LONDON (AP) – European stock markets showed little movement Friday after strong gains the day before on U.S. data revealing the world’s largest economy had broken out of a yearlong slump. In morning trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent to 5,149.16, Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 percent to 5,563.52 and France’s CAC 40 slipped 0.1 percent to 3,709.35. Wall Street was expected to open lower Friday. Dow Jones industrial average futures were 0.3 percent lower at 9,87... Read Full Story

MUMBAI, India (AP) - The slum kid stars of “Slumdog Millionaire” want a lot of things in life – new houses, a car, trips to London and Paris – but they aren’t too interested in school. Ten-year-old Rubina Ali has missed nearly 75 percent of her classes and her co-star hasn’t done much better – truancy that filmmakers say will jeopardize their trust funds and monthly stipends if it continues. Their parents blame the absences on deaths in the family or ... Read Full Story

NEW YORK (AP) – Stocks are headed for a modest decline Friday, erasing some of the big gains racked up a day earlier after the government said the economy grew more than expected in the third quarter. Overseas markets were mixed. Investors welcomed a report showing the economy grew at 3.5 percent in the third quarter, but much of that growth was fueled by government stimulus programs. With those programs winding down, the economy might not be able to sustain such rapid improvement after... Read Full Story

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (AP) - Phish and crew bustle about Shoreline Amphitheater’s backstage area, a sprawling patio where memories linger of raging parties from bygone tours. Hours before a recent show, the scene is markedly different. Voices and footfalls carry across the expanse of empty picnic tables. A baby stroller clatters across wooden planks. As afternoon slants into evening, a ruckus finally kicks up: The clip-clop of a pingpong game between Trey Anastasio and his teenage d... Read Full Story

SYDNEY (AP) – An Australian rapper who was a boyhood friend of Heath Ledger has released a music video the star directed shortly before his death. N’fa Forster-Jones posted the 3 minute, 31 second-clip for his song “Cause An Effect” on his YouTube and MySpace pages on Thursday, along with a video in which he explains how the project came about. Ledger, the celebrity-shy star of Batman blockbuster, “The Dark Night,” and the posthumously released “The I... Read Full Story

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Call it a culture clash, trans-Atlantic style. The Brits think the Americans are puritanical and somewhat batty. The Americans find the Brits morally lax and too willing to bend the rules. It all started at a high school in Maine when a student consumed half a bottle of Fentimans Victorian Lemonade, then looked at the label and discovered it contained small amounts of alcohol, listed as less than 0.5 percent. By contrast, a typical American beer usually contains about 5... Read Full Story

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dennis Hopper has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is canceling all travel plans to focus on treatment, his manager said Thursday. The 73-year-old actor and artist is being treated through a “special program” at the University of Southern California, said Sam Maydew. Asked about Hopper’s prognosis, Maydew said, “We’re hoping for the best.” He would not elaborate on the actor’s condition. Hopper was forced to cancel his appear... Read Full Story

NEW YORK (AP) - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honors music’s most treasured acts, but this time it was the hall’s turn to be feted, as Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and more celebrated the hall’s 25th birthday with a concert that included all-star collaborations, spellbinding guitars, plenty of high notes – and even tears. Thursday’s extravaganza at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the first of two concerts, ran more than five hours, and wa... Read Full Story

BEIJING (AP) - Apple’s iPhone is making its long-awaited formal debut in the world’s most populous mobile phone market, without a key feature and at higher prices than widely available black market models. Apple’s local service provider, China Unicom Ltd., hopes the iPhone will give it an edge against giant rival China Mobile Ltd., the world’s biggest phone company by subscribers. Unicom was to start selling iPhones equipped for third-generation service Friday night at... Read Full Story

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The nonprofit body that oversees Internet addresses approved Friday the use of Hebrew, Hindi, Korean and other scripts not based on the Latin alphabet in a decision that could make the Web dramatically more inclusive. The board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – or ICANN – voted to allow such scripts in so-called domain names at the conclusion of a weeklong meeting in Seoul, South Korea’s capital. The decision follows years... Read Full Story