LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The new John Fogerty album features the former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer teaming up with top names in country and rock music, along with some R&B flavor, for a fresh take on his most popular songs.

Fogerty, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his Creedence band mates in 1993, told Reuters his wife came up with the collaborative concept behind "Wrote a Song for Everyone," which was released Tuesday on Fogerty's 68th birthday.

"She suggested getting all my favorite artists to do various songs, and it seemed like a great idea - to do fresh arrangements and interpretations of them," Fogerty said.

The 14-track album, Fogerty's ninth solo studio album and first since 2009's "The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again," revamps some of his biggest hits from both Creedence Clearwater Revival and his solo work, along with some new tracks.

The album includes collaborations with rockers Foo Fighters, country singers Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley and R&B singer Jennifer Hudson, who was accompanied by blues musician Allen Toussaint on one of Fogerty's best known hits, 1969's "Proud Mary."

"Wrote a Song for Everyone" took Fogerty, who also served as producer, two years to complete, and he compared the logistics to lining up so many guests to a "military-style operation."

"It's remarkably hard to get 14 different artists organized, as they're all busy with their own careers, touring and recording," Fogerty said. "Everyone wanted to do it but I had no idea it'd be so difficult."

The hardest artist to pin down was country singer Alan Jackson, who ended up on the 1971 track "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"

'THE MUSIC STILL SOUNDS GOOD'

"I was very happily surprised when he said yes," Fogerty said. "Some of the artists who I know, like Bob Seger, I could just call up and get an answer right away. But even if you're friends, you don't want to put anyone on the spot. So you put the idea out there and let it simmer for a while."

Fogerty let his guest artists select the song they wanted to record with him and spin their own interpretation of it.

The album was recorded at studios in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Nashville, Tennessee. Creedence's 1969 Vietnam War-era anthem "Fortunate Son" was recorded with Foo Fighters at their 606 studio in Los Angeles, which was the subject of recent documentary, "Sound City."

Along with gearing up for the album's release, Fogerty found time to join the Rolling Stones on a rendition of "It's All Over Now" at their May 8 San Jose show.

Fogerty said he and Stones guitarist Keith Richards had kept in touch over the years and he recently helped Mick Jagger add handclaps to some tracks that were never released from the recording sessions for the 1978 album "Some Girls."

"When they asked me to do the show, I was thrilled - especially as I've always been a huge fan and one of the first times I ever saw them was playing a show in San Jose in 1966," Fogerty said.

Fogerty, who plans to hit the road to promote the new album this year, has an explanation for why his work and that of his contemporaries still resonates.

"I think it's down to the songs," he said. "The music still sounds good today, and my own kids listen to it. It's just never been topped."

(Editing by Eric Kelsey, Piya Sinha-Roy and Bill Trott)

AMSTERDAM/BOSTON (Reuters) - Europol said a global effort led by Microsoft Corp to stop one of the world's biggest cybercrime rings has succeeded in wiping out the malicious computer networks that the gang used, known as the Citadel Botnets.

Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit, with help from authorities in more than 80 countries, on Wednesday cut off the servers controlling as many as 5 million infected PCs that belonged to the Citadel cyber crime operation, which is believed to have stolen more than $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months.

"Basically the Citadel bug is now clean," Troels Oerting, head of Europol's European Cybercrime Center, said on Thursday.

The details are still emerging about the individual roles that dozens of countries across Europe and Asia played in bringing down the estimated 1,400 botnets that were part of the Citadel operation.

Andy Archibald, interim Deputy Director of Britain's National Cyber Crime Unit, said on Thursday that his agency had seized "a number of servers" as part of the effort and was closely working with the FBI on its investigation into Citadel.

Archibald said forensics experts were examining the servers.

Microsoft said on Wednesday that it had collected forensic evidence from two U.S.-based Internet hosting providers, under a federal court order that the company obtained by filing a civil lawsuit against the unknown operators of Citadel.

An FBI spokeswoman said she could not immediately say whether the evidence collected had brought investigators any closer to catching the culprits behind Citadel.

Citadel was used against dozens of financial institutions by stealing passwords with key logging software. The victims include American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, eBay's PayPal, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo, Microsoft said.

Botnets are armies of infected personal computers, or bots, which run software forcing them to regularly check in with and obey "command and control" servers operated by hackers. Besides financial crimes, botnets are also used to send spam, distribute computer viruses and attack computer networks.

Microsoft said in its court filing that it suspects the developer of the Citadel software, who goes by the alias Aquabox, lives in eastern Europe and works with at least 81 "herders," who may be running the bots from anywhere in the world.

