the plan, which Terenzio laid out with a detailed PowerPoint presentation but feared Gore would find such a deal with the oil-rich government of Qatar "politically unappealing."

Neither Gore or Blum, nor their representatives, could be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Gore co-founded Current TV in 2005 with Joel Hyatt, with each receiving a 20 percent stakes in Current, a politically left leaning news and talk network. Comcast Corp. had less than a 10 percent stake. Another major investor in Current TV was supermarket magnate and entertainment industry investor Ron Burkle, according to information service Capital IQ.

Blum, a venture capitalist and husband of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is also an investor in Current TV.

Terenzio claims he presented to Blum "a step-by-step approach for making the sale of the liberal media outlet to Al-Jazeera palatable to U.S. lawmakers, pro-Israel factions, cable operators and, most importantly, the American public."

Terenzio claims he created the English version of China Central Television and reprogrammed it for American audiences. He said he planned to use the same strategies in rebranding Current TV into Al-Jazeera America.

"Blum greeted Terenzio's proposal with enthusiasm, indicating that he and other investors were eager to salvage their multi-million investment in the floundering cable network," Terenzio claims in his lawsuit.

Terenzio said he believes Gore did turn down the deal in July and was "adamant" in rejecting it.

Terenzio's attorney, Ellyn Garofalo, said an "insider" told her client of Gore's rejection but refused to identify that person in a brief email interview Wednesday night. Garofalo represented Dr. Sandeep Kapoor when a jury acquitted him of illegally funneling prescription drugs to Anna Nicole Smith.

Terenzio said Al-Jazeera's January announcement of the sale was the first he heard of it.

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NEW YORK (AP) Filmmakers from Richard Linklater to David Gordon Green to Whoopi Goldberg are bringing films to this year's Tribeca Film Festival.

The New York festival announced the second half of its 89-film slate Wednesday, all in various out-of-competition sections. Some of the films, like Linklater's "Before Midnight" and Green's "Prince Avalanche," will be continuing on the festival circuit after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. Others, like Goldberg's documentary "I Got Somethin' to Tell You" on the comedian Moms Mabley, will be showing for the first time.

Other entries at Tribeca include films from Neil LaBute (the domestic drama "Some Velvet Morning," starring Stanley Tucci), Mira Nair (the best-seller adaptation "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," with Kate Hudson) and Neil Jordan (the vampire tale "Byzantium," with Saoirse Ronan).

Documentary subjects range from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking ("Gasland Part II," a sequel to Josh Fox's Oscar-nominated film), Richard Pryor ("Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic"), Bernie Madoff's longtime secretary ("In God We Trust"), Somali pirate hunters ("The Project") and Elaine Stritch ("Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me").

Tribeca will also attract a number of stars, with films featuring Zac Efron (the father-son drama "At Any Price"); Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti (the holiday comedy "Almost Christmas"); John Cusack and Emma Roberts (the sex shop comedy "Adult World"); Melissa Leo (the addiction drama "Bottled Up"); and Julianne Moore (the schoolroom comedy "The English Teacher").

The 12th-annual Tribeca Film Festival runs April 17 through April 28. The festival earlier announced its opening night film as the documentary "Mistaken for Strangers" about the National. The Brooklyn rock band will perform at the premiere, as well.

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Online:

http://www.tribecafilm.com/festival/

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle

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