[SPORT] Dato' Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player.

She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the firstAsian woman to achieve this. David is the daughter of Ann Marie David, a retired Malaysian Chinese school teacher, and Desmond David, a Malaysian Indian engineer, who is also a former state athlete and footballer. She has two sisters, Lianne and Cheryl, both of whom are accomplished squash players at the national level.As a youngster, mathematics was David's best subject at school; she dreamed of one day becoming an engineer.Her primary education was at Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent Green Lane). David scored seven A's for her Penilaian Menengah Rendah and obtained seven A's in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia She was raised a Roman Catholic [ENTERTAIMENT] Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng (born 6 August 1962) is a Hong Kong-based Malaysian Chinese actress, well known for performing her own stunts in theaction films that brought her to fame in the early 1990s. Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, she is based in Hong Kong and was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997. She is best known in the Western world for her roles in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, playing Wai Lin, and the multiple Academy Awardwinning Chinese-language martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which she was nominated the BAFTA for "Best Actress". In 2008, the film critic website Rotten Tomatoes ranked her the greatest action heroine of all time.In 2009, she was listed by People magazine as the only Asian actress as one of the "35 All-Time Screen Beauties". She is credited as Michelle Khan in some of her earlier films. This alias was chosen by the D&B studio who thought it might be more marketable to international and western audiences. Yeoh later preferred using her real name. Early life and career Michelle Yeoh Choo Kheng was born to a prominent ethnic Chinese family in Ipoh, Malaysia, on 6 August 1962. Her parents are Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian Teik, a lawyer and MCA politician. She was keen on dance from an early age, beginning ballet at the age of four. At the age of 15, she moved with her parents to England, where she was enrolled in a boarding school. Yeoh later studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, majoring in ballet. However, a spinal injury prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer, and she transferred her attention to choreography and other arts. She later received a B.A. degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama. In 1983, at the age of 21, Yeoh won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant. She was also Malaysia's representative at the 1983 Miss World pageant in London. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling Hong Kong film production company, D&B Films. Yeoh started her film career

acting in action and martial arts films such as Yes, Madam in 1985, after which she did most of her own stunts. The D&B Group in Hong Kong was run by Dickson Poon. Yeoh married Poon in 1987 and retired from acting. After the couple divorced in 1992, Yeoh returned to acting. Awards, honours and styles In 1999, she was a member of the jury at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. On 19 April 2001, Yeoh was awarded the Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP), which carries the title Dato' by Sultan Azlan Shah, the Sultan of Perak, her home state, in recognition of the fame she brought to the state. On 25 November 2002, she was honoured as The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) (Cultural Achievement) by JCI (Junior Chamber International). On 23 April 2007, French President Jacques Chirac awarded her Chevalier de la Lgion d'honneur. The decoration was presented to her in a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on 3 October 2007. In 2011, she received a special award for her contribution to Malaysian cinema at Malaysian Film Festival (FFM 24).

[FOUNDATION] Cheng Yenis a Taiwanese Buddhist nun(bhikkhuni), teacher, and philanthropist. She is often called the "Mother Teresa of Asia." In 1966, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, commonly known as Tzu Chi; its motto is "instructing the rich and saving the poor". Later, Cheng Yen's Charity, Medicine, Education, and Culture Missions developed, and to the present the Tzu Chi Foundation has become involved in international disaster relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection, and community volunteering. Early life Cheng Yen was born Wng Jnyn() in 1937 in Qingshui in Taichung County (now part of Taichung City), Taiwan.Her uncle was childless, so she was given to be raised by her aunt and uncle. She had first hand experience of suffering because she was raised in Japan-controlled Taiwan during World War II.She witnessed the devastating effects of war and even experienced bombings in Taiwan. These experiences taught Cheng Yen the truth behind the concept of impermanence. As early as 1945, she had to experience peoples pain and helplessness at the age of eight when she had to look after her sick brother in a hospital for eight months. At the age of 23, her father died suddenly from brain hemorrhaging caused by a stroke. It was in searching for a burial place for him that Cheng Yen first came into contact with the Buddhist Dharma. After her father's death, Cheng Yen took over managing her father's theaters and became financially responsible for her family.

