King’s son brings message to South Florida




















The past few days have kept the eldest son of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. busy. He’s been to at least three states to carry on his father’s message: ending violence and learning from historical wrongs.

In a Fort Lauderdale Baptist church early Friday, he delivered another directive:

“A nation is judged on how we treat our most prized possession,” Martin Luther King III said. “And our most precious resource, I think, is our children.”





King served as the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Martin Luther King Jr. inspirational breakfast hosted by the YMCA of Broward County.

More than 500 gathered inside the First Baptist Church on Broward Boulevard, selling out the $2,500 per table event, to honor King’s legacy.

“My concern was that it would not be reduced to a day of relaxation,” said King III. “We have to look at this as a day on — not a day off.”

The Rev. King, a prominent civil rights leader, was born this week 84 years ago. He lead peaceful protests and bus strikes working for racial equality until his 1968 assassination.

The younger King told the South Florida audience about spending his youth at the local YMCA in Birmingham, learning to swim and working out with his dad.

“Those were wonderful experiences, experiences that I will never forget,” he said.

Like his father, King III has been a fighter for human rights, justice and non-violence in the United States and abroad. He also served as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s president, a position his father once held.

During his 2009 inauguration, President Barack Obama declared the holiday honoring King should be spent as a national day of service.

At Friday’s event, 15 youngsters from the Lauderhill YMCA were honored for their service to the community. The young friends managed to clean up a popular overpass and get rid of gangs who were harassing children.

They called their project “Own the Overpath.” The idea started when 14-year-old Kervens Jean-Louis was attacked by a gang on a fenced in walkway that spans the Florida Turnpike while coming from the YMCA, based at Boyd Anderson High School. But Jean-Louis didn’t back down.

He and other students mobilized and launched a campaign to clean-up the area surrounding the “overpath.” The youngsters made a formal presentation to the Lauderhill City Commission and Florida Department of Transportation officials.

Now, there is a $400,000 project in the works to install more lights on the bridge to increase visibility. The city broke ground in November.

“I learned that when you speak out loud it makes a difference,” said Jean-Louis.

For Jean-Louis, speaking loud meant going back to the bridge to warn others of the dangers of traveling across it at night.

He will spend this upcoming Saturday as a volunteer, painting and cleaning up a garden.

“Now I tell others what’s going on and how they can help out,” he said, much like the man they had all come to honor.

After the youngsters were honored, King III left the crowd to ponder a final thought: “We can either be a thermometer or a thermostat.”

A thermometer, he explained, takes the temperature while a thermostat regulates the temperature.

Despite the progress his father saw in his lifetime, and the decades since his death, there is still much work to be done, King III said.

“I always come with a heavy heart in January,” he said. “Because we have not fully realized the dream.”





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Drew Barrymore on Oprah's Next Chapter

Drew Barrymore opens up about her complicated childhood and the lessons she's learned when it comes to being a new mother on Oprah's Next Chapter, and we have a sneak peek!

Pics: Celebs and Their Cute Kids

Marking the first time cameras have ever been allowed inside her home, Drew also talks to Oprah about her new marriage to Will Kopelman, shares details about their newborn baby Olive, and reveals the story behind why her mother did not attend her wedding.

Related: Drew Barrymore's Daughter Olive Lands First Cover

Oprah's Next Chapter with Drew Barrymore airs Sunday at 9 pm ET/PT on OWN.

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Man found dead after fire in abandoned building in Queens








A man was killed in a Queens fire early today, police said.

The blaze erupted about 12:55 a.m. in an abandoned building on 120th Street near Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill, authorities said.

The unidentified man was found in a detached garage in the back of the building at about 1:30 a.m., after the fire was extinguished.

A police source said homeless people are known to take shelter in the building.

The city medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Sixty firefighters battled the blaze. Fire marshals are investigating the cause, according to an FDNY spokesman.











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Miami-Dade sees first hiring drop since 2010




















Miami-Dade ended 2012 with its first overall job loss in more than two years as sharp drops in construction, healthcare and government jobs wiped out other gains.

The sectors all share one key funding source — tax dollars — as ongoing squeezes in government budgets force cutbacks in hospitals, infrastructure projects and basic municipal staffing. Miami-Dade lost nearly 5,000 local government jobs in December compared to the year before. Its hospital and construction sectors were both down almost 2,000 jobs each. Miami-Dade last saw its overall payroll number decline in June 2010.

Along with a hiring loss, Miami-Dade reported a sharp increase in people describing themselves as unemployed. Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate went from 8.4 percent in November to 8.8 percent in December, the sharpest increase since the recession was still underway in 2009.





Miami-Dade’s new job numbers were easily the most discouraging data set in Florida’s latest employment report. Florida reported an unemployment rate of 8 percent for December, down from 8.1 percent in November even though hiring is down for the year. And Broward recorded its second month of job gains, up about 5,000 positions.

Construction and government hiring have been rocky for years in South Florida, but the decline in the healthcare could mark a new, disturbing milestone for Miami-Dade’s economy. Before the end of 2012, Miami-Dade hospitals hadn’t reported a net job loss for 56 months. The losses follow significant layoffs at both the University of Miami medical school and the Jackson hospital system.

