Testing: 7月 2013

2013年7月31日星期三

A Sanctuary for Zimbabwe's Refugees

The Central Methodist Mission in downtown Johannesburg has offered shelter and job advice to thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing political violence.
The Central Methodist Mission in downtown Johannesburg has offered shelter and job advice to thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing political violence.
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Bishop Paul Verryn, center, said that at the height of violence, after the 2008 presidential poll in Zimbabwe, there were around 3,500 Zimbabweans staying at the church’s shelter. Today that figure has dwindled to around 800.
Bishop Paul Verryn, center, said that at the height of violence, after the 2008 presidential poll in Zimbabwe, there were around 3,500 Zimbabweans staying at the church’s shelter. Today that figure has dwindled to around 800.
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Refugees occupied a small living space at the church. Among the many people hoping for a peaceful outcome are the refugees who have crossed the border to South Africa over the past five years.
Refugees occupied a small living space at the church. Among the many people hoping for a peaceful outcome are the refugees who have crossed the border to South Africa over the past five years.
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Shephard Zikuyumo, who came to the shelter in 2009, received a hug from a woman living at the church when he returned from work. The 26-year-old artist said he was lucky to find a job at a fish-and-chips shop here.
Shephard Zikuyumo, who came to the shelter in 2009, received a hug from a woman living at the church when he returned from work. The 26-year-old artist said he was lucky to find a job at a fish-and-chips shop here.
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Men took notes of who was returning to Zimbabwe to vote in Wednesday’s election.
Men took notes of who was returning to Zimbabwe to vote in Wednesday’s election.
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A group of men watched a film in a small corner of the church. About 1 million Zimbabweans now reside in South Africa, accounting for about 7% of the population.
A group of men watched a film in a small corner of the church. About 1 million Zimbabweans now reside in South Africa, accounting for about 7% of the population.
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Refugees set up their beds at the church.
Refugees set up their beds at the church.
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The ebb and flow of people coming through the doors of the Central Methodist Mission mirrored the ups and downs in Zimbabwe.
The ebb and flow of people coming through the doors of the Central Methodist Mission mirrored the ups and downs in Zimbabwe.
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Refugees distributed donated bread in the evening.
Refugees distributed donated bread in the evening.
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Shown, the small living area of a family at the church.
Shown, the small living area of a family at the church.
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Bishop Verryn said guests must attend service daily to stay at the church.
Bishop Verryn said guests must attend service daily to stay at the church.
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Mr. Zikuyumo attended Sunday night service. While some people have been at the church for 18 years, Mr. Verryn, the bishop, doesn’t want the central Methodist Mission to be the final stop on someone’s journey to South Africa.
Mr. Zikuyumo attended Sunday night service. While some people have been at the church for 18 years, Mr. Verryn, the bishop, doesn’t want the central Methodist Mission to be the final stop on someone’s journey to South Africa.
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A man prayed at the Central Methodist Church.
A man prayed at the Central Methodist Church.
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Wednesday’s vote again pits President Robert Mugabe against Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who took the post of prime minister in the uneasy resolution to 2008 polls.
Wednesday’s vote again pits President Robert Mugabe against Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who took the post of prime minister in the uneasy resolution to 2008 polls.
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People looked for work offers and rooms to rent on the walls of a post office in the Hillbrow neighborhood of Johannesburg.
People looked for work offers and rooms to rent on the walls of a post office in the Hillbrow neighborhood of Johannesburg.
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Mduduzi Ndlovu, a graphic designer from Zimbabwe, searches daily for work in Johannesburg. The job seekers are a concern for South Africa’s government, already trying to reduce its own 25.6% unemployment rate.
Mduduzi Ndlovu, a graphic designer from Zimbabwe, searches daily for work in Johannesburg. The job seekers are a concern for South Africa’s government, already trying to reduce its own 25.6% unemployment rate.
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Hillbrow, shown, has a large Zimbabwean population. ‘We’re hoping once things stabilize that Zimbabweans here illegally, particularly the economic refugees, can go back home,’ said Ebrahim Ebrahim, South Africa’s deputy minister of international relations.
Hillbrow, shown, has a large Zimbabwean population. ‘We’re hoping once things stabilize that Zimbabweans here illegally, particularly the economic refugees, can go back home,’ said Ebrahim Ebrahim, South Africa’s deputy minister of international relations.
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Photos of the Day: July 31

CENTER YELLOW LINE: Workers painted the center yellow line on the ceremonial Rajpath boulevard ahead of Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi Wednesday. India celebrates Independence Day on August 15.
CENTER YELLOW LINE: Workers painted the center yellow line on the ceremonial Rajpath boulevard ahead of Independence Day celebrations in New Delhi Wednesday. India celebrates Independence Day on August 15.
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KEEPING IT DRY: A villager held an item above water as she attempted to reach higher ground on the outskirts of Patna, India, Wednesday. Monsoon season lasts from June to September and usually brings flooding.
KEEPING IT DRY: A villager held an item above water as she attempted to reach higher ground on the outskirts of Patna, India, Wednesday. Monsoon season lasts from June to September and usually brings flooding.
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JUMP BALL: Annika Dries, left, of the U.S., went for the ball against Lieke Klaassen of the Netherlands during a women’s water polo match at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona on Wednesday.
JUMP BALL: Annika Dries, left, of the U.S., went for the ball against Lieke Klaassen of the Netherlands during a women’s water polo match at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona on Wednesday.
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DISPERSED: Riot policemen arrested an antigovernment protester during clashes at Taksim Square on Wednesday in Istanbul. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.
DISPERSED: Riot policemen arrested an antigovernment protester during clashes at Taksim Square on Wednesday in Istanbul. Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of demonstrators.
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SWEATING FOR HIS SUPPER: A man ate dinner with his feet in the water on the banks of Hanjiang River in Wuhan, China, as children played nearby. Many parts of China have experienced high temperatures above 100 degrees in the past week.
SWEATING FOR HIS SUPPER: A man ate dinner with his feet in the water on the banks of Hanjiang River in Wuhan, China, as children played nearby. Many parts of China have experienced high temperatures above 100 degrees in the past week.
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SWEET TREATS: A worker made sweets in Herat, Afghanistan, Wednesday.
SWEET TREATS: A worker made sweets in Herat, Afghanistan, Wednesday.
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MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO: A group of hamadryas baboons sat in their enclosure at Emmen Zoo in the Netherlands Wednesday. The zoo’s baboons are behaving strangely — not eating and sitting close together on a small corner of their island. A few years ago, the same group of baboons showed…
MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO: A group of hamadryas baboons sat in their enclosure at Emmen Zoo in the Netherlands Wednesday. The zoo’s baboons are behaving strangely — not eating and sitting close together on a small corner of their island. A few years ago, the same group of baboons showed the similar behavior of mass apathy.
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CROWD RESCUE: An unconscious woman was lifted among a crowd of registrants in front of the Commission on Elections office in Manila Wednesday.
CROWD RESCUE: An unconscious woman was lifted among a crowd of registrants in front of the Commission on Elections office in Manila Wednesday.
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CRAMPED QUARTERS: A patient rested on a bed in the corridor of a crowded hospital in Beijing Wednesday.
CRAMPED QUARTERS: A patient rested on a bed in the corridor of a crowded hospital in Beijing Wednesday.
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BLACK BEACH: Thai soldiers wearing biohazard suits took part in cleaning operations at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet Wednesday. An oil spill blackened beaches at the Thai holiday island of Koh Samet.
BLACK BEACH: Thai soldiers wearing biohazard suits took part in cleaning operations at Ao Prao Beach on Koh Samet Wednesday. An oil spill blackened beaches at the Thai holiday island of Koh Samet.
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PLATFORM DIVING: An Indian youth dived from a nearly submerged water tanker into the floodwaters of the overflowing Ganges River in the Daraganj area of Allahabad on Wednesday.
PLATFORM DIVING: An Indian youth dived from a nearly submerged water tanker into the floodwaters of the overflowing Ganges River in the Daraganj area of Allahabad on Wednesday.
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AT THE POLLS: Zimbawean Chizema Najika showed her card as she left a polling station after voting in the presidential election in Harare on Wednesday. The election will determine whether President Robert Mugabe extends his 33-year reign.
AT THE POLLS: Zimbawean Chizema Najika showed her card as she left a polling station after voting in the presidential election in Harare on Wednesday. The election will determine whether President Robert Mugabe extends his 33-year reign.
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WISE GUY: A great gray owl rested in the Rambouillet Forest Wednesday, outside of Paris.
WISE GUY: A great gray owl rested in the Rambouillet Forest Wednesday, outside of Paris.
Continued

