Turkey: US Embassy bomber had been imprisoned on terror charge — but was released after hunger strike

ANKARA, Turkey — The suicide bomber who struck the U.S. Embassy in Ankara spent several years in prison on terrorism charges but was released on probation after being diagnosed with a hunger strike-related brain disorder, officials said Saturday.

The bomber, identified as 40-year-old leftist militant Ecevit Sanli, killed himself and a Turkish security guard on Friday, in what U.S. officials said was a terrorist attack. Sanli was armed with enough TNT to blow up a two-story building and also detonated a hand grenade, officials said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that police believe the bomber was connected his nation's outlawed leftist militant group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, or DHKP-C. And on Saturday DHKP-C claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on a website linked to the group. It said Sanli carried out the act of "self-sacrifice" on behalf of the group.

The group called itself "immortal" and said, "Down with imperialism and the collaborating oligarchy." But it gave no reason for attacking the U.S. Embassy. The authenticity of the website was confirmed by a government terrorism expert who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with rules that bar government employees from speaking to reporters without prior authorization.

Turkey's private NTV television, meanwhile, said police detained three people on Saturday who may be connected to the U.S. Embassy attack during operations in Ankara and Istanbul. Two of the suspects were being questioned by police in Ankara, while the third was taken into custody in Istanbul and was being brought to Ankara.

NTV, citing unidentified security sources, said one of the suspects is a man whose identity Sanli allegedly used to enter Turkey illegally, while the second was suspected of forging identity papers. There was no information about the third suspect.

Earlier, Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said Sanli had fled Turkey after he was released from jail in 2001, but managed to return to the country "illegally," using a fake ID. It was not clear how long before the attack he had returned to Turkey.

NTV said he is believed to have come to Turkey from Germany, crossing into Turkey from Greece. Police officials in Ankara could not immediately be reached for comment.

DHKP-C has claimed responsibility for assassinations and bombings since the 1970s, but it has been relatively quiet in recent years. Compared to al-Qaida, it has not been seen as a strong terrorist threat.

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Miami Beach hotels seek more political clout

When Miami Beach wanted local hotels to scale-back their popular rooftop parties and bars, Alexander Tachmes fought back.

An attorney who has represented Beach hotels on a myriad of issues, he “cobbled” together a group of his hotelier clients and went before the city commission to ask them to curb the proposed rules.

The hotels won.

It was a learning experience, said Tachmes, who came to believe that the Beach needed a permanent group of industry heavyweights to take political action in the face of restrictive city policies.

With that in mind, Miami Beach’s hotel industry is taking on a decidedly political tone by reviving a previously-formed electioneering organization, just in time for election season on the sandbar.

The group is called Hospitality for a Better Miami Beach, and as an Electioneering Communication Organization (ECO), it can raise unlimited money to run ads, send fliers and make telephone calls about political issues. They’ve also created Miami Beach Hospitality Coalition, which Tachmes said will soon be registered as a non-profit.

Behind the organizations are Tachmes and big-name hoteliers Mike Palma, Executive Vice President of Hospitality for Brio Investment Group (which owns the Clevelander) and the Perry South Beach Hotel General Manager Tim Nardi.

“Political clout is something that will help to further the goals of the industry,” Tachmes said.

Hotels already have their interests represented by the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. But the association is tax-funded and the visitor’s bureau is tax-exempt, so neither can raise or spend money for political purposes.

Stuart Blumberg, who headed the hotel association for 15 years, thinks the industry has enough clout without having to wade into politics.

“You’re getting a group of hoteliers who’ve decided they want a voice in government. And that’s dangerous,” he said of the ECO.

An outspoken leader, Blumberg often took political stances and faced elected officials — and he often found success.

Blumberg led the charge to exempt pool decks and outdoor patios from a constitutional amendment banning smoking, and pushed to delay the start of the school year so that Florida teens could continue working at local hotels. At a farewell gathering after Blumberg announced his retirement, he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at then-Gov. Charlie Crist, calling him out on a proposed tax increase on car rentals.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of things because we weren’t tarnished by, ‘Yeah, I supported that guy or that guy,’” Blumberg said. “You stand and fall on the merits of an issue.”

Citing the huge impact the tourism industry has on Florida, he added: “We don’t need to spend money to win influence.”

According to state figures, the tourism industry has a $67.3 billion economic impact on Florida.