Miami-Dade’s 8.8 percent unemployment rate is still significantly lower than where it was a year ago, when unemployment sat at 10.2 percent in December 2011. Monthly employment reports also subject to revisions, so the hiring picture could look much better in a month. Still, Miami-Dade’s increase of four-tenths of percentage point in the unemployment rate is the fastest growth since April 2009, two months before the 2007-09 recession officially ended.

Of all the local job markets, only Miami-Dade receives a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate on the same day as the statewide report. The smaller markets’ raw rates aren’t considered as reliable.

Broward’s raw unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in December, down from 7 percent in November.





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Sen. Marco Rubio to swear in Miami-Dade commissioner Rebeca Sosa on Friday




















Miami-Dade Commissioners Rebeca Sosa becomes Miami-Dade commission’s first Hispanic chairwoman when she is sworn in on Friday by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

Also being sworn in is fellow commissioner Lynda Bell, who is now the vice chair. Miami-Dade County Judge Gladys Perez will swear in Bell

The installation ceremony will be at 11:30 a.m. ceremony at the commission chambers at the Stephen Clark Center, 111 NW First St.





First elected in 2001, Sosa represents District 6, which includes areas of Miami, Coral Gables, West Miami, Hialeah and Miami Springs, as well as unincorporated zones.

Sosa’s office explained the Florida Senator is doing the honors at the historic swearing in because the two are long-time friends.

Bell who was elected in 2010 represents District 8, which encompasses a significant area of southeastern Miami-Dade, including the municipalities of Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Homestead with portions of Kendall an the Redlands.

Sosa and Bell won two-year terms in November.

The installation ceremony is open to the public.





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Selena Gomez Talks Justin Bieber to Nylon Magazine

Even before it was splashed across blogs that Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber had split, the Spring Breakers star was already playing coy as to her relationship status. In an interview with NYLON magazine, Gomez offered up her views on this "normal thing" called love.

"I'm having fun," the actress/singer, 20, said when asked about dating by the publication (via London Daily Mail). "At the end of the day, love is such a normal thing, and everyone deals with it. Just because it's a different lifestyle doesn't change the meaning of what I've been raised on, which is fairy tales."


RELATED: 10 More Shocking Celebrity Breakups

There is one relationship that is still going strong for Gomez -- the one with Taylor Swift. "We both experienced the same things at the same time," she said of her bestie. "But we've never once talked about our industry. She just became the person I'd go to for an issue with my family or boyfriend. It's so hard to trust girls, so I'm lucky to have her."


RELATED: Is Swift Writing About Ex Harry Styles?


Who do you think Gomez should date next? Let us know, below.

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New details released from Part II of Oprah's interview with Armstrong as IOC blasts TV confession








@LanceArmstrong via Twitter


Armstrong tweeted this pic of himself over the weekend.



The IOC lashed out at Lance Armstrong one day after his confession to doping aired on TV as Oprah Winfrey released new details from her sit-down with the former cycling star.

Armstrong's doping confession to Winfrey was "too little, too late" and failed to provide any new information that will help clean up the sport he tarnished through years of cheating, the vice president of the IOC said Friday.

Armstrong finally admitted to cheating his way to the top of the cycling world during a bombshell interview with the last night.





THE LYIN’ KING: Lance Armstrong keeps a stiff upper lip during his interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired last night.

Reuters





THE LYIN’ KING: Lance Armstrong keeps a stiff upper lip during his interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired last night.





The stone-faced liar answered “yes” four times when Winfrey asked whether he took the drugs he was accused of using.

A day after stripping Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the IOC urged the disgraced former Tour de France champion to supply details to anti-doping authorities in order to "bring an end to this dark episode."

In an interview with The Associated Press, IOC vice president Thomas Bach said Armstrong's admission to Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs — after years of vehement denials —was not enough.

"If he thinks this interview would help him get credibility back, I think this is too little, too late," said Bach, a German lawyer who leads the IOC's anti-doping investigations. "It's a first step in the right direction, but no more.

"If he really loves his sport and wants to regain at least some credibility, then he should tell the whole truth and cooperate with the relevant sports bodies."

Winfrey tonight will target Armstrong's family's reaction to his doping admission — including how his mother and son were handling the news — as well was the "arrogant" tweet of Armstrong with his jerseys.

"Was it just you being your cocky, arrogant jerk self that did the tweet with you lying with all the jerseys?" Winfrey asks the former cycling star.

The second part of interview will air tonight at 9 on OWN.

Meanwhile, Armstrong's former teammate, Tyler Hamilton, calls the cyclist's confession a "big first step" but says Armstrong must follow it up by telling authorities everything he knows about the doping programs he used to win his Tour de France titles.

Hamilton's testimony was key to the case against Armstrong. He described the doping program on Armstrong's team and the power Armstrong wielded in pressuring teammates to go along with the doping.










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Prices for Miami Beach luxury condos soar to records




















Ultra-luxury condominiums on South Beach are fetching nosebleed prices.

On Tuesday, a penthouse at the Setai Resort at 2001 Collins Avenue closed for $27 million — the highest price ever for a South Florida condominium, according to real estate agents.

“We’re definitely seeing the market turning upward,” said Jeff Miller, of Zilbert International Realty in Miami, who represented the buyer in the sale of the palatial 7,100-square-foot condominium. “We’re seeing buyers come in from all over the globe.”





Just a few weeks ago, Ohio coal mining businessman Wayne Boich Jr. completed the sale of his Icon South Beach penthouse at 450 Alton Road in the uber-trendy South of Fifth neighborhood for just under $21 million.