See original here: Photos of the Day: July 31

Blast Hits Chinese Chemical Plant

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In Mideast, Obama Finds He Has Limited Leverage

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BY GERALD F. SEIB
The Middle East has a tendency to eat up American presidencies, and suddenly that is a real danger facing President Barack Obama.
The region is much closer to a broad conflagration than most Americans realize, with Sunnis now facing off against Shiites, and secularists against Islamists across a wide swath of lands. The dream of fostering a new wave of democratic, multiethnic governments—embraced by two successive American administrations—may be withering before our eyes.
As a result, Mr. Obama is coming face-to-face with two hard questions: Does the U.S., with a shrunken checkbook and a weary military, have the power to …
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Photos of the Day: July 30

ABSORBING HIS TEACHINGS: Shi’ites placed Qurans on their heads at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 661 A.D. death of Imam Ali at his shrine in Najaf, Iraq, Tuesday. Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was wounded in a battle and died days later.
ABSORBING HIS TEACHINGS: Shi’ites placed Qurans on their heads at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 661 A.D. death of Imam Ali at his shrine in Najaf, Iraq, Tuesday. Imam Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, was wounded in a battle and died days later.
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EXPLODED: Propane tanks littered a storage yard at the Blue Rhino plant Tuesday in Tavares, Fla., after a series of explosions rocked the plant, igniting a 200-foot-high fireball that injured eight people. Human error and equipment malfunctions were being investigated in the case.
EXPLODED: Propane tanks littered a storage yard at the Blue Rhino plant Tuesday in Tavares, Fla., after a series of explosions rocked the plant, igniting a 200-foot-high fireball that injured eight people. Human error and equipment malfunctions were being investigated in the case.
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ANOTHER CHOICE: A child stood near a wall of posters of presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, a day before the election that will pit Mr. Tsvangirai against incumbent Robert Mugabe. The longtime president denied that his supporters had rigged prior…
ANOTHER CHOICE: A child stood near a wall of posters of presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare, Zimbabwe, Tuesday, a day before the election that will pit Mr. Tsvangirai against incumbent Robert Mugabe. The longtime president denied that his supporters had rigged prior elections.
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MARCHING FOR MORSI: Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi marched from Al-Fath Mosque to the defense ministry in Cairo Tuesday.
MARCHING FOR MORSI: Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi marched from Al-Fath Mosque to the defense ministry in Cairo Tuesday.
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CLOSE INSPECTION: A forensics investigator searched an address Tuesday in south London, where a 17-year-old girl and 28-year-old woman were stabbed last night. The woman died; the teen is hospitalized.
CLOSE INSPECTION: A forensics investigator searched an address Tuesday in south London, where a 17-year-old girl and 28-year-old woman were stabbed last night. The woman died; the teen is hospitalized.
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MADE UP: Revelers posed for a photo amid ‘Carnival of Flowers’ celebrations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday. Tens of thousands of revelers have poured into the streets for the capital’s own three-day celebration, which President Michel Martelly revived in 2012.
MADE UP: Revelers posed for a photo amid ‘Carnival of Flowers’ celebrations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday. Tens of thousands of revelers have poured into the streets for the capital’s own three-day celebration, which President Michel Martelly revived in 2012.
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ROLLING OUT A WHITE CARPET: A soldier rolled out a ream of paper in a cleanup operation at Ao Prao Beach on the Thai island of Ko Samet Tuesday. About 13,200 gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Thailand Saturday from a pipeline operated by state-owned subsidiary PTT Global…
ROLLING OUT A WHITE CARPET: A soldier rolled out a ream of paper in a cleanup operation at Ao Prao Beach on the Thai island of Ko Samet Tuesday. About 13,200 gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Thailand Saturday from a pipeline operated by state-owned subsidiary PTT Global Chemical.
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KNEE-DEEP: A man stood in floodwaters from the overflowing Ganges River in Allahabad, India, Tuesday. The monsoon season, which runs from June through September, accounts for about 80% of India’s annual rainfall.
KNEE-DEEP: A man stood in floodwaters from the overflowing Ganges River in Allahabad, India, Tuesday. The monsoon season, which runs from June through September, accounts for about 80% of India’s annual rainfall.
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A DIFFERENT VIEW: A boy looked out from behind a curtain at his home in a shanty area near Second Ring Road, which encircles Beijing, Monday. Beijing has announced plans to spend billions of dollars to renovate shantytowns within the Fourth Ring Road, according to local media.
A DIFFERENT VIEW: A boy looked out from behind a curtain at his home in a shanty area near Second Ring Road, which encircles Beijing, Monday. Beijing has announced plans to spend billions of dollars to renovate shantytowns within the Fourth Ring Road, according to local media.
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LAID-BACK: A man floated in Chao Lake, a large freshwater body of water, in Anhui province, China, Sunday.
LAID-BACK: A man floated in Chao Lake, a large freshwater body of water, in Anhui province, China, Sunday.
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STOP AND FRISK: Police officers searched men, checked their identities and their work permits during a routine operation in Moscow Tuesday.
STOP AND FRISK: Police officers searched men, checked their identities and their work permits during a routine operation in Moscow Tuesday.
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SINKING FEELING: People stood near a car whose front end fell Tuesday into a sinkhole that opened up overnight in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia. No injuries were reported.
SINKING FEELING: People stood near a car whose front end fell Tuesday into a sinkhole that opened up overnight in the Hunting Park section of Philadelphia. No injuries were reported.
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FIRE RAGES: Several explosions and a fire rocked the Green Energy Products biodiesel plant in Sedgwick, Kan., Tuesday. No injuries were immediately reported. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
FIRE RAGES: Several explosions and a fire rocked the Green Energy Products biodiesel plant in Sedgwick, Kan., Tuesday. No injuries were immediately reported. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
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FLOODED OUT: Rubble and a damaged car littered a street after a water main burst Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro’s Campo Grande district, drowning a 3-year-old girl and injuring at least 13 people. Dozens of homes were destroyed. Firefighters used inflatable rafts to rescue residents.
FLOODED OUT: Rubble and a damaged car littered a street after a water main burst Tuesday in Rio de Janeiro’s Campo Grande district, drowning a 3-year-old girl and injuring at least 13 people. Dozens of homes were destroyed. Firefighters used inflatable rafts to rescue residents.
Continued

