The Mortgage Bankers Association said interest rates on fixed 30-year mortgage rates surged 12 basis points to average 3.90 percent in the week ended May 24. It was the highest level since May of last year and the biggest jump in 14 months.

The rise sent the seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity down 8.8 percent as refinancing applications tumbled 12.3 percent. It was the biggest drop in refinance applications this year as demand fell to the lowest level since December.

The refinance share of total mortgage activity decreased to 71 percent of applications from 74 percent the week before.

Still, the gauge of loan requests for home purchases, a leading indicator of home sales, rose 2.6 percent, suggesting potential homeowners may have sought to lock in a still-low rate.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said last week the Fed could scale back the pace of its bond purchases at one of the "next few meetings" if the economic recovery looked set to maintain forward momentum. The comments sowed concerns among investors that the Fed's ultra-loose policy could end sooner than expected.

Encouraging economic data last week also contributed to that view as home sales rose and durable goods orders improved.

"Rates rose in response to stronger economic data and an increasing chance that the Fed may soon begin to taper their asset purchases," Mike Fratantoni, MBA's vice president of research and economics, said in a statement.

The Fed is currently buying $85 billion a month in bonds and mortgage-backed securities as it seeks to keep borrowing rates low.

The low rates have helped the housing market, luring in buyers off the sidelines. The recovery in housing has been gaining traction since last year and data on Tuesday showed home prices saw their biggest annual increase in nearly seven years in March.

Rates had already been on the rise before Bernanke's comments and have gained 31 basis points since the start of the month.

The survey covers over 75 percent of U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, according to MBA.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Diane Craft)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday scheduled votes next week on seven of President Barack Obama's embattled executive-branch nominees, setting up a showdown with Republicans over rules used to block confirmations.

Unless Republicans allow all seven to be confirmed, Reid told reporters, "I'm going to do what I need to do," adding, "This place doesn't work" under the current rules.

Speaking to reporters following a closed-door session he held with his fellow Democrats, Reid was thought to be referring to a possible move to strip Republicans of their ability to block executive branch nominees with a procedural hurdle known as the filibuster.

The seven nominees are: Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Thomas Perez to be U.S. labor secretary, Richard Cordray for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Fred Hochberg to serve a second term as head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, along with votes on three members of the National Labor Relations Board.

The Senate requires 67 votes to change its rules, including those regarding filibusters. But under a procedural power play known as "the nuclear option," Reid could do it with just 51. His Democrats control the Senate, 54-46.

Their aim would be to reduce to a simple majority from 60 votes now needed to end filibusters on executive branch nominees. A 60-vote threshold would remain for judicial nominees as well as legislation, aides said.

While indicating he was prepared to force the rules change, Reid still held out hope the situation could be defused.

"We'll have to wait to see what the weekend brings," Reid said of the possibility that Republicans would allow the seven executive branch nominees to be confirmed.

If all seven were to be confirmed next week, Reid said there would be no need to pursue the nuclear option. "Hallelujah," he said of that potential outcome.

Reid told reporters he had the 51 Democratic votes needed to change the rules if the nominees are not confirmed next week.

In response, Republican leader Mitch McConnell said: "These are dark days in the history of the Senate."

In a heated exchange on the Senate floor earlier Thursday, Reid accused McConnell of breaking an agreement reached in January to make the Senate confirmation process more efficient and less hostile.

McConnell angrily denied it and accused Reid of concocting "a phony crisis" as an excuse to break his own promise on Senate's rules.

"If this isn't a power grab, I don't know what a power grab looks like," McConnell roared.

VOWS OF REVENGE

Reid charged that Republicans have blocked nominees not because they are unqualified, but because Republicans often do not like the pro-consumer, pro-labor and pro-environment agencies that they have been named to head. He also accused Republicans of delaying votes on nominees who eventually win broad support, just to hobble the Obama administration.

McConnell countered that scores of Obama's nominees have been confirmed this year, including a number of his Cabinet secretaries, many with broad bipartisan support. He accused Reid of trying to pick a fight to fire up the Democrats' liberal base, particularly organized labor.

Some Republicans suspect that if Reid eliminates the filibuster on executive branch nominations, it would not be long before Democrats do the same for legislation.

