The ultimate humiliation: Dell now getting advice from the ‘Dell Dude’ on how to fix company

Ben Curtis, an actor and former spokesperson for Dell (DELL) known for his catchphrase “Dude you’re getting a Dell,” believes that he can help the company he used to promote. According to Curtis, the solution is simple: bring back the “Dell Dude.” The actor represented the company from 2000 to 2003 in a series of commercials that were critically acclaimed and helped Dell become the world’s largest PC vendor. After running into some legal problems, however, Curtis was let go.

[More from BGR: RIM releases BES 10 for BlackBerry 10 and rival phones, offers free 60-day trial]

The company has struggled in recent years as consumers begin to embrace a post-PC era. Dell is reportedly in buyout talks with a private equity firm that would value the company between $22 billion and $25 billion.
[More from BGR: As data gets cheaper for Verizon to transmit, customers are paying more]
Curtis doesn’t believe this is the best option, though.
“I think they’re making a huge mistake and simply need to bring back the Dell Dude!” he said in an interview with Bloomberg. “That’s it. That’s all they need to do. If they brought me back, their sales, stock and media presence would skyrocket.”
Curtis believes this would be “by FAR the smartest move they could make.”

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Magnitude 7.7 quake strikes off Canadian coast

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major damage. Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated, but the province appeared to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) and was centered 96 miles (155 kilometers) south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.

                                   "It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management said. "We're certainly grateful."

The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas of British Columbia, southern Alaska and Hawaii, but later canceled it for the first two and downgraded it to an advisory for Hawaii.

                                                                         Gerard Fryer, a senior geologist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the first waves hitting shore in Hawaii are smaller than expected.

The weather service also canceled a tsunami advisory for Oregon, leaving northern California as the only spot in North America still under a tsunami advisory.

                                    Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69-centimeter (27 inch) wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. The islands are home to about 5,000 people, many of them members of the Haida aboriginal group. Another 55 centimeter (21 inch) wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.

"It appears to be settling down," he said. "It does not mean we won't get another small wave coming through."

                                  Canada's largest earthquake since 1700 was an 8.1 magnitude quake on August 22, 1949 off the coast of British Columbia, according to the Canadian government's Natural Resources website. It occurred on the Queen Charlotte Fault in what the department called Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas Fault — the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates that runs underwater along the west coast of the Haida Gwaii.

In 1970 a 7.4 magnitude quake struck south of the Haida Gwaii.

                                  The USGS said the temblor shook the waters around British Columbia and was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock after several minutes. Several other aftershocks were reported.

The quake struck 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Sandspit, British Columbia, on the Haida Gwaii archipelago. People in coastal areas were advised to move to higher ground.

Urs Thomas, operator of the Golden Spruce hotel in Port Clements said there was no warning before everything began moving inside and outside the hotel. He said it lasted about three minutes.

"It was a pretty good shock," Thomas, 59, said. "I looked at my boat outside. It was rocking. Everything was moving. My truck was moving."

After the initial jolt, Thomas began to check the hotel.

                                                                "The fixtures and everything were still swinging," he said. "I had some picture frames coming down."

Lenore Lawrence, a resident of Queen Charlotte City on the Haida Gwaii, said the quake was "definitely scary," adding she wondered if "this could be the big one." She said the shaking lasted more than a minute. While several things fell off her mantle and broke, she said damage in her home was minimal.

Many on the B.C. mainland said the same.

                             "I was sitting at my desk on my computer and everything just started to move. It was maybe 20 seconds," said Joan Girbav, manager of Pacific Inn in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. "It's very scary. I've lived here all my life and I've never felt that."

Residents rushed out of their homes in Tofino, British Columbia on Vancouver Island when the tsunami sirens sounded, but they were allowed to return about two hours after the quake

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Tsunami warning in Hawaii downgraded to advisory

A Hawaii tsunami warning that spurred coastal evacuations statewide was downgraded to a tsunami advisory early Sunday, ending the threat of serious damage less than three hours after the first waves hit the islands.

                  Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said early Sunday that the Aloha State was lucky to avoid more severe surges after a powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Canada.
Abercrombie said beaches and harbors are still closed statewide.

                                      "We're very, very grateful that we can go home tonight counting our blessings," Abercrombie said.

          Meanwhile, the National Weather Service canceled tsunami advisories for Canada and Oregon, leaving northern California as the only spot in North America still under a tsunami advisory.
The first waves hitting Hawaii on Saturday night were smaller than expected.
Gerard Fryer, a geologist tracking the tsunami for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the largest wave in the first 45 minutes of the tsunami was measured in Maui at more than 5 feet, about 2 feet higher than normal sea levels.
No major damage was reported.

                        At first, officials said Hawaii wasn't in any danger of a tsunami after the 7.7-magnitude earthquake rattled the western coast of North America Saturday night, sparking tsunami warnings for southern Alaska and western Canada.
Later, officials issued a warning for Hawaii as well, saying there had been a change in sea readings. About the same time, a tsunami advisory was issued for a 450-mile stretch of U.S. coast running from north of San Francisco to central Oregon.

                            A small tsunami created by the quake was barely noticeable in Craig, Alaska, where the first wave or surge was recorded Saturday night.
Fryer said it could take several hours for the danger to pass in Hawaii, especially if the waves get bigger.

                                "It's beginning to look like the evacuation may not have been necessary," Fryer said.
The National Weather Service said there were reports of water quickly receding in bays, including Hilo Bay on the Big Island.
The warning in Hawaii spurred residents to stock up on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores and sent tourists in beachside hotels to higher floors in their buildings. Bus service into Waikiki was cut off an hour before the first waves, and police in downtown Honolulu shut down a Halloween block party.

