Dec
16

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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49ers clinch playoff berth, 41-34 over Patriots

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The San Francisco 49ers turned a nearly historic collapse into a stunning victory and a playoff berth.San Francisco withstood a 28-point comeback by the New England Patriots to win 41-34 on Sunday night in the rain. Michael Crabtree took a short pass from Colin Kaepernick and sped around cornerback Kyle Arrington for a 38-yard touchdown with 6:25 to go, then David Akers made...
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Experts Say Thimerosal Ban Would Imperil Global Health Efforts

A group of prominent doctors and public health experts warns in articles to be published Monday in the journal Pediatrics that banning thimerosal, a mercury compound used as a preservative in vaccines, would devastate public health efforts in developing countries. Representatives from governments around the world will meet in Geneva next month in a session convened by the United Nations...
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Pilots at United Agree on a Contract

United Airlines pilots have agreed to a new joint union contract, bringing the airline closer to completing its merger with Continental. The new four-year contract, which includes raises averaging 43 percent and bigger retirement contributions, covers those who came from United as well as pilots who flew for Continental before the carriers merged in 2010 into United Continental Holdings....
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Dec
15

As Gold Is Spirited Out of Afghanistan, Officials Wonder Why

Zalmai for The New York TimesA Kabul jewelry shop. Officials are concerned about gold being flown out of Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country....
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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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Butler upsets No. 1 Indiana 88-86 in OT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — All Butler guard Alex Barlow saw Saturday was space and an opportunity to make a play.So the unlikeliest player on the floor took a chance and made the biggest shot of the game.When Indiana's defenders failed to converge on the 5-foot-11 walk-on, Barlow kept right on going through the lane, drove to the basket and hit a spinning 6-foot jumper with 2.4 seconds left in overtime Saturday...
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School Yoga Class Draws Religious Protest From Christians

T. Lynne Pixley for The New York TimesMiriam Ruiz during a yoga class last week at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School in Encinitas, Calif. A few dozen parents are protesting that the program amounts to religious indoctrination. More Photos »ENCINITAS, Calif. — By 9:30 a.m. at Paul Ecke Central Elementary School, tiny feet were shifting from downward dog pose to chair pose to warrior pose in surprisingly...
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As Gold Is Spirited Out of Afghanistan, Officials Wonder Why

Zalmai for The New York TimesA Kabul jewelry shop. Officials are concerned about gold being flown out of Afghanistan. KABUL, Afghanistan — Packed into hand luggage and tucked into jacket pockets, roughly hewed bars of gold are being flown out of Kabul with increasing regularity, confounding Afghan and American officials who fear money launderers have found a new way to spirit funds from the country....
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Dec
14

German Lawmakers Seek to Ban Far-Right Party

BERLIN — Nearly a decade after the German government embarrassingly failed in an attempt to ban the country’s leading extreme-right political party, the upper house of Parliament on Friday voted overwhelmingly to launch a new effort to have the National Democratic Party deemed unconstitutional. The decision to ask the country’s highest court to open proceedings against the party, known by...
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