The 6-bedroom, 7 1/2-bath Icon condo sparked a bidding war that drove the sale $2 million above the listing price — a level that is three times the $7 million Boich paid in July 2007 in the depths of the bust. It was a record price for a Miami Beach bayside condo.

“The luxury market is on fire in South Beach — especially the South of Fifth neighborhood,” said Dora Puig, principal of PuigWerner Real Estate Services, who was the listing broker for the Icon unit. “It’s moving Miami to totally different pricing points.”

The Setai’s record may not reign for long.

Penthouse 2 in the decade-old Continuum South tower at 100 South Pointe Drive in the South of Fifth neighborhood is on the market for $39 million.

That is a record listing price for a Miami-Dade condominium, according to Puig, who also snagged that listing.

Amid the market sizzle, Puig bumped up the asking price late last summer from $35 million.

The penthouse, which has 11,000 square feet of interior space, belongs to Manhattan real estate developer Ian Bruce Eichner, who built the Continuum project at the tip of South Beach and kept the trophy for himself.

The Continuum penthouse, which has 6,000 square feet of deck and a rooftop heated pool, boasts sweeping 13 1/2-foot ceilings that give the feel of a single-family home. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls offer a 360-degree view of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, downtown Miami and Miami Beach from 40 stories up.

“It looks down on Fisher Island, way down,” Puig said with a smile.

The unit has a private interior elevator, of course, and stretches over two indoor levels and two largely exterior levels.

One big plus: It has a gated entrance and sits on an expansive enclave of rolling lawns and gardens adjacent to a city park at the tip of the island.

The unit comes with an additional 874-square-foot guest quarters that would delight most mortals. “The guest unit is intended for professional quarters: the maid, the nanny, the chef, the pilot,” Puig explained.

Also included is a snazzy cabana on the beach.

Eichner has used it as a vacation home and once rented it to Tom Cruise for a couple of months while he was in Miami to film Rock of Ages.

On Thursday, Puig hosted Miami’s power brokers for a look at the Continuum penthouse over champagne and hors d’oeuvres. Next week, she plans to spend three days in New York touting the property to high-end brokers.

Such palatial properties typically are paid for in cash. But what would a monthly payment be?

With a 20 percent down payment of $7.8 million, the buyer would have to finance $31.2 million.

“I don’t know that I’d be able to find anybody willing to go that high on one unit,” warned Steve Schneider, a mortgage broker who is owner and president of Abacus Lending Group in South Miami.

If a buyer could line up a 15-year fixed rate mortgage at 3.5 percent, the monthly payment for principal and interest would be $223,043.35.

“I’d hate to see the tax bill,” said Schneider.

According to Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser records, the 2012 property tax bill on the Continuum penthouse was $264,896.17. That was based on an assessed value of just $9.5 million, less than half what the Property Appraiser listed as the market value of $19.3 million. The tax break came as a result of the state law that caps increases in assessed values on non-homesteaded property at 10 percent a year.

The condo maintenance fee for Eichner’s unit runs $7,624 a month. “I think that’s low for what you get,” said Puig.





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Judge throws out Taliban terror case against Margate imam




















A federal judge threw out the terrorism charges against a young Muslim cleric from Broward County in a trial where he and his father, an imam in Miami, are accused of providing financial support to the Pakistani Taliban terrorist organization.

Izhar Khan, the imam of a mosque in Margate, will be a free man later Thursday after U.S. District Judge Robert Scola issued a verdict of acquittal for the 26-year-old Muslim scholar.

The prosecution, which rested its case Wednesday in the material support trial, failed to mount sufficient evidence of wrongdoing against the younger imam, imam of Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineen mosque off Sample Road.





“I do not believe in good conscience that I can allow the case to go forward against Izhar Khan,” Scola ruled Thursday.

The judge also noted that the government nonetheless “proceeded in this case against Izhar Khan in good faith.”

After the judge’s verdict, the defendant hugged defense lawyer Joseph Rosenbaum and members of his Margate mosque shook each other’s hands, quietly celebrating.

Both father and son have been held in the Miami federal detention center since their arrest in 2011 on charges of funneling about $50,000 to the Taliban to target U.S. interests in Pakistan. The Taliban allegedly used the funds for buying arms and other ammunition to carry our terrorist attacks against the Pakistan government, which is a U.S. ally.

Scola already denied Hafiz Khan’s bid for an acquittal verdict halfway through the trial. Scola said Thursday that the government’s case against the 77-year-old imam of the Flagler Mosque is overwhelming.

The government’s case has been built largely on FBI-recorded phone conversations between Hafiz Khan and other members of his family and suspected Taliban sympathizers. His bank records have also been central to the government’s case against him.

This article will be updated as more information is available.





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Spring Breakers Official Trailer

This isn't your mother's spring break. The latest trailer for Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine Selena Gomez and Ashley Benson's bikini-clad movie Spring Breakers shows the young ladies behind bars of many kinds, and features a strange Matthew McConaughey accent coming from James Franco's Kevin Federline-looking character.

The trailer is pretty busy, flashing very fast scenes of the girls in their neon swimwear as they party, rob a diner, get thrown in jail and find themselves in even more trouble with a gold-toothed guy named Alien (Franco).


