Chocolate lovers take part in the annual festival at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden




















If you haven’t had your fill of chocolate yet, might be time to head out to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

Large crowds gathered Saturday for samples of the sweet treats, chef demonstrations and even a Chocowalk at the seventh annual International Chocolate Festival.

Besides edible treats, the event – which lasts until Sunday at 4:30 p.m. – offered lectures about cacao crops and methods of making chocolate around the world.





The Festival featured Santiago Peralta, the founder of Pacari Chocolate, who was named Outstanding Chocolate Maker for 2013 by The Fine Chocolate Industry Association. Peralta, who is from Ecuador, is the first Latin American to win that honor. The chocolatier spoke Saturday about preserving a native form of cacao and sustainable production practices in the chocolate industry. He will give another lecture Sunday at 2 p.m.

Events Sunday include chocolate yoga and an interactive workshop for kids.

For more information, visit http://www.fairchildgarden.org/Events/?date=01-2013&eventID=657.





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Smartphone 4Q sales rise 36 pct led by Samsung






SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Smartphone shipments rose 36 percent worldwide in the fourth quarter as the sleek devices supplanted personal computers and other gadgets on holiday shopping lists, according to a report released Friday.


The findings from the research firm International Data Corp. are the latest sign of the technology upheaval being wrought by the growing popularity of smartphones that can perform a wide variety of tasks, including surfing the Web and taking high-quality photos.






Companies whose fortunes are tied to the PC industry have been particularly hard hit by the shift to smartphones and tablet computers.


While some smartphone models were in short supply during the holiday season, fourth-quarter PC shipments fell by 6 percent from the previous year, according to another IDC report released earlier this month.


IDC estimates 219 million smartphones were shipped during the final three months of last year. That compares with nearly 161 million in the same 2011 period. Smartphones accounted for about 45 percent of all mobile phone shipments in the fourth quarter, the highest percentage recorded by IDC.


Samsung Electronics Co. retained its bragging rights as the smartphone leader, shipping nearly 64 million devices for a 29 percent share of the global market.


Apple Inc. ranked second with nearly 48 million iPhones shipped during the fourth quarter, translating into a market share of 22 percent.


For all of 2012, IDC estimated nearly 713 million smartphones were shipped worldwide, a 44 percent increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, annual PC shipments fell 3 percent from 2011, IDC said. It was the first annual decline since 2001.


Entering 2012, Apple held a slight edge over Samsung in the smartphone market. But Samsung sprinted past Apple during the year as it introduced an array of models, most of which run on Google Inc.‘s free Android software. Samsung’s top-selling line, the Galaxy, boasts larger display screens than the iPhone and other features.


Apple alleges Samsung’s devices illegally ripped off the iPhone’s innovations. After a high-profile trial in federal court, a jury in San Jose, Calif. sided with some of the patent infringement claims last August and decided Samsung should pay more than $ 1 billion in damages. Samsung has been trying to overturn the verdict.


Lower-priced smartphones from Samsung and other device makers also have hurt Apple, whose slowing iPhone growth has contributed to a $ 250 billion decline in its market value since its stock price peaked in late September.


IDC says Huawei Technologies Ltd.‘s emphasis on less expensive handsets helped it become the third largest smartphone maker with a market share of 5 percent at the end of the fourth quarter.


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Buzzmakers: Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Carrie Underwood Premieres Two Black Cadillacs Music Video

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. First Clip: Ashton Kutcher Becomes 'JOBS'

Ashton Kutcher takes on the role of a lifetime in JOBS, and we have your first look at the movie.

In the clip, Jobs (played by Ashton Kutcher) is raving about the operating system that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (played by Josh Gad) created. While Jobs is certain that this will become a ubiquitous product for mass consumption, Wozniak needs convincing.

"Nobody wants to buy a computer," says Wozniak.

"How does somebody know what they want if they've never even seen it?" Jobs replies.

Steve Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the age of 56 in October 2011 and as April 2013 marks the 37th anniversary of the founding of the Apple Computer Company, Open Road Films has decided to release JOBS on April 19.

Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, written by Matthew Whitely, shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Russell Carpenter and produced by Mark Hulme, JOBS details the major moments and defining characters that influenced Steve Jobs on a daily basis from 1971 through 2001, according to a press release.

Click here for the video!

2. World Premiere: Carrie's 'Two Black Cadillacs'

Carrie Underwood's inner bad girl is darker than ever in the singer's latest music video for Two Black Cadillacs.

Clad in head-to-toe black, the Grammy nominee takes a turn for the wicked as she croons a juicy tale of infidelity and murder at her cheating husband's funeral.

Click here to watch the world premiere of Carrie's latest single Two Black Cadillacs (off her Blown Away album).

3. Pics: Obama's Inauguration Day Diary

The second-term inauguration of President Barack Obama saw Washington D.C. politicians rubbing elbows with Hollywood's elite. From Beyonce Knowles performing the national anthem to Alicia Keys behind the keys at the inaugural ball, Click here for a recap of the historic, star-studded day.

4. Taylor Swift Stuns As Rapunzel in New Disney Ad

Like Jennifer Lopez, Gisele Bundchen, Beyonce, Jessica Biel, Julianne Moore, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde and countless other A-Lister ladies before her, Taylor Swift is now starring in Disney Parks ad where she brings to life one of the Mouse House's most memorable characters for their ongoing Disney Dream Portrait campaign.

Slipping into Rapunzel's shoes (errrr, hair extensions) for this "Where A World of Adventure Awaits" spot was a dream come true for the Grammy winner. "When Disney came to me and said we want you to play Rapunzel, I was just so honored," Swift said. "It's such a wonderful character to get to play, a childhood fantasy come into reality for me."

Turns out, the gig couldn't have been a better fit because Swift got her start singing Disney songs! "My parents realized I was really obsessed with [singing] when I'd go up to strangers and sing Lion King songs," Swift laughs. "I think about all the times me and my little brother went to Disney World and we were able to escape to that place anytime we had a hard time. Any time you're going through something rough, you can go back into your imagination and you're at Disney World."

Click here for the video!

5. Leo DiCaprio Taking a 'Long Break' From Acting

Unless something was lost in translation, Leonardo DiCaprio has revealed to a German publication that he will be taking a hiatus from acting.

The 38-year-old A-lister told Germany's daily Bild (via Deadline), "I am a bit drained. I'm now going to take a long, long break. I've done three films in two years and I'm just worn out."

DiCaprio's Django Unchained just came out this past month and he also has The Great Gatsby hitting theaters this year (May 10th) as well as The Wolf of Wall Street. So, what does DiCaprio plan to do with his free time? "I would like to improve the world a bit. I will fly around the world doing good for the environment."