                                           Abercrombie proclaimed an emergency, mobilizing extra safety measures.
While television traffic cameras showed onlookers at the beach in Waikiki, Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle warned people to stay away from the surf for several days.
Carlisle — who recommended people think about ditching their cars if they were in traffic — said people should be cautious.
     "There's no reason to panic but there's every reason to take all of the necessary precautions," he said.
Coast Guard officials closed all harbors in the state to incoming boats and urged vessels to leave and not return until an all-clear is given.

                        "We don't have any reports of any tsunami impacts at this time, but we caution mariners because the tsunami surges can continue for several hours," Chief Warrant Officer Gene Maestas said.
In Kauai, three schools used as evacuation centers quickly filled to capacity.
As many people along Hawaii's coasts rushed to higher ground, officials downgraded a tsunami warning to an advisory for southern Alaska and British Columbia. They also issued an advisory for areas of northern California and southern Oregon.
In Alaska, the wave or surge was recorded at 4 inches, much smaller than forecast, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit in the Queen Charlotte Islands area. The quake was felt in Craig and other southeast Alaska communities, but Zidek said there were no immediate reports of damage.

                                           The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for coastal areas of southeast Alaska, down the western Canadian coast to the tip of Vancouver Island.
Later Saturday evening, the warning for those areas was downgraded to an advisory, while a warning was issued for Hawaii.
In addition, officials issued an advisory for areas from Gualala Point, Calif., about 80 miles northwest of San Francisco, to the Douglas-Lane county line in Oregon, about 10 miles southwest of Florence.
The Del Norte County Sheriff's Department, based in Crescent City, Calif., near the Oregon line, said it hadn't heard of any problems as a result of the tsunami. Crescent City was one of the U.S. towns hit hardest by last year's tsunami from the Japan quake, with boats in the harbor suffering serious damage.

                                                                 By early Sunday morning, all warnings and advisories for coastal areas of North American had been canceled, except for a stretch of California coast beginning 80 miles north of San Francisco and stretching to the Oregon line, which remained under an advisory.
A tsunami warning means an area is likely to be hit by a wave, while an advisory means there may be strong currents, but that widespread inundation is not expected to occur.
Fryer said it's not surprising that an earthquake so far away could generate dangerous waves in Hawaii.

                                                                     "There is nothing between Canada and us that would scatter the energy, so once the beam is formed, it just points right at us," Fryer said.
The U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska said it was warning warn everyone with a boat on the water to prepare for a potential tsunami.

                                     The first wave hit Craig about two hours after the earthquake.
"It started off where it might be a 3-foot wave, and it kept getting downgraded," Craig Mayor Dennis Watson said. "And the last time we heard, it was less than 1 foot."
It actually was recorded at 4 inches. Watson said he was downtown on the waterfront, and had his car lights shining on pylons.

                                          "I didn't even see the surge. I watched the pylons. And the tides came in about four or five inches. The surge would leave a wet spot as it would go back out, and we never did see that," he said.
There could be subsequent waves in Craig, but an official with the tsunami warning center didn't think it would amount to much.

                                                                         The first wave "typically is not the largest but nevertheless we don't expect the maximum wave height to be large," said Bill Knight.
The state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management activated its emergency operations center and notified officials in southeast Alaska communities.
Lt. Bernard Auth of the Juneau Command Center said the Coast Guard was also working with local authorities to alert people in coastal towns to take precautions.
Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said the earthquake likely would not generate a large tsunami.
"This isn't that big of an earthquake on tsunami scales," she said. "The really big tsunamis are usually up in the high 8s and 9s."
She said the earthquake occurred along a "fairly long" fault - "a plate 200 kilometers long" in a subduction zone, where one plate slips underneath another. Such quakes lift the sea floor and tend to cause tsunamis, she said.
       In Craig, officials implement an emergency plan, and took fire trucks, ambulances and heavy equipment to higher ground.
                                  "If nothing else it was a good exercise in determining how well our disaster plan works. I thought it came off quite well, really," he said.
Watson said he did receive calls from townspeople about the tsunami.
                
                          "There's supposed to be a big Halloween party downtown. People are calling, 'Did the wave hit yet so we can go to the party?'" he said.

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Thousands of South African truckers end strike

About 15,000 striking South African truckers agreed to return to work on Wednesday, easing pressure on Africa's biggest economy where two weeks of labor unrest in the transport sector have hit supplies of fuel, cash and consumer goods.
The decision on Tuesday by three small unions puts pressure on the biggest labor group, the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), which represents about 28,000 workers, to reach a deal and suspend its calls to widen the strike to ports and rails.
It also eased investors' concerns about widening strikes that could slow growth.
The rand, which fell to 3-1/2 year lows against the dollar on Monday on worsening investor sentiment about labor strife, firmed immediately after the news truckers would return to work, hitting a session high of 8.735.
"Three of the unions have agreed to suspend strike action," a spokeswoman for the employers association said. It was still in talks with all groups to hammer out a final deal.
Large parts of the mining sector, responsible for about 6 percent of gross domestic product, have been brought to a standstill in the last two months by wildcat strikes by more than 75,000 miners - about 15 percent of its workforce.
Almost 50 people have been killed in the current labor strife - 34 of them by shot dead by police on August 16 in the deadliest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994.
President Jacob Zuma's ruling African National Congress has been criticized for letting the strikes spread. Moody's ratings agency downgraded South African government bonds a notch last month, saying ineffectual governance was posing long term economic risk.
Thousands of striking truck drivers have taken to the streets in often violent protests, demanding annual wage increases of 12 percent for two years - more than double the inflation rate.
Employers have offered a total 18 percent pay rise over that period. It held wage talks with SATAWU on Tuesday.

