IHT Quick Read: April 24

NEWS Multinational companies are racing to invest in factories and other operations to cash in on rising consumer demand in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and most populous nation, with an estimated 251 million people. Joe Cochrane reports from Jakarta.

With a definitive vote by the lower house of Parliament, France on Tuesday became the world’s 14th nation, and the third in just two weeks, to approve marriage rights for same-sex couples. Scott Sayare reports from Paris.

Nearly four years into Nigeria’s bloody struggle with Islamists in its impoverished north, a new threat has emerged with deadly implications, this time for Westerners as well as Nigerians: local militants who openly claim to be inspired and trained by Al Qaeda and its affiliate in the region. Adam Nossiter reports from Abuja, Nigeria.

Israel declared Tuesday that it had found evidence that the Syrian government repeatedly used chemical weapons last month, arguing that President Bashar al-Assad was testing how the United States and others would react and that it was time for Washington to overcome its deep reluctance to intervene in the Syrian civil war. David E. Sanger and Jodi Rudoren report from Tel Aviv.

A $285 million project to remake Mont-St.-Michel into an island is touching the commercial heart of the town, confusing tourists and angering residents. Steven Erlanger reports from Mont-St.-Michel, France.

The Communist Party in Vietnam is divided into factions even as a better informed public is finding its voice. Thomas Fuller reports from Ho Chi Minh City.

Israel and the Palestinians agreed on Tuesday to renewed involvement by Unesco, the United Nations cultural agency, in the Old City of Jerusalem. The agreement was a small but significant breakthrough in the often highly politicized workings of the agency. Steven Erlanger reports from Paris.

The British finance minister said that London, taking a lesson from the euro zone crisis, would be unlikely to form a currency union with Scotland should it vote to be independent. Stephen Castle reports from London.

A daughter’s attention to her father’s legacy has turned a local bakery in Alsace into a global enterprise. Hannah Olivennes reports from Niedermorschwihr, France.

ARTS Berlioz’s opera “Béatrice et Bénédict” is enjoying a lively new production at the Theater an der Wien. George Loomis reviews from Vienna.

SPORTS The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which stages Wimbledon, announced Tuesday that it would raise overall prize money by 6.5 million pounds for this year’s championships to a total of 22.6 million pounds, or $34.4 million. That represents a 40 percent pay raise over 2012. Christopher Clarey reports.

Bayern Munich made a brutally efficient case that it is the team to beat in the Champions League this season, humbling visiting Barcelona, 4-0, on Tuesday in the first leg of their semifinal at Allianz Arena. Andrew Das reports.

What’s French for ‘Family’?

Amid an historic and acrimonious debate in France over marriage rights for same-sex couples, Stefania Rousselle profiles two French families on opposite sides.

How China’s ‘Leftover Women’ Are to Blame

BEIJING â€" Feminists are concerned that some Chinese women in their late 20s who are doing well in their careers but are labeled “leftover women” for not having married yet, may be their own worst enemies.

While they may earn as much as their male counterparts they may still adhere to traditional beliefs that decree a man must earn more than his wife, and men generally share that belief. Either way, this attitude may limit their pool of potential mates.

“They are still living in a traditional mindset and values, even though there’s no way that those can solve their problem,” said Feng Yuan, a feminist and head of Beijing’s Anti-Domestic Violence Network, in a telephone interview. Other feminists agreed with her.

What is missing is a stronger awareness of the dynamics of gender, said Ms. Feng. “If they don’t gain gender consciousness then they can only rely on luck to solve their problem,” she said, meaning they can only hope to solve the problem if they meet a man who earns more than they do.

“Shengnu,” or “leftover woman,” a term applied to China’s well-educated, unmarried women, has long been hurtful for those labeled in that way.

Recently, some have started to push back by swapping it for another word that is pronounced identically but is written differently in Chinese, and has a far more positive meaning: “shengnu,” or “victorious woman,” as I write in my Female Factor Letter today. (Some prefer to render that as “successful.”)

Yet despite the hurt, some women seem unaware that wanting a man to earn more, even when they themselves are equally well-educated and capable, may be working against them.

Zhou Wen, 27 and unmarried, is a secretary at an American marketing company in Beijing. She explained that it’s widely thought a man should earn more than a woman for the match to be right.

“Why aren’t girls prepared to marry a man who earns less? Because income represents your ability,” she said in a telephone interview.

“If you earn less it means you have less ability and no one wants to marry someone with less ability,” she said.

Why not be financially equal, sharing the rent and other living expenses?

“Most people think that equality isn’t just a question of 50-50 on bills,” she said.

“Male-female equality is about making men and women equal and if I contribute 50 percent of everything that doesn’t mean I’m equal,” she said. “Men should respect women, respect their ideas and ways of thinking, and not be the kind of person who says ‘everything a woman says is nonsense,’” she said. That said, she added: “I’m not opposed to going 50-50.”

