S'pore scientists identify genes for central corneal thickness

SINGAPORE: Singapore scientists have identified genes for central corneal thickness (CCT) that may cause potentially blinding eye conditions. These eye conditions include glaucoma, as well as the progressive thinning of the cornea, which may eventually lead to a need for corneal transplantation.

The team is from the Singapore Eye Research Institute and the Genome Institute of Singapore, which is an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

A*STAR has described the findings as a world first. It said they show that Singapore is well placed globally in eye and genetics research in finding causes for sight threatening conditions.

Eye doctors can use genetic analysis to better manage such patients and prevent their condition from getting worse.

The team studied 55 hospitals and research centres around the world and analysed more than 20,000 individuals in European and Asian populations.

CCT is linked to potentially blinding eye conditions such as keratoconus, a condition where the cornea progressively thins and takes on a more conical shape that may eventually require transplantation.

A*STAR said the Singapore team has had remarkable success identifying the most CCT-associated loci to date.

It identified six distinct genetic loci in two papers published in 2011 and 2012 via samples collected from Singaporean Chinese, Indians, and Malays, as well as Chinese in Beijing. However, none was found to be associated with common eye diseases like this study has now shown.

Overall, this new study identified a total of 27 associated loci, including six for the keratoconus. These observations suggest that most of the CCT-associated loci identified from populations of European descent are shared with Asian populations.

-CNA/ac

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Left, Right join hands against FDI in retail

NEW DELHI: BJP, CPI and JD(U) on Tuesday come together to launch a national campaign against FDI in retail and sought support from the people to make the movement against the government's "anti-people" policy a success.

"This is a fight against UPA's FDI decision and it is the anti-people policy of the government that we are opposing," JD(U) leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav said here.

Blaming the government for its failure on the economic front, Yadav said industrial production and employment generation has slowed down in the country.

He said, "Indian market is expanding for years and we are not opposed to the expansion of market.

"Now to revive the market, government is punishing people through FDI decision. It is taxing common man by raising rail fares," JD(U) leader said.

He further said that retail shops are the second largest employment generating business in the country and by bringing in retail FDI it will create unemployment in the country.

Comparing the situation with that in China, Yadav said "China's position was equal to India's in economic terms in 1980. But China strengthened its internal position first before doing any business outside."

Criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Yadav said, "the Prime Minister has taken two strong steps till date. One on nuclear issue and the second time on FDI."

Supporting the agitation against the FDI decision, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said the struggle will continue till it is withdrawn and promised that NDA will scrap the decision if it comes to power in the next elections.

"All NDA allies, Left Front and regional parties have opposed FDI. We will scrap the decision when we come to power," Joshi said. He did not agree with the government's view that this will boost the economy.

"Wherever FDI in retail has come, it has ruined the economy of that country," Joshi said, charging that "in India they (US) are trying to come through bribery."

"Bribery amount of Rs 125 crore was reportedly paid in the name of lobbying," Joshi charged.

Reiterating his party's resolve to fight the decision, Joshi said, "We will take the agitation to the village level and make the March 7 rally on it a success."

CPI leader AB Bardhan said Government has not won the fight yet.

"They may have technically won it in Parliament but the battle is not yet over," Bardhan said.

Defending his presence on the same dais with the BJP, the CPI veteran said, "This is a fight for the common man. We may have different ideology but on this issue we are united to fight together."

Cautioning the people against the danger in bringing FDI in retail, he said monopoly price will prevail in the market and consumers will not benefit.

"Consumers may benfit in the beginning but in the longer run, they will be losers. Instead of generating jobs, it will take away jobs," CPI leader said.

He said the FDI decision is going to affect 20 crore people in the country and the market will be flooded with Chinese products.

Spelling out the future agitational plan, Bardhan said, "We will demonstrate in front of the Walmart shop and wherever they will acquire land in the country."

Bardhan further said all trade unions like AITUC, INTUC, BMS are opposing the FDI decision.

