Experts urge community to help boost mental resilience in youths

SINGAPORE: Every month, about 20 youths are identified as having early signs of psychosis -- a serious mental illness that causes hallucinations and delusions.

This is according to the Community Health Assessment Team (CHAT), that conducts free mental health assessment at a youth centre.

The youths are then referred for treatment.

In conjunction with Total Defence Day commemorated this week, the centre is urging the community to help beef up the country's psychological defence by strengthening the mental resilience among youths.

Some common concerns which youths shared with counsellors at the centre are anxiety and conflict with family members and peers.

On average, the centre at SCAPE sees about 60 youths a month. About 30 per cent of them show signs of psychosis.

Around one in 50 people will experience a psychotic episode in his or her lifetime.

Dr Swapna Verma, chief of Early Psychosis Intervention Programme at Institute of Mental Health, said: "Psychosis is not that uncommon. About two or three out of every hundred young people will have a psychotic breakdown between the late teens and early twenties and because of the stigma, they don't seek help readily so having services like this would encourage them to seek help."

CHAT was set up in 2009 to address mental health issues among those aged between 16 and 30.

The Singapore Mental Health Study conducted in 2010 showed 90 per cent of mental health issues emerged before the age of 29.

Chan Lishan, 30, said: "I went through a period of sensory deprivation. I took an enormous blanket and covered the window with it, to make it really dark. And then I took ear plugs and I wore it, and refused to hear anything. I was really paranoid and afraid of people and I just hid in my room all day. I got really compulsive in a way. Obsessive over things. I would continuously write statements - the same statements over and over again."

She has written a book about schizophrenia.

In 2007, Ms Chan was about to start her research scholarship.

She had rented a room from a family, as her parents were based overseas. But when her symptoms worsened, her landlord kicked her out.

She recounted: "I got lost, and I wandered into an old folks' home and they called the police because I was trespassing. Then when they spoke to me they realised that something was strange and they decided to put me in the lockup for the night and send me to hospital for the next day.

"I lost a lot. I lost a scholarship, I was homeless. I lost a lot of friends because I quarrelled with them for no good reason. I lost my mind because I couldn't focus very well."

Ms Chan has fully recovered and now spends her time writing and giving talks on her experience.

Experts say a multi-pronged approach is needed to help solve mental health issues among youths. This includes positive support from peers, families and the community.

- CNA/xq

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Supreme Court refuses to hear Veerappan's aides' plea urgently

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Saturday refused urgent hearing on the plea of four aides of sandalwood smuggler Veerappan seeking stay of execution of their death penalty reportedly fixed for Sunday, saying there was no proof about it.

The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir but he did not give a hearing to it, said a staff from his office when contacted.

Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who had mentioned the matter at the CJI's residence, said the Chief Justice did not hear the matter this evening on the ground that there was no proof that execution will take place tomorrow.

He said the CJI told him that the matter will be taken up for hearing in due course.

Gonsalves and his associate advocate Samik Narain said they approached the apex court after getting information that the execution of death penalty will take place tomorrow.

"Now we are hoping that the execution will not take place tomorrow," they said, adding that they will again mention the matter before the court on Monday.

Veerappan's elder brother Gnanaprakash, Simon, Meesekar Madaiah and Bilavendran were awarded death sentence in 2004 in connection with a landmine blast at Palar in Karnataka in 1993 in which 22 police personnel were killed.

Their mercy petition was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee on February 13.

The four convicts are lodged in a jail in Belgaum in Karnataka.

A TADA court in Mysore had in 2001 sentenced them to life term which was enhanced to death sentence by the apex court.

Gang leader Veerappan was killed in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu police in October 2004.

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Picture Archive: Making Mount Rushmore, 1935-1941

Photograph from Rapid City Chamber of Commerce/National Geographic

There's no such thing as Presidents' Day.

According to United States federal government code, the holiday is named Washington's Birthday, and has been since it went nationwide in 1885.

