Benedict says pray for me and next pope


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, speaking before a larger than usual crowd at his penultimate Sunday address, asked the faithful to pray for him and for the next pope.


The crowd in St. Peter's Square chanted "Long live the pope!," waved banners and broke into sustained applause as he spoke from his window. The 85-year-old Benedict, who will resign on February 28, thanked the crowd in several languages.


The Vatican estimated the crowd at more than 50,000 people, larger than the size which turns out at a normal Sunday address not linked to a specific liturgical feast.


Speaking in Spanish, he said: "I beg you to continue praying for me and for the next pope".


It was not clear why the pope chose Spanish to make the only specific reference to his upcoming resignation.


A number of cardinals have said they would be open to the possibility of a pope from the developing world, be it Latin America, Africa or Asia.


After his address, the pope retired into the Vatican for a scheduled, week-long spiritual retreat and will not make any public appearances until next Sunday.


Speaking in Italian in an earlier part of his address about the season of Lent, in which Christians reflect on their failings and seek guidance in prayer, the pope spoke of the difficulty of making important decisions.


"In decisive moments of life, or, on closer inspection, at every moment in life, we are at a crossroads: do we want to follow the ‘I' or God? The individual interest or the real good, that which is really good?" he said.


Since his shock announcement last Monday, the pope has said several times that he made his decision to become the first pope in more than six centuries to resign "for the good of the Church".


The pope says his physical and spiritual forces are no longer strong enough to sustain him in the job of leading the world's some 1.2 billion Roman Catholics at a time of difficulties for the Church in a fast-changing world.


(Editing by Robin Pomeroy)



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Investment in research encourages young scientists to return to S'pore






SINGAPORE: Singapore has committed more resources toward research, innovation, and enterprise.

It recently hosted the inaugural Global Young Scientists Summit, which brought many bright sparks of the international scientific community together.

Several young researchers came back to Singapore to further their research, even though they hold qualifications from prestigious universities overseas.

Ng Hui Khoon, who has a PhD in physics from the California Institute of Technology, said: "At the same time when I was looking for a post-doctoral position, the Centre for Quantum Technologies was just being set up in Singapore as well. So this was a very good opportunity for me. They were hiring people, they were having this huge research lab that was getting a lot of prominence in the world. So this in itself was actually a very attractive thing for me."

Graduate student Reuben Ng is studying ageing and public health at Yale University's School of Public Health. He hopes his work can help Singaporeans age positively.

He said his area of study is focused on helping older people prepare for retirement psychologically because that has been associated with longer life and better health.

"Because most of the time we focus on physical variables on old people and I think it's equally important to look at mental health and psychological variables," he said.

"We're doing this thing known as non-invasive intervention, for longer lives and healthier lives, so it's not just having an injection, or eating a pill but how you can change your mental health, how you can change your mindset so that it could lead to longer and healthier lives at a lower cost."

Mr Ng added: "I think in Singapore, we are facing an ageing population so I want to come back and contribute that way. I think first of all, most of my research has been based in the US and I want to come back and do studies so that we can have an evidence base so we know what we can do to make a difference to older people here in Singapore. Building the evidence base provides a bedrock on which policy decisions or programme decisions can be made on."

Biomedical researcher Khoo Xiaojuan hopes to inspire a new generation of scientists by joining the teaching faculty at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

She said: "What Singapore has to do is to organise, maybe invite people from different aspects of academia. So not just from the universities or research institutes, but those doing other things in the biomedical, pharmaceutical industry - people who are doing teaching, or have set up their own companies, and invite them to come back to talk about their experience."

Ms Khoo said this will go some way in changing mindsets that science is boring.

- CNA/xq



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Yeddurappa's political outfit seeks coconut as party symbol

MANGALORE: The Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) headed by former CM BS Yeddyurappa has moved the election commission to allocate the coconut as its party symbol, V Dhananjay Kumar, senior KJP leader said. The state election commission has recognised KJP as a regional political party and has been allocated serial number 47 as mentioned in a special Gazette published on February 15. The party has also move the ECI to recognise it as a regional political party, he added.

Announcing the name of social worker and educationist Kallekkar Guthu Ravindra Shetty as the president of Dakshina Kannada district unit of the party here on Sunday, Dhananjay said Ravindra hailing from Bunt community is the president of Rathna Education Trust that manages the Vidya Rathna English Medium School at Deralakate. He heads a 45-member core committee of office bearers that will manage party affairs in Dakshina Kannada.

