Danny Puff

NEW YORK (AP) The Oscars telecast was seen by 40.3 million people, a slight increase over last year's show.

The Nielsen Company said Monday it was the most-watched Oscars telecast in three years. Last year's show, when "The Artist" won best picture, had an audience of 39.3 million people. After bringing in "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane as host this year, ABC saw an 11 percent ratings boost over 2012 among viewers ages 18 to 49 years old.

The Academy Awards exceeded 40 million viewers four times in the previous 10 years.

The Oscars regained its traditional status as most-watched awards show, after the Grammy Awards topped it last year.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) A jury should decide whether the promoter of Michael Jackson's final concerts negligently hired and supervised the physician convicted of causing the singer's death, a judge tentatively ruled Monday.

If the ruling stands, it will allow the case by Jackson's mother, Katherine, to go forward and present the theory that concert giant AEG Live controlled the physician who gave the superstar a lethal dose of the anesthetic propofol.

Superior Court Judge Yvette Palazuelos' tentative ruling however eliminates some of Katherine Jackson's claims and an attorney for AEG predicted the company would win at trial.

It is unclear when the ruling will be finalized, or whether the judge will change it. She heard two hours of arguments about the case on Monday but didn't indicate whether her mind had been changed.

AEG attorney Marvin Putnam said he was pleased with the ruling and reiterated his belief that the case should have never been filed.

The case centers on whether AEG did an appropriate investigation of Conrad Murray, a former cardiologist who is serving his sentence after being convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of the pop singer. The case also involves whether AEG controlled him while Jackson prepared for a series of comeback concerts.

Katherine Jackson's attorney, Kevin Boyle, declined comment after the hearing, saying he wanted to see the final order.

He told Palazuelos that AEG created a division of loyalties for Murray between his care of Jackson and maintaining an arrangement that would have paid him $150,000 a month to care for the singer.

Jackson died before Murray's contract was signed, and AEG argues he was not an employee of the company.

"AEG just made this more risky for Michael," Boyle argued Monday.

He said the case was unique and it should proceed intact with claims that AEG is liable for Murray's actions. "This has never happened before, or at least no one's been caught," Boyle said.

Putnam argued that by the time it was negotiating Murray's contract to treat Jackson while performing a series of London concerts, the doctor had already been treating the singer for some time, had relocated from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and had ordered large amounts of propofol to help Jackson sleep.

"Sadly, it appears that Michael Jackson's death would have occurred anyway," Putnam said after the hearing.

Katherine Jackson sued in September 2010 and a trial has been scheduled for early April.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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(Reuters) - Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a pediatric surgeon known for his anti-smoking campaigns and efforts to improve diet and nutrition, died at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire on Monday. He was 96 years old.

Koop served as Surgeon General from November 1981 until October 1989, taking stern and sometimes controversial stands on abortion, AIDS, fatty foods, drugs and cigarettes.

His death was announced by Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, where he founded the C. Everett Koop Institute.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; editing by Christopher Wilson)

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SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Revered Hungarian director Bela Tarr's famously uncompromising approach to cinema will now be passed to future generations as he begins a new course for budding filmmakers in Sarajevo.

The 57-year-old retired from directing after the release in 2011 of "The Turin Horse", a bleak, black-and-white portrayal of a peasant and his daughter abandoned by man and God in their remote, windswept cottage.

Its long takes and sparse dialogue and narrative were trademarks of Tarr, who won over critics around the world and is perhaps most famous for his seven-hour epic "Satantango" based on a novel by compatriot Laszlo Krasznahorkai.

It will come as little surprise to hear Tarr speak not of commercial success in cinema, but artistic integrity at a time when independent filmmakers are struggling to raise money to make movies that have limited box office potential.

"Film is different - you cannot teach, you can do only one thing which is to develop young filmmakers -- give them freedom, tell them they can be brave, they can be themselves, do what they really want," Tarr said in an interview.

Last week classes began at his newly launched Film Factory at the Sarajevo University School for Science and Technology, offering a three-year programme which Tarr and his associates said would adopt a fresh approach to filmmaking.

"It started when I decided not to make any more movies," Tarr said of his idea to launch an international PhD-level film programme for mature directors.

"I had the feeling this was the next step in my life because I want to share what I know, and I want to protect young filmmakers, give them the protection to be free," he told Reuters in his offices in the Bosnian capital.

ART BACK INTO FILM

Accommodated in a building located in the old part of Sarajevo, his Film Factory is now home to 17 students who have come from as far as Japan and Mexico to explore the secrets of filmmaking.

"It's a unique attempt to really work artistically in film, and to bring film to the level of art again," said Fred Kelemen, a German cinematographer and director who runs a camera workshop at the school.