"We are willing to compromise on our demands, but only as long as the employers do the same," said Vincent Masoga, spokesman for SATAWU. He was not immediately able to comment on the deal struck by the smaller unions.
An employers body said last week the freight industry was losing around 1.2 billion rand ($135 million) in turnover each week due to the strike.
Affected companies include logistics groups Imperial Holding, Super Group, Grindrod, Barloworld and Bidvest. If the protests expand to rail and ports, they would hit exports of coal and other minerals.

The mining strikes look set to knock already shaky economic growth in the world's top platinum-producing state. South Africa is also a major supplier of gold, coal and iron ore.
Local media reports suggested the truckers' strike was also having adverse effects on Zimbabwe, which receives a steady supply of goods over road from its larger neighbor.
On Monday, a local government workers' union said it also planned a protest in the next few days in a first sign of the labor unrest spreading into the public sector.
News By:yahoonews .com

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Dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez arrested in Cuba: reports

 Reuters/Reuters - Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez listens to a question during an interview with Reuters at her home in Havana, in this February 9, 2011 file photo. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan/Files

BAYAMO, Cuba (Reuters) - Cuban authorities have arrested dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez in the eastern city of Bayamo where she traveled to cover the trial of a Spanish political activist facing vehicular homicide charges in the death of another government opponent, according to news reports and bloggers.

Sanchez, and husband Reinaldo Escobar, were said to have been detained on Thursday in Bayamo, where officials feared they were going to provoke a "media show" around the trial, according to the reports.
"It is not the first time that Yoani Sanchez and Escobar have tried similar provocations, and their latest maneuvers in the (Internet) have been, precisely, linked to manipulating the truth of that accident" in which Paya died, government-linked blogger Yohandry Fontana wrote on Friday.
Sanchez, 37, could not be reached by telephone, but her Twitter account includes entries from Thursday in which she recounted scenes from a cross-country trip, including two stops by police to fumigate her car, apparently for mosquitoes.
She, her husband and other dissidents apparently were on their way to Bayamo for the trial of Spaniard Angel Carromero, who is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter for the July 22 death of prominent dissident Oswaldo Paya and his colleague Harold Cepero.
The newspaper El Pais in Madrid said on its website she was its freelance correspondent and had tried to reach Sanchez by phone without success.
Carromero, who heads the youth wing of Spain's ruling People's Party, was driving a small rental car with Paya, Cepero and Swedish political activist Jens Arons Modig aboard when he lost control on a section of road under repair and slammed into a tree near Bayamo, 415 miles southeast of Havana.
He and Modig, who were not seriously hurt, said they were driving the dissidents to meet supporters.
Sanchez, through her blog "Generation Y" and other writings, has become Cuba's best-known dissident and has won various awards overseas, but is never allowed out of Cuba to collect them.
Sanchez was reported last week to have filed a complaint against Cuba with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission for repeatedly refusing to grant her a travel visa.
News By:yahoo.com

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Maker of smart-grid software discloses hack

Telvent Canada says someone sneaked past its internal firewall, installing malicious software and stealing files related to control software it makes that's used to manage the electric grid in various countries.
The company warned customers last week that it learned of a breach of its network on September 10, according to the KrebsOnSecurity blog. Project files associated with the firm's OASyS SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) software were stolen, the post says.
"Although we do not have any reason to believe that the intruder(s) acquired any information that would enable them to gain access to a customer system or that any of the compromised computers have been connected to a customer system, as a further precautionary measure, we indefinitely terminated any customer system access by Telvent," the company said this week in a letter to customers, which was cited by the blog.
A Telvent spokesman confirmed the breach to Wired today but wouldn't comment on whether files had been downloaded or altered. "We are aware of a security breach of our corporate network that has affected some customer files," spokesman Martin Hannah is quoted as saying. "We're working directly with our customers, and they are taking recommended actions with the support of our Telvent teams. And Telvent is actively working with law enforcement, with security specialists, and with customers to ensure that this breach has been contained."

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Meanwhile, malware used in the attack is believed to be associated with a Chinese hacker group called "Comment Group," the KrebsOnSecurity post reports. Dale Peterson, CEO of industrial control system (ICS) security firm Digital Bond, says his Web site was attacked recently too. "If this Comment Group is the same as Comment Crew, then this is likely the same people that sent spear phishing e-mail to Digital Bond and EnergySec," he wrote in a blog post. "They are going after the ICS energy sector, and Telvent is almost certainly not the only vendor being targeted or compromised. In fact, I would be worried if a large asset owner or vendor in the energy sector is not detecting these attacks."
Two days after Telvent says it noticed the breach, the company announced a partnership with security firm Industrial Defender to "expand its cybersecurity capabilities within Telvent's key utility and critical infrastructure solutions."
SCADA systems, which were not meant to be connected to the public-facing Internet, are being increasingly linked to the outside world so engineers can access the systems remotely. While it makes it convenient for critical-infrastructure operators, it can provide a way in for attackers.
News By;cnet.com

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UPDATE 3-French weekly fuels Mohammad row with cartoons

