Hunting a man-eating croc in South Florida

Wildlife biologist Joe Wasilewski has hauled many scaly creatures out of South Florida lakes, canals and marshes over the years.

But the snappish four-footer he snared at the Redland Fruit & Spice Park was an unsettling surprise. It was a young crocodile, but not the typically timid native species. This was a Nile croc, infamous for its appetite for humans and savage attacks on wildebeest and other large animals along African rivers and watering holes.

The capture late last year appears to have been the first sighting — at least officially — of a Nile croc in the wilds of Florida. It wasn’t the last. In April, a botanist photographed a second Nile of similar size on a Krome Avenue canal bank, also in the Redland community south of Miami. After eluding capture for months, that croc is now in hiding, whereabouts unknown. A report of a third, caught in the same area three years ago, has surfaced since.

In a state overrun with exotic invaders, even a few sightings of such an aggressive and dangerous animal have raised concerns with state and federal wildlife managers. In late August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took the unusual step of authorizing a state shoot-to-kill request for a reptile technically protected under federal law because it is disappearing in its native range and on international threatened lists.

“It was a tough call but we wanted to use common sense,” said Larry Williams, South Florida field supervisor for the service. “We’ve got a protected species but we’ve got it in a place where it’s an exotic.”

No one is predicting Nile crocs will become the next Burmese python, a once commonly sold pet that has settled into the Everglades as a damaging predator. But even a single Nile croc poses a potential threat if it grows to maturity, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife ecologist helping search for that elusive canal croc. Like the two that preceded it, authorities suspect the still-at-large crocodile escaped from a local breeder, probably as a hatchling.

Big boys of the

crocodile world

Nile crocodiles typically grow larger than their Florida relatives, which top out at around 13 feet.

“A huge Nile or saltwater croc is 16 to 17 feet and probably three or four times the weight of an American crocodile,’’ Mazzotti said. “If it got into a tug of war with a Volkswagen, the Volkswagen would probably lose.”

But what really separates them from local boys is their aggressive nature and habit of stalking and killing large prey, including humans. They’re blamed for hundreds of deadly attacks annually in Africa.

American crocs, largely confined to isolated coastal mangroves in South Florida, tend to steer clear of people. Like any large predator, of course, they can be dangerous. American crocs have been implicated in occasional fatal attacks in South and Central America. But they’re pussy cats in comparison to Nile crocs, said Wasilewski, a consulting biologist and veteran reptile wrangler based in South Miami-Dade. With the small but sudden uptick in sightings, he said the biggest worry is whether more than one Nile could be out there, undetected.

“It’s a frightening situation,” Wasilewski said.

Wildlife managers haven’t issued public statements about the Nile captures or sightings. But on Aug. 23, Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wrote to federal wildlife managers asking approval to shoot a Nile croc that had eluded repeated efforts to trap it alive. Though federally protected, he wrote, it might pose a threat to humans and was “known to be capable of unpredictable violent attacks.’’

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For Miami, new cruise ships a cause for celebration

Miami’s ship has come in. And it looks more like a fleet.

The Carnival Breeze, which starts regular sailings from its new year-round home Saturday, will be joined Thursday by Oceania Cruises’ Riviera and Dec. 1 by Celebrity Reflection. All three launched earlier this year in Europe and make their U.S. debut in Miami.

After a three-year dry stretch that saw no shiny new vessels mooring in Miami’s waters — and years of efforts to draw new operators coupled with millions spent on upgrades — the port is touting its biggest expansion ever with the three new ships as well as three new cruise lines signing on for this season and next.

“You want your newest ships to have the newest facilities, and that’s what Miami has done,” said Miami cruise expert Stewart Chiron, CEO of CruiseGuy.com.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises moved its ships from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to Miami, and Disney Cruise Line will sail for the first time from Miami starting in late December. Next year, MSC will bring its newest ship, Divina, to Miami after previously sailing from Fort Lauderdale.

And Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line, which reignited the parade of new ships in 2010 with the Norwegian Epic, is bringing the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Getaway in January 2014 to Miami, where it will sail year-round.

“I never, ever would have considered going anywhere else, because we are a Miami company and we really believe that means something,” said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian’s president and CEO.

That hasn’t always been the universal sentiment. Nearly six years ago, the port was under fire for a history of inefficiency and sub-par facilities. In late 2007, Royal Caribbean chose Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale as homeport for Oasis and Allure of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ships — despite having a Miami headquarters.

The presence of those giant ships has meant some other cruise lines felt the squeeze, and a couple, like Regent Seven Seas Cruises and MSC Cruises, have opted to move south.

“Once upon a time, Port Everglades was known as the boutique cruise ship port,” said Frank Del Rio, chairman and CEO of Prestige Cruise Holdings, parent company of Oceania and the luxury Regent Seven Seas. “Now Port Everglades is the megaship port. We’re the antithesis of megaships.”

But Chiron said the moves aren’t necessarily a negative for Fort Lauderdale’s port.

“These ship movements and repositionings, all it’s really doing is opening up both ports for really bright future opportunities,” he said.

Port Everglades has grown its multiday cruise passenger numbers from about 2.6 million in fiscal 2008 to an expected more than 3.6 million on 45 ships in fiscal year 2012. By comparison, PortMiami’s passenger numbers have grown from about 3.8 million in 2008 to what is expected to be more than 4 million with 26 ships at the peak for the current fiscal year.

For its part, Port Everglades continues to invest in upgrades, recently finishing the $54 million reconstruction of four cruise terminals under a 2010 agreement with Carnival Corp. for brands including Holland America Line, Seabourn and Princess Cruises.

The investments go on at PortMiami as well, where director Bill Johnson, who took the job in 2006, listened to criticism that Miami hadn’t done enough to support the cruise industry. In the last few years, the port built a pair of terminals for Carnival for about $100 million. Since those terminals opened about four years ago, the port will have spent and continues to spend $70 million more in improvements, Johnson said.

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Police mull action over false Twitter abuse claims

LONDON (Reuters) – Britons who posted remarks on Twitter and in blogs wrongly identifying a senior Conservative politician as a child sex abuser might face prosecution after police said on Wednesday they were looking to see if any crimes had been committed.

Lord Alistair McAlpine, an ally of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was widely named on social media sites as being the unidentified politician accused in a report by the BBC’s Newsnight program of abusing boys in social care.

McAlpine, who is 70 and in poor health, vigorously denied the claims and the abuse victim central to the BBC story later confirmed that the peer was not one of his attackers.

London’s Metropolitan Police said no criminal allegations had yet been made but that detectives would be meeting with McAlpine to begin assessing whether action should be taken.

Under the Malicious Communications Act, people can be prosecuted for sending any electronic communication or article which conveys a grossly offensive message or information which is false and believed to be false by the sender.

“It is far too early to say whether any criminal investigation will follow,” the police said in a statement.

The intervention comes as lawyers for McAlpine continued legal action against those who “sullied” his reputation.

The BBC has already agreed to pay 185,000 pounds ($ 294,400)over the Newsnight report, and his lawyers have also contacted ITV after a presenter on a chat show brandished a list of alleged abusers during an interview with Prime Minister David Cameron.

McAlpine has also threatened to go after Twitter users, and media reports said his legal team had identified up to 10,000 defamatory tweets.