In Miami-Dade, the accommodation industry accounts for 3 percent of the county’s 1 million non-farm jobs, or about 27,000 positions. The industry also contributes about $1 billion in income a year in Miami-Dade, or about 2 percent of total wages.

With a November election in Miami Beach — in which a majority of the city’s commission seats up for grabs — now is the time to translate economic importance into political prominence, said Palma.

In a city where resident-activists are vocal and plentiful, and where residents are often at odds with party-seeking tourists, Palma said city leaders lately have tilted more in favor of residents rather than businesses

Added Tachmes: “The residents of the city benefit by having a thriving hotel industry...all we want is a seat at the table.”

The electioneering committee was registered last year and is currently not active, according to state records.

Tachmes said the group is in the process of recruiting members — whom he would not name — and creating a board, at which time the group will be re-opened. Members are planning to interview candidates to decide who to support in the upcoming elections.

Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the hotel association, pointed out that many of the ECO members are also members of her organization. She doesn’t think the new group will be a competitor.

“We’re not able to do some of the things they can do,” she said. “I think it’s going to strengthen the voice on the Beach.”

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

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Police investigating death of pedestrian killed while crossing I-95

Police are working with four witnesses to investigate the death of a pedestrian who was killed Thursday night as he tried to cross Interstate 95 in North Miami-Dade.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, Alan Bryan Rizzo, 51, tried to run east across the northbound lanes of I-95, just south of the 167th Street exit, said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Jose Sanchez.

Rizzo was struck by several northbound vehicles and died.

Three of the vehicles stopped, Sanchez said: a black BMW 330I, a black Toyota Camry and a blue Honda Civic.

Troopers are investigating the crash as an accident and no charges were filed as of Friday evening.

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Coming soon to Facebook- more action, battle games

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When nWay began a trial of its dark, sci-fi combat game “ChronoBlade” on Facebook last year, the San Francisco-based startup felt sure it had a hit on its hands.

“First of all, what comes is, ‘Wow, I had no idea you could actually do a game of this quality on Facebook,’” said Dave Jones, Chief Creative Officer of nWay, who has worked on “Grand Theft Auto.”

Then came some resistance: Jones admits some potential investors and partners questioned how an action-focused game with slick graphics can play to a Facebook audience more accustomed to “Farmville” and other less time-consuming casual games. Others wondered how the game — which launches this spring — would gain significant users and revenue on the social network.

But Facebook Inc is betting nWay and a clutch of other developers this year can extend console-style action games beyond Microsoft Corp‘s Xbox or Sony Corp’s PlayStation onto the world’s largest social network.

Facebook is spearheading the launch of 10 high-quality games created by third-party developers in 2013 that squarely target so-called hardcore gamers, an atypical audience overlooked thus far against the wealth of family-friendly offerings like Zynga Inc’s “Farmville” that now dominate the social network’s gaming landscape.

The effort, which began late last year but will accelerate in 2013, is part of Facebook’s ongoing objective of making sure its 1 billion-plus users log in and spend more time on the network, which in turn boosts ad revenue. Facebook also takes a cut of its applications’ revenue.

Facebook’s push into action and battle games follows a meeting in January between companies that make games like “first-person shooters” and Vice President Joe Biden to look for ways to curb gun violence in the wake of the Connecticut school shootings.

Based on the console gaming industry experience, hardcore gamers — typically men 18 to 30 years old — spend more time and effort to master fast-paced games such as first-person shooters (Microsoft’s “Halo”) or real-time strategy games (Activision Blizzard’s “StarCraft”).

“You’ll see a whole set of games hitting in the next two quarters in particular and throughout the year that really start to redefine what people think of Facebook games,” Sean Ryan, head of game partnerships at Facebook said in an interview.

Facebook will embrace games from “casual all the way up through first-person shooters, massively multiplayer online games, real-time strategy games – all those types of more core player-versus-player games.”

Just as hardcore gamers interact online and form clans in multiplayer games on console game networks like Xbox LIVE, Facebook can be that social layer needed to foster such gaming communities that help popularize titles, Jones said.

GAMING POPULATION

Over a quarter of Facebook’s 1.06 billion monthly active users play games, one of the largest gaming communities in the industry, and the social network hopes that can grow.

Facebook also aims to make more revenue from games. Revenue from the area was flat in the fourth quarter from a year ago, the company said on Wednesday without providing details.

The 8-year-old social network takes a 30 percent revenue share from game developers who offer their product free but then charge for virtual goods — like ammunition and power boosts.