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander, who has fashioned himself as somewhat of a bridge to opposition Democrats, warned that a rules change would make him devote all his energies to winning a Republican majority in the Senate.

"Then Republicans will be in a position to do whatever Republicans with 51 votes want to do," as he sketched out a conservative agenda that includes altering the Dodd-Frank financial regulation law, repealing Obama's healthcare law and approving the Keystone oil pipeline from Canada through the United States.

"The nuclear option" has been threatened over the years by both parties to abolish or curb the filibuster. But it not been used, largely because the Senate majority knows it will eventually be back in the minority and would want the filibuster in its arsenal.

Some Republicans urged calm and suggested that Democratic and Republican senators huddle in a private meeting to try to resolve differences. That meeting is set for Monday.

In unusually harsh language, McConnell said that unless Democrats "pull back from the brink," Reid "is going to be remembered as the worst leader of the Senate ever."

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and David Lawder; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Vicki Allen and Stacey Joyce)

(Reuters) - The handbrake is the railroad industry's ultimate fail-safe mechanism. It is supposed to help avert disasters like the one that engulfed a Canadian town on Saturday, when a runaway train loaded with oil hurtled downhill, derailed and exploded, leaving 50 people dead or missing.

The railroad initially blamed the catastrophe on the failure of the train's pneumatic airbrakes after an engine fire, but the company acknowledged on Wednesday that the train's engineer did not apply an adequate number of handbrakes to hold the train in place, and failed to comply with regulations.

A Reuters review of Canadian and U.S. regulations found that rail operators are given considerable leeway to decide how many handbrakes are sufficient for any given train, depending on track conditions and the weight of the cargo.

Operators are only required to apply enough of the handbrakes - one is found on every railcar - to ensure the train will not move even if other safety features, such as air brakes, falter.

The issue of handbrakes is likely to prove central to how blame is apportioned for the deadliest North American railroad disaster in at least two decades, experts said. The Canadian authorities have launched a criminal investigation, and Quebec police inspector Michel Forget has said criminal negligence is one lead they are looking into.

The question of whether enough of the train's handbrakes were used may affect the liability of the rail company - Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) - and could spur an overhaul in regulation. One key question is if fault can be linked to MMA's own handbrake practice, or to the lone engineer who operated the train, or to a regulatory code that gives rail operators too much slack, experts said.

MMA Chairman Ed Burkhardt told Reuters the engineer failed to comply with Canadian regulations. "If it had been complied with, we wouldn't have had a runaway train," he said.

Burkhardt said he could not be certain how many handbrakes were set but the engineer told him that 11 had been applied before he left the train on Friday night for a sleep break.

At least three independent railroad industry experts contacted by Reuters said they would have opted to apply at least 20 brakes and as many as 30 on a similar heavy train parked at a grade of 1.2 percent, which is the slope of the track where the runaway train had been parked.

By 1 a.m. on Saturday, the unmanned train was speeding toward Lac-Megantic, Quebec, around 7 miles downhill from its parking spot in the municipality of Nantes.

The company and investigators have not released the engineer's identity. A source familiar with the situation and Canadian media said his name is Tom Harding.

Reuters has not been able to reach Harding for comment. A phone number listed for him in Farnham, Quebec, was disconnected and a Reuters reporter who visited his address found no one home.

Burkhardt told reporters on Wednesday afternoon that the engineer was "under police control" but "not in jail." Later in the day, police said the engineer is not under arrest and declined to further explain his status or name him.

TESTING THE BRAKES

The handbrake mechanism on a railcar usually consists of a large wheel in the cabin, connected to chains and levers that set brake pads underneath the train.

Canadian regulations require an engineer to test the train's handbrakes after setting them. The engineer is required to attempt to pull the train back and forth, typically using the engine, to ensure the brakes can hold it in place.

Burkhardt, a decades-long rail industry veteran, said he did not know if the engineer performed the test.

Asked whether a potential failure to set or test enough handbrakes could increase MMA's liability for the wreck, Burkhardt said, "We're acknowledging liability. We're not standing around saying we don't have responsibility."

He said the company had insurance but declined to give details.

