Thugs posed as cops to rob Brooklyn home: police

Two dapper thugs posed as cops to rob a Brooklyn home, police said.

The duo forced their way into a Bedford-Stuyvesant residence near Atlantic Avenue and Herkimer Street about 5:30 p.m. Jan. 16, snatching a laptop and cash.

One suspect is about 6 feet tall, and wore a suit and glasses. His accomplice, who dangled a fake shield around his neck, also wore a suit.

Anyone with information about the robbery should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS.

Tipsters can also log onto the Crime Stoppers website at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or text 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577.

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Mayor Bloomberg says to lose weight you have to eat less

Meet Mayor Bloomberg, diet guru.

Only you're probably not going to like his advice for losing weight -- just eat less.

"If you eat less than 2,000 calories you'll lose weight," the mayor said on his weekly WOR radio show today. "If you eat more than 2,000 calories, you'll gain weight. Now some things metabolize more quickly than others. And everyone says I should go on this kind of diet or that kind of diet. Don't eat and you'll lose weight."

Exercise, by Bloomberg's reckoning, is not a substitute for reducing intake.

"You have to run for half an hour for one muffin. So it' i not exercise, it's overeating. Exercise contributes," he said.

The mayor got to dispensing nutrition advice during of a discussion of the city's plan to restrict the size of sugary sodas to 16 ounces in restaurants starting March 12.

Bloomberg described the new policy as educational, not punitive.

He even recommended that store owners not hike prices of giant sodas.

New Yorkers who want to consume 32 or 64 ounces at a sitting at their favorite fast food joint "just have to carry two cups back or four cups back rather than one. And that reminds you," said the mayor.

"So it's an educational thing. It doesn't prevent you from doing it, and it doesn't mean a store has to charge you more. I mean, it's ridiculous to say it's the cost of an extra cup. If the cost of an extra cup is really a detriment if they're going to be in business, they're not going to be in business."

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Barnes & Noble posts third-quarter loss as Nook costs mount

The digital business is weighing on Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest traditional US bookseller.

The company posted on Thursday a loss in the fiscal third quarter, hurt by weak sales during the all-important holiday quarter for its Nook e-book readers as well as at its bookstores. Nook revenue fell 26 percent, and the company has begun cutting costs at the unit due to the sharp decline.

Barnes & Noble, based in New York, has been struggling to find its place as more readers have shifted to electronic books and competition has grown from discount stores and online rivals. The company, which has 689 bookstores in 50 states as well as 674 college bookstores, has invested heavily in its Nook e-book readers and a digital library to try to carve out a niche in the current retail landscape.

The company's founder, chairman and largest shareholder, Leonard Riggio, plans to offer to buy the physical bookstores and website of Barnes & Noble, but not the Nook unit. No terms or other details have been announced. On Thursday, the company said it has appointed board members to evaluate a proposal when it's made and the potential value of the retail business.

In the fiscal third quarter through Jan. 26, the New York company posted a loss of $6.1 million, or 18 cents per share. The company blamed the loss in part on charges stemming from weaker-than-expected sales of Nook e-readers during the holiday shopping season. Analysts had expected a profit of 53 cents per share.

In the same period the year before, the New York company posted a profit of $52 million, or 71 cents per share.

Revenue fell 9 percent to $2.22 billion — analysts polled by FactSet predicted a more modest decline, to $2.4 billion.

Revenue from its retail unit — which includes its bookstores and website — fell 10 percent to $1.51 billion. Revenue in stores open in at least one year fell 7.3 percent. Store closings and lower online sales also hurt results. Excluding Nook sales, revenue in stores open at least one year fell 2.2 percent.

Revenue from the chain's college bookstore unit fell nearly 2 percent to $517 million.

Nook revenue fell 26 percent to $316 million as the company sold fewer e-readers. Barnes & Noble company recorded $21 million in returns due to weak demand during the holiday season, and $15 million in allowances for promotions. Digital content sales rose almost 7 percent during the quarter.

