Hasselbeck, 36, a conservative who often clashed with the show's other presenters, including former co-host and liberal Rosie O'Donnell, will wrap up her 10-year run on Wednesday, ABC said in a statement.

"She stood behind her political views even if they were not the most popular opinions at the table, never shying away from voicing a difficult question," ABC said in the statement.

Hasselbeck's departure comes after veteran TV journalist Barbara Walters said in May that she would retire in the summer of 2014. Co-host and comedian Joy Behar said she would leave the show after the current season concludes on August 9.

Reports emerged in March that Hasselbeck was leaving "The View" when the current season ends in August, but ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., responded by saying Hasselbeck was under a long-term contract.

Hasselbeck will replace Gretchen Carlson in mid-September on "Fox & Friends" and will join co-hosts Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade.

"She has proven to be an excellent conversationalist and I am certain she will make a great addition to our already successful morning franchise," Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said.

Carlson, 47, will anchor a one-hour daytime show on News Corp-owned Fox News Channel in the fall.

(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Mary Milliken and Stacey Joyce)

The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Tuesday that it has rejected listing ribbon seals as a threatened or endangered species despite evidence that its habitat is impacted by climate change.

Ribbon seals are found in the Bering and Chukchi (Chuk-CHEE') seas off Alaska and in the Sea of Okhotsk (oh-KOTSK') off Russia. They are not in danger of disappearing under the time limits required for listing in the Endangered Species Act, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

"NOAA's status review concluded that the anticipated threats to ribbon seals, primarily from reductions in sea ice and disrupted prey communities, will result in a gradual decline in ribbon seal population abundance," said Julie Speegle in the announcement. "However, this decline is not expected to render the species in danger of extinction within the foreseeable future."

The agency also rejected a listing for ribbon seals in December 2008. Attorney Rebecca Noblin of the Center for Biological Diversity, which with Greenpeace sued for reconsideration, said the agency acknowledges that the seals could be in serious trouble in the Sea of Okhotsk. Continued sea ice loss also threatens them in the Bering Sea, she said.

"We disagreed that loss of sea ice in the Bering Sea is not going to be a problem in the foreseeable future," she said. "We think the sea ice models show that ribbon seals are losing sea ice at critical times in the spring."

Federal biologists estimate the ribbon seal population at 200,000 to 300,000.

During summer and fall, ribbon seals live entirely in the water, foraging on fish, squid and crustaceans. From March through June, the seals use loose pack ice for pupping and molting and as a platform for foraging.

Ribbon seals give birth and nurse pups, which cannot swim, exclusively on sea ice. Newborn ribbon seals have a coat of soft, white hair called lanugo that provides insulation until they grow a thick layer of blubber. Pups can survive submersion in icy water only after growing a blubber layer.

During molting, new hair can only grow when ribbon seals are out of the water where skin can reach higher temperatures.

NOAA Fisheries in December added two other ice-dependent seals to the threatened species list ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears, and bearded seals, which give birth and rear pups on pack ice drifting over shallow water where crab and other prey is abundant.

Jon Kurland, NOAA Fisheries' assistant regional administrator for protected resources, said each species of ice-associated seal has different habitat requirements.

"Ribbon seals are fairly adaptable," he said in the announcement. "Their diet is diverse, they feed over a wide range of depths, and there is evidence that they may compensate for changes in sea ice by moving to other habitats in which they are still able to feed and reproduce, in contrast to ringed and bearded seals which are more specialized and are not expected to do as well with changes in sea ice."

A spokesman for the state of Alaska, Doug Vincent-Lang, said the state applauds the decision.

"This decision begins to bring some rationality to the recent misapplication of the ESA that has resulted in the precautionary listing of currently abundant and robust species based on speculated and unproven climate related impacts over century timeframes," he said by email. "We stand ready to assist the NMFS in defense of this decision if it is challenged."

The list is compiled using data from independent and chain bookstores, book wholesalers and independent distributors nationwide.