The actor added, "My roof is covered with solar panels. My car is electric. A normal person does not drive more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) a day. That can be done with a plug."

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3 Conn. cops accused of brutality after YouTube vid shows them beating stunned suspect (VIDEO)








BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — The police chief in Connecticut's largest city has pulled three officers off the streets after a video was posted online showing them kicking and stomping on a man they had already subdued with a stun gun.

In the video, a stun gun is heard being fired and a man falls to the ground at a park. Two officers stand over the motionless man and begin kicking him. A third officer drives up and attacks him. No complaint was filed.

Bridgeport city spokeswoman Elaine Ficarra said today that all three officers are on desk duty while authorities investigate the May 2011 encounter. Elson Morales, Joseph Lawlor and Clive Higgins are 10-year veterans of the police force. They couldn't be reached for comment.



The video was posted on YouTube this month. It's not clear who's filming or who posted the video.










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Fed aims for a 6.5% jobless rate




















Six and a half percent unemployment in America would mean almost 2.1 million more people working than today. At the rate the country has been creating new jobs each month, it would take more than a year to find work for that many people.

Keep 6.5 percent in mind this week when the Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday to talk about its efforts to push interest rates down. The hope is that the cheap cash will spur on investment leading to job creation. After all, the central bank has promised to keep its target interest rate near zero as long as more than 6.5 percent of Americans in the workforce are without work. The Fed has put other conditions on maintaining its historically low interest rate such as low inflation, but official measures remain tame. So its job growth the Fed is looking for.

It won’t have to wait long for the latest update. On Friday the first jobs report of 2013 will be released. Hiring has been a slow grind but it has been positive.





Finding work in January, though, can be tricky. Winter weather, a hangover from the holidays and seasonal work ending can slow down hiring.

It will be months, maybe even a couple of years before the U.S. unemployment rate hits 6.5 percent. There is nothing magical about that number, but as long as the Federal Reserve has it in its sights, so should we.

Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.





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Former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz considering bid for governor.




















Former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz looks ready to run for governor and has spent the past three weeks lining up support from strategists, financiers and elected officials.

Diaz, who hasn’t returned calls from The Miami Herald for three weeks about his plans, finally returned a text message on Friday and said he wasn’t ready to speak about the matter, in part because he was attending a charity golf tournament.

Diaz met Friday morning with top Democratic strategist Jeff Garcia, who said he’d like the former mayor to run.





"His potential candidacy presents a unique opportunity for Democrats and Floridians to take the state in a completely new and positive direction," said Garcia, U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia’s chief of staff who met Friday morning with Diaz. "I’m excited he’s considering running. It adds something new and fresh to the field."

Diaz, mayor from 2001-2009, would be the only Democratic Hispanic candidate among those who have announced or are considering a bid to challenge Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Hispanics, the fastest-growing segment of the electorate, helped President Obama win his reelection campaign in Florida.

If elected, Diaz would be the first Democratic Hispanic governor. The state’s first Hispanic governor was a Republican, Bob Martinez.

Diaz has made no formal announcement for the election, which is still nearly two years away.

Former Democratic state Senate leader Nan Rich, of Weston, has announced her intention to run. Former state CFO and the last Democratic governor’s candidate, Alex Sink, is mulling a run as is former Gov. Charlie Crist, a former Republican, who helped President Obama’s campaign in Florida this year.

Diaz was a big help to Obama’s Florida campaign as well. In the waning days of the election when he cut a Spanish-language ad rebutting a spot from Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign, which suggested the president was a socialist.

As a past leader of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Diaz has some close allies in top spots. He has approached Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown for support and wants to hire some of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s campaign team.

New York Mayor and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg wrote the forward to Diaz’s book, Miami Transformed, which Diaz is promoting.

Diaz is also on good terms with former Baltimore Mayor and current Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who recently stepped down as head of the Democratic Governor’s Association.

One Democratic source said the DGA is nervous about a potential Crist candidacy because of the former Republican governor’s "baggage."

But Diaz has some, too, according to his critics in Miami-Dade, home of the largest block of voters in the state.

His successor, Republican Tomas Regalado, faulted Diaz for leaving the city’s budget in bad condition.

Regalado noted that as mayor, Diaz spent more money than Miami took in, draining the reserves from $120 million at the beginning of his tenure to just $20 million by the end.

"He’s going to have a hard time explaining the way he left Miami," Regalado said.

Regalado also faulted Diaz for pushing for a new stadium for the Miami Marlins baseball team.

Diaz won’t, however, need to explain anything after recently changing his party affiliation from independent to Democrat, Regalado said.

"Thankfully, Charlie Crist has already done that," he said.

Other Miami movers and shakers, though, say Diaz did an excellent job in trying times.

"Manny is a visionary leader who has never lost his footing or his roots," Eduardo J. PadrĂ³n, Miami Dade College president, said in blurb about Diaz’s book. "He epitomizes the immigrant success story and the fruition of the American Dream."

At a recent Miami fundraiser for a Los Angeles candidate for mayor, Eric Garcetti, Diaz was introduced as "Gov. Manny Diaz." Diaz did nothing to quiet the talk, according to people in the room.





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Yandex says new mobile app is blocked by Facebook






MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian internet company Yandex said on Friday its new experimental application to search on social networking sites from mobile devices was blocked by Facebook.


The Wonder app is a recommendation tool for devices using Apple’s iOS software that allows U.S. users of social networks to retrieve information from these sites by voice or by typing questions.






The application was released late on Thursday for users of Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare and Twitter but was blocked by Facebook three hours after the launch, a Yandex spokesman said.


He added that talks between Yandex and Facebook, aimed to establish the reason of the issue and resolve it, were to begin within hours. He gave no reason for the problem.


Facebook was not available for comment.


With the new app, Yandex wants to test the opportunities offered by social networks. If successful, the company will consider offering it to users in Russia and Turkey, he said.


Shares in Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, gained 0.8 percent in early trade on Friday.


(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Mike Nesbit)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Julianne Hough Talks Her Changing Style

The always stylish Julianne Hough is launching her own shoe collection with Sole Society in February, and in a candid new interview with ET, the multi-talented star dishes on her own evolving style -- which has obviously gone through a drastic transformation since she burst onto the scene on Dancing with the Stars.

"My style has completely evolved from when I was first on Dancing with the Stars," the bubbly 24-year-old laughs. "I can actually see the real color of my skin now. I think it was a lot more glitz and glamour and costume, and I think now I'm trying to be a little bit more natural and understated -- but still fun -- but definitely a bit more everyday. I don't think I could walk down the street with some ballroom shoes on, and a little glitzy outfit, and feel comfortable. I think this is way more me now," she says, gesturing to her demure Peter Pan collar sweater.

