Asian shares slide as U.S. budget impasse creates anxiety

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares slid on Friday after a Republican proposal to deal with a U.S. fiscal crunch failed to get enough support, deepening uncertainty over the U.S. can avert the "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to start January 1.

"Markets disliked signs of further delay in talks, with the risk that a deal may not be reached by the end of the year deadline," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo. "It clearly hit risk sentiment."

The U.S. House of Representatives will adjourn until after Christmas, Republican Representative Peter Roskam said on Thursday, after House Speaker John Boehner's proposed tax bill designed to avert the fiscal cliff failed to pass.

U.S. stock index futures fell sharply. S&P 500 stock futures slipped 1.7 percent, while Dow Jones stock futures and Nasdaq futures both lost 1.5 percent.

European shares will likely drop also, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> will open down as much as 0.6 percent. <.l><.eu/>

The worrying U.S. political news sparked selling in Asian shares, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> wiping out earlier gains to tumble 0.7 percent. The index was on track to end the week down 0.6 percent, the first weekly loss in five weeks.

Markets broadly had been supported by optimism that U.S. lawmakers would avoid the fiscal cliff, which threatens to derail the U.S. economy and drag down global growth with it.

Boehner's proposal was aimed at extracting concessions from the White House, which had threatened to veto it, and advance talks closer to a deal.

The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives, which abruptly recessed on late Thursday, may return as soon as December 27 with a yet-to-be-decided new plan, said a senior party aide.

"This is a major setback for a Fiscal Deal compromise between the two parties. I would say that chances of a deal are down to maybe 40 percent from 65 percent -- despite the dysfunction in Washington D.C," said Douglas A. Kass, founder of hedge fund Seabreeze Partners Management Inc.

Risk assets were sold off, from shares, oil to currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro. The yen firmed slightly, though it was pinned near multi-month lows versus the dollar and the euro on expectations for more aggressive Bank of Japan easing next year to drive the economy out of deflation.

"The delay in resolving the U.S. fiscal cliff problem is raising concern as the market expected some sort of positive direction out of the talks by the end of the year," said Fujio Ando, a senior managing director at Chibagin Asset Management.

Safe-haven government bond prices rose, with U.S. 10-year Treasury yields moving away from an 8-week high hit this week, falling about 6 basis points to 1.74 percent. Benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond yields also ticked down half a basis point to 0.765 percent.

Inflows into U.S. Treasuries underpinned the U.S. dollar, which inched up 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies <.dxy>.

Jim Barnes, senior fixed income manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co. in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, saw Treasuries continuing to gain once U.S. markets open later, but expected a correction by the end of the day.

"Treasury yields will likely fall Friday morning and will begin to reverse course in the afternoon as investors become more optimistic a deal will be reached," Barnes said.

"So far, the market has been handling setbacks in negotiation talks very well. With still a little bit of time left on the clock, this time around will be no different."

Asset performance in 2012: http://link.reuters.com/muc46s

U.S. GDP: http://link.reuters.com/guw34t

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Along with uncertainties surrounding the future of U.S. budget talks, a firmer dollar also weighed on dollar-based commodities.

The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.3206, off an 8-1/2-month high of $1.33085 touched on Wednesday.

U.S. crude futures dropped more than $1 to $89.10 a barrel, but oil was still on track for its biggest weekly gain since August.

Spot gold extended losses to near a four-month low touched on Thursday, and was last down 0.1 percent to $1,644.90 an ounce. Gold remained on course for a 12th annual growth on rock-bottom interest rates, concerns over the euro zone financial stability and diversification into bullion by central banks.

YEN GAINS SLIGHTLY

Anxieties over the U.S. budget negotiations also took their toll on Japan's Nikkei average <.n225>, which had been supported by a weaker yen. The Nikkei gave up all of earlier gains to close down 1 percent and below the key 10,000 mark it reclaimed for the first time since early April on Wednesday. <.t/>

The dollar was down 0.4 percent to 84.02 yen, moving away from a 20-month high of 84.62 yen hit on Wednesday.

The euro slumped 0.7 percent to 110.91 yen also off a 16-month high of 112.59 yen reached on Wednesday.