Hardcover Fiction Last Week

1. "Second Honeymoon" by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Little, Brown, $28.00) 28

2. "Inferno" by Dan Brown (Doubleday,

$29.95) 1

3. "And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead, $28.95) 4

4. "The Heist" by Janet Evanovich (Bantam, $28.00) 2

5. "Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman (William Morrow, $25.99) 3

6. "Beautiful Day" by Elin Hilderbrand (Reagan Arthur, $28.00) -

7. "The Eye of God" by James Rollins (William Morrow, $27.99) -

8. "Bad Monkey" by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf, $26.95) 5

9. "The Silver Star" by Jeannette Walls (Scribner, $26.00) 6

10. "Revenge Wears Prada" by Lauren Weisberger (Simon & Schuster, $25.99) 9

Hardcover Non-fiction

1. "Happy, Happy, Happy" by Phil Robertson (Howard Books, $24.99) 1

2. "Lean In" bySheryl Sandberg (Knopf, $24.95) 3

3. "The Duck Commander Family" by Willie & Korie Robertson (Howard Books, $23.99) 4

4. "American Gun" by Chris Kyle (William Morrow, $29.99) 2

5. "Shred: The Revolutionary Diet" by Ian K. Smith (St. Martin's, $24.99) 50

6. "Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls" by David Sedaris (Little Brown $27.00) 7

7. "Eleven Rings" by Phil Jackson (Penguin, $27.95) 5

8. "Dad Is Fat" by Jim Gaffigan (Crown Archetype, $25.00) 6

9. "Life Code" by Dr. Phil McGraw (Penguin,

$26.00) 11

10. "Keep It Pithy" by Bill O'Reilly (Crown Archetype, $21.99) 8

Week that ended June 30, 2013, powered by Nielsen BookScan (c) 2013 The Nielsen Company.

(Editing by Chris Michaud and Sandra Maler)

TAIPEI (Reuters) - A dark figure stands alone in the centre of a bleak, shadowy landscape in one painting, while an ethereal tree-like form claims attention in another.

The haunting black-and-white paintings are the work of Gao Xingjian, the first Chinese-born Nobel literature laureate, who traded pen for brush to explore a realm of mood and meditation in a rare exhibit in Taiwan's capital of Taipei.

The 20 works on display in "The Edge of Reality" exhibition, the 73-year-old Gao's first in Asia for three years, present stark landscapes of form, shade and shape that stand in sharp contrast to his detail-rich novels such as "Soul Mountain", for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2000.

"Painting and literature are two completely different languages," Gao, who lives in France, said at the show's recent opening. "Where literature reaches its limits of expressive power, that's where painting begins."

Gao's literary oeuvre, which also includes "One Man's Bible" and numerous stage plays, has won him global acclaim. In his native China, however, his works were banned in 1989 after a play, "Escape", explicitly addressed the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

He said his two artistic endeavors have been part of his life since he was a child, although as an adult he keeps a distance between them.

"For my tenth birthday my uncle gave me a notebook that was just white pages, no grid and no lines," Gao said. "At that time I used it for both writing and drawing.

"I strictly separate the two disciplines. When I'm painting, not only do I not write, I won't even read."

Gao's art began to garner public attention in the 1980s with a number of exhibits across Europe. Since then, his works have been showcased in group and solo exhibitions around the world, although only rarely in mainland China.

"His art used to be more imagistic, more concrete," said Thomas Lee, president of the Asia Art Center that hosted the exhibition. "These pieces are more abstract; he's opened up a more imaginative space for the viewer."

Attendees at the opening described a sense of emotion, particularly loneliness, from the barren scenes and dreamlike vistas on display.

"You really see inside his mind," said collector Henry Chow. "Even though we're standing outside the work, it draws you in completely."

Though Gao intends to keep on with his art, readers may be disappointed to find that he plans no more novels.

"It's too tiring," he said. "That kind of work is too intense."

"The Edge of Reality" continues until July 28.

(Reporting by Michael Gold; Editing by Elaine Lies)

The owner of the Chateau de Vallery, where the couple stayed with their 60 guests, said on Sunday that the betrothal a day earlier ended with a dinner and an unusual fireworks display of water, fire and snow in the chateau gardens. A wedding cake followed.

Patrice Vansteenberghe said the actress 46 and pregnant and her 47-year-old husband "were very beautiful and very happy."

Berry's publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, confirmed the marriage.

Vansteenberghe would not say who attended the gala wedding. But he said the bride was coy about her long, white dress, wanting to keep it from public view.

"All I can say is that it was a dress with a deeply plunging back," Vansteenberghe said. He added that The event was "confidential" because "she wanted to be left alone on the day of her marriage."