To be sure, unforeseen circumstances left MMA's train at the mercy of its handbrakes. The train's pneumatic brakes, which run on compressed air and are the first line of defense, had been shut down by firefighters when they switched off an engine that had caught fire after the engineer left.

It is not yet clear what caused the fire, but the shutting down of the engine prompted the pneumatic braking system to gradually leak air and lose its track-gripping power.

Establishing handbrake safety guidelines may become more important as a growing number of trains crisscross North America to bring oil from shale-drilling regions to big refineries.

The MMA train was carrying a cargo of light, sweet oil from North Dakota's Bakken region, which ships out three-quarters of its crude by rail, to an Irving Oil refinery in New Brunswick.

"I definitely think there should be a protocol ... that addresses where and how you're going to park a train that's loaded with hazardous material," said John Bentley, an accident reconstruction expert in Perryville, Arkansas.

At present, Canadian and U.S. regulations do not specify the number of handbrakes since factors like track grade, cargo weight and contents, weather and space between railcars can all have a bearing on how many brakes are needed to ensure safety.

Depending on where a train is parked, more or fewer handbrakes may be required, Canadian Transportation Safety Board investigator Ed Belkaloul said, adding that railroad companies are given some discretion to develop their own safety standard.

HOW MANY HAND BRAKES ARE ENOUGH?

MMA has said its handbrake policy was adopted from safety guidelines set by a much larger railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. Canadian Pacific declined comment.

Earlier this week, Burkhardt told Reuters he believed the MMA engineer had complied with company rules and standard rail industry practices in securing the train. On Wednesday, he told reporters the worker likely failed to set enough handbrakes, violated company policy, and was now suspended without pay. He did not detail what caused his revised views.

An online copy of Canadian Pacific's General Operating Instructions said at least nine handbrakes must be set on a parked train of 70 to 79 cars, but additional brakes "may be required" if the train is parked on a grade.

Rival railroad Canadian National provides more specific instructions, recommending that crews activate the handbrakes on 40 percent of all railcars when a train is idled on a 1-1.4 percent grade, according to a Transportation Safety Board report in April.

If MMA's engineer had followed the 40 percent guidance, he would have had to activate about 29 brakes.

The Transportation Safety Board report followed a January 2012 incident in which a section of 13 loaded coal cars crashed into a stationary train near Hanlon, Alberta, at 56 miles per hour (90 km per hour), seriously injuring one crew member. Canadian National was faulted for providing inadequate guidance to its crews for how to test the braking systems, particularly on slopes.

"There's always some amount of judgment. It's a balancing act between what will hold the train and what is operationally feasible," said Rob Mangels, senior mechanical associate at R.L. Banks & Associates and a locomotive engineer and trainer.

Mangels said handbraking 20 to 30 cars on a 72-car oil train would be typical. A longtime Canada-based locomotive engineer and brakeman, Doug Finnson, said he might activate handbrakes on 25 railcars before leaving a train of that length on a flat surface, or more brakes if it was on a decline.

In the United States, freight train operators generally apply handbrakes on every fourth car, another expert said.

Other experts questioned whether MMA's engineer took enough time to secure the train. According to investigators, the train pulled onto the tracks at Nantes around 11 p.m. local time. MMA said that the engineer had secured the train by 11:25 p.m.

"That seems like a short period of time to secure the train," Colorado-based railroad consultant Robert Stout said, adding that to activate a brake, a worker must walk between the railcars, climb up a ladder and turn the brake wheel, sometimes up to forty times.

MMA's Burkhardt said it may be impossible to verify how many handbrakes were set before the disaster, due to extensive damage to the rail cars. Police say 200 investigators are sifting through the charred wreckage.

(Reporting by Joshua Schneyer and Cezary Podkul in New York; Additional reporting by Solarina Ho in Toronto; Richard Valdmanis in Lac-Megantic, Quebec; Jonathan Lee in New York and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Lisa Shumaker)

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who enjoys vast power in the Muslim nation of 5.5 million, was shown on television telling a government meeting that the country's rapid growth was backed by prudent state spending and massive foreign investment.

The country is forecast to increase its gross domestic product by 8 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, citing the growing gas exports in the country, which holds the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves.