Read the original here: Photos of the Day: July 30

Pakistani Militants Storm Prison

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Bank of Italy Eyeing Lenders' Books

Article Excerpt

BY GIOVANNI LEGORANO AND DAVID ENRICH
ROME—The Bank of Italy is quietly inspecting the finances of some of the country’s top lenders, which could push some Italian banks to sell assets or take other major steps, according to a central-bank document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The central bank’s examinations, which were previously undisclosed, come against a backdrop of increasing worry among regulators, investors and bank executives about the health of some of the country’s lenders amid a rise in souring loans.
The current inspections are a follow-up to a previous round last fall that resulted in the Bank of Italy ordering banks to set …
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Scores Dead in Iraq Bombings

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U.S. Funds Buy No Love at Afghan College

Berlusconi Ruling Hits Delay

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Tokyo Likely to Reassess Sales Tax Rise

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Sweden Sees Second Quarter Contraction

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Business and Household Confidence Improves in Euro Zone

China Nods to Rising Concerns on Economic Outlook

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2013年7月30日星期二

Merkel Rival Kicks Off Campaign

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Ruling Party to Create India's 29th State

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Former Premier Leads Mali Vote

A Refuge from Zimbabwe's Election Violence

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Nations Race to Attract Chinese Immigrants

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Asia's Rice Glut Expected to Worsen

BANGKOK—Asia is awash in rice, as favorable weather and government support for farmers combine to produce a bumper crop.
The glut is driving down prices for big rice importers in Africa and China. But consumers in some of the biggest rice-producing nations, including Thailand and India, are paying higher prices as surplus supplies sit in government warehouses. Asia’s surplus will have little impact in the U.S., which produces different varieties of rice.
When traveling by train from New Delhi to neighboring states, a common sight in the countryside is rice piled high on wooden plinths, protected only by plastic tarps. In Thailand, the government has considered using a warehouse at the city’s old airport to store rice because other storage facilities are full.
The surplus is the result of good weather and government programs that encourage rice growing. World rice stockpiles are expected to rise 2% this year, the ninth consecutive annual increase, according to the London-based International Grains Council.
Analysts see the glut getting worse. Thailand, a top exporter, is trying to sell some of its own 17 million-ton surplus, the result of a subsidy program in which the government bought rice from farmers at above-market prices. India, the world’s biggest exporter, is expecting near-record harvests in a couple of months, as is Pakistan. Meanwhile, demand from large importers, including the Philippines and Nigeria, is dropping.
“If Thailand is successful in offloading its rice, it will certainly put downward pressure on prices,” said Darren Cooper, a senior economist with the International Grains Council.
The council’s index of global rice prices fell to 200 on Friday, its lowest since September 2010 and down almost 5% this year. However, prices vary widely from country to country, because rice is largely sold where it is produced. Just 8% is traded internationally, compared with about 20% for wheat and 36% for soybeans.
In Vietnam’s spot market, prices are down about 5% this year, with one of the most heavily traded varieties, 5% broken rice, trading at about $390 a ton. In Thailand, 5% broken rice for export trades at $475 a ton, down 16% this year.
The only widely traded rice futures contract, offered by CME Group Inc. and reflecting U.S. prices, is up 7% this year, ending Tuesday at $15.895 for 100 pounds. The two markets tend to move independently.
The tightly regulated and fragmented rice market means consumers and the needy have seen little benefit from the oversupply. Some aid groups favor handouts before stocks deteriorate, while others said governments should encourage a move to other crops by cutting guaranteed prices to farmers.
While farmers have benefited in Thailand, prices in supermarkets there are up 10% since 2011 due to tight supply. Even as government stockpiles ballooned, traders in Thailand imported rice from Cambodia and Vietnam. The government, which is subsidizing farmers’ income by buying rice at higher prices, is reluctant to sell it cheaply in the domestic market.
India’s agricultural policies have had a similar impact on its domestic prices, economists said. “I have three school-going children to feed, and its tough on me,” said Jaya, a housemaid, who lives in a single-room house in New Delhi’s crowded Tughlakabad area and buys at least 22 pounds of rice each month.
So far, Thailand and other rice producers have stuck by their policies. The commerce ministry said Monday that the government’s first sale from its stockpile this year is likely to move less than 100,000 tons, compared with a goal of 350,000 tons, as most offers to buy were too low. Traders said market prices are about $480 a ton, while bids for government sales are coming in at about $380 a ton because of concerns over quality.
Thailand is also trying government-to-government deals. Last week, it announced a sale to Iran of 250,000 tons, paid in euros, but didn’t disclose the price. It was the first purchase of this type by Iran from Thailand since 2007.
The price Thailand demands for its rice will determine how low prices go elsewhere, said Tejinder Narang, a New Delhi-based adviser to global commodities trader Emmsons International Ltd. Prices of one of the most traded Asian grades, Vietnam’s 5% broken rice, have slipped to about $390 a ton from $560 a ton in late 2011.
Vietnam last month launched a plan to give exporters interest-free loans to stockpile more rice to bolster prices.
Devinder Sharma, chairman of New Delhi-based nonprofit organization Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security, criticized the programs. “In countries such as Thailand and India hunger is still persistent, and it is a crime against humanity if rice gets rotten while poor people starve,” Mr. Sharma said. “A better option would be to supply this grain for free to the poor.”
Some traders and consumer groups have raised concerns that some long-stored rice may not be safe because of high levels of methyl bromide, which is used on crops in storage to prevent infestation by rice weevils and other insects. Rice has a shelf life of at least three years, if kept away from moisture, though even when dry it can be eaten by rats and insects if not properly protected. Still, even if part of this year’s crop is destroyed, it would quickly be replenished by the next harvest, analysts said.
—Biman Mukherji in New Delhi and Owen Fletcher in Chicago contributed to this article.

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Mideast Session No. 2 Is Set, as Obama Weighs In

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Morsi, Ashton Have 'In Depth' Talks

Article Excerpt

BY MATT BRADLEY
CAIRO—The European Union’s top diplomat met with Mohammed Morsi late Monday night in what people close to the ousted president said was his first meeting with someone outside Egypt’s military since he was deposed nearly a month ago.
Catherine Ashton, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, had a “very long and in-depth conversation” during her two-hour meeting with Mr. Morsi “at an undisclosed location,” said Michael Mann, Ms. Ashton’s spokesman.
Mr. Mann said that the meeting started around midnight and that Ms. Ashton was transported in such a way that she didn’t know “exactly where she …
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Spanish Train Driver Was Using Phone

MADRID—A Spanish train driver was talking on his work cellphone and traveling at nearly twice the recommended speed when the train derailed on a tight curve last week, in Spain’s worst rail accident since the 1940s.

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Francisco José Garzón was taken to Preliminary Court in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Sunday.

