alamsyah

It’s been a long time since my last post.
I’ve been busy lately (aalah, sok sibuk 

This is my own lyric of Go to the Goal, however you can download the song from the link @ the end of this post (ripped from a video - worth the download, I think ), plus the password.

Anyway, I don’t like a soccer game that much (well, I’m not like my ‘freak’ friends that would do anything to play this game). It’s been 3 years since I play this kind of game last time (Winning Eleven on PlayStation 1). It’s a lot of fun, I admit. But if only you fight against another player. Not AI.

Now, that I have my own, dreamed, golden, cool, cute, lovely, and kawaii brand new computer, HANA, I can do so much thing. (I’ve been waiting for 4 years for “her”, and it’s been 4 months now, I’m soo freaky happy  Playing PC games is one of them (leaving the poor PS1, sorry PS1). I like adventure, RPG, fantasy, car racing (only NFS actually), and all the adrenaline games. Until one day, the holly PES 2008 game DVD came to my room….

For ecologic effects, numerous international experts were sent a questionnaire listing more than 100 different chemical substructures and asked to predict (based on their field of expertise related to ecologic effects and knowledge of modes of action) the potential for chemicals containing any of the substructures to cause effects to algae, aquatic invertebrates, birds, fish, mammals, microorganisms, plants, or terrestrial invertebrates. Opinions from these ecologic effects experts were converted to codes that identified chemical substructures and indicated potential of chemicals containing one or more substructures to cause effects to the previously listed organisms.

SuCCSES is a relational database with fields indexed on Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) Registry numbers. It was created using Molecular Design Limited Information Systems’ Integrated Scientific Information System. For chemicals in SuCCSES, chemical formulas, molecular weights, two-dimensional chemical structures, and simplified molecular input line entry system (SMILES) notations (Weininger 1988; Weininger et al. 1989) are provided. Features of SuCCSES promote substructure searching to identify structurally related chemical classes of chemicals and their potential ecologic or human health effects. For each record in SuCCSES, a computer screen displays fields for CAS Registry number, molecular weight, molecular formula, SMILES notation, two-dimensional chemical structure, chemical name, predicted mode of action, and potential health or ecologic effects. SuCCSES is not available to the public became it contains confidential business information.

SuCCSES is used to facilitate the ITC’s review of large groups of chemicals (Walker 1991, 1995; Walker and Brink 1989). The aldehyde substructures in SuCCSES that were associated with potential to cause acute effects to aquatic organisms were included in recent publications (Walker and Printup In press; Walker et al. In press (b)]. A forthcoming book chapter summarizes the development of SuCCSES and its applicability to the ITC’s statutory mandate to use SARs before recommending chemicals for testing in May and November reports to the U.S. EPA administrator (Walker and Gray. In press).

Other approaches to toxicity prediction. Other approaches to predict toxicity include those for predicting water quality objectives (Vighi et al. 2001). This was a multivariate QSAR approach that involved the assessment of water quality objectives for a set of 125 chemicals [derived from the European priority list in compliance with Directive 76/464/EEC (EEC 1976)]. Predictions from classification models (based on algae, Daphnia, and fish toxicity values) were shown to perform satisfactorily compared with the classifications using literature toxicity data.

EU Regulatory Use

Technical guidance documents. In Europe, data obtained from QSARs can be used according to the guidance on the use of QSARs for specific groups of substances found in Part IV of the TGD (EEC 1996). The TGD provides recommendations for the use of QSARs to predict acute toxicity to fish (96 hr L[C.sub.50]), Daphnia (48 hr E[C.sub.50]) and algae (72- to 96-hr E[C.sub.50]). In particular, QSARs are provided for chemicals acting by nonpolar narcosis and polar narcosis mechanisms of action. No QSARs have been recommended for substances that act by more specific modes of action.

It’s a nation so blessed with sights — natural and man-made — that you could ask all 300 million residents for their favorites and expect 300 million different answers. So how do you go about picking the country’s 10 most beautiful spots?