A total of 1,865 investment projects estimated to be worth over $41 billion are currently being implemented in the country, said Berdymukhamedov, who remains the main source of economic information in the reclusive nation. He did not elaborate.

In September the country will launch production at Galkynsh, the world's second-largest natural gas deposit. That will allow Turkmenistan to sharply ramp up gas exports to China, which has fast supplanted the nation's former imperial master Russia as the main importer of Turkmen natural gas.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Turkmenistan for the launch, Turkmen officials told Reuters last month.

Berdymukhamedov, officially titled Arkadag (The Patron), was also quoted by state media as saying that Turkmenistan could start exporting grain after boosting its wheat crop to 1.6 million tons this year from 1.2 million tons in 2012.

Turkmenistan, one of the world's most arid nations, produced just around 70,000 tons of wheat in Soviet times.

It first started exporting grain after gathering 1.4 million tons of wheat in 2010. The country's internal consumption is estimated at 1.2 million tons.

(Reporting by Marat Gurt; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Sophie Walker)

Monteith, who played the character Finn Hudson on the Fox TV series about a high school glee club, was found dead in his room on the 21st floor of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel on Vancouver's waterfront at about noon Saturday, according to police.

Deputy Police Chief Doug Lepard said there was no indication of foul play. Monteith's body was found by hotel staff after he missed his check-out time, Lepard said.

"We do not have a great deal of information as to cause of death," Coroner Lisa Lapointe said.

Lepard said Monteith had been out with people earlier and that those people are being interviewed.

"I have no words! My heart is broken," Dot-Marie Jones, who plays football coach Shannon Beiste on "Glee," said in a post on her Twitter account Saturday night. She called Monteith a "hell of a friend" and an "amazing" man.

"What an absolutely tragic loss of a very talented young man," tweeted Zooey Deschanel, star of another Fox show, "New Girl."

Fox and the producers of "Glee," including 20th Century Fox Television, called him an exceptional performer "and an even more exceptional person. He was a true joy to work with and we will all miss him tremendously."

"We are in shock and mourning this tragic loss," his representatives at Viewpoint Public Relations in Los Angeles said in a statement.

In April, Monteith admitted himself to a treatment facility for "substance addiction" and asked for privacy as he took steps toward recovery, a representative said at the time.

Lea Michele, his "Glee" co-star and real-life girlfriend, told People magazine that she loved and supported him and was proud he was seeking help.

It was not Monteith's first time in rehab. He received treatment when he was 19 and had previously talked about his addiction struggles, saying he had a serious problem and took just "anything and everything."

He told Parade magazine in 2011 that he was "lucky to be alive."

Monteith, who turned 31 on May 11, starred in "Glee" as a high school football player who puts his status and popularity at risk to join the glee club and its outcast members.

The show, with its pop music-based song-and-dance numbers and high-profile guest stars including Gwyneth Paltrow, became an immediate hit and made stars of its relatively unknown cast.

The series, which debuted in 2009, is in its fourth season.

On his Twitter account, Monteith described himself as "tall, awkward, canadian, actor, drummer, person."

In a 2010 interview with The Associated Press, Monteith was upbeat about life. He said that if "Glee" were to be canceled he would be OK.

"I've never been afraid of working," he said. "I've never been afraid of auditioning for jobs. Obviously, I've never been afraid of anonymity. I was happy (before 'Glee'). I'm happy now. I guess I'm well adjusted."

Monteith was among the "Glee" actors who remained series regulars as their characters graduated high school and moved on to other adventures.

According to his biography on Fox's website, Monteith was born in Calgary, Alberta, and moved to Vancouver Island as a child. Before turning to acting, he held a variety of jobs including Wal-Mart greeter, school bus driver, roofer and cab driver.

Monteith's TV credits included roles on the series "Kaya" and "Kyle XY" and guest appearances on "Smallville," ''Supernatural," ''Stargate," ''Flash Gordon" and "Interns." His film credits included "Final Destination 3," ''The Invisible," ''Deck the Halls" and "Whisper."

___

Elber reported from Los Angeles.

(Logo: )

Recall Summary

Name of product: High-Pressure Scuba Diving Air Hoses

Hazard: The diving hose that connects the regulator to the tank's pressure gauge can leak, posing a drowning hazard to the user.

