City loses in Black mail case

A state appeals court yesterday ordered the Bloomberg administration to turn over e-mails involving the appointment of failed schools chancellor Cathie Black, but city lawyers say they’ll keep fighting to keep them secret. Black, 67, had a short, tumultuous reign as chancellor last year and was ousted after just 96 days on the job. Then-Village Voice reporter...

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Gift ideas for the techie on your list

The holidays are coming fast, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten very little of your gift shopping done. Here are suggestions for a variety of gifts for the techie and the not-so-techie people on your list. Some of these items can be found in stores and some are only available online, but you should be able to order them in time for Christmas or Hanukkah. ...

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Survivor of flea-market police shooting is charged

Two Miami men shot Sunday by Miami-Dade police outside a flea market were identified Monday, and the survivor was charged with battery.Michael Nathaniel Parks, 21, faces charges of battery on a law-enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. The second man, who had been driving the van the pair had been in, and who died at the scene, was identified as LeBron...

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How Zero Dark Thirty Copied Bin Laden's Compound

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow reteams with her Hurt Locker screenwriter Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty, a chronicling of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and the two opened up to Nightline about how they recreated bin Laden's compound.VIDEO: Zero Dark Thirty TrailerThe filmmakers built a full-scale version of the compound in Jordan, and Bigelow says that everything from the carpet to the marks...

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Upstate Serb thug goes free

A hulking Serbian basketball player who brutally beat a young Brooklyn man into a coma during an upstate bar brawl in 2008 got out of prison in his homeland early yesterday — angering the victim’s family. “They thought the original [two-year] sentence was too short, and they’re disappointed that it’s been reduced even by this small amount” of two months, lawyer Irwin Rochman, who represents the family...

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Shoppers welcome holiday sales by buying early, often — and online

Shoppers swooped into stores in droves on Thanksgiving weekend, topping last year’s sales, as more retailers opened their doors earlier than ever on Thursday, luring bargain hunters away from eating another plate of turkey.And now Cyber Monday is expected to set a record for online shopping this year, for those who prefer the Internet to the mall.Spending per shopper nationwide...

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Flurry of new bills filed in Tallahassee

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida lawmakers have filed their first bills of the season.Most are familiar: a ban on texting while driving, a requirement that parasailing operators carry insurance and a “foreign law” bill criticized by opponents as anti-Islamic.Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, says she will keep sponsoring the texting while driving measure until it passes. It nearly survived...

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Justin Bieber Defends Meeting Prime Minister in Overalls

After catching a bit of flack for meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister in a decidedly casual pair of overalls, Justin Bieber took to Instagram Sunday to explain himself.Related: Justin Bieber on Selena, His Favorite Things "The pic of me and the Prime Minister was taken in a room in the arena where I was performing at that day," Bieber wrote in response to a journalist who criticized the move...

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Driver mistakenly puts limo in reverse, killing man in Brooklyn: police

William MillerPolice investigate a Brooklyn limo accident that left a passenger dead.A man was killed in Brooklyn last night after the limo he just exited began rolling backwards and pinned him against another vehicle, cops said.Viktor Avaveyev, 53, and two relatives were being escorted out of the limo around 6:50 p.m. at Kings Highway and Bedford Avenue...

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Shifting tides of Panama real estate echo Miami trends

PANAMA CITY, Panama — As a real estate agent shows off a model apartment — white leather sectional, stainless steel appliances, open concept, ocean views — in the 59-story Yacht Club Tower, and touts its fitness center and pool deck designed to mimic a ship floating on the sea, he makes a telling statement:“We tried to emulate the Miami style in this building.”Approaching...

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