Wall Street flat amid stalemate in fiscal talks

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Thursday as investors fretted that a deal on the U.S. budget wouldn't come as soon as they had hoped after President Barack Obama threatened to veto a controversial Republican plan.

NYSE Euronext was the star of the day, surging more than 30 percent as the S&P 500's top percentage gainer, after IntercontinentalExchange Inc said it would buy the operator of the New York Stock Exchange for $8.2 billion.

NYSE was up 32.8 percent at $31.95, while ICE shares vacillated between gains and losses. The stock was last down 0.8 percent at $127.22.

The market barely reacted to a round of strong data, including an upward revision of gross domestic product growth and stronger-than-expected home sales, suggesting talks to avert the "fiscal cliff," steep tax hikes and spending cuts due in 2013, remain the primary focus for markets.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed ahead with their own fiscal plan in a move that muddles negotiations with the White House. Obama has vowed to veto the plan.

While investors have hoped for an agreement to come soon between policy makers, this seems unlikely as wrangling continues over the details.

"At least in the posturing it looks as if there are ultimatums put on the table, which tends to box either side in," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.

Still, the absence of a significant sell-off shows "the market still believes that there will be an announcement of some sort. But as the clock is ticking, the most you're going to get is a stop-gap measure," said Krosby.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> edged down 3.77 points, or 0.03 percent, at 13,248.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> added 1.12 points, or 0.08 percent, to 1,436.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> slipped 3.58 points, or 0.12 percent, to 3,040.78.

Stocks rallied earlier in the week 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.

Herbalife fell 5.3 percent to $35.35 in the wake of news that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was betting against the company as part of his big end-of-the-year short.

The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, while the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected in the latest week.

"It is great to see this kind of growth, but investors know it could all disappear if there's no deal on the cliff," said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York. "Macro data may be on the back burner for a while."

Existing home sales jumped 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, and by the fastest monthly place in three years. Housing shares <.hgx> gained 0.4 percent.

But KB Home slid 5.5 percent to $15.75 as the company reported higher homebuilding costs and expenses in the fourth quarter.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

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State Department Rebukes Israel Over Settlement Activity

The State Department accused Israel on Tuesday of engaging in a “pattern of provocative action” over the country’s plans to proceed with new settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Victoria Nuland, a department spokeswoman, said settlement activity only put the goal of peace “further at risk” and urged both Israel and the Palestinians to halt all provocations and take steps to revive long-stalled peace talks.

Her remarks were a rare rebuke of a close ally, but the United States has grown increasingly frustrated with the Israelis, who continue to announce new settlement construction and take other measures seen as retaliation over a recent United Nations vote to upgrade Palestine’s status.

Separately on Tuesday, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, called all Israeli settlements “illegal under international law.”

He warned that the East Jerusalem project “would make a negotiated two-state solution, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, very difficult to achieve.”

The European Union, Israel’s biggest trading partner, has been increasingly vocal in its criticism of new settlements.

A string of European governments summoned their Israeli ambassadors to lodge protests after the Israeli settlement announcements.

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Shooting renews argument over video-game violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the “culture of violence” — the entertainment industry’s embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.

“The violence in the entertainment culture — particularly, with the extraordinary realism to video games, movies now, et cetera — does cause vulnerable young men to be more violent,” Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said.

“There might well be some direct connection between people who have some mental instability and when they go over the edge — they transport themselves, they become part of one of those video games,” said Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, where 12 people were killed in a movie theater shooting in July.

White House adviser David Axelrod tweeted, “But shouldn’t we also quit marketing murder as a game?”

And Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting, “Video game violence & glorification must be stopped — it is creating monsters!”

There have been unconfirmed media reports that 20-year-old Newtown shooter Adam Lanza enjoyed a range of video games, from the bloody “Call of Duty” series to the innocuous “Dance Dance Revolution.” But the same could be said for about 80 percent of Americans in Lanza’s age group, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Law enforcement officials haven’t made any connection between Lanza’s possible motives and his interest in games.

The video game industry has been mostly silent since Friday’s attack, in which 20 children and six adults were killed. The Entertainment Software Association, which represents game publishers in Washington, has yet to respond to politicians’ criticisms. Hal Halpin, president of the nonprofit Entertainment Consumers Association, said, “I’d simply and respectfully point to the lack of evidence to support any causal link.”