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the hoses and contact Trident Diving Equipment for a free replacement hose.

Consumer Contact: Trident Diving Equipment at (800) 234-3483, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or e-mailor online at , then click on "Smooth High Pressure Hose Safety Recall" for more information.

Photos are available at

Recall Details

Units: About 200

Description: The recalled air hoses are high-pressure scuba air hoses with a black, smooth rubber outer covering. They are about five millimeters in diameter and 32 or 36 inches long. These hoses connect the regulator to the tank pressure gauge. The phrase "Scuba Diving High Pressure hose I.D. 3/16 (4.76 mm) W.P. 5000 PSI Exceeds SAE 100RT braid with Kevlar fiber from Dupont" is printed in white lettering on the hose's outer covering. The hoses have metal fittings on each end one female fitting and one male fitting. "CE EN 250 230" is stamped on the female fitting and one of the following production date codes is on the male hex head fitting: T1011, T1111 or T0312.

Incidents/Injuries: Trident has received one report of a hose leaking. No injuries have been reported.

Sold at: Scuba diving retailers nationwide from November 2011 through June 2012 for about $35.

Importer: Trident Diving Equipment, of Chatsworth, Calif.

Manufactured in: Taiwan

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on .

Media ContactPlease use the phone numbers below for all media requests.Phone: (301) 504-7908Spanish: (301) 504-7800

CPSC Consumer Information HotlineContact us at this toll-free number if you have questions about a recall:800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054)Times: 8 a.m. 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytimeCall to get product safety and other agency information and to .

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

But they also speak of a struggle to preserve that history and of discrimination that continued long after the war ended even where Lincoln himself reminded Americans of our defining ideal: that all men are created equal.

"Our story here in this town, and in this state, and in this country has not been told," said Mary Alice Nutter, 68, who has been working to fulfill her mother's dying wish for an African-American history museum in the town where Union soldiers turned the tide of the Civil War, helping to end slavery in the United States.

A century and a half after the Battle of Gettysburg, the nascent museum project is aimed not only at chronicling the deeds of the black soldiers who fought there and those who buried the dead, but also the experiences of their descendants who can recall a civil rights struggle that persists in living memory.

Nutter and other members of the community have been collecting photographs, historical records, and oral histories for the museum project currently housed in a small temporary space.

One picture shows William Francis Penn, a Gettysburg battlefield guide, posing with a group of well-dressed African-Americans in front of a 1920s auto. Another is of Cecilia Eliza Jane Biggs who shook Lincoln's hand in a Victorian dress. There's the story of local veterinarian Basil Biggs, who was one of the men who received four cents per body to bury the dead after the battle, and the white Wert family, who aided the Underground Railroad.

Nutter, whose great-great grandfather, Lloyd F. A. Watts, served in the Union Army toward the end of the war and went on to become a respected teacher and preacher, said the project aims to correct a historical oversight: when she grew up local schools didn't mention that African-Americans fought during the Civil War or that segregation was being openly practiced in Gettysburg until the 1960s.

The path hasn't always been easy, but about two years ago she found Ron Bailey, a partner with new skills and energy. After retiring from a career with IBM, Bailey has used his organizational and people skills to tirelessly campaign for the museum.

"What we do have is one of the most amazing stories of black people in the U.S.," Bailey said. "We're looking for an angel donor."

Dick Peterson, a former Gettysburg borough council president who is white, said many local people are "coming to realize" that the stories of African-Americans haven't been properly told.

"We've given short-shrift to the black community in terms of their contribution to the war," said Peterson, 82, who called efforts to create the museum "exceedingly important."

James Paradis, a historian and author of the book "African-Americans and the Gettysburg Campaign," said many black families visited the battlefield to pay their respects in the decades after the Civil War, but numbers declined as more emphasis was placed on military strategy and Confederate forces. For example, reconciliation was a key theme at the 50th anniversary of the battle in 1913, and so Confederate veterans were invited.

"But the irony is just so bitter the black veterans were not invited to the 50th anniversary," Paradis said. "That's symbolic of what's happened. If you had been there at the time of the battle you would have seen thousands of blacks on both sides," serving as aides, cooks and other staff.