Pics: The Complete List -- 'Dancing with the Stars' Winners

Julianne acknowledges that her style has definitely become more conservative as she's grown up.

"It's funny when I was younger, it was like, the sexier the better -- you know, always trying to look older and stuff like that, and now it's opposite," she says. "You know, I've got nieces and they're 14 and I don't want them to dress how I dressed. So I think I'm definitely a little bit more conscious of it. Like, I don't wear as short of shorts now, or show my belly. I wear less padded bras, that kind of stuff."

These days, Julianne would refer to her style as "a little bit of class, and a little bit of sass."

"I do have fun opportunities to get dressed up and to find my own voice and my own style, and it's ever-evolving and ever-changing, but it's definitely different in the last couple of years actually," she reflects. "I think that I've really kind of found my own niche and what I feel comfortable with. There's a certain amount of class -- with a certain amount of sass -- to be honest."

Video: Julianne Hough Speaks About Escaping Dark Past

But now she's ready to take her fashion game to the next level, partnering with Sole Society on a new footwear collection which consists of everything from flats, heels to sandals, each available in multiple color options. Julianne Hough for Sole Society will introduce five to six styles per month for six months, with prices starting at $49.95.

"I don't know if I've always dreamed of creating shoes in particular, but I've always dreamed of creating in general, she explains. " ... In dancing, or acting or singing, I don't want to just cover somebody else's stuff -- I want to create my own.... and so I want to create my own shoes."

Check out the video to see Julianne in action, modeling her own collection. Julianne Hough for Sole Society will be available at www.solesociety.com, Nordstrom.com and in select Nordstrom stores starting February 11.

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Tina Turner on her way to Swiss citizenship

GENEVA — Tina Turner is on her way to becoming a Swiss citizen.

The American rock diva has lived in the Zurich suburb of Kuesnacht since the mid-1990s. The local Zuerichsee-Zeitung newspaper said on its Web site the local council announced its decision to grant the 73-year-old Turner citizenship in an official notice published in Friday's edition.

The decision still requires formal approval from state and federal authorities.




CONTRAST/startraksphoto.com



Tina Turner



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Economist: Euro crisis could erupt again this year




















Is the euro crisis over? A leading U.S. economist says not by a long shot.

Even as the head of the European Central Bank talked Friday of “positive contagion” in the markets and predicted an economic recovery for the recession-hit eurozone later this year, economist Barry Eichengreen warned that the debt crisis that has shaken Europe to its core could easily erupt again this year unless European leaders move faster to solve their problems.

While European governments and markets have been breathing easier in recent months after years of turmoil, it’s no time for complacency, said Eichengreen, a professor at the University of California - Berkeley who has chronicled the Great Depression and explored the consequences of a breakup of the euro currency.





“Nothing has been resolved in the eurozone, where markets have swung from undue pessimism to undue optimism,” Eichengreen told The Associated Press in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an annual gathering of corporate and government leaders. “They said all the right things last year … and they’ve been backtracking ever since.”

He urged eurozone leaders follow up on its proposals to steady its banking system and keep failed banks from adding to government debt through expensive bailouts.

European leaders in Davos this week are seeking to reassure investors and corporate leaders that the continent is on the mend after its punishing debt crises.

European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi on Friday forecast a recovery in the eurozone economy in the second half of the year, and spoke of “a new restored sense of relative tranquility” and “positive contagion on the financial markets.”

But he acknowledged “we don’t see this being transmitted into the real economy yet.”





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Kansas to retire jersey of Miami Heat starter Mario Chalmers




















LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) - Miami Heat starter and former Kansas star Mario Chalmers, whose buzzer-beating 3-pointer helped the Jayhawks win the 2008 national title, will have his jersey retired next month.

Chalmers was the MVP of the Final Four when the Jayhawks beat Memphis for the national championship. But it was his 3-pointer from the top of the key to force overtime that became the defining moment of Kansas' march through the tournament.

The shot is replayed during the video montage showed before every Kansas home game, and always generates the biggest roar from the crowd in Allen Fieldhouse.





Chalmers joins 27 other men and three women to have their names hoisted to the rafters. Among them are Wilt Chamberlain, Danny Manning and Paul Pierce.





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Microsoft profit dips on lower Xbox holiday sales






SEATTLE (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp reported a dip in fiscal second-quarter profit on Thursday, as weaker sales of its Xbox game system in the holiday quarter offset a solid start for its new Windows 8 operating system.


The world’s largest software company reported profit of $ 6.4 billion, or 76 cents per share, compared to $ 6.6 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.






Overall sales rose 3 percent to $ 21.5 billion.


(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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How Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Mama June and Sugar Bear Met

Mama June and Sugar Bear -- a.k.a. Honey Boo Boo's parents -- are going on almost nine years together, and in this brand new TLC clip, Mama June explains just how the two fell in love.

While for Sugar Bear it was "love at first sight," for her it was more lust at first sight!

Pics: 5 Reality Star Couples Going Strong

"Was it love at first sight? No," she admits. "Was it bed at first sight? Maybe. You gotta try the milk out before you buy the cow."

The brand-new clip is from this Sunday's Here Comes Honey Boo Boo: You Don't Know Boo! special, which will feature never-before-seen interviews and bloopers, as well as highlights from the first season. The special airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.

Video: Honey Boo Boo Scares Mama with Mayo

Click the video to hear how Mama June and Sugar Bear met, and why Honey Boo Boo calls her father Sugar Bear.

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Te'o tells Couric 'pain' and 'sorrow' was real








AP



Notre Dame golden boy Manti Te’o appeared in an emotionally-driven interview with Katie Couric today, telling her that the feelings he had for what turned out to be a fake, online girlfriend were real and reiterated he had nothing to do with the hoax.

The All-American linebacker said he was truly sorrowful and pained.

He said he sustained tall tales about his fake, dead girlfriend to keep inspiring legions Irish football fans who saw him as the ultimate triumph-over-tragedy figure.

Te’o told Katie Couric that the story of gal pal “Lennay Kekua,” who allegedly died of cancer on Sept. 12 during the Irish football season, had taken a life of its own -- so he ran with it.




“I think for me the only thing I basked in was that I had an impact on people,” he said in an interview aired today.

“That people turned to me and for inspiration and I think that was the only thing I focused on.”

He added: “You know my story I felt was a guy who in times of hardship and in times of trial really held strong to his faith, held strong to his family and I felt that that was my story.”

Te’o led his Notre Dame football team to an undefeated regular season. His real grandmother died on Sept. 11 and Te’o said he was told Lennay died the next day.










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City National Bank reports record earnings




















City National Bank of Florida on Thursday reported record earnings for 2012, owing in large part to a one-time $136 million tax credit.

