Need for stronger cooperation between US, China to ensure global stability: Ng Eng Hen






SINGAPORE: Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said there's a need for stronger cooperation between the US and China to ensure global stability.

Dr Ng pointed out that the US-China bilateral relationship must widen areas of mutual interest.

Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Dr Ng said dialogue between the US and China has made progress, but needs to be improved.

There also needs to be practical outcomes in the field of trade, cultural exchanges, people-to-people interactions and military collaboration.

For security, Dr Ng suggested the US and China can build confidence and capacity in multilateral settings.

He cited the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting as an example of a platform to accommodate resident and rising powers. In addition, Dr Ng stressed the importance of effective global governance in tackling modern-day transnational issues.

Dr Ng also spoke at the Munich Young Leaders Round Table.

The Round Table brings together young leaders from governments, think-tanks and the private sector to discuss issues related to foreign and security policy.

While in Munich, Dr Ng also met his counterpart Thomas de Maizière.

- CNA/ck



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President Pranab Mukherjee signs sexual assault ordinance

NEW DELHI: Despite oppositions by women's groups, President Pranab Mukherjee today signed the ordinance on sexual assault which was passed by the Union cabinet on Friday.

Women's organisations, civil society groups and women's rights activists had appealed to President Pranab Mukherjee "not to sign" it.

The government on Friday brought in the ordinance to introduce stricter penalties for crimes against women.

On Friday, women's rights groups had urged the President on not to sign the ordinance

The Parliament now has to pass the ordinance within six months. The Budget Session of Parliament starts on February 21.

The ordinance incorporates some but not all of the recommendations of the Justice Verma commission, a panel of three legal experts, appointed by the government in the wake of fierce street protests after the Delhi gang-rape.

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, AP

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.

Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee. With the help of a prosthetic leg, Exantus is able to dance again. (Read about his comeback.)

Why We Love It

"This is an intimate photo, taken in the subject's most personal space as he lies asleep and vulnerable, perhaps unaware of the photographer. The dancer's prosthetic leg lies in the foreground as an unavoidable reminder of the hardships he faced in the 2010 earthquake. This image makes me want to hear more of Georges' story."—Ben Fitch, associate photo editor

"This image uses aesthetics and the beauty of suggestion to tell a story. We are not given all the details in the image, but it is enough to make us question and wonder."—Janna Dotschkal, associate photo editor

Published February 1, 2013

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VA study finds more veterans committing suicide



The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.” The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says.

As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said his agency would continue to strengthen suicide prevention efforts. “The mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,” he said in a statement.

The study follows long-standing criticism that the agency has moved far too slowly even to figure out how many veterans kill themselves. “If the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?” asked retired Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist. “This is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.”

Bossarte said much work remains to be done to understand the data, especially concerning the suicide risk among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. They constitute a minority of an overall veteran population that skews older, but recent studies have suggested that those who served in recent conflicts are 30 percent to 200 percent more likely to commit suicide than their ­non-veteran peers.

An earlier VA estimate of 18 veterans’ suicides a day, which was disclosed during a 2008 lawsuit, has long been cited by lawmakers and the department’s critics as evidence of the agency’s failings. A federal appeals court pointed to it as evidence of the VA’s “unchecked incompetence.” The VA countered that the number, based on old and incomplete data, was not reliable.

To calculate the veterans’ suicide rate, Bossarte and his sole assistant spent more than two years, starting in October 2010, cajoling state governments to turn over death certificates for the more than 400,000 Americans who have killed themselves since 1999. Forty-two states have provided data or agreed to do so; the study is based on information from 21 that has been assembled into a database.

Bossarte said that men in their 50s — a group that includes a large percentage of the veteran population— have been especially hard-hit by the national increase in suicide. The veterans’ suicide rate is about three times the overall national rate, but about the same percentage of male veterans in their 50s kill themselves as do non-veteran men of that age, according to the VA data.

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Singapore Conversation turns to animal welfare






SINGAPORE: A more inclusive society for animals or tougher rules for buying a pet were some suggestions animal lovers brought up at a dialogue on Saturday.

It was also the first time the Singapore Conversation - an initiative to get Singaporeans to come to a consensus on the kind of future they want - focused on animal welfare.

