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Best-selling author James Patterson has reached a deal to turn his young adult book franchise "Maximum Ride" into an Internet video series that will be released on YouTube. _0"> Patterson sold exclusive online rights for "Maximum Ride" to Collective Digital Studio (CDS), a production company and operator of YouTube channels, according to a statement released on Wednesday. The eight "Maximum Ride" books, which have sold more than 30 million copies, tell the story of children who are genetically modified with bird DNA and can fly. The franchise already has a following on YouTube, where fans have posted videos of themselves acting out scenes from the books. CDS plans to start its online series with six to 10 episodes that are each about 10 minutes long, said Gary Binkow, partner and chief content officer for CDS. It hopes to release them next year, he said. Patterson, whose adult thrillers include the Alex Cross series, will serve as an executiv

An outdoor museum in the English county of Yorkshire that features works by Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei, Henry Moore and other noted sculptors won a 100,000-pound ($170,200) prize on Wednesday as The Art Fund's Museum of the Year. _0"> The Yorkshire Sculpture Park was deemed by the prize judges at the British arts charity to be "a truly outstanding museum with a bold artistic vision". The award was presented by the British film director Sam Mendes. “A perfect fusion of art and landscape, the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has gone from modest beginning to one of the finest outdoor museums one might ever imagine," said Stephen Deuchar, The Art Fund's director and a former director of London's Tate Britain gallery. One of the stand out exhibitions at the park is a timeline by Ai Wei Wei that marks important dates in Chinese history, such as the millions of famine deaths in the 20th century and troops opening fire on demonstrators at Tiananmen Squ

R&B singer Trey Songz on Wednesday scored his second No. 1 album on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 chart, with "Trigga" selling 105,000 copies in its debut week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan. _0"> British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran's "x" dropped to second place after he secured his first No. 1 album last week, with sales falling to 53,000 copies from 210,000 in its debut week. Another British singer-songwriter, Sam Smith, dropped one spot to No. 3, with "In the Lonely Hour" selling 45,000 copies. Rounding out the top five were South African metal band Seether debuting "Isolate & Medicate" in the No. 4 position, and animated Disney film "Frozen," which held firm at No. 5 for its 29th consecutive week in the top five. Sam Smith's song "Stay with Me" topped the digital songs chart with 185,000 downloads, narrowly beating out for the second straight week "Rude" from Canadian

Actor George Clooney criticized Britain's Daily Mail on Wednesday for publishing what he called a "completely fabricated" story that said his future mother-in-law opposes his upcoming marriage to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin. _0"> The Mail Online story posted on Monday said Alamuddin's mother was telling family in Beirut that she is not happy about the wedding for religious reasons and that her daughter could do better by marrying within the family's Druze religion. "First of all, none of the story is factually true," Clooney, 53, wrote in the newspaper USA Today. "Amal's mother is not Druze. She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating and she is in no way against the marriage - but none of that is the issue," he added. The issue, he said, is that the story said that because the Clooney nuptials will not be a Druze wedding, Alamuddin could be cast out of the community. Women have been murdered for not ab

Pop star Justin Bieber pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vandalism on Wednesday for pelting a neighbor's home with eggs and was sentenced to two years probation, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said. _0"> The 20-year-old Bieber, who was not present in Los Angeles Superior Court for his arraignment, was also ordered to pay $80,900 in restitution, serve five days community service and complete an anger management program in what the district attorney called a negotiated settlement. "Justin is glad to get this matter resolved and behind him," Bieber's representatives said in a statement. "He will continue to move forward focusing on his career and his music." The singer, whose hit songs include "Boyfriend," was accused of throwing eggs at a neighbor's home in an upscale Calabasas, California, neighborhood during a dispute in January. Investigators searched Bieber's home following the incident and arrested a friend, aspir

Pop star Justin Bieber pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vandalism on Wednesday for pelting a neighbor's home with eggs and was sentenced to two years probation, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said. _0"> The 20-year-old Bieber, who was not present in Los Angeles Superior Court for his arraignment, was also ordered to pay $80,900 in restitution, serve five days community service and complete an anger management program in what the district attorney called a negotiated settlement. "Justin is glad to get this matter resolved and behind him," Bieber's representatives said in a statement. "He will continue to move forward focusing on his career and his music." The singer, whose hit songs include "Boyfriend," was accused of throwing eggs at a neighbor's home in an upscale Calabasas, California, neighborhood during a dispute in January. Investigators searched Bieber's home following the incident and arrested a friend, aspir

European shares edged lower on Thursday, led by Nordic shares after disappointing updates by Norwegian bank DNB and Swedish construction firm Skanska. _0"> Norway's largest bank posted lower than expected second-quarter results, partly due to higher loan losses, while Skanska said its Latin American operations showed continued losses. They were among top fallers on the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which was down 0.1 percent at 1,362.27 points at 0715 GMT. (Reporting By Francesco Canepa, editing by Tricia Wright)