The Citadel software is programmed so it will not attack PCs or financial institutions in Ukraine or Russia, likely because the creators operate in those countries and want to avoid provoking law enforcement officials there, Microsoft said. (See graphic http://link.reuters.com/vem68t) (See legal documents http://www.botnetlegalnotice.com/citadel/)

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam and Brenda Goh in London; Writing by Jim Finkle; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Tim Dobbyn)

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index dipped on Thursday as fears the U.S. Federal Reserve will dial back its bond-buying program and pessimism following sluggish economic data from China and Europe fueled declines in all major sectors.

Weakness in Toronto-Dominion Bank further weighed on the market after the country's No. 2 lender reported earnings slightly below expectations.

Investors were nervous after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Wednesday that a decision to scale back massive bond buying each month could come at one of the U.S. central bank's "next few meetings" if the economy looked set to maintain momentum.

The benchmark Canadian index, which tracked weak global markets, eased from gains made in the previous four sessions.

"It's the fallout of Ben Bernanke's testimony," said Gavin Graham, chief strategy officer at Integris Pension Management. "That's the first concrete suggestion that maybe they'll reduce the bond buying program."

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite indexclosed down 94.41 points, or 0.74 percent, at 12,658.09.

"We all know that at some point, the Fed's going to have to do something to withdraw some of that liquidity they put in the marketplace," said Irwin Michael, portfolio manager at ABC Funds.

"It's a game of chicken," he added. "People are waiting to find out when, and they will probably react in the short run."

Other negative market factors included surveys showing China's factory activity shrank for the first time in seven months in May and that the euro zone economy was likely to contract again in the second quarter.

All of the 10 main sectors in the index were in the red.

Shares of energy producers fell 0.6 percent. Suncor Energy Inc , Canada's largest energy company, was down 0.6 percent at C$32.32.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, lost 0.4 percent. TD Bank

The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, was down 0.9 percent despite a rise in shares of gold companies.

Miner Teck Resources Ltdfell 4.3 percent to C$28.20, and fertilizer giant Potash Corpslipped 2.1 percent to C$43.01.

Among other active stocks, Nordion Incjumped 11.6 percent to C$8.16 after the major provider of isotopes used in medical imaging said it will sell its targeted therapies division.

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson, Jeffrey Benkoe and James Dalgleish)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Have you ever been watching a "Flintstones" cartoon and thought, "This would be much better with professional wrestlers?" Us neither. But we're getting it anyway.

WWE Studios has tag-teamed with Warner Bros. to co-produce a "Flintstones" direct-to-home-video animated movie, to be released on Blu-ray, DVD, VOD and digital download in early 2015, WWE Studios said on Wednesday.

WWE talent John Cena, CM Punk and others will join owner Vince McMahon to provide voices for the movie, which will see Fred, Barney and the gang attending a WWE match. Naturally, the wrestlers will play Bedrock versions of themselves, cutely named "John Cenastone," "CM Punkrock" and "Vince McMagma" respectively.

This is not the first time that WWE has infiltrated your old cartoons. The wrestling giant and Warner Bros. also have co-produced an animated "Scooby Doo" cartoon that will be released in March, just before Wrestlemania XXX. (That's "30," not porn. Though expect porn parodies. Just not from Warner Bros.)

"WWE is family-friendly entertainment, so partnering with Warner Bros. on a Flintstones/WWE project was a natural extension of our Scooby Doo deal," Michael Luisi, president of WWE Studios said in a statement. "This new, animated feature allows us to showcase our brand with young fans and loyal Flintstones enthusiasts alike."

RBC, Canada's largest bank and a huge mortgage lender, measures affordability as the percentage of monthly pre-tax income for a household needed to cover the typical costs of owning a home, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes.

By that measure, the cost of owning a home edged down by 0.2 percentage point to 42.1 percent for a detached bungalow, by 0.3 percentage point to 47.8 percent for a two-story home, and by 0.2 percentage point to 28.0 percent for a condominium, the RBC Housing Affordability index showed.

"Exceptionally low interest rates have been the key factor keeping home affordability from reaching dangerous levels in recent years," RBC chief economist Craig Wright said in a statement.

"Residential property values are elevated in Canada and, for many households, ownership remains accessible only because of rock-bottom mortgage rates. It could be a different story if interest rates were to move swiftly and significantly higher."

While a government move to tighten mortgage lending has helped cool Canada's hot housing market, RBC said it expects the restrictive effects of rule changes to dissipate, helping to offset otherwise subdued housing market activity in 2013.

Under changes that took effect in July, the maximum length of an insured mortgage was shortened to 25 years, and the amount homeowners could borrow with a home equity loan was capped. The changes made it more difficult for homeowners to take on too much debt trying to get into Canada's expensive housing market.