The yen was kept under pressure after the Bank of Japan further eased monetary policy as expected on Thursday, with investors anticipating that the central bank will be persuaded to pursue more drastic measures next year.

The incoming prime minister, Shinzo Abe, has called for bolder action by the central bank to help bring Japan out of decades-long deflation.

For all the fears of a fiscal cliff debacle to come, several data series showed the United States remained on a recovery track, helping to underpin the dollar.

(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano in Singapore, Jennifer Ablan in New York and Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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India Ink: India's Congress Party Close to Winning Himachal Pradesh in State Elections

Himachal Pradesh, a small, hilly state in northern India, seems poised to oust its Bharatiya Janata Party government, with its main challenger, the Congress party, leading in more than half of the state’s 68 constituencies.

At 11 a.m., Congress was leading in 36 constituencies, while the incumbent B.J.P. was ahead in 25. (Check the most recent results on the Election Commission website.) Smaller parties and independent candidates had a lead in four seats, and results were pending in other constituencies.

The mood at the state’s Congress office was already celebratory.

“Based on the trend so far, I can say that the Congress will win conclusively,” Congress leader Virbhadra Singh, who led the party’s campaign and was chief minister of the state for five terms, said in a televised interview. “Himachal Pradesh is a Congress state and we were told to take it back.”

From independence until 1990, Congress governed Himachal Pradesh almost exclusively. Since then, the two-party race between Congress and the B.J.P. has been neck-and-neck, with Congress winning one election and the B.J.P. the next.  Anti-incumbent sentiment has been a crucial factor in state elections throughout the country, and it appears to have played a particularly significant role in Himachal Pradesh.

The victory, if it indeed comes, is likely to provide some solace to Congress, whose credibility has suffered after a series of corruption scandals involving senior politicians. India’s slowing growth rate has also proved problematic for Congress as the country prepares for national polls in 2014.

State elections are seen a barometer of the mood of the nation. On Thursday,   Congress faces the prospect of a crushing defeat at the hands of the divisive B.J.P.  leader Narendra Modi, who is believed to have prime ministerial aspirations.

Himachal Pradesh went to the polls on Nov. 4, with an estimated 4.5 million casting their ballots, a turnout of nearly 75 percent. Major election issues ranged from corruption and inflation to local development. The election was a showdown between two stalwarts of state politics, the incumbent chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, 68, who is on his second term, and Mr. Singh, 78, of  Congress.

Counting of the results began at 8 a.m. on Thursday and was expected to conclude by early afternoon.

Read More..

The X Factor: Finalists Sing for Votes One Last Time

TV Watch

The X Factor

By Aaron Parsley

12/19/2012 at 10:40 PM EST

from left: Fifth Harmony, Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar

Ray Mickshaw/FOX

Who's going to get a $5 million recording contract?

The X Factor's season 2 finale got underway Wednesday night with the finalists performing three songs each – including a duet with a music superstar.

Britney Spears's contestant, Carly Rose Sonenclar, has been a favorite, trading the No. 1 spot with her fellow finalist, L.A. Reid's country singer Tate Stevens, through out the competition.

Carly first reprised "Feeling Good," and sang it better than the first time she performed it during her audition, according to judge Simon Cowell. "It's shocking how bright your star is," Spears said. She performed her duet with Leann Rimes, singing the country star's hit, "How Do I Live." Her final performance – of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" – had the judges gushing. "You looked like an angel," Demi Lovato said. "You sang like a ridiculously talented angel."

Tate, the competition's only country singer, first performed "Anything Goes" by Randy Houser. "I'm still obsessed with you," Demi said. Added Simon, "You are made in America. You are authentic." For his duet, he sang Little Big Town's cheeky party anthem, "Pontoon." And for his final performance in the competition, Tate sang Chris Young's "Tomorrow." "In a year's time," Simon said, "We're going to be hearing about your record sales."

"I'm almost crying because I realize it's the last time I'm going to see you perform on that stage," Demi said.

Simon's remaining act, girl group Fifth Harmony, may have had their best night yet in the competition, beginning with "Anything Can Happen." L.A. called it "magical," adding that they're "the one to beat." Britney said the colorful performance was "spectacular, girly and fun." Their duet, with The X Factor's own Demi Lovato, of "Give Your Heart a Break" was a highlight of the night.