The Miami-based bank reported fourth quarter net income of $158 million, up from $4.3 million during the same quarter of 2011. For the full year, City National earned $190.2 million, compared to $34.4 million for 2011.

The bank said it received the tax credit during the fourth quarter as a result of the release of deferred tax assets. “They were released due to sustained excellent financial performance, superior asset quality and effective management,” the bank said.





Even without that one-time benefit, the bank said its $69.9 million in pre-tax, pre-amortization income, compared to $50 million in 2011, gave it a record year. City National attributed its financial performance in part to more than $1 billion in new lending.

City National has 26 branches, from Miami-Dade County to the greater Orlando area.

INA PAIVA CORDLE





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Wild West event to raise money for Boys & Girls Clubs




















The Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County will host a Wild West-themed fundraising event featuring country artist Amber Leigh and Animal Planet’s “Gator Boys” at 6 p.m. March 23.

This will be the 17th year for the fundraiser, called Ranch Roam, which is sponsored by DEX Imaging and benefits The Boys & Girls club of Broward County.

Guests will spend time on “Alligator” Ron Bergeron’s Green Glades Ranch in Weston. The event will feature gourmet food, hayrides, western photos, live and silent auctions, line dancing and clogging demonstrations, Old West fortune tellers, an Old West casino and an “Otter” John Wildlife Experience.





Guests can also see gator wrestling by the Animal Planet’s “Gator Boys.”

For information on tickets, call 954-537-1010 or go to www.bgcbc.org.





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Racy Victorian divorces online at genealogy website






LONDON (Reuters) – The original Mrs Robinson’s diary and scandalous suggestions about a former heir to the British throne are all part of the latest ancestral revelations to go online.


British genealogical website Ancestry.co.uk said on Tuesday it has put the transcripts of thousands of Victorian divorce proceedings online, which reveal the racy details of an era that most modern Britons consider to have been dominated by imperial duty, a stiff upper lip and formal familial relations.






The UK Civil Divorce Records, 1858-1911 date from the year when the Matrimonial Causes Act removed the jurisdiction of divorce from the church and made it a civil matter.


Before this, a full divorce required intervention by Parliament, which had only granted around 300 since 1668. The records also include civil court records on separation, custody battles, legitimacy claims and nullification of marriages, according to the website.


Primarily due to their high cost, divorces were relatively rare in the 19th century, with around 1,200 applications made a year, compared to approximately 120,000 each year today, and not all requests were successful due to the strength of evidence required.


The rarity of such cases, combined with the fact that it was wealthy, often well-known nobility involved, made the divorce proceedings huge public scandals, played out in the press as real life soap operas.


Famously high-profile divorces included that of Henry and Isabella Robinson, the inspiration for the novel “Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace”, by Kate Summerscale.


Henry Robinson sued for divorce after reading his wife Isabella’s diary, which included in-depth details of her affair with a younger married man.


The diary was used as court evidence and when reported by the media became a huge scandal, partly because of the language used within the journal. Isabella, however, claimed the diary was a work of fiction, which led to her victory in court.


Conservative MP and baronet, Charles Mordaunt, filed for divorce in 1869 from his wife Harriet who stood accused of adultery with multiple men.


The case became national news when the Prince of Wales was rumored to be among the men who had had an affair with her. This rumor was never proven and Lady Mordaunt was eventually declared mad and spent the rest of her life in an asylum.


“At the time, such tales often developed into national news stories, but now they’re more likely to tell us something about the double standards of the Victorian divorce system or help us learn more about the lives of our sometimes naughty ancestors,” Ancestry.co.uk UK Content Manager Miriam Silverman said in a statement on Tuesday.


When the divorce laws first came into effect, men could divorce for adultery alone, while women had to supplement evidence of cheating with solid proof of mistreatment, such as battery or desertion.


Despite this double standard, roughly half of the records are accounts of proceedings initiated by the wife. Many of the nullifications of marriages fall into this category, with failure to consummate the nuptials a common reason.


One such example in the records shows a Frances Smith filing for divorce in 1893 under such grounds.


In the court ledgers it is noted that the marriage was never consummated, with the husband incapable “by reason of the frigidity and impotency or other defect of the parts of generation” and “such incapacity is incurable by art or skill” following inspection.


(Reporting by Paul Casciato; editing by Patricia Reaney)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Country Singer Chely Wright and Wife Lauren Blitzer Announce Baby News

Country singer Chely Wright and her wife, Lauren Blitzer-Wright, announced on Wednesday that they are expecting twins!  

The news was revealed by the couple on the web show Gwissues, hosted by famed publicist Howard Bragman. "Coming to you live this summer, probably sometime in June," Lauren said about the babies, which will be carried by Chely.

PHOTOS: Country Stars Go Glam at CMA Awards 

"They're due in July, but with identical twins you typically have to deliver a month early," Chely said. "So we are anticipating that I'll be as big as a bus, or an A-frame house by around June," she added. 

Chely and Lauren -- who joked to Bragman that they are excited to be having twins but "hope we don't mess it up too badly" -- married in Connecticut in August 2011. 

VIDEO: Chely Wright on 'Betraying' Her Country Fans 

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Bus vandals deflate tires Brooklyn; cops trying to determine if attack is strike-related








Saboteurs stabbed holes in tires of two school buses and deflated tires on 10 others idled by school bus drivers’ strike, authorities and bus company employees said today.

In all, 18 tires were flattened on a dozen buses, said employees of Reliant Transportation’s lot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Police are trying to determine if the vandalism reported this morning is related to the strike by Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which has forced 152,000 children and their parents to find other ways to get to school.

“Some buses had one flat tire some had multiple. One bus had all four,” said Leon Hasting, a Reliant employee who makes sure the buses are in compliance with safety laws and the company’s contracts.




The punctures on four tires mounted on two buses were no accident.

“They looked like they were stabbed with an ice pick or something ... These were stabbed on the side,” Hastings said.

About 60 buses are parked on the lot at 831 Humboldt St. The damaged buses were in a remote part of the lot, out of view of security cameras, authorities said.

Police have been guarding the lot 24 hours a day since the strike began, said sources. It was unclear how officers didn’t see the vandalism in the lot, which is surrounded by a

chain-link fence.

The vandalized buses have been idle since the strike began Jan. 16, and haven’t been checked regularly, said sources.

Hastings said the damage was the first vandalism the company has experienced during the strike.

“We’re definitely going to beef up security,” he said. “If it happens again, we will be more prepared.”










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Miami Dolphins slam Norman Braman, Marlins Park deal




















The Miami Dolphins ramped up their public campaign for a tax-funded stadium renovation this week, buying full-page ads against their top critic and trying to distance the plan from the unpopular Marlins deal.