Nutter said the lofty ideals of the Gettysburg Address given to dedicate the Soldiers' National Cemetery was a mandatory topic in school, but the reality for African-Americans was, and is, different.

"What President Lincoln said is beautiful. Love it. Deep down love it. But this country, to this day, nationally, we're not living it," Nutter said.

Indeed, only a few years after the war a separate cemetery for black veterans was created in Gettysburg because they were "denied burial in the National Cemetery because of segregation policies," according to a historical marker placed in 2003.

The Rev. John Spangler of the Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary agreed that the stories of local African-Americans "have been far too invisible," even at the seminary, which was founded in 1826. "We haven't had the pride to tell it often and proudly enough," he said, though that's changing with new exhibits.

Nutter said she wouldn't change her childhood in Gettysburg "for anything" and spoke of support from friends in the white community. But she also remembered a time when blacks weren't allowed to sit downstairs in the local theatre, and that her mother used to tell stories about the Ku Klux Klan burning crosses in the yards of local families.

Jessie Smith, 64, recalled one local tavern that wouldn't allow African-Americans to enter by the front door. Once inside, they had to sit on buckets, not chairs.

"My growing up, there was a lot of prejudice and racism," she said.

Gettysburg wasn't alone, according to Pennsylvania's official Black History program, which notes that such discrimination continued through the 1950s and 1960s in many areas, including large cities.

"While there were no 'White Only' and 'Colored Only' signs to indicate a segregated facility in Pennsylvania, public places of business and recreation continued their distinctive Jim Crow approach that was informally in place," the program notes.

Other Gettysburg African-Americans said there have been improvements in recent decades.

"I didn't have many issues getting a job," said Stephanie Moses, 47, who credits older African-Americans for breaking down racial barriers.

Nutter said the museum aims to communicate untold stories in order to "bring some semblance of peace and understanding" to Gettysburg's complex racial legacy. Ultimately, it's a message for people of all races, she said.

"All of us, we're mixed with white, anyway," Nutter said. "And today, at our reunions... there are mixed marriages like you wouldn't believe. Who cares what color, or whatever, any more."

"I hope this enlightens all people," Nutter said of the museum. "I'm looking for love and peace and kindness among all people, regardless of race."

But she added that "you've got to try and see things from other people's viewpoint" in order to get that peace.

___

Follow Kevin Begos at http://twitter.com/kbegos

WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd signaled on Tuesday that a licensing deal, or even an outright sale of the company, was still a possibility, pleasing shareholders still reeling from the disappointing debut for its new line of smartphones.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins, responding to a question about whether he was looking into strategic alternatives, said he is open to all options that create value for shareholders. He emphasized that the company has so far focused on creating value through the launch of its new devices powered by an all-new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

"This is a long-term transition for the company, but I can assure you that we're pushing very hard," Heins said at the company's annual shareholder meeting. "BlackBerry will pursue every opportunity to create value for shareholders."

His remarks that BlackBerry was also open to any and all licensing opportunities, sent shares higher in morning trading.

John Goldsmith, deputy head of equities at Montrusco Bolton, which owns more than 1.5 million BlackBerry shares, believes that BlackBerry may well be pressed into striking such a deal.

"I think they're on a very short leash," said Goldsmith, referring to BlackBerry's management. "I wouldn't be surprised if within the next two quarters there is a definitive announcement with regard to other options that this company could be looking at whether that's putting itself for sale or some other option."

The company's stock had dropped more than 30 percent after it posted disappointing second-quarter results in late June and forecast an operating loss in the current quarter.

A bigger concern for investors, was the fact that it sold fewer-than-expected BlackBerry 10 devices in their first full quarter on the market, offering little evidence that it could quickly win back market share from Apple Inc's iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy devices, and other phones powered by Google's Android operating system.

Even so, some investors believe many other companies would relish the prospect of getting their hands on the new platform.

"I can see why this guy is confident," said Ross Healy, a portfolio manager with MacNicol & Associates, whose clients own BlackBerry shares. "He is talking about partnerships and being open to talks and I don't think you say that unless you've really had a talk or two with interested parties - and that gives you some confidence."

At the meeting, held at BlackBerry's home base in Waterloo, Ontario, Heins conceded that BlackBerry has a tough road ahead as it attempts to turn around its fortunes, but he insisted it was on the right track.