RELATED: New Spring Breakers Posters

The film, expected to hit theaters sometime this spring, follows four college girls who land in jail after holding up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. Bailed out by a drug and arms dealer, the ladies are dragged into doing his dirty work.

One of the highlights of the trailer comes at the end when the girls are seen singing Britney Spears' song Oops! I Did It Again. What do you think of the trailer? Play movie critic in the comments.

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Lhota officially enters race for mayor








Joe Lhota tweeted today: "All my followers should follow @joelhota4mayor The campaign has begun!"

@JoeLhota via Twitter

Joe Lhota tweeted today: "All my followers should follow @joelhota4mayor The campaign has begun!"



He’s in.

Former MTA chairman Joe Lhota officially entered the race for mayor this morning after filing documents with the city Board of Elections and Campaign Finance Board.

“It’s official. Joe Lhota is a candidate to be the 109th mayor of New York City,” Lhota tweeted about 10 a.m.

Lhota, a Republican who served as top deputy to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, also launched his campaign website, Joelhotaformayor.com.

“Since I left my position as chairman and CEO of the MTA just two weeks ago, I’ve been asked over and over, 'Joe, why do you want to be the mayor of New York City?,’” Lhota said.





James Messerschmidt



Joe Lhota





“I understand that a lot of politicians will come up with a slick, scripted answer, but my answer is a lot like me: direct and straightforward. I love this city – I love its diversity and optimism, and the opportunity it represents. But the very things I love about New York City are fragile and must be protected,” Lhota said in a “From Joe” message on his Web site.

“In the upcoming weeks and months I look forward to discussing the issues that matter most to you and our fellow New Yorkers and how together we can continue to see New York City thrive.”










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Jackson Health System asks Kendall trauma center be shut down




















Ratcheting up the stakes in Miami-Dade’s hospital wars, Jackson Health System has filed two petitions with the state demanding a hearing to consider its belief that the license for trauma operations at Kendall Regional Medical Center was granted illegally and should be revoked.

Jackson, which for years has had the county’s only trauma center, has been complaining loudly since the Scott administration decided the state needed more centers. Kendall Regional’s opened in November 2011.

Jackson executives estimate it has been losing about $28 million a year since then because, as one of its trauma doctors quipped, Jackson Memorial’s Ryder Trauma Center tends to get the inner-city gunshot victims who have no insurance while Kendall gets the suburban car accident victims with insurance.





State officials and the HCA hospital chain, which owns Kendall Regional, maintain that Miami-Dade’s size requires more than one trauma center.

Mark McKenney, medical director of the Kendall center, said Wednesday the center has treated 2,500 patients in its first year -- “with mortality rates significantly below the state and national averages.” He said Kendall treats anyone who comes through the door, including plenty of gunshot and stabbing victims who may or may not have insurance.

McKenney said the state decided Miami-Dade needed more trauma centers after a 2005 study showed that only 39 percent of the county’s trauma victims were treated in trauma centers. Those treated in ordinary emergency rooms showed a considerably higher mortality rate, McKenney said.

In Miami-Dade, HCA’s Mercy and Tenet’s Palmetto General have also applied for trauma licenses. Jackson countered by seeking trauma units at its two community hospitals, Jackson North and Jackson South.

In its filings to the Department of Health on Jan. 2, Jackson’s lawyers asked for formal administrative hearings, maintaining North and South were unfairly denied approval in a Dec. 13 Department of Health letter that stated the regulators were rethinking trauma rules on trauma centers after court rulings.

The Jackson petitions, first reported on Tuesday by Jim Saunders of News Service of Florida, noted that an administrative law judge in November 2011 decided that the Department of Health’s trauma certification rule was invalid. After that, the department granted provisional licenses to Kendall Regional and three other hospitals.

On Nov. 30, 2012, the First District Court of Appeal upheld that decision. Seven days later, the department approved the application of Ocala Regional, another HCA facility, and allowed it to open the following day. Gov. Rick Scott is the former chief executive of HCA.

Jackson’s attorneys accused the department of giving these other hospitals a “selective benefit.” They said that a hearing would establish that “the ultimate facts” show that “all provisional licenses issued under the invalid trauma rule need rule should be revoked,” as well as all pending applications, until the department established a legally acceptable rule on trauma centers.

Steve Ecenia, an attorney for HCA, called Jackson’s petition “bizarre” because, instead of seeking approval for its own applications, it was trying to hit back at other hospitals, including Ocala, “hundreds of miles away.” He said the appeals court decision wasn’t final, because there are demands for a rehearing, and the Department of Health’s licensing has been fair.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said Wednesday that the department “had no additional information to provide.” A Jackson spokesman said executives couldn’t comment “because of pending litigation.”

Wayne Brackin, chief operating officer of Baptist Health South Florida, said Baptist is “very worried about this trauma issue,” because in the 1980s, the trauma system fell apart in Miami-Dade with many hospitals losing money on the service, and Baptist doesn’t want the Ryder Trauma Center weakened by competition that could again endanger trauma care in the county.





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Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced




















A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.





Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.





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SAG Awards Flashback: Marion Cotillard 2008

Prior to 2007, Marion Cotillard had a prevalent film career in France for over a decade. Then, she portrayed French music icon Edith Piaf in La Vie en rose. The film got her recognition from critics around the world, and led to incredible avail the ensuing awards season. It was a dream come true for her.

