Legal feud over Spanish-language TV leads to federal suit in Miami

What began as a highly-touted affiliation between a new Spanish-language national television network and a popular independent local station in Miami has dissolved into a legal dispute of David and Goliath proportions.

MundoFox Broadcasting, part of the family of communications giant News Corporation, filed suit in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Florida against the parent company of America Tevé Channel 41-WJAN, America-CV Network, for breaching two agreements forged in May.

The complaint alleges that in South Florida "MundoFox’s initial launch had less exposure, viewership was lower, soliciting advertisers became more difficult and advertising revenue decreased,” because the network was swapped to inferior channel positions by cable providers.

In a statement, America-CV Network, denied the allegations in the complaint and announced that it will defend itself vigorously.

— DANIEL SHOER ROTH

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Plan to add 100 Miami police officers wins city commission support

The Miami City Commission will move forward with a plan to expand its police department by 100 officers.

The additional personnel will boost the department’s ranks to 1,244 sworn officers, and better align the ratio of police to residents in Miami with cities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Memphis.

“If we are ever going to become the great city that we claim we are going to become, we need to do at a minimum what Philadelphia does,” said Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, noting that Philadelphia employs 4.3 officers for every 1,000 citizens, compared to the 2.6 officers for every 1,000 citizens in Miami.

While the commission did not take an official vote, a majority of members and Mayor Tomás Regalado expressed support for the initiative, and City Manager Johnny Martinez said he would begin work on a detailed strategy for police hiring.

“The number one priority should be policing,” Commissioner Francis Suarez said. “It’s a critical need in the city.”

Sarnoff, who pitched the idea in his first official act as commission chairman, wants to go further, adding 300 officers over the next three years.

It won’t be easy. Miami is already 50 officers shy of the 1,144 officers covered by the budget. City officials blame the shortage on administrative hiccups between the police department and the city’s human relations department.

Making the bottleneck worse, Miami must adhere to special guidelines from the Department of Justice when recruiting new officers.

Regalado said that streamlining the process for hiring police might require a change to the city charter. If that is the case, he said, it would have to wait until the next election.

But Police Chief Manuel Orosa said the city could reasonably hire between 150 and 200 new officers in 2013 by adding a few additional police academy instructors.

“Parts of our city are becoming more vertical,” Orosa said. “You need more officers to cover the density.”

Orosa estimated that the salaries for 100 new officers would cost about $7.4 million a year. There would be additional costs for the officers’ uniforms, cars and fuel, he said.

The commission would need to formally approve the additional expenses.

After Thursday’s discussion, Regalado said he was committed to expanding the police department as quickly as possible.

Martinez, the city manager, offered a note of caution.

“We need to be very strategic,” he said. “It’s not just hiring 100 officers, it is hiring the right 100 officers.”

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Can Social Media Help You Lose Weight?

At the start of the New Year, when weight loss is often a priority, building a support team to help keep us on track can be extremely helpful. This might typically consist of family members, friends, co-workers, or perhaps even a nutritionist or registered dietitian. But today, support can also be found online. Plenty of Web sites focus on losing weight, and include communities that provide support and encouragement. Since many of us spend a lot of time on social media sites–maybe too much if you ask my husband!–why not use these platforms as another tool for support? In fact, one study suggests employees participating in a workplace wellness program who also joined the company’s Facebook page, run by a registered dietitian, stayed with the program longer than those who didn’t.

[See Already Struggling With Your New Year's Resolution?]

Could it actually make sense that gluing ourselves to our mobile device or computer could help us shed pounds? It sounds like quite the oxymoron, since increased screen time doesn’t usually equate to weight loss. But here’s how to make social media sites work for you:

Facebook

Facebook is a place where you can share what’s going on in your life with friends, but you may not feel comfortable announcing what you weigh or that you’re trying to lose weight. On the other hand, you may enjoy posting fitness milestones, such as training for and completing your first marathon, or a bike ride for your favorite charity. Sharing your fitness goals with the Facebook universe may be helpful, because the more people who know about it, the more likely you are to stay committed.