The team bought an ad in Tuesday’s Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald knocking auto magnate Norman Braman’s criticism of the Sun Life Stadium deal, which would have Florida and Miami-Dade split the costs with owner Stephen Ross for a $400 million renovation. The Dolphins would pay at least $201 million, with taxpayers using state funds and a higher Miami-Dade hotel tax to pay $199 million.

In a fact sheet sent to media Tuesday morning, the Dolphins listed ways their deal differs from the 2009 Marlins deal. First: Ross, a billionaire real estate developer, would use private dollars to fund at least 51 percent of the Sun Life effort, compared to less than 25 percent from Marlins owner Jeff Loria. Second, Sun Life helps the economy more than the Marlins park does.





“Just because the Marlins did a bad deal doesn’t mean we should oppose a good deal where at least a majority of the cost is paid from private sources and more than 4,000 local jobs are created during construction alone,” the fact sheet states. And while the Dolphins’ Miami Gardens stadium has hosted two Super Bowls since 2007 and is in the running for the 2016 game, “Marlins Stadium does not generate the ability to attract world-class sports events -- other than a World Series from time to time depending on the success of the team.”

NFL teams play eight home games a year if they don’t make the playoffs, while baseball teams have 81.

Miami and Miami-Dade built the Marlins a $640 million stadium at the site of the Dolphins’ old home at the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins contributed about $120 million and agreed to pay between $2.5 million and $4.9 million a year for 35 years to pay back $35 million of debt the county borrowed for the stadium. As a publicly owned stadium, the Marlins ballpark pays no property taxes. Most of the public money came from Miami-Dade hotel taxes, along with $50 million of debt tied to the county’s general fund.

Sun Life is privately owned and pays $3 million a year in property taxes to Miami-Dade. It currently receives $2 million a year from Florida’ s stadium program, a subsidy tied to converting the football venue to baseball in the 1990s when the Marlins played there. The Dolphins also paid for a second full-page ad with quotes from leading hoteliers in Miami-Dade endorsing the stadium plan. Among them: Donald Trump, whose company recently purchased the Doral golf resort. “Steve Ross’ commitment to modernize Sun Life Stadium -- while covering most of the construction costs -- is the right thing for Miami-Dade,’’ the ad quotes Trump as saying.

Also on Tuesday, Ross and team CEO Mike Dee sent a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and county commissioners requesting negotiations over the stadium deal. The letter said the deal Ross unveiled last week is a “baseline for debate” and asked for talks. The letter also urged the commission to adopt a resolution proposed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan endorsing the state bill that would allow taxes for Sun Life. The resolution is on the agenda for Wednesday’s commission meeting.





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Dania Beach man dies after acting ‘bizarrely’




















Shortly after stabbing a window with a knife and subsequently being arrested at a Pompano Beach gas station early Monday, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at Broward Health North.

Officers responded to a 911 call around 3:30 a.m. that a man was acting “bizarrely” at the BP Gas Station on East Sample Road. The man, the caller said, was stabbing the front window, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

They arrived and saw Kenneth Lent, of Dania Beach, walking to, then entering his truck. The deputies ordered him to get out, but before he did, they say he smoked “something out of a glass pipe” and appeared to put something in his mouth, then drink from a Gatorade bottle.





When Lent got out of the truck and lay on the ground, deputies handcuffed him. Lent had trouble walking to the patrol car, so the deputies put him back on the ground, called Pompano Beach Fire Rescue and began to give him CPR. Lent was transported to Broward Health North, where he was pronounced dead. The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine cause of death, according to the news release.

Detectives found “several knives and a small amount of cocaine,” according to the news release.





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BlackBerry Z10 Looks Like iPhone 5, Takes on Siri






RIM is set to announce the first devices running its new BlackBerry 10 operating system at an event on January 30. A lucky few, however, have already gotten their hands on what looks to be the new hardware, including German site TelekomPresse.


[More from Mashable: Watch These iPhone Knockoffs Get Bulldozed]






The site has the BlackBerry Z10, a touchscreen device with a similar look to some of the other popular smartphones out there — especially the iPhone 5.


Curious to see how the two compared, they put them side-by-side in the video above, running through both the physical design of both devices as well as some of their features.


[More from Mashable: RIM May License BlackBerry 10 to Other Manufacturers]


Notably, the video shows a Siri-like voice control functionality in BlackBerry 10, that we haven’t seen previously. As you can see in the test above, it beats Siri for speed.


SEE ALSO: RIM Adds 15,000 BlackBerry 10 Apps in a Weekend


While similar at first glance, design-wise the two phones do have some differences. The Z10 has a 4.2-inch screen, slightly larger than the iPhone 5’s 4-inch display. Both phones have a power button on top, however, the button on the BlackBerry is in the center of the top of the phone, while the iPhone’s is on the right on the device.


The volume controls are on the right side of the Z10, and left side of the iPhone 5. When it comes to power, the connection for the iPhone 5 is on the bottom of the device with the headphone jack, while the HDMI and USB connections on the Z10 are located on the left.


Check out the video above for a look at the full comparison of the two devices. Are you looking forward to BlackBerry 10? Can the new OS save RIM? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.


BlackBerry 10 Lock Screen


You unlock a BlackBerry 10 device by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.


Click here to view this gallery.


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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'Olympus Has Fallen' Trailer

The White House is a major target at the movies this year, with no less than two action films featuring a serious breach of security – and only one man that can protect the president. In addition to Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum's White House Down (in theaters this June), the first film out of the gate is Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. Watch the intense trailer.

Pics: Stars Who Have Played the President

In theaters March 22, Olympus finds Butler as a secret service agent struggling to recover from a tragic accident involving the first lady who unexpectedly becomes the only man who can protect the commander-in-chief after terrorists attack the White House, code named "Olympus." Die Another Day star Rick Yune plays the terrorist mastermind who matches wits with the president (Eckhart) while the speaker of the house (played by Freeman) scrambles to save the nation's top man and avert an even bigger disaster.

Video: Can Channing Tatum Save the Prez?

Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Olympus Has Fallen also stars Angela Bassett, Melissa Leo and Ashley Judd.

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Girl critical after being hit by B'klyn bus








A 12-year-old girl was struck by a bus this afternoon in Brooklyn and is in critical condition, authorities said.

The girl was at the corner of East Seventh Street and Avenue O in Midwood when she was struck around 2:50 p.m., fire officials said.

The victim was taken in critical condition to Maimonides Hospital, according to police.

The driver remained at the scene, cops said.











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South Florida housing recovery on track




















South Florida’s housing recovery remained on track last month.

Sales of existing single-family homes in Miami-Dade County jumped 16.4 percent in December 2012 from a year earlier, making 2012 a record year for sales, the Miami Association of Realtors said.