In 2008, the French actress was nominated at every major awards show on the circuit from the Critics' Choice Awards to the Oscars. In that pile of nominations was a SAG Awards nomination for Best Actress.


VIDEO: Marion Cotillard Lifetime Achievement Honor at 37

"When I was a little girl, I used to watch a lot of American movies, so they really inspired me; they really gave me the desire to be an actress," she says to ET's former co-host Mark Steines on the red carpet. "To be here, to have a nomination amongst those amazing actresses, it is something huge for me."

While Cotillard was basking in a moment in her life that she had probably awaited since she was a young girl, there was a dark cloud hanging over that year's ceremony due to the ongoing Writers Guild strike and pending SAG negotiations that were trending towards a strike.


RELATED: Five Things You Don't Know About Marion Cotillard

That cloud wouldn't rain on Cotillard's parade, though.

"It's the first time for me that I live all this, so I'm enjoying every single minute of it," she says. "I'm not disappointed by how it would have been [without it]."

After winning a Golden Globe a few weeks prior, that twinkle in her eye also suggests that she may have had a premonition that she would be leaving the show with some hardware that night; however, she surprisingly did not.


VIDEO: SAGs Flashback '03: Day-Lewis Meets His Celeb Fan

Nevertheless, she would go on to win an Academy Award shortly after. More importantly, she went on every filmmaker's radar, and soon landed a role in a major American film, Public Enemies.

Five years later, Cotillard is up for her fourth SAG nomination, this time for the French film Rust and Bone. Now that she's come full-circle, perhaps she'll leave this year's show with that heavy trophy in her hand.

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Lhota, Quinn front-runners to win party nods for mayor: poll








Republican Joe Lhota and Democratic Council Speaker Christine Quinn are the front-runners to win their party’s respective nominations for mayor, according to a new poll released today.

Lhota, the former MTA chairman and top deputy to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, grabs 23 percent of the GOP primary vote, the Quinnipiac University survey found. Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis receives 9 percent, followed by Tom Allon with 5 percent, ex-Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion with 3 percent and Doe Fund founder George McDonald with 2 percent.

But the race is still wide open because of a majority of GOP voters are still undecided or don’t know the candidates.







RUNNING FOR MAYOR: Republican Joe Lhota, right, and Democratic Council Speaker Christine Quinn, left.





On the Democratic side, Quinn holds a comfortable with 35 percent of the vote. Public Advocate Bill deBlasio garners 11 percent, former city Comptroller Bill Thompson gets 10 percent and current city Comptroller John Liu, 9 percent.

But the poll shows that Lhota – or any other Republican – faces an uphill climb in heavily Democratic New York City, despite nearly 20 years of non-Democrats Giuliani and Mike Bloomberg running City Hall.

All the Democratic candidates trounce Lhota in head-to-head matchups by better than three-to-one.










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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums




















A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.





While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.





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Wedgie-spree at Florida theater lands prankster in jail




















Authorities say that Charles Ross is known to go around Manatee County and create situations in order to harass and annoy people while filming their reaction for You Tube.

Last weekend, Ross, 18, of Bradenton, ended up in jail after police say he went on a wedgie spree at a theater.

Deputies say Ross was at Royal Palm Theater Sunday night with a friend and began grabbing people by their pants and pulling them up hard, causing discomfort.





A victim told deputies that Ross pulled up his pants, wedgie-style, and then asked the victim if he wanted to hit him, all while his friend was filming, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

One victim decided to press charges but others were too embarrassed, deputies said.

The deputy took the camera as evidence and both Ross and his friend were removed from the theater and told they would be arrested if they come back, according to the report.

Ross was booked into the Manatee County Jail on battery charges and was released Monday on a $750 bond.





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Oprah Calls Lance Armstrong Confession 'Riveting'

Oprah Winfrey confirmed on Tuesday that disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong reverses years of denials and confesses in a new interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

Appearing Tuesday on CBS This Morning, Oprah described the interview as one of the biggest and most intense she's ever done. "It was surprising to me. I would say that for myself, my team, all of us in the room, we were mesmerized by some of his answers," she said. 

RELATED: Lance Armstrong Tells Oprah He Doped

She added that while she was "satisfied and riveted" by Armstrong's answers, he "did not come clean in the manner that I expected." Oprah, who did not provide specifics from the interview, said that Armstrong was obviously well prepared going into the interview, which took place on Monday in Austin, Texas. "He brought it. He really did," she said.

When asked by host Charlie Rose if she felt Armstrong was "contrite," Oprah said she would describe him as "forthcoming" during the interview, which will air over two nights beginning Thursday at 9 p.m. during a special edition of Oprah's Next Chapter on OWN.

A report from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency led to the 41-year-old Armstrong being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year, but Armstrong has until now vehemently maintained his innocence.

RELATED: Armstrong To Be Stripped of Tour De France Titles 

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Kelly to announce measures to tackle prescription drug problem in NYC








NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.

AP

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly.



The NYPD will start tackling prescription drug abuse with GPS tracked prescription bottles.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly will unveil a four part process to combating prescription drug abuse in New York City when he speaks at the Clinton Health Matters Conference later today in California.

“We’re also distributing so-called ‘bait bottles’ containing placebo Oxycodone pills to be placed on pharmacy shelves,” Kelly said according to planned remarks.