The driver, Francisco José Garzón, had received a call from a co-worker at the state rail company, Renfe, minutes before the July 24 wreck near the city of Santiago de Compostela that killed 79 people and injured scores more, a court in the region of Galicia said after reviewing the train’s “black box” data recorder.
“From the content of the conversation and from the sound in the background it seems that the driver was consulting a map or some similar paper document,” said a court statement, which indicated the worker calling Mr. Garzón was probably a Renfe controller.
The court added that Mr. Garzón, who is under investigation for negligent homicide, was driving the train at 119 miles an hour just before the wreck, and that a brake was activated seconds before the accident.
When the train skidded off the tracks, it was traveling at 95 miles an hour—nearly twice the speed railway authorities have said was recommended on the curve.
Mr. Garzón, who had spent Saturday night at a police station after being released from a hospital for light injuries he suffered in the wreck testified for three hours on Sunday in a closed hearing before an investigative judge. After the hearing, Mr. Garzón, 52 years old, was granted his conditional release, but he will have his passport confiscated and will have to regularly check in with the court.
According to accounts of his testimony in the Spanish press, Mr. Garzón told the judge he “got lost” at the time of the accident, and wasn’t sure of the route.
“It seems to me he was trying to find out where the h— he was at,” said Jim C. Scott, a Kingsport, Tenn.-based railroad-operations consultant who has a 40-year career in railroading. “If that’s the case, that railroad is in deep trouble.”
A Renfe spokeswoman said “it’s normal in a certain manner” that a driver would be in communication with his base. She added that trains are equipped with a radio telephone system, as well as the driver’s cellphone.
Earlier, company officials said Mr. Garzón had been working for the company for decades and had considerable experience on the route.
Mr. Scott, who frequently serves as an expert legal witness in accident cases, said cellphone-related train crashes are becoming more frequent.
“It’s something we’re seeing more and more of,” he said.
In one well-known 2008 case, a Metrolink commuter train ran head-on into a freight train in the Chatsworth district of Los Angeles, killing 25 people.
Accident investigators later attributed the wreck to the engineer of the Metrolink train being distracted while text messaging a teenage train buff.
Cellphone distraction figured in at least one previous Spanish rail fatality, that of a 14-year-old girl struck by a train at a crossing in Sant Feliú de Llobregat, near Barcelona, in 2008.
According to Spain’s Investigative Commission of Railroad Accidents, the driver told investigators the girl was talking on a phone and didn’t respond when he sounded the train’s whistle during an unsuccessful attempt to brake.
—Richard Boudreaux contributed to this article.
Write to Matt Moffett at matthew.moffett@wsj.com

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Photos of the Day: July 29

CLIMBING HIGH: Supporters of Zimbabwe’s prime minister climbed a tree during an election rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday. Zimbabweans go to the polls on Wednesday to choose between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
CLIMBING HIGH: Supporters of Zimbabwe’s prime minister climbed a tree during an election rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday. Zimbabweans go to the polls on Wednesday to choose between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
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CAVED IN: Three row houses were seriously damaged and a number of people were injured following an apparent gas explosion along the 400 block of Daly Street in South Philadelphia on Monday.
CAVED IN: Three row houses were seriously damaged and a number of people were injured following an apparent gas explosion along the 400 block of Daly Street in South Philadelphia on Monday.
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CLEAN UP: Soldiers in white biohazard suits poured oil into a bag during a cleanup operation at Ao Prao Beach in Koh Samet, Thailand, Monday. Around 5,000 liters of crude oil poured into the sea on Saturday about 12 miles off the coast of Rayong, southeast of Bangkok.
CLEAN UP: Soldiers in white biohazard suits poured oil into a bag during a cleanup operation at Ao Prao Beach in Koh Samet, Thailand, Monday. Around 5,000 liters of crude oil poured into the sea on Saturday about 12 miles off the coast of Rayong, southeast of Bangkok.
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FIGHTING SMALL FONT: A woman used a magnifying glass to send a message on her mobile phone in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday.
FIGHTING SMALL FONT: A woman used a magnifying glass to send a message on her mobile phone in Belgrade, Serbia, Monday.
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FREEZE FRAME: A journalist took a picture of Pope Francis during a news conference on the flight back to Italy after departure from Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
FREEZE FRAME: A journalist took a picture of Pope Francis during a news conference on the flight back to Italy after departure from Rio de Janeiro on Monday.
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TOUGH TRAVELS: A tortoise made its way through mud in Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on Monday.
TOUGH TRAVELS: A tortoise made its way through mud in Kfar Kila in south Lebanon on Monday.
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BLOCKED OFF: People walked past brick barricades erected along a street that leads to Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi have set up camp and hold daily rallies in Cairo on Monday.
BLOCKED OFF: People walked past brick barricades erected along a street that leads to Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where supporters of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi have set up camp and hold daily rallies in Cairo on Monday.
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DEADLY CRASH: Seats from a bus that crashed from a highway lay in a wooded area near Avellino, Italy, Monday. A tour bus filled with people returning home after an excursion plunged into a ravine Sunday night, killing at least 37 people, said police and rescuers.
DEADLY CRASH: Seats from a bus that crashed from a highway lay in a wooded area near Avellino, Italy, Monday. A tour bus filled with people returning home after an excursion plunged into a ravine Sunday night, killing at least 37 people, said police and rescuers.
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PIERCED: Hindu devotees carried their babies as they hung using hooks pierced through their backs from poles that are rotated as part of a ritual in Chennai, India, Sunday.
PIERCED: Hindu devotees carried their babies as they hung using hooks pierced through their backs from poles that are rotated as part of a ritual in Chennai, India, Sunday.
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COOL DOWN: A person slid down a huge water slide at a public swimming pool on a hot sunny day in Vienna on Monday.
COOL DOWN: A person slid down a huge water slide at a public swimming pool on a hot sunny day in Vienna on Monday.
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A-OKAY: French diver Cyrille Oumedjkane, left, signaled that everything is OK after his jump in the men’s High Diving competition at the 15th FINA World Championships held on Monday in Barcelona.
A-OKAY: French diver Cyrille Oumedjkane, left, signaled that everything is OK after his jump in the men’s High Diving competition at the 15th FINA World Championships held on Monday in Barcelona.
Continued

TALLYING IN THE DARK: Poll workers counted ballots after the end of voting in Mali’s presidential elections in Timbuktu Sunday.
TALLYING IN THE DARK: Poll workers counted ballots after the end of voting in Mali’s presidential elections in Timbuktu Sunday.
Continued

SWIMMING PROHIBITED: Tourist on the beach looked at the sea Monday in Nice, France, where local authorities have forbidden swimming during a water safety test following a heavy storm.
SWIMMING PROHIBITED: Tourist on the beach looked at the sea Monday in Nice, France, where local authorities have forbidden swimming during a water safety test following a heavy storm.
Continued

PROTECTING PROPERTY: A woman sprayed water around her house during a wild fire in Rhodes, Greece, Sunday. Authorities declared a state of emergency after a weekend fire destroyed an estimated 3,000 hectares of forest and farmland.
PROTECTING PROPERTY: A woman sprayed water around her house during a wild fire in Rhodes, Greece, Sunday. Authorities declared a state of emergency after a weekend fire destroyed an estimated 3,000 hectares of forest and farmland.
Continued

FALLEN DOWN: A policeman looked under debris as rescue work progressed after a building that was under construction collapsed in Jammu, India, Monday.
FALLEN DOWN: A policeman looked under debris as rescue work progressed after a building that was under construction collapsed in Jammu, India, Monday.
Continued