Dhananjay said the party has given preference to people of all taluks in the district and religions to take care of socio-regional-religious balance while constituting the district unit. The party with its thrust on attracting the youth towards it has also chosen Kiran Shetty to head its youth wing, Jyothika Jain as the chief of its women's wing, and Hameed Kudroli to head the minority wing and these units will work on directions from the district unit.

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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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Meteor Blast Creates Rush to Cash In












The shattered glass and broken walls caused by the massive explosion of a monstrous meteor over this remote, industrial Russian city is not even cleaned up, and people are already trying to cash in.


Some residents want to turn this city known mostly for its tank factory into a tourist destination, while others from all around the world are determined to find fragments of the meteorite.


Meteor hunters say it's a once in a lifetime opportunity. A small piece of the space rock that exploded over Russia Friday could be worth thousands of dollars, and bigger chunks could fetch hundreds of thousands.


SEE PHOTOS: Meteorite Crashes in Russia


"I haven't been able to sleep for the last two days because of this," said Michael Farmer, who runs the website Meteor Hunter. "This is a once in a lifetime event. We've never seen anything like this in the last hundred years."


He said he started planning a trip to Chelyabinsk as soon as the meteorite exploded.


"The next morning I was on the phone working on visas. I'd like to get a visa and get over to Russia as quickly as possible," he said. "When this type of thing happens, you know hours count so we try to arrange that as fast as possible."


A day after a massive meteor exploded over this city in central Russia, a monumental cleanup effort is under way.


Authorities have deployed around 24,000 troops and emergencies responders to help in the effort.


Officials say more than a million square feet of windows -- the size of about 20 football fields -- were shattered by the shockwave from the meteor's blast. Around 4,000 buildings in the area were damaged.






Nasha gazeta, www.ng.kz/AP Photo













The injury toll climbed steadily on Friday. Authorities said today it now stands at more than 1,200. Most of those injuries were from broken glass, and only a few hundred required hospitalization.


According to NASA, this was the biggest meteor to hit Earth in more than a century. Preliminary figures suggest it was 50 feet wide and weighed more than the Eiffel Tower.


RELATED: Meteor Events: Rare, but Dangerous


NASA scientists have also estimated the force of the blast that occurred when the meteor fractured upon entering Earth's atmosphere was approximately 470 kilotons -- the equivalent of about 30 Hiroshima bombs, but it did not cause major damage because it occurred so high in the atmosphere.


"This was caused by a small asteroid, about 15 meters in diameter, coming in at around 18 kilometers per second, that's in excess of 40-thousand miles per hour," NASA planetary scientist Paul Abell said. "As the asteroid comes in, it interacts with the atmosphere and effectively it converts all the energy, the kinetic energy of the asteroid, the mass of the asteroid and the velocity and it's actually that velocity, the asteroid just effectively explodes and that creates the pressure wave, the blast wave that comes down."


Treasure hunters hoping to cash in on the bits of space rock aren't the only ones eager to find pieces of the meteor, Abell said. Scientists say the material could offer valuable information.


"One of the things we'd like to learn is first of all, what was the composition of the asteroid, where did it come from," he said. "We know it came from the asteroid belt but can we link it to a bigger asteroid and also, get an idea of the dispersal pattern."


WATCH: Meteor Mystery in San Francisco Bay Area Skies


Residents said they still can't believe it happened here.


"It was something we only saw in the movies," one university student said. "We never thought we would see it ourselves."


Throughout the city, the streets are littered with broken glass. Local officials have announced an ambitious pledge to replace all the broken windows within a week. In the early morning hours, however, workers could still be heard drilling new windows into place.


Authorities have sent divers into a frozen lake outside the city, where a large chunk of the meteor is believed to have landed, creating a large hole in the ice. By the end of the day they had not found anything.



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Govt looking to up support for social enterprises running hawker centres






SINGAPORE: The government is exploring ways to boost support to social enterprises and not-for-profit organisations, which are set to manage hawker centres of the future.

This comes after a government-appointed hawker centre consultation panel recommended that social enterprises run hawker centres of the future, with the aims of giving the disadvantaged jobs, and providing the community with affordable food.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan shared this at the official launch of Kampung @ Simpang Bedok, Singapore's first hawker centre to be run by a social enterprise.