Berry, who has a five-year-old daughter, is expecting her first child with Martinez. While there was no sign of a baby bump when The Associated Press interviewed the Oscar-winning star in early April, Vansteenberghe said that "she is very pregnant."

The princes and princesses of the Conde line from the 16th to early 18th century, are buried in the church facing the chateau and its chapel until the late 19th century, when it was given to the village of Vallery.

The couple apparently spent two days at the Chateau de Vallery the standard rental period for weddings and other grand events, the owner said.

Vansteenberghe noted that the chateau's pigeon room, an outbuilding once used to house pigeons, is a preferred room for newly married couples, but he hedged about whether Berry and Martinez stayed there.

The oldest part of the chateau dates to the Middle Ages, but much of it was built during the Renaissance.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - From his home in the English town of Leicester, former business administrator Elliot Higgins trawls through sometimes hundreds of online videos a day from Syria's civil war.

His research, begun after he took redundancy late last year, has made him a self-taught expert on the weaponry of a conflict largely inaccessible to outsiders, in which disparate rebel groups, some linked to al-Qaeda, form their own supply lines.

"I was just interested, and no one else seemed to be doing it," the 34-year-old said in a telephone interview.

In recent months, he has noticed that the rebels have been getting much more sophisticated Chinese, Croatian and other foreign equipment, notably the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weaponry they have long sought.

More traditional experts, many of whom read Higgins' blog, have come to the same conclusion, although they say the supplies are not significant enough to change the dynamic of the rebel fight against President Bashar al-Assad's heavily armed forces.

"What we are seeing now are weapons that could not have been taken from government stockpiles or bought within the region," said Higgins, who blogs under the pseudonym "Brown Moses".

"They must be being flown in and shipped across the border from Jordan and Turkey."

Saudi Arabia and Qatar, most believe, are the major buyers.

The shakily filmed rebel videos posted on YouTube and elsewhere are almost invariably impossible to verify and contain few signs of hits on genuine targets, although fighting has devastated towns and cities, killed more than 100,000 people and forced millions to flee.

Some appear deliberately intended to showcase new weaponry, particularly the latest types to arrive such as the shoulder mounted HJ-8 Chinese-made wire guided missile. Rebels crouch behind rubble, trees or buildings, quietly chanting religious slogans before firing.

The most sophisticated anti-tank weapon obtained by the rebels so far, it is capable of punching through even modern "reactive armor" able to repel older and smaller missiles, although some rebels have complained they are not up to expectations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZrrEXRZLYc&list=PLPC0Udeof3T7wInD7fItyPomPInljZCvn&index=1

The Chinese-made FN-6 MANPAD also appears to have helped the rebels raise their game, with one video apparently showing one bringing down a Russian-built helicopter gunship. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZgIZqAB7Ao&list=PLPC0Udeof3T7yvmzc2Dv93BRyy5fQ4rqW&index=1

NOT ALWAYS GOOD QUALITY

In the two weeks since the White House announced Assad's use of chemical weapons had prompted increased but ill-defined "military support" to the rebels, U.S. officials will not say if Washington itself has provided arms.

That it is looking to be more closely involved in the supply of weaponry from other states, however, is not disputed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one U.S. national security source did not question that Qatar might be providing MANPADs, but said it was a matter of concern to Washington.

Such weapons can also be used against civilian airliners, helicopters or military jets.

Where exactly the weapons are coming from is unclear. With Beijing still broadly opposed to foreign-backed regime change, few believe Qatar could have bought directly from China.

"They must be being bought from a third party - perhaps one that has not always kept the weapons in good condition," says blogger Higgins, pointing to one video where the missile appears to drop to the ground almost immediately after firing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSqHegW6hI&list=PLPC0Udeof3T7yvmzc2Dv93BRyy5fQ4rqW

Judging by the videos, he said much of the Chinese-made weaponry appeared to be going direct to Islamist groups.

The Croatian-manufactured Soviet-style weaponry thought to be supplied by Saudi Arabia, in contrast, appeared to be going almost exclusively to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.

They included RAK 12 multiple rocket launchers, RBG-6, M79 and M60 anti-tank weapons and the RPG-22, capable of going through more than a meter of reinforced concrete.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1afGS9C1C4&list=PLPC0Udeof3T7u4PiSmzR-RLjFK0RYLiWc

That matches the views of other analysts, although Qatari officials have said controls over arms shipments have been tightened.