* Security increased outside magazine's offices
* French government criticises publication, boost security
By Nicholas Vinocur
PARIS, Sept 19 (Reuters) - A French magazine ridiculed the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday by portraying him naked in cartoons, threatening to fuel the anger of Muslims around the world who are already incensed by a film depiction of him as a womanizing buffoon.
The French government, which had urged the magazine not to print the images, said it was temporarily shutting down premises including embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday, when protests sometimes break out after Muslim prayers.
Riot police were deployed to protect the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo after it hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammad in a wheelchair.
On the inside pages, several caricatures of the Prophet showed him naked. One, entitled "Mohammad: a star is born", depicted a bearded figure crouching over to display his buttocks and genitals.
Initial reaction from Muslim countries was critical.
"Of course it will anger people further. It will raise tensions that were already dangerously high," said Sheikh Nabil Rahim, a leading Salafist cleric in Lebanon.
"We will try to keep things managed and peaceful, but these things easily get out of hand. I fear there could more targetting of foreigners, and this is why I wish they would not persist with these provocations."
In Egypt, Essam Erian, acting head of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, told Reuters: "We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs."
DEADLY PROTESTS
The posting of a short film on You Tube last week that mocked Mohammad as a lecherous fool has sparked protests in many countries, some of them deadly.
The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi, and U.S. and other foreign embassies were stormed in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by furious Muslims. Afghan militants said a suicide bombing that killed 12 people on Tuesday was carried out in retaliation for the film, which was made with private funds in California.
The furore has emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential election campaign and sparked a wider international debate over free speech, religion and the right to offend. Many Muslims consider any representation of Allah or the Prophet Mohammad blasphemous.
"We have the impression that it's officially allowed for Charlie Hebdo to attack the Catholic far-right but we cannot poke fun at fundamental Islamists," said editor Stephane Charbonnier, who drew the front-page cartoon.
"It shows the climate - everyone is driven by fear, and that is exactly what this small handful of extremists who do not represent anyone want - to make everyone afraid, to shut us all in a cave," he told Reuters.
One cartoon, in reference to the scandal over a French magazine's decision to publish topless photos of the wife of Britain's Prince William, showed a topless, bearded character with the caption: "Riots in Arab countries after photos of Mrs Mohammad are published."
Charbonnier said he expected to double the usual 35,000-copy print run to meet demand.
BEEFED UP SECURITY
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticised the magazine's move as a provocation.
"We saw what happened last week in Libya and in other countries such as Afghanistan," Fabius told a regular government news conference. "We have to call on all to behave responsibly."
A Foreign Ministry spokesman said France was closing its embassies, consulates, cultural centres and schools in 20 countries on Friday as a "precautionary measure".
Charlie Hebdo has a long reputation for being provocative. Its Paris offices were firebombed last November after it published a mocking caricature of Mohammad, and Charbonnier has been under police guard ever since.
Speaking outside his offices in an eastern neighbourhood with many residents of North African origin, Charbonnier said he had not received any threats over the latest cartoons. In a message on its Twitter account, Charlie Hebdo said its website had been hacked, but referred readers to a blog it also uses.
The French Muslim Council, the main body representing Muslims in France, accused Charlie Hebdo of firing up anti-Muslim sentiment at a sensitive time.
"The CFCM is profoundly worried by this irresponsible act, which in such a fraught climate risks further exacerbating tensions and sparking damaging reactions," it said.
Richard Prasquier, head of the body representing France's Jewish community - Europe's largest - said religious censorship was wrong but added: "Publishing Mohammad cartoons at this time, in the name of freedom, is irresponsible".
In 2005, Danish cartoons of the Prophet sparked a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world that killed at least 50 people.
The decision to temporarily close some embassies comes at a time when France is already on heightened alert over possible attacks by al Qaeda on French interests in West Africa.
A diplomatic source said this week Paris recently foiled attacks on economic and diplomatic targets and had credible evidence that more were planned. "Al Qaeada in the Islamic Maghreb is a direct and immediate threat," the source said.
Separately, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the authorities had rejected a request to hold a march against the Mohammad film in Paris.
Social media had circulated calls for a protest on Saturday against the film, after police arrested about 150 people who tried to take part in an unauthorised protest near the U.S. Embassy in Paris last week.
News By:reuters.com

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US official killed as militants storm US consulate in Benghazi

An American diplomat was killed and another injured in Benghazi on Tuesday after an armed mob launched an attack on the US consulate in protest against a film deemed insulting to Islam

unmen scaled the walls and set the building ablaze, while rocket-propelled grenades were fired from a nearby farm, witnesses said.

Looters ransacked office buildings after Libyan security forces were forced to withdraw following heavy clashes.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, condemned the violence "in the strongest terms."

The attack happened just hours after a similar group of hardliners waving black banners attacked the US embassy in Cairo and tore down the US flag.

It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were coordinated.

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"They fired shots in the air before entering the building," Wanis al-Sharif Sharif, Libya's deputy interior minister, said of the Benghazi attack.
A nearby resident, who gave his name as Omar, said he had seen the flames and heard shots in the vicinity. Another Libyan witness said armed men had closed the streets leading up to the consulate during the attack.
The Libyan incident came as thousands of Egyptian demonstrators tore down the Stars and Stripes at the US embassy in Cairo and replaced it with a black Islamic flag, similar to one adopted by several militant groups.
Once the US flag was hauled down, protesters tore it up, with some showing off small pieces to television cameras. Others burned the remains.
The US Embassy in Cairo issued a statement saying, in part, that it condemns "the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions." The statement, an apparent reference to the video, was posted hours before the American's death in Libya was reported.
Mitt Romney called the response "disgraceful" criticising the Obama administration for being sympathetic to the attackers.
"It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathise with those who waged the attacks."
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, later released a statement deploring the violence in the strongest possible terms.
"Some have sought to justify this vicious behaviour as a response to inflammatory material posted on the internet," Mrs Clinton said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."
The film at the centre of the anti-US protests was made by an Israeli-American who describes Islam as a "cancer," the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The movie, "Innocence of Muslims," was directed and produced by Sam Bacile, a 52-year-old real-estate developer from southern California who says Islam is a hateful religion.
"Islam is a cancer," Mr Bacile told the newspaper of his crudely-produced film, which depicts the Prophet Mohammed variously sleeping with women, talking about killing children and referring to a donkey as "the first Muslim animal."
Mr Bacile told the Journal he was responsible for the film – an excerpt of which has been viewable online since July – saying he had raised $5 million to make it from about 100 Jewish donors, who he declined to identify.
He said he had worked with some 60 actors and 45 crew to make the two-hour movie in a three-month period last year in California. "The movie is a political movie. It's not a religious movie," he said.
It is being promoted by controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones, who has drawn protests in the past for burning the Koran and vehemently opposing the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
Jones said he planned to show a 13-minute clip of the film Tuesday evening at his church in Gainesville, Florida.
"It is an American production, not designed to attack Muslims but to show the destructive ideology of Islam," he said in a statement cited by the Journal. "The movie further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of Mohammed."
The New York Times reported in its blog that the film excerpt had drawn little attention since being posted in July, but was picked up after a version dubbed into Arabic was put online last week.
A scene from the film – which uses very basic production techniques and stilted dialogue – was also was broadcast on the Egyptian television channel Al-Nas, it noted.
Arab League deputy secretary general, Ahmed Ben Helli, condemned the film saying it "contained insults against the prophet Mohammed" and "was denounced by Christians and Muslims" across the Arab world.
"This movie must be banned immediately and an apology should be made ... This is a disgrace," said 19-year-old Ismail Mahmoud, a member of the so-called "ultras" soccer supporters who played a big role in the uprising that brought down Hosni Mubarak last year.
The protests came on the eleventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
News By:telegraph.co.uk

