Today, the President traveled to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to meet, talk with and listen to both House and Senate Republicans in an effort to secure their concurrence on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Working the power corridors of officialdom in Washington isn’t a bad move though I suspect sending Chief of Staff Emanuel to coerce the House GOP and sending the Vice President and the Treasury Secretary to the Senate to cajole and to mend fences may also pay dividends in this end. But if the President really wants to get the GOP to sit up and take notice, he might do better by taking his show on the road a bit further than just the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Take it to Pennsylvania, for instance, where state unemployment rolls have risen by just over 62,000 since December 2007, an increase of 22%, and the Pennsylvania unemployment rate has risen some two hundred and twenty basis points from 4.4% in December 2007 to 6.7% in December 2008. The President might go to Allentown, home to GOP Congressman Charlie Dent, and say remind them that Pennsylvania’s unemployment benefits fund may run out of money by the end of this year if jobless rates continue to climb in the Keystone state. The President might tout the $43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes.

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Al Jazeera has spoken to a group of Muslim Rohingyas, who say they were attacked by Myanmar border patrol officers, as they tried to flee the country. They say their boat was boarded, many of them were beaten and burnt – and that the soldiers even attempted to sink the vessel. Selina Downes reports from the town of Ranong, in southern Thailand.

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Singapore spends a third of what the US does on health care (as a percentage of GDP) yet has better health indicators. The US spends nearly 17% of its gross domestic product on health care, while Singapore spends about 4% of its own GDP on health care. According to the World Health Organization, Singapore has one of the best health care systems. The country’s 4 million people are required to save a portion of each paycheck, which then goes into an interest-bearing savings account used to pay future medical bills.In the above video, World Focus special correspondent Daljit Dahliwal and producers Mary Lockhart and Ara Ayer report from Singapore’s hospitals.

In the video below, Khaw Boon Wan, the Minister for Health of the Republic of Singapore, explains the fundamentals of Singapore’s world-renowned health care system and compares it with health care in the U.S. and Britain.

Here are some more details on how Singapore’s system works:

* There are mandatory health savings accounts: “Individuals pre-save for medical expenses through mandatory deductions from their paychecks and employer contributions. Only approved categories of medical treatment can be paid for by deducting one’s Medisave account, for oneself, grandparents, parents, spouse or children: consultations with private practitioners for minor ailments must be paid from out-of-pocket cash.”

* “The private health care system competes with the public health care, which helps contain prices in both directions. Private medical insurance is also available.”

* Private health care providers are required to publish price lists to encourage comparison shopping.

* The government pays for “basic health care services… subject to tight expenditure control.” Bottom line: The government pays 80% of “basic public health care services.”

* Government plays a big role with contagious disease, and adds some paternalism on top: “Preventing diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tobacco-related illnesses by ensuring good health conditions takes a high priority.”

* The government provides optional low-cost catastrophic health insurance, plus a safety net “subject to stringent means-testing.”

* Almost all care is subject to significant co-pays.

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If I say something right now, I might regret it. Collateral damage? Head on a stick? I’ve said the aerial war in Afghanistan is counterproductive, I am on the record on that. I’ll say this, having this moron preach insanity to the American people probably causes almost as much damage.

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In the week since he became President, Barack Obama has plunged into the challenges and complexities of the Middle East — from broadcasting to the Muslim world that Americans are not your enemy to trying to help create a lasting cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The President’s special representative, George Mitchell, arrived in the region today, even as the cease-fire was strained by new violence between Israel and Hamas.

Daniel Levy, the director of the Middle East task force at the New America Foundation, joins Martin Savidge to discuss Mitchells mission in Gaza, the U.S. approach to Syria and the presidents decision to do an interview with Al-Arabiya.

It’s been a remarkable week and more was done this week than in the past eight years of George W. Bush.

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NATO’s Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer has confirmed to Al Jazeera that top level contacts between the organisation and Russia will resume in February in Munich. Ties have been frozen since last August’s war in Georgia.

Hamish MacDonald spoke De Hoop Scheffer.

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Afghan civilians have rallied against America amid reports that civilians were killed in a US air raid over the weekend. The US military says 15 fighters were killed in Laghman province, but the provincial governor says at least 10 civilians were among the dead.

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo reports from Afghanistan. Then there is this:

We are lost if we continue to bombard from the air. If we are to win to this war, it will require more boots on the ground, (30,000 seems to be the number that top commanders are suggesting) and it will require winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

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The town of Anniston in Alabama has profited greatly from military and industrial investment in the town. But this profit has also come at a loss. This part of the country is home to a quarter of US casualties in the War in Iraq.

In the final part of On War Josh Rushing visits a town where war is both a blessing and a curse.

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