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"Fantastic" New Flying Frog Found—Has Flappy Forearms

Scientists have stumbled across a new species of flying frog—on the ground.

While hiking a lowland forest in 2009, not far from Ho Chi Minh City (map), Vietnam, "we came across a huge green frog, sitting on a log," said Jodi Rowley, an amphibian biologist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and lead author of a new study on the frog.

Rowley later discovered that the 3.5-inch-long (9-centimeter-long) creature is a relatively large new type of flying frog, a group known for its ability to "parachute" from tree to tree thanks to special aerodynamic adaptations, such as webbed feet, Rowley said. (Also see "'Vampire Flying Frog' Found; Tadpoles Have Black Fangs.")

Rowley dubbed the new species Helen's flying frog, in honor of her mother, Helen Rowley, "who has steadfastly supported her only child trekking through the forests of Southeast Asia in search of frogs," according to a statement.

The newfound species—there are 80 types of flying frogs—is also "one of the most flying frogs of the flying frogs," Rowley said, "in that it's got huge hands and feet that are webbed all the way to the toepad."

"Females even have flappy skin on their forearms to glide," added Rowley, who has received funding from the National Geographic Committee on Research and Exploration. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.) "The females are larger and heavier than males, so the little extra flaps probably don't make much of a difference," she said.

As Rowley wrote on her blog, "At first it may seem strange that such a fantastic and obvious frog could escape discovery until now—less than 100 kilometers [60 miles] from an urban centre with over nine million people."

Yet these tree dwellers can easily escape notice—they spend most of their time in the canopy, she said.

Flying Frog On the Edge

Even so, Helen's flying frog won't be able to hide from development near Ho Chi Minh City, which may encroach on its existing habitats.

So far, only five individuals have been found in two patches of lowland forest hemmed in by rice paddies in southern Vietnam, Rowley said. The animals can probably tolerate a little bit of disturbance as long as they have large trees and temporary pools, she added.

But lowland forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, mostly because they're so accessible to people, and thus chosen for logging and development. (Get the facts on deforestation.)

"While Helen's flying frog has only just been discovered by biologists," Rowley wrote, "unfortunately this species, like many others, is under great threat from ongoing habitat loss and degradation."

The new flying frog study was published in December 2012 in the Journal of Herpetology.

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Armstrong Admits Doping in Tour, Sources Say

Lance Armstrong today admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, sources told ABC News.

A government source tells ABC News that Armstrong is now talking with authorities about paying back some of the US Postal Service money from sponsoring his team. He is also talking to authorities about confessing and naming names, giving up others involved in illegal doping. This could result in a reduction of his lifetime ban, according to the source, if Armstrong provides substantial and meaningful information.

Armstrong made the admission in what sources describe as an emotional interview with Winfrey to air on "Oprah's Next Chapter" on Jan. 17.

The 90-minute interview at his home in Austin, Texas, was Armstrong's first since officials stripped him of his world cycling titles in response to doping allegations.

Word of Armstrong's admission comes after a Livestrong official said that Armstrong apologized today to the foundation's staff ahead of his interview.

The disgraced cyclist gathered with about 100 Livestrong Foundation staffers at their Austin headquarters for a meeting that included social workers who deal directly with patients as part of the group's mission to support cancer victims.

Armstrong's "sincere and heartfelt apology" generated lots of tears, spokeswoman Katherine McLane said, adding that he "took responsibility" for the trouble he has caused the foundation.

Riccardo S. Savi/Getty Images|Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

Lance Armstrong Stripped of Tour de France Titles Watch Video

Lance Armstrong Doping Charges: Secret Tapes Watch Video

McLane declined to say whether Armstrong's comments included an admission of doping, just that the cyclist wanted the staff to hear from him in person rather than rely on second-hand accounts.

Armstrong then took questions from the staff.

Armstrong's story has never changed. In front of cameras, microphones, fans, sponsors, cancer survivors -- even under oath -- Lance Armstrong hasn't just denied ever using performance enhancing drugs, he has done so in an indignant, even threatening way.