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Sunita Williams takes fifth spacewalk

Washington, Aug 31 (IANS) Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the record of the longest space flight (195 days) for a woman, has completed her fifth spacewalk lasting a near record eight hours and 17 minutes.
Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide set out from the international space station at 5:46 p.m. Thursday (India time) and returned at 2:03 a.m. Friday, the US space agency NASA announced.
The longest spacewalk of 8 hours and 56 minutes was undertaken by US astronauts

Susan Helms and James Voss in 2001.
However, Williams and Hoshide failed to replace a power distributor after removing and stowing a failed unit due to difficulties in driving the bolts to secure the replacement switching, officials said.
Williams and Hoshide used a long-duration tie-down tether to secure the replacement distributor to the space station for a future spacewalk.
Earlier, Williams was able to successfully connect one of two power cables in preparation for the future arrival of a Russian laboratory module. But the third objective, replacing a camera on the Canadarm2 robotic arm, was not completed.

Thursday's spacewalk was the fifth for Williams and the first for Hoshide. Hoshide is the third Japanese astronaut in history to conduct a spacewalk. The duo arrived at the station July 16 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Daughter of an Indian American father from Gujarat and a Slovenian mother, Williams holds three records for female space travellers: longest spaceflight (195 days), number of spacewalks (five), and total time spent on spacewalks (29 hours and 17 minutes) during her first space journey in 2006.
She is the second woman of Indian heritage to have been selected by NASA for a space mission after Kalpana Chawla and the second astronaut of Slovenian heritage after Ronald M. Sega.
News By:newstrackindia.com

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Tropical Storm Isaac Causes First Death as Tornadoes Ravage Region

As Tropical Storm Isaac moves away from the Gulf Coast and into the country's interior, spinning off tornadoes across two states, the storm has caused its first death in Pearl River County, Miss.

A tow truck driver was killed on the job by a tree that fell around midnight, Pearl River Emergency Management Deputy Director Amanda Harris told ABC News. The man's name and age has not yet been released.

"[The county] is completely flooded. And it's only going to get worse," Harris said, adding that rivers and creeks along the county near the Louisiana border will not crest until midnight tonight through 4 a.m.

"The worst is yet to come," Harris said.
Pearl River County conducted four search and rescue operations and it is believed there are no more residents holding out in their homes, Harris said. The county is receiving assistance from FEMA, state agencies and neighboring counties.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for intra-coastal city Louisiana to the Mississippi-Alabama border, including Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.

Lt. Vernon Smith of the Pascagoula, Miss., police tells ABC News that a tornado touched down at 8:20 a.m. just south of town that sits 28 miles from Biloxi.

"It landed right on top of a house, just sat on it," Smith said, adding that people were believed to be inside. "There are people injured."
Smith said the tornado was now off the ground and moving through the main part of town, having traveled about a mile since touchdown. Officials are mobilizing emergency crews, but the torrential rain has made roads impassable, with the 2 to 3 feet of water flooding the area too much for even their emergency vehicles to handle.
"We can't get through and we are scrambling," said Smith.

Surrounding areas of Louisiana are expected to see almost two feet of rain and more dangerous floods by the end of the week, while seven tornadoes have spun off from Isaac in Mississippi and Alabama so far.

A tornado that touched down in Gulfport, Miss., has caused the most damage, where significant destruction to homes has been reported. Carlos Redmond, a spokesman for Harrison County Emergency Management, said it's assessing the damage.
"We're looking for daylight. That's what we're looking for. We'll be able to tell a lot more at that time," Redmond told ABC News Thursday.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said tornadoes are possible along the central Gulf Coast region and parts of the lower Mississippi Valley through Thursday.
The rising waters from rain and flooding have already left locals scrambling up to attics and onto roofs. The main parishes that pose the greatest concern sit around Lake Pontchartrain. With another 4 to 7 inches of rain expected, many officials have expressed worry about the rising waters.

Officials in LaPlace, La., about 25 miles northwest of New Orleans, in St. John the Baptist Parish, called the situation dire.

