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World

• North Korea Agrees to Disable Nuclear Fuel Plants (Sept. 2): After a two-day meeting between Christopher Hill, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and North Korean negotiators, North Korea says it will disable its nuclear fuel production facility and disclose to international monitors an accounting of all of its nuclear programs by the end of 2007.
• Myanmar Completes Constitutional Convention (Sept. 3): Representatives to the convention, which has met on and off since 1993, release a draft constitution that ensures the military will continue to control the ministries and legislature and have the right to declare a state of emergency. The document also limits the rights of political parties.
• Bush Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq (Sept. 3): President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates travel to Anbar Province, a Sunni stronghold, and meet with Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki and other leaders. Bush stresses that progress in security and reconciliation have been made in Anbar and hints that a troop withdrawal may start if such gains continue.
• Report Says Iraq Lags in Meeting Benchmarks (Sept. 4): Government Accountability Office report finds that while violence in Iraq seems to be abating, the Iraqi government has failed to stem the sectarian violence and has three of the 18 benchmarks outlined by Congress in May.
• German Officials Arrest Terror Suspects (Sept. 5): Three Islamic militants are arrested and authorities confiscate large amounts of explosive materials and detonators. Officials say the suspects were planning to attack the Ramstein Air Base and the Frankfurt International Airport.
• Panel Says Iraq’s Army and Police Ill Prepared to Take Control (Sept. 5): Independent commission, led by Gen. James Jones, a retired Marine, declares that while Iraq’s armed forces are improving, it will be 12 to 18 months before the police and army can assume control over the country.
• Bin Laden Releases a Video (Sept. 7): In his first video message in nearly three years, bin Laden says promises to “continue to escalate the killing in Iraq.”
• Former Pakistani Prime Minister Is Arrested (Sept. 10): Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in a coup in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, is arrested and deported after trying to re-enter Pakistan from exile in Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s Supreme Court recently ruled that Sharif could return to the country.
• Japanese Prime Minister Quits (Sept. 12): Shinzo Abe abruptly announces his resignation. The move follows a string of scandals and July’s stunning defeat in parliamentary elections, in which his Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the upper house to the opposition Democratic Party.
• Russian President Nominates New Prime Minister (Sept. 12): Hours after the resignation of Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Vladimir Putin names Viktor Zubkov, a cabinet official, as the next prime minister.
• Sunni Sheik Allied with the U.S. Is Killed in Iraq (Sept. 13): Abdul Sattar Buzaigh al-Rishawi, a leader of Sunni tribes in Anbar Province that have joined forces with the U.S. to fight Sunni militants, such as al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, dies in a bombing. Such cooperation is credited with bringing relative peace and stability to Anbar Province.
• Influential Cleric Says He Will Withdraw from Governing Coalition (Sept. 15): The political movement led by Moktada al-Sadr announces that it plans to withdraw from the United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in Parliament. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki would lose his majority in Parliament if the Sadrists follow through.
• Iraqi Civilians Are Killed by U.S. Security Company (Sept. 16): Seventeen Iraqi civilians, including a couple and their infant, are killed when employees of private security company Blackwater USA, which was escorting a diplomatic convoy, reportedly fire on a car that failed to stop at the request of a police officer. Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki threatens to evict Blackwater employees from Iraq.
• Pakistani President Says He Will Resign as Military Leader if Reelected (Sept. 18): If elected to a second term as president, Pervez Musharraf announces he will step down from his post as army chief before taking the oath of office. Some opposition leaders, however, question whether he would follow through on his promise.
• Lebanese Politician Is Killed in Attack (Sept. 19): A car bomb kills Parliament member Antoine Ghanem of the Christian Phalange Party, which is part of the governing coalition. He is the eighth anti-Syrian leader to be killed since the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
• Khmer Rouge Leader Is Arrested (Sept. 19): Nuon Chea, who was second-in-command to Pol Pot during the four years of Khmer Rouge rule that led to the state-sponsored massacre of between 1 million and 2 million, is charged with war crimes.
• Japanese Lawmakers Select New Prime Minister (Sept. 23): The governing Liberal Democratic Party elects Yasuo Fukuda as prime minister, replacing Shinzo Abe, who resigned after a disappointing year in office. Fukuda was elected to Parliament in 1990 and held the post as chief cabinet secretary under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
• Iranian President Stirs Protets at Columbia Speech (Sept. 25): In his controversial speech, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists there are no homosexuals in Iran, says the U.S. supports terrorism, and calls U.S. and European efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program hypocritical. Columbia’s president, Lee C. Bollinger, preceded Ahmadinejad’s speech with an attack of his own. “Mr. President, you exhibit all the signs of a petty and cruel dictator,”he said. “You are either brazenly provocative or astonishingly uneducated.”
• Government Cracks Down on Protesters in Myanmar (Sept 26): After a month of peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations, which saw steady increases in participation and recently drew in hundreds of monks, protesting sharp prices in fuel, government forces shoot at crowds, raid pagodas, and arrest monks. Dozens of people are killed. The protests are the largest in the country in 20 years. The brutally of the attacks spark international outrage.
• Court Rules in Favor of Musharraf’s Election Bid (Sept. 28): Pakistan’s Supreme Court rules that President Pervez Musharraf can run for re-election while maintaining his role as military chief.
• Rebels in Darfur Kill Peacekeepers (Sept. 30): Hundreds of rebels attack an African Union base in Haskanita, a town in the Darfur region of Sudan, and kill at least 10 peacekeeping troops.