The Nook unit has attracted investors — Microsoft owns 16.8 percent, while U.K. publisher and education company Pearson has a 5 percent stake. But aside from investor funding, the unit has been losing money. CEO William Lynch addressed the problems with the unit in a statement.

"Coming off the holiday shortfall, we're in the process of making some adjustments to our strategy as we continue to pursue the exciting growth opportunities ahead for us in the consumer and digital education content markets," he said.

But he added that the chain remains committed to its tablet and e-reader business.

For fiscal 2013, the company expects revenue in stores open at least one year to fall in the low- to mid-single digit range. Revenue in stores open at least one year in its college bookstores are expected to fall by a low single digit percentage.

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Miss Delaware Teen USA resigns on same day alleged porn tape surfaces

YouTube and @Melissa_M_King via Twitter

The porn video allegedly showing Miss Delaware Teen USA Melissa King (left) and a picture of King wearing her official sash (right).

Miss Delaware Teen USA, Melissa King, has turned in her crown after a sex tape emerged allegedly staring the 18-year-old beauty.

"The Miss Delaware Teen USA pageant has received a resignation letter from Miss King's attorney," Dara Busch, a spokesperson for the pageant, told the Delaware News Journal yesterday.

King's resignation came on the same day that the video hit the Web on a porn site, "where amateur girls make first time adult videos."

@Melissa_M_King via Twitter

Miss Delaware Krista Clausen (left to right), Donald Trump, and Melissa King

The site claimed Tuesday that the woman in the video was King who was crowned Miss Delaware Teen USA just five months after the film was shot in June of 2012.

In the video, a woman who resembles King sits on a bed wearing a purple dress as an off-camera interviewer asks her questions.

The man starts by asking about when she turned 18, to which the woman says, "Three months ago, in March."

According to the Miss Delaware Teen USA Web site, King's birthday is in March while the beauty queen tweeted on February 24th that, "a year ago almost , I turned 18. I'm about to turn 19 and so much has changed for the better in my life in the past year... Nothing can bring me down:)"

After delving into the woman's sexual history the interviewer asks, "You're actually a Miss Teen for a certain state, I'm not going to say the state," before the woman shakes her head and mumbles "nuh nuh."

The off-camera interviewer then wisens up and coyly asks, "You do beauty pageants?" to which the woman smiles and says, "I've done them, yes."

Besides birthdays and beauty pageants the interviewer also asks the woman in the video about why she got into porn.

"I thought it'd be fun and it sounded like I needed the money, so I just decided to do it," the young woman says.

King denied she was the woman in the tape telling The News Journal, "Absolutely not, it is not."

The Miss Delaware Teen USA is run by the Donald Trump backed Miss Universe Organization.

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Helicopter prison escape foiled in Greece after massive gun battle

trikalavoice.gr

A helicopter is seen hovering over a prison in Greece as Panagiotis Vlastos attempts a daring escape.

ATHENS, Greece — A helicopter swooped down on a prison courtyard Sunday as armed men on board fired on guards and lowered a rope to help a convicted killer make his fourth attempt to escape from a Greek prison.

But the plot was foiled after the prisoner was shot and the chopper forced to land in the prison's parking lot.

The dramatic escape attempt was one of a handful involving helicopters in Greece, and the first time such plans have failed.

YouTube

The helicopter used in the failed prison escape of Panagiotis Vlastos. The aircraft was eventually forced to land in the prison's courtyard.

Panagiotis Vlastos

Authorities said the chartered helicopter — carrying two armed passengers, a pilot and a technician — first tried to rip off the chicken-wire fence surrounding Trikala prison with a hook dangling from a rope. But that didn't work, so a rope was lowered down to whisk away Panagiotis Vlastos. Another prisoner, an unnamed Albanian national also in the courtyard at the time, may also have been part of the escape plan.

At the same time, the armed passengers used AK-47 assault rifles to fire on the prison guards. One guard, who was inside a post, was slightly injured by shards of flying glass. He and others returned fire, injuring Vlastos, who had managed to climb into the helicopter, as well as the helicopter's technician. Vlastos fell from a height of about 10 feet into the courtyard, and the helicopter was eventually grounded in the parking lot.