Saturday's event was jointly organised by the Agency for Animal Welfare, the Our SG Conversation Committee and the Singapore Kindness Movement.

Two working dogs - Esme and Joel - were present at the dialogue.

They were there to receive an inaugural Great Pet award given out by the Agency for Animal Welfare to pets which have served their owners in extraordinary ways.

Esme works as a guide dog for her visually impaired master, while Joel is a health service dog who can alert family members during a medical emergency at home.

Awareness of working dogs in Singapore remains low.

Hence animal lovers at the dialogue urged more shops and restaurants to welcome these dogs and their owners.

Their vision is an inclusive Singapore, for animals, too.

But pet owners need to do their part.

A keyword heard throughout the dialogue was "responsibility" - the responsibility of pet owners.

Abandonment cases in Singapore are unfortunately common. Hence some said the process of buying and owning a pet should be made tougher.

One of them is business owner Jill Hum, who said: "It's just far too easy for someone to buy a pet. It's not just buying candy or a teddy bear from the toy store. It's a live animal, you need to know how to take care of the pet. You need to know it's a lifelong commitment."

Others like Melanie Lee want an outright ban on live animals in pet stores.

"If pet shops can be legislated such that they can't have any live pets for sale, that would really help, because we have so many dogs out there - strays dogs, dogs up for adoption that do not have a home right now."

MP for Nee Soon GRC Associate Professor Faishal Ibrahim said the issue will require consultation with relevant stakeholders.

But the dialogue must go on.

"What we need to do is continue to develop and deepen this journey, so that ten years down the road, we will have a more gracious society," said the MP.

One way that can happen, participants said, is to inject the importance of animal welfare into the education system.

- CNA/ir



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Did riots not take place during Congress rule? Rajnath Singh asks Muslims

NEW DELHI: With the BJP being constantly targeted over Gujarat riots, party president Rajnath Singh on Saturday alleged it was being defamed and maligned continuously under a "planned conspiracy".

He said BJP did not believe in politics of divide and creating differences among people, and appealed the Muslim community to help removing the "widespread confusion".

"BJP is defamed and maligned continuously under a planned conspiracy. You all have seen our government in the Centre when Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister. Who can say that we did politics by creating differences between humans?," he told a group of Muslim leaders who met him at the party office here.

"Our opposition parties allege that BJP is the party which creates enmity (nafrat) between Hindus and Muslims...I want to make an appeal to you people. If anyone can remove this widespread confusion, only you people can do this and this beginning should be made from Delhi," he said.

Stressing that BJP's ideology did not believe in dividing people, he said, "Our ideology and our political thought wants to give only this message that we don't want to create enmity between humans and we don't want to make our government by creating divide."

"If we want to make a government, then we want to base it on the politics of humanity and justice," Singh said.

He also alleged that many more riots have taken place in the country during the Congress regimes.

"Did riots not take place during Congress rule? I can say with confidence that during Congress rule, many more riots took place...We have our government in several of the states...if a riot takes place anywhere, then it should not be assumed that BJP instigated the riot," Singh said.

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Pictures We Love: Best of January

Photograph by Dieu Nalio Chery, AP

The magnitude 7 earthquake that struck near Port au Prince, Haiti, in January 2010 so devastated the country that recovery efforts are still ongoing.

Professional dancer Georges Exantus, one of the many casualties of that day, was trapped in his flattened apartment for three days, according to news reports. After friends dug him out, doctors amputated his right leg below the knee. With the help of a prosthetic leg, Exantus is able to dance again. (Read about his comeback.)

Why We Love It

"This is an intimate photo, taken in the subject's most personal space as he lies asleep and vulnerable, perhaps unaware of the photographer. The dancer's prosthetic leg lies in the foreground as an unavoidable reminder of the hardships he faced in the 2010 earthquake. This image makes me want to hear more of Georges' story."—Ben Fitch, associate photo editor

"This image uses aesthetics and the beauty of suggestion to tell a story. We are not given all the details in the image, but it is enough to make us question and wonder."—Janna Dotschkal, associate photo editor

Published February 1, 2013

Read More..