"These girls are so easy to work with," the judge said. "They're so down to earth, so sweet and I love you guys. This was so much fun."

Their last song, "Let It Be" by the Beatles, proved how much the five members have "blossomed as a group," Britney said. Admitting his bias, their mentor Simon said, based on their performances on Wednesday, the girls of Fifth Harmony "deserve to win the competition."

Do you agree? Or is Tate or Carly your choice for the big prize? Tell us in the comments below.

The winner will be revealed Thursday in a two-hour show that will include a performance by One Direction.

Read More..

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.

Read More..

Wall Street falls as "cliff" talks sour, but hopes remain

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks sold off late in the day to close at session lows on Wednesday as talks to avert a year-end fiscal crisis turned sour, even as investors still expect a deal.

The S&P 500 slipped after a two-day rally that took the benchmark index to its highest close in two months. Defensive-oriented shares led the decliners, including health care and consumer staples.

General Motors bucked the overall weakness to surge 6.6 percent to $27.18 after the automaker 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.

President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans are struggling to come up with a deal to avoid early 2013 tax hikes and spending cuts that many economists say could send the U.S. economy into recession.

House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said in a one-minute press conference that his chamber will pass a proposal that Obama had already threatened to veto as it spares many wealthy Americans from tax hikes needed to balance the budget. Obama has already agreed to reductions in benefits for senior citizens.

"My guess is they're close to a deal, and right before, it looks like the deal is about to blow up either on manufactured or legitimate reasons," said Uri Landesman, president of hedge fund Platinum Partners in New York.

He said if the market thought a deal was in real danger, the S&P 500 would slide below 1,400. It stands now near 1,435, not far from a two-month high.

The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> surged 11.5 percent to 17.36, but has remained relatively stable. Its 14- 50- and 200-day averages are all within 1.1 points.

Landesman said the VIX's stability indicates "the bulls have control of this market still."

Banks and energy shares - groups that outperform during periods of economic expansion - have led recent gains, indicating a shift to focusing on a growing economy as Wall Street looks past the budget talks.

Defensive sectors led Wednesday's downturn, with the S&P health care sector index <.gspa> down 1.1 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 98.99 points, or 0.74 percent, to 13,251.97. The S&P 500 <.spx> lost 10.98 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1,435.81. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> fell 10.17 points, or 0.33 percent, to 3,044.36.

Herbalife Ltd shares tumbled 12.1 percent to $37.34 after William Ackman, one of the world's biggest hedge fund managers, said he is shorting the stock of the weight management products company.

Oracle shares helped cap the Nasdaq's loss after the company reported earnings that beat expectations on strong software sales growth. Oracle jumped 3.7 percent to $34.09.

Knight Capital Group Inc climbed 5.4 percent to $3.51 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.

Shares of Chinese display advertising provider Focus Media Holding Ltd jumped 6.7 percent to $25.52 after it agreed to be bought by a consortium of private equity funds led by the Carlyle Group for about $3.6 billion.

Data showed homebuilding permits touched their highest level in nearly 4-1/2 years in November. The PHLX housing index <.hgx> fell 0.8 percent, but has gained 66.4 percent this year as the housing market has turned the corner.

About 6.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, slightly above the daily average so far this year of about 6.45 billion shares.

Advancing and declining issues were almost even on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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IHT Rendezvous: To Japan-China Row, Add One Potential Provocateur

HONG KONG — The idea that armed conflict could break out in the Pacific over a handful of godforsaken islands is almost unthinkable, not only for the violence involved but also for the potentially calamitous economic and political repercussions. Political leaders, military officials and security analysts can barely utter the W-word out loud for fear they might be unbottling the genie.

But the dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea took another harrowing turn last week when a Chinese plane overflew the islands and Japan scrambled some fighter jets in response. The Japanese Defense Ministry said it was “the first known violation of Japanese airspace by a Chinese plane” in half a century, as my colleague Hiroko Tabuchi reported.

Naval vessels from both countries have been patrolling the islands, which are known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Bilateral tensions have been high enough that a bumping or brushing incident at sea — even an accidental one — might well lead to actual fighting.

Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the dispute “has left both countries deeply suspicious of each other, and public antipathy on both sides of the East China Sea is running high.” In China there have been nasty anti-Japanese riots.