But common practice is more inclusive. The holiday expanded to add in other U.S. presidents in the 1960s, and the moniker Presidents' Day became popular in the 1980s and stuck. It may be that George Washington (b. February 22, 1732) andAbraham Lincoln (b. February 12, 1809) still get the lion's share of attention—and appear in all the retail sale ads—on the third Monday in February, but the popular idea is that all 44 presidents get feted.

Mount Rushmore is a lot like that one day a year writ large—and in granite. It's carved 60 feet (18 meters) tall and 185 feet (56 meters) wide, from Washington's right ear to Lincoln's left.

The monument's sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, grew up in Idaho, a first-generation American born to Danish parents. He studied art in France and became good friends with Auguste Rodin. Borglum mostly worked in bronze, but in the early 1910s he was hired to carve the likenesses of Confederate leaders into Stone Mountain in Georgia.

He was about to be fired from that job for creative differences about the same time that a South Dakota historian named Doane Robinson had an idea. Robinson wanted to have a monument carved into the Black Hills of South Dakota, maybe Western historical figures like Chief Red Cloud and Lewis and Clark, each on their own granite spire. (Plan a road trip in the Black Hills.)

Robinson hired Borglum and gave him carte blanche. Borglum was looking for something with national appeal, so he chose to depict four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Borglum wanted to represent the first 150 years of the nation's history, choosing four presidents as symbols of their respective time periods. He took a tour of western South Dakota, searching for an ideal canvas.

The sculptor was looking for three things: a surface strong enough to sculpt, a mountain big enough to hold several figures, and a mountain face that received morning sunlight. Mount Rushmore fit the bill and was already part of a national forest, so it was easy to set aside as a national memorial.

Work started in 1927. Calvin Coolidge attended the dedication ceremony. It took 14 years to finish the carving, conducted mostly in summertime because of the area's harsh winters.

There were approximately 30 workers on the mountain at any give time. In total about 400 had worked on it by the time the monument was finished. Though the project involved thousands of pounds of dynamite and perilous climbs, not a single person died during the work.

Borglum himself died of natural causes in 1941, though, just six months before the project was declared "closed as is" by Congress that Halloween. His son Lincoln—named for his father's favorite president—took over.

In the photo above, a worker refines the details of Washington's left nostril.

About 90 percent of the mountain was carved using dynamite, which could get within 3 to 5 inches (8 to 13 centimeters) of the final facial features. For those last few inches, workers used what was known as the honeycomb method: Jackhammer workers pounded a series of three-inch-deep holes followed up by chiselers who knocked off the honeycomb pieces to get the final shape. Then carvers smoothed the "skin's" surface.

—Johnna Rizzo

February 16, 2013

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Vatican Raises Possibility of Early March Conclave

The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman The Rev. Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."

"It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of conclave, Lombardi said.

He explained that the 15-20 day rule is in place to allow time for the arrival of "all those (cardinals) who are absent" to take part in the conclave in the usual circumstances of convening after a pope dies. But in this case, the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end on Feb. 28 with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.

L'Osservatore Romano Vatican Pool/Getty Images

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Catholics in Mexico React to the Pope's Resignation Watch Video

The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed as pope by Sunday, March 17. Given the tight time-frame, speculation has mounted that some sort of arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.

Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled ever since Benedict announced on Feb. 11 that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death. As a result, his decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its procedures for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between papacies won't begin with a pope's death.

Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people have requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27. He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.

That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.

He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass; like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, both issues simply haven't yet been resolved, Lombardi said.

———

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

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US Q4 industrial output stronger than thought: Fed

WASHINGTON: US industrial production fell in January but the final quarter of last year was much stronger than originally thought, the Federal Reserve reported on Friday.

January's production contracted 0.1 per cent, and manufacturing output fell 0.4 per cent.

But industrial production as a whole expanded at a 2.6 per cent annual pace in the October-December 2012 quarter, compared to the previous estimate of just 1.0 per cent, and manufacturing expanded 1.9 per cent, compared to the previous estimate of 0.2 per cent.