In Miami-Dade, the median price for a single-family home jumped 18.9 percent to $214,060 while that of an existing condominium soared 25.4 percent to $163,000 in December 2012 from a year earlier, marking 13 consecutive months of year-over-year gains. Miami-Dade condo sales climbed 9.8 percent to 1,395 units in December.





Broward County’s housing market is showing similar strong demand and rising prices.

In Broward, the median price of an existing single-family home surged 21.1 percent to $230,000 in December from a year earlier, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.

The median price of an existing condo or townhouse in Broward jumped 24.7 percent to $95,100 year over year, the group said.

Sales of single-family homes in Broward climbed 14.9 percent in December from a year earlier while the volume of condo and townhouse closings increased 4.7 percent over the period.

Sellers have gained the upper hand amid a tight inventory of properties for sale and often are able to choose between competing offers, according to Realtors.

The number of single-family homes on the market in Miami-Dade fell 27.5 percent in December to 5,000, while the number of condos declined 20.8 percent to 7,844 units, the Miami Realtors said.

Cash remains king, especially for condo transactions, a segment where foreign investors play a huge role. In December 2012, 76 percent of Miami-Dade condo sales were all cash transactions, as were 49 percent of single-family home deals.

“Buyers are quite surprised there is not more inventory after everything they have been hearing,’’ said Eyvonne Kafourus, an agent with Prudential Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale. “I see a lot of people coming in from other states, for job transfers and retirement.’’

The inventory of single-family homes in Broward fell 35.5 percent in December from a year earlier; the inventory of condos and townhomes for sale declined 25.2 percent year over year, the Fort Lauderdale group said.

“Buyers are getting aggravated, because they are losing deals,’’ said Charles Bonfiglio, who recently assumed office as president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors. “Eighty to 90 percent [of sales] are multiple offer situations. They’ve got to move quickly.’’

Bonfiglio said offers over asking price are common, although appraisals frequently do not follow suit.

The housing market in South Florida has continued to make gains despite a huge overhang of distressed properties that are a headwind on prices.

In Miami-Dade, distressed properties accounted for 41 percent of total sales in December, down from 54.4 percent a year earlier.

Demand is robust for bank-owned properties and short sales, agents say, and many would-be buyers find themselves outflanked by cash-rich professional investors.

“They don’t last long,’’ Kafourus said of foreclosures. “You have to be really on top of the market and searching every day. If you are looking to get a mortgage, you’re at a disadvantage to the cash buyers.’’

The median days on the market for a single-family home in Broward dropped to 37 days in December from 56 days a year earlier, the Realtors group said.

Florida has been seeing a flow of new arrivals after a period of exodus during the downturn.

“We’ve obviously turned the corner. We’ve noticed inventory tightening up,’’ said Philip Vias, a broker associate with Prudential in Fort Lauderdale.

Vias said more buyers seem to be coming in from the Northeast. “What’s held things up is homes weren’t selling up north. North it’s starting to trickle down.’’

Statewide in Florida, single-family home sales climbed 15.8 percent in December from a year earlier as the median price increased 14.1 percent to $154,000.





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Gov. Rick Scott's ex-dog Reagan bit mansion employee, records show




















Reagan, the now famous dog that once belonged to Gov. Rick Scott, was banished from the Governor’s Mansion after biting an employee who moved his water bowl.

“The governor and first lady love dogs and they had to make a hard decision when it was clear that Reagan was very anxious around lots of different people,’’ Scott spokeswoman Melissa Sellers said.

The dog bite occurred while the governor was in Orlando on Jan 7, 2011, just three days after Scott took office, according to an incident report released by Scott’s office late last week. Mansion grounds employee Jennifer Kinsey was arranging flowers in the mansion when Reagan bit her on the right hand, according to an incident report made by her supervisor for the Department of Management Services. The report noted that the injury was not serious and required no medical treatment.





Scott introduced the yellow Labrador to Facebook readers on Sept. 7, 2010, shortly after he won the Republican nomination and before his election in November 2010. Facebook friends chose the name Reagan from a list of three choices suggested by the campaign and applauded the candidate’s decision to adopt a rescue dog.

After the bite report, Sellers said Scott flew Reagan back to Naples on his private jet and returned the dog to All Pets Grooming and Boarding, a Collier County groomer. Owner Kelly Normand has refused to comment. Last week WTSP-Channel 10 said she told them that Reagan’s name has now been changed to Pluto and he lives on a horse ranch in Collier County, but no one at the grooming business would confirm the report.

“The family decided that the best decision for the dog and all those who visit (the Governor’s Mansion) would be to have the grooming business find Reagan a more appropriate home with less people and activity,’’ Sellers said. “It was a hard choice that sometimes pet owners have to make.”

The Scotts have since adopted Tallee, a calmer, gentler 7-year-old yellow Lab.

Earlier this month when first asked about the disappearance of Reagan and the appearance of Tallee, the governor’s current and former staff repeatedly refused to respond. When directly asked about it a few days later, Scott said he returned the dog to prior owners because it barked a lot and frightened mansion staffers, including photographer Eric Tournay. He said the dog never bit anyone. Sellers said Scott was out of town and did not recall the incident when he talked to reporters.

Tournay has since denied being frightened by Reagan, noting that he has owned several pit bulls.

Sellers, communications director for the governor since September, was not working for Scott during the campaign or the state when Reagan was adopted and returned. She said she was not aware of the dog’s return until the Tampa Bay Times reported it. She then asked First Lady Ann Scott about the dog.

A Times story about the dog sparked an outcry from animal lovers, who were critical of Scott for promoting the adoption during the campaign and getting rid of Reagan as soon as he was elected.





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Putin orders Russian computers to be protected after spy attacks






MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian authorities to protect state computers from hacking attacks, the Kremlin said on Monday, after an Internet security firm said a spy network had infiltrated government and embassy computers across the former Soviet bloc.


Dubbed Red October, the network used phishing attacks – or unsolicited emails to intended targets – to infect the computers of embassies and other state institutions with a program designed to harvest intelligence and send it back to a server.






Putin signed a decree on January 15 empowering the Federal Security Service (FSB) to “create a state system for the detection, prevention and liquidation of the effects of computer attacks on the information resources of the Russian Federation”.


State computer and telecommunications networks protected by the cyber security system should include those inside Russia and at its embassies and consulates abroad, according to the decree, which was published on a Kremlin website on Monday.


The Russian Internet security firm Kaspersky Labs said last week that the computer espionage network, discovered last October, had been seeking intelligence from Eastern European and ex-Soviet states including Russia since 2007. (http://r.reuters.com/mag45t )


Many of the systems infected belonged to diplomatic missions, Vitaly Kamluk, an expert in computer viruses at Kaspersky Labs, said last week. He declined to name specific countries.


Kamluk said last week that the network was still active, and that law enforcement agencies in several European countries were investigating it.