"I'm afraid the tide is really going to catch some of us off guard tonight," Parish President Layton Ricks told ABC News late Wednesday night.
Some 3,100 people have been evacuated in the town since 3 p.m. Wednesday, a National Guard officer told ABC News, while more than 1,000 are waiting for rescue in LaPlace as the city sees its worst flooding in 40 years.
Housing developments, such as the River Forest subdivision where dozens of families were rescued Wednesday, are under 5 feet of water. The Louisiana National Guard said it would be out in force Thursday across the St. John the Baptist Parish, assisting in rescue efforts.
"It's our own little Katrina," said Tania Trege, wife of St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff Mike Trege, describing the situation in Laplace.
Towns southwest of New Orleans have already received about 20 inches of rain, with another 4 to 7 inches possible. New Orleans International Airport has officially received 10 inches of rain so far.
As of 8 a.m. ET, Isaac was about 35 miles southeast of Alexandria, La., and about 125 miles northwest of New Orleans. Tropical storms winds extend outward up to 175 miles. Isaac's maximum sustained winds are at 45 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Isaac is expected make a turn toward the north-northwest later today, followed by a turn toward the north on Friday.

A tropical storm warning was still in effect from Cameron, La., to the Mississippi-Alabama state border, according to the Hurricane Center.

An unofficial rainfall total of 22.5 inches was reported in Arabi, La., near the city's 9th Ward on Wednesday. An official report from Audubon Park in New Orleans listed 17 inches of rainfall.
Livingston Parish officials told ABC News that they felt the worst of Isaac at 10 p.m. Wednesday, and expect flooding in the low-lying parts of the parish. Rescue efforts were under way and officials said this will be the first overnight of many water rescues in the area.
Rescue operations are still under way in Plaquemines Parish, where more than 100 people in the parish have been rescued so far. A levee in Plaquemines Parish will be intentionally breached at some point Thursday to relieve pressure on it. That area has been under mandatory evacuation.
More than 725,000 homes and businesses throughout Louisiana were without power as of 2 a.m. Police reported few problems with looting.
In Mississippi, Highway 90 remains shut down, with much of area now submerged in water. 30,000 customers are without power in Gulfport, Miss., alone, where an apparent tornado spawned by the storm ripped a house from ground.
In Biloxi, powerful winds are ravaging the city as residents begin to worry about raw sewage and mold.
President Obama declared federal emergencies in Louisiana and Mississippi late Wednesday, according to a statement from the White House. The disaster declarations free up federal aid for affected areas.
Of Louisiana's 64 parishes, 58 are under states of emergency this morning.
Forecasters expected Isaac to move inland over the next several days, dumping rain on drought-stricken states across the nation's midsection before finally breaking up over the weekend. The storm was expected to weaken to a tropical depression Thursday, according to the Hurricane Center.
Five to 10-foot storm surges were expected in Mississippi and southeastern Louisiana, with seven to 14 inches of rain, and some areas could see 25 inches, the center said.
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Clint Eastwood's RNC Obama chair gets own Twitter account

Wow. It doesn't take long for Twitter to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. Invisible Obama, fast made famous at tonight's RNC, gets an account that goes from zero to nearly 20K followers in less than an hour.

August 30, 2012 12:30 PM PDT

(Credit: Screenshot by Dan Farber/CNET)

You know that wooden chair Clint Eastwood was talking to during tonight's speech at the Republican National Convention? It already has its own Twitter account. At least two actually.
For those who might have missed it (but expect to hear plenty about it during upcoming RNC post-mortems), the iconic action actor spent part of his moment in the convention spotlight chatting (transcript) with an empty chair that was supposed to represent President Obama. And if presidents can have their own Twitter accounts, why can't chairs that are standing in as presidents?
Invisible Obama (bio: Stage left of Clint Eastwood) sent out its first Tweet at about 6:20 p.m. PT. It's been busy tweeting since: "The GOP built me." "When Mitt Romney says 'Mr. Chairman', do you think he's referring to me?"
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who introduced Gov. Romney, quickly followed Eastwood to the stage. Invisible Obama was present. As of this writing, the account had more than 22,000 followers.

(Credit: Screenshot by Dan Farber/CNET)

Also among the masses tweeting away their real-time RNC impressions: Clint's Empty Chair, which as of now has just over 1,500 followers, far fewer than Invisible Obama, but is still getting one-liners in.
"Geez Clint...I think you were mad at the faulty teleprompter, not me," read a tweet that clearly referred to a speech some have dubbed as rambling and that wasn't exactly well received by the press and pundits covering the convention. Don't worry, however, Eastwood fans. He did get in a "make my day."

The Romney campaign issued the following statement: "Judging an American icon like Clint Eastwood through a typical political lens doesn't work. His ad libbing was a break from all the political speeches, and the crowd enjoyed it. He rightly pointed out that 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed is a national disgrace and it's time for a change."
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Yosemite officials say 1,700 visitors risk disease

• Enlarge PhotoAssociated Press -
  In this photo from Sunday Oct. 23, 2011, tents are seen in Curry Village in Yosemite National Park, Calif. A man died and a woman became seriously …

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The rustic tent cabins of Yosemite National Park — a favorite among families looking to rough it in one of the nation's most majestic settings — have become the scene of a public health crisis after two visitors died from a rodent-borne disease following overnight stays.