Sally Bercow, flamboyant wife of Britain’s parliamentary speaker, the man who keeps lawmakers in order during debates, is one of those who could face legal action.

Other Twitter users have been asked to come forward, apologize and make a “sensible and modest” donation to charity as compensation, at a level yet to be decided.

“Given the large amount of information that continues to be disseminated, the band for which the charity payment will be settled shall be when Lord McAlpine has a full understanding of this material,” his lawyers said in a statement.

“The donation is intended for tweeters with fewer than 500 followers, but those with larger numbers of followers are still encouraged to identify themselves and offer their formal apologies at this stage.”

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Steve Addison)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Larry Hagman Dies

Larry Hagman, best known for playing Dallas villain J.R. Ewing, died Friday morning from complications stemming from his recent battle with cancer.

He was 81 years old.

Video: Larry Hagman Talks 'Dallas', Cancer and Veganism

"Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most," his family said in a statement via The Dallas Morning News. "When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time."

Hagman's rep says the late actor will be cremated.

His Dallas co-stars Linda Gray (who played his wife Sue Ellen) and Patrick Duffy (who played his brother Bobby) were reportedly at his bedside when he died, The Sun is reporting.

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years. He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew," Gray told ET in a statement. "He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented, and I will miss him enormously. He was an original and lived life to the fullest ... The world was a brighter place because of Larry Hagman."

Victoria Principal, who played Pamela Barnes Ewing, added, "Larry was bigger than life ... on screen and off. He is unforgettable, and irreplaceable, to millions of fans around the world, and in the hearts of each of us, who was lucky enough to know and love him. Look out God ... Larry's leading the parade."

Video: J.R. Menaces in New 'Dallas'

Hagman, who also starred as Air Force Captain Anthony Nelson in I Dream of Jeannie, was last seen on television in TNT's Dallas reboot, where he returned to play his most well-known character.

"Larry Hagman was a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history," Warner Bros., Dallas executive producers Cynthia Cidre and Michael M. Robin, and the show's cast and crew said in a statement. "He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace. Everyone at Warner Bros. and in the Dallas family is deeply saddened by Larry's passing, and our thoughts are with his family and dear friends during this difficult time."

"It was truly an honor to share the screen with Mr. Larry Hagman," Dallas reboot star Jesse Metcalfe, who plays Christopher Ewing, said in a statement. "With piercing wit and undeniable charm he brought to life one of the most legendary television characters of all time. But to know the man, however briefly, was to know a passion and dedication for life and acting that was profoundly inspirational."

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'Serial stickup man' cuffed in ice-cream, yogurt store robberies

The Fro-Yo bandit is on ice.

Cops nabbed an alleged serial robber, who held-up at least 10 businesses throughout Brooklyn — including hitting the same Tasti-D-Lite in Park Slope three times, authorities said yesterday.

Robert Coston, 47, was arrested Friday afternoon at the Linden Motor Inn in East New York Friday.

Cops tracked down him down after getting a tip from Crimestoppers.

Coston, who is homeless and has 16 prior arrests dating back to 1985, confessed to robbing 10 stores, cops said.

Charges are pending. It was not immediately clear if the gun he allegedly used during the stick-ups was recovered.

Coston’s spree began on Oct. 17 when he first robbed the Tasti-D-Lite on Seventh Avenue, cops said.

He next allegedly struck the Blue Marble Ice Cream Restaurant on Court Street in Cobble Hill on Oct. 22.

Coston also robbed two different Subway restaurants, cops said.

Besides hitting the same places multiple times, Coston's modus operandi also included apologizing to his victims.

Tasti D-Lite owner Mayer Levy earlier said Coston was “very calm” during the gunpoint robberies.

“He said, ‘I’m sorry. I hate to do this. I have a family to feed,’ ” Levy said.

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Small plane makes emergency landing in Southwest Ranches

A small, ultralight airplane made an emergency landing onto an open cow pasture in Southwest Ranches on Friday. No one was injured, Broward Sheriff’s Office reported, and the airplane did not suffer any significant damage.

Two people were aboard the plane, said Dani Moschella, a BSO spokeswoman. An investigation into the cause of the emergency landing will be conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane went down in the area of Griffin and Hancock roads.

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Worn Out? Stars Step Out in Same Style

Kim Kardashian vs. Pink

Who knew Kim Kardashian and Pink had similar tastes in formal wear? Kardashian was spotted wearing a purple-blue, floor-length Catherine Deane gown in Miami this past month, while Pink chose the same style for her red-carpet appearance at the 2012 American Music Awards. Who rocked the chic style best?

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Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 13,000 for first time since Election Day

Stocks rallied in an abbreviated session on Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 172 points to 13,009. That's the first close above 13,000 for the Dow since Election Day.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18 points to 1,409. The S&P also racked up its biggest weekly point gain of the year. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 40 to 2,966.

Traders were encouraged by economic signals out of Germany and China. It's also the first day of the traditional holiday shopping season.

Trading on Wall Street was thin, about 1.4 billion shares, in a holiday-shortened session. Advancing stocks beat decliners 5-to-1.

REUTERS

A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange today as a little girl watches.

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Holiday hiring peps up a sluggish job market

At least the holidays are hiring.

Temporary jobs tied to the shopping season could be the consolation prize to South Florida’s recent stretch of lackluster hiring reports. Retailers expect to hire about 600,000 seasonal workers nationwide to keep up with demand during the Christmas rush, and the temp jobs can be a trial run for landing a permanent position.

“If you do a great job, we will reward you,’’ said Tyre Sperling, a spokesman for UPS, which plans to hire about 900 temporary workers this year in the South Florida area, with most jobs starting at about $8.50 an hour.

The UPS target of 900 local holiday workers is only about 20 more workers than it hired last year, reflecting a general trend of flat seasonal hiring in 2012.

The National Retail Federation expects stores and online merchandisers to bring on between 585,000 and 625,000 temporary workers nationwide this shopping season, roughly the same as the 607,500 hired last year. In South Florida, Macy’s and sister store Bloomingdale’s plans to hire 3,600 seasonal workers, and its national goal of 80,000 workers is up slightly from last year’s tally of 78,000 holiday hires.

One reason that retailers aren’t going all-out on seasonal workers is that they have been on a hiring streak since 2010. Retail payrolls in Broward and Miami-Dade grew 7 percent in the last two years compared to 3 percent for hiring overall. And though the 2012 seasonal hiring numbers are comparable to last year, they still amount to a post-recession high as consumers return to their free-spending ways.

Landing a holiday job at UPS or with any other employer is no guarantee for a permanent position, and companies expect to keep only a small fraction of their temporary workers this winter. Target, the nation’s third-largest retailer, recently said only 30 percent of 2011’s holiday hires became full-time employees.

But managers and others noted that they are reluctant to let outstanding temporary workers go once their assignment ends, particularly at the entry-level wages that typically come with holiday work. Should holiday sales come in strong and retailers start to feel confident about 2013, stores will be more eager to hold onto their staff once the “return” season ends in January.

“This is a good time to get your foot in the door,’’ said Ellen Davis, a senior vice president of the National Retail Federation. When searching for new employees, “the first place where many retailers look is who worked for them during the holidays and did a great job.”