The United States

• Republican Senator Resigns (Sept. 1): Idaho’s Larry Craig, under pressure from fellow Republicans over the scandal stemming from his guilty plea for allegedly making sexual advances to an undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport, says he will resign on Sept. 30. (Sept. 26): Craig says he will remain in the Senate until a judge rules on his motion to rescind the guilty plea he entered in the airport sting.
• Commander Reports to Congress on Progress in Iraq (Sept. 10): In highly anticipated testimony, Gen. David Petraeus tells members of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees that the U.S. military needs more time to meet its goals in Iraq. He says the number of troops in Iraq may be reduced from 20 brigades to 15, or from 160,000 troops to 130,000, beginning in July 2008. Petraeus rejects suggestions that the U.S. shift from a counterinsurgency operation to training Iraqi forces and fighting terrorists. Instead, he says the U.S. must continue all three missions. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker also testifies, expressing frustration about the situation in Iraq. He said that while Iraqi leaders and the people are capable of-and desire to-bridge the sectarian divide, “I frankly do not expect that we will see rapid progress,” he said. (Sept. 11): Petraeus and Crocker face more intense and critical questioning from members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. They failed to answer definitely repeated questions about how long U.S. troops would be in Iraq. Senator Carl Levin, Democrat from Michigan, said, “Year after year, the president and the administration have touted progress in Iraq and called for patience. It has been a litany of delusion.”
• President Addresses Nation on Iraq (Sept. 13): Outlining a plan for withdrawing troops from Iraq, Bush says by July 2008 troop levels would drop from the current high of 169,000 to 130,000. Calling the move a “return on success,” Bush said the progress from the surge of troops would be diminished if more troops returned from Iraq too quickly.
• President Bush Nominates New Attorney General (Sept. 17): Bush selects retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales, who resigned amid a swirl of controversies. Mukasey, a Washington outsider, may appeal to Democrats because he’s not known as a loyal “Bushie.” Mukasey was appointed as a federal judge in New York by Ronald Reagan in 1987. He served until 2006, when he entered the private sector.
• Plan for Troop Withdrawal and Deployment Dies in Senate (Sept. 19): Proposal, drafted by Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, which would have increased the time troops spend at home before being redeployed and hastened the schedule for troop withdrawal, falls four votes short of the 60 required to prevent a filibuster.
• Agriculture Secretary Steps Down (Sept. 20): President Bush names deputy agriculture secretary, Charles Conner, acting secretary, replacing Mike Johanns, who is expected to run for the U.S. Senate.
• Court Rules in Favor of Tribunals for Guantanámo Detainees (Sept. 24): The U.S. Court of Military Commission Review decides that foreign detainees deemed “unlawful enemy combatants” should be tried for war crimes in military tribunals. The ruling overturns a June decision, in which judges said that terrorism suspects cannot be charged with war crimes because they were designated by military tribunals to be “enemy combatants” rather than “unlawful enemy combatants.”
• House and Senate Pass Bill to Expand Children’s Healthcare Program (Sept. 25): House votes to increase the funding of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to $60 billion from $35 billion to provide health insurance to more than 10 million uninsured children. President Bush had allocated $5 billion for the program and has said he will veto the legislation. (Sept. 27): The Senate approves the bill, 67 to 29.