It’s unlikely that lawmakers will pursue legislation to regulate the sales of video games; such efforts were rejected again and again in a series of court cases over the last decade. Indeed, the industry seemed to have moved beyond the entire issue last year, when the Supreme Court revoked a California law criminalizing the sale of violent games to minors.

The Supreme Court decision focused on First Amendment concerns; in the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that games “are as much entitled to the protection of free speech as the best of literature.” Scalia also agreed with the ESA’s argument that researchers haven’t established a link between media violence and real-life violence. “Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such exposure causes minors to act aggressively,” Scalia wrote.

Still, that doesn’t make games impervious to criticism, or even some soul-searching within the gaming community. At this year’s E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the industry’s largest U.S. gathering — some attendees were stunned by the intensity of violence on display. A demo for Sony’s “The Last of Us” ended with a villain taking a shotgun blast to the face. A scene from Ubisoft’s “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” showed the hero torturing an enemy. A trailer for Square Enix’s “Hitman: Absolution” showed the protagonist slaughtering a team of lingerie-clad assassins disguised as nuns.

“The ultraviolence has to stop,” designer Warren Spector told the GamesIndustry website after E3. “I do believe that we are fetishizing violence, and now in some cases actually combining it with an adolescent approach to sexuality. I just think it’s in bad taste. Ultimately I think it will cause us trouble.”

“The violence of these games can be off-putting,” Brian Crecente, news editor for the gaming website Polygon, said Monday. “The video-game industry is wrestling with the same issues as movies and TV. There’s this tension between violent games that sell really well and games like ‘Journey,’ a beautiful, artistic creation that was well received by critics but didn’t sell much.”

During November, typically the peak month for pre-holiday game releases, the two best sellers were the military shooters “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” from Activision, and “Halo 4,” from Microsoft. But even with the dominance of the genre, Crecente said, “There has been a feeling that some of the sameness of war games is grating on people.”

Critic John Peter Grant said, “I’ve also sensed a growing degree of fatigue with ultra-violent games, but not necessarily because of the violence per se.”

The problem, Grant said, “is that violence as a mechanic gets old really fast. Games are amazing possibility spaces! And if the chief way I can interact with them is by destroying and killing? That seems like such a waste of potential.”

There are some hints of a sneaking self-awareness creeping into the gaming community. One gamer — Antwand Pearman, editor of the website GamerFitNation — has called for other players to join in a “Day of Cease-Fire for Online Shooters” this Friday, one week after the massacre.

“We are simply making a statement,” Pearman said, “that we as gamers are not going to sit back and ignore the lives that were lost.”

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It's a Boy for James Marsden

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

12/19/2012 at 01:30 PM ET

Christopher Polk/Getty; Courtesy Rose Costa

James Marsden is a father for the third time.

Brazilian model Rose Costa delivered a son, William Luca Costa-Marsden, on Friday, Dec. 14 in Los Angeles, PEOPLE has learned.

The 30 Rock star, who briefly dated Costa after his split from wife Lisa Linde in 2011, picked the name and is being very supportive, a source tells PEOPLE.

Marsden, 39, is already dad to daughter Mary James, 7, and son Jack Holden, 11, with Linde.

A rep for the actor could not be reached for comment.

– Sarah Michaud with reporting by Lesley Messer

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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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Wall Street trades flat after two-day rally, GM jumps

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks barely budged on Wednesday as stalled "fiscal cliff" negotiations gave investors little reason to keep buying following the best two-day rally for the S&P 500 in a month.

General Motors bucked the overall weakness to surge 8 percent after the company said it will buy back 200 million of its shares from the U.S. Treasury, which plans to sell the rest of its GM stake over the next 15 months. GM shot up 8 percent to $27.52.

Talks on avoiding the tax hikes and spending cuts that are set to come into effect in the new year are at a standstill amid a Republican plan to vote on extending tax cuts for all but those making $1 million or more, senior administration officials said.

President Barack Obama said he is still optimistic a deal is possible and that he would like to get it done before Christmas.

Investors are concerned that the fiscal cliff could send the U.S. economy back into recession, though most expect an agreement will be reached eventually.

Investors are positioning for a possible retreat once a deal is announced as market participants may choose to sell on the news after the recent run-up, said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, in Toledo, Ohio.

