Twitter hackers appear to be Shiite group

The popular microblogging site Twitter was hacked briefly by a group calling itself the Iranian Cyber Army, but the site was quickly restored after the incident early Friday.

Those who tried to access Twitter were redirected to a site displaying a green flag and proclaiming, in English, "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army." The group's Web address was provided.

Arabic writing in blue said, "Hezbollah is victorious," and a message on the flag said, "Ya Hussein," referring to Prophet Mohammed's grandson.

The United States and Israel categorize Hezbollah, a political party in Lebanon, as a terrorist organization.

"The group claiming responsibility for the Twitter hacking is previously unknown, but its symbols would be familiar to anyone looking at radical (Web) sites," said Octavia Nasr, CNN's senior editor for Middle East affairs.

"The hackers are definitely Shiites, as indicated by the 'Ya Hussein' chant printed on their banner," she said.

"The group also uses Arabic in their text, a clear indication of collaboration with Arabic groups. Hezbollah is a Lebanese Shiite militia with ideological, political and military ties to Iran. The same name is also used by a group inside Iran."

Twitter posted a message about 2:30 a.m. ET Friday on its official Twitter page, saying, "Twitter's DNS (domain name system) records were temporarily compromised but have now been fixed."

"In the past few years, we've been seeing a rise in desire for hacking by insurgents and terrorist groups," said Nasr. Not only do they hack outside sites, but they hack each other's, she said. "The idea of 'cyber terrorism' and 'cyber insurgency' has been manifested in many ways -- (with) hacking individual sites being the most infamous."

She added, "This week's (revelation of) successful hacking of U.S. predator drone feeds by Iranian-backed Shiite militants adds another level of sophistication toward the hacking effort."

Twitter became unwittingly involved in Iranian politics last summer.

When Iran's disputed presidential election spiraled into bloody protests, the opposition used Twitter and other social networking sites to inform the world.

Protesters beamed images from the violent demonstrations at a time when mainstream media were given almost no access to the demonstrations.

Twitter became so fundamental in spreading news of the protests that the U.S. State Department asked the company to delay a planned shutdown for maintenance.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/

Actress Brittany Murphy dies in LA

LOS ANGELES - Brittany Murphy, the actress who got her start in the sleeper hit "Clueless" and rose to stardom in "8 Mile" before her movie roles declined in recent years, died Sunday in Los Angeles of what appeared to be natural causes, a Los Angeles County coroner's official said. She was 32.

Murphy was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sally Stewart said.

Murphy was transported to the hospital after the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. at the home she shared with her husband, British screenwriter Simon Monjack, in the Hollywood Hills.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said Murphy apparently collapsed in the bathroom, and authorities were looking into her medical history.

An official cause of death may not be determined for some time, since toxicology tests will be required, but "it appears to be natural," Winter said. He said an autopsy was planned for Monday or Tuesday.

Winter said Murphy's family was cooperating with the coroner's investigation. Funeral arrangements have not been announced, he said.

Los Angeles police have opened an investigation into Murphy's death, Officer Norma Eisenman said. Detectives and coroner's officials were at Murphy and Monjack's home Sunday afternoon but did not talk to reporters. Paparazzi were camped outside the multistory home, located above the Sunset Strip.

Messages left for Murphy's manager and agent by The Associated Press were not immediately returned.

Neighbor Clare Staples said she saw firefighters working to resuscitate the actress Sunday morning. She said Murphy was on a stretcher and "looked as though she was dead at the scene."

Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared "dazed" as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said. "It's just tragic," she added.

TMZ.com first reported Murphy's death Sunday morning.

Murphy's father, Angelo Bertolotti, said he learned of her death from his son, the actress's brother, and was stunned.

"She was just an absolute doll since she was born," Bertolotti said from his Branford, Fla., home. "Her personality was always outward. Everybody loved her — people that made movies with her, people on a cruise — they all loved her. She was just a regular gal."

He said he hadn't heard much about the circumstances of Murphy's death. Bertolotti divorced her mother when Murphy was young and hadn't seen Murphy in the past few years. He said he used to be in the mob and served prison time on federal drug charges.