That suggested that the initial government estimate of an 0.1 per cent contraction in the economy last quarter could be revised upward.

Manufacturing output in December was revised up to 1.1 per cent and November 1.7 per cent.

January's production was hit mainly by a 3.9 per cent contraction in automotive products, while energy production surged 3.1 per cent.

- AFP/xq

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CBI team to visit Italy as govt set to scrap chopper deal

NEW DELHI: The government is sending a CBI team to Italy to probe the chopper deal kickback scandal where the CEOs of AgustaWestland and its parent company Finmeccanica have been arrested on charges of bribery. This comes in the wake of government's move to scrap the Rs 3,546 crore deal for 12 AgustaWestland AW-101 helicopters.

The defence ministry (MoD) on Friday initiated action for cancellation of the contract inked in February 2010. It issued a formal show-cause notice to the UK-based subsidiary of Finmeccanica to explain within a week why the contract should not be cancelled.

The Times of India had reported on Thursday that the government was fast veering around to cancelling the VVIP helicopter deal after it first put on hold all further payments to AgustaWestland since the deal was fast emerging as a test-case for defence minister AK Antony, who has built his entire political career on probity, with fingers being raised about the year-long delay in ordering a CBI probe despite allegations of huge kickbacks in the deal consistently emanating for almost an year.

"If the contracts for the Bofors howitzers and the HDW submarines in the mid-1980s could be terminated midway, even if they hit the operational readiness and modernization of the armed forces in a major way, these are just choppers meant for VVIP travel," said a top government source had said on Thursday.

Despite having inducted only three of the AW-101 helicopters till now, with the remaining nine slated for delivery in batches of three each in March, May and July, the defence ministry has earlier this week put on hold all further payments to AgustaWestland. India so far has paid a little over 50% of the total amount to this UK-based subsidiary of Italian military giant Finmeccanica.

With the budget session of Parliament fast approaching on February 21, there were indications that the MoD would not even wait for the CBI to submit a formal report. The MoD has also written to the chief executive officer of AgustaWestland to "categorically" state the "clear position" in view of the current developments, asking him to specifically indicate if any financial transaction has taken place with any Indian individual or entity.

Both the contract and integrity pact inked with AgustaWestland contain specific provisions by which "strict action including the cancellation of contract, recovery of payment, blacklisting and penal action" can be unleashed against the vendor.

Article 22 of the inked contract, for instance, deals with the penalty for the "use of undue influence". It entitles the "buyer" to cancel the contract with the "seller" and recover from him the amount of any loss arising from such cancellation.

Article 23, in turn, deals with agents and agency commission, requiring the "seller" to confirm and declare that the company has not engaged any individual or firm - Indian or foreign - to intercede or facilitate in any way with the Indian government or its officials. Any breach of the integrity pact, in turn, entitles the "buyer" to take actions against the "seller", ranging from forfeiture of the earnest money and performance bond to contract cancellation and recovery of the sum already paid with interest.

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Why We Walk … and Run … And Walk Again to Get Where We're Going

You have to get to a bus stop to catch the once-an-hour express ... or to a restaurant to meet a friend ... or to a doctor's office. You've got maybe a half a mile to cover and you're worried you'll be late. You run, then you stop and walk, then run some more.

But wait. Wouldn't it be better to run the whole way?

Not necessarily.

A new study by an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State University tests the theory that people subconsciously mix walking and running so they get where they need to. The idea is that "people move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption," said the professor, Manoj Srinivasan.

Srinivasan asked 36 subjects to cover 400 feet (122 meters), a bit more than the length of a football field. He gave them a time to arrive at the finish line and a stopwatch. If the deadline was supertight, they ran. If they had two minutes, they walked. And if the deadline was neither too short nor too far off, they toggled between walking and running.

The takeaway: Humans successfully make the walk-run adjustment as they go along, based on their sense of how far they have to go. "It's not like they decide beforehand," Srinivasan said. (Get tips, gear recommendations, and more in our Running Guide.)

