Stock futures flat on uncertainty over "fiscal cliff" talks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were flat on Thursday amid uncertainty over U.S. fiscal negotiations, as President Barack Obama threatened to veto a controversial Republican plan, suggesting a deal wouldn't come as soon as many investors had hoped.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, in a brief press conference Wednesday, said his chamber would pass a proposal that spares many wealthy Americans from tax hikes needed to balance the budget. Obama has threatened to veto the plan if it passes, while some Republicans oppose any deal featuring tax increases.

"This is enough to make people think talks have regressed, which is making people nervous," said James Dailey, portfolio manager of TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. "We don't know how much of this is just political posturing, and we're probably past the point of automatic faith a deal will be cut."

Equities have been volatile this week, though they notched strong gains Monday and Tuesday as offers from Obama and Boehner indicated progress was being made in budget discussions.

That rally ended Wednesday as shares slumped, though they remain near a two-month high, as a rise in tensions in the talks threatened to unravel recent progress.

While many investors still expect a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff," steep tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect in 2013 that could tip the economy into recession, agreement may not come as quickly as they had hoped.

S&P 500 futures rose 1.2 point and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 9 point and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 5.75 points.

Stocks have rallied recently on signs of progress in the negotiations, led by banking and energy shares, which tend to outperform in times of economic expansion. On signs of complications, however, many have turned to hedging their bets through options and exchange-traded funds.

Investors await the latest economic data for trading impetus; weekly jobless claims and the final estimate on third-quarter gross domestic product are both due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). The pace of growth is likely to be revised up to 2.8 percent from 2.7 percent, while claims are expected to rise to 357,000 in the latest week, from 343,000.

November existing home sales are due at 10:00 a.m. and are seen rising 1.3 percent, compared with 2.1 percent in October, while the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank's December business activity survey is forecast to come in at -3.0 compared to -10.7 in November.

"People are starting to feel vulnerable on the fiscal cliff, so any negative data could have an outsized impact on trading," Dailey said.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc is in talks to buy NYSE Euronext , the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, according to a source familiar with the situation on Wednesday, in a multibillion dollar deal.

Google Inc agreed to sell set-top TV box maker Motorola Home to Arris Group Inc for $2.35 billion in cash and stock. Arris rose 3.2 percent to $15 in premarket trading.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Egypt opposition vows to fight on against Islamist charter

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's opposition, facing defeat over a new constitution in a referendum this weekend, urged its supporters to reject the Islamist-backed charter and pledged to fight on to amend it during elections expected next year.

Forty-eight hours before the second round of the plebiscite, the main opposition coalition of liberals, leftist, Christians and secular Muslims called for a "no" vote against a document it views as leaning too far towards Islamism.

The first day of voting last weekend resulted in a 57 percent majority in favor of the constitution, promoted by President Mohamed Mursi as a vital step in Egypt's transition to democracy almost two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak.

The second stage on Saturday is expected to produce another "yes" vote as it covers areas of the country that are seen as more conservative and likely to back Mursi.

The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition, said a "no" vote meant taking a stand against attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood, Mursi's political backers, to dominate Egypt.

"For the sake of the future, the masses of our people should strongly and firmly say 'no' to injustice and 'no' to the Brotherhood's dominance," the Front said in a statement.

A senior Front member, Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, head of the Popular Socialist Coalition Party, said that if the constitution was approved, the opposition would go on fighting to change it.

"That's why we will participate in the legislative election because it is the only way to amend the constitution," he said.

The constitution must be in place before elections can be held. If it passes, the poll should be held within two months.

In an attempt to mobilize voters, the opposition said it planned to hold public meetings, distribute flyers and send cars equipped with loudspeakers through the streets.

A street protest against the constitution in Cairo this week attracted only a few hundred people, well down on the numbers drawn to previous such events.

ISLAMIST GROUPS

Islamist groups are planning a mass protest in Alexandria on Friday, a move likely to raise tensions a day before the vote.

