Philippine, Aussie shares at new peaks; yen firms

TOKYO (Reuters) - Philippine and Australian shares scaled new heights on Tuesday but other Asian shares were mixed, with worries about the risk of an inconclusive outcome in Italy's election and about U.S. budget talks limiting the upside after strong rallies in early February.

European markets looked set to inch higher, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> would open up 0.1 percent. <.l><.eu/>

U.S. stock futures rose 0.1 percent to suggest Wall Street will reopen with a firmer tone after the President's Day holiday on Monday. <.n/>

"Markets have become top-heavy after rallying through early February on signs of economic recovery in the United States and Europe, and investors now await fresh factors to push prices higher from here," said Tomomichi Akuta, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting in Tokyo.

"The broad sentiment is underpinned by a lack of tail risks, but investors are turning to some potentially worrying elements such as Italian elections and U.S. budget talks," he said.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.miapj0000pus> edged up 0.1 percent. Earlier in the day it had touched a 18-1/2-month high. The index has gained 3.5 percent this year.

Shares in the Philippines <.psi>, where a strong economic growth has led to rising interest in the country as an investment destination, hit a record. The Thai index <.seti> was also up 0.3 percent after recent data showed robust fourth-quarter economic numbers.

Australian shares ended 0.4 percent up at a 4-1/2 year high, continuing a recent rally on better-than-expected corporate earnings.

But Hong Kong shares <.hsi> fell 0.2 percent and Shanghai shares <.ssec> shed 1.1 percent, with real estate and financials leading the declines on concerns that rising property prices would lead to fresh restrictions on the sector.

Tokyo's Nikkei stock average <.n225> ended down 0.3 percent, after surging on Monday to approach its highest level since September 2008 of 11,498.42 tapped on February 6. <.t/>

The concerns about Italy's election this weekend and the talks in Washington over a package of budget cuts set to kick in March 1, also helped limit gains in commodities and also weighed on the euro.

The dollar's strength against a basket of currencies <.dxy> capped gains in gold, with the spot price up 0.2 percent at $1,613.01 an ounce.

London copper steadied at $8,122.50 a metric ton as Monday's three-week low drew bargain hunting given prospects for a slowly improving global economic recovery. Unease over China's limp return to the market from a week-long break held back upside momentum, however.

"I think we've already had the nicest rally that we're going to get this year," Singapore-based Credit Suisse analyst Ivan Szpakowski said. "You can still get some more mild upturns, but frankly as you move to the second half of the year industrial metals are going to trend down.

U.S. crude fell 0.5 percent to $95.43 a barrel while Brent steadied around $117.37.

The euro was steady around $1.3348.

YEN JITTERY

Bank of Japan minutes revealed board members had discussed buying longer-dated government debt at their January meeting, sending the yield on five-year Japanese government bonds to record low.

The yen firmed, however, after Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters Japan has no plans to buy foreign currency bonds as part of monetary easing and as attention remained focused on who will be the next Bank of Japan governor.

The dollar fell 0.3 percent to 93.61 yen, but remained near its highest since May 2010 of 94.465 hit on February 11. The euro eased 0.4 percent to 125.00 yen, below its peak since April 2010 of 127.71 yen touched on February 6

The yen, which has dropped 20 percent against the dollar since mid-November, fell further at the start of the week after financial leaders from the G20 promised not to devalue their currencies to boost exports and avoided singling out Japan for any direct criticism.

The choice of the next BOJ governor and two deputies has drawn attention as a gauge of how strongly Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is committed to reflating the economy. The G20's message was that as long as Japan pursues aggressive monetary easing to achieve that goal, a weaker yen as a result of such domestic monetary policy will be tolerated, analysts say.

"But that means that some other economy's monetary conditions have been tightened," said Barclays Capital in a note.

"Japan hasn't even changed its policy stance thus far, and the effect of expectations of a looser setting have led to limited moves in domestic interest rates, but the sell-off of the JPY has been marked and has clearly caused unease in other economies," the note said.

(Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Singapore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

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Pakistan Shi'ites demand protection from militants

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Shi'ites furious over a sectarian bombing that killed 85 people protested on Monday, demanding that security forces protect them from hardline Sunni groups.

The attack, near a street market in the southwestern city of Quetta on Saturday, highlighted the government's failure to crack down on militancy in nuclear-armed Pakistan just a few months before a general election is due.

