New Film "Innocence Of Muslims" Causes Violence, Killing Of American Diplomat

Nigeria, yesterday, beefed up security around diplomatic installations, buildings and embassy personnel in response to the killing of United States’ Ambassador to Libya, Mr. Christopher Stevens and three embassy officials in the US consulate in Benghazi.

The consulate was looted and damaged.

The bodies of the four Americans were at the Benghazi Airport at press time. Reports said Libyan gunmen had attacked the U.S consulate in the Eastern city of Benghazi and set it on fire.

The move coincided with that of President Barak Obama, who has ordered increased security measures around all US diplomatic installations world wide just as a 50- member Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST), has been sent to Libya.

The Marines’ FAST detachment is specially trained to protect government workers overseas. Reports, yesterday, said Ambassador Stevens and three other US embassy staff were killed in a rocket attack at the US consulate and a building where some of the dead staff were taking refuge.

Before the attack in Benghazi, there had been violent protests in Egypt where protesters scaled the wall to destroy the embassy buildings, pulled down the American flag. The anti-American protest quickly spread to Libya and other Arab states like Tunisia.

The protests have been ignited by an amateur video which Muslims described as offensive, thereby provoking Muslim faithful.  The California-born ambassador Christopher Stevens played an active role in securing US support for rebels during their uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule.

Isreali Film maker, Sam Bacile

Israeli filmmaker,Sam Bacile went into hiding Tuesday after his movie attacking Islam's prophet Muhammad sparked angry assaults by ultra-conservative Muslims on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, where one American was killed.

Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, writer and director Bacile remained defiant, saying Islam is a cancer and that the 56-year-old intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion.

Protesters angered over Bacile's film opened fire on and burned down the U.S. consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, killing an American diplomat on Tuesday. In Egypt, protesters scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo and replaced an American flag with an Islamic banner.

Bacile, a California real estate developer who identifies himself as an Israeli Jew, said he believes the movie will help his native land by exposing Islam's flaws to the world.

The two-hour movie, "Innocence of Muslims," cost $5 million to make and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors, said Bacile, who wrote and directed it.

The film claims Muhammad was a fraud. An English-language 13-minute trailer on YouTube shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults disguised as revelations about Muhammad, whose obedient followers are presented as a cadre of goons.

It depicts Muhammad as a feckless philanderer who approved of child sexual abuse, among other overtly insulting claims that have caused outrage.

Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any manner, let alone insult the prophet. A Danish newspaper's 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet triggered riots in many Muslim countries.

Though Bacile was apologetic about the American who was killed as a result of the outrage over his film, he blamed lax embassy security and the perpetrators of the violence.

"I feel the security system (at the embassies) is no good," said Bacile. "America should do something to change it."

 The film was dubbed into Egyptian Arabic by someone Bacile doesn't know, but he speaks enough Arabic to confirm that the translation is accurate. It was made in three months in the summer of 2011, with 59 actors and about 45 people behind the camera.

 The full film has been shown once, to a mostly empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year, said Bacile.

 coined from http://www.nigeriadailynews.com

Michael Clarke Duncan Dies...

American actor, Michael Clarke Duncan has been announced dead. 

Duncan died yesterday at Cedars Sinai Medical centre, Los Angeles, U.S.A, after a long battle with cardiac arrest.

 Duncan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in a single-parent household with his sister, Judy, and mother, Jean Duncan (a house cleaner), after his father left. He always wanted to act, but had to drop out of the Communications program at Alcorn State University to support his family when his mother became ill. Duncan's large frame—6 feet 5 inches (196 cm)and 315 pounds (142 kg)—helped him in his jobs digging ditches for the People's Gas Company and being a bouncer at several Chicago clubs

Duncan took other security jobs while in Los Angeles while trying to get some acting work in commercials. During this time, he worked as a bodyguard for celebrities like Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Foxx, LL Cool J, and Notorious B.I.G., all the while doing bit parts in television and films. When the Notorious B.I.G. was killed in 1997, Duncan quit this line of work.

