Over the past week, American officials have questioned why a Serbian student at Binghamton University was allowed to flee the country while he was charged with beating another student into a coma. Today, the Serbian Consul General Slobodan Nenedovic tells the Post, "I will think about resigning, absolutely."

On May 4, Miladin Kovacevic (pictured), a basketball player at 6' 9" and 260 pounds, allegedly beat up Bryan Steinhauer (5'6" and 135 pounds), thinking Steinhauer groped a friend's girlfriend at a bar. Though the girlfriend said she wasn't touched, Kovacevic reportedly attacked and Steinhauer, a Brooklyn resident, suffered shattered cheeks and a fractured skull and remains in critical condition.

Serbian vice consul general Igor Milosevic put up $100,000 cash bail (upstate law enforcement says they thought it was a big amount for upstate) for Kovacevic in early June, and the 20-year-old fled the country with an emergency passport, since he had already surrendered his regular one. Senator Charles Schumer has asked that Kovacevic be extradited, noting the U.S.'s extradition treaty with Serbia and how the "federal law enforcement must now step in and do everything in its power to bring justice to the Steinhauer family as quickly as possible."However, there's confusion about whether Serbian officials want to extradite Kovacevic; consul general Nenecovic said to the Post, "I'm not quite sure if Serbia has an extradition policy, but I am sure that Kovacevic will be faced with prosecution in Serbia." The Daily News' Michael Daly suggests cutting off Serbian funding if their officials don't send the accused back to face charges upstate.

Kovacevic's parents spoke to the Post and his father said, "We feel he is a victim of small-town values ganging up against a foreigner. He was targeted because he was Serb and a very large man." And a family friend told the Daily News Kovacevic was defending himself. In the meantime, Steinhauer's mother says her son is "slowing emerging from his coma."

Gay Pride Week is coming to a close with today's Gay Pride March along Fifth Avenue and a number of other events. But while you celebrate, please remain vigilant also, because a reader tells us he was attacked on the 2/3 from Christopher Street late yesterday afternoon, after volunteering at a pride event:

"The guy kept asking us to move because he didn't like us and that we made him sick. There was no place else for us to go. He started hitting me and then his girlfriend started clawing me with her nails...I took a cab to St. Vincents, filed a police report and got two black eyes, 7 stitches, multiple chipped teeth, broken glasses."

He suggests people be careful, perhaps travel in groups on the subway, because he doesn't think the police caught his attackers yet.

Rendering of East River Plaza Target courtesy Target.

"Everyone is super excited about the Target." Everyone! Or at least real estate players like Jessica Armstead of the Corcoran Group, who predicts that the Target store finally coming to fruition in East Harlem will “totally change” the area’s lagging pace of gentrification. "It appeals to everyone," she tells the Sun. "You go in to get toothpaste and come out with three bags. It's amazing." Armstead is already luring condo buyers into East Harlem with the amazing, exciting shopping utopia to arrive any year now.

Currently scheduled to open in October 2009, the store is part of the perennially delayed East River Plaza shopping complex, which will cluster other exciting big box stores such as Best Buy, Marshalls and Home Depot – unless that company decides to sublet its 110,000 space to Costco. The Harlem Target (the first in Manhattan) will join a growing Target army in New York City, with seven currently open and two others under construction in the Bronx and Flushing, Queens. To help inspire shoppers to stimulate the national economy, the Harlem store’s façade will be wrapped in a steel mesh American flag.

And those who recall how the controversy surrounding the Red Hook IKEA tended to split along class lines know how this will play out: Kenneth Knuckles, president of the Empowerment Zone Development Corp., is framing the $440 million project as a chance to provide 2,000 full and part-time jobs to East Harlem residents, who will then “take money they've earned and spend it in the community.” But NIMBY brownstone owner (and architect) Raymond Plumey predicts terrible traffic and pollution from consumers flocking to the amazing 485,000-square-foot shopping center, whenever it finally opens.

The medical examiner's office determined suicide as cause of death for Ruslana Korshunova, a 20-year-old model who fell from her Water Street apartment in lower Manhattan Saturday afternoon.

Friends gathered outside the building, crying and leaving flowers. Many reports noted that there was a hole in the construction netting outside her building; Newsday reported, the DOB couldn't "confirm whether the fall caused the hole and, if so, why the netting did not prevent her death." Her current boyfriend, Mark Kaminsky, says she had moved into his Staten Island home soon after they met in March, but she kept her Manhattan apartment.

The Daily News reported Kaminsky "last saw his girlfriend about noon on Saturday, about two hours before" she died. Kaminsky said she was "doing good" and "happy" with modeling. But her ex-boyfriend Artem Perchenok (who had seen Korshunova on Friday night) told the Post, "I think she just gave up" and said she was feeling the pressures of modeling.

She previously wrote about her sadness on a Russian social networking site, things like, "I'm so lost, will I ever find myself?" But Korshunova's mother, who lives in Alamty, Kazhakstan, was shocked, telling the Post, "She's had her ups and downs but never anything that would lead to suicide. This is completely unexpected."