While the Taliban and al Qaeda remain a major source of instability, Sunni extremists, who regard Shi'ites as non-Muslims, have emerged as another significant security threat.

Shi'ite frustrations with waves of attacks on them have reached boiling point.

In Quetta, some ethnic Shi'ite Hazaras are refusing to bury their dead until the army and security forces go after Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the group which claimed responsibility for the latest bombing.

Around 4,000 men, women and children placed 71 bodies beside a Shi'ite place of worship. Muslim tradition requires that bodies are buried as soon as possible and leaving them above ground is a potent expression of grief and pain.

Protesters chanted "stop killing Shi'ites".

"We stand firm for our demands of handing over the city to army and carrying out targeted operation against terrorists and their supporters," said Syed Muhammad Hadi, spokesman for an alliance of Shi'ite groups.

"We will not bury the bodies unless our demands are met."

The paramilitary Frontier Corps is largely responsible for security in Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital, but Shi'ites say it is unable or unwilling to protect them.

LeJ has stepped up suicide bombings and shootings in a bid to destabilize strategic U.S. ally Pakistan and install a Sunni theocracy, an echo of the strategy that al Qaeda pursued to try and trigger a civil war in Iraq several years ago.

The group was behind a bombing last month in Quetta, near the Afghan border, that killed nearly 100 people.

In Karachi, a strike to protest against the Quetta bloodshed brought Pakistan's commercial hub to a standstill.

Authorities boosted security as protesters blocked roads, including routes to the airport, disrupted rail services to other parts of the country and torched vehicles.

The roughly 500,000-strong Hazara people in Quetta, who speak a Persian dialect, have distinct features and are an easy target.

The LeJ has had historically close ties to elements in the security forces, who see the group as an ally in any potential war with neighboring India. Security forces deny such links.

(Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Mindy McCready Opens Up About Suicidal Thoughts

Following news of Mindy McCready's tragic passing today, we're looking back at one of our last interviews with the country singer where she opened up about what may have triggered her suicidal thoughts.

PICS: Stars We Lost

At the time of our interview in 2010, McCready had already made three attempts at taking her own life. In the sitdown she claimed that she didn't start having suicidal thoughts until her relationship with ex Billy McKnight became abusive.

"I got caught up in this whirlwind of trying to save him from himself and lost me in the process," said McCready. "My self-esteem was gone. I was in love with this man and trying to do everything I could to save his life and nobody cared about mine."

McCready went on to explain that McKnight wasn't around when she gave birth to their son Zander, but admitted that she also was absent for a portion of her firstborn's life.

RELATED: Mindy McCready Dies of Apparent Suicide

"[Zander] was 15 months old when I went to jail. He was so little that he doesn't remember," said McCready, who was sentenced to a year in jail for probation violation in 2007. "All he remembers is that I was there one day and the next I wasn't for six and a half months straight. They did bring him to see me once and he didn't remember me, and that was really hard."

At the time of our interview, McCready seemed to be feeling better which she attributed to Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.

"A lot of people have said, 'Was that about TV for you ... or was it therapy?' And I can't speak for everyone, but for me it changed my life. It saved my life," she said. "Dr. Drew said so many amazing things to me that really made me think I really, truly want to know what was wrong with me, what was going on inside my head, why was I acting the way that I was?"

According to a police report, deputies responded to a report of gun shots fired on Sunday afternoon. Upon arriving, officers reportedly found Mindy McCready's body on the front porch and pronounced her dead at the scene from what appeared to be "a single self-inflicted gunshot wound." She was 37.

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Study: Better TV might improve kids' behavior

SEATTLE (AP) — Teaching parents to switch channels from violent shows to educational TV can improve preschoolers' behavior, even without getting them to watch less, a study found.

The results were modest and faded over time, but may hold promise for finding ways to help young children avoid aggressive, violent behavior, the study authors and other doctors said.

"It's not just about turning off the television. It's about changing the channel. What children watch is as important as how much they watch," said lead author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

The research was to be published online Monday by the journal Pediatrics.

The study involved 565 Seattle parents, who periodically filled out TV-watching diaries and questionnaires measuring their child's behavior.

