MOSCOW — Russian officials say a meteorite has fallen in the Chelyabinsk region some 930 miles east of Moscow.
A spokesman for the Russian Interior Ministry, Vadim Kolesnikov, said the Friday morning fall caused a blast that broke windows.
There were no immediate confirmed reports of injuries, but Russian news agencies cited unnamed sources as saying several people were injured at a school in a thinly populated part of the region, which is on the eastern edge of the Ural Mountains.
MOBILE, Ala. --
Exhausted, grubby and almost five days late, the 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew aboard the disabled Carnival Triumph returned to the U.S. late Thursday — to a city almost 500 miles from its home port.
Thousands of passengers aboard the Carnival Triumph cheered, screamed and waved from outside balconies as the ship was pulled in shortly after 10 p.m.
Families were excited and relieved as passengers began disembarking about an hour after the ship docked.
“This is the best Valentine’s Day ever,” said Jon Hair, of Lake Charles, La., grabbing the hand of his son, 8-year-old Jace, whose mom, sister, aunt and cousins were aboard. “It’s great,” Jace said as he left for the terminal, where dozens of other families waited.
And as Julie Hair and her 12-year-old daughter Juliana came off the ship, Jon kissed his wife. “I feel blessed,” she said.
Earlier, Gerry Cahill, Carnival president and CEO, said at a brief news conference Thursday night, while the Triumph was docking, that he appreciated the patience of the 3,000 passengers on board.
He said Carnival prides itself on providing people with a great vacation “and clearly we failed in this particular case.” He also said he planned to go aboard the ship and personally apologize to passengers.
As the ship inched closer to the dock in Mobile — bringing and end to the saga — relatives of passengers aboard became more excited.
Larry Butterfras of Houston, whose wife Pat had taken the Triumph cruise from its home port in Galveston, Texas, with seven friends on a birthday celebration, said he and a few other husbands drove down so they could be there to greet their wives as soon as they stepped off the ship. “When I was able to talk to her today and tell her we were here, she cried. She told her friends and they cried. It was very emotional.”
“I just want her home,” said Matthew Minyard, of Fate, Texas, anxiously waiting to greet his wife Bethany. “It’s been hard.”
Three tugs were needed to pull the 100,000-ton cruise ship back to the U.S. from waters off Mexico, where fire broke out Sunday morning in the engine room. The cause of the blaze, extinguished by automatic systems, is still not known.
The ship lost propulsion and had to rely on emergency generator power, leaving passengers with a limited number of working bathrooms and no air conditioning. No one was hurt in the fire. Sister ships delivered additional food and supplies. The cruise line has canceled sailings through April 13 and promised to compensate passengers with a full refund, $500 in cash and a discount on a future cruise.
That may be meager comfort for frustrated passengers, who have complained to family members via email and text about foul odors, dark hallways and food shortages. Television images from CNN showed passengers with signs of “Help” and “I love you” hanging from their cabin rooms.
There were stories of meals consisting of cucumber and onion or peanut butter and onion sandwiches, but Minyard said his wife told him they had lobster and eggs, bacon and sausage Thursday morning. With landfall only a few hours away, the Triumph suffered another misfortune when the towline snapped, bringing the vessel to a dead stop. The line was quickly replaced, and the crawl to Mobile resumed.
The Fifth International Festival of New Jewish Liturgical Music is being celebrated in Miami through Sunday. It will feature new works from composers from throughout the United States, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom. The music reflects a diverse range of musical styles and traditions.
The six-day festival is presented by Shalshelet: The Foundation for New Jewish Liturgical Music and will include school and youth workshops and Shalshelet composers in residence at area congregations over Shabbat.
The main festival events will include workshops from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus, 20350 NE 26th Ave., and the Festival Concert at 7 p.m.