Heins said BlackBerry was already seeing small signs of market-share gains in the top-end of the ultra-competitive smartphone market.

"Before you go into any strategic option, I think you have to create value. And the value of the company 15 months ago was way less than what it is today," he said.

CLOCK TICKING

Despite the company's confident tone, many investors agree that the clock is ticking for BlackBerry, which is caught in a squeeze on both the high- and low-ends of the smartphone market.

BlackBerry 10 devices hit store shelves this year just as the high-end smartphone segment had begun to show some signs of saturation. Last week, Samsung reported results that fell shy of expectations, while Apple earlier this year reported its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.

On the mid- to low end, competition is growing intense, with Chinese manufacturers such as Huawei Technologies and ZTE gaining ground.

Even so, BlackBerry said it remains determined to stick to its plan and is not re-thinking its strategy in any manner.

"We as a board remain completely supportive of management," said the company's chair, Barbara Stymiest, adding that she was confident the turnaround plan would succeed.

Shareholders voted on Tuesday to elect all the company's director nominees to its board. They also approved the plan to change the company's name to BlackBerry Ltd from Research In Motion Ltd, a move that had been announced in January.

BlackBerry shares closed almost 1 percent higher at $9.64 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha, additional reporting by Peter Henderson; Writing by Cameron French; editing by Frank McGurty and Gunna Dickson)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lovable villain Gru is back as a doting father in "Despicable Me 2," but while he swaps his villainous world domination schemes for princess parties, his yellow, spiky-haired Minions rustle up trouble in the film.

"Despicable Me 2," out in U.S. theaters on Wednesday, features Steve Carell again as Gru, who is now a full-time single father to three adopted daughters. Gru has become a spy for an anti-villain league to track down another evil mastermind.

The small goggle-wearing Minions, Gru's band of devoted little workers, get more screen time for their song-and-dance numbers and slapstick antics in the sequel.

Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul, who co-wrote both "Despicable Me" films, told Reuters that they consciously made an effort to include more Minions, who speak a made-up language called "Minionese," in the storyline this time around.

"The people have spoken. They love the Minions. We made a decision to incorporate the Minions much more into the plot in this film so that we can not only spend time with them, but give them more to do," Daurio said.

Gru's character has come a long way from a freeze-ray gun-wielding, menacing villain. In this film, he deals with his eldest daughter's first romance and he finds an unlikely love interest, played by Kristen Wiig.

But Daurio and Paul said they kept Gru's devious side.

"He can still do all the things we wish we could do, whether it's spraying the annoying neighbor with a hose or threatening a little boy who likes his daughter. He still gets to be nasty, but his evilness is on a different scale now," Daurio said.

MARKETING TO A CULT AUDIENCE

"Despicable Me" became a surprise blockbuster in 2010, raking in more than $543 million at the worldwide box office and becoming the 10th biggest animated film, according to movie tracking site BoxOfficeMojo.com.

"Despicable Me 2" grossed $50 million at the worldwide box office after opening overseas last week. Industry experts project the film can make between $110 million and $130 million at the North American box office over the five-day holiday weekend for U.S. Independence Day.

The film found a cult audience following outside of its targeted demographic of young children.

Film studio Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp., has found novel ways of promoting "Despicable Me 2." Carell dressed up as Gru to appear on "The Ellen Show" in May. A clip of his appearance was viewed more than 2.7 million times on YouTube.

A Minion blimp, aptly named the "despicablimp," has been floating from New York to Los Angeles, and the studio has partnered with Facebook to promote virtual stickers for fans to share online.

Carell, 50, also credited the film's urban soundtrack, composed by R&B star Pharrell Williams, for bringing an unique edge to the film.

"It's not kid music per se, it's current, it's modern and I think it gives the movie ... an edge. Kids could potentially like really good modern music ... it doesn't have to sound like kid music to be in a kid movie," Carell said.

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

The tiny Sicilian island of Lampedusa, a treeless, strip of rock nine kilometers (four miles) long, is closer to Africa than the Italian mainland and is the main port of entry into Europe for African migrants smuggled by boat from Libya or Tunisia.

