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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