The Best Technique for "the Twilight Zone"

"The mixture of walking and running is good when you have an intermediate amount of time," he explained. "I like to call it 'the Twilight Zone,' where you have neither infinite time nor do you have to be there now."

That ability to shift modes served ancient humans well. "It's basically an evolutionary argument," Srinivasan said. A prehistoric human seeking food would want to move in a way that conserves some energy so that if food is hard to find, the hunter won't run out of gas—and will still be able to rev it up to escape predators.

The study, published on January 30 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, doesn't answer that question of how we make such adjustments.

Runners: Take a Break if You Need It

The mix of walking and running is also something that nonelite marathoners are familiar with. Covering 26.2 miles might take less of a toll if the runner stops running from time to time, walks a bit, then resumes a jogging pace. "You use less energy overall and also give yourself a bit of a break," Srinivasan noted. (Watch: An elite marathoner on her passion for running.)

One take-home lesson is: Runners, don't push it all the time. A walk-run mix will minimize the energy you expend.

Lesson two: If you're a parent walking with your kid, and the kid lags behind, then runs to catch up, then lags again, the child isn't necessarily trying to annoy you. Rather, the child is perhaps exhibiting an innate ability to do the walk-run transition.

Potential lesson three: The knowledge that humans naturally move in a manner that minimizes energy consumption might be helpful in designing artificial limbs that feel more natural and will help the user reduce energy consumption.

The big question for Manoj Srinivasan: Now that he has his walk-run theory, does he consciously switch between running and walking when he's trying to get somewhere? "I must admit, no," he said. "When I want to get somewhere, I just let the body do its thing." But if he's in a rush, he'll make a mad dash.

"Talk to you tomorrow," he signed off in an email to National Geographic News. "Running to get to teaching now!"

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Falling Meteor Causes Blast, Injures Hundreds

A massive meteor shower slammed into Earth near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, located about 1,000 miles east of Moscow in the Ural Mountains.

Dashboard cameras captured a blinding flash of light streaking across the sky. Moments later, the fragments smashed into the ground. The impact, and the sonic boom of the meteor entering the atmosphere, shattered windows around the city and knocked over a wall at a zinc factory.

SEE PHOTOS: Meteorite Crashes in Russia

Witnesses said they thought a war had broken out.

"I saw a body moving in the skies. In a moment there came a flash - we first thought it was fireworks but a moment later we saw a trace as if from the rocket followed by an explosion in a couple of minutes. The window broke ... tea, bread, water - everything fell on the floor," one restaurant waiter in Chelyabinsk said.

Officials told the Russian news agency Interfax that more than 500 people were injured, most by broken glass. Of the 12 people hospitalized, at least three of them were in serious condition.

One scientist told Russian television the meteor was a big one, weighing perhaps tens of tons, but stressed that it was not related to the asteroid that is expected to buzz close to Earth later today.

Regional officials said the one large fragment fell in a lake, but debris had been reported in three parts of Russia and in Kazakhstan.

Schools in the region closed for the day after most of the windows were blown out, citing freezing temperatures, which were below zero degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

Debris from the meteor was found in three sites around the country, but emergency services say ground zero was Chebarkul Lake, just west of Chelyabinsk.

The meteor knocked out cell phone networks, but electricity and water supplies were not affected. Rosatom said all its nuclear power facilities were functioning normally.

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Postmaster takes case for five-day mail delivery to skeptical senators

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe took his controversial plan for five-day mail delivery before a congressional hearing Wednesday, where he told senators that the Postal Service “needs your help.”

Donahoe’s refrain was familiar.

●The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing $25 million a day.

●Last year, the Postal Service lost $15.9 billion.

●It defaulted on $11.1 billion owed to the Treasury.

As he has before, Donahoe pleaded with Congress, this time the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to approve comprehensive postal reform legislation. Now, more than before, it looks as though Congress will do so.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told the Senate panel that after two months of negotiations, “we are close, very close” to agreement on a bipartisan, bicameral bill.

