A court-ordered psychiatric examination on Yang in early July determined that he was competent to stand trial.

According to prosecutors, Yang committed the premeditated murder in revenge of a police interrogation against him on October 15, 2007, when he was found riding an unlicensed bicycle that he had rented. Yang had asked for 10,000-yuan ($1,464) reparation from the police for psychological damage, but his claim was rejected.

"It's not a long time, but what we did, as witnessed by people all over the world, will go down in history."

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, saying on September 1 that China has made initial success in reviving regions affected by the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan Province, the worst in China's mainland in more than 50 years

"Imagine that China is still closed off from the world, with a quite strained capacity to produce enough food for the Chinese people. We would be facing a completely different situation, perhaps a much more difficult one."

Dirk Jan van den Berg, former Dutch Ambassador to China, saying that three decades of reform and opening up have changed China fundamentally in a recent interview with China's Xinhua News Agency

"Too much aid remains driven by donors' priorities and interests, which can undermine democratic accountability in countries receiving aid and sideline the needs of the poor."

Mary Wandia, spokeswoman of global development agency ActionAid

"Thank God, common sense prevailed. We saw no extreme conclusions and proposals, and this is very good."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, commenting on EU leaders' rejection of sanctions over Russia's recognition of the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions. The leaders decided to freeze talks on a new strategic EU-Russia accord at their September 2 summit in Brussels

"The ongoing trend of worldwide and rapid, if not accelerating, glacier shrinkage on the century timescale is most likely to be of a non-periodic nature, and may lead to the deglaciation of large parts of many mountain ranges by the end of the 21st century."

UN Environment Program, in a report released on September 1