Business/Science/Society

• Job Losses Spark Worries about the Economy (Sept. 6): A Labor Department report that shows that 4,000 jobs were lost in August, the first such decline since 2003, leads some economists to say a recession may follow.
• Federal Judge Endorses States’ Rights to Cut Emission (Sept. 12): Vermont judge William Sessions III rules that standards set by the state to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases by cars and light trucks do not intrude upon federal law. The standards are based on those set by California in 2002.
• Three Earthquakes Strike Indonesia (Sept. 12 and 13): More than a dozen people die on the island of Sumatra when three quakes, one with a magnitude of 8.4, hit.
• Fed Cuts Interest Rate (Sept. 18): In an attempt to bring stability to the economy, which has been rocked by turbulence in the housing and financial markets, the Federal Reserve cuts benchmark interest rate to 4.75% from 5.25%.
• United Auto Workers Strike Against General Motors (Sept. 24): Some 73,000 workers take to the picket lines when contract negotiations over wages and benefits reach a stalemate. (Sept. 26): The UAW and GM reach a deal that has the auto maker creating a $55 million trust, called a voluntary employee benefit association (VEBA), that will administer health benefits for retirees.

Source:http://www.infoplease.com/world/events/2007/sep.html

Here are some photo taken by me in the occasion of moon festival celebrated in Chinese garden, just across the road opposite of my condo.

Entrance gate

2 beautifyl lanterns

More lanterns

lantern tree

a temple decorated with lighting

2 more

sea creature

a schole of fish

Nemo?

Chinese various Gods

Dragon–a symbol of power

2 lovely pair of cartoon characters

a shot with lantern background

In front of the giant chinese coin

With a pretty opera performer

With another performer

I like her the most

Er….. just another pose

a beautiful full moon. I shot on my way home

How many legs does this elephant have?

Enjoy!

Origin of the Moon Festival

The choice of the festival’s theme — celebrating the glories and mysteries of the moon — was a natural. Along with the sun, the moon has long been an object of human curiosity and worship. “It is probable that sun and moon were early held to be deities and that they were the first visible objects of worship,” according to the book “Sketches of the History of Man.”

To the most ancient ancestors of the Chinese, the sun and the moon were considered the “chief objects of veneration,” according to records dating to the Han dynasty emperor Wu Di (157-87 B.C.).

In ancient Asian mythology, there is a strong relationship between the moon and water. The moon is said to regulate reservoirs and supplies of water. There is a suggestion that the moon produces fertility and freshness in the soil. The moon’s role in bountiful harvests is widely recognized during autumns around the world.

In Chinese celestial cosmology, the moon represents the female principle, or yin. During ancient autumn Moon Festivals, women took center stage because the moon is considered feminine. Only women took part in Moon Festival rituals on the night of the full moon. Altars would be set up in households, and when the full moon appeared, women would make offerings of incense, candles, fruit, flowers, and mooncakes.

The enduring legend of the Moon Goddess, Chang E (Chang E in other transliterations), reflects the feminine principle of yin, as opposed to the masculine principle of yang, which is symbolized by the sun.
 

The Legend of Chang E

No one is certain of all the details of the Chang E legend, but the story goes something like this:

Chang E was a beautiful young girl working in the Jade Emperor’s palace in heaven, where immortals, good people and fairies lived. One day, she accidentally broke a precious porcelain jar. Angered, the Jade Emperor banished her to live on earth, where ordinary people lived. She could return to the Heaven, if she contributed a valuable service on earth.

Chang E was transformed into a member of a poor farming family. When she was 18, a young hunter named Hou Yi from another village spotted her, now a beautiful young woman. They became friends.

One day, a strange phenomenon occurred — 10 suns arose in the sky instead one one, blazing the earth. Hou Yi, an expert archer, stepped forward to try to save the earth. He successfully shot down nine of the suns, becoming an instant hero. He eventually became king and married Chang E.

But Hou Yi grew to become a despot. He sought immortality by ordering an elixir be created to prolong his life. The elixir in the form of a single pill was almost ready when Chang E came upon it. She either accidentally or purposely swallowed the pill. This angered King Hou Yi, who went after his wife. Trying to flee, she jumped out the window of a chamber at the top of palace — and, instead of falling, she floated into the sky toward the moon.

King Hou Yi tried to shoot her down with arrows, but without success.  Once on the moon, Chang E became a three-legged toad, as punishment from the Queen Mother, according to one version of the legend. Her companion, a rabbit, is constantly pounding the elixir of immortality in a large mortar.

The moon is also inhabited by a wood cutter who tries to cut down the cassia tree, giver of life. But as fast as he cuts into the tree, it heals itself, and he never makes any progress. The Chinese use this image of the cassia tree to explain mortal life on earth — the limbs are constantly being cut away by death, but new buds continually appear.