As a part of the festival, composer Raquel Pomerantz Gershon, who is known for her uplifting, original take on Jewish sacred music, will sing her own songs and traditional prayers in the Kabbalat Shabbat service at 6 p.m. Friday at Beth David Congregaton, 2625 SW Third Ave. The service will be followed by a Shabbat dinner.
Gershon started composing songs in her teens and has won awards at past Shalshelet festivals. She has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Israel. She has recorded three CDs, including "Jerusalem on My Mind," and lives in Dallas with her husband Rabbi Bill Gershon and their three children.
For more information on the Kabbalat service and the dinner following the service, call 305-854-3911 or go to www.bethdavidmiami.org.
Wenski to say Mass for members of religious orders
Archbishop Thomas Wenski will celebrate a thanksgiving Mass for all consecrated men and women, who have chosen religious life. The Mass will be at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Mary Cathedral, 7525 NW Second Ave. The Archdiocese of Miami will also celebrate those who this year will celebrate their 25th, 50th and 60th anniversaries of consecrated life.
Also, on Feb. 24, the 2013 Archbishop's Motorcycle Poker Run will take place at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary-St. Richard Catholic Church at 7500 SW 152nd St. in Palmetto Bay.
The event starts at 8 a.m. with Mass; registration at 9 a.m., and Kick Stands up at 9:30 a.m., with the poker run concluding at Peterson's Harley Davidson, 19400 NW Second Ave in Miami Gardens.
Registration is $25 for rider entrance fee, and includes a commemorative T-shirt. The winning hand receives a $500 Peterson's Harley Davidson gift card. Proceeds will benefit Catholic Charities and St. Luke's Center.
Art exhibit highlights graffiti
Catalyst, a program geared toward reaching out to the hip-hop youth culture in Miami and its sponsor, Greater Miami Youth For Christ, will have its first Graffiti Art Exhibit from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday at Pyramid Art Studios, 8890 SW 129th Terr in The Falls Art District.
Vivian Stigale, Catalyst spokeswoman said the exhibit is called "26," and will feature the work of 26 different street artists.
"It takes much skill, dedication and strength to do graffiti — aerosol art and street-style murals — and is often misunderstood and is frequently criminalized," Stigale said.
The Catalyst program, founded nearly a decade ago in Miami Springs by Joel Stigale, allows emcees, break dancers, graffiti artists and DJs to practice their art in a safe, drug-free environment while being challenged to embrace a relationship with Jesus Christ.
For more information call Bonnie Rodriguez or Vivian Stigale at 305-271-2442.
British recording artist and songwriter Emeli Sandé is already making waves in the UK and hopes to become the latest in a growing list of British musicians that have taken over the world in recent times. Her debut album Our Version of Events is the UK's biggest selling album of 2012 and with her lyrically rich songs powered by an incredible voice, I have no doubt she is the next Global superstar. I recently chatted with Emeli before her gig at the ChapStick Sessions Concert in partnership with MySpace. Check out our full interview below and be sure to watch the concert footage above for a special performance of her latest single, Next To Me.
PICS: Candid Celeb Sightings
ETonline: You are one of music's rising stars, have a number one album (UK) for Our Version of Events, sang at the open and closing of the Olympics, and a new hit single Next To Me, how has the ride to fame been for you?
Emeli: It definitely feels surreal. It's been an incredible year and so much has happened that I didn't expect to happen so quickly. It's definitely been the type of year that you dream about as a kid so I'm very happy.
How much would you say your life has changed?
Dramatically it's definitely changed a lot. But I try to keep grounded by just focusing on the music so that part hasn't changed. But day to day it's so busy and you have less and less time to have alone and to write but it's all good that's why you do it in the first place.
A lot of wonderful talent has emerged from the UK in recent years so I've got to ask you, what's in the water over there??
(Laughs) Yeah I'm not sure! It feels like a really good time and I'm really proud to be part of this kind of new generation of musicians that are doing something quite creative. I think we all feel kind of free to experiment with different genres and it's such a small place so we all know each other and can learn from one another.
