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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Dotcom says new site legal, no revenge for Megaupload saga

AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Kim Dotcom, founder of outlawed file-sharing website Megaupload, said his new “cyberlocker” was not revenge on U.S. authorities who planned a raid on his home, closed Megaupload and charged him with online piracy for which he faces jail if found guilty.

Dotcom said his new offering, Mega.co.nz, which will launch on Sunday even as he and three colleagues await extradition from New Zealand to the United States, complied with the law and warned that attempts to take it down would be futile.

“This is not some kind of finger to the U.S. government or to Hollywood,” Dotcom told Reuters at his sprawling estate in the bucolic hills of Coatesville, just outside Auckland, New Zealand, a country known more for sheep, rugby and the Hobbit than flamboyant tech tycoons.

“Legally, there’s just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors,” he said, referring to other popular cloud storage services.

His lawyer, Ira Rothken, added that launching the site was compliant with the terms of Dotcom’s bail conditions. U.S. prosecutors argue that Dotcom in a statement said he had no intention of starting a new internet business until his extradition was resolved.

CODES AND KEYS

Dotcom said Mega was a different beast to Megaupload, as the new site enables users to control exactly which users can access uploaded files, in contrast to its predecessor, which allowed users to search files, some of which contained copyrighted content allegedly without permission.

A sophisticated encryption system will allow users to encode their files before they upload them on to the site’s servers, which Dotcom said were located in New Zealand and overseas.

Each file will then be issued a unique, sophisticated decryption key which only the file holder will control, allowing them to share the file as they choose.

As a result, the site’s operators would have no access to the files, which they say would strip them from any possible liability for knowingly enabling users to distribute copyright-infringing content, which Washington says is illegal.

“Even if we wanted to, we can’t go into your file and snoop and see what you have in there,” the burly Dotcom said.

Dotcom said Mega would comply with orders from copyright holders to remove infringing material, which will afford it the “safe harbor” legal provision, which minimizes liability on the condition that a party acted in good faith to comply.

But some legal experts say it may be difficult to claim the protection if they do not know what users have stored.

The Motion Pictures Association of America said encrypting files alone would not protect Dotcom from liability.

“We’ll reserve final judgment until we have a chance to analyze the new project,” a spokesman told Reuters. “But given Kim Dotcom’s history, count us as skeptical.”

The German national, who also goes by Kim Schmitz, expects huge interest in its first month of operation, which would be a far cry from when Megaupload went live in 2005.

“I would be surprised if we had less than one million users,” Dotcom said.

A YEAR ON

Mega’s launch starts the next chapter of the Dotcom narrative, dotted with previous cyber crime-related arrests and whose twists and turns have been scrutinized by all facets of the entertainment industry, from film studios and record labels to internet service companies and teenage gamers.

The copyright infringement case, billed as the largest to date given that Megaupload in its heyday commanded around four percent of global online traffic, could set a precedent for internet liability laws and depending on its outcome, may force entertainment companies to rethink their distribution methods.

A year on, the extradition hearing has been delayed until August, complicated by illegal arrest warrants and the New Zealand government’s admission that it had illegally spied on Dotcom, who has residency status in the country.

Last January, New Zealand’s elite special tactics forces landed by helicopter at dawn in the grounds of Dotcom’s mansion, worth roughly NZ$ 30 million ($ 25.05 million) and featuring a servants’ wing, hedge maze and life-size statues of giraffes and a rhinoceros, to arrest him and his colleagues at the request of the FBI.

Police armed with semi-automatic weapons found Dotcom cowering alone in a panic room in the attic, while outside, a convoy of police cars and vans pulled up in the driveway. Around 70 officers took part in the raid.

They left with computers, files and some of Dotcom’s fleet of Rolls-Royces, Mercedes and a vintage pink Cadillac tricked with personalized license plates screaming “HACKER”, “EVIL”, and “MAFIA”.

“Every time you hear a helicopter, you automatically think, ‘Oh, another raid’, so it’s something that stays with you for a long time,” said Dotcom, who says he and his wife still panic when they hear sudden, loud noises in the house.

Dotcom was coy about the details of the launch party as builders put the finishing touches to a festival-sized concert stage in the mansion’s grounds, while two helicopters circled overhead.