Armstrong, 41, was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned from the sport for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in October 2012, after allegations that he benefited from years of systematic doping, using banned substances and receiving illicit blood transfusions.

"Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling," Pat McQuaid, the president of the International Cycling Union, said at a news conference in Switzerland announcing the decision. "This is a landmark day for cycling."

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency issued a 200-page report Oct. 10 after a wide-scale investigation into Armstrong's alleged use of performance-enhancing substances.

Armstrong won the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005.

According to a source, speaking to ABC News, a representative of Armstrong's once offered to make a donation estimated around $250,000 to the agency, as "60 Minutes Sports" on Showtime first reported.

Lance Armstrong's attorney Tim Herman denied it. "No truth to that story," Herman said. "First Lance heard of it was today. He never made any such contribution or suggestion."

Armstrong, who himself recovered from testicular cancer, created the Lance Armstrong Foundation (now known as the LIVESTRONG Foundation) to help people with cancer cope, as well as foster a community for cancer awareness. Armstrong resigned late last year as chairman of the LIVESTRONG Foundation, which raised millions of dollars in the fight against cancer.

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History lesson: Why did Congress create a national debt limit?

(Jay Mallin/Bloomberg)

Now that the Treasury Department has nixed the odd idea of issuing a platinum coin to get around the federal debt limit, Congress once again will be forced to decide whether to raise the debt limit.

When this issue last loomed in 2011, we looked deeply at the question of whether the United States had ever defaulted before. (Answer: It is not entirely unprecedented. There are three instances when the United States could be seen to have defaulted on its obligations — in 1790, in 1933 and in 1971.)

The debt limit covers both publicly-held debt and debts the United States owes to itself (bonds to Social Security and Medicare for future obligations) so no matter what happens, the debt limit will have to be raised, one way or the other.

But for readers who have been wondering, here’s a history lesson why the United States has a debt limit in the first place. Essentially, Congress was trying to make life easier for itself.

It started with a war.

In the early decades of the Republic, Congress preferred to issue debt for specific purposes, such as issuing bonds to build the Panama Canal. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, Congress authorized the Treasury Secretary to issue short-term debt and some longer-term debt with specific limits on maturities.

But World War I was a conflict with unknowable costs, making targeted legislation difficult. At first Congress established a $5 billion limit on new issues of bonds, along with the immediate issuance of $2 billion in one-year certificates of indebtedness, in the First Liberty Loan Act of 1917.

But very quickly another law was needed-- the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917—in which Congress set a general limit on borrowing--$9.5 billion in Treasury bonds and $4 billion in one-year certificates. This freed the Treasury Secretary to begin to figure out the best mix of securities to issue, without nearly as much congressional oversight as before.

By the end of World War I, the limit on Treasury obligations had been raised to $43 billion, which was considerably more than the $25 billion in outstanding public debt in 1919. For decades, future increases in the national debt were simply amendments to the Second Liberty Bond Act. But it was not in 1939—on the eve of the World War II—that Congress eliminated all of the different limits on types of bonds, thus creating an overall aggregate limit on the national debt.

We learned much of this from an interesting 1954 history of the debt limit, published in the Journal of Finance, by H.J. Cooke and M. Katzen, which was posted on the Monkey Cage blog. The article notes that the debt limit generally was raised without controversy until a White House request to raise the limit in 1953 was sidetracked in the Senate, “where the ceiling was viewed as an instrument for forcing economy on the executive branch of the government.”

Hmm, that sounds familiar.

But in that case, it was a Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who faced a roadblock from a Democratic senator, Harry F. Byrd of Virginia, who then chaired the Senate Finance Committee.

Eisenhower wanted to build the national highway system, which he considered an important investment in the future, but Byrd was concerned that national debt built up during World War II and the Great Depression was becoming a permanent feature of the U.S. government. Eisenhower asserted that he had “moved promptly and vigorously” to cut spending but still needed the debt limit raised in order to pay outstanding bills.