Read more here: Photos of the Day: July 29

Defying Gravity (Briefly)

Competitors soared into the air on homemade, human-powered flying machines at the Red Bull Flugtag, held Sunday on the outskirts of Moscow. Here, a participant tried to control his fish-shaped craft.
Competitors soared into the air on homemade, human-powered flying machines at the Red Bull Flugtag, held Sunday on the outskirts of Moscow. Here, a participant tried to control his fish-shaped craft.
Continued
A flying machine named ‘A Frenchman on a Passport’ competed in the weekend festival in Strogino. A Flugtag is an event in which participants jump off a pier into the water in homemade aircraft.
A flying machine named ‘A Frenchman on a Passport’ competed in the weekend festival in Strogino. A Flugtag is an event in which participants jump off a pier into the water in homemade aircraft.
Continued
The machine, representing a Russian passport with the head of Gerard Depardieu made from foam, jumped into the river. The French movie star left his homeland last winter for Russia, to avoid a tax hike on the rich.
The machine, representing a Russian passport with the head of Gerard Depardieu made from foam, jumped into the river. The French movie star left his homeland last winter for Russia, to avoid a tax hike on the rich.
Continued
After the jump, the foam head floated on the Moskva river.
After the jump, the foam head floated on the Moskva river.
Continued
One team competed in a sheep-shaped flying machine.
One team competed in a sheep-shaped flying machine.
Continued
An aircraft plunged into the river.
An aircraft plunged into the river.
Continued
Flugtag means ‘flying day.’ Here, a participant seemed to float over the water on Sunday.
Flugtag means ‘flying day.’ Here, a participant seemed to float over the water on Sunday.
Continued
Team members dressed as rabbits performed on the platform Sunday.
Team members dressed as rabbits performed on the platform Sunday.
Continued
Their carrot-shaped flying machine was launched off the pier into the river.
Their carrot-shaped flying machine was launched off the pier into the river.
Continued
The ‘Horrors in Tomato Sauce’ flying machine left the platform.
The ‘Horrors in Tomato Sauce’ flying machine left the platform.
Continued
A pilot and his flying machine.
A pilot and his flying machine.
Continued
This pilot lost control of the ‘Flying Tuna’ flying machine during the jump.
This pilot lost control of the ‘Flying Tuna’ flying machine during the jump.
Continued
A participant from the Crazy Cucumber team drove their aircraft over the river.
A participant from the Crazy Cucumber team drove their aircraft over the river.
Continued

View post: Defying Gravity (Briefly)

Prosecutions Difficult in Stockholm Riots

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U.K. Home Loans Pick Up Speed

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Young Norwegian Politician Resigns, Admitting Posting Nude Images

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Cannes Jewel Thief Gets $136 Million in Loot

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Japan Nuclear Watchdog to Step Up Fukushima Role

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Mugabe Faces New Test at Polls

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BY PATRICK MCGROARTY
ZVIMBA, Zimbabwe—President Robert Mugabe’s hometown bears witness as well as any corner of Zimbabwe to how he has used threats and rewards to hold on to power for 33 years—and how, with the economy slumping and an election days away, that recipe is wearing thin.
Zimbabweans, once residents of one of Africa’s most prosperous nations, are hoping a peaceful election on Wednesday will allow them to move forward and the economy to recover. But political allegiances divide the country—creating fissures from which violence has surfaced before and threatens to again.
For residents of the farmland around the modest compound of …
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Alberta Oil Incident Worsens

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Japan, China Inch Toward Better Ties

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Japan's Abe Seen Deferring Sales Tax Decision

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Colombian Rebels Agree to Release Canadian

BOJ's Kuroda Confident Easing Is Paying Off

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Rescuers Search for Survivors of Italian Bus Crash

Article Excerpt

ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME—Rescuers wielding electric saws cut through the twisted wreckage of an Italian tour bus looking for survivors Monday after the bus crashed and plunged into a ravine late Sunday, killing at least 38 people.
The bus lost control near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, a largely agricultural area about 60 kilometers, or about 40 miles, inland from Naples and about 250 kilometers, or 160 miles, south of Rome. It hit several cars and crashed through the side wall of a highway bridge before plunging some 30 meters, about …
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Venezuela Arrests Men in U.S. Attack

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2013年7月29日星期一

Italy's High Court Set To Rule on Berlusconi

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Tunisia Offers December Vote

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Shale Threatens Saudi Economy, Prince Alwaleed Warns

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Explosions Rock Nigerian Christian Area

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Kerry Sets Stage for Pakistan Reset

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Tense EU-Israel Ties Rattle Peace Process

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Mideast Peace Talks Resume in Washington

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Egypt Allows EU Envoy to Visit Morsi

Article Excerpt

ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO—Egypt’s government accepted a request by the European Union’s top diplomat to see former President Mohammed Morsi on Monday, as concern grew for the ousted leader’s welfare nearly a month after Egypt’s military pushed him from power and hid him from public view.
It was still unclear on Monday afternoon whether Catherine Ashton, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, would be able to see Mr. Morsi, who could refuse to meet with her, as he has done with human-rights lawyers that had requested permission to see him, the lawyers said. Mr. Morsi has remained out of …
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Photos of the Day: July 28

FROLICKING: Nuns splashed about in the water Sunday at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, where Pope Francis led the final Mass of his weeklong visit to Brazil.
FROLICKING: Nuns splashed about in the water Sunday at Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach, where Pope Francis led the final Mass of his weeklong visit to Brazil.
Continued

SORTING: A man worked at a candy factory in Herat province, Afghanistan, Saturday.
SORTING: A man worked at a candy factory in Herat province, Afghanistan, Saturday.
Continued

WEATHERED: A Korean War veteran bowed his head during a mass military parade at Kim II Sung Square Saturday in Pyongyang, North Korea, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean armistice.
WEATHERED: A Korean War veteran bowed his head during a mass military parade at Kim II Sung Square Saturday in Pyongyang, North Korea, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean armistice.
Continued

TEAMWORK: Residents transported drinking water through Loudi, Hunan province, China, Saturday. A drought has affected the water supply.
TEAMWORK: Residents transported drinking water through Loudi, Hunan province, China, Saturday. A drought has affected the water supply.
Continued

SECURITY CHECK: A United Nations soldier searched a man before he cast his ballot for president Sunday in Kidal, Mali, where lines were short. Malians voted after 18 months of instability that included a military coup and French-military intervention. Results are expected Wednesday.
SECURITY CHECK: A United Nations soldier searched a man before he cast his ballot for president Sunday in Kidal, Mali, where lines were short. Malians voted after 18 months of instability that included a military coup and French-military intervention. Results are expected Wednesday.
Continued

MOVING IN: Government forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah forces, patrolled in the Khalidiya neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Sunday.
MOVING IN: Government forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah forces, patrolled in the Khalidiya neighborhood of Homs, Syria, Sunday.
Continued

TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENT: Alpine-horn players performed at a festival in Nendaz, Switzerland, Sunday.
TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENT: Alpine-horn players performed at a festival in Nendaz, Switzerland, Sunday.
Continued

LEAP OF FAITH: A man jumped from the Old Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sunday. Diving competitions have been held here every year since the bridge, which was rebuilt after it was destroyed during the Bosnian War, was originally constructed in the 16th century.
LEAP OF FAITH: A man jumped from the Old Bridge in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sunday. Diving competitions have been held here every year since the bridge, which was rebuilt after it was destroyed during the Bosnian War, was originally constructed in the 16th century.
Continued