How China’s ‘Leftover Women’ Are to Blame

BEIJING â€" Feminists are concerned that some Chinese women in their late 20s who are doing well in their careers but are labeled “leftover women” for not having married yet, may be their own worst enemies.

While they may earn as much as their male counterparts they may still adhere to traditional beliefs that decree a man must earn more than his wife, and men generally share that belief. Either way, this attitude may limit their pool of potential mates.

“They are still living in a traditional mindset and values, even though there’s no way that those can solve their problem,” said Feng Yuan, a feminist and head of Beijing’s Anti-Domestic Violence Network, in a telephone interview. Other feminists agreed with her.

What is missing is a stronger awareness of the dynamics of gender, said Ms. Feng. “If they don’t gain gender consciousness then they can only rely on luck to solve their problem,” she said, meaning they can only hope to solve the problem if they meet a man who earns more than they do.

“Shengnu,” or “leftover woman,” a term applied to China’s well-educated, unmarried women, has long been hurtful for those labeled in that way.

Recently, some have started to push back by swapping it for another word that is pronounced identically but is written differently in Chinese, and has a far more positive meaning: “shengnu,” or “victorious woman,” as I write in my Female Factor Letter today. (Some prefer to render that as “successful.”)

Yet despite the hurt, some women seem unaware that wanting a man to earn more, even when they themselves are equally well-educated and capable, may be working against them.

Zhou Wen, 27 and unmarried, is a secretary at an American marketing company in Beijing. She explained that it’s widely thought a man should earn more than a woman for the match to be right.

“Why aren’t girls prepared to marry a man who earns less? Because income represents your ability,” she said in a telephone interview.

“If you earn less it means you have less ability and no one wants to marry someone with less ability,” she said.

Why not be financially equal, sharing the rent and other living expenses?

“Most people think that equality isn’t just a question of 50-50 on bills,” she said.

“Male-female equality is about making men and women equal and if I contribute 50 percent of everything that doesn’t mean I’m equal,” she said. “Men should respect women, respect their ideas and ways of thinking, and not be the kind of person who says ‘everything a woman says is nonsense,’” she said. That said, she added: “I’m not opposed to going 50-50.”

How China’s ‘Leftover Women’ Are to Blame

BEIJING â€" Feminists are concerned that some Chinese women in their late 20s who are doing well in their careers but are labeled “leftover women” for not having married yet, may be their own worst enemies.

While they may earn as much as their male counterparts they may still adhere to traditional beliefs that decree a man must earn more than his wife, and men generally share that belief. Either way, this attitude may limit their pool of potential mates.

“They are still living in a traditional mindset and values, even though there’s no way that those can solve their problem,” said Feng Yuan, a feminist and head of Beijing’s Anti-Domestic Violence Network, in a telephone interview. Other feminists agreed with her.

What is missing is a stronger awareness of the dynamics of gender, said Ms. Feng. “If they don’t gain gender consciousness then they can only rely on luck to solve their problem,” she said, meaning they can only hope to solve the problem if they meet a man who earns more than they do.

“Shengnu,” or “leftover woman,” a term applied to China’s well-educated, unmarried women, has long been hurtful for those labeled in that way.

Recently, some have started to push back by swapping it for another word that is pronounced identically but is written differently in Chinese, and has a far more positive meaning: “shengnu,” or “victorious woman,” as I write in my Female Factor Letter today. (Some prefer to render that as “successful.”)

Yet despite the hurt, some women seem unaware that wanting a man to earn more, even when they themselves are equally well-educated and capable, may be working against them.

Zhou Wen, 27 and unmarried, is a secretary at an American marketing company in Beijing. She explained that it’s widely thought a man should earn more than a woman for the match to be right.

“Why aren’t girls prepared to marry a man who earns less? Because income represents your ability,” she said in a telephone interview.

“If you earn less it means you have less ability and no one wants to marry someone with less ability,” she said.

Why not be financially equal, sharing the rent and other living expenses?

“Most people think that equality isn’t just a question of 50-50 on bills,” she said.

“Male-female equality is about making men and women equal and if I contribute 50 percent of everything that doesn’t mean I’m equal,” she said. “Men should respect women, respect their ideas and ways of thinking, and not be the kind of person who says ‘everything a woman says is nonsense,’” she said. That said, she added: “I’m not opposed to going 50-50.”

How China’s ‘Leftover Women’ Are to Blame

BEIJING â€" Feminists are concerned that some Chinese women in their late 20s who are doing well in their careers but are labeled “leftover women” for not having married yet, may be their own worst enemies.

While they may earn as much as their male counterparts they may still adhere to traditional beliefs that decree a man must earn more than his wife, and men generally share that belief. Either way, this attitude may limit their pool of potential mates.