Heartland Brewery has just announced what they believe to be the Largest Glass of Beer Commercially Available (an application has already been filed with the Guiness World Records), it is dubbed: "The Beer Goddess." The three-liter glass holds 6.3 pints, 101.4 ounces, or 8.5 cans...and no matter what way you measure it, it's likely to be warm by the time you reach the half way point.

The glass can be filled to the brim with a choice of four of their Clinton Hill-brewed beers, with two additional beers available in the summer. The novelty is likely to wear off after a few ounces are imbibed, no matter what's in the glass. If you still want to take on the massive drink, however, it'll cost you $49 (plus tip!), and does not include the glass itself. The company has made a limited edition of only 100 Beer Goddess glasses, in circulation at their restaurants, and encourages only one per customer per visit.

Though the price tag may seem big, it comes out to a little over $7 bucks per (pint) beer...meanwhile those suckers in Park Slope are shelling out $95 for a regular sized (extremely rare, and allegedly tasty) lager.

Seen a bigger beer out there? Email beergoddess(at)heartlandbrewery(dot)com with a photo.

Photograph of people waiting for the 6 train by Union Square by Unlisted Sightings on Flickr

For everyone who waited too long for a subway in April--NYC Transit revealed that train delays were up 44% in April, which is the latest month with available data. The Post lists the top reasons:

1. Track work (delaying 4,117 trains; in April 2007, there were about half the number of delays due to track work)
2. Riders holding doors (918; April 2007, 549)
3. Guard-light trouble (833; the guard-light indicates where a door is closed or not, and there were 325 in April 2007)
4. Unruly passengers (819; April 2007, 271)
5. Fire/smoke (695; April 2007, 292)
6. Signal trouble (600; April 2007, 941)
7. Sick riders (591; April 2007, 409)

The Post reports that one MTA board member blamed NYC Transit management, calling the poor figures a result of "lack of supervision of what goes on underground," but NYCT President Howard Roberts said it wasn't the employees' faults (conceivably aging trains and equipments are partly to blame as well). Still, as ridership continues to grow, $8.9 million will be spent to increase service to the 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, B, M and W lines. And another interesting fact: For NYCT, a train is "delayed" it's more than 6 minutes late.

Five NJ residents have been hospitalized and one has died after drinking oil used to light tiki torches. Apparently the victims from Burlington and Bergen Counties believed they were drinking apple juice, but it's actually a kerosene-like substance (one victim was an 8-year-old girl who now has permanent lung damage; another person "mistook the oil for bottled water and tried to make coffee, but didn't get sick"). NJ Poison Information and Education System executive director Steve Marcus says, "During my 40 years in medicine, you get an occasional kid who ingests kerosene, but I have never seen this kind of cluster." The product is Tiki Torch Fuel from Lamplight Farms Inc.

A street sweeper employed by the Doe Fund, a charity that employs homeless New Yorkers to clean city streets, picked up a $2,500 bonus last month by defending the pigeons on the Upper East Side. According to In Defense of Animals, Desi Stewart witnessed a man spreading bird seed on the ground and “netting a large number of pigeons.”

Stewart had noticed signs around the neighborhood urging citizens to report pigeon poaching; when he called the Department of Environmental Conservation they dispatched an officer to the scene and arrested the culprit, who pleaded guilty last week and will have to pay three fines for pigeon netting. Stewart received a reward.

Pigeons are classified as state property and it’s illegal to harm them. But despite the fact that pigeons are legion in the city, poaching is fairly common, often for the purposes of selling them to private gun clubs. Anyone witnessing a pigeon netting in the five boroughs of New York City can try to nab the reward by calling New York State DEC Officer Joseph Pane at (718) 482-4941.

Photo of last year's rally to protest a proposed bill banning pigeon feeding courtesy Mira (on the wall).

After last year's Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, six-time world hot-dog-eating champ Takeru Kobayashi declared: "I will definitely beat him next year." His opponent, Joey Chestnut, had won by eating 66 HDB (hot dogs and buns) to Kobayashi's 63. Despite not earning his way in to the contest as a regional qualifier, last year's loser be on hand this year in an attempt to earn back the title.

The Brooklyn Paper (jokingly) says Kobayashi doesn't deserve a shot at the coveted Mustard Yellow International Belt, and calls Major League Eating out for allowing him in through "sponsor exemption." They say the MLE is trying to spin the whole thing, even recalling a 1929 contest in which a contestant was allowed in through a "sponsor exemption." MLE chairman George Shea noted that "Nathan’s has given sponsor’s exemptions in the past, just as, say, Tiger Woods is not asked to qualify for every tournament.”

Like it or not, this Kobayashi kid is back at least one more time! But will his severe jawthritis return, forcing him to eat his words as well as a non-title-winning amount of HDBs? The first hot dog goes down at noon this Friday.

Ah, Spring. A time when some men woo women with flowers and fancy dinners, while others simply rappel off their roofs and through their windows. The Post has an exclusive on a lovesick construction worker who became so enamored with an unidentified Upper West Side woman that he decided to take his courtship to a repellent level (ha!) by swinging into her apartment through her bathroom window.