Vlastos, 43, is a convicted murderer and racketeer serving a life term who had tried and failed three times before to escape from prison.

Prison officials told TV stations Mega and NET that they recovered well over 500 bullets fired from the helicopter. The Ministry of Justice, in statements describing the escape attempt, added that the helicopter passengers also carried, but did not use, "improvised explosive devices."

Authorities said Vlastos was wounded in the legs but is being treated in the prison hospital because his injuries were not deemed serious enough for a transfer elsewhere. The technician's hand was slightly wounded.

It was not immediately clear if the pilot and flight technician had willingly participated in the escape attempt or had been forced to fly to the prison, which is located 205 miles northwest of Athens. Also unclear was whether the second would-be escapee was in on the scheme or just happened to be in the courtyard and tried to take advantage of the situation.

The helicopter was hired from a western Athens suburb and was supposed to fly to Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. But it deviated from is flight path to head to the prison.

This is the third time a helicopter has been used in an attempted prison escape in Greece. Convicted criminals Vassilis Paleokostas and Alket Rizaj were whisked by helicopter from the high-security Korydallos prison in Athens in June 2006. They were caught, but escaped for a second time — again using a helicopter — in February 2009. Paleokostas is still at large.

Vlastos was first arrested in 1994 in the murder of two members of a rival criminal gang. He was convicted last year as the behind-the-bars mastermind of the kidnapping of shipping tycoon Pericles Panagopoulos. Panagopoulos was kidnapped in January 2009 and released after eight days, when a ransom of €30 million was paid.

While awaiting trial for the kidnapping, Vlastos tried to escape in December 2011 from Korydallos prison along with three members of armed anarchist group Conspiracy Nuclei of Fire. The four used a pistol and knives to take hostage three prison guards and 25 visiting relatives of other prisoners. The four surrendered to authorities after a five-hour standoff.

Vlastos had also tried to escape, unsuccessfully, in 1994 and 1998.

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Israel, US successfully test anti-missile system

JERUSALEM — Israel and the US on Monday carried out a successful test of the next-generation Arrow 3 missile defense system, for the first time sending an interceptor into outer space, where it could destroy missiles fired from Iran.

The Arrow 3 is part of a multilayered system that Israel is developing to protect against a range of missile threats, from short-range rockets in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to medium and longer-range missiles in the hands of Syria and Iran. The Arrow system is being developed to protect against sophisticated Iranian-made Shahab ballistic missiles.

AP

An Israeli missile launch

Israel's Defense Ministry said it was the first flight test of the Arrow 3 interceptor. It was conducted at an Israeli test range over the Mediterranean Sea. The system is about three years away from becoming operational.

"The Arrow 3 interceptor was successfully launched and flew an exo-atmospheric trajectory through space, in accordance with the test plan," it said in a statement. "The successful test is a major milestone in the development of the Arrow 3 weapon system and provides further confidence in future Israeli defense capabilities to defeat the developing ballistic missile threat."

Iran's Shahab ballistic missile can carry a nuclear warhead and has a range of 1,250 miles, putting Israel and parts of Europe within range. With Iran suspected by the international community of trying to develop a nuclear weapon, the success of the Arrow is considered critical for Israel.

Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be an existential threat, citing Iranian calls for Israel's destruction, its support for anti-Israel militant groups and its missile and nuclear technology. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful, a claim that Israel and many Western countries reject.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the test shows Israel's technological capabilities as well as its close cooperation with the US "Israel's hand is always extended for peace, but we are always prepared for other options as well," Netanyahu said after a meeting with Mideast envoy Tony Blair Monday afternoon.

A senior Defense Ministry official said the test was conducted "100 percent successfully."

"This is the first time the interceptor with all of its equipment took off and flew, achieved its velocity and did the maneuver in space," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity under ministry regulations. "The Iranian missiles are a main factor to why this system was developed," he said, but he stressed that the test was not connected to a specific regional development.

The Arrow 3 is being developed by state-run Israel Aerospace Industries in conjunction with American aviation giant Boeing Co.