On Wednesday, Facebook’s Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman told analysts on a post-earnings conference call that its “games ecosystem continues to show healthy signs of diversification” and suggested that games revenue would grow with increasing user engagement.

To grow its gaming business, Facebook has invested time and resources to work with developers since the summer to bring titles like u4iA’s first-person shooter “Offensive Combat” and Plaruim’s real-time strategy game “Stormfall: Age of War” alive, Ryan said.

“It doesn’t mean we’re walking away from other games, but there’s no question our focus for 2013 much of it will be about becoming a better platform for core gamers and developers who make those games.”

To help users discover them, Facebook added new action and strategy games categories on its App Center that also shows you friends from your list playing those games. It brought back notification messages from game apps — a feature that had been removed because users found the annoying — with certain restrictions that stop developers from spamming a gamer.

Developers also rely on word-of-mouth publicity and ads on Facebook’s advertising platform to draw in prospective gamers.

“Stormfall” has a player base of 4.5 million and hardcore games were proving to be far more lucrative, said Gabi Shalel, chief marketing officer Of Tel Aviv, Israel-based Plarium.

“Hardcore gamers pay more, play more and generate higher average revenue per user than traditional casual games.”

Kixeye, which makes the warfare-strategy game “War Commander,” said its gamers spend 20 times more than players of social games, helping it stay profitable over the past three years.

Going forward, nWay’s Jones says Facebook must have a defining title that comes along that establishes it as a hardcore gaming spot for gamers.

“Like ‘Super Mario’ did for Nintendo or ‘Halo’ on Microsoft, I think it just takes one title to come along, sort of as a benchmark to legitimize the whole thing,” he said.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak; editing by Andrew Hay)

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Side Effects NY Premiere 2013

Sorry Niners fans, come Sunday, you won't have People's Sexiest Man Alive in your corner.

At the New York premiere of his new movie Side Effects, the 32-year-old actor, donning a Dolce & Gabbana suit, revealed to ET that while he loves the 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, and thinks they have a "sick offense, and they're on fire right now... they're probably favored to win a little bit," he admits ultimately, "I kinda want the [Baltimore Ravens] to win."

As far as Super Bowl plans go, Tatum will actually be in the Big Easy on Sunday, in the middle of the madness.

PICS: Stars Predict the Super Bowl Winner

"I'm gonna be there in [New Orleans]. I'll be at Saints & Sinners, my bar down on Bourbon Street." Saints & Sinners opened in November 2012.

Side Effects is a thriller surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, that pairs Channing for a third and final time with director Steven Soderbergh, who announced his retirement from directing after this film.

"I wish there could be a fourth [film together], but he's apparently done.... This movie is special, and it's kind of one that he's always wanted to make."

See Also: Beyonce Shows Off All-Girl Bowl Band

Soderbergh previously worked with Channing in filming Haywire, and Magic Mike.

Watch the video above for more on the movie, in theaters February 8, and Channing on his co-star Jude Law's disarming accent.

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Career crook held on bail; allegedly targeted Asians

A career crook wanted for targeting Asians in eight violent East Harlem muggings was ordered held on one of the alleged attacks today, with the rest remaining under investigation.

Jason Commisso, 34, committed the eight attacks on Asian men and woman late last month, prosecutors say.

"The people are still investigating, as are the police, the hate crimes aspect, as all of the victims are of Asian descent," assistant district attorney Sioban Carty said of Commisso's alleged spree in Manhattan Criminal Court.

Commisso was ordered held in lieu of $150,000 bond or $75,000 cash bail on the one robbery he has so far been charged in -- that of an Asian woman inside an elevator at 1641 Madison Avenue on Jan. 24.

In that robbery, Commisso allegedly punched his victim in the face -- breaking her cheekbone and cutting her eye and chin -- as he stole her purse and cell phone, according to the complaint against him.

Commisso is due back in Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 6.

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Miami’s Commissioner Sarnoff gets earful from constituents

Six years ago, Coconut Grove Village Council Chairman Marc Sarnoff won a seat on the Miami City Commission after he helped lead a neighborhood fight against a Home Depot store at U.S. 1 and McDonald Street.

But on Thursday night, Commissioner Marc Sarnoff fielded angry questions from Grove council members and residents who demanded to know why he didn’t fight a trolley-bus garage now under construction in a residential section of the West Grove, just a mile from the Home Depot site.