Adrian Rodriguez tried for a month to land a job at JC Penney, but he didn’t hear back until the holidays arrived. “I’m a student. I needed a job,’’ he said. The Miami Dade College student spent a recent morning getting a tutorial on the department store’s watch department, one of thousands of workers cramming in as much Retail 101 before Friday and the official launch of the holiday shopping season.

While retailers wanted as many jobs filled as possible before “Black Friday,’’ the holiday hiring rush continues. Many of the back-end jobs, such as warehouse workers and package handlers, will see their rush periods in the days before Christmas. To land a seasonal job, recruiters, retail experts and others offered this advice:

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Texting and driving ban bill filed — again — in Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE --
Drivers would be banned from manually typing or reading texts, emails or other electronic messages while operating a car under legislation filed in the Senate Tuesday.

The measure (SB 52), filed by Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, calls for the offense to be what is known as a “secondary offense,” meaning officers could only ticket people for texting while driving if they’ve stopped them for some other traffic violation. That is, if a police officer sees someone texting they wouldn’t be able to pull them over – but if they see someone speeding and texting, they could tack on extra charges for texting in addition to the speeding penalty.

Drivers would still be able to read navigational devices or electronic maps without incurring a penalty under the proposal. Reading weather alerts or other safety-related information would also be exempt, as would using a hands-free voice-recognition application.

Texting while driving would be a nonmoving violation, punishable by a $30 fine, under the bill.

Lawmakers will be in full session in March, but bills can be filed now and committee meetings on proposed legislation start Dec. 3. Detert’s was among the first measures in the Senate to emerge from bill drafting for the coming year.

The National Transportation Safety Board has urged Florida and other states to ban the use of cell phones for texting or talking while driving. The NTSB said last year that distracted driving, some of it due to cell phone use, contributed to nearly 4,000 highway deaths a year, citing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. About a quarter of American drivers admit they sometimes text and drive. The issue is on the NTSB’s “most wanted” list for changes in transportation safety nationwide.

According to the National Conference on State Legislatures, Florida is one of only five states without some sort of ban on texting while driving. The others are Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and South Carolina.

Detert has sponsored the proposal in at least the past two previous years with no success, despite generally bipartisan support.

The idea has generally been met with opposition from Libertarian-leaning lawmakers from rural areas who have a philosophical aversion to government imposing additional safety laws. It has also been opposed by some minority legislators, who fear giving police additional reasons to target drivers because of concerns about racial profiling – though Detert’s bill wouldn’t allow police to proactively pull drivers over just for texting.

Two legislators who in the past have held the legislation up in committee – former Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff in the Senate and former Rep. Brad Drake in the House – are no longer in the Legislature.

Ten states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia — and the District of Columbia have banned hand-held phone use by all drivers.

Several other states, including Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts and Florida’s neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia, have a primary enforcement ban on texting while driving. Some states, such as Texas, have a texting ban just for younger drivers.

Detert’s bill has not yet been referred to committee.

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Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is Good, But No iPad Killer [REVIEW]

Unboxing the Kindle Fire HD 8.9

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Apple Now Owns the iMessage Name]

Amazon expands its tablet sights with the bigger, more powerful Kindle Fire HD 8.9. Can it compete against Apple‘s iPad?

If there’s one company that deserves credit for reigniting the iPad competitor market, it’s Amazon. Despite some bugs and an overall blah design, its 7-inch Kindle Fire was the first Android tablet that made sense to consumers who gobbled it up to help the Fire grab 50% of the Android tablet market in just 6 months.

[More from Mashable: 9 Black Friday Deals For iPhone Owners]

That tablet essentially opened the flood gates for a new set of ever-more-powerful 7-inchers from, notably, Barnes & Noble and Google. All three companies have already updated their 7-inch offerings to more powerful components and higher-resolutions screens. They’re all still running Android, though Amazon and Barnes & Noble choose to hide the Google OS behind smarter and much more consumer-friendly interfaces.

All this led Apple to finally enter the mid-sized tablet space with the iPad Mini. It’s easily the best-looking tablet of the bunch, but also $ 120 more expensive than its nearest competitor.

The more interesting development, though, is Amazon‘s (and Barnes & Noble‘s) decision to go toe-to-toe with Apple’s full-size iPad and launch the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (in 4G LTE and WiFi-only). The move is akin to a middle weight boxer putting on the pounds to take on the Heavyweight world champion. Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is slightly smaller (the iPad is 9.7-inches), lighter (567g vs. 625g), cheaper ($ 369 for 32 GB model vs. $ 599 for the iPad 4th Gen — Amazon subsidizes with sleep-state ads, that I do not mind) and overall somewhat less powerful. In order to win the battle, the 8.9-inch Kindle Fire HD better be pretty nimble on its feet, while able to throw that all important knockout punch.

Short version of this story: the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 does some serious damage, but the iPad 4th Gen gets the decision and retains the tablet leader title.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is by no means a failure. In many ways, it’s as good as the smaller Kindle Fire HD, but throughout my tests I noticed odd bugs and glitches (which should all be fixable by software) and a somewhat disturbing lack of power that’s especially obvious when you put the Fire HD 8.9 next to the iPad 4th Gen

What It Is

If you’ve never seen an iPad and someone handed you the Kindle Fire HD .9, you’d likely say its jet-black, soft-to-the-touch plastic body felt good in your hands and was more than effective at all the core tasks (reading, game playing, e-mail, web browsing).

Design-wise, the 8.9 device looks exactly like the 7-inch model, complete with the too-hard to find volume and power buttons. There are no other physical buttons on this device, but Amazon chooses to hide the few it has by making them the exact same color as the chassis and flush with the body. Every time I use the tablet I do the “where’s the damn button” dance, rotating the Kindle Fire HD round and round until I feel the buttons (since I can barely see them).

I have applauded Barnes & Noble for putting the physical “N” home button right on the face of their Nook HD. Bravo for having the guts to do this. Amazon apparently looks at Apple’s iPad home button and thinks to have anything similar would be seen as “copying” the Cupertino hardware giant, when instead they should realize that it works, consumers like it and tablets without it are at a distinct disadvantage.

Amazon’s interface has you make do with a virtual, slide-out home button that is always available. Problem is, I found times when it wasn’t available. When I played Spider-Man and Asphalt 7, the tiny little left-had bar would disappear and I couldn’t exit the game unless I hit the sleep/power button.

The rest of the Kindle Fire HD 8.9′s body is solid and unremarkable (if you read my Kindle fire HD 7 review, then you know exactly what to expect.). Like the iPad 4th Gen, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 has a front-facing 720p-capable camera. It’s useful for capturing video, snapping 1 Megapixel images and, probably most important, Skype video chats. Skype has built a fairly sharp-looing Kindle Fire app, though the design doesn’t fully fit the larger 8.9-inch screen. Skype just updated its Android app for better tablet viewing and hopefully, we’ll see this update hit the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 as well.

The iPad also has an HD rear-facing camera. The Kindle fire HD 8.9 does not (Barnes & Noble leave out cameras altogether)

Not Packing a Punch

As a large-screen high-resolution tablet (though iPad’s 2048×1536 retina display beats it), the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 offers plenty of attractive screen real estate for web browsing, book and magazine reading and games. But the results can be mixed. Silk, Amazon‘s custom web browser, was occasionally less than responsive and games, though, they ran well, never looked half as good as they do on the considerably more expensive iPad 4.