In February last year, social enterprise Best of Asia took over the management of the centre.

Some of the changes include the use of space to allow patrons to shop, or just hang out. The management plans weekly flea markets and band gigs to draw in the crowd.

Deirdre Murugasu, leader of Best of Asia said: "All along, there are many Singaporeans who are unable to actually expand even if they are very good hawkers, there's no succession planning. This place is a place for them to all try out. Make it, don't make it, we're there to help them."

There are 32 stalls at the centre. Best of Asia offers various forms of help to stall holders - including charging them partial rent.

Full rentals range between S$1,500 and S$4,000, based on individual assessments of stall holders.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "This is a very important new start and we'll have to see how this develops over the years to come. The key thing is for it to remain viable, for it to provide good livelihood to people who may be disadvantaged or who may otherwise have an opportunity to start their own businesses. And also for good-hearted people with business ideas and imagination to help others to create a multi-disciplinary team to make this place viable, attractive and hopefully a model for the future."

Hawker centres run by social enterprises can help boost community ties.

Kasmah Sukor, a cook at Pitstop @ Haniff said: "I see that we are working together, helping each other. Everybody tries to support each other in any way we can. That is why I feel that we have the kampung spirit to help out and work. That is what I like about this place."

The government hopes that the 10 new hawker centres in the next five years would be run by social enterprises.

It will look into ways to best support such a model, to ensure long-term sustainability and viability.

- CNA/xq



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Election Commission team seizes Rs 1 crore from chopper in Nagaland

KOHIMA: An Election Commission surveillance team on Saturday seized Rs 1 crore cash from a helicopter allegedly being used by a candidate of the Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) in the poll-bound state.

A team of EC-appointed observers seized the cash from a chopper, which was allegedly hired to ferry Nyemli Phom who is contesting the Assembly polls from a constituency in Longleng district, official sources said.

The EC team has alerted the income tax department and police officials about the development and they have dispatched their teams for the necessary action, they said.

Sources said the candidate will be asked about the sources and utility of this huge cash and after recording the statement a decision will be taken about the cash.

The EC has issued guidelines to political parties to instruct their candidates not to carry huge cash and conduct transactions through banking channels.

Polls for the 60 assembly seats in the state will be conducted on February 23.

The EC has appointed a team of "expenditure observers" in the state to keep a check on illegal money and other inducements being used for voters at the hustings.

The EC-appointed teams are also keeping a close eye on any instances of "paid news" in the run up to the polls.

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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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Budget Cut Warnings Harsher Than Reality?











Get ready for two weeks of intensifying warnings about how crucial, popular government services are about to wither — including many threats that could eventually come true.



President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans made no progress last week in heading off $85 billion in budget-wide cuts that automatically start taking effect March 1. Lacking a bipartisan deal to avoid them and hoping to heap blame and pressure on GOP lawmakers, the administration is offering vivid details about the cuts' consequences: trimmed defense contracts, less secure U.S. embassies, furloughed air traffic controllers.



Past administrations have seldom hesitated to spotlight how budget standoffs would wilt programs the public values.



When a budget fight between President Bill Clinton and congressional Republicans led to two government shutdowns, in 1995 and 1996, some threats came true, like padlocked national parks.



Others did not.



Clinton warned that Medicare recipients might lose medical treatment, feeding programs for the low-income elderly could end and treatment at veterans hospitals could be curtailed. All continued, thanks to contractors working for IOUs, local governments and charities stepping in and the budget impasse ending before serious damage occurred.






Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Imag








This time, at stake is not a federal shutdown but a so-called sequester. Between March 1 and Sept. 30 — the remainder of the government's budget year — it would mean reductions of 13 percent for defense programs and 9 percent for other programs, according to the White House budget office.



The cuts, plus nearly $1 trillion more over the coming decade, were concocted two years ago. Administration and congressional bargainers purposely made them so painful that everyone would be forced to reach a grand deficit-cutting compromise to avoid them.



Hasn't happened.



A look at the sequester and the chilling impact the administration says it would have, based on letters and testimony to Congress:



—A key reminder: Social Security, Medicare and veterans' benefits, Medicaid and a host of other benefit programs are exempted. The cuts take effect over a seven-month period; they don't all crash ashore on March 1. And if a bipartisan deal to ease them is ever reached, lawmakers could restore some or all of the money retroactively.