"She was just talented," Bertolotti said. "And I loved her very much."

Meanwhile, Murphy's publicist, Nicole Perna, said in a statement: "In this time of sadness, the family thanks you for your love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy."

Born Nov. 10, 1977, in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother to Los Angeles to pursue acting.

Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted," "Clueless" and "8 Mile."

Her on-screen work had lessened of late, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's "King of the Hill" and Gloria the penguin in the 2006 feature "Happy Feet."

She is due to appear in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film, "The Expendables," set for release next year.

Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told AP in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."

Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.

"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy said. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."

She dated Ashton Kutcher, who costarred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."

Kutcher sent a message on Twitter Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

Source: http://omg.yahoo.com/news/actress-brittany-murphy-dies-in-la-at-age-32/32971?nc

Nick Folk Misses Easy 24 Yard Field Goal

Cowboy’s Nick Folk misses easy 24 yard field goal & is getting evaluated. According to the Dallas news, Dallas Cowboy’s Nick Folk missed another field goal attempt in tonight’s game,with only 2:16 to play. The general manager of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones said he is now going to evaluate it. He stated, “I’ll look at that as early as tonight and tomorrow.”

"Just hit it right off my heel," Folk said, adding that it was difficult to watch the Saints' final drive, "but we ended up getting the win and if it came down to it later in the game I would've been ready for it."

Nick Folk will keep his kicking job with the Dallas Cowboys, at least for now, after a brief competition.

The Cowboys elected not to find another kicker on the free-agent market, instead opening the job to kickoff specialist David Buehler and Folk.

During the open media period Wednesday, Folk made four of five field goals in team drills and then made all four tries in individuals drills. Buehler went 3-for-4 in team and 3-for-4 in individual. Folk's miss came from 41 yards in team exercises.

Twitter Hacked by 'Iranian Cyber Army'

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, was hacked early Friday morning by a group calling itself the "Iranian Cyber Army."Dec. 18: A screenshot of Twitter.com shows the site defaced by a group calling itself the 'Iranian Cyber Army.'

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, was hacked early Friday morning by a group calling itself the "Iranian Cyber Army."

Users hoping to find their latest tweets were instead greeted by a black screen with a green flag.

Above the flag, in Arabic, read: "Hezbollah is victorious."

On the flag, in red Arabic writing: "Yassin" (an Arabic name written in bold) then in smaller Arabic print "the feast of peace."

Below the flag was more written in Farsi.

In English, the hackers wrote: "This site has been hacked by Iranian Cyber Army. U.S.A think they controlling [sic] and managing internet by their access, but they don't, we control and manage internet by our power so do not try to stimulation (sic) Iranian People To.....
Now Which Country is embargo list? Iran? Usa?
We push them in embargo list ; )
Take care."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week was quoted by a senior official as saying, "Using the Internet and Twitter against the Iranian regime is something extraordinary that the U.S. can do."

There is no evidence at this time that Iran or Hezbollah is behind the attack.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2009/12/18/twitter-hacked-iranian-cyber-army/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fscitech+%2528FOXNews.com+-+SciTech%2529&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Bruce Allen is Redskins GM

Bruce Allen, the first person to hold the title of general manager under Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, brings with him a record of building Super Bowl-caliber rosters and a direct link to the team's prouder days when his father, George, was the coach.

The Washington Redskins brought back a familiar name and dusted off a long-unused title Thursday in a major front office shake-up, the first of many anticipated changes resulting from a losing season.

"It's exciting because of the history, the tradition, the comfort about coming home," said Allen, whose father coached the Redskins from 1971-77 and whose brother has served Virginia as both governor and U.S. senator.

Out the door goes Cerrato, Snyder's right-hand confidant for most of the past decade and the executive vice president of football operations for the last two seasons.

It was said he resigned, but, "I think the best way to put it," Snyder said, "is it was time for a change."