Well, for starters, you go about it very boldly. You solicit opinions from travel writers and photographers, poll your colleagues, and talk to outdoor enthusiasts, historic preservationists and relatives who, every time you see them, seem to have just returned from another fabulous trip. In putting together USA WEEKEND Magazine’s annual summer travel story, our editors did all that. To help frame the unenviable — all right, nearly impossible — task of limiting America’s most beautiful attractions to a mere 10, we also offered a few guidelines. Nominees had to be publicly accessible and reasonably well-known. Iconic stature wouldn’t hurt a place’s chances, and, given the want of any objective way to measure beauty, sentimental favoritism was an acceptable tiebreaker. In other words, we instructed our experts to follow their hearts. After reading the top 10 list they produced, we hope you’ll do the same.

1. Red Rock Country (Sedona, Ariz.)

Ever since the early days of movies, when Hollywood has wanted to show the unique beauty of the West, it has gone to Sedona, a place that looks like nowhere else. Beginning with The Call of the Canyon in 1923, some hundred movies and TV shows have been filmed in and around town. We fell under Sedona’s spell, too, and while debating our No. 1 spot kept returning to it for the same reasons Hollywood does: The area’s telegenic canyons, wind-shaped buttes and dramatic sandstone towers embody the rugged character of the West — and the central place that character holds in our national identity. There’s a timelessness about these ancient rocks that fires the imagination of all who encounter them. Some 11,000 years before film cameras discovered Sedona, American Indians settled the area. Homesteaders, artists and, most recently, New Age spiritualists have followed. Many cultures and agendas abound, but there’s really only one attraction: the sheer, exuberant beauty of the place. People come for inspiration and renewal, tawny cliffs rising from the buff desert floor, wind singing through box canyons, and sunsets that seem to cause the ancient buttes and spires to glow from within. We hear the canyon’s call and cannot resist. For more, go to www.sedona.net.

2. Nighttime view from Mount Washington in Pittsburgh

In a nation with a wealth of stunning cities full of compelling stories, ranking Pittsburgh as the No. 2 beauty spot is perhaps our most surprising choice. But the Steel City’s aesthetic appeal is undeniable, as is its very American capacity for renewal. Standing atop Mount Washington, the steep hill that rises giddily on the city’s south side, sightseers enjoy the unforgettable panorama of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers flowing together to create the mighty Ohio, that waterway so essential in the nation’s settlement. The rivers cup downtown’s lustrous Golden Triangle, where landmark skyscrapers thrust upward like rockets. At night, lights twinkle on no fewer than 15 bridges. Almost as breathtaking as the vista itself is the urban renewal that made it possible. A century ago, a pall of smoke lay so thick over town that streetlights burned all day. As Pittsburgh continues an evolutionary course that has taken it from trading post to transportation hub to industrial goliath, we salute its reinvention into one of America’s most scenic and livable communities. In the life of a city, there’s nothing more beautiful, or inspiring, than a renaissance. For more, go to pittsburgh.net.

3. The upper Mississippi River

For third-place honors, we turn to an area less celebrated than others, but nonetheless packed with the unique beauty our nation abounds in. Its low profile makes it all the more charming. To truly appreciate the Mississippi, we leave the familiar territory of Huck and Tom and take a spin on the Great River Road as it runs alongside Old Muddy’s upper reaches through Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. One of the nation’s most scenic routes, it winds over hills, atop towering bluffs and through one 19th-century river town after another. The sites along the way read like chapters in American history. Ancient Indian burial mounds punctuate rolling parkland, sidewheelers ply the river, and villages on either bank present fine examples of Steamboat Gothic, the ornate architectural style born in the heyday of river travel. In Galena, Ill., 85% of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places. At Trempealeau, Wis., the Trempealeau Hotel has offered haven to watermen since 1888. The whole laid-back region’s real draw is the river itself. Steady and timeless, it makes one fine traveling companion as it rolls toward the Gulf.

4. Hawaii’s Na Pali Coast

At the country’s extreme western edge, half a world away from the cradle of the American Revolution, we gain a flash of insight into the restlessness that drove our forebears from New England to the Pacific Ocean and beyond. They pushed west in search of paradise. Amid the coral reefs, beaches and mist-shrouded volcanic peaks of Hawaii’s oldest island, they surely found it. Along the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali coast of Kauai, verdant mountains plunge 4,000 feet into the sparkling Pacific. A short hike inland, where Hanakapi’ai Falls pours into a crystal pool and tropical flowers dapple the lush hillsides, the play of color and light creates the effect of an Impressionist painting gone native. Experience the splendor at your own risk: The hardest thing about a trip to Kauai is boarding the plane to go back home. For more, go to kauaivisitorsbureau.org.

5. Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

Engineering marvel, art deco icon, monument to progress: The Golden Gate Bridge does much more than connect San Francisco to Marin County. Named for the strait it spans — the 3-mile passage between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific — the bridge is a grand symbol of one of the world’s most striking cities. Completed in 1937, the $35 million structure of concrete and steel embodied a city’s unquenchable spirit — and, by extension, the nation’s. Set off by its signature orange paint job, twin 750-foot towers that seem to disappear into the heavens and spidery cables that stretch like harp strings, the Golden Gate was unlike anything else ever built. At 4,200 feet, the main suspension span was easily the world’s longest. (Almost 70 years later, it ranks seventh.) Facts and figures tell only a partial story: Admired as a practical feat, the bridge is beloved as a work of art, one of the greatest the 20th century produced in any medium. For more, go to sfvisitor.org.

6. Grafton, Vt.

Had the French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in Vermont in the autumn of 1609 instead of summer, he never would have dubbed the land “Vert Mont.” In fall, the foothills of the state’s namesake Green Mountains blaze red, yellow and orange. Among the choicest spots to take in nature’s annual art show is Grafton, right, one of the state’s prettiest hamlets and, thanks to the efforts of the non-profit Windham Foundation, arguably its best preserved. The foundation has rehabilitated more than 50 historic buildings, including the Old Tavern at Grafton, a one-time stagecoach stop. Other man-made attractions include the award-winning Grafton Village Cheese factory, a pair of graceful New England churches, a nature museum, a smattering of art galleries and the almost obligatory covered bridge. But the compact village of 600 isn’t really about picturesque buildings. It’s about the Yankee virtues of simplicity, modesty and saving things that matter. Past and present harmonize sweetly in this vital community. Come fall, you’d swear you can hear the brilliant hillsides singing. For more, go to www.graftonvermont.org.

7. Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

America has older mountains than the Tetons, and higher ones. But it has none more dramatic. The jagged range was formed 6 million to 9 million years ago, when grinding pressure along the Teton Fault caused two massive sections of the Earth’s crust to come unhinged. On the rift’s west side, a block reared up to form the Teton range. On the east, a separate block buckled under, creating the valley known as Jackson Hole. This geologic violence is what makes the Tetons so spectacular: Forgoing the nicety of foothills, a dozen 12,000-foot peaks shoot abruptly from the valley floor, literally an eruption of granite. Amid the grandeur lies glittering Jenny Lake, left. Named for the Shoshone bride of a 19th-century trapper, the pristine, 2.5-mile-long body of water mirrors the mountains’ glory. Beloved by canoeists, hikers and honeymooners, lovely Jenny is also popular with elk, moose and trumpeter swans. Small and dazzling, she is one of the true jewels of our glorious national park system. For more, go to nps.gov/grte/.

8. From Key Largo to Key West in Florida

So little actual land, so many associations: coral reefs, Key deer, manatees, pirates, Key lime pie, silver palms, Bogart and Bacall downing gangsters in Key Largo, Hemingway downing mojitos at Sloppy Joe’s in Key West. Florida’s freewheeling Keys, it has been said, is where things settle when you pick up the continent and shake it. This much is certain: In the Conch Republic, as Key West is sometimes called, a spirited sense of American individualism prevails. Skipping down the fragile, ribbon-thin 110-mile archipelago on U.S. 1, visitors see things that exist nowhere else in the country. With a peak elevation of 18 feet, the land mass can seem but an afterthought to the shimmering Atlantic on one side and the blue-green Gulf on the other. In places the only thing separating them is the roadway itself, panoptic water enchanting travelers with the deliciously disorienting sensation that they’ve become one with the sea. Along with famously colorful residents and fauvist sunsets, it’s one more Key reason to visit this beguiling place. For more, go to fla-keys.com.