FLYING CONTRAPTION: A team competing at the Red Bull Flugtag event flew its homemade aircraft in Moscow Sunday.
FLYING CONTRAPTION: A team competing at the Red Bull Flugtag event flew its homemade aircraft in Moscow Sunday.
Continued

AWAY: A man took his boat out on the water as a wildfire raged near Megalo Livadi on the Greek island of Serifos in the Aegean Sea Saturday. As fires raged on the island of Rhodes and Crete, the one on Serifos was brought under control.
AWAY: A man took his boat out on the water as a wildfire raged near Megalo Livadi on the Greek island of Serifos in the Aegean Sea Saturday. As fires raged on the island of Rhodes and Crete, the one on Serifos was brought under control.
Continued

BEST FACE FORWARD: Participants applied facial masks Sunday in Taipei, Taiwan, in an attempt to break a Guinness record.
BEST FACE FORWARD: Participants applied facial masks Sunday in Taipei, Taiwan, in an attempt to break a Guinness record.
Continued

UP: Hot-air balloons flew over a field Saturday in Chambley-Bussières, France, as part of an annual event.
UP: Hot-air balloons flew over a field Saturday in Chambley-Bussières, France, as part of an annual event.
Continued

Original post: Photos of the Day: July 28

An Extremist's Guide to Life Online

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Activists Squeezed in Gulf Kingdoms

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Thousands Protest Government at Tunisia Funeral

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Inmates Escape From Libyan Prison

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Siemens CEO Set to Leave

2013年7月28日星期日

Jewels Valued at $53 Million Stolen in Cannes

Associated Press
PARIS—Jewels and diamonds valued at €40 million ($53 million) were stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, in one of Europe’s biggest jewelry heists recent years, police said.
The French Riviera hotel was hosting a temporary jewelry exhibit over the summer of the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.
A police spokesman said the theft took place around noon in daylight, but he couldn’t confirm local media reports that the robber was a single gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter on the record.
Several brazen jewelry thefts have taken place this year, including one in Belgium on Feb. 18 that involved some $50 million of diamonds.
In that heist, the stones from the global diamond center of Antwerp had been loaded on a plane bound for Zurich when robbers, dressed in dark police clothing and hoods, drove through a hole they had cut in the Brussels Airport fence in two black cars with blue police lights flashing.
They drove onto the tarmac, approached the plane, brandished machine guns, unloaded the diamonds, then left in an operation that barely took five minutes. Later that night, investigators found the charred remains of a van most likely used in the heist.
Authorities have since detained dozens of people and recovered many of the stolen treasures in that operation.
In May, Cannes was struck by two highly publicized jewelry heists during the Cannes Film Festival.
In the first theft, robbers stole about $1 million of jewels after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room. The jewelry was taken from the Novotel room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewelry maker that has lent items to stars walking the red carpet at the film festival.
And in the second, thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive hotel and made off with a De Grisogono necklace that creators say is valued at €2 million.

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Cambodian Opposition Gains in Elections

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Seoul Moves to Resolve Kaesong Dispute

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Japan Recall Blemishes Skin-Whitening Industry

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China Plans Urgent Debt Audit

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Japan's Revival Bid Has Global Consequences

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EU May Sanction Faroe Islands Over Fishing Quotas

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Spanish Train Driver Appears in Court

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Israel Approves Prisoner Release

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The Prince's Man

“The Book of the Courtier” was an international best seller from its publication in 1528 until the end of the 18th century. Going through no fewer than 150 editions, it was translated into French, Spanish, Dutch, English, German, Polish and Latin. Twenty years in gestation, put through many revisions, the book, whose subject is the proper behavior of men and women at the courts of Renaissance princes, was written by Baldassare Castiglione, an aristocrat, soldier and diplomat who died, at age 50, less than a year after publication of his magnum opus.

Scala/Art Resource, NY
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, by Raphael.

Born into a wealthy family residing near Mantua, Castiglione was a contemporary and friend of Raphael, who painted a famous portrait of him. After serving at the court of Francesco Gonzaga, Castiglione took up residence at the court of Urbino, ruled by Duke Guidobaldo da Montrefeltro. Known for its concerts, plays, poetry readings and festivals, the richness and refinement of Urbino’s cultural life was overseen by the duke’s wife, Elizebetta.

“The Book of the Courtier” is set on four different nights at the court of Urbino. Several people, all drawn from life, have gathered for a discussion of the qualities the ideal courtier should possess. The only two people conspicuously missing from the proceedings are the author, Castiglione, and the prince himself, Duke Guidobaldo. The mistress of ceremonies, directing the flow of talk, is the duchess.

Set out in dialogue form, the book does not always stay on message. Often it veers into lengthy digressions on the nature of women, on what constitutes perfect love, and on the true meaning of a kiss. Castiglione informs us that his book merely “rehearses some discussions which took place among men singularly qualified in such matters.” Many of those who hold the floor have conflicting perspectives, even opposing views. Little is definitively settled. Often Castiglione leaves complex questions, issues, problems to be resolved only in the minds of his readers.

In “The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy” the great Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt claims that the true subject of “The Book of the Courtier” is the perfection of the nobleman at court. He summarizes the skills the courtier must acquire. Apart from mastering the arts of war, which are primary, “the courtier,” in Burckhardt’s summary, “must be at home in all noble sports, among them running, leaping, swimming and wrestling; he must, above all things, be a good dancer and, as a matter of course, an accomplished rider.” For Castiglione the courtier should be acquainted with great literature, know music to the point of being able to play an instrument, be skilled at the arts of oratory, and in conversation employ exquisite tact and apply the art, in his memorable phrase, of “cheating expectations.”

Not only must the courtier acquire all these skills, he must display them with a casual air of easy mastery. The ideal courtier, Castiglione writes, “must put every effort and diligence into outstripping others a little, so that he may be always recognized as better than the rest.” But he must do so without showing the least strain or hint of affectation. He is to accomplish this through sprezzatura, the art of artlessness, or the art that hides art.

“The Book of the Courtier” is in part a manual of advice on such subjects as seduction, the behavior required of women at court, practical jokes, how to keep love secret, why it is a mistake to learn chess, and more. Some of this advice has a cold Machiavellian flavor. Castiglione writes: “There is an adage which says that when our enemy is in the water up to his waist, we must offer him our hand and rescue him from peril; but when he is up to his chin, we must put our foot on his head and drown him forthwith.”

At other times, “The Book of the Courtier” reads like the anti-Machiavelli, at least the Machiavelli of “The Prince,” with its stern lessons on attaining and retaining power at all costs. In the fourth and final section of “The Book of the Courtier,” Castiglione, contra Machiavelli, addresses himself to the courtier’s role as moral adviser to princes.

Here it becomes clear that Castiglione intends for his ideal courtier to be much more than a Renaissance dandy, a connoisseur in the art of self-presentation; above all, he should instruct his prince on the subject of righteous rule. The point of the courtier making himself so charming, and of his elegant display of mastery of the arts, is that through them he will raise himself in the prince’s esteem, thereby seducing him into heeding his advice. If the excellence of the courtier’s cultural attainments is “the flower” of his training, “the fruit” lies in helping his prince “toward what is right and to warn him against what is wrong.” The courtier, Castiglione holds, is “the whetstone,” the prince “the knife”; as the physician is concerned with his patient’s health, so the courtier is concerned with the prince’s virtue.