The rally by the Muslim Brotherhood was called after a violent confrontation between Islamists and the opposition in Egypt's second city last week that ended with a Muslim preacher besieged inside his mosque for 14 hours.

The run-up to the referendum has been marked by often violent protests in which at least eight people have died.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the final stage of the referendum to pass off peacefully so the country can focus on building "a pyramid of democracy in the heart of the Arab world".

"I sincerely hope there should be no further violence and the protest must be carried out in a peaceful manner so people will be free to express their views," Ban told reporters in New York on Wednesday.

Mursi and his backers say the constitution is needed to advance Egypt's transition from decades of military-backed autocratic rule. Opponents say it is too Islamist and ignores the rights of women and of minorities, including 10 percent of Egyptians who are Christian.

Demonstrations erupted when Mursi awarded himself extraordinary powers on November 22 and then fast-tracked the constitution through a drafting assembly dominated by his Islamist allies and boycotted by many liberals.

The referendum is being held over two days because many of the judges needed to oversee polling stayed away in protest.

Judicial authorities on Thursday named the judges who will supervise polling stations on Saturday. The opposition cited a lack of judges at some polling stations in a list of alleged irregularities in the first round.

In order to pass, the constitution must be approved by more than 50 percent of those voting.

(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

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What If Nothing or Nobody is to Blame for Lanza? Guns, Video Games, Autism or Authorities

What if there is nobody or nothing to blame for Adam Lanza‘s heinous acts? Other than Lanza, of course.

What if school security and the school psychiatrist kept an eye on Lanza since his freshman year? The Wall Street Journal has a compelling narrative about the red flags addressed.

What if he had a form of autism that has little or no link to violent behavior? Lanza may have had Asperger’s syndrome but, even so, that is not a cause.

What if it’s too simple to lay the massacre at the feet of the gun lobby? Reader Larry Kelly tweets that shaming Aspies “makes about as much sense at stigmatizing the NRA. Pick an enemy … any enemy. Let outrage and fear rule.”

What if Lanza wasn’t provoked by video games? David Axelrod, a close friend an adviser of President Obama, tweeted last night: “In NFL post-game: an ad for shoot ‘em up video game. All for curbing weapons of war. But shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game.”

When I asked whether he was laying groundwork for a White House initiative, Axelrod said no: “Just one man’s observation.” A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonytmmity, said today that Axelrod was not a stalking horse for Obama on this issue.

What if Lanza’s mother did everything she could, short of keeping her guns out her adult son’s reach? What if he wasn’t bullied?

What if there is nobody or nothing to blame? Would that make this inexplicable horror unbearable?

What if we didn’t rush to judgement? What if we didn’t waste our thoughts, prayers and actions on assigning blame for the sake of mere recrimination? What if we calmly and ruthlessly learned whatever lessons we can from the massacre — and prevented the next one?

A parting thought: What if it wasn’t one thing, but everything, that set off Lanza?

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The Voice Crowns Cassadee Pope!

TV Watch

By Julia Haskins

12/18/2012 at 11:20 PM EST

Cassadee Pope (Blake Shelton, inset)

Tyler Golden/NBC (2)

Cassadee Pope is the new winner of The Voice!

After several powerful performances the night before, the top three singers – Nicholas David (of Team Cee Lo) and Terry McDermott and Pope (of Blake Shelton's team) – faced the music on Tuesday during the final results show of season 3.

Pope thanked her fans who supported her throughout the competition. She was joined onstage by McDermott, who was the runner-up, and David, who came in third place.

It was a night of music as Rihanna, newly engaged Kelly Clarkson, Bruno Mars and the Killers celebrated with the finalists by displaying their talents.

Season 4 of The Voice premieres March 25, 2013, with Shakira and Usher stepping in to take over for Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green.

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Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma

WASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.

Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?

For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.

But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.

"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.

"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.

Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.

Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.

Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.

There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.

Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.

Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.

In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.

Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.

But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.

Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.

To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.

Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.

When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.

Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.

Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.

Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

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Stock futures set to gain for a third day, Oracle rallies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Wednesday as the latest offers in ongoing U.S. budget negotiations underlined hopes for a deal, while technology shares were lifted by strong results from Oracle.