These bottles will be equipped with a GPS tracking device that the police can use to follow the bottle and possibly locate “stash locations.”




“The NYPD knows firsthand the destructive power of addiction to Oxycontin,” Kelly said.

One of the department’s own retired officers became addicted to pills after an injury on the job and started robbing pharmacies at gunpoint.

Kelly hopes the “bait bottles” combined with educating students at the high school and college levels about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, enhanced training for police officers and the development of a new task force will cut down on prescription drug abuse.

“We’ve established a tactical drug diversion task force together with the Drug Enforcement Administration,” Kelly said.

“Our partnership with the DEA also gives us access to its vast, national database which tracks the distribution of controlled substances.”

In addition to those measures, Kelly will also announce a citywide education program for young people as well as building a database of every licensed pharmacist in the area under "Operation Safety Cap."










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Global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor coming to Miami




















Flawless execution helped propel Argentine Marcos Galperin’s e-auction site, Mercado Libre, above the competition to become a $3.8 billion company. Some 50,000 small businesses now use it to market their wares.

Leila Velez and HeloĆ­sa Helena Assis, cousins who grew up in the slums of Rio, started with one product and one salon. Today their company, Beleza Natural, operates 24 salons that bring in $75 million in revenues, employs 1,500 people and has an eye on U.S expansion.

Both were powered, in part, by Endeavor, a global nonprofit that selects, mentors, supports and accelerates high-impact entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas of 16 countries — and, soon, in Miami.





Endeavor and its local supporter, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Tuesday that Knight is providing Endeavor with $2 million in grant funding over five years for Endeavor’s first U.S. expansion. Endeavor’s Miami office could ultimately service dozens of local entrepreneurs, but first a local board needs to be assembled, a managing director hired and offices set up.

Beginning late this year, South Florida’s innovators will be able to apply to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, connecting them to a global network of mentors and advisors who can help grow their ventures. “We think this is a cornerstone of making Miami more of a place where ideas are built,” said Matt Haggman, Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which has made entrepreneurship a key focus of its Miami program.

The announcement is an important milestone in Miami’s efforts to accelerate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been gaining momentum, said Haggman, who led the effort for Knight, its largest investment in entrepreneurship to date. Accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces have been opening up, including Launch Pad Tech, which is receiving $1.5 million in public funding and opens for its first class next week. Last month, the first ever Innovate MIA week attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and other supporters to a packed schedule of daily events, which included the Americas Venture Capital Conference and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

“Miami is almost the perfect seeding ground for Endeavor,” said Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor and now an Endeavor board member, an investor and South Florida resident who began discussing the project with Haggman in the spring. “There are commitments from large institutions like Knight, FIU, UM, there is capital, there are people that are interested in making things happen, there are already clusters of activity like accelerators and incubators. That’s where Endeavor thrives.”

Endeavor selects and works primarily with companies from a wide range of industries that are already earning $500,000 to $15 million in annual revenue and ready for the next stage: explosive growth.

“While the vast majority of small businesses employ two or three people, Endeavor businesses employ an average of 237,” said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Endeavor now operates throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia and supports more than 750 entrepreneurs who are chosen in a rigorous selection process.





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Ex-South Florida priest pleads no contest to sex charges




















One of South Florida’s most notorious priests — accused by several men of molesting them in their youth — was in Broward Circuit Court Monday morning pleading no contest to half a dozen criminal charges.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Gillespie accepted the plea deal and will render sentencing Jan. 28.

The Rev. Neil Doherty faces 12 to 15 years imprisonment under the agreement.





Doherty, now retired from the Archdiocese of Miami, has served at several South Florida churches, including St. Vincent’s in Margate, St. Anthony in Fort Lauderdale and St. Phillip in Northwest Miami-Dade.

He has a long list of accusers who say he used his position of power to drug and rape them when they were boys. Some of the accusations date back to the 1970s but came to light only in recent years.

His accusers say Doherty used his position to molest young victims. In several cases, Doherty is accused of slipping drugs into drinks to make boys sleepy and molesting them while they were unconscious.

Documents released in 2006 as part of the Broward case included an interview with the priest’s longtime secretary, who said the archdiocese was aware of allegations that Doherty had been engaging in inappropriate relationships with young boys.

Despite the many civil suits filed against him, this will be the first criminal punishment for Doherty as a result of the accusations.

In most cases, criminal charges could not be filed because the statute of limitations had passed for alleged events.

However, several civil cases involving him have been settled out of court. The first case that went to a jury ended with a $100 million award to the victim.

On Monday, Doherty, 69, pled no contest to charges including lewd or lascivious molestation, lewd acts in the presence of a child and sexual battery on a victim younger than 12, court records show.

Doherty spent three decades serving in Broward and Miami-Dade parishes, including time as the archdiocese’s director of vocations.

Doherty continued to serve as a priest until he was placed on administrative leave in 2002.





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Lena Dunham Thanks Chad Lowe at Golden Globes

Upon her show Girls winning a Golden Globe for Best Comedy, Lena Dunham took the stage and said she "promised" she'd thank actor Chad Lowe, but why?

The funny girl is referring to the infamous Academy Awards moment in 2000 when Lowe's then wife Hilary Swank forgot to thank him upon winning for Boys Don't Cry.

Dunham, 26, had won for Best Actress earlier in the evening but had declined to mention the Pretty Little Liars actor. Lowe, 44, tweeted following the actress' first acceptance speech, writing: "You forgot to thank me?! After all we've been through? I'm shocked."