"I think it's very important because it's something that many film schools around the world do not do any more," he added before mentoring students in capturing light against a dark backdrop on camera.

Kelemen has worked with Tarr on several films, and has been branded by critics as the "maestro of black and white silence".

The programme includes a theoretical section based on analyzing films as well as practical workshops which will be run by independent cinema stars including Gus Van Sant, Jim Jarmusch and Tilda Swinton.

Mexican filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, French director Thierry Garrel, Icelandic producer Fridrik Thor Fridriksson will also be among the lecturers, and possibly Aki Kaurismaki.

Students are expected to produce four films over the first two years and a feature in the final year.

"It looks like a menu," Tarr said of his programme. "In the end you have to cook your own food. The third part, when they are making their own movies, is where the real cooking is done, and that is my responsibility."

Most students said they applied for the school because of its unconventional approach to film and its roster of prominent figures from the film industry.

"After 110 years of cinema we are at the point where everything is undone," said Keja Ho Kramer from France, who has worked in the film business for the past 12 years.

"So to have an opportunity to rethink where the future is with all these amazing people is what interests me most."

Tarr is confident the course will achieve its goal of promoting freedom of art and expression, and produce some "good, strong movies.

"We are here, we have cameras, we have lights, we have fantasy, they have time, they are young, full of energy, full of hope - I do not see a problem. We just have to work, work, work, work."

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Paul Casciato)

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LAS VEGAS (AP) A manhunt has widened to southeastern U.S. states for a 26-year-old ex-convict identified as the prime suspect in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three last week on the Las Vegas Strip, police said Monday.

Ammar Harris used to live in South Carolina and Georgia, he was convicted in Atlanta in 2005 of marijuana possession, and he was arrested in Miami in December on a reckless driving charge, according to public records.

Harris also was arrested in June 2010 in Las Vegas on pandering, kidnapping, sex assault and coercion charges stemming from allegations that he was a pimp. He sometimes goes by the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris.

Investigators believe Harris was the driver and the gunman who fired shots from a black Range Rover SUV into a Maserati, killing an aspiring rapper and causing a crash and explosion that killed two people when a taxi exploded in a fireball before dawn Thursday at the heart of the Strip.

"We have him identified," Las Vegas police Capt. Chris Jones said. "Now the focus is on locating and apprehending him. We're getting help all over the place."

A SWAT team didn't find Harris at his home after the SUV was found parked Saturday in the garage of a gated apartment complex a couple of blocks east of the Strip.

The SUV had been sought as the getaway vehicle in the shooting and six-vehicle, chain-reaction crash on Las Vegas Boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and Flamingo resorts.

Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr. was mortally wounded when the dark gray Maserati he was driving was peppered by gunfire from the SUV. Taxi driver Michael Boldon and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash., died in the taxi.

Police say the triple homicide stemmed from an altercation between Cherry and Harris in a valet area of the upscale Aria resort a block south of the crash scene at Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road.

A passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm, and four people from four other vehicles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the crash

Police released a photo of Harris taken following his arrest in Las Vegas in the prostitution case. The disposition of the case wasn't immediately known.

The photo showed Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Jones said Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.

Las Vegas police sought help during the search for the Range Rover from local and federal authorities in Nevada and neighboring states of Arizona, California and Utah.

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TORONTO (AP) The former Canadian ambassador to Iran who protected Americans at great personal risk during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis said Monday it was good to hear Ben Affleck finally thank Canada after Affleck's film "Argo" won the Oscar for best picture.

"Argo" came under criticism from some Canadians, including former ambassador Ken Taylor, who said he felt slighted by the movie because it makes Canada look like a meek observer to CIA heroics. Taylor says it minimizes Canada's role in the Americans' rescue.

Taylor criticized Affleck on Friday and said he hoped Affleck would acknowledge Canada's role. Affleck briefly thanked Canada in his acceptance speech Sunday.

"Finally, he mentioned Canada," Taylor said. "Under the circumstances, I think that was fine. It certainly acknowledged Canada. I think certainly the movie was about CIA agent Tony Mendez. I think that President Carter's remarks put everything in proportion."

Carter appeared on television last week and said, "90 percent of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian," but the film "gives almost full credit to the American CIA."

Taylor kept the Americans hidden at his residence and at the home of his deputy, John Sheardown, in Tehran and facilitated their escape by arranging plane tickets and persuading the Ottawa government to issue fake passports. He also agreed to go along with the CIA's film production cover story to get the Americans out of Iran.

Taylor became a hero in Canada and the United States.

Taylor said the movie makes it seem like the Canadians were just along for the ride. Taylor and Carter said that Mendez, played by Affleck in the film, was only in Iran for a day and a half.

"The movie is done. President Carter expressed his views, and that's where we sit. I think, being realistic, there's not much at this point that can be realized," Taylor said.