On Tuesday, park officials sent letters and emails to 1,700 visitors who stayed in some of the dwellings in June, July and August, warning them that they may have been exposed to the disease that also caused two other people to fall ill.
Those four people contracted hantavirus pulmonary syndrome after spending time in one of the 91 "Signature Tent Cabins" at Curry Village around the same time in June. The illness is spread by contact with rodent feces, urine and saliva, or by inhaling exposed airborne particles.
After the first death, the park sanitized the cabins and alerted the public through the media that the cause might have been diseased mice in the park.
However, officials did not know for sure the death was linked to Yosemite or the campsite until the Centers for Disease Control determined over the weekend that a second visitor, a resident of Pennsylvania, also had died.
After every park tragedy, officials stress that Yosemite is a wilderness area and with it come some dangers.
"We're very concerned about visitors and employees," park spokesman Scott Gediman said. "But we feel we are taking proactive steps in both cleaning the affected areas and in public education. But it's absolutely impossible to eliminate all risk."
On Sunday night, health officials with the National Park Service sent out an alert asking public health authorities to be on the watch for more potential rodent-related cases of acute respiratory failure.
Yosemite receives 4 million tourists a year from around the world, and national park officials were trying to determine if the warning should be expanded to include foreign countries.
"We're discussing whether to do that and how to do that," said Dr. David Wong, chief of the epidemiology branch of the National Park Service Office of Public Health.
The disease can incubate for up to six weeks before flu-like symptoms develop. It's fatal in 30 percent of all cases, and there is no specific treatment. It is not spread human-to-human.
Wong said the Yosemite cases are unusual because hantavirus illnesses are most often isolated events.
"We are seeing more than one person who got it in a narrow space and time," he said. "It makes us wonder why, and those are questions we don't have the answers to."
All the victims stayed in the cabins between June 10 and June 20, and all four known cases were contracted by people who stayed within 100 feet of each other but not necessarily in the same cabins.
The National Park Service currently has assigned two epidemiologists to work in the park trapping rodents for testing. Additional studies are being done to determine if the Yosemite rodent population is higher than normal after a record snowpack in 2011 provided ample water for the grass seeds mice favor.
"Rodents and mice are native to the park, but we are looking at the populations and working with our wildlife biologists to determine if the population is too high," Gediman said. "There are rodents here, and we could never trap them all so that's not going to mitigate it."
As the Labor Day weekend approaches, some people have cancelled reservations at Curry Village after hearing about the outbreak, Gediman said.
The camp sits at the base of the 3,000-foot Glacier Point.
After boulders rained down in 2008, the park permanently closed some cabins. The newer, insulated Signature Cabins were built in 2009 to replace them. Investigators are trying to determine why those cabins were involved in the outbreak.
Park concessionaire Delaware North Co., which oversees the cabins, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Rangers are handing out information brochures at the park entrance warning people to avoid mice in general and mouse droppings in particular.
People with reservations in the affected cabins are not being notified before arrival, but they are being warned during check-in to report any sightings of mouse feces.
"This is a serious public health issue and we want to be transparent, but at the same time we don't want people to alter their plans, because we are taking the necessary precautions," Gediman said.
Since the first illness was reported earlier this month, employees of Delaware North disinfected all 408 canvas-sided and wood-sided cabins in Curry Village. Workers are in the midst of shoring up the cabins in an attempt to keep mice from have easy access.
Epidemiologists say none of the victims had anything in common other than staying in Yosemite cabins.
A 37-year-old man from the San Francisco Bay area was the first person to die. Further details have not been released because of medical privacy laws.
Of the 587 documented U.S. cases since the virus was identified in 1993, about one-third proved fatal.
Deer mice were determined to be the main carriers of the virus, though other rodents can be infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Most of the cases occur in the West, though researchers are not sure why.
This year's deaths mark the first such fatalities of park visitors, although two others were stricken in a more remote area of the park in 2000 and 2010.
There have been at least two other fatal cases in national parks in the past few years, including a deputy superintendent at Glacier National Park who died in 2004, and a tourist at the Grand Canyon who was stricken in 2009.
Wong said health officials never were able to determine whether the victims contracted hantavirus inside the park grounds.
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Dems slam Ryan over Social Security privatization

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are eagerly renewing their fight against privatizing Social Security now that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. It was a fight that didn't go well for the GOP when President George W. Bush pushed the idea in 2005.

In his 2010 "Road Map for America's Future," the Wisconsin congressman proposed a plan to allow younger workers to divert more than one-third of their Social Security taxes into personal accounts that they would own and could will to their heirs.

Ryan wrote that the accounts would provide workers an opportunity "to build a significant nest egg for retirement that far exceeds what the current program can provide." Workers 55 and older would stay in the current system.
Romney hasn't embraced the proposal and Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, didn't include it in either of the federal budgets passed by House Republicans the past two years. But now that Ryan is running for vice president, Democrats hope to capitalize on the issue.
Bush's proposal for private accounts received a chilly reception from members in both parties in Congress, though Ryan embraced it. Democrats used the issue against GOP congressional candidates in the 2006 election, when they regained control of the House and Senate.
"The very last thing we ought to be doing is putting at risk the retirement security of millions of America's seniors," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who heads the Democratic National Committee.

Until now, Social Security had been largely absent from the presidential campaign. President Barack Obama has yet to lay out a detailed plan for addressing the issue, and his silence is drawing criticism from advocates who supported him in the past. Romney has been more forthcoming with proposals, but Social Security has not been a big part of his campaign, either.

Romney, in his book, "No Apology," said he liked the idea of personal accounts. But, he wrote, "Given the volatility of investment values that we have just experienced, I would prefer that individual accounts were added to Social Security, not diverted from it, and that they were voluntary."

Romney's current plan for Social Security doesn't mention personal accounts. Instead, he proposes a gradual increase in the retirement age to account for growing life expectancy. For future generations, Romney would slow the growth of benefits "for those with higher incomes."

Romney says tax increases should be off the table, and current beneficiaries and those near retirement should be spared from cuts.

"Mitt Romney and Paul support gradual reforms to Social Security that protect current beneficiaries from any benefit disruptions while strengthening the program to ensure that it doesn't go bankrupt," Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams said.