Castiglione was not a trained philosopher, but like most educated men of his day he had read Plato and Aristotle with care. Plato and Aristotle were themselves courtiers—not philosopher-kings, as Plato had it in “The Republic,” but philosophers who instructed kings. Plato, alas, failed in his abortive attempt to council the incorrigible Dionysius of Sicily. Aristotle was more successful, in Castiglione’s view, in his tutelage of Alexander the Great.

Renaissance Italy, though in many ways one of the great ages of mankind, was also an age of despotic princes with vast treasure and unlimited power. The too-greatly rich, Castiglione held, “often become proud and insolent.” Power applied without reflection and training in virtue, he felt, was a certain formula for disaster. Castiglione’s courtier, in his function as court philosopher, was to curb the insolence and do all he could to forestall the disaster by instilling virtue in his prince.

What gives “The Book of the Courtier” its unique place in literature is not just the brilliance of its detail and cogency of its arguments but how pertinent so many of its pages seem in our day—and are likely to seem in any other day. The right relation of virtue to power will always be the key political issue, and few writers in the nearly five centuries since he wrote “The Book of the Courtier” understood this more profoundly than Baldassare Castiglione.
—Mr. Epstein’s latest book, co-authored with Frederic Raphael, is “Distant Intimacy, a Friendship in the Age of the Internet” (Yale).
A version of this article appeared July 27, 2013, on page C13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: The Prince’s Man.

2013年7月27日星期六

Miss Iceland Gets a Chilly Reception

By
ELLEN EMMERENTZE JERVELL

In an attempt to open up the Miss Iceland competition to new blood, organizers may also have opened up a can of worms. Video by WSJ’s Ellen Jervell.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland—In early July, eight women wearing sweaters began their week by filing into a sunlit meeting room in Iceland’s cozy capital to hatch a scheme.
The objective: Put Miss Iceland to death.
The women, including a 48-year-old pastor and an author in her early 30s, don’t actually want to harm the reigning 5-foot-9 beauty queen crowned in 2011. Instead, they dream of ending a competition that has endured for nearly half a century and helped put this Nordic island nation of 315,000 people on the map.
“Our goal must be to kill it,” Asa Richardsdottir, 49-year-old producer in the fine arts industry, said between sips of coffee. Matthildur Helgadottir-Jonudottir, an event manager also in her 40s, nodded in agreement. “Yes,” she said in a loud voice.
As a form of protest, the eight women applied to enter the beauty contest.

Ellen Emmerentze Jervell/The Wall Street Journal
Reynir Sigurbjornsson applied to enter the Miss Iceland beauty contest.

Following years of hullabaloo over whether the small country actually needs beauty contests, feminists are freshly emboldened because scores of Icelanders who don’t exactly fit the beauty queen mold signed up for the 2013 event slated for September, generating a wave of local media attention.
The unusual development stems from a rather unclear statement made by the new chief executive of the Miss Iceland contest, Rafn Rafnsson, in hopes of diversifying the field of contestants beyond the statuesque blonde with striking blue eyes that has become the Icelandic stereotype. “There is no Miss Iceland stereotype,” said Mr. Rafnsson, a longtime cameraman and television producer.
After Mr. Rafnsson’s statement, the floodgates opened. Women of all ages, including a prominent member of the nation’s Parliament and an 80-year-old pensioner, applied to enter the contest and even a handful of men took the plunge. Within a week, 1,300 people raised their hands to strut their stuff.
“I’m doing this to illustrate how pointless they are,” Sigridur Gudmarsdottir, 48, a minister in Reykjavik, said after signing on to compete shortly after registration opened in June. While viewing her participation as nothing but a joke, she said she hopes the ploy “poses the question of what beauty really is.”
When Reynir Sigurdbjornsson, 47, a male electrician, signed up online, he was disappointed that there wasn’t a button to select sex. “This competition is discriminating [against] men,” he said.

Ellen Emmerentze Jervell/The Wall Street Journal
The feminist meeting in July to oppose the contest.

Some might consider the outpouring of interest is a boon for Mr. Rafnsson as he prepares to run his inaugural show. In 2012, Miss Iceland—known locally as Ungfrú Ísland—didn’t even take place, because, the organizers say, they “didn’t have time.” Now, the nation is at least talking about the event.
But Mr. Rafnsson is in a bit of a jam because he ultimately wants to send a viable contestant from Miss Iceland to compete in Miss World in 2014.
“We have to follow the rules set by the international contest,” he said while sitting in a spartan office on the outskirts of Reykjavik.
That means rejecting any applicants younger than 18 or older than 24. In addition to the age limits, contestants must be unmarried, childless and, of course, female.
Mr. Rafnsson is now stuck trying to put a pretty face on what remains an exclusive engagement. “It’s good that people show interest; they are free to interpret what they want about the contest,” he said.

But that spin hasn’t stopped the backlash.
“Who cares what he meant?” Brynhildur Heidardottir Omarsdottir, a literary critic who also signed up for the event, said. In her opinion, Mr. Rafnsson has given feminists the stage they need to disparage the event for objectifying women and promoting a narrow stereotype of the ideal female.
Iris Telma Jonsdottir, Iceland’s contestant in the 2012 Miss World event, isn’t amused. “They’re wrong, they know nothing about this,” the 22-year-old beauty queen said.
Miss Jonsdottir has the unfortunate job of sifting through applications for the coming Miss Iceland contest and the publicity stirred by feminists has even sparked an abnormally high influx of legitimate hopefuls. That means she has a lot more reading to do before selecting the field of 25 women who will actually compete for a chance to move on to Miss World.
Even without this year’s antics, Iceland’s history with beauty pageants has had its moments.
In the 1970s, a cow was stolen from a nearby farm and paraded by opponents of the contest through the hotel where the Miss Iceland competition was held. The animal was wearing a ribbon.
A decade later, female members of Reykjavik’s city council staged a protest by showing up for a council meeting wearing ballroom dresses and homemade crowns.

To Kill A Beauty Contest
Activists working to end Miss Iceland are emboldened after scores of applicants who don’t fit the beauty queen mold sign up for the 2013 event.

Ellen Emmerentze Jervell/The Wall Street Journal
Iris Telma Jónsdóttir, Iceland’s contestant in the 2012 Miss World event.