9. Clingmans Dome along the Appalachian Trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Winding through 14 states as it makes its rugged way from Georgia to Maine, the entire Appalachian Trail ranks high on any list of scenic gems. First proposed in 1921 by hiking enthusiast Benton MacKaye, the trail came into service as a continuous footpath across the Eastern states in 1937. A monumental achievement, and one that has given countless Americans fresh appreciation for the vastness of the land, it rewards exploration of every well-trod mile. Clingmans Dome, at Tennessee’s eastern edge, rises to 6,643 feet, the highest point along the 2,172-mile trail. The surrounding Smokies support more than 4,000 species of plants, 230 types of birds and some 65 mammal species. From a lookout at the summit, hikers gaze upon a fog-streaked wilderness and see the East as it existed hundreds of years ago, lush forest stretching unbroken in every direction. Among the clouds, one feels doubly awed: by our county’s magnificent nature, and by our duty to steward it. For more, go tonps.gov/appa/.

10. The squares of Savannah, Ga.

In this charmed city, the urban and the pastoral gracefully mingle in a uniquely Southern way — that is, with gentility and a generous dollop of mystery. Shaded by live oaks, perfumed by magnolias and surrounded by historic buildings, 22 enchanting public squares (including Columbia Square, above) beckon like secret gardens. Feasts for the eyes, balm for the soul, the vest-pocket parks serve as gathering places, serene retreats and tourist attractions all rolled into one. Spanish moss romantically drapes Pulaski Square, named for Revolutionary War hero Gen. Casimir Pulaski. At Chippewa Square, lorded over by a statue of Georgia’s founder, James Oglethorpe, pay respects to the man who drew up Savannah’s triumphant 18th-century street plan. Forrest Gump had the right idea: He contemplated life from a bench in Chippewa Square. For more, go tosavannah-visit.com

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although Indonesia has experienced rapid growth in its sharia-based banking and financing industry, its overall market share remains fairly low.

From October last year, the total asset of sharia banks in Indonesia was 1.77 percent, or Rp 33 trillion (US$3.51 billion), of the country’s total banking assets.

This was despite a rapidly increasing number of sharia bank offices, which grew by 14.3 percent throughout the year — higher than conventional bank offices, which grew by 9.5 percent, said the Indonesian Sharia Banks Association (Asbisindo).

Speaking over the weekend at a finance event, Asbisindo chairman A. Riawan Amin said the growth was expected to further increase, eventually achieving a 5 percent market share by the end of this year, in line with the government’s target.

“The sharia banking industry is still quite small, but all stakeholders, especially the central bank, have committed to give continuous support to boost it,” Riawan said.

He was speaking at a five-day sharia economic festival, which included seminars, workshops and bazaars at the Jakarta Convention Center, Central Jakarta, which ended Sunday.

The central bank organized the event which was aimed to help speed up the growth of the industry.

Another move taken by the central bank to help develop the industry is called office channeling, Riawan said, which allows a sharia bank to be owned by a conventional bank.

For example, Bank Mandiri, the country’s largest bank by assets, owns Bank Syariah Mandiri, which in November 2007 had a 36.06 percent market share in sharia banking assets.

Bank Indonesia deputy governor Siti Ch Fadjrijah said while still holding a less-than-significant market share, sharia banking had developed rapidly.

The growth would be faster still if the country managed to lure cash-abundant Middle East investors, who are now looking to invest in countries where a sharia banking and financing system has been put in place, she said.

But for this to be realized, Siti said the country needed a sharia banking law, a draft of which was scheduled to be submitted to the House of Representatives this week.

Some House members said they would deliberate the draft together with the sukuk bill, which has now been with the House for discussion for some two years.

The sukuk bill originally aimed to provide a legal basis for the issuance of sharia bonds.

Anis Baridwan, head of the accounting and openness bureau at the Financial Institutions and Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK), said through the sharia banking and sukuk laws, the country could become an Islamic finance hub in Asia, attracting investors from Europe, Middle East and the United States.

The central bank has said it would push the amendment of some related laws later this year to help accelerate the growth of sharia banking system in the country. (adt)

A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم‎ pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah^[1] (Arabic: مسلمة‎). Literally, the word means “one who submits (to God)”. Muslim is theparticiple of the same verb of which Islām is the infinitive.^[2] Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allāh. Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad and that the religion had evolved with time from the time of Adam until the time of Muhammad and was completed with the revelation of verse 3 of Surah al-Maeda:

This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.