She quickly fixed her mistake with her second win, telling the crowd, "I also promised myself that if I ever got this chance I would thank Chad Lowe. I'm sorry, I just promised and I promised my mom."

Lowe's name quickly became a Twitter trend with the actor responding: "Now that I'm trending worldwide (finally) does that mean I don't have to give my daughters a bath or change their diapers anymore?"

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Apple slashes iPhone 5 part orders after weak demand: report








Apple's shine is fading when it comes to iPhones.

The tech giant has slashed orders for iPhone 5 parts after weaker-than-expected demand and growing popularity of Android products, according to a new report.

Citing sources familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday that first quarter orders for iPhone 5 screens were roughly half of what Apple previously planned to order.

Orders for components other than screens were also cut.

Apple’s stock price dropped $17.45 or 3.4 percent to $502.85 in premarket trading Monday and the news comes as the company has been facing increased competition from Samsung and other makers of smartphones that run Google’s Android operating system.





Reuters



An Apple iPhone 5 is displayed in an Apple store.





The iPhone has dominated the smartphone market after its much-anticipated release in 2007. But South Korea's Samsung, which sells Android-based models at various price points, has already overtaken the US company as the world's largest smartphone vendor by market share.

Google says more than 500 million Android devices have been activated since the software's release four years ago. By comparison, Apple had sold about 271 million iPhones through last September.

Some analysts suggest Apple may have made large orders in the October-December quarter due to fears of manufacturing difficulties. But Citigroup, which lowered its rating for Apple to Neutral from Buy, said “good not great” demand is likely behind the order cuts.

Previous reports suggest Apple may make a cheaper iPhone to wrestle market share back from Samsung.

Apple has not responded to requests for comment this morning.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report










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Miami Dolphins worry Marlins stand between them and a tax-funded redo for Sun Life Stadium




















The Miami Dolphins are reviving their failed bid to win tax dollars for a football stadium. But team executives want no comparisons to a successful bid to win tax dollars for a baseball stadium.

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has called a press conference for Monday to unveil a plan for an improved Sun Life Stadium. Sources say the plan will include asking state and local governments to help pay for a $400 million renovation of the 1987 facility.

State lawmakers in recent years rebuffed the Dolphins when the team asked for help on a less-expensive renovation. And while the economy and state finances are more favorable this time around, Dolphin executives see a bigger challenge now from lingering backlash against the $639 million ballpark taxpayers built for the Miami Marlins in order to move the baseball team from their old home in Sun Life. .





“It can’t be anything close to what the Marlins did,’’ said state Sen. Oscar Braynon, a Democrat whose Miami Gardens district includes Sun Life Stadium and who sponsored a 2011 bill to raise hotel taxes to fund the Dolphins renovation plan. “Unless you do something totally counter to what the Marlins did, nobody is going to vote for it.”

Both the Marlins and the Dolphins declined to comment for this story. The Dolphins have not released details of how they want to pay for the renovation, or what they want to do the stadium. But sources close to the team describe an extensive renovation of Sun Life, including adding a partial roof, a redesign of the seating configuration to improve views of the field, and shifting capacity from the low-priced seats in the upper deck to the more expensive seating closer to the sidelines. Without the space demands of a baseball field, the front row will move 18 feet closer to the field, according to a person briefed on the plans.

Polls showed Miami and Miami-Dade’s 2009 votes to build the baseball stadium with 75 percent public money were never popular. But the Marlins’ recent stripping of star players from their payroll has made the new Little Havana park Topic A when it comes to plotting a Dolphins’ victory for winning tax dollars themselves.

Dolphins executives plan to pursue two funding sources from state and local government, according to several people familiar with the team’s plans. For the first funding stream, the Dolphins plan to ask Miami-Dade to raise taxes charged mainland hotels from 6 percent to 7 percent and earmark the extra money for the stadium. The Dolphins also plan to ask Florida for an additional $2 million rebate on sales taxes on top of the $2 million the stadium already receives from the state each year under a special subsidy for professional sports teams.

Ross is expected to pledge a significant amount of the renovation money himself. Sources who have been briefed on the Dolphins’ proposal say the total pricetag for the project is $400 million. That’s almost double the renovation budget the Dolphins proposed when the team last went to the Legislature for money in 2011.

Staying competitive

At the time, the Dolphins unveiled a $225 million redo of Sun Life with expanded sideline seating, high-definition lighting and a partial roof that would both shade seats during hot games and shield spectators from the kind of downpour that drenched the stands during the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami Gardens. The Dolphins, top executives at the NFL and some community leaders have warned that without upgrades to Sun Life, South Florida risks losing its standing as one of the nation’s top venues for the Super Bowl and college football championships.





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Newark mayor to headline Broward Democrats’ fundraiser




















Rising Democratic star and Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker will be the keynote speaker at the Broward Democrats’ annual fundraiser March 23.

“He is clearly part of next generation of Democratic leaders,” local party chairman Mitch Ceasar said.

Booker, an African-American Rhodes scholar and Yale University law grad, became mayor at age 37 in 2006. He turned down a job offer from President Barack Obama after his first win. In 2012, Booker spoke at the Democratic National Convention and recently confirmed he is exploring running for U.S. Senate.