The trustees who oversee Social Security say the trust funds that support the program will run dry in 2033. At that point, Social Security will generate only enough tax revenue to pay about 75 percent of benefits, triggering automatic cuts unless Congress acts.
During the 2008 campaign, Obama said he wanted to improve Social Security's finances by applying the payroll tax to annual wages above $250,000. It is now limited to wages below $110,100, a level that increases with inflation.
Obama also pledged to oppose raising the retirement age or reducing annual cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs. "Let me be clear, I will not do either," Obama said at the time.
Last year, however, Obama put on the table a proposal to reduce annual COLAs during deficit-reduction talks with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. The talks ultimately failed and nothing came of the proposal, but it raised questions about whether Obama would honor his 2008 pledge.
"A national politician would do well to strongly identify themselves with Social Security, not just with rhetoric, but to be very clear that they understand the pain people are experiencing today, that they stand behind this program and they will protect the citizenry and they will not cut benefits," said Eric Kingson, a Syracuse University professor who co-founded Social Security Works. "I hope to hear that from the White House. I have not heard that yet."

Obama offered some principles to strengthen Social Security in his 2011 State of the Union address.

"We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable or people with disabilities, without slashing benefits for future generations and without subjecting Americans' guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market," Obama said in the speech.

Last week, Vice President Joe Biden made a more sweeping guarantee during a campaign swing in southern Virginia, telling a customer at a diner that Social Security will not be changed.

"I guarantee you, flat guarantee you, there will be no changes in Social Security," Biden told the customer, according to a White House pool report. "I flat guarantee you."
A Biden adviser said later the vice president was merely reassuring the woman that her benefits would not be changed. The adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said the president "has put forward a set of principles to guide bipartisan action to strengthen it for future generations. Rather than laying the groundwork for a bipartisan approach as the president has done, Mitt Romney's only solution would mean deep benefit cuts for future retirees. His running mate, Paul Ryan was an architect of privatization."

Romney's campaign chided Obama's inaction.
"His failure to lead on entitlements has put the future of Social Security at risk," said Williams, the Romney spokesman. "Mitt Romney is committed to ensuring that Social Security is there for future generations and he has a comprehensive plan to save Social Security with commonsense reforms."
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Seven U.S. troops among 11 dead in Afghan helicopter crash

KABUL (Reuters) - Eleven people were killed on Thursday in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan, including seven U.S. soldiers and three Afghan allies, the NATO-led force in the country said.

The cause of the crash, which Afghan authorities said was in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, was under investigation, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
"The crash resulted in the deaths of four International Security Assistance Force service members, three United States Forces-Afghanistan service members, three members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan civilian interpreter," ISAF said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting down the helicopter, although the insurgents often exaggerate their victories and are quick to claim responsibility for any incident involving the death of foreign troops.
The area where the helicopter went down is an insurgent hotbed and supply route, lying north of Kandahar city near Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.
A spokesman for NATO said all the foreign troops on board the helicopter were American, adding to a grim week in the country which included multiple suicide bombings which killed 63 civilians in one day, most of them shoppers in markets.
The Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter in August 2011, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 U.S. special operations soldiers.
(Writing by Rob Taylor; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Robert Birsel)
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Oil rises on hopes for economic stimulus

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up close to $114 a barrel on Tuesday as expectations for further Chinese and U.S. economic stimulus, which could boost demand, added to supply constraints from sanctions on Iran and tighter North Sea supplies.

Brent crude rose 4 cents to $113.64 a barrel by 1300 GMT after closing up 65 cents on Monday at its highest settlement since May 3.
U.S. crude firmed by 27 cents to $93.00 a barrel.
The euro zone's debt-ravaged economy shrank in the second quarter as anticipated after flatlining in the first quarter, data showed, while economists worried that Germany's growth could be snuffed out.
Market players were hoping that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would announce a third round of quantitative easing during a speech in September and looked to forthcoming data for further indications as to its probability.
"(Euro zone data) is already imbedded in the price after earlier indicators. Investors are building in expectations of a QE3 ahead of the Jackson Hole speech by Bernanke," said Harry Tchilinguirian, an oil analyst at BNP Paribas in London.
QE3 would mean a fresh injection of dollars into the economy, weakening the currency and consequently pushing up oil prices.
China is also expected to respond further to its slowing growth rate after two rounds of interest rate cuts. Stimulus could come in the form of more infrastructure projects, which would entail an intensive use of base metals and energy and also support oil prices.
"On the demand side you can be optimistic. China can maintain some oil demand growth with its infrastructure projects," Tchilinguirian said.
Investors also were keeping a watch over tensions in the Middle East that could affect supplies.
The effects of the EU Iranian oil embargo, which took effect on July 1, have continued to ripple through the physical market, and production from countries including Yemen, Syria and Sudan was still out of the picture. Adding to that tightening market was the prospect of record-low North Sea production in September.
"The Brent field problems, reduced stocks in the U.S., hurricane season, Iran tensions and threats from Israel to crush their nuclear ambitions, unrest in Syria are all adding to the melting pot," said Robert Montefusco, an oil trader at Sucden Financial.
NORTH SEA FACTOR
Analysts at ANZ said in a daily note that Brent might stabilize in a range of $110-115, but an increase in tension in the Middle East or a steeper decline in North Sea output could bring "the $120 technical target into play".
A fall in North Sea production of about 17 percent in September from August, mainly due to a drop in Forties crude output, supported the European benchmark and resulted in steep backwardation between the front months.
The projected output fall has also contributed to the widening WTI-Brent spread, which has reached a four-month high over $20 a barrel.
That balanced against the narrowing effect of the Seaway pipeline, which in mid-May began pumping crude stocks from Cushing, Oklahoma to the U.S. Gulf coast.
U.S. CRUDE STOCKS
Data on U.S. crude stocks due later in the day from industry group the American Petroleum Institute (API) is expected to provide pointers on demand growth in the world's largest oil consumer.
U.S. crude stockpiles were forecast to have fallen by 1.6 million barrels in the week to August 10, declining for a third straight week on lower imports, a preliminary Reuters poll of seven analysts showed on Monday.
The API data will be followed by more closely watched numbers from the U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Julia Payne in London, Manash Goswani in Singapore,; Editing by Jane Baird)
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