Half were coached for six months on getting their 3-to-5-year-old kids to watch shows like "Sesame Street" and "Dora the Explorer" rather than more violent programs like "Power Rangers." The results were compared with kids whose parents who got advice on healthy eating instead.

At six months, children in both groups showed improved behavior, but there was a little bit more improvement in the group that was coached on their TV watching.

By one year, there was no meaningful difference between the two groups overall. Low-income boys appeared to get the most short-term benefit.

"That's important because they are at the greatest risk, both for being perpetrators of aggression in real life, but also being victims of aggression," Christakis said.

The study has some flaws. The parents weren't told the purpose of the study, but the authors concede they probably figured it out and that might have affected the results.

Before the study, the children averaged about 1½ hours of TV, video and computer game watching a day, with violent content making up about a quarter of that time. By the end of the study, that increased by up to 10 minutes. Those in the TV coaching group increased their time with positive shows; the healthy eating group watched more violent TV.

Nancy Jensen, who took part with her now 6-year-old daughter, said the study was a wake-up call.

"I didn't realize how much Elizabeth was watching and how much she was watching on her own," she said.

Jensen said her daughter's behavior improved after making changes, and she continues to control what Elizabeth and her 2-year-old brother, Joe, watch. She also decided to replace most of Elizabeth's TV time with games, art and outdoor fun.

During a recent visit to their Seattle home, the children seemed more interested in playing with blocks and running around outside than watching TV.

Another researcher who was not involved in this study but also focuses his work on kids and television commended Christakis for taking a look at the influence of positive TV programs, instead of focusing on the impact of violent TV.

"I think it's fabulous that people are looking on the positive side. Because no one's going to stop watching TV, we have to have viable alternatives for kids," said Dr. Michael Rich, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston.

____

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

___

Contact AP Writer Donna Blankinship through Twitter (at)dgblankinship

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Euro, dollar gain after G20, stocks weaker

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro and the dollar gained against the yen on Monday after the G20 decided not to criticize Japan for its expansionary policies, but Europe's weak growth outlook and the approach of Italian elections capped the moves.

Financial leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies promised in their final statement after a weekend meeting not to devalue their currencies to boost exports, in a bid to defuse talk of currency wars among major nations.

The euro gained 0.15 percent to 125.20 yen, edging up toward a 34-month high of 127.71 yen hit earlier this month, while the dollar rose 0.5 percent to 93.99 yen, closer to its highest since May 2010 of 94.46 hit on February 11.

"Future yen direction will continue to be driven by domestic monetary policy from the Bank of Japan and improving international investor confidence, which are both driving the yen weaker," said Lee Hardman, currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

With the G20 meeting over, the focus in European markets is switching to the release of euro area Purchasing Managers' Indexes for February and German sentiment indices due later in the week, and the upcoming general elections in Italy.

Analysts expect the euro area flash PMI indices, which point to economic activity around six months out, to show growth stabilizing rather than a clear end to the current recession across the region.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> of top European shares opened down 0.1 percent at 1,159.87 points, with Germany's DAX <.gdaxi>, the UK's FTSE <.ftse> and France's CAC-40 <.fchi> flat to slightly weaker. <.l><.eu/>

Earlier, the effect of the G20 statement and further announcements from Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicating a renewed drive to stimulate the economy lifted the Nikkei stock index <.n225> by 2.1 percent, near to its highest level since September 2008.

Meanwhile U.S. stock futures were barely changed and are expected to stay little changed as Wall Street will be closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday. <.n/>

In the commodity markets, copper fell 0.7 percent to $8,150 a tonne as traders played catch up after a week-long holiday in China last week, with worries about the euro zone economy weighing on sentiment.

U.S. crude fell 34 cents to $95.50 a barrel but Brent inched up six cents $117.70.

Gold rebounded by 0.3 percent from a six-month low to be $1,614 an ounce as jewelers in China returned to the physical market after the Lunar New Year holiday.

(Reporting by Richard Hubbard. Editing by Giles Elgood)

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Pakistani governor criticizes security forces after bombing

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's unpopular government, which is gearing up for elections expected within months, came under fire on Sunday for failing to improve security after a sectarian bombing in the city of Quetta killed 80 people.

The nuclear-armed country's leaders have done little to contain hardline Sunni Muslim groups which have stepped up a campaign of bombings and assassinations of minority Shi'ites.