The suspect, 29-year-old Flavio Quito, became smitten with the 36-year-old resident of a 10th floor apartment on West 76th Street while doing work on the building between February and May. But when he opened his heart to the object of his desires, she recoiled. Quito persisted, and she told him to stop approaching her, calling her, sending cards, flowers and adorable plush bears. The final straw came when she returned home on May 15th to find her bathroom window broken.

Some five weeks later, the police tracked down Quito, who confessed to rappelling off the roof and through the window. (Apparently he lost his nerve and left before she came home.) Quito’s currently out on $5,000 bail; he’s charged with burglary, stalking and a complete lack of skills.

An amusement park ride inspector warns that some of the rides at Coney Island are so dangerous they should not be open for business. Last summer a man died after surgery to heal vertebrae fractured on the Cyclone, but the rides now targeted by “amusement-safety consultant” Walt Reiss don’t include the famous wooden roller coaster.

Reiss, who has previously trained New York City ride inspectors, tells the Post that the “Swingout” ride is so unsafe that, "if I had to sign my name to this ride, I would shut it down." The owner of the company in charge of the ride says he’s passed several inspections with no problems. But Reiss also deems the Scrambler and Ring of Fire rides to be potential deathtraps; the former because safety bars are badly aligned, the latter because of “serious problems” with support beams.

The three temporary rides are all on land owned by Joe Sitt’s Thor Equities, which is pushing a controversial plan to transform Coney Island into a year-round amusement, retail and hotel destination. In its current form, the plan would turn over management of all the rides to a single "world class operator."

Photo courtesy PabsV.

Yesterday morning, a doctor jumped to his death from the 17th floor of a Beth Israel Hospital building. The body of 44-year-old Douglas Meyer was found "on an air-conditioning unit between two buildings" by a security guard at 7 a.m.

Meyer, called a "'gifted' gastroenterologist and liver specialist," had completed his rounds. A hospital technician told the Post, "We started calling him at 7 a.m., and we couldn't reach him. And then one of the guards came in and told me, and I started crying. The entire floor was crying, technicians, nurses, managers, everyone."

A nurse told the Daily News, "He made the staff happy. He was never dull and always upbeat." Meyer, who lived on the Upper West Side and was an assistant professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine; according to the News, would take his staff out and was often singing and humming while working with patients.

Beth Israel Hospital president Dr. David Shulkin said, "We are totally shocked and distraught. It's a big loss for us and his patients. He was a gifted physician who made many significant contributions in his field and, no doubt, would have accomplished even more had his life not ended so tragically."

Photo via d.billy's flickr.

Not too long ago there was a behind the scenes glimpse of the Times Square billboards that light up the "Crossroads of the World" day in and day out. Now it looks like the old fashioned painted ads are more reliable, as AndIAmNotLying points out a glitch from last night in one electronic billboard on 8th and 42nd. Oopsy! It's a snafu that could be costing someone as much as $300K a month, and this isn't the first time it's happened.

These kinds of errors are all over the place in the city, from Metrocard machines to the old PSP billboard, not to mention the oh-so-hackable taxi computer system.

The OK! Magazine article which points a judging finger at Madonna and A-Rod's "friendship" is now in print and online (well, partially) for all of those suspect of the pals.

NYMag points out the juiciest quote from US Weekly, however, in which a source says the Yankee has been seen heading into Madonna's Central Park West apartment regularly for the past several weeks, staying "as late as midnight." All the doormen are talking, they say! Could the Yankee have changed Her Madgesty's tune on NYC, and is she seeking refuge with him from her (alleged!) marital mess? At the time her rep told OK! "No comment at this time is all I'm prepared to say now," regarding the latter rumor -- though today stated "there are no divorce plans."

Whether or not it's to be with his wife or to simply keep up appearances, Mrs. Madonna, Guy Ritchie, has now flown to NYC and is staying in the very same CPW apartment that A-Rod has been stopping by lately. Their three kids and wedding bands are all accounted for.

For the civilians, it's lose-lose. If A-Rod steps in, the two would sport the catchiest sobriquet since Bennifer: MadonnA-Rod, which will likely be in print at least once a day. However, if Guy Ritchie stays with his wife, could a sequel to Swept Away be in our not so distant future?

Tomorrow's big showdown is set, with reigning Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Champions Joey Chestnut facing off against six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi in the battle of who can devour-and keep down-more hot dogs in 10 minutes. The two, along with other contestants, were weighed in today. Kobayashi is 165 pounds while Chestnut is 230 pounds. Last year, Chestnut set the new world record by eating 66 hot dogs--66 hot dogs equal to about about 14.5 pounds (Kobayashi ate 63 hot dogs, a new personal best for him, equal to 13.8 pounds).

One upside to yesterday's torrential downpour: A few people captured photographs of rainbows around the city. Here's hoping anyone caught after today's rains see rainbows, too.