'Cannibal' cop denied bail

They wouldn't bite.

A Manhattan appeals court refused to release accused NYPD "cannibal cop" Gilberto Valle on bail this morning.

The three-judge panel didn't even pause to digest arguments from both sides before unanimously rejecting Valle's bid to reverse the previous rulings of three separate, lower-court judges.

Presiding Judge Peter Hall of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals didn't dish on the reasoning behind the decision, saying a brief, written order would be served up later today.

During about 15 minutes of oral arguments, Manhattan federal prosecutor Hadassa Waxman called Valle a danger to the community, saying he schemed to kidnap, cook and eat women during Internet chats she called "depraved, disgusting, troubling, gruesome."

OkCupid

Gilberto Valle

Waxman also revealed new allegations against Valle, saying he told a co-conspirator that he planned to make a female friend in Maryland his "next meal," and said his "mouth was watering the whole time" after visiting her in July.

Public defender Edward Zas contended that "the entire prosecution is misguided," noting that 40,000 people people take part in "the most depraved, heinous chats" at the sexual-fetish Web site where he insisted Valle merely engaged in fantasy "role-play."

"He's done nothing but imagine bad things and put them, foolishly, on the Internet in a really bad way," Zas said.

Zas also revealed that the defense would seek a one-month delay of Valle's trial -- currently set to start next week -- at a court conference this afternoon.

bruce.golding@nypost.com

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Global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor coming to Miami

Flawless execution helped propel Argentine Marcos Galperin’s e-auction site, Mercado Libre, above the competition to become a $3.8 billion company. Some 50,000 small businesses now use it to market their wares.

Leila Velez and Heloísa Helena Assis, cousins who grew up in the slums of Rio, started with one product and one salon. Today their company, Beleza Natural, operates 24 salons that bring in $75 million in revenues, employs 1,500 people and has an eye on U.S expansion.

Both were powered, in part, by Endeavor, a global nonprofit that selects, mentors, supports and accelerates high-impact entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas of 16 countries — and, soon, in Miami.

Endeavor and its local supporter, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Tuesday that Knight is providing Endeavor with $2 million in grant funding over five years for Endeavor’s first U.S. expansion. Endeavor’s Miami office could ultimately service dozens of local entrepreneurs, but first a local board needs to be assembled, a managing director hired and offices set up.

Beginning late this year, South Florida’s innovators will be able to apply to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, connecting them to a global network of mentors and advisors who can help grow their ventures. “We think this is a cornerstone of making Miami more of a place where ideas are built,” said Matt Haggman, Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which has made entrepreneurship a key focus of its Miami program.

The announcement is an important milestone in Miami’s efforts to accelerate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been gaining momentum, said Haggman, who led the effort for Knight, its largest investment in entrepreneurship to date. Accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces have been opening up, including Launch Pad Tech, which is receiving $1.5 million in public funding and opens for its first class next week. Last month, the first ever Innovate MIA week attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and other supporters to a packed schedule of daily events, which included the Americas Venture Capital Conference and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

“Miami is almost the perfect seeding ground for Endeavor,” said Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor and now an Endeavor board member, an investor and South Florida resident who began discussing the project with Haggman in the spring. “There are commitments from large institutions like Knight, FIU, UM, there is capital, there are people that are interested in making things happen, there are already clusters of activity like accelerators and incubators. That’s where Endeavor thrives.”

Endeavor selects and works primarily with companies from a wide range of industries that are already earning $500,000 to $15 million in annual revenue and ready for the next stage: explosive growth.

“While the vast majority of small businesses employ two or three people, Endeavor businesses employ an average of 237,” said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Endeavor now operates throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia and supports more than 750 entrepreneurs who are chosen in a rigorous selection process.

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Crime Watch: Now is a good time to protect your credit cards

Well, the holidays are over, we have over-eaten and shopped until we dropped. With that said, let’s turn to a subject that we need to be very careful about: credit cards.

With all the shopping we did during the holidays, we need to make sure that our cards were not compromised. So when the bills start coming in, pay close attention to the charges, and I hope you kept all the receipts so you can match those charges!

Once again, I want to provide you with information in case you feel that you have become a victim of identity theft, so here is what you need to do immediately:

• Immediately close accounts you know or believe have been tampered with.

• File a police report and submit it to your creditors and others who may require proof of the crime.

• Contact the fraud department of the three major credit bureaus to place a fraud alert on your credit file.

• File your complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft. The FTC maintains a database of identity theft cases used by law enforcement agencies for investigations. You can also call the FTC hotline: 877-IDTHEFT.

• Order your credit report. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows you to get one free credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus once per year. You can get their names at www.annualcreditreport.com/ or by calling 877-322-8228.

• Correct all mistakes on your credit report in writing. Send a letter to the credit reporting agency identifying the problems item by item. Include a copy of the credit report and send the letter with a return receipt requested.