But if the impromptu, Willy Wonka-styled ice cream social he threw in Auckland earlier in the week is any indication, the party could be a more wholesome affair compared with the well-documented soirees of Dotcom’s past, where nightclubs, hot tubs and scantily clad women were a common fixture.

“I had to grow up, you know, I was a big baby,” he said. “Big baby with too much money usually leads to baby craziness.

“I am going to be more of a person that wants to help to make things better and help internet innovation to take off without all these restrictions by governments. That is going to be my primary goal if this business is successful.”

($ 1 = NZ$ 1.2)

(Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Nick Macfie)

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Buzzmakers: Golden Globes Glamour and Jennifer Lawrence's Butt

1. Jennifer Lawrence: That's Not My Flabby Butt!

Jennifer Lawrence has been silent long enough! The Silver Linings Playbook actress showed up on the Late Show With David Letterman this week to both clarify her Meryl Streep comments during her Golden Globes acceptance speech, and set the record straight on a photoshopped pic of her bikini backside.

The actress is convinced that the paparazzi put a much older butt on her body while she was in Hawaii, telling Letterman as he held up the photo, "It's not my butt and I will not take responsibility for it. It's a 90-year-old butt that's been photoshopped onto my body, and is posing as my butt."

Causing roars of laughter in the audience, The Hunger Games beauty, 22, admits she's not the most photogenic person and she does have some "bloat" at times, but wants everyone to take away from her Late Show appearance Tuesday night that this is not her butt.

Lawrence also felt the need to address her Streep joke while at the Globes. The actress revealed that she was merely quoting Bette Midler in First Wives Club when she said Sunday night, "Look what it says, 'I beat Meryl.'"

"I had no idea Lindsay Lohan would take to the Twitterverse," she joked with Letterman. "Well, first of all it's Meryl Streep. You can't offend Meryl Streep."

2. Golden Globes Fashion Tops & Flops

Which star at the Golden Globes had the best dress, and which ones just looked like a hot mess? You decide!

Click through our gallery and vote here!

3. LeAnn Rimes Talks Infidelity & Her Ex

No topic was off limits when LeAnn Rimes sat down exclusively with ET's Nancy O'Dell.

The country superstar, whose controversial relationship with husband Eddie Cibrian has become both a blessing and a curse, tells Nancy her upcoming album Spitfire was born unexpectedly during her extra-marital affair with Eddie. In fact, a handful of infidelity themed tracks included in the album were initially written about a friend of hers while LeAnn was married to her ex, Dean Sheremet.

"What Have I Done is one of the first songs that I wrote for the record, before anything was actually starting to happen," said LeAnn. "It was written about a friend of mine, but I didn't realize I was writing it for myself at the time... It was my subconscious talking and I didn't know yet."

Speaking on the feelings that sparked her and Eddie's infamous affair, LeAnn acknowledged that her then husband had heard the troubling track and perhaps knew she would soon be led astray.

"He actually heard the song when I wrote it and, actually, he knew what it was about before I did," she reveals. "He knew I was feeling feelings. I'm not sure what those were that he knew."

Sighed LeAnn, "It's a very complicated situation."

When asked if she ever worries whether her husband Eddie would ever cheat on her, LeAnn admits that she does.

"I would be ignorant to say, and everyone else would think I am a liar if I didn't say yes, and I have at times," said LeAnn, going on to reveal that Eddie has had the same concerns about her.

"Speaking for him, I would actually say that's creeped into his [mind]…I think we've been very honest and open with that to each other and our conversations about it have only made me understand how much he actually cares, as much as I do, about being faithful to each other."

4. Mindy McCready's Boyfriend Dies from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

More details into the death of Mindy McCready's boyfriend and father of her child David Wilson, who was found dead on January 13 at his Arkansas home, have surfaced.

McCready's rep, Kat Atwood, told People.com that Wilson suffered "a self-inflicted gunshot wound," adding, "Now they're working on funeral arrangements and figuring out where to go from here."

Following the news of her boyfriend's death, the country crooner was reportedly alone for the first 24 hours with her children. "Her family drove up from Florida," Atwood told the website. "I'm not exactly sure when they got there, but her personal friends arrived late last night."

"David was my soulmate," McCready, 37, said in a statement about the late singer-songwriter. "He was a precious gift from God to all of us and, yesterday, he returned home and is now with his mother and father. David loved and was loved. Those who knew and loved him will miss him; those who did know David missed the opportunity to know a truly loving and gifted man."