If expectations of a deal start to buoy the market, "we'd be more inclined to take profits than chase these valuations now," Lancz said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> slipped 14.45 points, or 0.11 percent, to 13,336.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> shed 3.06 points, or 0.21 percent, to 1,443.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 1.75 points, or 0.06 percent, to 3,056.28.

Markets have been lifted in recent weeks by any signs that an agreement between policymakers over the budget may be reached, with banks and energy shares - groups that outperform during periods of economic expansion - leading gains.

The S&P 500 added 2.3 percent over the past two sessions, the first time it has marked two straight days of 1 percent gains since late July. Still, trading has been light ahead of the holidays, and with investors' focus on the budget talks.

Defensive sectors led the downside on Wednesday, with the S&P utilities sector index <.gspu> slipping 0.5 percent.

Gains in technology shares boosted the Nasdaq after Oracle reported earnings that beat expectations on strong software sales growth. Oracle jumped 4 percent to $34.19, while the S&P tech sector index <.gspt> was up 0.1 percent.

Knight Capital Group Inc climbed 5.7 percent to $3.52 after it agreed to be bought by Getco Holdings in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. The stock, which nearly collapsed after a trading error in August, remains down about 70 percent so far this year.

An index of housing stocks gained 0.2 percent after data showed homebuilding permits touched their highest level in nearly 4-1/2 years in November. The PHLX housing index <.hgx> has surged nearly 70 percent this year as the housing market has turned the corner.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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World Briefing | Mideast: Chief Public Prosecutor in Egypt Quits After One Month

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt fought outside a courthouse in Cairo on Monday.

The chief public prosecutor appointed last month by President Mohamed Morsi stepped down Monday after a demonstration by district prosecutors accusing him of political bias. The district prosecutors accused the new chief, Talaat Ibrahim Abdullah, of pressing one of their peers to file charges against a group of opposition protesters accused of receiving money to use violence. Mr. Morsi had said that appointing Mr. Abdullah as chief prosecutor was one of the main goals of the Nov. 22 presidential decree granting himself temporary power above the courts, which set off weeks of protests here.

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Merry Christmas, America-Haters?

When TNT was preparing its annual special “Christmas in Washington” with the president of the United States, you’d think the last star musician they would consider to join the official caroling would be Psy, the South Korean rapper. What on Earth is Christmasy about this man’s invisible-horse-riding dance to his dorky disco-rap hit “Gangnam Style”? It’s not exactly the natural flip-side to “O Holy Night.” But TNT couldn’t resist this year’s YouTube sensation.

This inane publicity stunt backfired when the website Mediaite reported on Dec. 7 that Psy (real name: Park Jae-sang) had participated in a 2002 protest in which he crushed a model of an American tank with a microphone stand. But that’s nothing compared to the footage of a 2004 performance after a Korean missionary was slaughtered by Islamists in Iraq. These lyrics cannot be misunderstood.

“Kill those f—-ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives … Kill those f—-ing Yankees who ordered them to torture … Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers … Kill them all slowly and painfully.”

This isn’t just anti-American. It’s anti-human.

Guess where this story first surfaced in the American media? CNN, from the same corporate family tree as TNT. It was posted back on Oct. 6 on CNN’s iReport, an open-source online news feature that allows users to submit stories for CNN consideration.

The Korean one-hit wonder put out the usual abject careerist apology, but he weirdly said, “I’m deeply sorry for how these lyrics could be interpreted.” Those darn lyrics and those darn people who misinterpret lyrics about killing Yankees’ mothers. It is like Barack Obama expressing regret for the awful things said about Susan Rice, ignoring the awful things said by Susan Rice.

Psy is now a millionaire. As Jim Treacher wrote at the Daily Caller: “So far he’s made over $ 8 million from the song, about $ 3 million of it from the people he once wanted to kill.” Brad Schaeffer at Big Hollywood noted his own father fought for South Korea’s independence in the Korean War: “Had it not been for ‘f——-g Yankees’ like my Dad, this now-wealthy South Korean wouldn’t be ‘Oppan Gangnam Style’ so much as ‘Starving Pyongyang Style.’” (Gangnam is a posh district in the South Korean capital of Seoul.)

Despite the controversy, neither the Obama White House nor the TNT brass felt it was necessary to send Psy packing before the Dec. 9 taping. On Saturday, ABC reporter Muhammad Lila merely repeated, “the White House says the concert will go on and that President Obama will attend, saying that they have no control over who performs at that concert.”

