BEIJING - US TREASURY Secretary Timothy Geithner, aiming to persuade China that its US investments were safe, pledged that the Obama administration was firmly committed to ratcheting down huge deficits as quickly as it can once economic recovery is assured.

'No one is going to be more concerned about future deficits than we are,' he told reporters while en route to Beijing for two days of meetings on Monday and Tuesday with top Chinese officials including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.

SINGAPORE'S economic and social progress have made it the highest-ranked Asian state in a new global index of social capital.

The index ranks 200 countries in terms of wealth and social resilience.

Singapore came in at No. 14, higher than the United States and Britain, but below several Nordic countries, Australia and New Zealand.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S opposition won an easy victory on Sunday in a special election in a northern state after the ruling coalition declined to contest the vacant seat.

The opposition People's Alliance, led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, won the seat in the northern Penang state assembly with more than 6,000 votes.

FROM Monday, patients will be able to withdraw up to 80 per cent more from their Medisave accounts to pay for operations.

The Health Ministry expects this to cut the out-of-pocket payments for about 300,000 private patients a year.