The Arrow 3, expected to be operational around 2016, would give Israel an additional layer of defense by targeting incoming missiles far closer to their time of launch. The Arrow 2 system, which intercepts targets inside the atmosphere, is already operational.

Last year, Israel also successfully tested a system designed to intercept missiles with ranges of up to 180 miles. That system, called "David's Sling" and "Magic Wand," is expected to be operational next year.

Israel has also developed a system for intercepting short-range rockets. The "Iron Dome" successfully shot down hundreds of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip during eight days of fighting in November.

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Elderly man fatally shot in Brooklyn home

An elderly man was shot and killed inside a home in Brooklyn this morning, police said.

The 72-year-old man suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck and was discovered inside the Gates Avenue building in Bushwick around 2:25 a.m., cops said.

The victim was rushed to Woodhull Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The man, whose name has not been released, has no criminal history and it's unclear whether he was struck by a stray bullet or targeted, sources said.

No arrests have been made.

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North Korea warns US commander in South Korea of 'miserable destruction' if US goes ahead with drills

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea warned the top American commander in South Korea on Saturday of "miserable destruction" if the U.S. military presses ahead with routine joint drills with South Korea set to begin next month.

Pak Rim Su, chief of North Korea's military delegation to the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone, sent the warning Saturday morning to Gen. James Thurman, Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said, in a rare direct message to the US commander.

The threat comes as the US and other nations discuss how to punish North Korea for conducting an underground nuclear test on Feb. 12 in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions banning Pyongyang from nuclear and missile activity.

North Korea has characterized the nuclear test, its third since 2006, as a defensive act against US aggression. Pyongyang accuses Washington of "hostility" for leading the charge to punish North Korea for a December rocket launch that the US considers a covert missile test.

The US and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty, and left the Korean Peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border monitored by the US-led UN Command.

Washington also stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

South Korea and the US regularly conduct joint drills such as the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises slated to take place next month. North Korea calls the drills proof of US hostility, and accuses Washington of practicing for an invasion.

"You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction," KCNA quoted Pak as saying in his message to Thurman. He called the drills "reckless."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, meanwhile, has been making a round of visits to military units guiding troops in drills and exercises since the nuclear test, KCNA said.

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United drops Boeing 787 from flying planes through June 5

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A grounded Boeing 787 Dreamliner jet operated by United Airlines is parked at LAX.

United Airlines cut the grounded Boeing 787 from its flying plans at least until June and postponed its new Denver-to-Tokyo flights on Thursday, as airlines continued to tear up their schedules while the plane is out of service.

Investigators are still trying to figure out what caused a battery fire in one plane and forced the emergency landing of another plane last month. The world's 50 787s have been grounded since Jan. 16.

United spokeswoman Christen David said the plane could still fly earlier than June 5 if a fix is found. At that point it would be used as needed around United's system, she said.

United was due to begin flying from Denver to Tokyo's Narita airport on March 31. It's postponing the start of those flights at least until May 12, or longer if the 787 isn't cleared to fly. That would be almost a year after United began selling tickets for the flight.

United has said the flights are a perfect fit for the 787, which is mid-sized and very fuel-efficient. The thinking is that Denver would be unlikely to fill a bigger plane for a flight to Tokyo. But it can fill the plane's 219 seats, and the plane is fuel-efficient enough to turn a profit.

LOT Polish Airlines has pulled its two 787s from its schedule through October. The planes are off of All Nippon Airways' schedule through at least March 30.

Switching the plane to be used on a flight is more complicated than passengers might think. Pilots trained to fly one type might not be able to fly the replacement, creating scheduling problems. Seats are laid out differently, meaning seating assignments have to be redone.

Boeing has deployed hundreds of workers on the project to find and fix the problem with the 787's batteries.

Boeing has long used lithium ion batteries in its satellites, according to Dennis Muilenburg, who runs Boeing's defense and space business. He said at an analyst conference on Thursday that about 20 engineers from the satellite business are among those working on solving the 787 problem.

"We have broadly grabbed ahold of the best expertise in the world, and all of that is being harnessed and applied to work on this issue, and work on it with a sense of priority," Muilenburg said.