“Mr. Sarnoff, I remember this pamphlet you put out on another project, and you were against it, and you said in your pamphlet — you said it couldn’t happen because it was a historic corridor. But in this case I don’t see your vehemence,” said Toya Johnson, owner of Barber Doll’s Community Barber Shop on Grand Avenue.

Johnson was a part of a standing-room-only crowd at a meeting in the commission chambers at Miami City Hall in the Grove Thursday night. Sarnoff called the meeting to explain his views on the garage, in the 3300 block of Douglas Road.

The garage will serve trolleys owned by the nearby city of Coral Gables. A development company, Astor, agreed to build the garage for the Gables after that city approved a mixed-use luxury apartment building on a block that includes the existing trolley garage.

Miami never held a public hearing on the garage because, according to Sarnoff and city staffers, the developer did not need a zoning change or other approval that would have required a hearing. Neighbors disagree, and several abutting property owners filed a lawsuit against the city shortly before Thursday’s meeting, asking a judge to stop the project.

Sarnoff, meanwhile, said the outcomes in the Home Depot and trolley garage cases were not that different. In both cases, he said, the builders proposed projects they had a right to build under existing zoning.

“Home Depot is there, it exists, because it could come in as a matter of right,” Sarnoff said. “All we could do is control the size.”

After the neighbors protested, Home Depot decided to go with a smaller store. Similarly, Sarnoff argued, he was able to persuade Astor to take steps to reduce the effect of the garage on the neighborhood. For instance, the developer agreed to completely enclose and air-condition the building to reduce fumes, to incorporate Bahamian architectural features into the building to match the West Grove’s history, and contribute more than $200,000 for a football field at Armbrister Park on Jefferson Street.

He also presented information to show that fumes and noise from the garage will not be a threat to health or the environment.

But the crowd was unmoved.

“The football field to me is like a twisted version of a field of dreams,” said Pierre Sands, president of the Village West Homeowners and Tenants Association. “Build a park and we’ll be magically happy. You’re buying Manhattan for trinkets.”

And Grove Village Council member Pat Sessions took issue with Sarnoff and the city’s insistence that the new “Miami 21” development rules gave Astor a right to build the garage without a public hearing.

“I’m a developer by trade ... and I will tell you there is nothing in Miami 21 that gives the right to build this building,” Sessions said. “What it says in commercial districts, the uses that are not permitted are crystal clear — government vehicle maintenance facilities. How the city let this go through ... is beyond me. ... I’m offended by it. It sure wouldn’t be next to Mayfair.”

The Village Council is an elected board but it has little real power beyond the ability to advocate. The Grove is a part of the city of Miami.

Coral Gables City Attorney Craig Leen also was at the meeting, and assured residents that his city expects a garage that complies with all applicable regulations.

“We view this as a very important matter,” Leen said. “Ultimately, we have a contract with Astor. Under the contract, they have to deliver a building that meets all laws and regulations. We have seen your lawsuit and we are concerned about it. If the building doesn’t meet the regulations, we will not accept it.

“At some point we will have to decide whether this is a legal building or not. I have spoken with the commissioners and the city manager, and the city is very concerned. We did not want to force anything on the community.”

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Judge throws out $3.1 million award against Related developers

A Miami-Dade judge on Thursday tossed out a $3.1 million verdict against The Related Group developers only moments after a jury found the developers had wrongfully manipulated the zoning process in a 2007 condo deal.

The decision came after a month-long trial in a lawsuit filed by the Vizcayans, a support group for the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, who had accused Related and its partners of engaging in a conspiracy to win political support for a controversial waterfront condo project next to Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove. The Vizcayans were seeking more than $1.3 million to recover the legal costs of their successful fight to overturn the Miami City Commission’s approval of the project.

The jury sided with the Vizcayans, finding that the developers committed more than two dozen wrongful acts in pursuit of the projects — from behind-the-scenes meetings with city commissioners to secret deals to pay $8 million to win the support of nearby neighborhood groups.

But Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick later threw out the jury’s verdict and found in favor of the developers. He said the Vizcayans failed to prove that the developers’ actions “targeted” the Vizcayans, and added that the developers’ conduct was allowed under their rights to petition the government and go to court.

Related’s lawyers, John Shubin and Israel Reyes, argued that the developers’ actions were aimed only at winning approval for the three-tower project, not at harming the Vizcayans. Related’s chairman, Jorge Perez, told jurors he was “totally surprised” when the Vizcayans publicly objected to the project. The Vizcayans feared the condo towers would obstruct views from the Vizcaya, a historic landmark.