Kaspersky Labs said the infiltrators had created more than 60 domain names, mostly in Russia and Germany, that worked as proxies to hide the location of their real server.


The FSB declined immediate comment last week when asked whether Russia had taken action to bring any suspected members of the espionage network to justice, or acted to improve Internet security in light of the discovery.


The FSB – the main successor agency of the Soviet KGB – requested a written query, to which it has not yet responded. The Kremlin declined immediate comment on Monday when asked whether Putin’s decree was linked to Red October.


(Reporting by Steve Gutterman and Thomas Grove; Editing by Kevin Liffey)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Chris Hardwick Mandroid Nerdist Interview

Chris Hardwick is kind of like a Nerd Ambassador – he brings enthusiasm and excitement to every topic he covers, whether it's as host of AMC's The Talking Dead (the live discussion follow-up show to The Walking Dead); in his Nerdist.com podcast, where he asks the questions that everyone really wants to hear to such stars as Tom Hanks, Timothy Olyphant or Walking star Andrew Lincoln; or during his stand-up shows to sold-out crowds (his first Comedy Central stand-up special, Mandroid, hits DVD this week).

Pics: Stars Keep It Real

"I wasn't ashamed of the stuff I was into, but I was nervous about being open about it; when you're young you don't want people to tell you you're weird, but everything I was into was [considered] a little weird," the 41-year-old Chris tells ETonline. Back in the '70s, being a nerd was something that you could get beat up for, but now an entire generation wears the moniker like a badge of honor: "Traditionally nerd-based culture is now a big sector of pop culture. … It's not niche anymore, so [with Nerdist] we can actually kind of try to blow it up even more."

I spoke with Hardwick while he was zigzagging through the streets of Bloomington, IN, in search of his girlfriend at a local coffee shop just a few hours before a performing a set of two shows. "I'm lost in Indiana right now, trying to figure out where I'm at," he told me, apologetic for being slightly distracted. "I'm turned around – Apple Maps has been kind of a fail here in Indiana."

Asked if he was planning to include some of the Mandroid bits in his performance, the former co-host of MTV's Singled Out laughed, "No, no, you're not allowed to do that. There's no law against it, but it's just bad form as a comic to release a special and then just go on the road and do that material. People pay to see you, and they don't want to see the same jokes that they just saw for free on television, you know? [Comics] don't get the kind of leeway that a band gets, like, 'Yeah, the Stones are playing Satisfaction, sweet!' If you do a joke that's really old, then what happens is people on Reddit and Twitter just go, 'Real original, you're just doing old jokes!' But bands do it all the time."

Hardwick says he loves doing live television, that it's "a lot more organic than having a scripted show." But with producers keeping such a tight lid on all Walking Dead spoilers, there are pitfalls that Hardwick chooses to avoid: "They offer them to me, but I don't watch ahead of time – I mean, I could watch as many episodes as are completed, but I don't because, No. 1, it's a live show -- I don't want to accidentally blurt out something that I can't take back – but then also I feel like as consumers we've gotten so spoiled with just being able to watch things a season at a time, and I know that's really satisfying, but I also feel like there's a nice purity of television-watching where you get to anticipate and theorize and look forward to something at a certain time each week. There's a whole generation of people under 25, you say that to them and their eyes just glaze over. They don't understand. 'You know, there was a certain time if you missed something on television, that was it!' … There's actually kind of a communal bonding experience that you get with your friends when you watch that way."

As for his growing Nerdist empire (which has grown to be a many-headed beast), Hardwick simply states, "I'm a fan of stuff and I get excited. Look, I'm a comic and I understand being cynical, but I feel like there's such a layer of cynicism in our society right now – there's a whole sector that thinks it's not cool to just like things. The 'Hipster Nerds' like stuff because they hate it. It's like they ironically like it. What's wrong with celebrating things that you love? I think the core of everything we do at Nerdist is like, 'Hey, are you passionate about something? Then here, you should get to work around that or be around it or experience it in some way and be proud of it and celebrate it.' I think that's why we're able to get Neil Patrick Harris to do a Henson puppet show, because he loves puppets. That's kind of where we live."

Video: Is Vanessa Lachey Rooting for Hotties or Nerds?

In addition to this week's Mandroid release, next up Hardwick is hosting the Third Annual Streamy Awards, honoring excellence in original online video programming and streaming live February 17 from The Hollywood Palladium.

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UK's Prince Harry returns from Afghanistan








In this image released on January 21, 2013, Prince Harry, makes early morning checks as he sits on an Apache helicopter at the British controlled flight-line at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan

Getty Images

In this image released on January 21, 2013, Prince Harry, makes early morning checks as he sits on an Apache helicopter at the British controlled flight-line at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan


LONDON — Capt. Wales is coming home to be Prince Harry once again.

The Ministry of Defense revealed Monday that the 28-year-old prince is returning from a 20-week deployment in Afghanistan, where he served as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps. It did not immediately divulge his exact whereabouts.

In interviews conducted in Afghanistan, the third in line to the British throne described feeling boredom, frustration and satisfaction during a tour that saw him kill Taliban fighters on missions in support of ground troops. He also spoke of his struggle to balance his job as an army officer with his royal role — and his relief at the chance to be "one of the guys."




"My father's always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that," said Harry, the younger son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana. "But it's very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone's wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing."

Stationed at Camp Bastion, a sprawling British base in the southern Afghan desert, the prince — known as Capt. Wales in the military — flew scores of missions as a co-pilot gunner, sometimes firing rockets and missiles at Taliban fighters.

"Take a life to save a life. That's what we revolve around, I suppose," he said. "If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game."

Harry's second tour in Afghanistan went more smoothly than the first, in 2007-2008, which was cut short after 10 weeks when a magazine and websites disclosed details of his whereabouts. British media had agreed to a news blackout on security grounds.

This time, the media were allowed limited access to the prince in return for not reporting operational details.

A member of the air corps' 662 Squadron, the prince was part of a two-man crew whose duties ranged from supporting ground troops in firefights with the Taliban to accompanying British Chinook and U.S. Black Hawk helicopters as they evacuated wounded soldiers.

He said that while sometimes it was necessary to fire on insurgents, the formidable helicopter — equipped with wing-mounted rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and a 30mm machine gun — was usually an effective deterrent.

"If guys get injured, we come straight into the overhead, box off any possibility of an insurgent attack because they look at us and just go, 'Right, that's an unfair fight, we're not going to go near them,'" Harry said.










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Series for Miami’s emerging art collectors begins Thursday




















For art enthusiasts interested in bring their interest home, Miami’s Bakehouse Art Complex is hosting a lecture series for emerging collectors. The first panel, slated for Thursday at 6 p.m., features arists and curators who will talk about fine tuning your taste and learning to make informed decisions. The second session, Feb. 7, is oriented to the mechanics of purchasing. The third, on Feb. 21, explores how to manage your collection.