The Federal Aviation Administration has said it won't clear 787s to fly until Boeing can show they're safe. Boeing intends to propose a plan to federal regulators on Friday to temporarily fix problems with the 787's lithium ion batteries, a congressional official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Boeing has declined to talk about any planned meetings with federal officials.

The company is in the middle of multiple probes related to the 787. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are looking into the Jan. 7 battery fire on a Japan Airlines 787 parked at Boston's Logan International Airport. A Japan Airlines emergency landing in Japan is being examined by investigators in that country. And more broadly, the FAA is reviewing the design, certification, manufacture and assembly of the 787.

So far industry and labor have been mostly supportive of Boeing and the government probes. Air Line Pilots Association President Lee Moak said the union is confident that when the investigations are done "we'll have known the reasons behind the system failures and we'll be able to move forward."

He sidestepped a question from a reporter in Washington on Thursday about how pilots would view a potential decision to return the 787 to the air before investigators have found the root cause of the battery problems.

"We're confident the process in place is a good one ... Once that is complete then a decision will be made. But until that time it's still an open and ongoing investigation," he said.

Shares of United Continental Holdings Inc. fell 17 cents to close at $25.91 on Thursday. Boeing Co. rose $1.23 to close at $76.01.

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Couple hoping to obtain class-action status for lawsuit filed against Carnival over stranded cruise ship

MIAMI — A couple are hoping to obtain class-action status for a lawsuit they've filed against Carnival Cruise Lines following an engine-room fire that stranded a ship for days in the Gulf of Mexico.

The suit filed Monday by Matt and Melissa Crusan of Oklahoma seeks to represent the more than 3,000 passengers who were on the Carnival Triumph when the fire broke out on Feb. 10.

A judge must approve the motion to grant class-action status. Carnival requires all lawsuits to be filed in Miami, where the liner is based.

Texas resident Cassie Terry was the first to sue the company, filing a lawsuit less than 24 hours after the boat docked.

AP

The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is towed into Mobile Bay near Dauphin Island, Alabama last Thursday.

Maritime attorneys say it's difficult to win such cases unless the plaintiffs can show actual injury or illness.

Carnival has said it won't comment on Triumph lawsuits.

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Sen. Golden backs Lhota for mayor

The dean of New York City’s Republican elected officials is backing Joe Lhota for mayor, The Post has learned.

“I’m a Lhota guy. Joe Lhota is the only guy who has a chance to win,” said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn).

And Golden predicted that most — if not all — of the city’s eight elected GOP lawmakers will end up supporting Lhota.

“A lot of the elected leaders will go with Lhota,” he said. “There will be an endorsement across-the-board.”

Golden’s endorsement of Lhota puts him at odds with his GOP Brooklyn chairman, Craig Eaton, who is backing former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, a former Democrat turned independent who is expected to run on the Independence Party line while also seeking GOP support.

Robert Miller

Joe Lhota

Golden, a 15-year legislative veteran, said he also admires supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, whom he described as a “great guy” and a “real leader.”

But he concluded that Lhota, the former MTA chairman and deputy mayor under Rudy Giuliani, has “been on the ground longer” with more knowledge to address city issues.

The Independence Party is expected to endorse Carrion at a meeting tonight.

But because he’s not a registered Republican, Carrion needs support from three of the city’s five GOP county committees for the right to run in a Republican primary. He only has the support of two — Eaton of Brooklyn and Bronx GOP chairman Jay Savino.

Meanwhile Catsimatidis today will press for a break on property tax assessments for owners whose homes were damaged or destroyed during Hurricane Sandy.

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Google's stock price breaks $800 for 1st time

SAN FRANCISCO — Google's stock price topped $800 for the first time Tuesday amid renewed confidence in the company's ability to reap steadily higher profits from its dominance of Internet search and prominence in the increasingly important mobile device market.

The milestone comes more than five years after Google's shares initially hit $700. Not long after breaking that barrier in October 2007, the economy collapsed into the worst recession since World War II and Google's stock tumbled into a prolonged malaise that eventually led to a change in leadership.