Granted, you can’t always find the same high-quality immersive action games on both Android and iOS, but Asphalt 7 Heat is a notable exception and it throws the performance differences between the two tablets into stark contrast. Game play is equally responsive on both platforms: the Kindle Fire HD 8.9’s accelerometer reads my moves just as well as the iPad.

The graphics on the Kindle Fire HD, however, are reduced to blobs and blocks (palm trees without distinct leaves, buildings without discernible windows) . The iPad’s quad-core graphics simply overmatch the Kindle Fire. I have never, for example, seen an iPad draw the game as I was playing, as I did when I tried out The Amazing Spider-Man.

Additionally, I experienced more than my share of crashes with games and even magazine apps like Vanity Fair.

The Good

Not everyone, however, will compare the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 to the iPad. Some will see the $ 299 entry-level price point (for the 16 GB model) and appreciate the power, flexibility and utility of this device. Like all Fire’s before it, the Kindle Fire HD 8.9 makes it easy to consume mass quantities of content. Nearly every menu option: Games, Apps, Books, Music, Videos, Newsstand, puts you just one click away from shopping for fresh content. If you have an Amazon account (and who doesn’t) your desired book, music or movie is just a click away. Plus, you can still easily store any of it locally, and worry about running out of storage space, or in the cloud, and never worry about space or accessibility—you can get to that purchased Kindle content from any Kindle app or registered Amazon device.

Watching movies on the tablet is a pleasure. I streamed a couple through Amazon Prime; they looked good on the 1920 x 1200 screen and the Dolby Stereo speakers produced sharp, loud, almost room-filling sound—an impressive feat not even the iPad can match.

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 also includes a mini-HDMI-out port, which prompted me to connect the tablet to my 47-inch LED HDTV so we could watch Disney’s Brave. Yes, I had to get up and tap on the Kindle screen each time I wanted to pause and restart the move, but otherwise, I was pretty impressed with how the Kindle handled the task.

Obviously I yearn for an Apple Airplay-like feature on Android tablets (rumor has it one is coming), but this is the next, best thing.

There isn’t a lot to say about the Kindle Fire HD 8.9-inch interface that I did not say in the Kindle Fire HD 7 review. I will note, however, that the increased real estate makes the trademark task carousel seem almost too big. Icons for everything from your recently played Spider-Man game to magazine apps, books and Web sites all sit side-by-side-by side. Some, like book covers, look gorgeous.

Others like a broken web-page link look stupid. Worse yet, none of them have labels, which can occasionally make it hard to identify which app or task you’re looking at. I’m just not sure this interface metaphor is sustainable.

Personally I prefer either the clean consistent look of iOS, or the uber-user friendly, family-oriented Nook HD profile-based one. Amazon may want to take a hard look at those and start over.

Staying Connected

The Kindle Fire HD 8.9 is also Amazon’s first cellular-based tablet. That fact puts it even more squarely in competition with the iPad (which obviously has always had 3G models and now offers blazing fast 4G LTE ones as well on all major carriers).

Amazon’s mobile broadband plans are a little more conservative, with just the AT&T 4G LTE option (the 32 GB 4G model that I tested lists for $ 499, which is still $ 224 less than a comparable iPad 4th Gen).

In my experience, the connectivity is superfast and fairly ubiquitous. Amazon‘s $ 49 (a year) flat fee plan is attractive, but with a cap of 250MB per month of data, it’s unlikely it will satisfy the most data-hungry users. If you do need more data, users can also get 3GB and 5GB data plans directly from AT&T on the device.

At press time, Amazon had not enabled streaming video over LTE. Having it sounds nice, but even with the most generous data plans, streaming video would eat it up faster than you can say, “I’m streaming Back to the Future in HD over 4G LTE on my Kindle fire HD!”

The reality for most users is that WiFi is plentiful and you’ll be hard pressed to find a spot where you can’t connect for free or a small one-off fee. It’s the reason Barnes & Noble’s line of HD Nooks do not include a cellular option.

Review continues after FreeTime Gallery

FreeTime

Kindle HD FreeTime Start

Click here to view this gallery.

Perhaps the best new addition to the Kindle Fire family is not a piece of hardware or new component, but the new FreeTime app. Amazon put a lot of loving care into this parental control interface, but almost mucks the whole thing up by hiding the tool under an app that you have to scroll down to (or search) to find. By contrast profiles and age and content controls are baked into the Barnes & Noble Nook HD in a way that makes them impossible to ignore.

Even so, once you do access FreeTime, I think you’ll be pleased with the level of control it gives you. I added test profiles for my two children and then hand-picked every app and piece of content they could access. I was also able to block broadband mobile and even set time limits for access to content and overall screen viewing time (on a per profile basis). The set-up is a bit wonky and it bizarrely switches between landscape and profile screens, but I still applaud the effort. It would make sense for Amazon to move FreeTime into a device set-up screen. If the user has no additional family members or kids using the device, they can easily skip it.

To Buy or Not to Buy

Amazon’s expansive content and shopping ecosystem has always been a strong draw and it’s just as good in this large screen tablet as it was in the very first Kindle Fire. Still, you have to compare it with the equally strong iOS ecosystem, which is no slouch in the content shopping department. Apple doesn’t connect you as seamlessly to physical products, but there’s nothing difficult about shopping on Amazon.com via your iPad. It’s also notable that tablet competitor Barnes & Noble has added movie and TV viewing, rental and purchase.

Ultimately, all of these tablets are offering more and more of the same content options, apps, and features. The decision will likely come down to price, app selection, interface and overall ease of use. The Amazon Kindle fire HD 8.9 scores well on all of these, but does not always lead.

For the price, it’s a great value, but I want Amazon to focus on hardware and interface design for the next big update. Then, they may get my full endorsement.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Gabriel Aubry and Olivier Martinez Involved in Brawl

Halle Berry's ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry and her fiancé Olivier Martinez were involved in a Thanksgiving altercation that turned physical, with one man having to be transported by ambulance due to injuries, ET confirms.

Cops responded to a 9-1-1 call at 10 a.m. at Berry’s house, and one individual has been detained by police. According to People.com, the fight broke out when Aubry was dropping off his daughter with Berry, Nahla, 4, to her house for Thanksgiving.

Related: Halle Berry & Gabriel Aubry's Custody Battle Heats Up

The investigation is currently ongoing.

Related: Berry -- My Love for Olivier Was 'Gradual'

Just Wednesday afternoon, Aubry, Berry, Martinez and Nahla were all seen together attending a pre-Thanksgiving party in Los Angeles.

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Not so happy family: Halle Berry's ex arrested after brawling with beauty's fiance

Halle Berry’s former husband was arrested today at her California home after he triggered a furious fight with her fiancé, French actor Olivier Martinez.

Gabriel Aubry was dropping off their daughter, Nah¬la, 4, when fists started flying, TMZ reported.

Aubry, a Canadian model, blew up when Martinez, told him, “We have to move on.” Aubry, 36, swung at and pushed Martinez, 46, but wound up unconscious and pinned to the ground before cops showed up to cart him off on battery charges, law-enforcement sources said.