On Saturday, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility for the attack in Quetta, which deepened suspicions among Shi'ites that Pakistan's intelligence agencies were turning a blind eye to the bloodshed or even supporting Sunni extremists.

"The terrorist attack on the Hazara Shi'ite community in Quetta is a failure of the intelligence and security forces," Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, governor of Baluchistan province, said while touring a hospital.

"We had given a free hand to security (forces) to take action against terrorist and extremist groups, but despite that the Quetta incident took place."

The death toll from Saturday's bombing rose overnight to 80, with most of the casualties in the main bazaar of the town, capital of Baluchistan, near the border with Afghanistan.

Most of the dead were Hazaras, a Shi'ite ethnic group. A senior security official said the figure could rise as 20 people were critically wounded.

"The government knows exactly who is doing what and who is behind all this," said Mohammad Imran, a local trader. "If the government wants (to prevent it), no one can take even a kitchen knife into any market."

POVERTY, CORRUPTION, POWER CUTS

Frustrations with the government have already been growing over its failure to tackle poverty, corruption and power cuts.

LeJ has also said it was behind a bombing last month in Quetta which killed nearly 100 people, one of Pakistan's worst sectarian attacks.

After that attack, Shi'ite leaders called on Pakistan's military to take over security in Quetta and take on the LeJ.

Growing sectarian violence is piling pressure on the government, which already faces a Taliban insurgency, to deliver stability.

"This is a case of barbarity and heartlessness. This is happening because we are divided and not supporting each other," said Malik Afzal, a Sunni student.

"Unless we decide to unite, we will continue to get killed. Today they (Shi'ites) have died. Tomorrow we (Sunni Muslims) will die. The next day, others will get killed."

Shi'ite political organisations have called for a strike in Quetta to protest against the latest carnage. Many shops and bazaars were closed. Relatives of the wounded responded for an appeal for blood made by hospitals.

Pakistani intelligence officials say extremist groups, led by LeJ, want to destablise the South Asian nation and pave the way for a Sunni theocracy in the strategic U.S. ally

More than 400 Shi'ites were killed in Pakistan last year, many by hitmen or bombs. Some hardline Shi'ite groups have struck back by killing Sunni clerics.

The schism between Sunnis and Shi'ites developed after the Prophet Muhammad died in 632 when his followers could not agree on a successor.

(Reporting by Gul Yousufzai; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Ubuntu Phone Software Design Revealed; Volunteers to Help Make Core Apps

As of yet, there’s no word on what smartphones running the Ubuntu OS will look like, hardware-wise. But Canonical — the tech startup which drives much of Ubuntu’s development and looks for ways to exploit it commercially — just recently posted its guidelines for the look and feel of Ubuntu on smartphones.

These reveal its plan to make Ubuntu distinct from existing OSes like Android, and to help educate app developers and designers … like the ones Canonical is soliciting to help make 12 core, “community created” apps.

What is Ubuntu?

Once known as “Linux for human beings,” Ubuntu is a partly community-developed operating system, which started out as a “distro” of Linux. It’s since evolved to become its own thing, however, with a design reminiscent of the Mac OS but a handful of its own touches. The Ubuntu Software Center has thousands of free apps and many paid ones, including games from EA.

Thanks to its Linux roots and large community of volunteers, much of Ubuntu’s programming code and many of its most popular apps are open-source. Contributors to its core “Unity” interface have to sign away all rights to their work, however, including the right to keep it open-source in the future should Canonical decide to use more restrictive licensing. Meanwhile, Canonical’s version of iCloud, called Ubuntu One, is a proprietary (closed-source) online service.

What will the Ubuntu phones be like?

The recently announced Ubuntu smartphones are being designed so that apps use the entire screen, and rely on gestures to bring up menus and notifications as necessary. The Ubuntu Design website diagrams how a swipe from the top brings down “Settings and system services,” much like on Android. But Android’s home, menu, and back buttons are replaced by swipes from the other three sides of the screen, keeping it clean and uncluttered until something is needed.

The rest of the site has guidelines on topics from how to use the Ubuntu font, to how to lay out an Ubuntu app. The designs are visually striking, and very different from how Android and iOS apps usually work, but are also meant to be easily learned by Ubuntu phone owners. Canonical is soliciting unpaid community guidance to help it design 12 core apps based on these guidelines, which will ship on the first wave of Ubuntu phones.

When will the Ubuntu phones be available?

They will be on display at Mobile World Conference later in February, and will be available for sale in October according to the Wall Street Journal’s Michael Hickins. Whether or not they’ll make it to the States by then is still an open question.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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Hugh Grant is a Dad Again

Hugh Grant confirmed Saturday that he is a dad again.

PICS: Celebs and Their Cute Kids

The 52-year-old British actor tweeted, "In answer to some journos. Am thrilled my daughter now has a brother. Adore them both to an uncool degree. They have a fab mum."

Hugh and actress Tinglan Hong welcomed a daughter named Tabitha in 2011. No word yet on what Tabitha's little brother is named.

Related: Hugh Grant Responds to Jon Stewart Diss

Hugh told The Guardian in 2012 of being a dad, "I like my daughter very much. Fantastic. Has she changed my life? I'm not sure. Not yet. Not massively, no. But I'm absolutely thrilled to have had her, I really am. And I feel a better person."

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.

Edwards said Friday that the camps have been hit by 6,017 cases of hepatitis E, which is spread through contaminated food and water.

He says the largest number of cases and suspected cases is in the Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state, which houses 37,229 refugees fleeing fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government.

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After decent rally, perhaps time for a pause

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks could struggle to extend their seven-week winning streak as the quarterly earnings period draws to a close and the market bumps into strong technical resistance.

Many analysts say the market could spend the next few weeks consolidating gains that have lifted the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 <.spx> by 6.6 percent since the start of the year.

The S&P 500 ended up 0.1 percent for the week, recovering from a late sell-off on Friday after a Bloomberg report about slow February sales at Wal-Mart triggered a slide in the retailer's shares. It was the index's seventh week of gains.

Odds of a pullback are increasing, with the market in slightly overbought territory, said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.

"I do suspect the closing of the earnings season will lead to at least a pause and possibly a pullback," Zaro said. The S&P 500 could shave 3 to 5 percent between now and early April, he said.

Fourth-quarter earnings have mostly beaten expectations. Year-over-year profit growth for S&P 500 companies is now estimated at 5.6 percent, up from a January 1 forecast for 2.9 percent growth, and 70 percent of companies are exceeding analyst profit expectations, above the 62 percent long-term average, according to Thomson Reuters data.

On Thursday, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is due to report results, unofficially closing out the earnings period. Investors will be keen to see its quarterly numbers, especially after the Friday's news report that rattled investors.

The S&P 500 has gained 4.3 percent since Alcoa kicked off the earnings season on January 8.

The approaching March 1 deadline for across-the-board federal budget cuts unless Congress reaches a compromise adds another reason for caution, especially with recent economic data indicating the recovery remains bumpy.

Manufacturing output fell 0.4 percent last month, the Federal Reserve said on Friday, but production in November and December was much stronger than previously thought.

TESTING RESISTANCE

The S&P 500 has been trading near five-year highs, and it notched its highest level since November 2007 this week. But the gains have pushed the benchmark index almost as far as it is likely to go in the near term, with strong resistance hovering around 1,525 and 1,540, one analyst said.

As a result, the index is set to move sideways, said Dave Chojnacki, market technician at Street One Financial in Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania. "We just don't have the volume or the catalyst right now" to go above those levels, he said.

At the same time, other analysts say, the market has not shown significant signs of slowing, including a break below 15- and 30-day moving averages.

Such moves would be needed to show that momentum is slowing or that the market is at risk of a correction, said Todd Salamone, director of research for Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, Ohio. The S&P 500's 14-day moving average is at 1,511 while the 30-day is at 1,494. The index closed Friday at 1,519.

Recent M&A activity, including news this week of a merger between American Airlines and US Airways Group , helped provide some strength for the market this week and optimism that more deals may be on the way.

In the coming days, the market will focus on minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting, due to be released on Wednesday, which could provide support if they suggest the Fed will remain on its current course of aggressive monetary easing.

The Fed minutes released in January spooked markets a bit when they revealed that some Fed officials thought it would be appropriate to consider ending asset purchases later in 2013. U.S. Treasury yields rose on that news, though market worries about a near-term end to quantitative easing have since faded.

Among other companies expected to report earnings next week are Nordstrom , Hewlett-Packard and Marriott International

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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