Wright said he expects the Bank of Canada to leave its overnight rate unchanged at 1 percent through 2013 and gradually begin to increase it in 2014. By then, the Canadian economy is expected to be on a stronger footing, offsetting some of the potential negative effects of higher borrowing costs, he said.

Home ownership remained least affordable in Vancouver, but improved, with the benchmark for detached bungalows down 2.6 percentage points from the previous quarter to 82.2 percent.

Affordability also improved in Toronto, with the benchmark down 0.4 percentage point to 52.8 percent. Montreal was down 0.9 percentage point to 39.3 percent, Ottawa was down 0.5 percentage point to 38.8 percent and Edmonton was down 0.1 percentage point to 30.7 percent.

Affordability went down in Calgary, where the benchmark rose 0.2 percentage point to 38.1 percent, the report showed. (Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)

reached the hardest-hit neighborhoods of Moore this afternoon as lightning and hail continued to batter the devastated city. The survey process is subjective, but team members rely on a checklist of 28 tornado damage indicators to estimate wind speeds and the degree of damage.

The National Weather Service's (NWS) four survey teams also found several areas of damage rated as EF-4 along the tornados path, according to the Facebook page of the NWS office in Norman, Okla. The preliminary ranking could still be revised in the coming days, as crews continue to assess the damage.

Tornadoes are ranked on the . An EF-0 rating is reserved for minor damage, and an EF-5 is considered the most severe, with winds topping 200 mph (322 km/h).

The Moore tornado excavated a path up to 1.3 miles (2 kilometers) wide along a 17-mile-long (27 km) stretch of central Oklahoma, the NWS said. The twister touched down 4.4 miles (7.1 km) east of Newcastle at 2:45 p.m. CDT and ended 4.8 miles (7.7 km) east of Moore, a southern suburb of Oklahoma City, at 3:35 p.m. CDT. []

At first, the tornado caused little damage on the ground. But the storm ramped up quickly, intensifying to EF-4 levels in about 10 minutes and in just about 4 miles (6.4 km), the NWS said. The storm , with winds of up to 200 mph (322 km/h) by Interstate 44 near Moore.

There have been 58 F5 or EF-5 tornadoes in the United States since 1950, according to the NWS. The rating scale was updated in 2007 to more closely align wind speeds with storm damage.

The United States has more than 1,000every year, and only 1 percent of those ever reach EF-5 strength, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

"In any given year, you will have maybe a dozen EF-4s and maybe one EF-5," said Bob Henson, a meteorologist and science writer for the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

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Seventeen poachers armed with Kalashnikov riflesin the Central African Republic earlier this week, representatives from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said in a statement. The poachers made their way to the Dzanga Bai, an open area where anywhere from 50 to 200 elephants gather daily to drink nutrients and mineral salts in the sands.

At least 26 elephant carcasses, including four calves, were counted in and around the Dzanga Bai on Thursday (May 9), WWF officials said. All had had their tusks removed, Jules Caron, head of communications for the WWF's anti-poaching program in Central Africa, confirmed to LiveScience.

Wildlife representatives described the Dzanga Bai scene as an "elephant mortuary," and it was evident that local villagers had started taking meat from the remains of the dead animals, they added. []

"The killing has started," Jim Leape, WWF's international director general, said in a statement. "The Central African Republic must act immediately to secure this unique [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] World Heritage site. The brutal violence we are witnessing in Dzanga Bai threatens to destroy one of the world's great natural treasures, and to jeopardize the future of the people who live there."

Poachers continue to kill elephants and strip them of their ivory tusks to sell on global markets, despite a ban onthat was instituted in Africa in 1989. According to the Wildlife Conservation Society, some 25,000 African elephants are killed every year.

"The elephants here face a sure death as , which fuels even more violence in [the Central African Republic]," Cristin Samper, the Wildlife Conservation Society's president and CEO, said in a statement. "On my recent visit to Dzanga Bai, I stood in awestruck silence as I watched hundreds of elephants gathering in this incredible area. WCS stands with our conservation partner WWF calling for immediate action to stop the killing of these elephants."

The Dzanga Bai area is known to locals as the "village of elephants," because of the herds of elephants that assemble there every day. Because the poachers raided the sanctuary, however, nohave been seen at the Bai, WWF officials said.

The Central African Republic has been a hotbed of violence and political instability since the beginning of the year. In April, the WWF and other conservation organizations were forced to leave their field offices next to the Dzanga Bai due to security concerns, agency officials said.