What moral cowardice. On Monday morning, another pliant publicist, NBC correspondent Peter Alexander, calmly relayed that the White House did take control on the Psy front — on its own “We The People” website, where the people may post petitions to the president for their fellow citizens to sign. A petition asking Obama to dump Psy from the Christmas concert was itself dumped. Alexander explained: “But that petition was removed because the rules say the petitions only apply to federal actions. And, of course, the President had no say over who the private charity chose to invite.”

This is double baloney. The White House hasn’t removed silly “federal action” petitions like the one asking to “Nationalize the Twinkie Industry,” or one to “Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016.” They removed one that they didn’t want people to sign.

As for Obama having “no say over” who appeared on the TNT show, the president could easily declare he wasn’t going to share a stage with this America-hater. Or he could have obviously placed one phone call to Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes (an Obama donor), and expressed the dismay of the President of the United States.

Instead, the Obamas came and honored Psy. Yes, the president honored a man who despised America enough to want its citizens slaughtered.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting and Cable magazine observed, “At the end of the taping, when the First Family customarily shakes hands and talks briefly with the performers, the First Lady gave Psy a hug, followed by a handshake from the President, who engaged Psy in a short, animated discussion — at one point Psy appeared to rock back with laughter — and patted the singer on the shoulder.”

I never thought I’d ever view a Christmas special featuring a hideous hater of America celebrated by the President of the United States.

L. Brent Bozell III is the president of the Media Research Center. To find out more about Brent Bozell III, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM

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Survivor Winner Denise Stapley: 'I'm in a Daze'

TV Watch

By Steve Helling

12/18/2012 at 01:10 PM EST

Denise Stapley

Nate Beckett/Splash News Online

Denise Stapley shattered Survivor records by being the only player in the show's 25-season history to go to every tribal council – including the final one, where six of the eight jury members voted to award her the million dollar prize.

Moments after exiting the stage at the Survivor reunion, the 41-year-old sex therapist from Iowa told PEOPLE what she'll do with her money – and how she got her incredible arms.

Before we talk Survivor, you are shorter than I expected!
I'm 5'2". Everyone says, "You're so little." I'm one of those people who look bigger on TV.

It's probably because you're so buff. How did you get those arms?
I love to swim. It's my recreation and my exercise. I am most comfortable in the water. I loved the water challenges in the Philippines.

But there weren't many at all!
I know! What's up with that? There were weather issues so we couldn't be in the water as much as I would have liked. But you adapt.

You were on a tribe that lost repeatedly. How did you adapt to that?
Just every day, you assess where you are and what you need to do. I was never in real danger because I was aligned with Malcolm. But yes, losing all those challenges was so demoralizing. We lost the first one, and the momentum just want away. On paper, our tribe was as strong as the others, but it just didn't work out that way in actuality.

You mentioned your alliance with Malcolm, but he was very angry at you when you voted him off.
I made a move. You have to make moves in this game, and I made one to get rid of my biggest threat. Malcolm is great and we are friends, but if you don't make moves in Survivor, you go home.

How are things between you and Malcolm now?
Just fine, they really are. We will always be friends.

(Malcolm later told PEOPLE, "She's my jungle mama. If I couldn't win, I wanted her to win. I love her and we will always be close. Always.")

So you recognized Lisa Whelchel right away, correct?
Yes, I did. They didn't show it but I was the one who told Jonathan Penner who she was.

And what was it like competing against her?
You know, she was wonderful – just a nice, great woman. It's easy to say this because I won, but I really appreciated everyone out there.

Even Abi?
Even Abi. I meant what I said in tribal council. I stand behind the things that I said. But sure, I could have phrased things better.

So what were your strengths in the game?
I can listen to people very well. Pay attention to what they're saying, and react to them. I'm physically fit, and I was able to work hard around the camp. I also tried to adapt to each situation.

How sure were you that you were going to win?
I had a good idea that I might, but you don't want to assume. So I just felt cautiously optimistic.

What will you do with the $1 million prize?
I will relax a little bit, take a deep breath and go from there. I'm in a daze right now. My daughter is nine, so I'll set up college funds and all that. And I will always be thankful for Survivor for this incredible gift of the adventure ... and, of course, the million dollars!

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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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