Top 5 Apps for Kids This Week

1. PHLIPAges 4-up Overall rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars Why we like it: PHLIP is a spatial relations puzzle where you “flip” or turn your screen left or right, like a steering wheel, to change the orientation of the set of tiles, in order to reassemble the picture. You can use photos you take, or choose one from your photo library. Need to know: The more tiles, the harder the puzzle. You can lock any...

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Springsteen, Gaga join Stones; Newtown noted

NEW YORK (AP) — Only at a Rolling Stones concert could appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga seem almost like afterthoughts.Those superstars and other top acts including the Black Keys and John Mayer jammed with the Stones on Saturday night, winding down a series of concerts celebrating the 50th year of rock’s most enduring band (the occasion was also marked by a pay-per-view special).The...

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Boehner opens door to tax hikes, shifts U.S. fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner‘s offer to accept a tax rate increase for the wealthiest Americans knocks down a key Republican road block to a deal resolving the year-end “fiscal cliff.”The question now boils down to what President Barack Obama offers in return. Such major questions, still unanswered so close to the end of the year suggest, however, that...

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Nikkei hits eight and a half month high on yen, Asian shares ease

TOKYO (Reuters) – The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan‘s electoral triumph propelled the yen to a 20-month low against the dollar that saw the Nikkei stock average <.n225> touch a 8-1/2-month high on expectations of much better export earnings.</.n225>But MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> eased 0.1 percent, after ending last week near 16-month...

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Nigeria governor, 5 others die in helicopter crash

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A navy helicopter crashed Saturday in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, killing a state governor and five other people, in the latest air disaster to hit Africa’s most populous nation, officials said.Nigeria‘s ruling party said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger...

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Nigeria governor, 5 others die in helicopter crash

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — A navy helicopter crashed Saturday in the country’s oil-rich southern delta, killing a state governor and five other people, in the latest air disaster to hit Africa’s most populous nation, officials said.Nigeria‘s ruling party said in a statement that the governor of the central Nigerian state of Kaduna, Patrick Yakowa, died in the helicopter crash in Bayelsa state in the Niger...

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Why does Google build apps for its rival Apple’s iPhone?

Why help a key competitor? Two words: Advertising and dataThere isn’t any other way to say it: Apple and Google really don’t like each other. Apple CEO Steve Jobs vowed to destroy the Google geniuses behind the Android operating system for allegedly stealing the basic mechanics of the iPhone. Apple and Google-partner Samsung are constantly at one another’s throats over patents. And most recently...

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Pop star Kelly Clarkson announces engagement

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Kelly Clarkson, who became the first contestant to win “American Idol” a decade ago and went on to several chart-topping successes, has gotten engaged to her boyfriend, the singer said in a Twitter message on Saturday.Clarkson, 30, previously revealed she had been dating talent manager Brandon Blackstock since early this year. Blackstock is the stepson of country singer Reba...

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Experts: No link between Asperger’s, violence

NEW YORK (AP) — While an official has said that the 20-year-old gunman in the Connecticut school shooting had Asperger’s syndrome, experts say there is no connection between the disorder and violence.Asperger‘s is a mild form of autism often characterized by social awkwardness.“There really is no clear association between Asperger’s and violent behavior,” said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant...

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India’s Prime Minister says to speed up sale of stakes in state firms

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India will speed up the sale of stakes in state companies to revive the stock market and will push ahead with reforms aimed at spurring an investment recovery in the flagging economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.Selling equity in large public industries is a central plank of the government‘s plan to bring down a wide fiscal deficit, a major weakness in Asia’s...

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