VA study finds more veterans committing suicide



The VA study indicates that more than two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are 50 or older, suggesting that the increase in veterans’ suicides is not primarily driven by those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands. I don’t think that is true,” said Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist with the VA who did the study. “The rate is going up in the country, and veterans are a part of it.” The number of suicides overall in the United States increased by nearly 11 percent between 2007 and 2010, the study says.

As a result, the percentage of veterans who die by suicide has decreased slightly since 1999, even though the total number of veterans who kill themselves has gone up, the study says.

VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said his agency would continue to strengthen suicide prevention efforts. “The mental health and well-being of our courageous men and women who have served the nation is the highest priority for VA, and even one suicide is one too many,” he said in a statement.

The study follows long-standing criticism that the agency has moved far too slowly even to figure out how many veterans kill themselves. “If the VA wants to get its arms around this problem, why does it have such a small number of people working on it?” asked retired Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a former Army psychiatrist. “This is a start, but it is a faint start. It is not enough.”

Bossarte said much work remains to be done to understand the data, especially concerning the suicide risk among Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. They constitute a minority of an overall veteran population that skews older, but recent studies have suggested that those who served in recent conflicts are 30 percent to 200 percent more likely to commit suicide than their ­non-veteran peers.

An earlier VA estimate of 18 veterans’ suicides a day, which was disclosed during a 2008 lawsuit, has long been cited by lawmakers and the department’s critics as evidence of the agency’s failings. A federal appeals court pointed to it as evidence of the VA’s “unchecked incompetence.” The VA countered that the number, based on old and incomplete data, was not reliable.

To calculate the veterans’ suicide rate, Bossarte and his sole assistant spent more than two years, starting in October 2010, cajoling state governments to turn over death certificates for the more than 400,000 Americans who have killed themselves since 1999. Forty-two states have provided data or agreed to do so; the study is based on information from 21 that has been assembled into a database.

Bossarte said that men in their 50s — a group that includes a large percentage of the veteran population— have been especially hard-hit by the national increase in suicide. The veterans’ suicide rate is about three times the overall national rate, but about the same percentage of male veterans in their 50s kill themselves as do non-veteran men of that age, according to the VA data.

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Indonesia's January inflation rises to 4.57%






JAKARTA: Indonesian inflation hit a four-year high on a monthly basis in January as food prices soared following severe flooding across the country, an official said on Friday.

The monsoonal downpour pushed inflation to 1.03 per cent last month from 0.54 per cent in December, while it also accelerated to 4.57 per cent year on year, from 4.3 per cent, Central Statistics Bureau chief Suryamin said.

"Bad weather in January caused some food prices to increase, including chillies and chicken. Food was the biggest driver of inflation last month," Suryamin told reporters.

However, core inflation, which excludes volatile food prices, eased to 4.32 per cent from 4.4 per cent the previous month.

The country's central bank, Bank Indonesia, has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 5.75 per cent since February, having kept inflation within the target range of 4.5-5.5 per cent.

- AFP/fa



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McDonald's to pay Rs 15,000 for delivering wrong burger

NEW DELHI: Fast food giant McDonald's has been directed by a consumer forum here to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation to one of its customers for delivering a non-veg burger instead of the vegetarian one she had ordered.

The South West District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said, "By delivering her a non-vegetarian burger instead of the vegetarian burger ordered by her is a gross negligence on the part of the delivery-crew-member, whose conduct is tantamount to deficiency-in-service.

"Allowing the complaint, we direct the opposite party (McDonald's) to pay to the complainant Rs 10,000 as compensation and Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation," the bench presided by Narendra Kumar said.

The order came on the plea of Delhi resident Vimal Chaudhary who had alleged that she had ordered for two vegetarian burgers, but she was delivered one non-vegetarian and one vegetarian burgers.

She had said that she realised it was a non-veg burger only after eating half of it and thereafter, she had started vomiting.

The woman had also alleged that being an Arya Samaj follower and a Hindu, eating the non-vegetarian food has hurt her emotionally and she also suffered religiously.

In its defence, the McDonald's had contended that the woman had wilfully accepted the non-veg burger instead of the vegetarian one ordered by her.

The forum, however, rejected the contention, saying had she wanted a non-veg burger she would have ordered one.

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