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...

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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...

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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...

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PHOTOS: FDNY douses taxi fire in Brooklyn

Aaron Neilson-BelmanThese are some hot wheels! Firefighters doused a raging taxi fire that erupted on busy Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn today, just a block from the new Barclays Center.Firefighters quickly put out the blaze, which erupted on Flatbush near Dean Street in the northern section of tony Park Slope. No one was hurt and the FDNY did not know what...

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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...

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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 taken 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...

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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...

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Carbon monoxide leak sickens 2 in Hell's Kitchen

Two restaurant workers were rushed to the hospital after being overcome by carbon monoxide at a Hell's Kitchen eatery, a leak that prompted fire officials to briefly evacuate the building.The employees, one of whom was knocked unconscious, were taken to New York-Cornell Medical Center after they succumbed to the gas escaping from a defective oil burner...

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Economist: Euro crisis could erupt again this year

DAVOS, Switzerland -- 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...

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Florida National Guard chief endorses women in combat

The Florida National Guard’s top officer on Thursday endorsed the Pentagon’s decision to clear women for combat roles in the U.S. military.Maj. Gen. Emmett Titshaw Jr., who holds the title of Adjutant General of Florida, called it a “historic decision” in a statement from headquarters in St. Augustine and said the Guard supports it.Women are currently excluded from 12 military...

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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...

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Exclusive Denzel Washington Flight Blu-ray Extras Clip

Denzel Washington has been nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award for his turn as a heroic pilot whose miraculous efforts save the crew and passengers of a crashing commercial airliner in Flight, and we have an exclusive first look at how Denzel and director Robert Zemeckis pulled off that intense crash scene from the new Blu-ray, out February 5.Pics: 13 Must-See Movies of 2013In Flight, Denzel...

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Worker killed in fall at Queens construction site

A Queens worker was killed a construction site this afternoon, police said.The 42-year-old fell from the first floor to the basement of an Astoria building on Broadway near 45th Street about 3:20 p.m., cops said.He suffered head trauma and was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in critical condition, according to an FDNY spokesman.Police said he was pronounced...

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South Florida hotels finish year with strong December

Hotels in South Florida reported strong occupancy and rates in December, closing out a year of continued gains.In Miami-Dade, hotels were about 75 percent full in December, an increase of nearly 6 percentage points compared to the previous year. Average daily rates jumped 12.5 percent to almost $198, and the key measure of revenue per available room soared 19 percent to almost...

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Jury on Thursday to deliberate Rilya Wilson murder trial

Jurors will begin deliberating Thursday in the Rilya Wilson murder case, trying to decide whether her foster mother killed the 4-year-old, then told a slew of lies to cover-up the child’s demise.Geralyn Graham, 67, is charged with aggravated child abuse, kidnapping and first degree murder. She faces life in prison.Defense lawyer Michael Matters, in his final argument Wednesday,...

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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...

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Aretha Franklin Beyonce Lip-Sync Inauguration

Following the fallout from Beyonce's alleged use of a pre-recording during the presidential inauguration, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin discussed the situation with ABC News.RELATED: Inauguration Pics"When I heard [she lip-synched] I just really cracked up," said the Memphis native, who noted that the cold weather was not ideal for singing. "I thought it was really funny, but she did a beautiful job...

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Brooklyn's Long Island College Hospital facing closure

Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn faces closure -- just two years after the state approved a merger to save the financially ailing 155-year old facility, source told the Post.SUNY Downstate Medical Center, which acquired LICH in 2011, has sent out word that its eying shutting down the Cobble Hill hospital — the only one that provides emergency room...

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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...

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Recalled Mayor Carlos Alvarez wins — in bodybuilding contest

Former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez is back, in rare form, displaying bulging muscles from his pecs to his calves, bronzed from head to toe, dressed in the skimpiest of black briefs.After almost two years of seclusion, Alvarez reemerged in November Hulk-like, taking home first prize in the National Physique Committee’s South Florida “Over 60s” Master’sbodybuilding competition...

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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...

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Benedict Cumberbatch WikiLeaks Movie The Fifth Exhibit

Think of it as kind of like The Social Network meets All the President's Men… Production is underway on the true story behind the controversial WikiLeaks website, and we have a first look at Sherlock and Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberbatch sporting blonde locks as activist and organization founder Julian Assange and Inglourious Basterds star Daniel Bruhl as his Wikileaks co-founder Daniel...

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Colombian nationalist flips on pal for lighter sentence in fatal stabbing

A Colombian nationalist ratted out his buddy today in exchange for a lighter prison sentence for senselessly stabbed an innocent man to death and seriously injured another.Francisco Uribe, 48, was moments away from going to trial in Queens Supreme court when he plead guilty for knifing Robinson Lopez outside of the Blue Lounge in Jackson Heights on Feb...

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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...

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CrimeWatch: Son asks mom why no one saw Sandy Hook coming

Today is the second anniversary of the death of Miami-Dade police officers Roger Castillo and Amanda Haworth, who were killed while serving an arrest warrant. I extend our thoughts and prayers to their families, theses officers died protecting this community and we should all be extremely grateful for their sacrifice. Words will never easy the pain and suffering for the family,...

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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...

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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...

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UK's Prince Harry returns from Afghanistan

Getty ImagesIn 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 AfghanistanLONDON — 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...

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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....

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Few blacks appoint to judgeships by Gov. Rick Scott

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

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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...

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Mama Wins Arnold Schwarzenegger Flops at Box Office

Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand came in last place on the box office Top 10 list over the weekend.RELATED: New on Blu-ray & DVDThe action flick floundered through its debut, pulling in $6.3 million, as audiences couldn't get enough of Jessica Chastain -- the star of Mama and Zero Dark Thirty.Jessica's films came in at first and second as Mama garnered $28.1 million and Zero Dark Thirty...

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Man critically hurt in Brooklyn lab fire

A man was left in cardiac arrest and two firefighters injured after a raging inferno erupted at a Brooklyn medical lab, fire officials said. The fire started on the third floor of the four-story building at 2:03 p.m. on the corner of Utrecht Avenue near 52 Street in Borough Park, sources said. The critically injured man, who was found inside the burning...

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Investors await word from Apple

No company today elicits such devotion and dedication among its customers and shareholders like Apple. The fervor felt by Apple fans for its products, its leaders and its business underscore the company’s technological eco-centric strategy. While that loyalty has made for rich rewards over the long term, it will mean very little to a myopic stock market when Apple reports...

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