[See Small Steps, Big Change: How to Lose 50 Pounds Without Really Trying]

Rather than simply connecting with friends on the site, you can also connect with health and fitness professionals, such as registered dietitians, or pages for diet books, like mine, The Small Change Diet. You can also “like” the pages of health and fitness magazines and your favorite brands. The folks who run these pages may post articles that provide you with helpful weight-loss tips, and many organize regular Facebook chats, allowing you to ask an expert your questions. The more that healthy information is “in your face,” the more likely you are to stick to it.

Most importantly, you may discover a weight-loss community on Facebook, where like-minded individuals share their weight losses (or gains) and offer support. Daily accountability could be just what you need, and knowing others are rooting for you can make a world of difference. If you can’t find a Facebook community you like, start your own.

Twitter

So many of my patients don’t have Twitter accounts, because they think they have nothing clever or witty to say. My advice to them is always the same: You don’t have to “say” anything; you can just follow, at least at the beginning. Registered dietitians (I’m @kerigans) have great tips and, if they’re like me, are more than happy to answer questions via Twitter. I’ve had followers tweet a picture of their dinner and ask what my dietitian colleagues and I thought of it–priceless information for free.

[See Best Plant-Based Diets]

Just as you do on Facebook, follow fitness professionals, health magazines, and other sources that provide weight-loss motivation. Once you feel comfortable, you may decide to join in the conversation, since that’s what social media is all about. Perfect example of how it can benefit you: One morning, I tweeted that I felt more like staying in my pajamas than going to yoga. Some of my followers chimed in that they were feeling the same way, BUT stressed that we should all still exercise. And so we all did. And trust me, none of us regretted going–rather, we were thankful for each other.

[See Are Mobile Health Apps Helpful?]

Seek out people on Twitter and Facebook who you find inspirational, and hopefully a little of what they do will rub off on you. Since nothing is etched in stone, you can unfollow, unlike, or unfriend them if they aren’t helping you. And please keep in mind that while social media can be another tool in your pursuit of weight loss, it’s not the end all. Healthy eating, fitness, and plenty of sleep actually need to happen away from a screen.

Hungry for more? Write to [email protected] with your questions, concerns, and feedback

Keri Gans, MS, RD, CDN, is a registered dietitian, media personality, spokesperson, and author of The Small Change Diet. Gans’s expert nutrition advice has been featured in Glamour, Fitness, Health, Self and Shape, and on national television and radio, including The Dr. Oz Show, Good Morning America, ABC News, Primetime, and Sirius/XM Dr. Radio.

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Golden Globes Ballot 2013 Pick The Winners

The Golden Globes air live this Sunday on NBC, and ET wants you to pick the winners!

Sign up with your Facebook account to use our interactive ballot, and vote for who you think should win come Globes night. You can even share your ballot on Facebook to see how your choices stack up against your friends.

Pics: The 2013 Golden Globes Presenters

From our Ballots Hub Page, you can see the trending favorites in each category, and even ballots from industry professionals including Nancy O'Dell!

Then, come back during the ceremony on January 13, 2013 to view the results and see how your ballot scored in real time.

Click here to fill out your ballot now and make your Globes choices known.

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Nokia's fourth-quarter mobile phone sales beat own forecast

HELSINKI — Nokia Corp. signaled Thursday its smartphone partnership with Microsoft was starting to reap rewards as it revealed that fourth-quarter mobile phone sales exceeded expectations and that its handset business would return to profitability.

The Finnish company's share price surged 11 percent to close at €3.32 on Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Nokia said it sold 86 million devices in the last three months of 2012, including some 4.5 million Lumia smartphones, while revenues amounted to some €3.9 billion. A year earlier, it posted a fourth-quarter net loss of €1 billion with a 19-percent plunge in revenue.

REUTERS

A Nokia executive shows the new Lumia 920 phone with Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system at a September launch event in New York.

The cellphone maker said it sold 15.9 million smartphones in the quarter, up from 6.3 million in the previous quarter.

Nokia has been struggling in the fierce top-end race against Apple Inc. and Samsung and is now also losing ground to Asian makers in lower-end devices. Samsung overtook it as the world's No. 1 cellphone maker early last year after Nokia led the field for 14 years. In 2011, Nokia announced that it would join forces with Microsoft to produce a smartphone that would run on Windows software. The latest Windows handset, the Lumia was launched last year.

CEO Stephen Elop said he was pleased with the company's "solid" fourth-quarter performance.

