Disbarred Miami lawyer charged with selling guns stolen from Iraq’s Hussein family

Federal prosecutors in New Jersey have charged a disbarred Miami-area lawyer and three other people with hatching a scheme to sell a cache of stolen guns that once belonged to the family of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.Prosecutors say David Ryan, 48, a one-time personal injury lawyer from Pinecrest, obtained at least seven guns that had been smuggled out of Iraq...

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Sony No Longer Shipping PlayStation 2 in Japan

You may have grown up with it. Your children may have, too.Sony‘s PlayStation 2 home game console, released in 2000, was one of the most popular game consoles of all time, rivaled in sales only by the different kinds of Nintendo DS handheld console. It continued to be sold new on store shelves until just recently, even years after Sony launched its PlayStation 3 successor.Now, however, Sony’s sent...

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Somber farewell for man pushed to his death in subway

Friends of the hardworking, humble immigrant shoved to his death last week in front of the 7 train by a Muslim-hating madwoman today gathered for an emotional farewell in Queens at the Coppola-Migliore funeral home in Flushing.Sunando Sen, 36, was remember as a man of “quiet strength” by Lorcan Otway, a lawyer and longtime friend, who noted that Sen years...

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Florida colleges a bargain, says Kiplinger

Though Florida’s in-state tuition costs more than double what it did only a decade ago, many of the state’s public universities are still a good value, according to the latest annual “Best Values in Public Colleges” list compiled by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. Florida schools have long fared well in the magazine’s rankings, with this year being no exception. Six of Florida’s...

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Manhunt continues for Miami man suspected of killing ex-girlfriend

Miami police detectives on Sunday were still looking for the man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend outside a Little Havana drugstore Friday afternoon.Investigators said Ifrain Quintana is armed and extremely dangerous. Quintana is believed to be driving a 2001 Blue Ford Explorer with a Florida tag.Quintana is wanted for questioning in the daylight shooting of Ariadna...

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ET Flashback: Eddie Murphy Talks '48 HRS.'

"Roxaaaaanne!" After getting raves for his hilarious sketch comedy on Saturday Night Live in the early '80s, Eddie Murphy turned the spotlight on a movie career in 1982 with his first big-screen effort: 48 HRS. ET's Mary Hart sat down with the funnyman in the days before the movie broke big with a revealing interview in which he got candid about stepping out of his comfort zone and getting serious...

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MetroNorth train hits car, halting Connecticut service

REDDING, Conn. — Metro North train service has been suspended on the Danbury line following a train accident involving a car. A Metro North spokesman said the train struck a car in Redding on Sunday afternoon. The train had no passengers and there was no information about whether there were injuries involving the car. Bus service will ferry passengers between...

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Week brings startup launches, social media advice for 2013

Jared Kleinert, a South Florida entrepreneur, plans to soon launch Synergist, a platform that allow social entrepreneurs to meet potential co-founders online, collaborate and crowdfund their new projects. He also just launched AliveNDead, a blog about risk-taking, and he interns for a Silicon Valley startup. And when he’s not doing all that, he’s going to class — he’s a...

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UM student documents the emotional growth of young dancers as they prepare for Nutcracker performance

University of Miami visual journalism student Monica Herndon spent several months photographing the advanced ballet students of the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet/Miami Conservatory in preparation for their annual Nutcracker held in conjunction with the New World School of the Arts. The young dancers spent hours in class and rehearsal each week. They do not even reach the advanced...

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NORAD Santa trackers draw record number of phone calls, social media followers

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – NORAD says it drew a record number of phone calls and social media followers during its NORAD Tracks Santa operation on Christmas Eve.The North American Aerospace Defence Command said Friday volunteers answered more than 114,000 calls, up 12,000 from 2011.NORAD’s Santa Facebook page had more than 1.2 million followers, up from about 1 million last year. More than 129,000...

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Best of 2012 Lists Movies TV Fashion Scandal

ETonline has spent the last week showing love to the Best of 2012 -- from film to television to fashion and celeb scandals, we reviewed and ranked the last 365 days, bringing you only the best!In case you missed any of our Year End Roundups, they're all available below!12 Most Exciting Stars of 201212 Best TV Shows of 201212 Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 201212 Most Gorgeous Gowns of 201212 Best Movies...

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Bronx mom in Newtown 'scam' also solicited funds claiming they were for Hurricane Sandy relief

MyFOXCTAlleged scammer Nouel Alba leaves Hartford Ct. Federal court after making $50K bail.The Bronx mom accused of posing as the aunt of Newtown massacre victim Noah Pozner to collect bogus charity donations also solicited funds she claimed were for Hurricane Sandy relief, The Post found. Nouel Alba -- out on $50,000 bond in the alleged Sandy Hook Elementary...