"After all the criticism they have had, the Saudis are being very careful where they send weapons," said Bilal Saab, director and head of research at the Institute for near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Washington DC, adding that U.S. pressure was a factor.

"The Qataris care much less. They are arming whoever they want."

LUCRATIVE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY?

Last month, Gulf sources told Reuters Saudi Arabia was also looking to buy French weapons to ship to the rebels.

So far, however, analysts say there was little sign of them reaching the battlefield - although French weapons from the Libya conflict, particularly rocket launchers, were turning up.

Even before the war, Syria was awash with weaponry.

Using data from a variety of sources, University of Sydney based website www.gunpolicy.org estimates Assad's army and police had well over 2 million firearms between them, with an estimated 735,000 weapons - likely mainly AK-47s - in private hands.

Local smugglers have clearly been busy. According to a study by the Small Arms Survey released this week, the price of guns and ammunition increased by 60-80 percent in Lebanon between February and September last year, almost entirely on Syria demand.

Throughout the region, the growing demand for weaponry to go to Syria is an open secret and lucrative business opportunity.

"They know we are sending guns to Syria," Libyan arms dealer Abdul Basit Haroun told Reuters last month, showing off a warehouse packed with arms and ammunition awaiting shipment. "Everyone knows."

For British blogger Higgins, tracking such trade is now more than just a hobby. With his website now receiving 2,000-4,000 hits a day, he has raised enough money to make it his main focus at least until the end of the year.

He has also begun to advise activists keen to track weapons' transfers in other current and former conflict zones.

"When you're here, you don't get a real feel for how important it is," he says. "Then you get out and meet people and see what it means to them."

(Additional reporting by Mark Hoselball in Washington and Thomas Grove in Geneva; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

The White House isn't disclosing any details but says Snowden was among the topics the leaders discussed by phone Friday. Security relations and counterterrorism preparations for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi (SOH'-chee), Russia, were also discussed.

The call comes the same day Snowden emerged from weeks of hiding in Moscow's airport and said he wants asylum in Russia. Snowden said he's willing to meet Putin's condition that he stop leaking secrets if it means Russia would give him shelter that could eventually help him get to Latin America.

The White House says Russia gave Snowden a "propaganda platform" by letting him meet with human rights activists.

Now, 3,700 unpublished black-and-white and color negatives and transparencies of Greene's Monroe archive are going on the auction block with copyright. They are but a fraction of 75,000 celebrity negatives and slides Greene shot in the 1950s and 1960s that are going on sale July 27 at Profiles in History in Los Angeles and online.

Copyrights are included with all the material, which is spread over 268 lots, meaning a potential buyer can print images from the negatives and transparencies, sell them and license the material.

"It's a big, big deal. It's like selling the recipe for Coca-Cola," said Joseph Maddalena, owner of Profiles in History, which auctions original Hollywood memorabilia and artifacts.

"It's nearly unheard of in a public venue, particularly for an entire archive," said Christopher Belport, the photography consultant for Profiles in History.

The archive also includes hundreds of production stills of Faye Dunaway during the filming of "Bonnie & Clyde" and Cary Grant and Doris Day in "That Touch of Mink." Among others are Sid Caesar, Jane Fonda, Audrey Hepburn, Catherine Deneuve, Ava Gardner and Marlene Dietrich.

Most of the lots are expected to fetch between $1,000 and $15,000 depending on the number of negatives in each lot and the featured celebrity. But it's anyone's guess what they will bring. "It's unchartered territory," Maddalena said.

Peter Stern, an attorney specializing in arts-related matters, raised concern that unsigned prints made from the negatives could hurt the market. "It's not that hard to sign a photo," he said.

But Maddalena noted: "There are no vintage Milton Greene photographs. ... He was a work-for-hire photographer" shooting covers for Look, Life, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and other magazines.

Like his contemporaries, Irving Penn and Richard Avedon, Greene is credited with elevating fashion photography to fine art. But unlike them, Greene did not commercialize his work. "Only a handful was published," Maddalena said.

"The sudden opportunity to acquire a large number of camera artifacts from a historically significant photographer will likely amplify the value ... and provide fuller context to those that are sold in the future in auction or privately," Belport said.

The seller is an unidentified American photography collector who purchased the archive about 10 years ago.