The way ahead — combat or compromise — could conceivably hang on one man, Shinzo Abe, 58, who is due to be sworn in next week as the new prime minister of Japan.

The entire region, along with the United States, is waiting to see which of Mr. Abe’s political personalities emerges most forcefully — the conservative, nationalistic politician with a provocative streak when it comes to China, or the pragmatic statesman who would pull himself and his party back from the fire-breathing campaign rhetoric of recent weeks.

Worryingly, Mr. Abe appeared ready to add a ground dimension to the confrontation at the islands by pledging to station government workers or Coast Guard personnel there.

“If he follows through on what he’s been saying, we could have serious problems,” Gerald L. Curtis, an expert on Japanese politics at Columbia University, told my colleague Martin Fackler. “Who the heck wants to go to war over the Senkakus?”

Naturally, Mr. Abe’s posture in the region also concerns Washington, which is treaty-bound to defend Japan. “American analysts say the United States might balk at risking war with China if Japan is the one provoking a confrontation over the disputed islands,” Martin wrote.

Japan also has a separate but equally emotional and volatile dispute with South Korea: Both countries claim an atoll in the South China Sea known as the Dokdo islands in Korea and the Takeshima in Japan. (South Koreans went to the polls in a national election on Wednesday.)

Mr. Abe has “promised to push for a constitutional revision to convert Japan’s Self-Defense Forces into a full-fledged military,” said Ayako Doi, an associate fellow at the Asia Society.

In the wake of the landslide triumph of Mr. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party earlier this week, the principal state-run news media in China have already been promising a tougher foreign policy line from the government, especially over the islands. The editorial tone has been almost baleful.

One sample, from Global Times, a daily newspaper affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party:

Once Abe takes office, China should let him know about its firm stance. Only with such pressure will Abe hold China in esteem, otherwise he will think China is in a weak position. In recent years, every time Japan has switched to moderate policy toward China, it has been the result of China’s strong stance rather than its concessions.

Beijing could understandably be anticipating a harder line from Tokyo. Mr. Abe has serious credentials as a nationalist, even a provocative and unapologetic one. In a previous tenure as prime minister, from 2006-7, he denied that the Japanese military had forced women, many of them Koreans, into sexual slavery during World War II.

He also has suggested a revision of Article 9 of the Constitution might be in order, the section that says “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.” The article also says that “land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained.”

Mr. Abe has visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a Shinto temple that holds and honors the souls of Japan’s war dead — among them a number of convicted Class A war criminals. These visits cause diplomatic apoplexy in Beijing and Seoul, as both capitals consider Japan to be insufficiently repentant about its military’s atrocities in the war.

In 2007, as prime minister, he gave $425 for the planting of a 6-foot ceremonial evergreen at the shrine.

Mr. Abe went to Yasukuni two months ago in his role, as he pointed out, as the head of the Liberal Democratic Party. And in a nod to his pragmatic side, he walked back an earlier promise that he hoped to visit the shrine one day as prime minister.

“In view of current Japan-China and Japan-South Korea relations, it’s better not to say whether I will visit if I become prime minister,” he told reporters at the time.

In his first press briefing following the election this week, Abe the Conciliator showed up, saying, “China is an indispensable country for the Japanese economy to keep growing. We need to use some wisdom so that political problems will not develop and affect economic issues.”

But Abe the Provocateur also emerged, at the very same briefing, saying that the Senkaku/Diaoyu remain “the inherent territory of Japan.”

“We own and effectively control them,” he said. “There is no room for negotiations about that.”

Read More..

Leak reveals Polaroid’s Android-powered camera with interchangeable lenses

Samsung’s (005930) Galaxy Camera and Nikon’s (NINOY) Coolpix S800c are just the beginning of a swath of Android-powered cameras. Newly leaked images and specs point to Polaroid reviving its camera business with what could be the world’s first Android camera with interchangeable lenses. With no official name yet, the tentatively named IM1836 camera will reportedly feature a 18.1-megapixel sensor, 3.5-inch touchscreen, pop-up flash, Wi-Fi, HDMI and Android 4.0.