The Qur’an describes many Biblical prophets and messengers as Muslim: Adam, Noah (Arabic: Nuh),Moses (Arabic: Mūsā) and Jesus (Arabic: ˤĪsā) and his apostles. The Qur’ān states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached his message and upheld his values. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur’ān, Jesus’ disciples tell Jesus, “We believe in God; and you be our witness that we submit and obey (wa ashahadu bil-muslimūna).”

Most Muslims consider making ritual prayer five times a day a religious duty (fard) (see the section on Ismāˤīlīs below for exceptions); these five prayers are known as fajr, dhuhr, ˤasr, maghrib and ˤishā’. There is also a special Friday prayer called jumuˤah. Currently, the number of Muslims is estimated to be 1.3 billion.

By James Westhead 

When Daniel Lundquist and his wife Ulrika moved to Ingaro, 30 minutes’ drive east of Sweden’s capital Stockholm, they immediately started looking for schools for their three young children.

Like many British parents they worried that the local state schools were either too far away or not quite what they wanted.

However, rather than complaining or simply going private, the Lundquists decided on a route currently not available to most British parents - they actually set up a brand new state school themselves with other local parents and helped run it just how they liked.

That was 12 years ago and since then the Lemshaga School has grown from a tiny 80-pupil primary school to a thriving state-funded comprehensive with 420 pupils aged from three to 16 and an international reputation.

Parent Daniel Lundquist participated in starting a new school

The school’s creation was made possible by Sweden’s radical school choice policy introduced in 1992, which allows pretty much anyone, a private company, charity, co-operative or voluntary group, to found a school and receive state funding.

The so-called “free schools” have to meet basic standards, follow a core curriculum and promote democratic values.

But money follows the student so if the schools attract enough pupils then they survive and the better ones thrive.

Since the policy was introduced 15 years ago the number of independent schools has exploded.

Now 8% of primary pupils and 15% of secondary pupils attend such schools, and the number is still rising fast.

While there was initial opposition to the idea of competition in state education that seems to have faded to be replaced by broad support.

Anna-lena Bengtsson: Visionary foundations

The Conservatives believe a similar scheme in England could create 220,000 new school places over the next nine years.

“Not just competition but diversity are the reasons for the policy’s success,” says Anna-lena Bengtsson, the principal of Lemshaga school.

“This school was founded on a vision and because we are a free school we have the freedom to go all the way with our vision and decide what we want to be.

“But money follows the child so if other state schools get better results then parents will go there instead.”

‘Chickens and computers’

Surrounded by lakes and woods, Lemshaga is certainly unique.

The school has a liberal approach to the curriculum

It was converted from a 17th Century farm with the barns becoming the classrooms.

Yet it is firmly in the modern age with every pupil having a laptop and its teachers trying to pioneer a new educational approach.

Its slogan used to be “chickens and computers”: students are encouraged to work independently and actively find out information rather than learn passively.

This super-liberal style may not be exactly what British Conservatives have in mind but it is popular with Swedes.

The school is so over-subscribed parents put their children on the waiting list at birth.

But the popularity of Swedish free schools is also the problem with them.

Brunn School finds itself in competition and losing pupils

As local councils cannot block a school if approved by the government, then there is sometimes intense competition with existing state schools.

If they lose pupils to free schools, they lose money - which can harm the education they provide and ultimately force their closure.

Just down the road from Lemshaga is its main competitor, Brunn School.

The head teacher, Goran Lovgren, says: “The impact of free schools has been better quality - competition has kept us on our toes.”

However he also admits he is facing falling pupil numbers and has had to merge classes resulting in bigger class sizes.

Neighbouring head Goran Lovgren is concerned about the impact

“The danger is that I don’t get enough pupils so I can’t do a good job because we don’t have enough money.”

There is a delicate balance and a risk he feels that free schools could upset the ecology of the education system and end up harming pupils unless there are strong controls.

The Conservatives argue that their version of the Swedish system will “raise the bar and close the gap” by shifting the balance of power away from local authorities and towards parents.

Unfortunately there has been no reliable research on the overall impact of the policy in Sweden.

While it has proved popular with parents and generated new schools and innovative ideas, there are also claims that it has been educationally disruptive and socially divisive.