The items came from the Greene estate "via a financial institute in Poland that had secured ownership from Greene in a business dealing" with the copyright, the auction house said in a statement.

The photographer's son, Joshua Greene, called it "a bad business deal."

He said that in the process of severing the partnership, he gave them the copyright, calling it "my mistake, which I regret to this day."

Greene operates Archives LLC , a Florence, Ore., company that sells digitally restored prints of historical collections and owns 110,000 negatives and transparencies that his father gave him before he died in 1985 at the age of 63.

Greene said Profiles has the residual of the total film archive of 280,000 items, but not all of it would be of interest to the public.

Archives' limited edition prints are all signed, stamped and authenticated by the estate of Milton Greene.

"The fine art market is protected," Greene said, because any prints made from the film offered at the auction would be far less valuable without the seal of authenticity.

He plans to attend the sale.

"I hate to see Humpty Dumpty broken up into so many pieces 268 lots. I'd like to see it all come back home under one roof where it belongs," he said.

Negatives and transparencies fade and deteriorate and would need to be digitally re-mastered by anyone who bought them to preserve them forever a lengthy process that Greene said takes up to 20 hours per negative.

Milton Greene's 1953 assignment for Look was the start of a close friendship and business relationship with Monroe. He shot more than 5,000 images of her during more than 55 sittings over the next four years until she married Arthur Miller.

Greene was her confidante and mentor. Together they formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, which resulted in "Bus Stop" and "The Prince and the Showgirl."

The rarest other celebrity negatives in the sale are of porn star Linda Lovelace.

He shot 2,000 images of her between her filming of "Deep Throat I" and "Deep Throat II" for a project that was never realized, Maddalena said. "Not one has ever been seen before, and we have them all."

Mark Vieira, an author on the photographic history of Hollywood, said he was flabbergasted by the vastness of the collection.

"Usually this kind of material offers you a slice of history. The Greene collection is more like a chunk of history," Vieira said.

Security sources said Shater, a wealthy businessman seen as the movement's main political strategist, was taken into custody on suspicion of incitement to violence. He was arrested at his apartment in Cairo.

Among the Brotherhood's best known public figures, Shater was the latest of several of its leaders to be taken in since President Mohamed Mursi was overthrown by the army on Wednesday.

Mursi was propelled into the presidential campaign last year when Shater was disqualified on the grounds of a past criminal conviction.

(Reporting by Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

(Reuters) - New French Open champion Graeme McDowell believes Le Golf National will deliver a thrilling Ryder Cup when it hosts the biennial team event in 2018.

The Northern Irishman romped to a four-stroke victory on Sunday after chalking up only four bogeys all week at the demanding 7,331-yard, par-71 venue on the outskirts of Paris.

"To me this is one of the best courses on the European Tour, it's tough, well set-up, but fair," McDowell told reporters after climbing from ninth to sixth in the world rankings.

"It's going to be a phenomenal venue come 2018. This course has got better and better every year and I think we are in for one of the greatest Ryder Cups of all time."

McDowell's triumph was his third of the year, following the World Match Play Championship in Bulgaria and the RBC Heritage in South Carolina, but he described his French Open success as "very special".

"This is a beautiful trophy with a lot of great names. I look down and I see Byron Nelson in 1955 - that's a pretty good start - Peter Oosterhuis, Henry Cotton," said the 33-year-old.

"It is one of the most prestigious events on the tour. To win a national open is very special," he added after the first prize of 500,000 euros ($641,700) lifted him to second in the Race to Dubai money list behind U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.

"The reception I received this week was amazing. The people here this week really blew me away with the way they treated me."

McDowell has won nine European Tour events and five have come in national opens - he also triumphed in the 2004 Italian Open, 2008 Scottish Open, 2010 Wales Open and 2010 U.S. Open.

The Northern Irishman went into Sunday's final round in a tie for the lead with Richard Sterne and he said the two players shared plenty of banter over the closing 18 holes.

"Richard's a good kid," said McDowell of the runner-up. "I've known him a long time and I like to interact with the crowd and my playing partners.

"He gave me a little bit of stick for a putt I made on 15 and then he gave me a little bit of a shoulder budge as I walked off the 16th tee as if to say, you lucky soandso, after I got a nice bounce.

"Richard is a great competitor and he pushed me all the way."

($1 = 0.7792 euros)

(Editing by Patrick Johnston)