Berry, who broke up with Aubry in 2010, was there when “Gabriel went nuts,” sources told the Web site.

MUNAWAR HOSAIN /startraksphoto.c

Halle Berry

Both men were treated in the same emergency room about an hour apart, Aubry for a broken rib and a potentially serious head injury, Martinez for a possibly broken hand.

Berry, 46, later obtained an emergency order of protection to keep Aubry away from her, their daughter and Martinez.

Tension between the two reportedly soared after Halle tried to take Nahla to France to live with her and Martinez. Aubry went to court and got an order preventing the move.

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Vet who contracted Hep C wins malpractice suit against VA hospital

A failure by Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center staff to properly clean colonoscopy equipment likely infected a patient with hepatitis C, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan awarded U.S. Air Force veteran Robert Metzler and his wife a combined $1.25 million in their medical malpractice case against the United States government. Metzler, 70, and his wife, Lucy Ann Metzler, had sued for a combined $30 million.

Metzler was one of more than 11,000 veterans who received colonoscopies with improperly-cleaned equipment between 2004 and 2009 at VA hospitals in Miami, Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Augusta, Ga., according to an investigation by the VA’s own Administrative Investigation Board.

The hospitals used equipment that had been rinsed after each patient rather than being sterilized by steam and chemicals as called for by the manufacturer. Investigators who took apart water tubes on some of the equipment that was supposed to be clean and ready for use instead found “discolored liquid and debris.”

Metzler, who received his colonoscopy in 2007, had tested negative for hepatitis C the previous year. He tested positive for the virus in 2009, days after the VA administration sent him a letter warning him of a “potential health risk” related to the endoscopic equipment used during his procedure.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, defending the VA, acknowledged the hospital “breached” a “duty of reasonable care” but denied the equipment caused the health problems.

Dr. David Nelson, a board-certified doctor in internal medicine, testified that “there is less than a 0 percent chance” Metzler contracted hepatitis through his colonoscopy, according to the ruling. But the judge, despite acknowledging that VA records “strongly suggest” Metzler couldn’t have been infected by the colonoscopy, said the veteran had no other risks associated with contracting the virus.

“I realize that the chances of acquiring hepatitis C under these circumstances is slight,” Jordan wrote. “But I find that there is nothing to preclude Mr. Metzler from being one of those two persons in a trillion or billion who do get the virus.”

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Small Business Saturday: the anti-Black Friday

Don’t want to brave the Black Friday craziness? You can get a head start on your holiday shopping, snag some deals and support local merchants by participating in Small Business Saturday.

Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday is focused on promoting small business owners nationwide. Since it was started in 2010 by American Express, the promotional effort has grown into a national movement involving thousands of businesses, chambers of commerce and economic development organizations. According to American Express, last year more than 100 million people nationwide participated.

“The one thing businesses have told us over and over again is that they need more customers. So we thought it would be great to create a day in the holiday weekend that focuses just on the small business and shopping locally in communities around the country,” said Mary Ann Fitzmaurice Reilly, senior vice president at American Express Open.. “That’s how Small Business Saturday got its start.”

Organizations such as the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce and Coral Gables Chamber have turned Small Business Saturday into a communitywide event.

“We decided to participate because in Coral Gables we support our small businesses,” said Mark Trowbridge, president and CEO of the chamber that is participating for the second year. “Coral Gables is an economic engine and our small businesses help to drive that engine.”

American Express cardholders who sign up at shopsmall.com will get a $25 credit on their bill if they make a purchase from a participating business on Small Business Saturday. Participating businesses get free marketing support from American Express via a toolkit on its website.

On Saturday, the Coral Gables Chamber, along with American Express, the Village of Merrick Park and Books & Books will host a day of activities, including a $100 Startup Competition, inspired by the best-selling book by Chris Guillebeau. Entrepreneurs are encouraged to bring their most innovative ideas for a business that can be launched with just $100 (register at http://100dollarstartup.co). Finalists will pitch their startup ideas to the public at the 4 p.m. event, held at Books & Books in Coral Gables; a panel of judges will select the winners.

More than 30 Coral Gables merchants will take part in the day; many will feature discounts. At Klara Chavarria Contemporary Art, for instance, patrons can take advantage of free delivery and installation of any artwork purchased Saturday.

The free toolkit has proven an invaluable resource to business people like Michael Nucci, the marketing associate for Fort Lauderdale-based Bluewater Books and Charts, which sells nautical books to recreational cruisers. “We decided to participate last year and again this year because we thought it would give us an advantage on the sale season,” said Nucci, who will be offering a 15 percent discount on most items he sells on Small Business Saturday. “We got started and used the toolkit to get free posters made and to send out e-mail and social media promotions to attract customers. It’s a great thing for small businesses in this economy.”

In Kendall, the Recycled Closet, a consignment shop for teens, is offering 20 percent off its already discounted clothing. “I’m so glad to see American Express and communities around the nation working to help by dedicating a day to the small business owner,” said owner Jennifer Kaloti.

In Miami Beach, small businesses are embracing Small Business Saturday, said Ana Cecilia Velasco, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. “As we are a tourist destination and get heavy traffic specifically for shopping during this time, it is a natural for us to highlight the event. Small Business Saturday makes sense to us as well because Miami Beach is known for its boutique shops.”

To survive the craziness of the season, consumers may want to treat themselves, too. At Pure Therapy, in the W Hotel on South Beach, customers get a $25 gift card with purchases of $100 or more and items from local designers will be 10 percent off on Saturday. In Bal Harbour, Gee Beauty, one of the only independently owned small businesses in the Bal Harbour Shops, will treat customers to a complimentary Gee Beauty Brow shaping with a purchase of $100 or more.

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ET's Power List: Nicki Minaj

Fresh off of her album release, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up, Nicki Minaj has another accomplishment to celebrate -- earning a slot on the First Annual ET Power List.

From her mixtapes to her albums to her popular features, almost everyone has a little bit of Nicki on their MP3 player, but what's on Nicki's iPod might surprise you.

"No one knows that I'm in love with Enya!" Nicki says. "Oh my gosh, she makes me feel like I could fly!"

2012 has been a busy year for the rapper outside of music. With the launch of her new Pink Friday fragrance and her new addition to American Idol, Nicki has expanded her empire to become a household name, but just a few years ago she was still virtually unknown.

VIDEO: Nicki Minaj Comments on Idol Feud

"I was still working at Red Lobster when I first heard my song on the radio, so I wouldn't consider myself famous at that time!" says Nicki. "I had to go in that kitchen and make them salads and take that lobster out to that table!"

No one makes it to the top without getting advice (both good and bad), so what's the most questionable suggestion Nicki's ever gotten?

"The worst advice anyone has ever given me is to not incorporate singing and theater into my music and into my image!" says Nicki.

Watch the video for more.

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Penn Station reopens after switch problem

The switch problem that led to a complete service shutdown at Penn Station on the busiest travel night of the year has been resolved, Long Island Rail Road said.

The station — which was shut down due to overcrowding — was reopened.

Amtrak, NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road were all still down for about an hour.

Expect delays on many lines, officials said.

At one point, thousands of people packed the streets outside the station.

