Stock futures flat amid "fiscal cliff" uncertainty

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock 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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Letter from India: What Saves India — and Holds It Back

NEW DELHI — The Election Commission of India is a very serious body that does not believe the world will end this Friday, a workday. The commission is instead preparing for a more certain event in 2014: the general elections that will place a new government in Delhi, an event that has the potential to be cataclysmic to some. Recently I heard a financial adviser who was recording a group of children singing Christmas carols in a beautiful garden warn an insurance executive: “The stock market will collapse.”

His is a common view. With the reputation of every major political party battered in the public imagination following a string of corruption scandals, he predicted that the next government would be an unstable coalition assembled by too many political parties, with nearly everyone having a say.

There are more political parties in India than there are models of automobiles, which is a reason why the job requirements of a political journalist here do not include an ability to name all the parties. The 2009 general elections were contested by more than 364 parties. It would seem that such a situation is a problem, and it is. Yet it answers, to some extent, the frequent questions of the urban elite: What saves India? Why is there no violent revolution on the streets with angry young men cutting down the rich and burning the silver sedans? Considering the oceanic gap between the middle class and the poor that makes even the act of eating a burger in public somewhat embarrassing, how is it that the elite have never been separated from their heads?

Could it be that what saves India is politics? Can this be true even though every incident of large-scale violence in the country has been politically ordained? The nation gives its citizens plenty of reasons to take to the streets and disrupt what the wealthy regard as normal life. But the fact that most Indians have political representation has denied them the critical mass of excuses to release their rage through sustained violence. The nation’s politicians are the inadvertent but effective shock absorbers of Indian society.

All political parties claim to represent the poor, and they really do, because the poor are the most enthusiastic voters. But the poor are not a monolithic group. There are groups, grouses, castes and rivalries within them, and they are each represented in Indian politics in very specific ways.

The Dalits, who were once considered the untouchable caste and are now called “scheduled castes and tribes,” are represented by several parties. The most influential in northern India is headed by a woman who squandered her extraordinary popularity by amassing unexplained wealth and through a penchant for commissioning statues of herself. Her archrival is a party that represents the rural and semi-urban upper castes. And then there are parties for socialists who are afraid of foreign companies, communists who are Marxists, communists who are not Marxists and communists who don’t want “communist” in their party’s name.

Muslims, Sikhs and Christians all have their parties. Affluent farmers in the western state of Maharashtra also are represented. So are, even more specifically, sugar-cane farmers. Young people of Maharashtra who think migrants in the state capital, Mumbai, should be thrashed occasionally to keep them in their place have representation in a new political outfit. Their parents who agree vote for an older party.

A few decades ago in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, a party was formed for atheists, which naturally could not remain purely atheistic as it grew in numbers. Then a popular film actor broke away and started a party, ostensibly for the poor, that governed the state for many years. Then another film actor started a party, also for the poor. The interests of eunuchs in Tamil Nadu are represented by several parties.

A man in the same state has started a party for “lovers,” since they face harassment from conservative society, especially when they try to fondle behind catamarans on the beach. But he has yet to contest an election.

There is, of course, a powerful right-wing party for the Hindu business community and patriotic urban middle class, who have long wished for a “benign dictator” who will make the trains run on time, which they do anyway these days.

If none of these parties serves, there is of course the grand old Indian National Congress, which stands for everything and nothing. If the Congress isn’t good enough, either, there is a new organization that has risen from the rage of the educated middle class against political corruption.

But in this entire assembly of parties none represents the interests of women, who constitute more than half the population in a country where an unknown number of girls are killed in the womb and men deal with their loss of social power by committing violence against women. Substantial gender reforms cannot be enacted in India without antagonizing Indian men, and female politicians in major parties are reluctant to take that professional risk. Only a party willing to bet everything on women and uninterested in appeasing the men might stir the nation. Even some fathers of daughters might vote for it.

Manu Joseph is editor of the Indian newsweekly Open and author of the novel “The Illicit Happiness of Other People.”

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donating $500 million in stock to Silicon Valley charity

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday he is donating nearly $ 500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.

Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $ 498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a non-profit that works with donors to allocate their gifts.

This is Zuckerberg’s largest donation to date. He pledged $ 100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, New Jersey, public schools in 2010, before his company went public earlier this year. Later in 2010, he joined Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett to get the country’s richest people to donate most of their wealth. His wife, Priscilla Chan, joined with him.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Zuckerberg, 28, said he’s “proud of the work” done by the foundation that his Newark donation launched, called Startup: Education, which has helped open charter schools, high schools and others.

With the latest contribution, he added, “we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next.” He did not give further details on what plans there may be for funds.

“Mark’s generous gift will change lives and inspire others in Silicon Valley and around the globe to give back and make the world a better place,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO of the foundation.