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New rule puts cloak of privacy on children’s apps

WASHINGTON -- Unbeknown to the lucky children who unwrapped tablets or smartphones this holiday season, new rules issued in Washington to protect their privacy on those devices could have profound implications for the future of the Internet and mobile apps. The Federal Trade Commission recently updated the 14-year-old Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rule, or COPPA,...

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Nonprofit with state contracts pays its top exec $1.2M

TALLAHASSEE -- A nonprofit company that holds two dozen state contracts to care for troubled juveniles in Florida pays its chief executive more than $1.2 million a year in salary and benefits, most of it courtesy of taxpayers.Outraged, the state Department of Juvenile Justice says the money paid to William Schossler is excessive and should be spent to help kids. The state...

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iOS apps see Christmas sales spike shrink in 2012

Distimo just released its statistics on Christmas Day app downloads and revenue growth… and the download spike is far smaller than it was last year. Back in 2011, Christmas Day iOS app download volume spiked 230% above the December average. This year, the increase was just 87% — far below industry expectations. The revenue spike came in at 70%.[More from BGR: Google names 12 best Android apps...

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Crawling All Over Pattinson's Face in 'Cosmopolis'

Twilight vamp Robert Pattinson plays a bloodsucker of an altogether different kind – the Wall Street kind – in his new movie Cosmopolis, on Blu-ray and DVD New Year's Day, and the film's director David Cronenberg tells ETonline that he was actually quite impressed with what Rob brought to the table, and that after the baggage of casting -- once you get to that point when you're on set and cameras...

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UFT won't sign new teacher evaluation agreement without wage increase guarantee, city officials claim

The teachers’ union has refused to sign a long-awaited agreement with the city on a new teacher evaluation system unless it gets a guarantee of wage increases in the next contract, Department of Education officials charged today.They claim the union also sought to derail talks on the rating system, which started in April, by mandating that the city confirm...

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Royal Caribbean orders third Oasis-Class vessel

Royal Caribbean Cruises announced Thursday that it has contracted with STX France to build a third Oasis-class vessel for delivery in mid-2016. In October, the cruise line announced it planned another sister ship to the successful Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.The contract, subject to financing and other conditions, includes the transfer of Pullmantur’s Atlantic...

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Kendall’s Dadeland Mall to get new Microsoft Store

Microsoft announced Wednesday it’s opening six new permanent stores in early 2013 - and one will be at Dadeland Mall in Kendall.“We’re thrilled to ring in the New Year by announcing the locations of our first new store locations for 2013,” said Jonathan Adashek, Microsoft’s general manager for sales and marketing, in a news release.An official opening day for the store has...

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Samsung expects to ship more than half a billion phones in 2013

Title Post: Samsung expects to ship more than half a billion phones in 2013Rating: 100%based on 99998 ratings.5 user reviews.Author: Fluser SeoLinkThanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comm...

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Partiers Feel Cruel 'Aftershock'

A group of partying touristas in Chile find themselves facing the wrath of Mother Nature and – even worse – human nature in the disaster thriller Aftershock, and we have a first look at the trailer.Related: What Scares Eli Roth? Aftershock producer and co-writer Eli Roth seems to quite like being in front of the camera these days, with the Hostel director playing a single guy just looking to meet...

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Repairs underway for collapsed wall in Chelsea building

Repairs are underway on a landmarked Chelsea building that was evacuated when part of a structural wall fell to the sidewalk.The seven-story building at 655 Sixth Avenue was emptied on Tuesday night when the wall failed on the building’s West 20th Street side.Workers began constructing a sidewalk bridge around the collapsed area today. They don’t expect...

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90-year-old real estate baron, philanthropist Jay Kislak is forever young

Real estate baron Jay I. Kislak discovered a Fountain of Youth of sorts that springs from an inquisitive and acquisitive mind.At 90, Kislak is wheeling and dealing in real estate, and he’s exploring history and art with the fervor of a man generations younger.The patriarch of The Kislak Organization marked 74 years in real estate this year, 59 spent in Miami. ...

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Causeway victim Ronald Poppo finds peace but not healing

When Ronald Poppo was a kid in the 1950s and ’60s, a family Christmas in Brooklyn meant wind-up model trains circling the tree, Italian dinners of lasagna and stuffed squid, and, because Dec. 25 was also his father’s birthday, ricotta-filled cassata cake.There was always music, because the Poppos have musical talent. Ronnie, as his older sister and two older brothers called...

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Netflix suffers Christmas Eve outage, points to Amazon

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An outage at one of Amazon‘s web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc.’s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies...