Tell me about your writing process. Are certain types of songs more easily driven by a lyric or music?
Sometimes when I play something on piano, the tone of it can inspire a feeling. But usually it's a concept that will pop in to my mind or a phrase or if I'm reading something it will spark something or a different way of thinking about the same subject. Usually it's the words but sometimes when I sit at the piano it all falls into place.
What would you say is your favorite lyric you've ever written?
I really like "when the floor is more familiar than the ceiling," just because whenever I sing that lyric I imagine somebody stuck to the floor, someone stuck to the ceiling. I've always been inspired by people that can make you see things so clearly with few words. And that's what I try to channel when I'm writing.
Is there any artist you're hoping to collaborate with in the future? Who are you currently listening to?
I think Drake is amazing lyrically; he's really doing something different I think. I love Frank Ocean as well. There's a lot of new people too, Ed Sheeran ... there's a lot of people I think are great. I love Rihanna, everyone does, and I think what she's doing is very honest and I really respect that.
A new report “exonerates” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of any wrongdoing in regard to the sexual-harassment allegations against Assemblyman Vito Lopez.
According to Silver’s spokesman, the report indicates that the speaker will be cleared of any legal misconduct in the ongoing investigation.
“As we have said throughout, we are confident that the commission found no legal or ethical violation by Speaker Silver or his staff and urge the Legislative Ethics Commission to release the report immediately,” said Silver spokesman Michael Whyland.
The state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics yesterday passed the report about Lopez’s alleged misconduct to the Legislative Ethics Commission.
Lopez was censured last summer for harassing female staffers, two of whom received a $103,080 settlement in taxpayer funds.
Silver had approved a secret deal to keep the harassment claim against the Brooklyn politician a secret.
The payouts surfaced last August after the harassment charges against Lopez came to light.
Silver later stripped Lopez of the powerful Housing Committee chairmanship. Silver said he had been wrong to keep the transaction a secret.
A separate criminal probe into Lopez’s conduct is also under way by Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan.
A day-long forum led by Richard Florida explored ways to build an innovation hub in South Florida.
Can Miami become one of the great cities of innovation?
Richard Florida, an urban-affairs expert and now a South Florida resident much of the year, brought in an all-star lineup of national and local thought leaders Wednesday to explore how to build a robust technology community in Miami — and learn from the experiences of other hubs.
More than 1,100 people registered for Start-Up City: Miami, a free, day-long seminar on presented by The Atlantic magazine, Atlantic Cities, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It was held at the New World Center in Miami Beach, where the main performance hall was full and lobbies were buzzing much of the day. the event was live-streamed, and watch parties took place in Miami and around the country.
“Look at what’s happening in San Francisco, Berlin, Tech City in London, New York. The shift to urban tech is happening. Cities are incubators of innovation,” said Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class. “In Miami, we’ve made these investments in arts and culture. Now is the time for the next step.”
The conference builds on the momentum to accelerate the Miami tech community. The Knight Foundation’s Miami office, led by Matthew Haggman, has already committed several million dollars to projects aimed at fueling entrepreneurship, including bringing in the global nonprofit Endeavor; investing in the co-working campus LAB Miami; and sponsoring dozens of events around town, including Start-Up City. Miami-Dade County and the Miami Downtown Development Authority have invested $1.5 million in Launch Pad Tech, a new downtown accelerator.A wave of co-working spaces catering to entrepreneurs has swept into Miami’s urban core.
“We need to stop thinking of landing an IBM, and instead think about incubating the next group of entrepreneurial startups who will create the technology and solutions of tomorrow,” said Manny Diaz, former mayor of Miami, in his opening remarks.
When it comes to building startup communities, the keynote speaker, Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.com, knows a thing or two. He has been on a mission to build one in downtown Las Vegas — what he calls the “the anti-strip.”