"We are pleased that Q4 2012 was a solid quarter where we exceeded expectations and delivered underlying profitability," he said. "We focused on our priorities and as a result we sold a total of 14 million Asha smartphones and Lumia smartphones while managing our costs efficiently, and Nokia Siemens Networks delivered yet another very good quarter."

The company said operating expenses in the last quarter of 2012 had been lower than expected and that its devices and services sector saw operating margins of "between break even and positive 2 percent." Elsewhere, its networks joint venture with Germany's Siemens AG — Nokia Siemens Networks — had "record underlying profits and a third consecutive quarter of underlying profitability," with operating margins expected to be 13-15 percent.

However, the company warned that seasonality and competition would have a negative impact on the handset division's first-quarter profitability in comparison to the last three months of 2012. Nokia is due to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 24.

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Unemployment claims on the rise in Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade County ended 2012 with more people joining the unemployment rolls than it did last year.

The late-year increase in first-time unemployment claims broke a trend of declining applications throughout most of 2012. First-time claims spiked about 15 percent in November and December, with about 17,500 new applications in all over those 60 days. That’s compared to 15,000 during the same time in 2011. For the entire year, claims were still down about 10 percent.

In Broward, overall claims were down 15 percent. In November and December, Broward residents applies for 10,200 first-time unemployment benefits, compared to about 10,500 in 2011 — a 3 percent drop.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Hollywood OKs deal with Cinema Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso will soon have a sequel.

Hollywood’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed Wednesday morning to buy 3,000 movie tickets a year — at a cost of $30,000 — to help the small art house theater open a second location.

“The outpouring of support is amazing,” said Gregory von Hausch, the theater’s executive director. “Now we just have to work to get it open.”

Having a Hollywood location has been three years in the making. The theater, which shows documentaries, foreign and independent films and retro movies, currently operates from a spot near the Broward County Courthouse on Southeast Sixth Street in Fort Lauderdale, but wanted a second, more metropolitan location.

It’s worked out a deal to lease a nearly 3,000-foot space at 2008 Hollywood Boulevard.

It just needed the CRA’s guaranteed financial support in order to commit. And city leaders say the theater is the perfect for downtown, where they envision an arts and cultural district.

“This is more than a no brainer,” said Mayor Peter Bober. “This is a deal that makes absolute sense.”

The tickets will be given for free to area hotels to distribute to guests. The theater will also work something out to encourage Hollywood residents to view films there.

Several residents and theater supporters came out in favor of having a theater location in Hollywood.

“Here is a wonderful way of bringing people from all over Hollywood downtown,” said Terry Cantrell, president of the Hollywood Lakes Civic Association.

With the approval, von Hausch said they will immediately start work on the space to create a ticket booth, concession stand, screen and other theater necessities. The hope is for the theater, which will have about 100 seats, to open in three months.

Board Chair Alan Koslow is already dreaming of a second phase.

“This is just the start,” he said, adding that the film society would love to add a film school. “We want to bring Hollywood, California to Hollywood, Florida.”

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Nintendo president describes Wii U sales as ‘not bad’

Nintendo’s (NTDOY) new Wii U gaming console came out of the gate strong and saw first-week sales reach 400,000 units in the U.S., however sales have since stalled and the system has been labeled a flop by some. While consumer interest in the company’s new console has slowed right out of the gate, Nintendo’s president recently said that he isn’t worried even though sales aren’t where he hoped they would be.

[More from BGR: Smooth sailing is over for Apple]

“At the end of the Christmas season, it wasn’t as though stores in the U.S. had no Wii U left in stock, as it was when Wii was first sold in that popular boom,” Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said in an interview with Reuters. “But sales are not bad, and I feel it’s selling steadily.”

[More from BGR: New ‘higher-end’ iPhone reportedly launching by June, low-end model could be coming as well]

The executive declined to give specific details on sales or forecasts, although he did say that Nintendo plans to focus on developing attractive software for its 3DS handheld to appeal to new users, and will seek new ways to increase Wii U sales in a changing market.

Nintendo previously announced that it hopes to sell 5.5 million Wii U devices by the end of March and more than 24 million Wii U games in the same timeframe.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Kim and Kyle Richards Talk Stars in Danger

For the last two years, the world has watched Kim Richards grapple with addiction and recovery. In her sobriety, Kim's struggled to successfully mend the fractured relationship she shares with sister Kyle Richards. That was just one of the reasons The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills agreed to star on Fox's new series, Stars in Danger: The High Dive.