Without some assistance from Congress, said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate committee, “the Postal Service will drift toward insolvency and, eventually, the point at which it must shut its doors. . . . We have never been closer to losing the Postal Service.”

Although in some ways Donahoe’s appearance echoed his many other pleas for congressional action, this hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd on the third floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. That was probably influenced by all the attention generated by his surprise announcement last week that Saturday mail delivery will end in August.

Donahoe’s written testimony outlined several key legislative goals, but five-day mail delivery was not specifically listed among them. After repeatedly urging Congress to end the six-day requirement, Donahoe said postal officials had determined that he could take that action without congressional approval.

Moving to five-day delivery would close just 10 percent of the postal budget gap, Donahoe said, yet the controversy surrounding it stole the focus from other important financial issues.

Among them is a controversial proposal to move postal employees from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which serves all federal workers, to a health insurance program run by the USPS.

Donahoe presented an updated health insurance proposal, but it received little attention compared with his five-day delivery plan.

Last year the Senate approved legislation, co-sponsored by Carper, that would allow five-day delivery two years after its enactment. The delay was designed to allow the Postal Service to study the impact of five-day delivery. Carper was among those who have expressed disappointment with Donahoe’s plan to implement it unilaterally.

“We are taking every reasonable and responsible step in our power to strengthen our finances immediately,” Donahoe told the committee. “We would urge Congress to eliminate any impediments to our new delivery schedule.

“Although discussion about our delivery schedule gets a lot of attention, it is just one important part of a larger strategy to close our budgetary gap,” he added. “It accounts for $2 billion in cost reductions while we are seeking to fill a $20 billion budget gap.”

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CDL, CapitaLand, StarHub in list of sustainable companies

SINGAPORE: Three companies in Singapore have made it to the exclusive Global 100 list, which consists of the world's most sustainable companies.

The companies are City Developments Limited (CDL), CapitaLand and StarHub.

Esther An, general manager of corporate affairs at City Developments says globally, buildings can account for 40 per cent of energy consumption and 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Ms An said: "Even in Singapore, the building sector is one of the biggest contributors to carbon emission. So therefore, we are in a strong position not just to implement sustainable business practices, but also to influence our stakeholders."

To do this, CDL has adopted traditional green practices, like using eco-friendly methods and materials to shrink its carbon footprint.

But as a company, she said sustainability cuts across all levels.

Talking about sustainability is not just PR talk," she said. "You have to put it in action. We have adopted a triple bottom-line approach, which is to strike a balance between financial, environmental and social performance."

CDL is one of three companies in Singapore to make it to Corporate Knights Global 100 in 2012 - For CDL it was the fourth consecutive year on the list.

The firm was ranked 52nd, up from 62nd the year before.

This is Knights' ninth annual list, which narrows down a field of about 4,000 companies before settling on its top 100.

When Knights makes the list, they are not just taking a company's green initiatives into consideration. They also look at things like CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio, leadership diversity and employee turnover.

In total, companies are scored on up to 12 performance indicators. Telco StarHub made its first appearance on the list, holding on to the 66th spot.

Developer CapitaLand also made the list for the second year, ranking 77th. The firm moved up 10 spots from the previous year. Chief Corporate Officer Tan Seng Chai said it takes a lot more than just green buildings to keep a company sustainable - it takes people too.

Mr Tan said: "We want to ensure our employees feel very engaged with the company and sustainability has become one of the critical factor. We are seeing more talents growing up the ranks. And today we have something close to 30 per cent of females in senior management. It is quite a progress for us."

More investors are weighing a company's environmental and social attitudes before putting their money down, meaning sustainability is something companies can no longer afford to overlook.

"Sources of energy become more expensive so if you continue to depend on traditional source of energy, then your cost of running a business in the long term will become higher," said Mr Tan.

Ms An said: "If we don't practice business models that can help to reduce the use of natural resources, that can mitigate carbon footprint, what is this world becoming to? And without the planet, no businesses will survive and there will be no buyers, no market and no individuals."

- CNA/xq

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