HAVE YOUR SAY  Competition always drives up standards  Tom, UK Send us your comments

There is one big difference between the Conservative proposal and the Swedish system - profit will not be permitted.

Many of the Swedish free schools are run by private for-profit companies rather than charities.

That raises the question of whether the Tories will be able to find enough philanthropists or parents with time on their hands to generate what they hope will be a “supply-side revolution in education”.

The Republic of Indonesia (pronounced /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/, /ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/) (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in Southeast Asia. Comprising 17,508 islands, it is the world’s largestarchipelagic state. With a population of 222 million people in 2006, it is the world’s fourthmost populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority nation; however, no reference is made to Islam in the Indonesian constitution. Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation’s capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries includeSingapore, the Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the seventh century, when the Srivijaya Kingdom traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually adopted Indian cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hinduand Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independenceafter World War II. Indonesia’s history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.

Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and most politically dominant ethnic group. As a unitary state and a nation, Indonesia has developed a shared identity defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesia’s national motto, “Bhinneka tunggal ika“ (“Unity in Diversity” literally, ”many, yet one”), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. However, sectarian tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations that have undermined political and economic stability. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the world’s second highest level of biodiversity. The country is richly endowed with natural resources, yet poverty is a defining feature of contemporary Indonesia.

Zou HanruChina Daily  Updated: 2005-09-23 06:12

Statistics, they say, conceal more than they reveal. Not always, though.

On September 8, the International Literacy Day, China announced it still has 85 million illiterate people. Most of them are clustered in the country’s less developed rural areas of the landlocked western regions.

Earlier, Liu Xiaoyun, a scholar with China Agricultural University, disclosed that there are the same number of people in China still in the grip of poverty. Again, they are rural residents or migrant “floating” groups from rural areas.

The announcements may have been mutually exclusive but the figure of 85 million is more than a coincidence.

Official explanations are difficult to find but it is common knowledge that the illiterate are more likely to remain poor, and the poor are more likely to be illiterate (or uneducated and unskilled). It is a vicious cycle. The poor cannot afford education, and the illiterate cannot hope to earn enough to overcome poverty.

Those caught in the cycle tend to remain poor throughout their life and, in many cases, down the generations. And almost always, the children are the worst sufferers in this transgenerational poverty.

So how does one get out of the rut?

China enforced a nine-year compulsory education system in 1986; and the Ministry of Education reported a 90-per-cent attendance rate for compulsory education last year.

It is a reasonable postulation that the 10 per cent who didn’t attend schools were children of the disadvantaged groups.

For the poorest group of children, poverty is both a cause and a result of inaccessibility to education. Poor children are less likely to be enrolled in schools or to complete the basic level of education. For, even if schooling is free (a goal of the Chinese Government), uniforms, stationery and transport are not. And these may still be well beyond the means of a poor family.

So what does a family with more than one school-going kid do? It may decide to pull out one or more of its children from school. Unfortunately, in most of the cases it is the girl child that falls victim to the hand of fate.

Xiao Mei, a senior secondary school student, is the daughter of one such poor family in Yuzhong County of Gansu Province. Since the rural household depends on income from agriculture, her father said he could no longer afford education for both children, Xiao and her brother.

But he did not want to be unfair to either of them. So on August 24, he decided to choose the “school-goer” by drawing lots. The boy won.

Unable to bear the pain of having to stay away from school, Xiao Mei tried to commit suicide. Fortunately, she did not succeed. That is how difficult and painful education for a poor family can be.

There is another reason why poor parents are forced to keep their wards out of school: family income. If the child is old enough to work and drops out of school, he/she can contribute, however little, to the family instead of making it pay for his/her education.

In 2003, China spent 3.28 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on education - well below the world’s average of 4.1 per cent for developing countries and merely half that of the developed ones.

Governments at the lowest levels - in townships and counties - shouldered the bulk of the financial burden to provide education for children, most of them in the rural areas.

Unlike central and provincial governments that have a diverse source of revenue, the grass-roots authorities’ income is heavily reliant on agricultural taxes and fees, thus putting them in a real Catch-22 situation as far as rural education is concerned.

The rural poor have to pay more so that grass-roots authorities will be better off financially to provide for their children’s education. But the more they pay, the more impoverished their condition becomes. And the less they pay, the more difficult it is for the authorities to raise education funds.