Many of the stranded travelers included people leaving town for the holiday, lugging suitcases.

“Its the busiest travel day and they can’t get their s—t together!” fumed Ashley Smith, 28, a New Jersey bound Queens woman.

Kaylee Osowski

Crowds outside Penn Station tonight.

Twenty-five year old Anh Le was so desperate she contemplated calling a car service from Manhattan to New Jersey.

“It’s frustrating,” she said.

Officials said the problem stems from a power outage that effected Amtrak’s switches.

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Dear daughter, let me give you some career advice ...

My daughter, a high school junior, wants to be a teacher. That doesn’t sit well with my husband, who worries about the state of education and the job outlook. He and I regularly debate whether we should encourage her to pursue this interest, or strongly steer her in another direction.

Today, coaching our kids about career paths is complicated. Many of my reporter and editor friends who witnessed an overhaul of the media world are highly opposed to their kids becoming journalists. Where parents of the past pushed their kids to follow in their footsteps, we want the generation of college-bound kids we raise to go where the jobs will be.

American workers’ experiences during the recession and the uncertainty of the global economy have made many of us more opinionated about what careers our kids pursue. We have witnessed job loss and burnout. We have seen highly educated professionals such as lawyers and bankers lose their jobs. And worse, we have seen college graduating classes face an overwhelmingly tough employment arena. While it’s true that a college degree usually guarantees better wages, the mantra of parents clearly has become: Can you land a decent-paying job with that degree?

As parents, we’re just beginning to understand that the next generation will have to navigate the workplace differently. Experts forecast that workers starting out now will switch careers — that’s careers, not jobs — an average of more than three times during their lives. Should parents, then, worry less about guiding our kids into careers and focus more on helping our kids identify skills to succeed in the new economy?

Whether my daughter becomes a teacher or an engineer, her success likely will come from a mastery of technology, languages and communications skills. Most importantly, she will need the mindset to be a problem solver, innovator, risk taker and self marketer. She will need to be prepared to continuously acquire new skills, a lesson my generation has learned the hard way.

“We are fooling ourselves to think young people will get a degree and spend the next 20 years at a single company or in a single industry,” says John Swartz, regional director of career services at Everest College, which has campuses in 30 cities including Miami. “They will have to be more focused on dealing with change. In this new world order, they have to follow the jobs in demand, acquire the right skills or at least transferable skills, and know that the skill set needed might change.”

For example, Swartz says, he has seen young people get training to become medical assistants because they have a passion to help others. They later were able to apply those skills to other jobs in healthcare. “Parents need to help their kids soul search, then support their decision whatever they choose, understanding that every good high-wage job requires more skill,” Swartz says.

Cesar Alvarez, executive chairman of Greenberg Traurig law firm, factors this concept into how he advises his four children, 28, 27, 22 and 21. For centuries, the law profession has attracted smart, principled men and women. Yet, in the last few years, we’ve seen lawyers underemployed, law partners burned out and law grads without jobs. I asked Alvarez whether he has encouraged any of his children to enter the legal profession.

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New House Speaker pledges inclusion, cooperation

TALLAHASSEE --
Bipartisanship. Cooperation. Across the aisle.

These were the buzzwords and phrases Tuesday during the swearing in of a massive new class of lawmakers who are part of the 86th Legislature that will convene in March.

The aftermath of the Nov. 6 election, which saw Democrats gain seven seats overall, has tempered Republicans. Just two years ago GOP leaders boasted about how conservative Tallahassee had become. Now, amid a backlash against a voting law passed by Republicans in 2011, both GOP leaders set less strident tones during their inaugural speeches, stressing cooperation among all members and a rejection of petty political squabbles.

“The election is over,” said Will Weatherford, who became at 33 the youngest House speaker in modern Florida history and the first from Tampa Bay since 2004.

To those who want President Barack Obama or Congress to fail, Weatherford said: “You are wishing America to fail, and that is unacceptable.”

Tick tock, tick tock

With 8.5 percent unemployment and 3.5 million Floridians on food stamps, Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said that the time for action is now. He gave digital countdown clocks to each House member to remind them that they have two years to improve conditions.

“Our time is short, the clock is ticking, let us make the most of every single second,” Weatherford said. “There are people counting on us. I am counting on you. So that when the clock runs out may it be said of us that we were bold, we served with a purpose and we fulfilled our promise to Florida.”

In a speech that broadly outlined themes of inclusion and cooperation, Weatherford stayed away from specific policy. Instead, Weatherford told members it is more important to think big.

“We will need a clear focus, a collaborative purpose and a leadership of conscience that is willing to do what is right,” he said.

Elections reform

Senate President Don Gaetz hit on the same themes.

“The floor in this chamber is not divided by a partisan aisle that freezes us into gridlock on separate sides of every issue,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said.

Gaetz, however, was more specific than Weatherford. He said the Senate and House will work together to create jobs, improve higher education, tighten up ethics rules and reform the election process to ensure the 2014 elections in Florida are “a model for America.”

He told his fellow senators they will be judged on their results.

“You and I will be judged by whether we have helped or hurt or been irrelevant to the slow, steady, permanent recovery of Florida’s economy,” he said. “You and I will be judged by whether it is more or less likely that a high school or college or university graduate can count on his education as the passport to a job.

“You and I will be judged, in spite of ourselves, not by what we say but by what we do to reform the way we run elections and raise the standards of ethical conduct from the courthouse to the state house.”

Ethics crash course

To show that he’s serious about ethics reform, Gaetz has proposed that senators take an ethics course — for an hour.

In that amount of time, Gaetz hopes to provide an overview of the ethical dilemmas that face lawmakers from time to time.

“My hope is that (the class) will cover the basics of public service and interest people in learning more,” Gaetz told reporters, adding that it’s better for lawmakers to learn the rules up front rather than after they’re in trouble.

Gaetz also installed a rule banning senators from voting on bills that could benefit or harm them personally. Under current rules, senators can vote as long as they disclose the conflict.

Conflicts are inevitable because lawmaking is a part-time job that pays about $30,000 per year, and most legislators and their spouses have other jobs and businesses.

For example, Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, disclosed a voting conflict in 2012 on a controversial prison privatization bill. Evers’s wife was a lobbyist for four groups that opposed privatization. Evers was abiding by the rules when he cast his vote against the bill.

In the House, Weatherford has revived the ethics and elections committee after it was disbanded to address reforms that he says is necessary.

Herald/Times staff writers Steve Bousquet and Brittany Alana Davis contributed to this report.

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News Summary: India outrage over Facebook arrests

WHAT HAPPENED: As India‘s financial capital shut down for the weekend funeral of a powerful politician linked to waves of mob violence, a woman posted on Facebook that the closures in Mumbai were “due to fear, not due to respect.” A friend of hers hit the “like” button. For that, both women were arrested.

THE RATIONALE: The arrests were seen as a move by police to prevent any outbreak of violence by supporters of Bal Thackeray, a powerful Hindu fundamentalist politician who died Saturday.

THE REACTION: But analysts and the media are slamming the Maharashtra state government for what they said was a flagrant misuse of the law and an attempt to curb freedom of expression.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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ET's Power List: Taylor Swift

At 22 years old, the latest addition to ET's Power List, Taylor Swift, has practically grown up in the spotlight. While on the one hand, her early success has garnered her an estimated net worth of $165 million, on the other hand, any moment of aberration could hit the front page of tabloids overnight. So what's the teen star's vice?