McCready and Wilson had been together for about two years, and share a 9-month-old son named Zayne (McCready has an older son Zander with country singer Billy McKnight).

5. Jessica Simpson on New Pregnancy: Eric Keeps Knocking Me Up!

Jessica Simpson told Jay Leno on Tuesday night's Tonight Show that she "needs to keep her legs closed" after getting pregnant twice and missing two planned wedding dates.

Wearing a leopard minidress that showed off her growing baby bump, the mommy-to-be admitted that she and her fiancé of two years Eric Johnson are planning to get married if they can quit having children. "We've had two different wedding dates, but he keeps knocking me up," Simpson, 32, joked. "We're doing it very backwards, I know. ... I'll just keep my legs crossed, I guess, this time."

The Weight Watchers spokeswoman, who reportedly lost 60 pounds after giving birth to daughter Maxwell this past year, revealed that this was not a planned pregnancy, telling Leno, "Apparently it was a part of God's plan for my life. I was extremely shocked because I was going through a lot of hormonal changes, trying to get back to the old, vibrant Jessica. You know, it was kind of like a one-night stand. And it happened, all over again!"

Simpson spilled the news on Tuesday that she'll be starring in a NBC show inspired by her life. The once Newlywed reality star quipped that the show will be about "a girl who keeps getting pregnant."

"We don't have a name yet," she confessed to Leno. "We're just now in the process of casting everyone, doing the pilot. I will be playing myself but we'll have actors playing Eric and my dad. That'll be funny."

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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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Jackson Health System leaders fire off memos on UM

A little known children’s program at Jackson Memorial Hospital run by University of Miami doctors has sparked two contentious memos to the county’s political leaders.

Speaking about the pediatric bone marrow transplant program, Marcos Lapciuc, the Jackson board chairman, fired off an email late Thursday to the mayor and county commissioners complaining about UM “wishing to cease” providing such services at Jackson.

Jackson Chief Executive Carlos Migoya quickly responded with a “clarifying” memo to the politicians that “we have every indication” that UM will continue to providing such services at Jackson,” but might also provide those services elsewhere. Migoya added that, if UM also undertook such services at another hospital, it would “clearly raise a host of complex issues.”

In his memo, Lapciuc complained that UM’s “maneuver will affect our most vulnerable population -- our children. This is clearly a violation of the bilateral duties and obligations that the University of Miami has under its annual operating agreement with Jackson.”

Lapciuc said Jackson’s board has “a fiduciary duty to protect and enforce all binding obligations” between Jackson and its vendors. “If this issue is not promptly addressed, then I will consider a range of options to present to the ... board.”

Both the medical school and Jackson have been struggling to overcome financial problems. UM so far has refused to say what it plans to do. When board members raised the issue earlier this week, UM spokeswoman Christine Morris said only that “we continuously work with our expert doctors and leadership at Jackson to make sure that our patients get the best possible care.”

Bone marrow transplant can be a crucial, life-saving treatment. UM doctors working at Jackson do about 10 to 20 of them each year on children, said Jackson spokesman Edwin O’Dell.

What concerns board members is that, as with any operating room procedure, staff needs to do quite a few each year in order to remain competent and hone their skills. If a program’s annual number of procedures gets too low, the state could withdraw certification.

Joaquin del Cueto, a veteran Jackson board member, told The Herald Thursday that the small program is symbolic of larger tensions between UM and Jackson. When UM purchased the 560-bed Cedars Medical Center, across the street from Jackson Memorial, in 2007, there was an understanding that UM pediatric services and transplants would remain services performed at Jackson, del Cueto said.

Earlier this week, a Jackson attorney told the board that there was nothing in the agreements with UM in which UM promised to keep transplants exclusively at Jackson.

Nevertheless, board members thought they had an understanding. Joe Arriola called the UM possibility of taking the pediatric program elsewhere “a stab in the back to our feelings,” to which fellow board member Darryl Sharpton added, “not to our feelings: Our viability.”

Board member del Cueto told The Herald that the spreading of the bone marrow program is “not in our best interests” because “we’ve invested millions of dollars to be the regional provider of transplant services” and Jackson has developed “highly trained professionals,” nurses and others, to do the procedures..