"Argo" also makes no mention of Sheardown, the First Secretary at the embassy. Taylor said it was Sheardown who took the first call from the American diplomats who had evaded capture when Iranian militants seized the U.S. Embassy in November 1979 and agreed right away to take the Americans in. Sheardown died on Dec. 30, and his wife, Zena, called the movie disappointing.

"Argo" screenwriter Chris Terrio, who won best adapted screenplay prize Sunday night, mentioned Taylor and Sheardown in his speech after saluting Mendez.

"Thirty-three years ago Tony, using nothing but his creativity and his intelligence, got six people out of a very bad situation," said Terrio, who based his script on Mendez's book "The Master of Disguise" and a Wired magazine article by Joshuah Bearman.

"And so I want to dedicate this to him and the Taylors and the Sheardowns and people all over the world in the U.S., in Canada, in Iran, who use creativity and intelligence to solve problems non-violently."

Taylor appreciated that Terrio mentioned Sheardown, Sheardown's wife and Taylor's wife.

"He dedicated it to Tony Mendez. That was what his script was about, it so that's understandable. I think that recognition of both Pat and myself and John and Zena was in a sense welcomed," he said.

During a recent talk in Toronto, Taylor took issue with a myriad of creative liberties in "Argo" and said Terrio "had no idea" what he was talking about.

Friends of Taylor were outraged last September when "Argo" debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. The original postscript of the movie said that Taylor received 112 citations and awards for his work in freeing the hostages and suggested Taylor didn't deserve them because the movie ends with the CIA deciding to let Canada have the credit for helping the Americans escape.

Taylor called the postscript lines "disgraceful and insulting" and said it would have caused outrage in Canada if the lines were not changed. Affleck flew Taylor to Los Angeles after the Toronto debut and allowed him to insert a postscript that gave Canada some credit.

In a statement released on Friday, Affleck said he admired Taylor very much but said he was surprised Taylor still had an issue with the film. Affleck also said he agreed narrate a documentary that Taylor is involved with, about Canada's role in the Iran hostage crisis.

Taylor said it was news to him that Affleck had agreed to narrate the documentary and said he looked forward to working on it with him.

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Popular vampire movie "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2" was savaged at the Razzie Awards on Saturday, earning seven "wins" in the annual contest for the worst movies and performances of the year.

"Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, co-star Taylor Lautner and director Bill Condon were awarded Golden Raspberry statuettes for their parts in the final installment of the blockbuster film franchise. That film alone has taken an impressive $829 million at the global box office.

Robert Pattinson narrowly escaped a personal mauling, but the entire "Twilight Saga" cast earned a Razzie for "worst screen ensemble."

The Razzies, created in 1980 as an antidote to the backslapping of Hollywood's glitzy awards season, also singled out R&B star Rihanna for scorn.

The singer was deemed worst supporting actress for her debut movie role as a sailor in 2012 sci-fi action movie "Battleship."

American comic actor Adam Sandler, a frequent Razzie target, was awarded not-so-coveted golden raspberry statuettes for worst actor and worst screenplay for his comedy "That's My Boy" about a father reuniting with his long-abandoned son.

Last year, Sandler swept all 10 Razzie categories for his comedy "Jack and Jill," in which he played both the male and female leads.

The winners rarely turn up to the Razzie ceremony, which was held on Saturday night in a Hollywood hotel near the Dolby Theatre, where the 85th annual Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday.

The nominees and winners of the Razzies were chosen by more than 650 members of the Golden Raspberry Foundations and 70,000 votes cast on movie review website Rotten Tomatoes.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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MUMBAI (Reuters) - BlackBerry launched its first smartphone from its BlackBerry 10 line in India on Monday, pricing the phone at 43,490 rupees ($800).

The touch-screen BlackBerry Z10 phone, which goes on sale in India from Tuesday, will compete with Apple Inc's iPhones and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's high-end Galaxy series phones.

The Z10 has already gone on sale in the United Kingdom and Canada, and is expected to hit the United States in mid-March.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Devidutta Tripathy)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Adele's "Skyfall" has won the Academy Award for best original song, a first for a James Bond theme.

While 007 themes have long been a beloved movie tradition, they've never before won an Oscar. Three previous Bond tunes were nominated: "For Your Eyes Only," ''Nobody Does It Better," and "Live and Let Die."

The Oscar extends Adele's award show dominance, leaving only an Emmy eluding her of the major American awards. She accepted the Oscar with producer Paul Epworth, with whom she wrote the lyrics and composed the music.

Adele also performed "Skyfall" for the first time at the Sunday night ceremony.

The other nominees were "Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice"; "Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from "Ted"; "Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi"; and "Suddenly" from "Les Miserables."