The S&P 500 is on track to extend its best two-day run in a month, a sign that investors are looking past the "fiscal cliff," a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts many fear could push the economy into recession if they take effect next year.

President Barack Obama's most recent offer to Republicans in the ongoing fiscal talks made concessions on taxes and social programs spending, amid concerns from Senate Democrats. House Speaker John Boehner said he remained hopeful about an agreement, though the offer was "not there yet."

"Both Obama and Boehner have been making concessions, suggesting a deal will get done before the deadline, resulting in an acceleration in stock buying," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.

Tech shares will be in focus a day after Oracle Corp reported earnings that beat expectations on strong software sales growth. Shares rose 2.1 percent to $33.56 in premarket trading.

FedEx Corp reported second-quarter revenue that beat expectations, but said its earnings in the quarter had been impacted by Superstorm Sandy. Shares were slightly lower in light premarket trading.

S&P 500 futures rose 2.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 37 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 10.5 points.

The S&P has gained 2.3 percent over the past two sessions, the first time it has notched two straight days of 1 percent gains since late July. Markets have been supported by any indication agreement might be reached, with banks and energy shares- groups that outperform during periods of economic expansion - leading gains.

"We've been breaking above levels of resistance, including the 50-day moving average and the November high, so from a technical standpoint we're seeing a lot of improvement," Sarhan said. "We're set up for a strong 2013."

Trading volume has been light ahead of the holidays and as some caution remains over the cliff. Equities have struggled to gain ground in recent weeks amid signs there was little room for compromise between the two political parties.

November housing starts are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 873,000 housing starts in November versus 894,000 in October.

General Mills Inc reported earnings that beat expectations and raised its full-year profit view, citing a recent acquisition which lifted sales.

Knight Capital Group agreed to be sold to Getco Holding Company LLC in a deal valuing Knight at about $1.4 billion. Shares of Knight rose more than 6 percent in premarket trading before being halted.

Industrial machinery maker SPX Corp is closing in on a roughly $4.2 billion deal to buy rival Gardner Denver Inc , as it makes progress in securing financing, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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South Korea's Park seen winning presidential race

SEOUL (Reuters) - The daughter of a former military ruler led the count of votes in South Korea's presidential election on Wednesday, putting her on track to become its first woman head of state although her narrow advantage meant the race was set to go to the wire.

A win for 60-year old conservative Park Geun-hye would see her return to the presidential palace where she served as her father's first lady in the 1970s after Park's mother was assassinated by a North Korean-backed gunman.

With a third of the votes counted, Park led by 53 percent to 47 percent for her left-wing challenger, human rights lawyer Moon Jae-in, and broadcaster KBS said based on that, she would win by at least four percentage points.

She also led an exit poll by 50.1 percent to Moon's 48.9 percent.

Final turnout was 75.8 percent, just less than the 77 percent her opponent had appealed for in a bid to turn out the youth vote that was more likely to be for him.

If she does win, Park will take office for a mandatory single, five-year term in February and will face an immediate challenge from a hostile North Korea and have to deal with an economy in which annual growth rates have fallen to about 2 percent from an average of 5.5 percent in the past 50 years.

She is unmarried and has no children, saying that her life will be devoted to her country.

At the headquarters of her Saenuri party, officials greeted the exit polls with a huge cheer, although a clear picture of results may not emerge until 11 p.m. (1400 GMT).

"I'm sure it will go well," said Kim Sung-joo, co-chairwoman of Park's election committee.

The legacy of her father, Park Chung-hee, who ruled for 18 years and transformed the country from the ruins of the 1950-53 Korean War into an industrial power-house still divides Koreans.

For many conservatives, he is South Korea's greatest president and the election of his daughter would vindicate his rule. His opponents dub him a "dictator" who trampled on human rights and stifled dissent.

"I trust her. She will save our country," said Park Hye-sook, 67, who voted in an affluent Seoul district, earlier in the day.

"Her father ... rescued the country," said the housewife and grandmother, who is no relation to the candidate.