But Byrd was not satisfied and he so demanded more cuts in exchange for a debt limit increase. For a while, Byrd held the upper hand, forcing Treasury to take emergency measures to avoid default, but eventually Eisenhower got the debt ceiling raised in 1954, though not as much as he had hoped.

“An essential part of this preparedness [for national security] is a debt limit high enough to permit the Treasury, if necessary, to borrow the funds required to carry out the Government’s obligations under the Constitution and under the laws of the Congress,” Eisenhower said when he signed the bill establishing the new debt limit.

In other words, there are no original ideas in politics. The debt limit was originally conceived as a way to make things easier for Congress, because lawmakers were tired of having to issue bonds for specific purposes. (Congress, after all, had already decided to spend the money.) But then Congress often finds a way to make the easy stuff harder.

Indeed, when he was a senator, President Obama also refused to approve a debt limit increase in 2006 without a plan to reduce the deficit. The president now acknowledges that was a “political vote, as opposed to doing what was important for the country—which he regrets.

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Asian stocks up, Shanghai jumps on regulator comments

HONG KONG: Asian shares were mostly higher on Monday, led by a surge on the Shanghai index after the securities regulator raised hopes for increased foreign investment in China's stock market.

The euro made further gains after upbeat comments last week by the European Central Bank chief, and the yen slid again after reports that the Bank of Japan and government were poised to set a two-per cent inflation target.

Shanghai surged 3.06 per cent, or 68.74 points, to 2,311.74 after the head of China's securities regulator, Guo Shuqing, said the investment quota for foreigners in the domestic equity market could be increased 10-fold.

Hong Kong rose 0.64 per cent, or 149.19 points, to 23,413.26, Seoul added 0.52 per cent, or 10.37 points, to 2,007.04 and Sydney closed up 0.22 per cent, or 10.2 points, at 4,719.7.

But Singapore slipped 0.31 per cent, or 9.91 points, to 3,206.59, pulled down by property stocks after the government introduced new measures at the weekend to cool the local market.

Tokyo was closed for a public holiday.

At a Hong Kong conference on Monday, Guo said at present investment by foreign institutions -- individuals are barred -- accounts for "just 1.5 or 1.6 per cent" of China's A-share market, stock denominated in the domestic yuan currency.

He said the quota could be increased 10-fold in an effort to boost the stock market, without elaborating.

There was no clear lead from Wall Street, where stocks closed in mixed territory on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.13 per cent, the broad-based S&P 500 was flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.12 per cent.

Investors were looking ahead to a speech by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke later on Monday.

Minutes from the December meeting of Fed policymakers showed they were divided over how long the central bank should continue asset purchases.

But dealers thought Bernanke was likely to put an end to speculation that US policymakers may end the quantitative-easing programme, with expectations about his comments pushing down the dollar.

"I'd be shocked if he said anything other than they're buying bonds for the long haul," said Davis Scutt, a currency trader at Arab Bank in Sydney.

After tumbling on Friday when the Japanese government unveiled a stimulus package, the yen slid further as reports said the Bank of Japan and the government would jointly set a two-per cent inflation target following pressure from new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The two sides are to finalise a joint statement on monetary measures in time for the central bank's policy meeting on January 21-22, the Asahi Shimbun reported.

A weaker yen helps the country's many exporters, as it makes their products cheaper abroad.

The euro has been surging since Thursday when ECB chief Mario Draghi said there was "a significant improvement in financial market conditions" in the single currency bloc.

On foreign exchange markets in Asian afternoon trade, the euro was at $1.3387, compared to $1.3341 in the US late Friday. The dollar was at 89.61 yen from 89.18 yen, and the euro traded at 119.96 yen from 119.00 yen.

Oil was up. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose 69 cents to $94.25 a barrel in the afternoon, and Brent North Sea crude for February delivery gained 43 cents to $111.07.

Gold was at 1,669.90 at 0935 GMT compared with $1,669.80 late Friday.