Katherine Reutter

In just over a month, Colbert Nation has raised more than $250,000 for US Speedskating. Shani Davis last week called Stephen Colbert “a jerk,” while other U.S. skaters — including Apolo Ohno — said Monday that they are thrilled to have the comedian on board. Also read about short track’s long break and more on Katherine Reutter’s big season.
US Speedskating has plenty to be thankful for this holiday season. With Olympic medal hopefuls Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick leading the long track team, and Apolo Ohno and Katherine Reutter spearheading the short track squad, the U.S. will surely be a serious contender in Vancouver.

After a wipeout World Cup weekend north of the border at Lake Louise (marked by TJ Lanning’s season-ending fractured vertebrae and knee dislocation in the downhill), the US men’s Alpine ski team is banking this week on Beaver Creek’s familiar slopes, most notably the Birds of Prey course where Americans have won five races since 2003. Most in need of redemption is Bode Miller, who was 29th (downhill) and 39th (Super G) in Canada, each time more than two seconds behind the winner. The American women, who will be speed-racing in Lake Louise, are coming off a forgettable outing at Aspen, where defending Cup titlist Lindsay Vonn didn’t qualify for the second run of the giant slalom and skied off the course in the slalom, in which none of her teammates even made it to the second run. “This is an embarrassing day for us,’’ acknowledged head coach Jim Tracy . . . Heading into this week’s third World Cup luge event on home ice in Altenberg, the German women have run their winning streak on the circuit to 92 straight after sweeping the first two races, and the men’s doubles twice have gone 1-2. No podiums yet for the Yanks, who are trying for a top-five placement that would put them on the Olympic team. Already out of contention after team raceoffs are two-time Games participant Courtney Zablocki and Salt Lake veteran Ashley Walden of Westborough, who was hoping to join husband (and new citizen) Bengt on the squad.

Garfunkel And Oates

The fun Sisters better known as Garfunkel and Oates are spreading holiday joy, they have already released their brand new single ‘Present Face,’ now it seems they are set to appear on the Jay Leno Show.The appearance on the show will coincide with their single being available in I-tunes. But what do we really know about the pair? Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) was born in Coudersport, PA. She first appeared when Tim Robbins cast her to play Embedded. After that, she appeared in Clint Eastwoods movie Million Dollar Baby. Since then she has appeared in a number of movies.

Garfunkel and Oates is a comedy-folk duo from Los Angeles, California, consisting of actress-songwriters Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome. The two met at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre in Los Angeles. The duet was formed when they started working together to turn a short film made by Lindhome, entitled “Imaginary Larry”, into a musical.In February 2009, the Garfunkel and Oates song “Fuck You” (reworked as “Screw You”) was featured in the Scrubs episode “My Lawyer’s In Love”. In March 2009, Micucci announced in a bulletin on MySpace that the two had entered the studio to record an EP.

Ben Folds is Judge on NBC’s ‘The Sing-Off’

"The Sing-Off" is a four night special holiday event that begins Monday, December 14 at 8pm ET through 10pm ET. Former 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey will be hosting the event which should draw our attention away immediately, but considering singer/song-writer Ben Folds is one of the judges, we may stick around after all. According to reports, "The Sing-Off" is like "American Idol" for cappella groups. The show premiered tonight and will continue on both Tuesday and Wednesday night with a live finale scheduled for December 21. Sounds like a nice little Christmas event the whole family can enjoy. So be sure to tune in tomorrow night at 8pm ET as this special event continues.
A new four-night special holiday event show called “The Sing-Off” began on NBC last night and for those of you who didn’t see it, it’s an American Idol-esque talent show but instead of individuals, there are groups performing.

Director Sam Wiesman is the show’s producer, and former 98 Degrees member Nick Lachey is the host. (This too has a lot of people rolling their eyes, but not to worry.) One judge who has helped the show catch a lot of attention is singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who released an album earlier this year of college a cappella groups covering his songs. We also have on the panel Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men, and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls.

The show airs on NBC for the next two nights at 8:00 p.m. ET, with the finale airing live on Monday, December 21st. The winning group will receive $100,000 and a major-label record contract.