—On the other hand: Left in effect, these cuts are real even though their program-by-program impact is unclear. The law limits the administration's flexibility to protect favored initiatives, but the White House has told agencies to avoid cuts presenting "risks to life, safety or health" and to minimize harm to crucial services.



—Defense: Troops at war would be protected, but there'd be fewer Air Force flying hours, less training for some Army units and cuts in naval forces. A $3 billion cut in the military's Tricare health care system could diminish elective care for military families and retirees. And, in a warning to the private defense industry, the Pentagon said it would be "restructuring contracts to reduce their scope and cost."



—Health: The National Institutes of Health would lose $1.6 billion, trimming cancer research and drying up funds for hundreds of other research projects. Health departments would give 424,000 fewer tests for the AIDS virus. More than 373,000 people may not receive mental health services.





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Meteorite hits central Russia, more than 500 people hurt


CHELYABINSK, Russia (Reuters) - More than 500 people were injured when a meteorite shot across the sky and exploded over central Russia on Friday, sending fireballs crashing to Earth, shattering windows and damaging buildings.


People heading to work in Chelyabinsk heard what sounded like an explosion, saw a bright light and then felt a shockwave according to a Reuters correspondent in the industrial city 1,500 km (950 miles) east of Moscow.


A fireball blazed across the horizon, leaving a long white trail in its wake which could be seen as far as 200 km (125 miles) away in Yekaterinburg. Car alarms went off, windows shattered and mobile phone networks were interrupted.


"I was driving to work, it was quite dark, but it suddenly became as bright as if it was day," said Viktor Prokofiev, 36, a resident of Yekaterinburg in the Urals Mountains.


"I felt like I was blinded by headlights," he said.


No fatalities were reported but President Vladimir Putin, who was due to host Finance Ministry officials from the Group of 20 nations in Moscow, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev were informed.


A local ministry official said such incidents were extremely rare and Friday's events might have been linked to an asteroid the size of an Olympic swimming pool due to pass Earth at a distance of 27,520 km (17,100 miles) but this was not confirmed.


Russia's space agency Roscosmos said the meteorite was travelling at a speed of 30 km (19 miles) per second and that such events were hard to predict. The Interior Ministry said the meteorite explosion had caused a sonic boom.


Russia's Emergencies Ministry said 514 people had sought medical help, mainly for light injuries caused by flying glass, and that 112 of those were kept in hospital. Search groups were set up to look for the remains of the meteorite.


"There have never been any cases of meteorites breaking up at such a low level over Russia before," said Yuri Burenko, head of the Chelyabinsk branch of the Emergencies Ministry.


WINDOWS BREAK, FRAMES BUCKLE


Windows were shattered on Chelyabinsk's central Lenin Street and some of the frames of shop fronts buckled.


A loud noise, resembling an explosion, rang out at around 9.20 a.m. (12:20 a.m. ET). The shockwave could be felt in apartment buildings in the industrial city's center.


"I was standing at a bus stop, seeing off my girlfriend," said Andrei, a local resident who did not give his second name. "Then there was a flash and I saw a trail of smoke across the sky and felt a shockwave that smashed windows."


A wall was damaged at the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant but a spokeswoman said there was no environmental threat.


Although such events are rare, a meteorite is thought to have devastated an area of more than 2,000 sq km (1,250 miles) in Siberia in 1908, smashing windows as far as 200 km (125 miles) from the point of impact.


The Emergencies Ministry described Friday's events as a "meteor shower in the form of fireballs" and said background radiation levels were normal. It urged residents not to panic.


Chelyabinsk city authorities urged people to stay indoors unless they needed to pick up their children from schools and kindergartens. They said what sounded like a blast had been heard at an altitude of 10,000 meters (32,800 feet).


The U.S. space agency NASA has said an asteroid known as 2012 DA14, about 46 meters in diameter, would have an encounter with Earth closer than any asteroid since scientists began routinely monitoring them about 15 years ago.


Television, weather and communications satellites fly about 500 miles higher. The moon is 14 times farther away.


(Additional reporting by Natalia Shurmina in Yekaterinburg and Gabriela Baczynska in Moscow, Writing by Alexei Anishchuk and Timothy Heritage, Editing by Michael Holden)



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