In other markets:

-- Wellington rose 0.54 per cent, or 22.16 points to 4,153.92.

Fletcher Building added 1.61 per cent to NZ$8.86, Telecom Corp rose 1.08 per cent to NZ$2.335 and The Warehouse gained 0.66 per cent to NZ$3.07.

-- Taipei was flat, edging up 4.82 points to 7,823.97.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co gained 1.0 per cent at NT$102.0 while leading smartphone maker HTC climbed 5.1 per cent to NT$291.0.

-- Manila advanced 0.70 per cent, or 42.15 points, to 6,093.90.

Top-traded Bloomberry Resorts Corp. gained 1.54 per cent to 13.16 pesos while BDO Unibank rose 2.46 per cent to 77 pesos.

- AFP/xq

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Killing of jawans: India lodges protest with Pak at flag meet

JAMMU: Indian Army on Monday lodged a strong protest with Pakistan army over the killing of two of its jawans, one of whom was beheaded, and continued ceasefire violations along the LoC in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The flag meeting between brigade commanders of India and Pakistan started around 1300 hours and ended at 1332 hours at Chakan-Da-Bagh Crossing-Point in Poonch sector", a senior Army officer said.

The Indian team was led by 10th Bridage (Krishnaghati Brigade) commander Brig T S Sandhu in the meeting with the Pakistan brigade commander at Chakan-da-Bagh crossing point along the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district.

The officer said further details were awaited as the team was returning from the forward area.

Army had lodged a strong protest with Pakistan army over the brutal, barbaric and inhuman killing of two Army jawans after intrusion in Poonch sector on January 8 and also continued ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops.

The Indian Army had sent a hotline message to Pakistan army on January 11 and called for a brigade commander-level flag meeting to discuss the issues of brutal killing of two jawans after major intrusion by Pakistani troops of 29 Baloch Regiment and increasing incidents of firing and ceasefire violations in Poonch sector.

Pakistan had on Sunday responded to the request for flag meeting through hot-line, he said, adding that "we had sought flag meeting of the two brigade commanders".

Pakistan's high commissioner Salman Bashir was earlier summoned in Delhi by foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai, who had lodged a strong protest over Pakistani army action in which the two soldiers were killed and their bodies were subjected to "barbaric and inhuman mutilation".

Pakistan has suspended cross-LoC trade and travel at Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing point in Poonch sector since Thursday and Friday respectively.

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How NRA’s true believers converted a marksmanship group into a mighty gun lobby

In gun lore it’s known as the Revolt at Cincinnati. On May 21, 1977, and into the morning of May 22, a rump caucus of gun rights radicals took over the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association.

The rebels wore orange-blaze hunting caps. They spoke on walkie-talkies as they worked the floor of the sweltering convention hall. They suspected that the NRA leaders had turned off the air-conditioning in hopes that the rabble-rousers would lose enthusiasm.

The Old Guard was caught by surprise. The NRA officers sat up front, on a dais, observing their demise. The organization, about a century old already, was thoroughly mainstream and bipartisan, focusing on hunting, conservation and marksmanship. It taught Boy Scouts how to shoot safely. But the world had changed, and everything was more political now. The rebels saw the NRA leaders as elites who lacked the heart and conviction to fight against gun-control legislation.

And these leaders were about to cut and run: They had plans to relocate the headquarters from Washington to Colorado.

“Before Cincinnati, you had a bunch of people who wanted to turn the NRA into a sports publishing organization and get rid of guns,” recalls one of the rebels, John D. Aquilino, speaking by phone from the border city of Brownsville, Tex.

What unfolded that hot night in Cincinnati forever reoriented the NRA. And this was an event with broader national reverberations. The NRA didn’t get swept up in the culture wars of the past century so much as it helped invent them — and kept inflaming them. In the process, the NRA overcame tremendous internal tumult and existential crises, developed an astonishing grass-roots operation and became closely aligned with the Republican Party.