• Make a copy of all your credit card account numbers and bank account numbers and keep it in a safe place.

This past year was truly challenging for many of us, but by working together, staying informed and being involved we can continue to meet the challenges before us in 2013. Foreclosed and abandoned houses continue to be one of the biggest problems in our neighborhoods. All you have to do is ask any police officer that works those areas or the crime watch groups that have dozens of foreclosures in their community. Therefore, I hope to continue providing you with the necessary information to help resolve those issues.

To those that have chosen to implement Neighborhood Watch, I congratulate you, because you are making a difference working together with your police officers. Little by little, a block at a time, you are helping to keep crime in check in your area.

In closing I want to say “thank you” to all the readers who have helped in making this column so popular. It is hard to believe that next month I will be starting my eighth year writing this column. You the readers have contributed so much with your suggestions, your personal incidents and emails. Many of you have stated in more than one occasion this column has helped you not become a victim.

We may not always agree on some issues, but I try very hard to give you the tools necessary so you may get involved in strengthening our community. Once again, thank you for your support. Have a safe week!

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RIM says 15,000 BlackBerry 10 apps submitted in under two days

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Lena Dunham Thanks Chad Lowe at Golden Globes

Upon her show Girls winning a Golden Globe for Best Comedy, Lena Dunham took the stage and said she "promised" she'd thank actor Chad Lowe, but why?

The funny girl is referring to the infamous Academy Awards moment in 2000 when Lowe's then wife Hilary Swank forgot to thank him upon winning for Boys Don't Cry.

Dunham, 26, had won for Best Actress earlier in the evening but had declined to mention the Pretty Little Liars actor. Lowe, 44, tweeted following the actress' first acceptance speech, writing: "You forgot to thank me?! After all we've been through? I'm shocked."

She quickly fixed her mistake with her second win, telling the crowd, "I also promised myself that if I ever got this chance I would thank Chad Lowe. I'm sorry, I just promised and I promised my mom."

Lowe's name quickly became a Twitter trend with the actor responding: "Now that I'm trending worldwide (finally) does that mean I don't have to give my daughters a bath or change their diapers anymore?"

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Owners of Theatre Row playhouses settle wheelchair discrimination probe

The owners of six Times Square playhouses known as Theatre Row will give away free tickets to wheelchair users to settle a discrimination probe by the state Attorney General’s Office, The Post has learned.

The 42nd Street Development Corp. also agreed to start selling wheelchair-accessible seats in its six venues the same way it sells seats to the general public, whether online, over the phone or through third-party vendors.

Settlement papers say the AG’s investigation found that the company was “failing to ensure that accessible seating was sold during the same hours and stages of sales as other seating, and made available through the same distribution and purchasing methods.”

“People with disabilities should have the same opportunities to enjoy places of public accommodation as all Americans, and theaters are no exception,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.

Under terms of the deal, a pair of tickets to The Acorn Theatre -- one for a wheelchair user, and one for a companion -- will be given away once a month for a year.

The ducats will be distributed by non-profit groups that provide services to the disabled.

bruce.golding@nypost.com

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.CO sets sights on changing ‘the fabric of the Internet’

For the millions of people who equate the Web with .com, . CO Internet is out to change that mindset.

The Miami company that manages and markets the .co domain is already making impressive gains — more than 1.4 million in 200 countries have hung their businesses, blogs, personal projects or dreams on a .co virtual shingle. Still, that’s just a tiny fraction of industry titan VeriSign’s 105 million .com registrants.

“We want to change the fabric of the Internet,” Juan Diego Calle, founder and CEO of .CO Internet, said during an interview in .CO’s Brickell office. “We can only make that happen not by changing what happened in the last 25 years of the Web, which is owned by .com. We want to change the next 25.”

About 2½ years after the launch of .CO Internet, .co — the country code of Colombia — continues to be one of the fastest-growing Internet domains in the world and grew by 24 percent in 2012. .CO Internet is profitable and is projecting to bring in more than $25 million in revenues this year, the company said. The early success of .CO Internet, with operations in Miami and Colombia, is powered by passion and perseverance.

Calle moved to Miami from Colombia at age 15 with his family. He started several businesses, including one he sold in 2005 providing seed capital for what would come next. “I can’t say I ever sat still.” When he learned Colombia would be commercializing the country's .co domain extension in late 2006, he said it hit him like a lightning bolt.

With the right strategy and by “marketing the hell out of it,” the entrepreneur believed .co could solve a huge problem in the market — vanishing Internet domain names. If you’ve tried to nab a new .com address lately, you can relate — it’s difficult to find one that hasn’t been snatched up.

Calle thought that by appealing to the hearts and minds of the entrepreneur, .co could go where .info, .biz, .net or .me had never gone before. But first he needed the right team.