Hsieh has committed $350 million, mostly his own funds, to help make Las Vegas one of the world’s great cities and a technology hub. For a city almost entirely dependent on tourism, and one that was a poster child for the housing crash, these goals might seem ambitious. Sound familiar?
As part of The Downtown Project, Hsieh is moving his own company — the giant shoe retailer — from the Las Vegas suburbs to the former City Hall. Nearby, he told the crowd, he is also amassing other real estate for co-working and traditional office space, more affordable housing, retail and restaurants — all to ensure an “entrepreneurial energy” and places for “serendipitous collisions.”
Some of the projects in Las Vegas have included a shipping-container park, bike-sharing and car-sharing, 60 furnished apartments for visiting entrepreneurs, and an “Inspire Theater” that hosts thought-provoking speakers throughout the day.
Hsieh has also established a $50 million fund to help tech startups — just two years ago there was no startup scene in Las Vegas, he said. He’s also investing in the arts and small business.
Sen. Marco Rubio was cruising along in his rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night when he couldn’t take it any longer.
The small bottle of Poland Spring water was irresistible. Eyes fixed on the camera, the Florida Republican interrupted his own speech to take a live swig.
It quenched his thirst, but sent Twitter ablaze. The small, live on-camera miscue helped throw cold water on his GOP response to the president’s speech. As if on demand, a tidal wave of mock handles flooded Twitter.
"I voted in favor of the Violence Against Water Bottles Act," @ThirstySenator, tweeted. BuzzFeed noted hundreds, if not thousands, of such accounts and jokes instantly sprang up on Twitter.
Rubio poked fun at himself, later tweeting a picture of the water bottle "#GOPResponse #SOTU #gop #tcot."
Former George W. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer captured the GOP sentiment about the antediluvian and postdiluvian aspects of the speech.
"Go Marco!" he tweeted early on. Then came the sip heard round the world.
"Hint to Sen. Rubio: crank down the AC before a big speech under the lights. But this is still a very well delivered speech," Fleischer wrote.
CBS Chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer commented on national television that people were going to remember the sip more than the speech.
Rubio loves his water. Remember the strange Clint Eastwood speech at the Republican National Convention (where he yelled at a chair)? Rubio followed him and made a nervous joke — after he took a sip from a water bottle at the podium.
“I think I just drank Clint Eastwood’s water,” Rubio smiled. Rubio’s speech that night was solid, but he flubbed a line at the very end, accidentally calling for “more government instead of more freedom.”
From a theatrical perspective, the RNC address and tonight’s speech were a sign that Rubio isn’t at his best with a prepared speech. His rhetorical skills are better designed for the floor of the Senate, in a give-and-take debate or during an interview. Off the cuff, Rubio seems far less likely to come up short.... or thirsty.
Regardless, this on-camera incident was just inexplicably odd for a politician so accustomed to being under the media spotlight.
"In the short time I’ve been in government, nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the ones the president laid out today," Rubio said Tuesday night, reaching for the water bottle.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
"The choice isn’t just between big government or big business," he resumed after taking his swig. "What we need is an accountable, efficient and effective government that allows small and new businesses to create more middle-class jobs...."
I’m sorry, you were saying something?
As hard as it may be to believe, Oscar nominees Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence were once fresh-faced actors itching for their big break in the biz.
Pics: Star Sightings!
Click the video to see the five stars (before they became famous) in their very first on-screen roles!
WASHINGTON — President Obama confronted Congress withso his plan for a second term in last night’s State of the Union Address — demanding action on a laundry list of progressive policies that culminated with a fiery appeal for votes on tough gun-control laws.
Emboldened by his re-election, Obama showed little sign of compromise in pushing an ambitious agenda that called for new spending to boost the economy, while deriding Republican plans for cutting the deficit as “even worse” than the budget battles of his first term.