But worse than that is the choice a poor family has to make: falling deeper into poverty to educate a child, or maintaining the status quo without any real future for the children.

We know the cycle of poverty can be broken through education. So let the central and provincial governments shoulder a bigger share of the financial burden needed to make education truly free, starting with the poorest 10 per cent of school-age kids.

Such a move will help bridge the “education gap,” or inequities in education - giving equal access to all children and relieving the poor of the pinch of education cost.

We all know that if our children’s future remains unpromising, so would be that of the nation.

(China Daily 09/23/2005

By: Andrew Clark in New York and Larry Elliott

The crisis gripping America’s property market was bared yesterday in figures showing a slump in home sales and a collapse in confidence among builders.

Defaults on US home loans have caused a credit crunch which is reverberateing around the world as billions of dollars in liabilities flow through the global financial system. Stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic swung wildly from hour to hour.

In London, after dropping by 100 points at one stage, the FTSE 100 index closed down 34 at 6,109. In New York, a late plunge sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 167 points to 12,861, below 13,000 for the first time since April.

Poorer households in America are struggling to keep up repayments on risky, so-called sub-prime mortgages. The National Association of Home Builders said sentiment in the construction industry was at its lowest for 16 years. Its index of confidence, with a midpoint of 50 for a neutral outlook, fell 2 points to 24 during July. Estate agents painted a similar picture. Quarterly sales of existing homes dropped by 10.8% according to the National Association of Realtors, with falls in 41 of America’s 50 states.

The US Federal Reserve injected $7bn of short-term financial liquidity into the banking system. But rumours about problems at America’s biggest homeloans firm, Countrywide Financial, triggered a fifth successive bloody day. On foreign exchanges, sterling was under pressure as investors lost their appetite for the so-called yen carry trade, which involves the purchase of high-yielding assets by borrowing in Japan, where interest rates are low. The pound has been supported by carry-trade dealings, but yesterday fell below $1.99 before rallying to close at $1.9845, a drop of 0.1% on the day. The unwinding of carry trades pushed the yen higher against all other currencies.

Michael Woolfolk, a currency strategist at The Bank of New York Mellon, said: “High-yielding currencies are having a really hard time against the yen. We are in the middle of a credit market crisis in the US, and the truth is that European banks have a lot of exposure to this very same market. The euro and also sterling will keep getting pounded.”

Casualties continued. KKR Financial, an affiliate of private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, admitted yesterday it was likely to lose $200m to $250m on disastrous $5bn forays into mortgages. It complained of “disruptions” and “volatility” in obtaining credit. The biggest to see red was Countrywide Financial. Hit by a “sell” recommendation from Merrill Lynch, its shares dropped 12%. Countrywide has admitted more than 5% of its mortgages are “delinquent”, and Merrill said it could face bankruptcy if liquidity worsened.

Yesterday put the Standard & Poor’s 500 index in negative territory for the year. A broader Wall Street indicator than the Dow Jones, the S&P dropped 1.4% to 1,406. In a further sign of a slowing economy, US consumer prices rose by 0.1% last month - below forecasts of a 0.2% increase.

Hedge funds faced a mid-month deadline requiring clients to give notice yesterday to withdraw cash by the end of the quarter. Analysts were watching for signs of a meltdown following problems at Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, and other funds using computer-driven trading models.

In Australia, a $1bn hedge fund revealed it had lost an estimated 80% of its value. Basis Capital of Sydney, top in the AsiaHedge awards in 2005, appointed private equity firm Blackstone to advise on options.

Casualties

August 15 
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliate KKR Financial Holdings loses $40m (£20m) from mortgages. Warns of extra $200m hit. Dutch investment bank NIBC, which has €137m (£93m) in sub-prime losses, sells to Icelandic bank Kaupthing for €3bn.

August 14 
UBS, Swiss investment bank, warns profits will be hit by sub-prime losses. Sentinel, US money manager fund, says it will halt redemptions.

August 13 
Goldman Sachs rescues its hedge fund, Global Equity Opportunities, after it loses $1.8bn. Canada’s fifth largest bank, CIBC, writes off C$290m (£137m) in mortgage-backed securities hit by slide in US property.