"I wanted to do it because, obviously we've had a rough couple of years on Housewives, and I thought this would be something fun," Kim tells ETonline. "Just get away from the Housewives and spend some quality time together, and that's what we did."

VIDEO - The Housewives Get Real About Plastic Surgery

Although the process wasn't easy for either lady, Kyle faced the largest hurdle as she had to overcome a debilitating fear of heights. "Believe me, my desire to do this show had nothing to do with getting on a diving board, that's for damn sure," Kyle tells me. "I thought it would be a good experience for Kim and me since we'd spent every single day together ... in a pool ... freezing our butts off ... in bathing suits!"

They laugh now, but the reality of competing on a televised diving competition was far from funny at the time. "Every single day we wanted to quit," Kyle admits. "I can tell you personally, each time I dove, I didn't want to do it. Every time I climbed the ladder, I would hyperventilate and was bawling backstage."

VIDEO - Take A Tour of Yolanda Foster's Home

But the risk was worth the reward. "At the end of the day, I was elated. The sky was blue, the birds were chirping," Kyle laughs. "I never got to a place of enjoying it. It's not like I overcame my fear, we just had to endure it."

Relying on one another throughout this experience achieved the result both desired at the outset. "There were days where we were both crying, cursing and leaning on one another for support," says Kyle. "But it was such an amazing experience. It's like having the Kim I grew up with back again."

Kim says, "I've learned a lot about myself in the last two years, but this was such a mental, physical and emotional challenge, the fact I didn't quit makes me so happy. All away around, this whole experience has not only done something for me and something for my sister, but it's made a huge impact on my kids as well. And that's been the best thing of all."

Stars in Danger: The High Dive airs January 9 at 8 p.m. on Fox.

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Argentine ship seized over unpaid debt to hedge funder Paul Singer returning home

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — An Argentine naval ship detained for more than two months in Ghana because of a financial dispute was returning home Wednesday to a triumphant welcome.

Thousands of Argentine government sympathizers traveled to the seaside resort of Mar del Plata, some 250 miles from the Argentine capital, to celebrate the return of the ARA Libertad.

Ghana courts ordered the ship held in October on a claim by Cayman Islands-based hedge fund NML Capital Ltd. Its owner, American billionaire Paul Singer, leads a group demanding payment in full, plus interest — about $350 million — for dollar-based Argentine bonds bought at fire-sale prices after Argentina's 2001-2002 economic collapse forced a sharp devaluation of its currency.

AP

The ARA Libertad

The conflict over the ship reached an especially tense moment in November, when Argentine sailors brandished weapons to block Ghanaian officials from moving the vessel to a less busy dock.

But the UN's International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered the ship's release last month after Argentina argued that warships are immune from seizure.

President Cristina Fernandez has called Libertad a symbol of Argentina's sovereignty and has hailed its return as a victory for the country. She planned to head a ceremony in the afternoon to receive the ship.

Argentina, currently Latin America's third-biggest economy, engaged in the biggest sovereign debt default in history a decade ago. The government has restructured about 92 percent of its world record $95 billion debt default since then.

But Fernandez refuses to pay the holdouts, calling NML Capital and others "vulture funds" for buying debt for pennies on the US dollar in 2002, when Argentina's economy during its worst crisis, and now trying to collect in full.

The fiery, center-left leader says it was their loss for refusing two opportunities to swap defaulted bonds for new, less valuable bonds that the state has reliably paid since 2005.

Members of Argentina's political opposition have called the welcoming ceremony for the ship an effort to boost support for Fernandez at a time when their compatriots are frustrated by soaring inflation, violent crime, allegations of high-profile corruption, and government currency controls that make it difficult to buy dollars.

Critics say that Argentines were humiliated by the government's failure to foresee that the ship would be seized in Ghana and other ports where it docked during training exercises.

Anti-government activists handed out fliers in Mar del Plata on Wednesday, encouraging people to join a pot-banging protest in the evening. "If were for you, Cristina, they would have kept the ship," the fliers read. "Stop the insecurity, the corruption and inflation for an independent justice."

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