[More from BGR: A guide to all the insane predictions made by Google’s new engineering director]

The Galaxy Camera and Coolpix S800c do a fine job taking pictures that are considerably better than what you get from a smartphone, but they still can’t match a mirrorless camera with a good lens. At first glance, Polaroid’s camera looks to be a rebadged Nikon 1 J2, but the resemblance only runs skin deep, as PhotoRumors reports the camera only takes MicroSD cards.

[More from BGR: How not to fix Apple Maps]

Polaroid might not be a major player, but as more companies start incorporating Android into their cameras, there’s going to be a shift in the features consumers expect from them. In the next few years, novelty features such as Wi-Fi, cellular data and photo editing apps will be the norm and we’ll laugh at how we ever lived without them.

This article was originally published by BGR

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The Voice Crowns a Winner!

TV Watch

By Julia Haskins

12/18/2012 at 11:20 PM EST

From left: Terry McDermott, Cassadee Pope, Nicholas David and host Carson Daly

Tyler Golden/NBC

The Voice has a new winner!

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

Which one was the winner? Keep reading to find out ...

Cassadee Pope was named the winner of The Voice!

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.

Read More..

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.

Read More..

Asian shares, euro rise on hopes of U.S. "cliff" deal, BOJ easing

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian shares and the euro rose to multi-month highs on Wednesday as expectations of more aggressive monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan and signs of progress in resolving the U.S. "fiscal cliff" budget crisis lifted demand for riskier assets.

European shares were also expected to post gains. However, index futures pointed to a flat opening on Wall Street after the S&P 500 <.spx> had its best two-day run in a month on growing confidence a deal can be reached in Washington to avoid a raft of painful spending cuts and tax rises. <.n/>

"What is important, and what is driving the market higher, is that the two parties are now in constructive discussions over specific tax levels and spending programs, and working towards a common middle ground," said Cameron Peacock, a strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne.

Industrial commodities such as oil and copper consolidated earlier gains, while gold recovered some lost ground but remained not far above its lowest in nearly four months as progress in the U.S. budget talks limited its safe-haven appeal.

Financial spreadbetters called London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> and France's CAC-40 <.fhci> indexes to rise 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent. <.l><.eu/>

Tokyo's Nikkei share average <.n225> closed up 2.4 percent, topping 10,000 points for the first time since April, as the prospect of more monetary stimulus and a cheaper yen boosted financials stocks and shares of exporters. <.t/>

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> gained 0.4 percent, touching its highest level in nearly 17 months, while Australian shares <.axjo> and Hong Kong's Hang Seng <.hsi> also reached 17-month highs. <.ax><.hk/>

S&P 500 index futures were flat.

MORE JAPAN EASING EXPECTED

The Bank of Japan started a two-day meeting on Wednesday, under intense political pressure to expand its asset-buying program aggressively to snap the world's third-biggest economy out of its fourth recession since 2000.

Shinzo Abe, who was elected on Sunday as the country's next prime minister, called for the central bank to embark on "unlimited easing" and set an inflation target of 2 percent to beat deflation.

"The market is already in overbought territory, but investors are increasingly being alarmed that there is a risk of not having Japanese stocks in their portfolios," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities.

The euro rose as far as $1.3256 on electronic trading platform EBS, its highest since the beginning of May, and against the yen it reached 111.73, its highest since late August 2011.

"Unless U.S. fiscal cliff talks take an unexpected turn for the worse, we believe that EUR/USD will meet our 1.3300 year-end target," analysts at BNP Paribas wrote in a note.

Oil held steady, with Brent crude rising about 10 cents to just short of $109 a barrel and U.S. crude little changed below $88.

"There has been some progress in talks and it seems commodity markets have been supported by that, as well as a combination of the recent improvement in manufacturing data in China and the United States," said commodity analyst Stefan Graber of Credit Suisse in Singapore.

Copper was also flat just above $8,020 a tonne. Copper rallied almost 8 percent from mid-November to hit a two-month high a week ago, but has since lost some ground.

Gold rose 0.3 percent to around $1,675 an ounce, after falling to $1,661.01 on Tuesday, its lowest since August.

(Additional reporting by Miranda Maxwell in Melbourne, Ian Chua in Sydney and Melanie Burton in Singapore; Editing by Richard Borsuk)

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