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Newtown's Dawn Hochsprung and Victoria Soto to Be Buried Wednesday

By Stephen M. Silverman

12/19/2012 at 08:50 AM EST

Principal Dawn Hochsprung (left) and Victoria Soto

AP; Polaris

Newtown, Conn., will see six more funerals and remembrances on Wednesday, including services for the beloved Dawn Hochsprung, Sandy Hook Elementary School's principal, who lunged at her assassin, and heroic teacher Victoria Soto, who tried to shield her students as the bullets were flying.

Wednesday afternoon, mourners will have a chance to pay respects to Hochsprung at a local funeral home, at the invitation of her family. Her burial will be private.

Funerals are also scheduled for Charlotte Bacon, 6; Daniel Barden, 7; and Caroline Previdi, 6. The family of Chase Kowalski, 7, is holding a public visitation and prayer vigil.

Surviving Sandy Hook students face another day of school at the unused Chalk Hill School in nearby Monroe, Conn., At the Sandy Hook school itself, the mountain of candles, flowers and stuffed animals continued to grow, despite rainy weather.

The shock of what happened Friday, and the nearly insurmountable grief that has followed, looks to be having a tangible impact on the nation.

President Obama, who personally embraced Newtown families on Sunday, has assigned Vice President Joe Biden the task of formulating the administration's policies to reduce violence and prevent mass-shootings like the one that took 26 lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School, administration officials tell ABC News.

The officials also say the President additionally wishes to address cultural and mental health factors contributions to the mounting gun violence in the country.

On Tuesday, reports Reuters, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP said it would sell its investment in the company that makes the AR-15-type Bushmaster rifle that Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza used on 20 students and six staff members.

In addition, for the first time since the massacre, the National Rifle Association, broke its silence on Tuesday, saying it was "shocked, saddened and heartbroken" and "prepared to offer meaningful contributions" to prevent future incidents of this kind.

The powerful gun lobby plans a news conference Friday.

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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.

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

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Stock futures point to higher open, Oracle up early

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher open 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." [ID:nL1E8NI331]

"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 2.7 percent to $33.78 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 rose 1.3 percent to $93.53 before the bell.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.9 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 9 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.

Knight Capital Group Inc climbed 4.1 percent to $76.68 in premarket after it agreed to be bought by Getco Holdings in a deal valued at $1.4 billion. The stock, which was devastated by a near-fatal trading error in August, remains down about 76 percent so far this year.

General Mills Inc reported earnings that beat expectations and raised its full-year profit view, citing a recent acquisition which lifted sales. Shares gained 1.5 percent to $42.40 in premarket trading.

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. Gardner shares rose 4.1 percent before the bell to $76.68.

U.S. housing starts fell 3 percent in November, impacted by Superstorm Sandy. Stock index futures barely reacted to the data.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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IHT Rendezvous: In Philippines, a Turning Point on Contraception

HONG KONG — There was both recrimination and celebration after the passage of a landmark bill in the Philippines on Monday, a measure that codifies sex education in schools and broadens access to condoms and birth control pills in poor and rural areas.

Versions of the bill had languished for more than a decade, as my colleague Floyd Whaley reported in The New York Times, because of staunch opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. About 80 percent of Filipinos are Catholic.

The reproductive health measure, locally known as the RH bill, passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 133 to 79, with 7 abstentions. (The bill had earlier passed the Senate, 13 to 8.)

Opponents of the bill were furious that 62 members of the House had not shown up for the vote.

“There is still a burning question that needs to be answered: Where were the other congressmen in time of such a crucial vote like the RH bill?” said the Pro-Life Philippines Foundation, which called the bill “ungodly” and published a list of the “Judases” who did not vote.

“This is evil itself at work,” the foundation said on its Web site.

Catholic bishops have said they would work to defeat any supporters of the law in elections next year.

But Edcel Lagman, the congressman who sponsored the bill, played down those warnings, saying, “It’s more of a threat than a reality. The experience in other Catholic countries is once a law is passed on reproductive health, even the church supports the law.”

One of the congressmen who missed the vote was Manny Pacquiao, the acclaimed welterweight boxer and almost certainly the most famous person in the Philippines. He was elected to the House in 2010 to represent Sarangani, located on the southern tip of the island of Mindanao.

Mr. Pacquiao was knocked cold in a non-title fight in Las Vegas on Dec. 8, losing to Juan Manuel Márquez of Mexico. Three days later, on the floor of the House in suburban Manila, he spoke against the reproductive health bill, which was up for a preliminary vote. After receiving a rousing standing ovation from his fellow lawmakers, he said, “Manny Pacquiao is pro-life. Manny Pacquiao votes ‘no’ to House Bill No. 4244.”