Obama told the nation that his proposals would restore American prosperity, making jobs and economic growth the focus of his presidency after four years of painfully slow recovery from recession.
Reuters
FACE THE NATION: President Obama last night tells Congress and the nation of his plans to grow the economy and for “sensible” gun reform, deriding his Republican critics.
Still, the president declared that the country had made great progress over the last four years.
“Together, we have cleared away the rubble of crisis, and can say with renewed confidence that the state of our union is stronger,” Obama said.
The president offered up wide-ranging proposals tailored to his Democratic base that will likely trigger more battles with the GOP, including:
* Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour.
* Helping states expand preschool programs.
* Creating a $40 billion “Fix-It-First” program to put people to work on urgent infrastructure repairs, including nearly 70,000 unsafe bridges.
* Combating climate change with a new Energy Security Trust to spearhead research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil.
* Enacting comprehensive immigration reform, including a path to citizenship for illegals.
Obama also used the occasion to announce the pullout of 34,000 troops — about half the US force in Afghanistan — by 2014.
And he condemned North Korea’s test of a miniaturized nuclear bomb and called for reduced nuclear arsenals worldwide.
The emotional heart of a speech that touched on an array of issues from immigration to trade came near the end, when Obama spoke poignantly of Hadiya Pendleton, the 15-year-old who marched in the inauguration and got shot “just a mile away from my house” just days afterward.
Obama mentioned Pendleton’s parents, who were seated with First Lady Michelle Obama, saying, “They deserve a vote.”
Obama summoned some of his stump-speech rhetoric to much applause, declaring: “Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote.”
Substantively, Obama didn’t demand much — he called expanded background checks a “sensible reform” and noted that police chiefs “are asking our help” to get “weapons of war” off the streets.
Despite calling for more “investments” in education, infrastructure and scientific research, Obama promised that “nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.”
“It’s not a bigger government we need, but a smarter government that sets priorities and invests in broad-based growth,” said Obama.
“It was unabashed liberalism,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a newly elected Tea Party favorite after sitting glumly through much of the speech.
smiller@nypost.com
The lenses get longer, but the bodies get smaller. Pretty amazing. These four cameras offer wide-angle lenses with long zooms, giving you a lot of shooting flexibility, but without the bulk of larger dSLR-style megazooms.
Canon PowerShot SX260 HS
Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: Shooting modes are for every type of photographer, casual to advanced. There is a useful long zoom lens with excellent image stabilization, and overall excellent photo and video quality for a compact megazoom.
The bad: Menus and controls can take getting used to, battery life is short and photos get noticeably softer-looking indoors or in low light.
The cost: $209 to $325.99
The bottom line: The wider, longer lens, a few much-needed design tweaks, and excellent photo quality add up to one pretty great compact megazoom.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS20
Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: Excellent design and feature set, including an ultrawide-angle 20x zoom lens, GPS and semimanual and manual shooting modes, as well as fast shooting performance and improved low-light photo quality from previous versions.
The bad: Using all of the high-performance features, such as the near-pointless touch screen, can cut into battery life. Also, photos are noisy and soft when viewed at 100 percent.
The cost: $229.99 to $294
The bottom line: The zoom lens might be the main attraction, but the camera is all-around excellent.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX30V
Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: Excellent photo and video quality for its class, fast shooting performance and plenty of shooting options for everyone.
The bad: It’s expensive, especially when compared with competing models. It’s not the easiest to use and the feature set is so deep it might be overwhelming for some users.
The cost: $299.99 to $419.99
The bottom line: The feature-rich camera has a great mix of speed and photo quality.
Samsung WB850F
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: A feature-packed compact megazoom with a versatile lens, very good picture quality and excellent Wi-Fi capabilities.
The bad: Shooting performance is a bit mixed, battery life is mediocre and interface, while very good, can take some time to learn.
The cost: $288 to $379.99
The bottom line: For snapshooters looking to enter the world of connected cameras, this is a good place to start.
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