"The international community must also act to assist the Central African Republic to restore peace and order in this country to safeguard its population and its natural heritage," Leape said. "WWF also asks Cameroon and the Republic of [the] Congo to assist the Central African Republic in preserving this World Heritage Site, which not only encompasses the Bai, but also includes large neighboring areas of these two countries."

The WWF fears poachers in the region will take advantage of the Central African Republic's political turmoil for their gains. The 17 individuals who raided the Dzanga Bai this week presented themselves as part of the country's transitional-government forces. They have since left the sanctuary, but WWF officials are concerned that poaching will continue unless the area is secured.

"The events in Dzanga Bai are a vivid reminder of thein Central Africa," Leape said. "Populations of this species have plummeted 62 percent over the past 10 years. The unfolding tragedy in Dzanga Bai must also spur the governments of China and Thailand to act on their commitments to shut down the ivory markets in their countries that are fueling this illicit trade."

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After losing the first two games of the series and trailing 1-0 on the night to Tyler Kennedy's second period goal, Ottawa were just seconds away from losing a third straight to the top-seeded Penguins.

However, Daniel Alfredsson scored with 29 seconds left in regulation, despite the Senators being shorthanded, before Greening's goal cut the deficit in the best-of-seven series to 2-1. Game Four is in Ottawa on Wednesday.

Sidney Crosby was coming off a hat-trick that gave the Penguins command in Game Two but he was held without a point on Sunday.

Craig Anderson made 49 saves for the Sens, while Tomas Vokoun had 46 for the visitors.

The Senators also got a boost from the return of forward Jason Spezza, who had not played since January after undergoing back surgery. He was on the ice for just under 19 minutes and did not register a point.

Greening has now scored in all three games againstPittsburgh. (Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

WELLINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - The possible future of sports broadcasting will be further highlighted on Sunday when New Zealand's Auckland City and Waitakere United play the Oceania Champions League final, with the winner qualifying for the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup.

The match in Auckland, reduced to a winner-takes-all final after the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) streamlined the competition this year, will be broadcast not only on television but also live over the Internet on the OFC's YouTube channel.

"The coverage will be screened live in New Zealand ...while those living in other parts of the world will be able to watch live streaming of the match free of charge on the OFC Live YouTube channel," the OFC said in a statement on Friday.

Pacific Islands broadcasters would also carry the OFC feed on television, though New Zealand-based fans would be unable to access the YouTube feed.

Struggling to gain a foothold in the television market in rugby-mad New Zealand, OFC TV, a FIFA-backed project, came to public prominence about a year ago when the OFC were unable to reach agreement with a New Zealand-based broadcaster to cover the Oceania Nations Cup in the Solomon Islands.

Pacific Island broadcasters did show the tournament, while New Zealand fans were offered the opportunity to watch pay-per-view games on the OFC website.

The OFC broadcast two of this year's Champions League semi-finals over the Internet as they tested their technology and quality of feed.

OFC TV head Olivier Huc was unavailable for comment on Friday, though he told the New Zealand Herald newspaper earlier this month that the Champions League coverage was a precursor to the full launch of the OFC YouTube channel in July.

Despite the novel way of broadcasting the match, both teams have focussed on clinching the title which carries a lucrative $500,000 payday and qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco in December.

It is the first time that teams from the same country have contested the final.

Ramon Tribulietx's Auckland City will be seeking an Oceania record third successive trip to the FIFA tournament, which involves club champions from all six confederations.

The amateur side shocked world soccer when they made the quarter-finals of the tournament in 2009 and were competitive in their only match last year in Japan.

"Records and milestones are not really part of any talks we have within the squad - our focus is firmly on what we have to do as a team to get the right result," Tribulietx told the OFC website (www.oceaniafootball.com).

"We are convinced that we can win and will prepare to do the things we consider to be important in this game." (Editing by Patrick Johnston)

Obama, who has been criticized for appearing passive in his response to the matter, declared, "I am angry about it" and said the American people had a right to be angry as well.

Before announcing the resignation of Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, Obama met at the White House with top officials from the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS. The White House scheduled the meeting a day after the release of an inspector general report that showed ineffective management at the IRS allowed agents to improperly target tea party groups for more than 18 months.

Miller became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

The president has proceeded cautiously since the IRS controversy was made public Friday. While he initially said the accusations were "outrageous," he also said he wanted to wait until the inspector general's report was released before addressing what should be done to hold accountable those responsible.

The report lays much of the blame on IRS supervisors in Washington who oversaw a group of specialists in Cincinnati who screened applications for tax exempt status. It does not indicate that Washington initiated the targeting of conservative groups, but it does say a top supervisor in Washington did not adequately supervise agents in the field even after she learned the agents were acting improperly.

The Justice Department is also investigating the IRS targeting, as are three congressional committees.