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Lady Gaga Documentary Announced

The nearly 33 million Little Monsters who follow Lady Gaga on Twitter got a massive Christmas present this morning as the singer revealed she'll soon be coming to a theater near you! VIDEO - Lady Gaga Hosts Fame Picnic in Paris"Merry Christmas little monsters," Gaga wrote. "Terry Richardson is making a #LadyGagaMOVIE documenting my life, the creation of ARTPOP + you!""Thank you for being so patient...

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Affleck won't run for Kerry's Senate seat

BOSTON -- Ben Affleck is taking his name off the list of possible candidates for U.S. Sen. John Kerry's seat, which would be open if the Democratic senator from Massachusetts is confirmed as secretary of state.Affleck says in a Monday posting on his Facebook page that while he loves the political process, he will not be running for public office.Speculation about the Cambridge, Mass., native rose...

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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port

Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port. Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades...

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For Nochebuena, it’s all about the pig

It’s a holiday tradition that goes back more than 500 years: Gathering the family together on Nochebuena — “Good Night’’ in Spanish — and pigging out.And if you’re in South Florida for a Nochebuena feast, that pig might have come from Mary’s Ranch in Hialeah or Blue Sky Food By the Pound in Miami.“It’s an extremely big day for us,’’ said Maria Gonzalez, an assistant manager...

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Sprint salesman refuses to sell iPhone to customer, says his ‘fingers are too fat’ to use it

We’ve known for a while now that some mobile carriers have been instructing their sales staff to start pushing their customers away from Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone and toward Android or Windows Phone devices. The reason is simple: carriers pay a lot more to subsidize Apple’s popular smartphone than they do with other devices and they’d prefer to have higher gross margins at the end of each quarter....

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ET Exclusive: Jamie Foxx Opens His Home & Heart

Jamie Foxx may be the most eligible bachelor in Hollywood, and our own Nancy O'Dell is exclusively with the Oscar winner at his Santa Monica, CA home to talk about his career, his family and how he handles the media when there's a woman in his life.The star of the upcoming Django Unchained says the worst thing that can happen in a relationship is to go public with it: "I like to stay quiet with anyone...

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Outer borough metered cabs head to NY's highest court

This cab fight is going straight to the top.The city has received permission to bypass the Appellate Division and go directly to the state's highest court -- the Court of Appeals -- to try to overturn a lower court ruling blocking a new class of 18,000 taxis that would be allowed to pick up street hails outside Manhattan."We are very grateful that this...

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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port

Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port. Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades...

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Not capitalist or Christian, China loves Christmas

MiamiHerald.com/columnistsHappy birthday, Jesus!Love, China. For a country that persecutes Christians, China sure profits from Christmas.So China’s “one-child” policy has led to forced abortions? Well, those nativity sets celebrating a child the state wanted to kill two millennia ago are under $20 at your local store. “Made in China” is everywhere on the...

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Sri Lanka arrests 100 Chinese for cyber fraud, police say

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka on Saturday arrested at least 100 Chinese nationals accused of an internet fraud scheme targeting people in their home country, a police spokesman said.The accused, all in Sri Lanka on tourist visas, are suspected of hacking into computers in China and then demanding their owners transfer them money, police spokesman Prishantha Jayakodi told Reuters.Chinese police requested...

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Buzzmakers: New X Factor and Miss Universe Winners

What had ET readers buzzing this week?1. 'The X Factor' Crowns A Winner!And the $5 million recording contract goes to…Tate Stevens! The 37-year-old country crooner beat out runner-up 13-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar for the top prize Thursday night. 35 million votes were cast Wednesday to determine victory for L.A. Reid's mentee.Near tears, the Raymore, Missouri native thanked his fans for their overwhelming...

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Obama joins mourners at memorial service for late Sen. Inouye in Hawaii

AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand in respect as the casket carrying the late Senator Daniel Inouye is carried past at the National Memorial Cremetary of the Pacific in Honolulu.HONOLULU — President Barack Obama, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and other dignitaries attended a memorial service for the late Sen. Daniel Inouye...

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Time’s up for holiday shopping procrastinators

Last minute shoppers like Josette Tyne are in luck this year.With a long weekend before Christmas, retailers want to make it easier for procrastinators to finish their gift buying. Macy’s for the first time is keeping all its stores open around the clock from Friday until Sunday at midnight. Toys “R” Us and Walmart Supercenters will be open non-stop until Christmas Eve.Even...

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The man behind the camera: legendary Miami photog Tim Chapman retires

Here is a Tim Chapman story, one of many concerning the Herald photographer who worked his last day this past Friday after 40 years on the job.It was a frigid morning in South Florida. Tim, our roving a.m. shooter/newsgatherer, was out performing a humdrum chore: looking for a “weather photo.”The call came in to the news desk around 9. It was Tim checking in from Bill Baggs...

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