PICS: Fierce & Fabulous Fashions of the 2012 AMA Red Carpet

"The one indulgence that I allow myself is food," says Taylor. "I just love food. I can't do crazy birdseed diet stuff."

While her diet may be indulgent, Taylor still displays discipline.

"I like to eat a lot, so I exercise a lot," Taylor explains. "I try to really balance it out, because I just like food so much!"

WATCH: Taylor Swift Shares Home Videos

According to Taylor, the best advice she ever received was "to be kind to people."

"No matter how bad a day you're having, don't take it out on other people," says Taylor.

Watch the video for more.

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Cops questioning person of interest in Brooklyn shopkeeper slays

Cops are questioning a person of interest in the serial killings of three Brooklyn shopkeepers, law enforcement sources told the Post.

The mustachioed man seen carrying a duffel bag near the scene of the latest killing in Flatbush is being interviewed by investigators at the 67th precinct, the sources said.

The unidentified man was seen near the scene of Friday’s murder of Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, who was closing up his shop just after 7 pm when he was shot three times.

Casings left at the scene were matched by ballistics tests to two other killings on July 6 and Aug. 2 that were committed with the same .22-caliber handgun.

NYPD / Splash News

This is "John Doe Duffel Bag" - a person of interest in the Brooklyn shopkeeper killings.

A man that resembled “Duffel Bag” was also spotted on grainy surveillance footage near the scene of the shooting of Bensonhurst store owner Isaac Kadare, 59, sources have said — but Police Commissioner Ray Kelly yesterday dismissed the similarity.

“No, that is not the case,” Kelly said. “He was in the vicinity ... roughly at the time we believe the [latest] murder took place."

Cops have also ruled out a man who was identified as a person of interest in the shooting of Kadare.

”It is no longer relevant,” said Kelly. “ That individual washed out again. ... He’s not a subject. He’s a person we simply wanted to speak to.”

Each of the three murders occurred while the lone business owner was closing up shop and all three bodies were also covered when they were discovered, cops said.

“It may be significant, it may not, but in all three cases, the victim’s head was covered either by cardboard or clothing of some sort,” said Kelly.

Mohamed Gebeli, 65, was shot to death on July 6 in his Bay Ridge clothing store and Kadare was stabbed in the neck and shot in the head roughly one month later at his Bensonhurst 99 cent store.

Employees of stores near the latest Flatbush killing are being told by cops to use security cameras and to not close up shop alone.

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Miami-Dade to swear in mayor, commissioners

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez will officially begin his first full term Tuesday morning, when he will be sworn in following his August electoral win.

The mayor has been in office for more than a year — but that was filling in for the remainder of ousted Mayor Carlos Alvarez’s term. Gimenez defeated six candidates, including outgoing Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, and now gets four years of his own to govern. He can seek reelection in 2016.

Seven commissioners will also be sworn in, including Juan C. Zapata, Martinez’s successor and the only new member of the board. The Colombian-American Zapata will become the first South American on the commission.

Four incumbents — Bruno Barreiro, Audrey Edmonson, Barbara Jordan and Dennis Moss — won reelection, and two more — Esteban “Steve” Bovo and Xavier Suarez — were automatically reelected without opposition.

Like Gimenez, Bovo and Suarez were finishing former commissioners’ terms and will now begin their first four-year terms.

After the swearing-in, the clock will start ticking for new, eight-year commissioner term limits voters approved earlier this month. The limits do not apply retroactively to time commissioners have already served on the dais.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, 10950 SW 211th St., Cutler Bay.

A regularly scheduled commission meeting will later be convened at 2 p.m. at the County Hall commission chambers, 111 NW 1st St., Miami. There, the board will elect a new chair and vice-chair to serve a two-year term.

The chairmanship race appears unusually wide open this year, with more than a handful of commissioners interested in the job and no clear frontrunner. The chair presides over meetings, sets the agenda for the board, creates committees and could take over some of the mayor’s powers in the event of a mayoral vacancy.

Among the items on Tuesday’s meeting agenda is awarding a $25 million contract to Munilla Construction Management to build a Metrorail train test track at the county’s Lehman Center rail yard.

The 2,500-foot track raised some controversy earlier this year when the county was awarding a separate, more than $300 million contract to purchase 136 new Metorail trains. The runner-up Spanish firm that did not win that contract complained that the new track would unfairly benefit the Italian firm ultimately chosen to build the trains that did not have a U.S. track of its own.

The county, which currently tests its trains on existing rail tracks overnight, says it has wanted the track for years, and that the bid is unrelated to the new trains purchase.

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Stars Party Gangnam Style Backstage at AMAs

BET's Rocsi Diaz acted as a special correspondent for ET at the American Music Awards on Sunday, getting up close and personal with the stars backstage, who were all big fans of Korean pop star Psy.

PICS: The Fierce & Fabulous Styles of the 2012 AMAs

While Psy performed his hit song Gangnam Style, Rocsi used her Nokia Lumia 920 to capture the scene backstage where even Carrie Underwood was dancing along to the tune.

Psy was joined onstage by MC Hammer, who also accompanied him backstage for our interview.

"Twenty years ago, I saw MC Hammer on the TV in Korea and he said, 'You can't touch this.' And 20 years later, I can touch him," joked Psy, patting Hammer on the shoulder.

Watch the video to check out all the star pics Rocsi took with her Nokia Lumia 920.

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Madonna selling Central Park West apartment for $23.5M

The Material Girl’s apartment is up for sale for $23.5 million.

Madonna’s co-op at 41 Central Park West – along 64th Street – was placed on the buying block today, the Post has learned.

It’s a duplex on the fifth and sixth floors that contains more than 6,000 square feet -- with nearly 110 feet of windows facing Central Park.

The exclusive pad comes with two great rooms that have Juliet balconies, five large wood burning fireplaces, four separate bedroom wings, eight baths, a Chef's eat-in- kitchen, and ceilings higher than 10 feet, according to the listing.

Arabella Buckworth, of Brown Harris Stevens, and Adam Modlin, of The Modlin Group, have the co-listing.

The apartment has also been the subject of some controversy, The Post has previously reported.

The pop icon settled a lawsuit with her upstairs neighbor, Karen George in 2011. The suit charged that Madonna blasted music and danced too loudly, and that the co-op board didn’t try to stop the problem.

Madonna moved out of the building last year and moved in to an East Side townhouse.

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Catholic church in Miami sends storm supplies to Cuba

The first plane filled with supplies for Hurricane Sandy victims in Cuba will take off on Monday from Miami, the Archdiocese of Miami announced.

Before slamming the Northeast, the hurricane battered Santiago de Cuba in the southeastern section of the island, leaving many homeless.

At a 9 a.m. Monday news conference at Miami International Airport, Archbishop Thomas Wenski will give the flight an official send-off.

In attendance will be Raul Dube, owner of Miami Air Cargo, who donated the plane that will carry 9, 000 pounds of food supplies, including powdered cans of Parmalat milk, rice, beans and Vienna sausage.