A condensed excerpt of Mr. Pacquiao’s remarks:

In the dying seconds of the sixth round of my fight against Marquez, a single punch knocked me out. For more than two minutes, I was lying unconscious, motionless. My wife cried . . . my friends and fans cried when they saw me not moving at all. Some thought I was dead. They thought another life had been lost.

What happened in Vegas strengthened my already firm belief in the sanctity of life, on whether a person’s right to live in this world should be put in the hands of his fellow man.

One of the most outspoken opponents of the bill was Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, widely known as Tito. He wanted to block teenagers from obtaining contraception, arguing that it would encourage young people to have sex.

Another congressman, Romero Quimbo, called Miro, was in the hospital on Monday, suffering from dengue fever, although he got permission to leave briefly so he could vote for the bill. Afterward, he tweeted a photo of himself in an ambulance heading back to the hospital.

Amnesty International generally applauded the passage of the bill, although the group noted that the current version was “imperfect” because it required girls under 18 to have written parental consent before getting contraceptives.

“The Philippines still have a long way to fully respect, protect and fulfill women’s right to reproductive health,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty’s deputy Asia-Pacific director.

The new bill does not affect abortions, which remain illegal in the Philippines.

The final version of the law can still be tweaked by legislators before it is sent to President Benigno S. Aquino III for his signature.

Mr. Aquino was vocal in his support for the measure, and his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, said Monday, “The people now have the government on their side as they raise their families in a manner that is just and empowered.”

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Iran leader gets the clicks with Facebook rumor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Facebook page purportedly created by Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attracted nearly 10,000 followers on Tuesday although the site’s content and style raise serious questions about its authenticity.

Iranian authorities had no immediate comment on the site, which apparently went online last week but only recently gained prominence among social media watchers. Despite the possibility that it is a hoax, the page has generated at least 170 comments — laudatory and derogatory, and nearly all in Farsi — that highlight the deep political divisions in Iran and possibly opposition fervor from expatriate Iranians.

One post compared Khamenei to a celebrated ruler of ancient Persia, Cyrus the Great, who significantly expanded the Persian empire 2,500 years ago.

Another wrote: “Mr. Khamenei, how are you visiting this page? With proxy?”

It was a reference to Iran’s blocking of Facebook and many other Western social media sites, and the efforts to bypass the restrictions using proxy server links from outside Iran.

The U.S. State Department said Monday it will keep tabs on the page, but had no comment on whether it was genuine or not. Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland joked that Washington is curious how many “likes” the Khamenei page receives.

But much about the page — including an informal photo of Khamenei riding in a car — suggested it was not sanctioned by Iran’s top leader. It is also highly unlikely that Khamenei would endorse a banned outlet such as Facebook.

The Net is not unknown territory for Iranian leaders, however. Khamenei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others have official websites. Also, some senior Iranian clerics issue religious opinions by email.

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Richard Engel, NBC Newsman, Returns to Safety After Kidnapping

By Stephen M. Silverman

12/18/2012 at 08:30 AM EST

Richard Engel (center) with colleagues on Today show, Dec. 18, 2012

Richard Engel, chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, and two of his crewmembers escaped Monday after they were kidnapped, psychologically tortured and held in captivity for five days inside Syria, Engel – standing with his two colleagues in Antakya, Turkey – said in a live broadcast on Tuesday's Today show.

"It is good to be here," said Engel, looking fit and sounding erudite as ever. "I'm very happy that we're able to do this live shot this morning."

Engel, 39, was with producer Ghazi Balkiz and cameraman John Kooistra to report on the insurgency that is fighting President Bashar al-Assad in the troubled country. He said Tuesday, "We were driving in Syria about five days ago in what we thought was a rebel-controlled area. We were with some of the rebels."

Suddenly, he said, "a group of gunmen just literally jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road. There were about 15 gunmen. They were wearing masks. They were heavily armed. They dragged us out of the car."

The gunmen placed them in a truck that was waiting by the side of the road, said Engel, who also reported that one of the rebels with them "was executed on the spot."

"They took us to a series of safe house and interrogation places, and they kept us blindfolded and bound."

While the men were not physically tortured, Engel said, they were psychologically tortured, with threats that they would be killed, amid demands – and mock shootings – that they pick which one of them should be killed first.

They managed their escape as they were being moved to another location, said Engel. "The kidnappers ran across a rebel checkpoint they didn't expect." During the gunfire, two of the kidnappers were killed, and the three men "climbed out of the vehicles, and we spent the night with the rebels."

Engel pronounced the three of them to be in good health and expressed his thanks to NBC News for keeping the story quiet until they were free and for keeping their families informed during the harrowing ordeal. He said he believes the kidnappers were those loyal to President al-Assad.

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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.

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Online:

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

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