Getty Images

Besides enriching Google's employees and other shareholders, the company's resurgent stock is an implicit endorsement of co-founder Larry Page. He replaced his managerial mentor, Eric Schmidt, as CEO in April 2011. Google's stock has risen by about 35 percent since Page took over. By contrast, the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed by 15 percent over the same stretch. Most of Google's gains have occurred in the past seven months.

In morning trading, Google's stock was at $802.34, up 1.2 percent, or $9.45.

The significance of crossing the $800 threshold is largely symbolic. If Google had its way, the stock wouldn't even be priced near these levels. The company, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., had hoped to split its stock last year in a move that would have at least temporarily halved the trading price by doubling the total number of outstanding shares. But the proposed stock split was put on hold until Google resolves a shareholder lawsuit alleging that the stock split unfairly cedes too much power to Page and fellow co-founder Sergey Brin. Page and Brin have been the company's largest shareholders since its inception. A trial on the lawsuit is scheduled to begin June 17 in a Delaware state court.

Assuming more investors wouldn't have bought the stock had it split, the company's market value probably wouldn't have changed from its current level of about $265 billion.

There is little dispute among analysts that Google appears well positioned for many years of prosperity. The reasons: Its Internet search engine remains the hub of the Web's biggest marketing network; its YouTube video site has established itself as an increasingly attractive advertising vehicle; and its free Android software is running on more than 600 million smartphones and tablet computers to create even more opportunities to sell ads.

The lower prices attached to mobiles ads have raised recurring concerns on Wall Street about the decline in the average rate paid for ads that run alongside Google's search results. The company, though, is trying to reverse the trend with upcoming changes to its ad system that will prod more marketers to buy mobile ads when they are creating campaigns for desktop and laptop computers.

Opinions about Google weren't as upbeat a few years ago. Although Google weathered the Great Recession better than most companies, its revenue growth slowed and its stock plummeted to as low as $247.30 near the end of 2008.

Things looked so bleak in 2009 that Google took the rare step of re-pricing stock options that had been doled out to its employees to give them a chance to make more money when the shares rebounded. The program allowed Google workers to swap their old stock options for new ones with an exercise price of about $308.

Even after the economy snapped out of the recession toward the end of 2009, Google's stock began to lag the rest of the market. Investors began to wonder if the company was losing its competitive age as it morphed from a hard-charging startup to giant organization with thousands of employees working in dozens of offices scattered around the world.

At the same time, Facebook was emerging as the Internet's fastest growing company in a meteoric rise. The social networking company had some people convinced it would eventually become a more important advertising vehicle than Google's search engine.

Perceptions have changed since Page became CEO. Under Page's leadership, Google has streamlined its decision-making and operations while closing dozens of services. It established its own toehold in social networking with the 2011 introduction of Google Plus.

Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. has lost much of the luster that made its initial public offering of stock one of the biggest in U.S. history. Since going public at $38, Facebook's stock has sunk 25 percent.

By contrast, Google's stock has never slipped below its August 2004 IPO price of $85.

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148 years later, slavery officially over in Mississippi

Abraham Lincoln's historic battle to end slavery has finally ended, 148 years after the 13th Amendment was first passed.

The landmark event happened earlier this month when Mississippi became the final state to officially ratify the amendment, which ended slavery.

The remarkable oversight was found because Dr. Ranjan Batra, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, saw Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" and was inspired by the film's message.

Batra returned home and started researching when each individual state ratified the 13th Amendment and was shocked to learn that Mississippi was the only state that had failed to do so.

AP

Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln."

Batra shared the horrifying discovery with his friend Ken Sullivan, who then went and saw "Lincoln" for himself.

"People stood up and applauded at the end of it. That's the first time I ever saw an audience do that," Batra told the Clarion-Ledger. "I felt very connected to history."

The strange part for Sullivan was that he remembered when the state ratified the amendment in 1995, when he was a senior in high school.

Apparently, state Senator Hillman Frazier introduced a resolution to ratify the amendment in 1995, which unanimously passed both the Mississippi Senate and House, only for the resolution to never become official because then-Secretary of State Dick Molpus never sent a copy of the resolution to the Office of the Federal Register.