Today it is arguably the most powerful lobbying organization in the nation’s capital and certainly one of the most feared. There is no single secret to its success, but what liberals loathe about the NRA is a key part of its power. These are the people who say no.

They are absolutist in their interpretation of the Second Amendment. The NRA learned that controversy isn’t a problem but rather, in many cases, a solution, a motivator, a recruitment tool, an inspiration.

Gun-control legislation is the NRA’s best friend: The organization claims an influx of 100,000 new members in recent weeks in the wake of the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. The NRA, already with about 4 million members, hopes that the new push by Democrats in the White House and Congress to curb gun violence will bring the membership to 5 million.

The group has learned the virtues of being a single-issue organization with a very simple take on that issue. The NRA keeps close track of friends and enemies, takes names and makes lists. In the halls of power, it works quietly behind the scenes. It uses fear when necessary to motivate supporters. The ultimate goal of gun-control advocates, the NRA claims, is confiscation and then total disarmament, leading to government tyranny.

“We must declare that there are no shades of gray in American freedom. It’s black and white, all or nothing,” Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said at an NRA annual meeting in 2002, a message that the organization has reiterated at almost every opportunity since.

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MSF to focus on better organising its delivery of social services

SINGAPORE: Acting Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing said his ministry will focus on how to better deliver social services to the people.

This comes after Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced that Budget Day this year will be on February 25.

Mr Chan spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a community event on Sunday morning.

He noted that beyond adjusting and tweaking some of the policies, it is important to assess how these policies can be systematically implemented across the ministry's entire span of social services.

He added that announcements will be made by his ministry in the lead-up to Budget Day.

Mr Chan said: "The focus is not just on the policies alone, of course that we will do, but the focus is also to make sure that we organise ourselves better so that we prepare the ground and set up the social service infrastructure for the many years to come so that in time to come when our social needs increase, when we have more social challenges, we have what we call the social service infrastructure in place to deliver the help to the people in need."

- CNA/fa

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People living near LoC demand grant for constructing bunkers

SRINAGAR: People living in areas close to Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir are demanding special grant for construction of bunkers to escape shelling as India and Pakistan have resumed hostilities by heavy firing at each others' position.

Residents of villages close to the LoC in Uri sector of north Kashmir Baramulla district claim that the earthquake of 2005, which had flattened wide parts of Kashmir on either side of the ceasefire line, had destroyed their bunkers.

"We did not reconstruct those bunkers as we did not feel the need. The ceasefire between India and Pakistan along the LoC had held good for two years," Mohammad Aslam, a resident of Churunda village in Uri, said.

Churunda has been the worst affected areas in recent time as three civilians were killed in Pakistani shelling in October last year.

The village was again the target on January 6 but the cross LoC shelling resulted in damage to a residential house.

India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in November 2003. Barring minor aberrations, the ceasefire had been successful, providing major relief to the residents of borders areas in the state who were living in constant fear.

However, the recent incidents of shelling along the LoC and transgression of the ceasefire line by Pakistani troops in Mendhar area of Poonch district is threatening the truce pact. Two Indian soldiers were killed in Mendhar incident while Pakistan has claimed that two of its soldiers died in shelling by Indian army since January 6.

A delegation of villagers living close to LoC told PTI that government should provide them special grant for reconstructing the bunkers in case the hostilities continue.

"The government should either construct or provide us money to construct these bunkers. If they fail to do so, we might have to migrate from the area," Bashir Ahmad, who was heading the delegation, said.

He said the areas of Uri likely to be affected by cross-LoC shelling include Hathlanga, Churunda, Tilwari, Silikote and Sura, where over 1,000 families reside.

District development commissioner Baramulla Khwaja Ghulam Ahmad said the authorities have not received any representation for construction of bunkers so far.

"However, we will forward a proposal to Government if any such application is received," Ahmad said.

He said all the families living along the LoC in Uri were given Rs 15,000 in mid-1990s for construction of the underground bunkers.

"These bunkers do not get affected by earthquake," he added.

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