Del Cueto said he believes that Jackson’s basic operating agreement with UM requires UM to support the Jackson transplant program. He said he understands that Migoya is trying to calm the waters, to keep negotiations open with UM, but “I can’t sit by quietly” while UM is undermining Jackson.

In his memo to county commissioners, Migoya said, “We are continuing conversations with university leaders to find solutions that address both institutions’ long-term goals.” He said that UM has provided no notice that it plans to terminate these pediatric procedures at Jackson, but if it did, that “could be viewed” as a violation of the Jackson and UM signed agreements.

“Our professional recommendation is to continue our conversations with university leaders,” Migoya wrote.

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Morrisons to launch online kitchenware business

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain‘s fourth largest supermarket group Wm Morrison said on Friday it would extend its online presence in the spring with the launch of a kitchenware website in partnership with specialist Lakeland.

The joint venture will be Morrisons‘ third fully transactional website following the launch of wine website MorrisonsCellar.com in November and the purchase of baby care retailer Kiddicare.com in 2011.

“We believe the future for retailing many non-food products is online rather than in supermarkets,” said Chief Executive Dalton Philips.

Unlike the other grocers that make up Britain’s so called “big four” – market leader Tesco, Wal-Mart’s Asda and J Sainsbury – Morrisons does not have a website for the home delivery of food.

Earlier this month Morrisons posted a weak Christmas trading update that it partly attributed to its lack of an online food offer.

The firm is researching the possibility and plans to say more when it publishes full year results in March. Most analysts expect it to launch a trial this year.

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)

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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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John Galliano invited to return to fashion two years after anti-Semitic rant

John Galliano has been invited to return to fashion for the first time since an anti-Semitic rant at a Paris cafe was captured on video.

Oscar de la Renta invited Galliano to spend time in his studio over the next three weeks, according to a statement released Friday by de la Renta's company.

Galliano was dismissed as creative director of Christian Dior and left his own label two years ago after his rant went viral. A French court also convicted him on two other complaints of anti-Semitic behavior.

In a statement, Galliano said he is an alcoholic and has been in recovery for the past two years.

AP

John Galliano

"Several years prior to my sobriety, I descended into the madness of the disease. I said and did things which hurt others, especially members of the Jewish community. I have expressed my sorrow privately and publicly for the pain which I have caused and I continue to do so," he said. "I remain committed to making amends to those I have hurt."

De la Renta said he has known Galliano for years and is "a great admirer of his talent."

"He has worked long and hard on his recovery and I'm happy to give him the opportunity to reimmerse himself in the world of fashion and reacclimate in an environment where he has been so creative," de la Renta said in a statement.

The statement did not elaborate on what role if any Galliano might play in de la Renta's business. Galliano said he was grateful and humbled by the invitation.

The saga of Galliano's undoing began with run-ins at a Paris watering hole where fellow diners contended the designer showered them with a litany of racist and anti-Semitic insults. Video posted online showed an inebriated Galliano slurring "I love Hitler," among other incendiary remarks.

Although Galliano's remarks would not be punishable in the U.S., France has strict laws aimed at curbing anti-Semitic and racist language. The laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust.

Galliano's extravagant, theatrical collections drew inspiration from far-flung cultures like Kenya's Massai people and the geishas of Japan and his proud rooster-like post-fashion show strut had long been a thing of legend.

Galliano's own namesake label, now designed by Bill Gaytten, was presenting its menswear collection in Paris on Friday.

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Venture investments decline sharply in 2012

NEW YORK (AP) – A new study shows that funding for business startups declined in 2012, the first time that's happened in three years, as venture capitalists spent less money on fewer deals.

Capital intense sectors like clean technology and life sciences were among the hardest hit, according to the MoneyTree study released Friday. The study was conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Startup investments fell 28 percent to $3.28 billion, compared with $4.57 billion a year earlier. There were 267 deals in all, a decline of more than 23 percent.

In Florida, the drop was much steeper. In 2012, investments fell 41 percent to $202.9 million, compared to $346.3 million in 2011. there were 34 deals in Florida in 2012, compared to 55 in 2011.

The trailing investments and declining number of deals continued into the final quarter.

San Francisco's SquareTrade Inc., which provides electronics warranties, snatched the biggest round of funding in 2012 – $238 million.

Nancy Dahlberg of the Miami Herald contributed to this report.

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