The state's mistake was finally corrected on January 30th when the office of current Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann filed the official paperwork.

On February 7th the director of the Federal Register, Charles A. Barth, wrote back, "With this action, the State of Mississippi has ratified the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.”

“We’re very deliberate in our state. We finally got it right.” Frazier said at the news.

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'I've killed my baba,' Pistorius sobbed to friend moments after girlfriend shot

Oscar Pistorius sobbed to his best friend: “My baba, I’ve killed my baba — God take me away” moments after his girlfriend was shot, it emerged last night.

The panicking 26-year-old Blade Runner called pal Justin Divaris before alerting emergency services to the early hours shooting of model Reeva Steenkamp, it was claimed.

Justin told how he sped to Pistorius’s luxury home and said the star sobbed for an hour in his garage as cops sealed off the property.

It was revealed last night that Reeva, 29, was sitting on the toilet when she was hit four times, in the arm, head, hip and finger by bullets fired through the bathroom door.

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Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp in January 2012

Pistorius carried her blood-soaked body to the front door and was trying to save her with the kiss of life when a security guard and neighbor arrived — alerted by the gunshots.

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Pope Benedict said in August strength was diminishing; Vatican says conclave to elect next pope might start before March 15

BERLIN — Pope Benedict XVI said last August that his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pontiff, according to a German journalist who interviewed him for a 2010 book in which Benedict said popes should in some circumstances consider resigning.

Journalist Peter Seewald recalled in an article for German weekly Focus published Saturday asking Benedict during a meeting last August at the pontiff's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, what more could be expected of him and his papacy.

Seewald said Benedict replied: "From me? From me, not much more. I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough."

AFP/Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI today

Asked whether he was considering resignation, Seewald said that Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to."

Benedict announced on Monday that he would resign Feb. 28, making him the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.

The announcement stunned the world, but the pope had laid the groundwork for a possible resignation when Seewald interviewed him for his 2010 book, "Light of the World."

"If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," the book quoted Benedict as saying. He stressed, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics.

In Saturday's article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.

It "is not as though I were somehow falling into a kind of desperation or world-weariness — it is simply incomprehensible to me," Benedict said, according to Seewald.

Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of his office, "because I think this can always happen," Seewald added.

Meanwhile, the Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman The Rev. Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."

"It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of conclave, Lombardi said.

He explained that the 15-20 day rule is in place to allow time for the arrival of "all those (cardinals) who are absent" to take part in the conclave in the usual circumstances of convening after a pope dies. But in this case, the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end on Feb. 28 with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.

The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed as pope by Sunday, March 17. Given the tight time-frame, speculation has mounted that some sort of arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.

Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled ever since Benedict announced that he would retire. As a result, his decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its procedures for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between papacies won't begin with a pope's death.

Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people have requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27. He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.

That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.

He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass; like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, both issues simply haven't yet been resolved, Lombardi said.

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Funeral is held for SI mom killed in Turkey

A New Yorker killed while vacationing alone in Turkey is being remembered as a good-hearted and joyful person.

A funeral was being held Friday on Staten Island for Sarai Sierra, a mother of two.

The service began with a prayer and "Amazing Grace" played by pipers from the transit system. Sierra's husband is a bus driver.

Her body was found Feb. 2 in Istanbul, 12 days after she disappeared. Police say she suffered a fatal blow to the head.

The 33-year-old went to Turkey to explore her hobby, photography. A friend who was supposed to join her canceled for financial reasons.

Sarai Sierra

Turkish authorities and the FBI are investigating her death. No arrests have been made.

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Jury takes 17 minutes to convict former limo owner of killing baby mama

It took a Manhattan jury only a lightning-fast 17 minutes yesterday to convict a former limo owner from Orlando, Fla. of shooting his baby mama dead as she slept in her Jefferson Houses bedroom in 2009.

Edward Demirdjian, 57, slaughtered pretty Sherra Morgenstern so he could keep custody of their toddler daughter and cash in on a $250,000 insurance policy, lead prosecutor Shanda Strain had argued.