For younger people, the main concern of the election is the economy and the creation of well-paid jobs in a country where income inequalities have grown in recent years.

Cho Hae-ran, 41, who is married and works at a trading company, believed Moon would raise wages if he won.

"Now a McDonald's hamburger is over 5,000 Korean won ($4.66) so you can't buy a McDonald's burger with your hourly pay. Life is hard already for our two-member family but if there were kids, it would be much tougher."

Park has spent 15 years in politics as a leading legislator in the ruling Saenuri party, although her policies are sketchy.

Park has a "Happiness Promotion Committee" and her campaign was launched as a "National Happiness Campaign", a slogan she has since changed to "A Prepared Woman President".

She has cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a tough proponent of free markets, as her role model as well as Angela Merkel, the conservative German Chancellor who is Europe's most powerful leader.

NEGOTIATE WITH NORTH

One of those who voted on Wednesday was Shin Dong-hyuk, a defector from North Korea who is the only person known to have escaped from a slave labor camp there.

He Tweeted that he was voting "for the first time in my life", although he didn't say for whom.

Park has said she would negotiate with Kim Jong-un, the youthful leader of North Korea who recently celebrated a year in office, but wants the South's isolated and impoverished neighbor to give up its nuclear weapons program as a precondition for aid, something Pyongyang has refused to do.

The two Koreas remain technically at war after an armistice ended their conflict. Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of the North's current leader, ordered several assassination attempts on Park's father, one of which resulted in her mother being shot to death in 1974.

Park herself met Kim Jong-un's father, the late leader Kim Jong-il, and declared he was "comfortable to talk to" and he seemed to be someone "who would keep his word".

The North successfully launched a long-range rocket last week in what critics said was a test of technology for an intercontinental ballistic missile and has recently stepped up its attacks on Park, describing her as holding a "grudge" and seeking "confrontation", code for war.

Park remains a firm supporter of a trade pact with the United States that and looks set to continue the free-market policies of her predecessor, although she has said she would seek to spread wealth more evenly.

Moon had pledged to tackle the power of the country's vast export-oriented industrial conglomerates, the so-called chaebol, but Park has stressed their value in creating jobs.

The biggest of all the chaebol, Samsung Group, which produces the world's top selling smartphone as well as televisions, computer chips and ships, has sales equivalent to about a fifth of South Korea's national output.

(Additional reporting by Jumin Park, Seongbin Kang, Narae Kim, SoMang Yang; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Robert Birsel)

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$35 Raspberry Pi computer gets its own app store

Title Post: $35 Raspberry Pi computer gets its own app store
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A Very Royal Christmas (but Not Really)

William and Kate's doppelgängers show how the expectant parents might spend their holiday

Credit: Alison Jackson/REX USA

Updated: Friday Dec 14, 2012 | 03:30 PM EST

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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 clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Little is known about Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the unfolding investigation, said Lanza had been diagnosed with Asperger's.

High school classmates and others have described him as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner. Those kinds of symptoms are consistent with Asperger's, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism, including Asperger's, but has no knowledge of Lanza's case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said.

"But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," he said in an email.

"These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles," he added.

Autism is a developmental disorder that can range from mild to severe. Asperger's generally is thought of as a mild form. Both autism and Asperger's can be characterized by poor social skills, repetitive behavior or interests and problems communicating. Unlike classic autism, Asperger's does not typically involve delays in mental development or speech.

Experts say those with autism and related disorders are sometimes diagnosed with other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"I think it's far more likely that what happened may have more to do with some other kind of mental health condition like depression or anxiety rather than Asperger's," Laugeson said.

She said those with Asperger's tend to focus on rules and be very law-abiding.

"There's something more to this," she said. "We just don't know what that is yet."

After much debate, the term Asperger's is being dropped from the diagnostic manual used by the nation's psychiatrists. In changes approved earlier this month, Asperger's will be incorporated under the umbrella term "autism spectrum disorder" for all the ranges of autism.

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AP Writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

___

Online:

Asperger's information: http://1.usa.gov/3tGSp5

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