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NEW DELHI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - As BlackBerry launches the first smartphone from its make-or-break BB10 line in India, one of its most loyal markets, the company faces new competition from a formidable rival that has long had a minimal presence in the country.

More than four years after it started selling iPhones in India, Apple Inc is now aggressively pushing the iconic device through installment payment plans that make it more affordable, a new distribution model and heavy marketing blitz.

"Now your dream phone" at 5,056 rupees ($93), read a recent full front-page ad for an iPhone 5 in the Times of India, referring to the initial payment on a phone priced at $840, or almost two months' wages for an entry-level software engineer.

The new-found interest in India suggests a subtle strategy shift for Apple, which has moved tentatively in emerging markets and has allowed rivals such as Samsung and Blackberry to dominate with more affordable smartphones. With the exception of China, all of its Apple stores are in advanced economies.

Apple expanded its India sales effort in the latter half of 2012 by adding two distributors. Previously it sold iPhones only through a few carriers and stores it calls premium resellers.

The result: iPhone shipments to India between October and December nearly tripled to 250,000 units from 90,000 in the previous quarter, according to an estimate by Jessica Kwee, a Singapore-based analyst at consultancy Canalys.

At The MobileStore, an Indian chain owned by the Essar conglomerate, which says it sells 15 percent of iPhones in the country, iPhone sales tripled between December and January, thanks to a monthly payment scheme launched last month.

"Most people in India can't afford a dollar-priced phone when the salaries in India are rupee salaries. But the desire is the same," said Himanshu Chakrawarti, its chief executive.

Apple, the distributors, retailers and banks share the advertising and interest cost of the marketing push, according to Chakrawarti. Carriers like Bharti Airtel Ltd, which also sell the iPhone 5, run separate ads.

India is the world's No. 2 cellphone market by users, but most Indians can't afford fancy handsets. Smartphones account for just a tenth of total phone sales. In India, 95 percent of cellphone users have prepaid accounts without a fixed contract. Unlike in the United States, carriers do not subsidize handsets.

Within the smartphone segment, Apple's Indian market share last quarter was just 5 percent, according to Canalys, meaning its overall penetration is tiny.

Still, industry research firm IDC expects the Indian smartphone market to grow more than five times from about 19 million units last year to 108 million in 2016, which presents a big opportunity.

Samsung Electronics dominates Indian smartphone sales with a 40 percent share, thanks to its wide portfolio of Android devices priced as low as $110. The market has also been flooded by cheaper Android phones from local brands such as Micromax and Lava.

Most smartphones sold in India are much cheaper than the iPhone, said Gartner analyst Anshul Gupta.

"Where the masses are - there, Apple still has a gap."

'I LOVE INDIA, BUT...'

Apple helped create the smartphone industry with the iPhone in 2007. But last year Apple lost its lead globally to Samsung whose smartphones, which run Google's free Android software, are especially attractive in Asia.

Many in Silicon Valley and Wall Street believe the surest way to penetrate lower-income Asian markets would be with a cheaper iPhone, as has been widely reported but never confirmed. The risk is that a cheap iPhone would cannibalize demand for the premium version and eat into Apple's peerless margins.

The new monthly payment plan in India goes a long way to expanding the potential market, said Chakrawarti.

"The Apple campaign is not meant for really the regular top-end customer, it is meant to upgrade the 10,000-12,000 handset guy to 45,000 rupees," he said.

Apple's main focus for expansion in Asia has been Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, where revenue grew 60 percent last quarter to $7.3 billion.

Asked last year why Apple had not been as successful in India, Chief Executive Tim Cook said its business in India was growing but the group remained more focused on other markets.

"I love India, but I believe that Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Cook said. "The multi-layer distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," he said at the time.

Apple, which has partly addressed that by adding distributors, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Ingram Micro Inc, one of its new distributors, also declined comment. Executives at Redington (India) Ltd, the other distributor, could not immediately be reached.

BlackBerry, which has seen its global market share shrivel to 3.4 percent from 20 percent over the past three years, is making what is seen as a last-ditch effort to save itself with the BB10 series.

The high-end BlackBerry Z10 to be launched in India on Monday is expected to be priced not far from the 45,500 rupees price tag for an iPhone 5 with 16 gigabytes of memory. Samsung's Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2, Nokia's Lumia 920 and two HTC Corp models are the main iPhone rivals.

Until last year, Blackberry was the No. 3 smartphone brand in India with market share of more than 10 percent, thanks to a push into the consumer segment with lower-priced phones. Last quarter its share fell to about 5 percent, putting it in fifth place, according to Canalys. Apple was sixth.

(This story is corrected in para 16 to make clear that Google owns Android software)

(Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in MUMBAI and Poornima Gupta in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Tony Munroe and Mark Bendeich)

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