Francis decided last week to make Lampedusa his first pastoral trip outside of Rome, compelled by a particularly deadly crossing in which a dozen migrants lost their lives. Despite the spur-of-the-moment decision, the island came through, building a makeshift lectern, pastoral staff and chalice out of recycled wood from shipwrecked migrant boats.

Francis greeted newly arrived Africans and during an open-air Mass on the island's soccer field, thanked the residents for welcoming so many men and women over the years.

But the core reason for the visit, he said, was to mourn those who died trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. He tossed a wreath of flowers into the sea in their memory, calling their deaths a "thorn in the heart" that occurs so often it is simply ignored.

"Who wept for these people who were aboard the boat?" Francis asked in his homily. "For the young mothers who brought their babies? For these men who wanted to support their families?"

"We are a society that has forgotten how to cry," he said.

Dozens of fishing boats accompanied Francis' coast guard ship as it pulled into port, a seaborne motorcade to honor the first pope to visit an island that often feels it has been abandoned by Europe to process the thousands of would-be immigrants who come ashore each year.

"Pope Francis, only you can save us," read a banner on one of the boats. "Welcome among the least," said a poster with an Argentine and Italian flag dangling from an apartment building.

As his plane was landing, a boat carrying some 160 Eritreans arrived in port, the latest in a new wave of migrants taking advantage of calm seas and warm weather to make the treacherous crossing. Officials said they were in good condition, just cold.

Francis, whose ancestors immigrated to Argentina from Italy, has a special place in his heart for refugees: As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he denounced the exploitation of migrants as "slavery" and said those who did nothing to help them were complicit by their silence.

He repeated that message on Monday, railing against smugglers who take advantage of the poverty of migrants to enrich themselves. He challenged everyone to take responsibility for the migrants' desperation, urging them not to have "anesthesia of the heart."

"The culture of our own well-being makes us insensitive to the cries of others," he said. "It brings us to feeling indifferent to others, to the globalization of indifference."

Then directing himself to the Muslims on the island, he said: "The church is with you in the search for a more dignified life for you and your families."

Francis has said he wants his to be a missionary church, one that goes to the "peripheries" to minister to the most marginal.

It was appropriate then that he choose faraway Lampedusa as his first pastoral visit, and its residents welcomed him warmly, shouting "Viva il Papa" as he drove by in an open-topped Fiat not the usual bullet-proof popemobile and wildly waving the yellow and white flags of the Vatican.

The Vatican said 10,000 people attended the Mass, twice the island's population. National politicians weren't among them, to avoid the inevitable squabbling over illegal immigration that is a mainstay of Italian politics.

"It was not even thinkable that the pope would come to an Island like this one," said resident Andrea Pavia, who came out with his tearful wife and daughter to watch the pope drive by. "I am so happy, I am so emotional. I just can't believe it."

The Mass site was located on a soccer field that in 2011 housed thousands of migrants who flooded to Italy during the Arab Spring. It's near the "boat cemetery" that holds the remains of broken migrant ships that have reached Lampedusa's rocky shores.

Recycled wood from those vessels were used for Mass: A small, painted boat was turned into the altar, the lectern was made out of a recycled ship's helm and pieces of driftwood, and a pieces of wood were crafted into Francis' pastoral staff and the chalice used at Mass. Officials have said the simple nature of the Mass was in keeping with the express wishes of Francis.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, 8,400 migrants landed in Italy and Malta in the first six months of the year, almost double the 4,500 who arrived during the first half of 2012. It's still a far cry from the tens of thousands who flooded to Italy during the Arab Spring exodus of 2011.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has recorded 40 deaths in the first half of 2013, and a total of 500 for all of 2012. Fortress Europe, an Italian observatory that tracks migrant deaths reported by the media, says about 6,450 people died in the Canal of Sicily between 1994 and 2012.

Mauro Casinghini, who heads the Italian emergency response arm of the Knights of Malta, said there has been an increase in pregnant women making the crossing, hoping their babies might obtain Italian citizenship if born here.

"I have dealt with cases where we are trying to help a woman in the first stages of delivery on a sinking boat with water floating in gas, urine and human feces," he said Monday. "That is not a good place for a child to be born."

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Winfield reported from Rome.

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Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield