NEW YORK (Reuters) - Most U.S. tweens, 10- to 12-year-olds, have at least one social media account and many go online without any supervision from their parents, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

Facebook is the most popular platform among tweens. Although the site says users must be at least 13 years old to log on, 85 percent of tweens said they have an account and a similar number admit they use it every day.

"Younger and younger kids are going out there really unsupervised," said Michelle Dennedy of the online security company McAfee, which commissioned the poll of 1,173 young people aged 10 to 23 years old and 1,301 parents.

The threats to children of unsupervised use of the Internet are well known and range from identity theft, cyberbullying and sharing photos and videos to pornography and sexual predators.

But despite the dangers, 82 percent of preteens say they think social media sites are very safe, or somewhat safe, and 79 percent of parents agree.

Nearly half of youngsters also report sharing personal information online such as their email address, and 28 percent have revealed the school they attend.

Many parents are also unaware of the time their children spend online. The poll showed 52 percent of youngsters spending five or more hours a day online but most parents think they spend only one to two hours.

Dennedy said many parents are overwhelmed by the onslaught of technology available to their children and feel like they can't keep up with their tech-savvy children.

More than 80 percent of the parents of preteens say they don't have the time or energy to keep up with everything their children do online. Only 9 percent say they know how to find out what their children are doing online.

Children are also skilled in hiding their online activity from their parents. More than half of tweens, 58 percent, say they know how to keep their online use a secret and a quarter admitted they had cleared or hidden what they have done online.

"There's a lot of positive stuff out there, and what we have to do as adults is really separate the good from the bad," Dennedy said.

She suggested parents have regular conversations with their children about using the Internet and that they educate themselves about online safety.

Although 71 percent of parents questioned in the poll said they had talked to their children about online behavior, only 44 percent of children agreed that they had.

"It's still the Wild West out there and because they are digital natives, our youth are engaging in all kinds of unsafe behavior without the benefit of how their actions will affect their lives," said Dennedy.

Other popular sites for teens, tweens and college-age youths include Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr, the survey found.

It was conducted from April 3 to 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

Rhode Island lawmakers, many of them Catholic Democrats, legalized same-sex marriage in early May, making Rhode Island the sixth and final New England state to allow gay couples to marry.

The vote followed years of aggressive lobbying from church leaders.

Experts say that gay marriage offers the latest example of a widening divide between the church hierarchy and its members that threatens to diminish the Catholic influence in American politics. Recent polls show that most American Catholics believe the church is out of touch with their views.

From Maine to California, church leaders have used the power of the pulpit and substantial financial resources to fight gay marriage.

* 30-13 third quarter puts Heat on course for win (Adds detail, quotes)

By Simon Evans

MIAMI, May 30 (Reuters) - A blistering third quarter from LeBron James helped the Miami Heat to a 90-79 win over the Indiana Pacers on Thursday that moved the defending NBA champions into a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

A misfiring Miami were trailing 44-40 at halftime and were fortunate to be so close, but James turned on the style in the third quarter when the Heat dominated Indiana by a 30-13 margin.

The four-time MVP out-scored the Pacers by himself in the quarter, scoring 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and was superbly supported by Udonis Haslem, who scored 10 points in the quarter without missing a shot.

"That was LeBron showing his greatness and making it look easy," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters.

"His engine in that third quarter was incredible. He was tireless, making plays on both ends of the court, rebounding, covering so much ground defensively and then making virtually every play for us offensively, it really is remarkable."

Although Indiana started the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run, while James took a breather, the return of Miami's leader ensured the home team ran out comfortable winners.

James finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and six assists while Paul George top scored for Indiana with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Game Six will be in Indiana on Saturday where a victory will earn Miami a place in their third successive NBA finals, against the San Antonio Spurs.

HARSH WORDS

There is little talk of a 'Big Three' for Miami in these playoffs - with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh contributing just 17 points between them on Thursday and it was clear, at half time, that if the Heat were to triumph it needed James to lead them.

"I just kind of went back to my Cleveland days at that point," James told reporters, recalling his time with the Cavaliers where he was the team's only star.

"Just see if the guys would follow me and lead them the best way I could. I was just in attack mode in the third quarter," he said.

The lacklustre first half display from Miami resulted in some strong words in the locker-room during the interval with veteran Juwan Howard, a mostly non-playing but influential member of the squad, making his feelings heard.

"There were a lot of 'bleeps'," said Haslem adding that Howard "threw a few things as well".

James said he had joined in the strong words.

"I gave them a little piece of my mind and a piece of my voice and we were able to respond. We just had no sense of urgency in the first half. We were waiting for the game to change instead of going to get it," he added.

For Indiana, who have out-rebounded Miami in all five games, there was regret that they were not able to make more of their dominance in the first half before their struggles in the third.

"We blew some opportunities in the first half," coach Frank Vogel said.

"We had some breakdowns and obviously we missed some bunnies around the basket.

"We understand that we've got to play a near perfect game to beat this team. It is one of the best teams in the history of this game but we believe we can reach that level," he added.

"We feel like this is going to be a series for the ages. Every time one team has delivered a blow, the other has responded. We know we can beat them but we have to do better than tonight." (Editing by John O'Brien)

TOKYO (Reuters) - From a phoenix-themed collection by a Japanese designer who has clothed Lady Gaga to touches of traditional Mongolian decorations, designers showing at Japan Fashion Week set their sights firmly on Asia and its huge market.

Chinese consumers have become the world's leading buyers of luxury goods and account for one quarter of this market globally with demand growing, according to a report by consulting firm Bain & Co.

The fashion extravaganza showcasing the autumn and winter collections of 2013/14 kicked off at the weekend but Japanese brands took to the stage on Monday with Masanori Morikawa and his self-directed label, "Christian Dada".

Morikawa has created several pieces for American pop star Lady Gaga including a pink dress reminiscent of an origami crane for her 2012 "Born This Way Ball" tour.

This time he turned to Asia for inspiration with an edgy, androgynous collection titled "Fenghuang," which is Chinese for the mythical bird phoenix, pairing long, loose pants with richly embroidered lace on shirt sleeves for men and women.

Leather pants and jackets mingled with down-paneled trousers and shirts in plain, solid colors of black, white, red, blue and gold, which Morikawa said represented the nature of the phoenix.

"There's also the idea that the phoenix contains within itself both the male and the female, so we took this concept of fusion for the collection," Morikawa told reporters.

Asian influences came to the fore on Sunday as well as Mongolian designer Ariunaa Surenjav mixed modern designs with traditional raised forms on the shoulders and bunched sleeves.

"That part of the clothing design where the material goes up on the shoulder ... comes from the tradition in old Mongolia, where the local people who were noble and respected had that design," said Surenjav.

A NOD TO CHINA?

Although Morikawa said taking a Chinese title for the collection was just a reference to Chinese mythology and not a nod to the huge potential Chinese market, other designers were more open about their goals.

Conny Groenewegen, a Dutch designer who led off the runway on Sunday with clothing heavily influenced by Japanese designers, said her ambitions in Asia do not end with Japan.

"I would be very much interested to visit Shanghai and present my work over there, because I think that it is moving very fast," she told Reuters. "It's like a big youth culture over there and it has also a big, very rich history."

Although growth in China slowed last year, Bain is still forecasting growth of 4-6 percent a year for the global luxury market through 2015, after growth of 10 percent in 2012 to about $280 billion, largely driven by Chinese consumers.

With 1.3 billion consumers, many with a strong inclination for expensive brands that scream status, China remains a driving force in the luxury market.

Japan Fashion Week continues until March 24 with names such as Vivienne Tam and Hiroko Koshino also taking part.

(Additional reporting by Mariko Lochridge, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - ABC Family is getting into the game show business. The cable network has greenlit "Spell-Mageddon" for a summer premiere.

The show basically takes the traditional spelling bee and introduces "hilarious distractions" as the contenders try to spell difficult words (while simultaneously bringing back horrible childhood memories of the spelling competition).

Executive produced by Thinkfactory Media's Adam Reed, Adam Freeman and Leslie Greif ("Hatfields & McCoys," "Preachers' Daughters") with executive producers Jeff Krask and Michael Canter, the game show will join ABC Family's Wednesday comedy block with series "Melissa and Joey" and "Baby Daddy" beginning Wednesday, July 24.

"Spell Mageddon" joins ABC Family's summer stable of new series, which includes "Dancing Fools," "The Fosters," "Twisted," and "The Vineyard."

(Reuters) - A new type of asthma drug meant to attack the underlying causes of the respiratory disease slashed episodes by 87 percent in a mid-stage trial, making it a potential game changer for patients with moderate to severe disease, researchers said on Tuesday.

"Overall, these are the most exciting data we've seen in asthma in 20 years," said Dr. Sally Wenzel, lead investigator for the 104-patient study of dupilumab, an injectable treatment being developed by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and French drugmaker Sanofi.

The drug also met all its secondary goals, such as improving symptoms and lung function and reducing the need for standard drugs called beta agonists.

Although far larger trials will be needed to confirm findings from the "proof of concept" study, researchers expressed optimism. They noted that dupilumab has also shown the ability to tame atopic dermatitis, or severe eczema, an allergic condition that is not well controlled by current treatments.

Results of the 12-week asthma study are being presented on Tuesday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Philadelphia.

The medicine, if approved, could hold promise for patients with moderate to severe persistent asthma that is not well controlled by standard drugs.

"We have been treating asthma with sort of Band-Aid therapies that didn't get at the underlying causes," Wenzel said in an interview, adding that dupilumab could be an important step in going to the root of the problem.

The drug works by simultaneously blocking proteins that have been linked to inflammation, interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-13 (IL-13).

HITS ELUSIVE TARGETS

Wenzel, director of the Asthma Institute at the University of Pittsburgh, said other drugmakers have tested medicines that block one or both of the proteins, but without success.

The trial recruited patients with high levels of eosinophils, a biomarker that shows immune system cells called type 2 helper T cells (Th2 cells) associated with allergy and asthma have been activated.

Such patients were deemed likely to benefit from treatment.

All patients initially stayed on their standard asthma treatments, meaning medium-to-high doses of inhaled glucocorticoids, as well as long-acting beta agonists. But patients gradually tapered off on those drugs and were no longer taking either of them after 9 weeks.

Throughout the Phase IIa trial, half the patients also received weekly injections of dupilumab, while half received placebo injections.

After the ninth week, 25 percent of those on placebos had experienced exacerbations, a catch-all term that included the need to take a beta agonist, a decrease in lung function, the need for an oral or inhaled corticosteroid, or if the patient went to the hospital or emergency room for worsening asthma.

"By end of the trial, after 12 weeks, 44 percent of those in the placebo group had exacerbations, compared with 5 percent of those on dupilumab," Wenzel said. That represented an 87 percent reduction in exacerbations, which was highly statistically significant.

Wenzel said dupilumab was well tolerated, with side effects similar to placebo. But she cautioned that longer trials are needed to fully assess the drug.

Regeneron and Sanofi said standard drugs are unable to control asthma in 10 to 20 percent of patients. They estimate that inflammation caused by Th2 cells - the type of inflammation among patients they tested - affects up to 2.5 million people in the United States and up to 30 million worldwide.

Dupilumab has also shown strong hints of safety and effectiveness in two early-stage trials that involved 67 patients with atopic dermatitis. Larger studies are slated to begin later this year.

Atopic dermatitis is inherited and involves patches of highly itchy skin on any part of the body. Patients, many of whom also have asthma and hay fever, have compared the sensation to having unending poison ivy.

"This asthma data and the data we already have in atopic dermatitis really raises the possibility the scientific community has finally hit upon the key pathway across all these allergic diseases," George Yancopoulos, Regeneron's research chief, said in an interview.

Trial results were also reported on Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, along with an editorial that said results of the study appeared "compelling" at first glance and superior to those seen in previous studies of other asthma drugs.

But the editorial said effectiveness of dupilumab has been established in just a "limited subpopulation of patients with asthma" because only 21 percent of those screened for enrollment in the study met its criteria.

"We do not know whether dupilumab will be effective in other patient populations," the editorial said, including patients that stay on their standard therapies and who do not have high levels of eosinophils.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson. Editing by Andre Grenon)

The Russell 2000, an index of small-company stocks, climbed above 1,000 points for the first time and ended higher Monday, even as the Dow Jones industrial average, the Standard & Poor's 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index all edged lower.

Small stocks are doing well because they are more focused on the U.S., which is recovering, and are less exposed to recession-plagued Europe than the large international companies that make up the Dow and the S&P 500 index.

The gains for the smaller companies are encouraging for the broader stock market because they show that investors are becoming more comfortable about the economy and investing in riskier assets, said Rob Lutts, Chief Investment Officer at Cabot Money Management.

Small-company stocks are considered riskier than the stocks of well-established, large companies like IBM or Coca-Cola. That's because small companies are often relatively young and tend to have less diversified businesses than larger ones, making them more susceptible to swings in demand from their customers. There are also fewer buyers and sellers for them, which can make the stocks harder to off-load if prices start to fall.

"Having smaller stocks hit new highs means that the rally is broad," Lutts said. "It gives us a little more confidence that it's a good, sustainable rally that can hold together for a while."

The Russell 2000 ended the day 1.70 points, or 0.2 percent, higher at 997.98. The index climbed as high as 1001.50 at midday. The index is 17.5 percent higher for the year, a better performance than better-known market barometers like the Dow and S&P.

Major indexes fluctuated between small gains and losses for most of Monday. On Friday they ended at record levels after four straight weeks of gains.

The Dow closed down 19.12 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,335.28, paring its gain for the year to 17 percent. The S&P 500 index fell 1.18 points, or 0.1 percent, to 1,666.29. Its advance for the year now stands at 16.8 percent.

Investors are focusing on the Federal Reserve this week and looking for clues about what it plans to do next with its economic stimulus program. On Wednesday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear before Congress and the central bank will release minutes of its most recent policy meeting.

The Fed is buying $85 billion of bonds every month to keep long-term interest rates low. That has encouraged investors to put money into stocks instead of bonds. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has been below 2 percent almost continually since April 12. That's less than many large companies pay in dividends.

Policy makers are unlikely to cut back on stimulus just yet since U.S. economic growth is likely to slow in the second quarter, said Scott Wren, a senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors. As a consequence, Wren said, stocks are likely to continue to rise.

"At some point, we will see some sort of a pullback, but it doesn't seem like it's going to be right now," said Wren. "In the near term we're probably going to trade a little bit higher."

The stock market rally is also is being underpinned by investors moving back into stocks, reversing years of outflows of funds from equity markets, said Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer at First American Trust.

Investors have invested about net $17 billion into domestic stock mutual funds since the start of the year, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. Investors have pulled money out of mutual funds every year since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007.

"This market rally still has legs, partly because we've seen huge retail inflows back into equities," Braakman said. "It's hard to beat the money flow."

In commodities trading, the price of crude oil rose 69 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $96.71 a barrel.

The price of gold rose for the first day in eight as the dollar fell. The precious metal climbed $19.40, or 1.4 percent, to $1,384. Gold has slumped this month as its attraction as an alternative investment fades as the dollar appreciates.

The U.S. currency is strengthening because investors believe the U.S. economy is in better shape than the Japanese or European economies.

The dollar's rally paused on Monday, though, and the U.S. currency fell against the euro and the yen. The dollar index also dropped, after climbing to its highest level in close to three years Friday.

In U.S. government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.97 percent from 1.93 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 2.53 points, or 0.1 percent, to 3,496.43 points.

Among stocks in focus on Monday:

Actavis rose $1.65, or 1.3 percent, to $127.15 after the pharmaceutical company said it's buying Warner Chilcott. The all-stock deal, valued at $8.5 billion, would create the third-biggest specialty pharmaceutical company in the U.S.

Chesapeake Energy rose 53 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $20.80 after the natural gas producer named Anadarko Petroleum executive Robert Douglas Lawler as its new CEO. He takes over as Chesapeake continues selling assets to pare down an enormous debt burden.

Websense, an internet security firm, surged $5.53, or 29 percent, to $24.76 after the company agreed to be taken private for $906 million by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Few subjects stir French passions more than politics and food, so perhaps it was inevitable that the two realms would eventually collide - and meld - in a cookbook.

"French Country Cooking," a compendium of recipes contributed by members of France's National Assembly, serves up a lavishly illustrated complement of French cuisine, from rustic one-pot stews to refined roasts and decadent desserts.

Jeanette Seaver, the book's translator, spoke to Reuters about the unusual project and the French obsession with food.

Q: How did the idea for this book come about?

A: The idea came from a French parliament deputy (Francoise Branget), who like many French people cooks well. She called upon many of her colleagues at the Parliament. She was able to have a good 90 of her fellow deputies donate recipes, really from the little country villages that they come from, where recipes were passed down for generations. One found a recipe folded in the library of their grandfather that dated from before the (French) Revolution.

Q: Were any Assembly members reluctant to embrace the project?

A: No, not at all. They're very proud, very happy to talk about and share and even parade their particular region.

Q: Did the members choose which recipes to submit?

A: They did indeed, so it's very personal. And we see how so much of French gastronomy as it is known today truly emanates from a time when farmers had no money, and were not allowed to fish nor hunt on the property of their lords. They could only use the eggs of the farms and poultry and the greens and vegetables, so you will see a lot of recipes emanating from a time when people were abjectly poor. Their imagination went to work and created astonishing dishes that have become icons of French cuisine.

Q: It seems the French are especially passionate about food. It's hard to imagine a cookbook featuring senators' recipes.

A: Yes it's true, the knowledge and the history is part and parcel of the French citizen. You go into restaurants and people are not only discussing what they're eating, but also what they'll eat tonight or what they ate yesterday. It's an important part of the French culture.

Q: Do you see food as being political in France in some way that perhaps it isn't in the United States?

A: Well each province is very vigilant about the territory's food. I remember going through the various villages to taste the cassoulet, and each one claimed it was 'the' recipe, which in their mind it might have been. So it does become very possessive or territorial.

Q: What do you see as being some of the main differences between the French home cook and the American home cook?

A: I think the French are basically more sophisticated, but I think the Americans have come up a long, long way and become very sophisticated. At times I see people will cook better in New York or San Francisco than they will in Paris.

Q: How have you seen French home cooking changing in the last 10 years, and where do you see it heading?

A: I think the new young home cook is less ambitious than our mothers, in that there is more a trend to buy ready-made, though it can be wonderfully prepared. In Provence I went to the market for some chives and she looked at me and said, 'What's that?' I was appalled. She said 'Well, I don't really cook, I open cans, and frozen. This is a 35-year-old person, and okay she doesn't represent France, but it's a little signal, and I wasn't very happy to hear that.

Q: Yet it seems in America it's just the opposite.

A: Oh it is, it's a blossoming of a gourmet generation. But in France, women long ago joined the workforce, plus so much of what you can buy is exquisite and it's not too expensive, so that's unfortunately been a kind of a trend.

Q: How do you think someone might be surprised by the book?

A: By the very unlikely recipes that are not in normal cookbooks, things like potato pie, things with improbable ingredients that are fun and cheap and accessible. It's very much like walking through a museum of gastronomy.

It represents a culture that is so typically French, in that if you consider each of those political members are as close to their cuisine as to their history, and maybe some might be political enemies, but metaphorically they come together around the table.

Q: Or around the cassoulet -- or perhaps they argue about the cassoulet.

A: Well that's fine, too. It's part of the family, and that's what makes France different.

Braised Duck with Cherries, from Val-D'Oise.

1 Muscovy duck, about 3 pounds

1 celery stalk

1 leek

3 carrots

1 onion

1 clove

2 juniper berries

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 bouquet garni

5 cups red wine

2 cups chicken stock

salt and pepper

6 tablespoons butter

2 pounds pitted sour cherries

2 tablespoons sugar

Put duck, vegetables, spices and bouquet garni in a heavy casserole, add wine, stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 30 minutes.

Preheat over to 350, then remove duck, carve into serving pieces, place in ovenproof dish and dot with half the butter.

Roast 1 hour, basting pieces with cooking juices every 10 minutes.

Melt remaining butter in skillet, add sugar and cherries, saut 10 minutes and lower heat to minimum, simmer 10 minutes.

Remove duck from oven, place on serving platter, pour warm cherries over and around duck and serve.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney and David Gregorio)

The favor? A trip to Del Toro's native Puerto Rico, which Stone hadn't visited since the early 1960s.

"I told him, you owe me one," Del Toro said with a smile as he recalled the conversation during a press conference Friday in the U.S. territory, where he and Stone are helping raise money for one of the island's largest art museums.

Del Toro, wearing jeans, a black jacket and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the name of local reggaeton singer Tego Calderon, waved to the press as he was introduced.

"Hello, greetings. Is this a press conference?" he quipped as he and Stone awaited questions.

Both men praised each other's work, saying they would like to work with each other again.

"I deeply admire him as an actor, the way he thinks, the way he expresses himself," Stone said. "Of all the actors I've worked with, he's the most interesting."

Stone said Del Toro always delivers surprises while acting, even when it's as something as subtle as certain gestures between dialogue.

"I think Benicio is the master of keeping you watching," he said.

Stone said he enjoys meeting up with Del Toro off-set because he's one of the few actors in Hollywood who can talk about something other than movies.

"He is very interested in the world around him," Stone said, adding that the conversations sometimes center around politics and other topics.

Del Toro declined to answer when asked what he thought about Puerto Rico's referendum earlier this month, which aimed to determine the future of the island's political status. He said the results did not seem to point to a clear-cut outcome.

Del Toro then said he would like the island's movie business to grow, especially in a way that would encourage learning.

"I'm talking about movies in an educational sense, as a way to discover other parts of the world," he said. "Create a film class. You'll see; kids won't skip it."

Del Toro also shared his thoughts on being a father after having a daughter with Kimberly Stewart in August 2011.

He said the girl is learning how to swim and is discovering the world around her.

"She has her own personality," Del Toro said. "She's not her mother. She's not me."

Both Del Toro and Stone are expected to remain in Puerto Rico through the weekend to raise money for the Art Museum of Puerto Rico, which is hosting its annual movie festival and will honor Stone's movies.

Museum curator Juan Carlos Lopez Quintero said the money raised will be used to enhance the museum's permanent collection, especially with Puerto Rican paintings from the 19th century and early 20th century.