Shubin and Reyes argued that the verdict would have essentially punished the developers for exercising their rights to petition the government for zoning and land-use changes.

“For a judge, doing the right thing and following the law are one in the same, and that’s what Judge Trawick did in this case,” said Reyes, himself a former judge.

But Maria Utrera, the jury foreperson, said she was puzzled by the judge’s decision, which left some jurors weeping when they learned of it later.

“I’m really upset about it. I think that justice was not served,” said Utrera, a computer programmer from Homestead. “We think they did manipulate the political system. The evidence showed that what they did was wrong.”

Lawyers for the Vizcayans said they were disappointed with the judge’s ruling, and they plan to appeal the judge’s decision.

“The jury agreed with us totally,” said Vizcayan board member John Hinson. “I would like to think the jury’s verdict sends a message throughout the community that the actions by these defendants are wrong and shouldn’t be tolerated.”

The Vizcayans’ lawsuit was brought under a novel legal theory known as the “wrongful acts” doctrine. They argued that the wrongful acts of the developers forced them to go court to challenge the city’s zoning changes for the project. An appeals court later found that the zoning changes violated state law, and that the vote was tainted by improper communications between Perez and then-Miami Mayor Manny Diaz.

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U.S. tablet shipments soar during holidays, threaten to surpass PCs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook’s prediction that tablets would one day outsell personal computers appears to be coming true.

Holiday season shipments of tablet computers touched a record 52.5 million, up 75 percent from a year ago, as consumers snapped up a wide range of the touch-enabled mobile devices and lower priced offerings, according to International Data Corp (IDC), which tracks both markets.

Growth of the tablet market handily outpaced that of personal computers, with PC shipments sliding 6.4 percent to 89.8 million in the October-December period.

In another sign of the rise of tablets, Apple, the No. 1 seller of tablets, shipped 22 million of them in the fourth quarter, compared with 15 million personal computers shipped by No. 1 PC seller Hewlett-Packard Co during the same period.

But increasing competition means that Apple’s one-time stranglehold on the tablet market continues to loosen. The market share of its iPad fell to 43.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 51.7 percent the previous year, IDC said.

Samsung Electronics, the No. 2 seller of tablets with its flagship Galaxy brand, captured 15.1 percent of the market, more than double its 7.3 percent share a year earlier.

Software maker Microsoft Corp, which launched its Surface with Windows RT tablet during the holidays, shipped about 900,000 units, IDC said.

Microsoft has been banking on Surface to showcase its new Windows 8 software to compete with Google Inc‘s Android-based tablets and the iPad.

Amazon.com Inc, despite having a wider range of products for the holidays, saw its share slip to 11.5 percent from 15.9 percent. Asian manufacturer Asus, which makes the Google-branded Nexus 7 tablet, saw a its share increase to 5.8 percent from 2 percent, IDC said.

IDC’s figures underscore the sliding fortunes of PC makers such as HP and Dell Inc, which is now in the process of taking itself private.

“New product launches from the category’s top vendors, as well as new entrant Microsoft, led to a surge in consumer interest and very robust shipments totals during the holiday season,” said Tom Mainelli, research director, tablets, at IDC.

“The record-breaking quarter stands in stark contrast to the PC market, which saw shipments decline during the quarter for the first time in more than five years,” Mainelli said.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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30 Rock's Tracy Morgan Baby News

While Tracy Morgan and the rest of the 30 Rock cast is bidding farewell tonight, the 44-year-old comic is preparing to say hello to a new child.

PICS: Celebs and Their Cute Kids!

Us Weekly reports that Morgan and fiancee, Megan Wollover, 26, are expecting their first child together. This will mark Morgan's fourth child, as he raised three adult sons with ex-wife Sabrina.

Morgan split from Sabrina in 2009 after 23 years of marriage and announced his engagement to Wollover in September 2011.

Although there's no word yet on the gender of the baby, the Emmy-nominated actor recently opened up to Rolling Stone, saying that he hoped to one day raise a baby girl.

RELATED: Essential 30 Rock Finale Guide

"You know what happiness is? Happiness is a simple thing, man," he said. "It's having something to look forward to."

You can catch Morgan in the series finale of 30 Rock tonight at 8/7c on NBC.

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