More recently, the Miss Iceland contest took heat after contestant contracts were published. The pacts, now abandoned, provided that participants weren’t to get pregnant, become mentally ill or to gain weight for the three years following the event.
One of the most ambitious salvos against Miss Iceland came in 2007, when Ms. Helgadottir-Jonudottir created Untamed Beauty, an alternative beauty contest where everyone was given a prize.
“At my competition, the criteria of beauty were stretch marks and saggy boobs,” she said while sitting with her friends in early July.
Ms. Omarsdottir, one of Ms. Helgadottir-Jonudottir’s peers, isn’t deterred by being barred from the 2013 Miss Iceland contest because of her age. During the conversation in the meeting room, she said the group’s next salvo against the contest could be a parody video set to the old Tina Turner hit “Simply the Best,” that would go viral.
Ms. Richardsdottir, the producer, said she had already purchased the “fruisland.is” domain name, or “mrsiceland.is.” At the least, the group should launch an online protest, she said.
Brynhildur Bjornsdottir returns to the Tina Turner parody idea: “We are simply the best, naa naa naa,” she sang.
Ms. Omarsdottir held up her arms and started dancing in her seat. “I think a video with some women like us singing and shaking some booty would be just perfect.”
Write to Ellen Emmerentze Jervell at ellen.jervell@wsj.com

Read the original post: Miss Iceland Gets a Chilly Reception

Papal Visit a Mixed Blessing for Rio

Article Excerpt

BY PAULO WINTERSTEIN AND JOHN LYONS
GUARATIBA, Brazil—With the World Cup and Olympics approaching fast, Rio de Janeiro’s track record for hosting global events faced a new low in this muddy field outside the city, where Pope Francis was to give mass for one million faithful Sunday at the end of a weeklong Brazil trip.
Event organizers late Thursday relocated the mass to Rio’s Copacabana beach after rains liquefied the field, called Camp Faith, making it unfit for the hundreds of thousands of worshipers who were expected to overnight here in vigil before the mass. The mucky expanse was so watery it was starting to transmit …
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Pope Urges Brazil Clerics to Help Poor

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BY STACY MEICHTRY
RIO DE JANEIRO—Pope Francis called Saturday on Brazilian clerics and politicians to close the yawning gap between the country’s rich and poor, driving home a critique of elitism that has become the overarching theme of his first overseas trip.
Entering the final stretch of his visit to Rio de Janeiro, the pope crisscrossed the city, delivering a sermon to …
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Death Toll Rises in China Landslide

Associated Press
BEIJING—The death toll from mudslides that have ravaged an earthquake-shattered region of northwestern China rose to 21 on Saturday, with another four missing, state media reported.
The landslides triggered by heavy rains struck just south of the city of Dingxi where Monday’s earthquake left 95 dead, five missing and more than 800 people in hospital.
Nine villages under the city of Tianshui remained out of contact as of Saturday morning after the storms knocked out power, cut off communications and blocked roads, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The heavy storms and mudslides left one village, Rongguang, filled with debris, damaging more than half of the village homes and burying villagers, Xinhua said.
The area along the Yellow River has rolling hills of loose soil blown south from the Gobi desert. Thunderstorms have loosened the terraced hillsides that were made unstable by the quake.
About 123,000 people were affected by the quake, with 31,600 moved to temporary shelters, the provincial earthquake administration said on its website. Almost 2,000 homes were destroyed and about 22,500 damaged, it said.
Urban areas where buildings are more solid were spared major damage, unlike the traditional mud and brick homes in the countryside.

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'King of Beers' Sets Sights on Global Domination

Article Excerpt

BY MIKE ESTERL
ZIYANG, China—Little of the Western world has infiltrated this dusty city in China’s rural hinterland, where red lanterns hang from lampposts and restaurants serve pig tail and duck neck. But Americans would recognize a beer increasingly making the rounds here: Budweiser, which flows from a state-of-the-art brewery built below a hilltop pagoda.
Advertisements for the 137-year-old brand from St. Louis, Mo., drape the windows of a banquet hall, trumpeting the year of the snake. The walls, floors and stairs of a karaoke bar are blanketed with Budweiser’s red bow tie and gold crown symbols. On a narrow back street, three …
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Canadian Returns After Detention in Africa for Alleged Terrorism

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China Aims to Help Small Businesses

BEIJING—China has rolled out temporary tax cuts and promises of fresh credit for small businesses that have been hit hard as economic growth slows, but the move will have only a limited impact on the economy, analysts said.
The measures are aimed at giving small firms a helping hand and in turn boosting economic growth as the economy appears to lose steam.
On Friday, the central bank said it would encourage banks to lend more to smaller firms and it would encourage these companies to tap the bond market for financing. That followed an announcement by the State Council, or China’s cabinet, on Wednesday that it would temporarily suspend business and value-added taxes for companies with monthly revenue under 20,000 yuan ($3,260) starting Aug. 1.
Small and medium-size enterprises account for 80% of China’s urban jobs, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. But they often find themselves hard-pressed to get financing, with banks preferring to make loans to larger companies.
Still, economists said the move wouldn’t significantly open up new channels of credit. “The reality is the banking system is not set up to serve SMEs,” said Liu Li-Gang, at economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, referring to small and medium-size enterprises. “This will probably not be that effective.”
The central bank said on its website that it would use monetary tools to support smaller firms. It didn’t give specifics on its plans and ultimately the banks will decide for themselves where to lend. But the central bank delivered the same message in a commentary by People’s Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan in the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Friday, adding weight to the move.
In an apparently related development, China Citic Bank, the country’s seventh-biggest lender by assets, said Thursday it had received regulatory backing to issue 30 billion yuan of bonds to support small businesses.
Earlier in the week the State Council said that its tax cuts would benefit six million firms and tens of millions of workers. That suggests that the government’s target is very small businesses indeed, as the average operation affected by the move would have only a handful of employees.
An executive with a small media company in north China’s Gansu province said the revenue threshold is extremely low and likely to limit the impact of the tax measures.
“It’s really symbolic,” said the executive. “I believe there is no manufacturing company in China that will benefit from the policy.”
Other business executives generally agreed the effects would be limited.
“These measures are aimed at very small businesses, or businesses that have just been set up,” said Florence Mo, a manager at Lamkin Golf Products, a manufacturer in the southern city of Guangzhou. With about 500 workers, Lamkin is too large to benefit from the tax cut.
The tax cut will add up to some 36 billion yuan per year, or 0.3% of fiscal revenue, HSBC estimates. But the bank’s economists argue the revenue is worth sacrificing because the tax cut will produce political benefits, helping to “maintain social stability and uphold consumer spending.”
The measure could boost employment and shore up confidence, said Lu Ting, chief China economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
China’s policy makers are debating how best to prop up an economy that grew by 7.8% in 2012, its slowest pace in more than a decade, and looks set to decelerate further this year.
A program to replace the business tax with a lighter value-added tax is also intended to benefit businesses. The change has lowered the tax burden on more than 95% of taxpayers in the regions that have made the switch so far, according to the State Administration of Taxation. The agency estimates the change lowered the overall tax burden in those areas by some 23 billion yuan in the first five months of the year.
The State Council on Wednesday also unveiled a batch of measures to support exporters, including simplifying customs procedures and suspending some fees. The government hinted too that it will resist further appreciation of China’s currency, saying it wants to maintain a “basically stable” exchange rate.
Tax breaks, targeted lending support and supply-side measures like cutting red tape offer the government a way to give the economy a helping hand without resorting to the all-out stimulus it used to get through the financial crisis, and again, on a smaller scale, to weather a slowdown in 2012.
“The planned changes will definitely contribute to speed and will reduce cost” when clearing shipments at customs, said Jasper Schouten, a manager at International Flavors & Fragrances, a U.S. maker of ingredients for food and other products with operations in China. But he added that the fee cuts would not be a game-changer unless made permanent. “Temporary changes are nice but will have limited impact,” he said.
—Yajun Zhang contributed to this article.
Write to Richard Silk at richard.silk@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared July 27, 2013, on page A9 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: China Takes Steps to Aid Small Firms.

Originally posted here: China Aims to Help Small Businesses

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