Meanwhile, King Hou Yi ascended to the sun and built a palace. So Chang E and Hou Yi came to represent the yin and yang, the moon and the sun.

Origin of Mooncake

Mooncakes have played a central role in Moon Festival traditions. Once, according to Chinese legend, mooncakes helped bring about a revolution.  The time was the Yuan dynasty (AD 1280-1368), established by the invading Mongolians from the north. The Mongolians subjugated the Han Chinese.

According to one Chinese folk tale, a Han Chinese rebel leader named Liu Fu Tong devised a scheme to arouse the Han Chinese to rise up against the ruling Mongols to end the oppressive Yuan dynasty. He sought permission from Mongolian leaders to give gifts to friends as a symbolic gesture to honor the longevity of the Mongolian emperor. These gifts were round mooncakes. Inside, Liu had his followers place pieces of paper with the date the Han Chinese were to strike out in rebellion — on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.

Thus Liu got word to his people, who when they cut open the mooncakes found the revolutionary message and set out to overthrow the Mongols, thus ending the Yuan dynasty.

Today, far from the exotic and heroic legends, Chinese communities all over the world make and consume mooncakes during the traditional autumn Moon Festival. In San Francisco’s Chinatown, during the eighth annual Moon Festival, many stores will be selling modern-day mooncakes, the continuation of an honored tradition.

Source: http://www.moonfestival.org/overview.htm

Do you see a man playing saxophone or a woman?

Enjoy!

Last weekend I participated in a local voluntary activity, the International Coastal Cleanup Day. I joined with other 90 NUS students to do the cleanup at The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve which is a nature reserve located in the Northwest area of Singapore. The followings are some background information and pictures.

The International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is an annual event conducted in 70-100 countries, coordinated by the US-based agency, The Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit organization.

It aims to remove and collect data on the debris from the shorelines, waterways and beaches of the world’s lakes, rivers and oceans. This information serves to educate the public on marine debris issues and to encourage positive change by submissions to governmental and international organisations that will reduce debris in waterways and enhance aquatic environments.

The International Coastal Cleanup, Singapore (ICCS) is coordinated by volunteers of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research of the National University of Singapore. The programme is strongly supported by Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve, Waterways Watch Society and numerous local and international schools, institutions and organisations that have battled the curse of marine litter for almost two decades.

Since its inception by the Nature Society (Singapore) in 1992, the ICCS has had an average annual participation of 1,500 volunteers and average collection of 60,000 pieces of litter, making it one of Singapore’s largest environmental conservation programme.

Searching the unwanted

Some of the unwanted

Picking the unwanted

 Aww… this one is pretty nasty

Recording (4 cigarette butts, 3 plastic bags, 9 straws…)

Then came the rain

But nothing could stop them

Piling up the rubbish bags

They deserve this shot after the job well done, just after the rain stopped

My devoted team

Our result

Who do you see, father or son?

Take your time and enjoy!

On Tuesday, September 04, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy ( LKYSPP) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) held a dedication ceremony to commemorate Dr Li Ka-shing’s gift of S$100 million, which was announced on 8 March 2007. In honour of Dr Li’s support and generosity, the School named one of its three buildings at the historic Bukit Timah Campus, the “Li Ka Shing” Building, after him. The building sits on a rise overlooking the Botanic Gardens valley and houses the school’s executive education program as well as its faculty and researchers.

Li Ka Shing Building 

The gift of S$100 million from the Li Ka Shing Foundation (50%) and Dr Li’s group of companies, Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd (25%) and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (25%), creates an endowment fund to support academic activities by offering scholarships and establishing chair professorships. These scholarships will continue in perpetuity, and over time, will create a distinguished alumni group of policymakers in the region. It will be complemented by a dollar-for-dollar matching grant from the Singapore Government.

 Dr Li revealed that his gift to the School is a tribute to all those who choose to serve the public: “To choose to serve your people as their best friend and devoted servant is a most noble and conscious choice. It requires the very best of what you have to give.” He also drew inspiration from Pericles, quoting the great Athenian statesman as saying, “Great leaders have their vision of what to do and know how to articulate it. And they are incorruptible.”  ”What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others,” Dr Li added.

Dr Li and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew graced the ceremony. In addition to the dedication ceremony, a scholarship award presentation to the five Li Ka Shing scholars was held.

For more information about Dr Li Ka Shing, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Ka_Shing

Source: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Press Release

A relaxing place beside the open field

My classroom

One of the study rooms

Computer lab

Canteen

With my classmates at the bus stand wating for the bus