In 1998, Duncan was cast as Bear in the film Armageddon, where he struck up a friendship with castmate Bruce Willis. It was Bruce Willis' influence that helped him to get his breakout role as John Coffey in the Frank Darabont-directed The Green Mile, a role which netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

                                                              

Duncan then was cast in a string of films that helped to establish him as a star: The Whole Nine Yards, Planet of the Apes, The Scorpion King (where he starred alongside his friend, The Rock), The Island and Daredevil as Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin.

Duncan signed on for the role of the Kingpin in January 2002, though he had been attached far earlier.power-lifted with one or two reps a day, as well as eating whatever he wanted. Despite this, Duncan's biggest concern was that he was black, because Kingpin had always been portrayed as white.He spoke on the fans' loyalty to the source material by saying "they watch movies to say, 'Hey, that's not like the comic book.' But I want them to get past that and just see the movie for what it is and see me for what I am—an actor." When he was cast, he weighed 290 pounds. He was asked to gain 40 pounds for the role in order to fit the physique of Kingpin. In order to do this, he would lift weights for 30 minutes a day, and

In July 2006, Duncan showed interest in returning for the role of the Kingpin, but stated that he would not be willing to gain weight as he felt "comfortable" being down to 270 pounds. However, he jokingly showed willingness to change his mind if he were offered $20 million. Duncan suggested that the character be portrayed as having been training a lot in jail in order to become faster in combat against Daredevil, also working as a way to fit his weight loss into the story. 

                                                

 In 2009, he stopped eating meat and later appeared in a PETA ad campaign, touting the health benefits and his increased strength from a vegetarian diet.

Duncan also provided his voice for a number of roles, including Brother Bear and its sequel, Brother Bear 2, The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, Quiznos commercials, and the video games Demon Stone, SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, The Suffering: Ties That Bind, Saints Row, and Soldier of Fortune, with his most recent role being God of War II, where he provides the voice of Atlas, the TitanZeus to stand at the western edge of the earth and hold up the sky on his shoulders. He reprised his role as the Kingpin in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. condemned by

In 2005, he starred in the film Sin City (again alongside Bruce Willis) as Manute, a powerful mobster. Duncan appeared in a minor role in the 2006 movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as Lucius Washington, and he voiced the role of the villain Massive in Loonatics Unleashed. In 2006, he voiced the role of Numbuh 26 in the animated movie Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation ZERO. Additionally, he played Balrog in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li and voiced the prison commander in Kung Fu Panda.

He also guest starred in numerous television shows. He appeared in an episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, titled "Benchwarmers", as Zack's basketball coach, Coach Little. In 2005, Duncan guest-starred in a first-season episode of CSI: NY. He appeared as "Colt" in the second-season premiere of Chuck, "Chuck Versus The First Date". In November he appeared as a guest star on the CBS show Two and a Half Men. In April 2011 Duncan guest starred on an episode of TV series Bones as Leo Knox. In 2012, Duncan got his first starring role as the same character in the spinoff series The Finder. In the same year, he appeared in a public service announcement advertising the importance of knowing early-onset symptoms of strokes. During the week of May 14, 2012, Duncan appeared on the late night talk show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a guest, when the show was taping for a week in Scotland.

                                                           

On July 13, 2012, Duncan was taken to an hospital after suffering from a heart attack. Media reports suggested that his girlfriend, Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, had previously tried to save his life by performing CPR. Duncan's publicist, Joy Fehily, issued a statement on August 6 that read he was moved from the intensive care unit but remained hospitalized following his heart attack.

On September 3, Fehily quoted Manigault as saying that Duncan had died in the morning in Los Angeles. He added that celebrations of Duncan's life would be announced at a later date. The statement also, for the first time, described Manigault as Duncan's fiancée.