In Cuba, the plane will be greeted by members of Caritas Cuba and the Daughters of Charity who will oversee the transportation and distribution of the food to the needy areas.

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Panama Canal’s $5 billion makeover could be boon for South Florida

PANAMA CITY, Panama --
Huge yellow dump trucks resemble Tonka toys in a sand pile as they haul tons of rust-colored dirt and basalt rock from a 56-foot gash in the earth that will become a new access channel in the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal.

The trucks keep rumbling up muddy terraced slopes as a quick-moving storm blurs the horizon. The rain chases away workers pouring concrete for a mammoth set of locks that will lift super-size ships for their transit across the narrow Isthmus of Panama, but the crews are back in the pit as soon as the sun returns.

By April 2015, it will all be under water — ready for the ever-bigger vessels revolutionizing international trade. The expansion is expected to double the canal’s capacity.

The 2015 target is about six months behind schedule, but U.S. ports are still scrambling to ready their channels for so-called post-Panamax ships and some say they welcome the reprieve. At this point, Baltimore and Norfolk, Va. are the only ports along the Eastern Seaboard with channels deep enough to handle the vessels when they’re fully loaded.

Call it the race for deep water as ports up and down the East Coast, including PortMiami and Port Everglades, and along the Gulf of Mexico make plans to dredge their channels, shore up their docks or rustle up funding for renovations to receive the big ships. Many won’t be ready by the time water floods the new locks.

PortMiami in position to cash in

PortMiami is further along than most and is hoping that early advantage and its position as the first major U.S. port north of Panama will make it a preferred port of call for post-Panamax ships.

Latin American and Caribbean ports also are trying to figure out how to capitalize on the expansion.

As this new phase of canal construction nears completion with 13,000 people working around the clock, there is renewed interest in preserving the history of the old Panama Canal Zone as well as the legacy of those who worked and died building the canal.

While the 50-mile-long Panama Canal has provided a maritime shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific for the past 98 years, it’s just about maxed out.

This year vessels from the four corners of the globe — car carriers from Japan, bulk carriers loaded with soybeans and wheat from the U.S. heartland, oil tankers, towering container ships carrying the output of Chinese factories to U.S. retailers — are expected to move a record 332 million tons of cargo through the waterway, said Jorge L. Quijano, chief executive of the Panama Canal Authority.

That’s only about 20 million tons short of the canal’s capacity, he said. The canal is also popular with cruise lines and dozens of cruise ships are being built that exceed the size limits of the current canal.

But the more immediate problem is that the huge cargo ships increasingly favored for trade with Asia are too wide, too long and too heavy for the current canal.

With a growing number of ships in the post-Panamax category — exceeding the specifications for the largest ship that can fit through the existing locks — the Panama Canal must expand or risk losing market share.

And post-Panamax vessels aren’t even the biggest on the high seas. Post-Panamax Plus ships, such as most U.S. tankers that carry liquefied natural gas bound for Asia, are five times too big for the Panama Canal.

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Man demoted for Facebook comments wins case

LONDON (AP) — Britain‘s High Court ruled Friday that a Christian was unfairly demoted for posting his opposition to gay marriage on Facebook.

Adrian Smith was stripped of his management position with the Trafford Housing Trust in northwest England and had his salary cut by 40 percent after posting that gay weddings in churches were “an equality too far.”

The trust said Smith broke its code of conduct by expressing religious or political views that might upset co-workers.

But High Court judge Michael Briggs ruled Friday that Smith had been “taken to task for doing nothing wrong” and found his employer guilty of breach of contract.

Smith said he was glad the court had backed the principle that “Britain is a free country where people have freedom of speech.”

And he received support from veteran gay rights and civil liberties campaigner Peter Tatchell, who said Smith’s employer had overreacted.

“In a democratic society, Adrian has a right to express his point of view, even if it is misguided and wrong,” Tatchell said.

Trafford Housing Trust chief executive Matthew Gardiner, said he “fully accepted” the court’s decision and had apologized to Smith, though it was not clear whether he would be reinstated.

In Britain, same-sex couples can currently form civil partnerships, which carry the same legal rights as marriage. The government wants to change the law to include gay marriage, a move opposed by many religious groups.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Breaking Dawn Part 2 Wins Box Office

Breaking Dawn: Part 2 took in a staggering $141.3 million for its debut, the eighth biggest opening weekend of all time.

Video: Nikki Reed Duets with Hubby for 'Twilight' Song

The final installment of the Twilight Saga series eclipsed its runner-up Skyfall by nearly a hundred million dollars. The latest Bond film earned $41.5 million in its second weekend in the U.S..

Lincoln, starring Oscar-winner Daniel Day Lewis, placed third with $21.0 million. The Steven Spielberg-directed film beat out Wreck-It Ralph, which took in $18.3 million.

Denzel Washington's Flight rounds out the top five with $8.6 million.

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Manhattan borough head Stringer to run for city comptroller

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer will run for city comptroller next year, he announced Sunday in a move that will also reverberate through closely watched maneuvering for the mayor’s race.

Stringer had been among Democrats considered likely to run to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose third and final term ends next year. Now, the borough president is entering a race with some complicated political dynamics in its own right. Incumbent Democratic Comptroller John Liu is a likely mayoral candidate, though he has been laboring under a political cloud since a federal investigation into his 2009 campaign fundraising led to two arrests. Liu hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing.

Stringer has been borough president for seven years and was a state assemblyman for 13. So far, he’ll face City Councilman Daniel Garodnick in the Democratic field for the comptroller’s race; Democratic Councilman Domenic Recchia also is viewed as a likely contender.

Stringer said he has the experience to take on the city’s financial challenges, which now face the added strain of Superstorm Sandy recovery costs.

“To me, the comptroller is an incredibly consequential office, and it’s never been more important,” Stringer said by phone Sunday, as he also announced endorsements from former Mayor Ed Koch, Rep. Jerrold Nadler and others. “I want to work to get the city back on sound financial footing.”

Even before the storm, the city was facing a more than $600 billion budget hole this year and a $2.5 billion forecast deficit next year. Although the complete storm expenses haven’t been tallied, emergency contracts for shoring up beaches, picking up debris and other tasks have cost more than $120 million, and officials agreed this week to spend $500 million to jump-start repairs to public schools and hospitals.

There had been talk for months that Stringer, 52, might ultimately seek the comptroller’s seat instead of the mayoralty. He had lagged other potential Democratic mayoral contenders in polls; a NY1-Marist poll of registered Democrats last month showed him getting support from 6 percent, behind City Council Speaker Christine Quinn at 23 percent, former city Comptroller Bill Thompson at 15 percent, Liu at 9 percent and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio at 8 percent. Di Blasio endorsed Stringer for comptroller Sunday; Liu, Quinn and Thompson praised his acumen and accomplishments but didn’t make any endorsement for now.

Asked about the choice, Stringer said he felt he could “have the biggest impact” as comptroller.

As the city’s chief financial officer, the comptroller makes recommendations about various policies, manages city pension funds, analyzes the budget and audits agencies and programs.

Stringer noted that he served as a trustee of the city employees’ pension fund and, as borough president, has issued reports questioning city spending money in areas ranging from housing to education.

Garodnick’s campaign reiterated Sunday that the former securities litigator is running regardless of the field.

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