The Unity Dinner is the main fundraiser for Broward Democrats, who are preparing for the 2014 elections — most notably, a challenge to Gov. Rick Scott.





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Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis Engaged

Olivia Wilde, 28, and Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis, 38, are engaged, ET can confirm.

The pair, who went public in December of 2011, moved in together last year and have been seemingly inseparable since.

Related: Olivia Wilde Divorces Italian Royal

According to People, Sudeikis proposed to the Tron: Legacy star shortly after the holidays.

"They are so excited," says a source. "And very, very happy."

No word yet on a wedding date.

Video: Olivia Wilde Steams Up the Screen

This will be the second wedding for Wilde, whose divorce to Italian royal Tao Ruspoli was finalized in late September of 2011.

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6 arrested in new gang rape of bus passenger in India








AFP/Getty Images


Indian police personnel present six arrested men, accused of a gang rape in Punjab state, for an appearance at court in Gurdaspur.



NEW DELHI — Police said Sunday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said.




There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said.

The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said.

Singh said police arrested six suspects on Saturday and were searching for another.

Gurmej Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said all six admitted involvement in the rape. He said the victim was recovering at home.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Her decomposed body was found Friday.

Police officer Sunita Thakare said the suspect committed the crime seven months after his release from prison after serving nine years for raping and murdering a girl in 2003, PTI reported Sunday.

The deadly rape of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus in December led to the woman's death and set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.

"It's a very deep malaise. This aspect of gender justice hasn't been dealt with in our nation-building task," Seema Mustafa, a writer on social issues who heads the Center for Policy Analysis think tank, said Sunday.

"Police haven't dealt with the issue severely in the past. The message that goes out is that the punishment doesn't match the crime. Criminals think they can get away it," she said.

In her first published comments, the mother of the deceased student in the New Delhi attack said Sunday that all six suspects in that case, including one believed to be a juvenile, deserve to die.

She was quoted by The Times of India newspaper as saying that her daughter, who died from massive internal injuries two weeks after the attack, told her that the youngest suspect had participated in the most brutal aspects of the rape.

Five men have been charged with the physiotherapy student's rape and murder and face a possible death penalty if convicted. The sixth suspect, who says he is 17 years old, is likely to be tried in a juvenile court if medical tests confirm he is a minor. His maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

"Now the only thing that will satisfy us is to see them punished. For what they did to her, they deserve to die," the newspaper quoted the mother as saying.

Some activists have demanded a change in Indian laws so that juveniles committing heinous crimes can face the death penalty.

The names of the victim of the Dec. 16 attack and her family have not been released.










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After rough year, Carnival hopes for calmer waters




















After boarding the latest addition to the Carnival Cruise Lines family, Josh Beaver sampled lasagna at the new onboard Italian restaurant, downed some drinks with his traveling companions and hit the water slides while the afternoon was still young.

“So far, from what I’ve seen, there’s lots to do,” said Beaver, 33, of Holden Beach, N.C.

The Carnival Breeze hadn’t even left PortMiami yet on a recent Saturday, and already it buzzed with vacationers exploring all there was to do: nosh on a Pig Patty from the new Guy’s Burger Bar, make friends with bartenders at the new RedFrog Pub or check out a novel and a glass of the grape at the new Library Bar.





Here aboard one of the largest ships in the biggest brand of the Number One cruise ship company in the world, there was little hint that the last year was one of the toughest in the 41-year history of parent company Carnival Corp. & plc.

Last year got off to a catastrophic start when Costa Concordia, owned by Carnival unit Costa Cruises, struck rocks in Italian waters as the captain steered the ship on an unauthorized route. The massive liner listed to one side, and 32 people died in the chaos that followed.

“When you lose lives, it’s heartbreaking,” said Carnival Corp. Vice Chairman and COO Howard Frank, who devoted much of his time last winter handling the aftermath with Costa leaders. “And so I think in terms of our emotional reaction to it, it’s been the toughest year we’ve had.”

Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Micky Arison took criticism for not going to Italy following the wreck, but said he believes the company did the right thing and doesn’t second-guess his actions.

Financially, the company took a hit as well, starting with discounts that were necessary to drum up business after the accident. Costa’s future bookings plunged, but picked up after the operator slashed prices. As of mid-December, prices at Costa remained lower than they were a year earlier, though the company expects that to change once the anniversary of the accident passes.

“I think we’ve been consistent in saying the recovery at Costa is not a one-year issue,” Arison said during the December earnings call with analysts. “It’s going to be multiple years, and we are forecasting a recovery of about half the yield deterioration.”

The ship remains on its side off the island of Giglio; it’s expected to be removed by the end of summer.

A flurry of civil lawsuits have been filed, but none have reached trial yet; the company has reached compensation agreements with 70 percent of the more than 3,000 passengers who were not physically injured and 60 percent of injured passengers and families of those who died.

As the company and broader industry focused anew on safety, the summer months presented a fresh set of problems when the European economy weakened just as cruise lines were stationing more ships in the Mediterranean. While North America was immune to those concerns, the run-up to the Presidential election and the fiscal cliff debates prompted Carnival to worry about a slowdown in business at home.

Last month, Carnival forecast 2013 earnings that were lower than expectations and said advance bookings for the year were behind what they were a year earlier at lower prices. Many analysts believe the projections were conservative, though, and executives said they were hopeful that January would bring more robust business.





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