Upon deciding to become a nun, Cheng Yen had to run away to a temple because she feared that her mother would not allow her to go.After her first attempt of running away, her mother found her three days later and brought her back home.The second time she ran away from home was in 1961. She left to travel through eastern Taiwan with a friendly nun by the name of Master Xido (). Cheng Yen followed a nontraditional route to becoming a nun, traveling for two years with Master Xido. Cheng Yen even shaved her own head before she had been officially ordained a nun. After traveling for two years, Cheng Yen decided that she needed to become an ordained nun in order to continue with her lifestyle. She went to the Lin Chi Temple to register for ordination. They turned her down because she did not have a master. Typically, to become a nun, one must be the disciple of a master for two years before ordination. Fortunately, Cheng Yen encountered Venerable Master Yin-shun, whom she asked to be her master. He accepted her request, an hour before the registration closed. In February 1963, she became the disciple of her mentor, the Venerable Master Yin Shun, who gave her the dharma name of Cheng Yen[4] and the courtesy name of Huzhng (). Yin Shun also gave her the great expectation of "doing all for the Buddhist religion and for all beings", which is written with six characters in Chinese. From then on, these six characters became the highest ideals for Cheng Yen in belief, teaching, and practice. In May 1963, shortly after receiving her initiation as a nun, she went to Pu Ming Temple in Hualien County to continue her spiritual formation. As a part of that formation, she recited the Lotus Sutra, which she revered, every day and copied it every month. It was during her six months there that she vowed to commit herself to the Lotus Sutra and the Path of the Bodhisattvas. Founding of Tzu Chi Main article: Tzu Chi To meet the needs of the poor in eastern Taiwan, Cheng Yen founded the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Association on 14 April 1966.[1] Cheng Yan encouraged her thirty followers to save fiftycents (US$0.02) from their grocery money every day.[4] They would put this money into little savings banks made from bamboo. When posed with the question, Why can't we give once a week?[4]Master Cheng Yen replied, Because giving is a practice and we need to give every day. If we have a yearning or a positive desire in us, we must nourish it and bring it to fulfillment. Just as Buddha was guided by a noble desire to help others, we too can listen to those who are sad or help those who are in pain. Tzu Chis beginnings were humble. In the first year, fifteen families were helped by thirty followers. Unlike most Buddhist orders, Tzu Chi nuns (bhikkhunis) do not take donations for themselves. Rather, in the early days, they worked for their food by farming, weaving gloves, making diapers and electrical circuit breakers, among other products. Today Although Cheng Yen is over the age of seventy, she cannot be accused of slowing down her active work pace. She broadcasts every week-day morning the programme Morning

at Dawn, a 25-minute address that is both teaching and inspirational. Every evening, she gives another twelve-minute address. She rises early in the morning and often receives visitors, and actively oversees the many projects that Tzu Chi operated throughout Taiwan. To accomplish this, she makes monthly trips around the country to see what volunteers are doing to better the lives of those they assist. Awards and recognition

1986: Receives the Huashia Medal of the First Orderin Taiwan. 1991: Receives the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in The Philippines. 1993: Conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 1994: Receives Eisenhower Medallion by the People to People International.(PTPI Founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower) 1995: Receives the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) Cultural Award, Taiwan. 1996: Receives the Interior Ministrys First Class Honorary Awardin Taiwan. 1996: Receives the Foreign Affairs Medal of the First Orderin Taiwan. 1996: Receives the Huaguang Award of the First Orderin Taiwan. 1998: Receives the International Human Rights Award by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation .(UNPO) 2000: Honored with the Noel Foundation Life Award. 2001: Received the firstPresidential Culture Awardin Taiwan. 2001: Selected as one of 26 Heroes from Around the World and featured on the Wall of Honor in Philadelphias National Liberty Museum. 2001: ReceivesNational Medal of the Second Order from the President of El Salvador. 2001: Conferred Honorary Doctorate in Social Science by Hong Kong University. 2002: Receives theOutstanding Women in Buddhism Award by World Buddhist University in Thailand.

2002: Conferred Honorary Doctorate Degree in Socio-Cultural Studies by National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. 2003: Receives the Presidential Second Order of the Brilliant Star Award, Taiwan. 2004: Receives the 2004 Asian American Heritage Award for Humanitarian Service by the Asian American Federation of California .(AAFC) 2007: Receives the 24th Niwano Peace Prize for Humanitarian Service by The Niwano Peace Foundation in Japan.Introduction Page 2008: The WFB Merit Medal from World Fellowship of Buddhists 2011: Conferred an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humanities by the University of the East, Manila, Philippines

[POLITICS]

Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the firstAfrican American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at theUniversity of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nomineeJohn McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms

control treaty with Russia, ordered US involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In April 2011, Obamadeclared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.