One of this first stops: The Big Apple, to visit Nicolai Bezsonoff, who had been an advisor and shareholder in Calle’s TeRespondo.com, a sort of Ask Jeeves for the Latin American market that was sold to Yahoo in 2005. At the time, Bezsonoff was the director of technology and operations at Citigroup.

“We went out for coffee, he started pitching me on a napkin. I said ‘really dude you want me to leave a big job at Citigroup for this?’ ” said Bezsonoff. “But he kept showing me the numbers … Later, that napkin was on my desk and it was one of those boring days and I kept looking at it and thought maybe I should.” He would become .CO’s chief operating officer.

Lori Anne Wardi, a lawyer and serial entrepreneur who was working at a venture capital firm at the time, became vice president in charge of brand strategy, business development and global communications. “She’s the heart and soul of the company,” said Calle. Eduardo Santoyo, based in Bogota, would become corporate vice president over policy and be the liaison with the Colombian government. “Some would say it was overkill talent but I needed the best. ... When you have a big dream, you have to think big and hire the right people,” Calle said.

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Newark mayor to headline Broward Democrats’ fundraiser

Rising Democratic star and Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker will be the keynote speaker at the Broward Democrats’ annual fundraiser March 23.

“He is clearly part of next generation of Democratic leaders,” local party chairman Mitch Ceasar said.

Booker, an African-American Rhodes scholar and Yale University law grad, became mayor at age 37 in 2006. He turned down a job offer from President Barack Obama after his first win. In 2012, Booker spoke at the Democratic National Convention and recently confirmed he is exploring running for U.S. Senate.

The Unity Dinner is the main fundraiser for Broward Democrats, who are preparing for the 2014 elections — most notably, a challenge to Gov. Rick Scott.

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Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis Engaged

Olivia Wilde, 28, and Saturday Night Live star Jason Sudeikis, 38, are engaged, ET can confirm.

The pair, who went public in December of 2011, moved in together last year and have been seemingly inseparable since.

Related: Olivia Wilde Divorces Italian Royal

According to People, Sudeikis proposed to the Tron: Legacy star shortly after the holidays.

"They are so excited," says a source. "And very, very happy."

No word yet on a wedding date.

Video: Olivia Wilde Steams Up the Screen

This will be the second wedding for Wilde, whose divorce to Italian royal Tao Ruspoli was finalized in late September of 2011.

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6 arrested in new gang rape of bus passenger in India

AFP/Getty Images

Indian police personnel present six arrested men, accused of a gang rape in Punjab state, for an appearance at court in Gurdaspur.

NEW DELHI — Police said Sunday they have arrested six suspects in another gang rape of a bus passenger in India, four weeks after a brutal attack on a student on a moving bus in the capital outraged Indians and led to calls for tougher rape laws.

Police officer Raj Jeet Singh said a 29-year-old woman was the only passenger on a bus as she was traveling to her village in northern Punjab state on Friday night. The driver refused to stop at her village despite her repeated pleas and drove her to a desolate location, he said.

There, the driver and the conductor took her to a building where they were joined by five friends and took turns raping her throughout the night, Singh said.

The driver dropped the woman off at her village early Saturday, he said.

Singh said police arrested six suspects on Saturday and were searching for another.

Gurmej Singh, deputy superintendent of police, said all six admitted involvement in the rape. He said the victim was recovering at home.

Also on Saturday, police arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl two weeks ago in Ahmednagar district in western India, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. Her decomposed body was found Friday.

Police officer Sunita Thakare said the suspect committed the crime seven months after his release from prison after serving nine years for raping and murdering a girl in 2003, PTI reported Sunday.

The deadly rape of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus in December led to the woman's death and set off an impassioned debate about what India needs to do to prevent such tragedies. Protesters and politicians have called for tougher rape laws, police reforms and a transformation in the way the country treats women.

"It's a very deep malaise. This aspect of gender justice hasn't been dealt with in our nation-building task," Seema Mustafa, a writer on social issues who heads the Center for Policy Analysis think tank, said Sunday.

"Police haven't dealt with the issue severely in the past. The message that goes out is that the punishment doesn't match the crime. Criminals think they can get away it," she said.

In her first published comments, the mother of the deceased student in the New Delhi attack said Sunday that all six suspects in that case, including one believed to be a juvenile, deserve to die.

She was quoted by The Times of India newspaper as saying that her daughter, who died from massive internal injuries two weeks after the attack, told her that the youngest suspect had participated in the most brutal aspects of the rape.

Five men have been charged with the physiotherapy student's rape and murder and face a possible death penalty if convicted. The sixth suspect, who says he is 17 years old, is likely to be tried in a juvenile court if medical tests confirm he is a minor. His maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

"Now the only thing that will satisfy us is to see them punished. For what they did to her, they deserve to die," the newspaper quoted the mother as saying.

Some activists have demanded a change in Indian laws so that juveniles committing heinous crimes can face the death penalty.

The names of the victim of the Dec. 16 attack and her family have not been released.

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