Moderating all three panels will be Denise Gerson, independent curator who served as associate director for the Lowe Museum of Art for 24 years. Cost is $25 per session or $60 for the series. Seating is limited; reservations are recommended.

Information at 305-576-2828; www.bacfl.org.





Jane Wooldridge





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Few blacks appoint to judgeships by Gov. Rick Scott




















Gov. Rick Scott is on pace to appoint fewer African-Americans to judgeships in Florida than either of his two

predecessors, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush.

In his two years as governor, Scott has appointed 91 judges. Six are black, including the reappointments of three judges who handle only





cases involving benefits to injured workers.

Scott has appointed two African-Americans to the circuit court bench, both in Miami-Dade County, and has appointed a black county judge in Jacksonville.

In a state as diverse as Florida, racial and ethnic diversity in the court system has been a concern for decades, and it erupted anew last

week in the state Capitol.

At a roundtable meeting with black legislators, Scott defended his appointments in the face of criticism that his record is “appalling.”

“There’s a sentiment in the black legal community that we need not apply because we don’t think like you,” Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St.

Petersburg, told the governor.

Unmoved, Scott said he’s limited in his choices by the lists of finalists he gets from local judicial nominating commissions or JNCs,

which screen judicial candidates and can recommend up to six candidates for each court vacancy.

Scott said he’s trying to improve diversity on the judicial panels but also emphasized that he won’t appoint activist judges.

“If an applicant — I don’t care who they are — believes in judicial activism, I’m not going to appoint them,” Scott told the black legislators’ group.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush also opposed activist judges and sought “interpreters of law, not creators,” as he said in 2004. But one of

every 10 judges Bush appointed was African-American.

Scott’s immediate predecessor, Crist, who served one four-year term, appointed 15 black judges, five in the first half and 10 in the second

including James Perry, a justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

Statistically, 6.6 percent of Scott’s judicial choices are black at the midway point of his term, compared to 8.3 percent for the term of

Crist, governor from 2007-2011, and 10 percent for Bush, who served the previous eight years. African-Americans make up 16.5 percent of Florida’s population according to the Census.

Scott has appointed proportionally more women and Hispanics to judgeships than Crist, and about the same as Bush.

For four decades, Florida judicial vacancies have been filled through a system known as merit retention, which replaced a system in which

governors could pick the candidates of their choice. It was designed to lessen political influence and improve the caliber of legal talent

on the bench.

Scott’s new chief legal adviser, Pete Antonacci, a veteran of four decades in state legal and political circles, said nominating panels

continue to be controlled by local political forces and bar groups and that Scott is at “the end of a pipeline” dominated by local politics.

“If people are believing that the system is a politics-pure zone, they’re wrong,” Antonacci said. “It all occurs inside the bubble of

the bar.”

By law, Scott has a free hand in making five of nine appointments to each of 26 judicial nominating commissions. He must pick the other

four from lists of three names for each vacancy, submitted by the Florida Bar, which Scott can reject without explanation.

Just last week, Scott asked the Florida Bar for new names for JNC vacancies in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit and in the Gainesville area.

Scott has appointed more judges in Miami-Dade than in any other county. Of Scott’s 21 selections in the state’s largest county, 13 are white (seven women and six men), six are Hispanic and two are African-American: Rodney Smith and Eric Hendon. In four instances in Miami-Dade, Scott chose white judges to replace Hispanics.

All three of Scott’s judicial appointments in Hillsborough are white; two men and a woman.

“We have a dynamic pool of African-American attorneys in Hillsborough County,” said Tampa lawyer Cory Person, president of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, a black lawyers’ group. “Gov. Scott’s record does not suggest a real effort to attract and appoint minority candidates.”

Scott has filled six of nine seats on Hillsborough’s judicial nominating panel; none is African-American. All seven Scott appointees

to judicial panels in Miami-Dade and Broward are white or Hispanic, according to the governor’s office.

To date, Scott has not appointed any judges in the Sixth Judicial Circuit for Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Tampa Bay Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report.





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Notre Dame football star says he was not in on hoax – ESPN






(Reuters) – Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o has denied ever being in on an elaborate hoax, telling ESPN he had believed his relationship with a woman who turned out to be an online fabrication was real.


The tragic story of his girlfriend and her injuries from a car accident and death from leukemia was one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports stories last year as Notre Dame made a drive toward the national championship game.






“I wasn’t faking it,” Te’o told ESPN in an off-camera interview on Friday, excerpts of which were posted on ESPN.com. “I wasn’t part of this.”


When asked whether he had made up the tale to support his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy, the highest individual honor for a college football player, Te’o replied: “Well, when they hear the facts they’ll know. They’ll know that there is no way that I could be part of this.”


The interview was Te’o's first since the sports blog Deadspin.com on Wednesday exposed the heart-wrenching tale of his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, and her death as a hoax and that a friend of Te’o's named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo was behind it.


Te’o told ESPN that Tuiasosopo called him on Wednesday and admitted he was behind the hoax and it was then Te’o was sure the woman had never existed.


“I don’t wish an ill thing to somebody,” Te’o said of Tuiasosopo, according to ESPN. “I just hope he learns. I think embarrassment is big enough.”


Outside Tuiasosopo’s home in Palmdale, California, on Thursday, a member of his family who did not identify himself told reporters they had no comment.


Te’o acknowledged in a statement on Wednesday that he had never met the woman in person, though he considered her his girlfriend and said he had been duped.


In the ESPN interview, Te’o said he tried to video chat with her several times, but she could never be seen on the other end. He also said he intentionally told people stories about her in a way that would make people believe they had met in person.


“I even knew that it was crazy that I was with somebody that I didn’t meet,” Te’o said.


NATIONAL PROMINENCE


ESPN said the interview was held at a training facility in Florida where Te’o has been preparing for the National Football League draft. The star linebacker was expected to be a high draft pick before the hoax was revealed.


Te’o sprang to national prominence last fall when he led Notre Dame to a victory over Michigan State within days of learning his grandmother and girlfriend had both died. The grandmother’s death was real.


The story grew to become a big feature in coverage of the team, which went undefeated in the regular season and reached the national championship game. Alabama defeated Notre Dame in the title game on January 7.


Notre Dame, one of the most powerful institutions in U.S. collegiate athletics, held a news conference within hours of the Deadspin.com article to say that Te’o had been duped.


Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said on Friday the Indiana university was comfortable, based on a private investigation it launched and on four years experience with Te’o, that he was the victim and encouraged Te’o to speak publicly.


(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Eric Beech)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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