The stately, white-haired murderer had gone to trial despite the steep hill of evidence against him, including cell phone tower records showing he had travelled up the East Coast from Florida on the day of the murder.

Two shell casings recovered from the hair of her decomposing corpse matched Demirdjian's gun perfectly, according to testimony.

Then there was the victim's close friend, who took the stand to recount to jurors how Demirdjian once told her, "Before she ever gets the baby back, she'll be dead -- I'll kill her."

Demirdjian faces a maximum of 25 to life when he is sentenced on April 23 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon.

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11 injured in Harlem bus accident

A car crashed head-on with a stopped MTA bus this morning after it collided with another car -- injuring 11 people, authorities said.

The M10 bus was at a bus stop at 6:45 a.m. on Broadway and West 135th Street when an SUV came at the bus head on, the MTA said.

A livery cab was heading north down Broadway and when it tried to make a U-turn it clipped an SUV, witnesses and MTA said.

“I was headed north and I was making a U-turn. The Jeep was going north, after that I don’t know what happened,” said Amadou Barry, 64, the driver of the Lincoln Towncar.

An SUV was clipped by a livery cab that tried to make a u-turn on Frederick Douglas Blvd and W. 135th Street. The SUV then crashed head-on into a bus that was sitting in the bus stop.

The SUV lost control and collided with the stopped bus.

“The cab hit the other car and it ran into the bus. A couple of people in front of the bus went flying,” said a 13-year-old boy who was on the bus.

In total 11 people had non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to area hospitals, including St. Lukes Hospital, Harlem Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, fire officials said.

Five of those sustained serious injuries and six had minor injuries, the FDNY said.

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Man mines Mars

NASA's Mars Curiosity next to the tiny hole it drilled in the surface of the red planet. The hole, drilled in the white area near the bottom of the photo above is 1.6 centimeters across and 2 centimeters deep.

For the first time ever human beings have drilled into a planet other than Earth, and you can see the fruits of that labor in an amazing panoramic shot from NASA's Mars Curiosity rover.

On Feb. 8, the rover drilled a hole barely big enough to hold the tip of your pinkie finger into a rock nicknamed "John Klein," according to Wired.

EPA

A close-up of the hole drilled by the Mars Curiosity rover.

This is the most complicated operation the rover has completed to date.

The rock the rover drilled into is in an area called the Yellowknife Bay that scientists believe was repeatedly flooded with water in the past.

The tiny 1.6 centimeter across hole is a test in preparation for the rover's big time drilling operation when it will drill 5 cm into Mars' surface in order to analyze the planet's interior.

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Giants player Diehl pleads guilty to drunk driving after smashing into 2 parked cars last summer

Ellis Kaplan

David Diehl pleaded guilty today to driving while drunk after watching a soccer match in the city last summer.

A boozy NFL offensive lineman pleaded guilty this morning to drunk driving after a soccer match last summer.

David Diehl, 31, dodged up to a year in jail when he admitted to a Queens judge that he drove a black BMW into two parked cars on 31st Street in Astoria on June 10.

"Did you drive a car while you were intoxicated?"asked Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez.

"Yes ma'am," replied a hulking, well-dressed Diehl who sported a light gray suit and lavender collared shirt.

The Giants player plead guilty to aggravated DWI and impaired driving.

"My client will continue in the NFL DWI treatment program," said his attorney Gary Certain.

Over a six-month-period, Diehl is not allowed to drive or apply for a driver's license in New Jersey — where he lives.

"You understand you're not allowed to drive, right?" the judge asked.

"Yes, I do your honor," he replied.

"Sir, please don't drink and drive. Look what happened here, you could have been seriously hurt," the judge said before allowing Diehl to be excused from court for his compliance hearings.

After he completes two drunk driving programs — one where he is on a panel — and pays $1,200 in restitution fees to the owners of the cars, he will be formally sentenced to a 90 day conditional discharge.

Diehl's blood alcohol content was "well above the New York State legal limit" at .182, prosecutors said.

Diehl will also have to wear a SCRAM bracelet for 90 days.

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