“They are still living in a traditional mindset and values, even though there’s no way that those can solve their problem,” said Feng Yuan, a feminist and head of Beijing’s Anti-Domestic Violence Network, in a telephone interview. Other feminists agreed with her.

What is missing is a stronger awareness of the dynamics of gender, said Ms. Feng. “If they don’t gain gender consciousness then they can only rely on luck to solve their problem,” she said, meaning they can only hope to solve the problem if they meet a man who earns more than they do.

“Shengnu,” or “leftover woman,” a term applied to China’s well-educated, unmarried women, has long been hurtful for those labeled in that way.

Recently, some have started to push back by swapping it for another word that is pronounced identically but is written differently in Chinese, and has a far more positive meaning: “shengnu,” or “victorious woman,” as I write in my Female Factor Letter today. (Some prefer to render that as “successful.”)

Yet despite the hurt, some women seem unaware that wanting a man to earn more, even when they themselves are equally well-educated and capable, may be working against them.

Zhou Wen, 27 and unmarried, is a secretary at an American marketing company in Beijing. She explained that it’s widely thought a man should earn more than a woman for the match to be right.

“Why aren’t girls prepared to marry a man who earns less? Because income represents your ability,” she said in a telephone interview.

“If you earn less it means you have less ability and no one wants to marry someone with less ability,” she said.

Why not be financially equal, sharing the rent and other living expenses?

“Most people think that equality isn’t just a question of 50-50 on bills,” she said.

“Male-female equality is about making men and women equal and if I contribute 50 percent of everything that doesn’t mean I’m equal,” she said. “Men should respect women, respect their ideas and ways of thinking, and not be the kind of person who says ‘everything a woman says is nonsense,’” she said. That said, she added: “I’m not opposed to going 50-50.”

Horse Doping Scandal Rocks Dubai’s Rulers

LONDON â€" The horseracing world has been shaken to its fetlocks by revelations of a doping scandal at the top prize-winning Godolphin stable, owned by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai’s ruler, was described as “absolutely appalled” by the announcement on Monday that 11 Godolphin thoroughbreds trained at Newmarket, the home of British horseracing, had tested positive for banned steroids.

In what one racing commentator described as “one of the biggest doping scandals of modern times,” Mahmoud Al Zarooni, one of Godolphin’s top trainers, admitted responsibility for administering the drugs in what he said was a “catastrophic error.”

Simon Crisford, Godolphin racing manager, said, “This is a dark day for Godolphin. We are all shocked by what has happened.”

According to Cornelius Lysaght, the BBC’s racing correspondent, Sheikh Mohammed’s legendary hands-on approach has been responsible for turning Godolphin into one of the few top players in racing, and the Maktoum family has helped transform Dubai into a world center for sport and leisure.

“Yet, apparently right under their noses, perhaps racing’s greatest ever drugs scandal has unfolded,” Mr. Lysaght wrote.

Godolphin was set up in 1992 to take advantage of the climate in Dubai, where the Maktoum horses spend the winter at a state-of-the-art training center in preparation for the most prestigious races around the world.

The ruling family went on to establish the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race. This year Godolphin was the leading owner at the event for the sixth straight year.

Dubai is currently involved in a project to boost China’s nascent racing industry. Meydan Group, a government-owned developer that runs the Dubai track, said it plans to host an international meeting there this year.

As a Godolphin trainer since 2010, Mr. Zarooni has added to its string of track victories, including a win at last year’s Dubai event with Monterosso, owned by Sheikh Hamdan, crown prince of the Arabian Gulf emirate.

The British Horseracing Authority announced on Monday it would hold a disciplinary inquiry after traces of two banned anabolic steroids were found in samples taken from 11 horses trained by Mr. Zarooni. They were among 45 animals tested at the Moulton Paddocks stables in Newmarket.

They include the American-bred Certify, a three-year-old filly that has now been pulled from the One Thousand Guineas, next week’s British classic.

The Daily Mail said the ban on the horses that tested positive would be “hugely embarrassing” for Sheikh Mohammed.

Mr. Zarooni, who now faces a training ban, said he deeply regretted what had happened. “Because the horses involved were not racing at the time, I did not realize that what I was doing was in breach of the rules of racing,” he said, according to the Godolphin Web site.

Sheikh Mohammed has meanwhile ordered an urgent review of all Godolphin’s procedures and controls.

Cameron gets warning from both sides

LONDON â€" It may not be every day, or in every land, that the practitioners of the state religion and the national security agencies issue parallel warnings to the prime minister about their handling of the economy, but that is what is happening to David Cameron.

In an address Monday night, the Right Rev. Justin Welby, the newly appointed archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, offered a somber assessment of the country’s economic woes following the banking crisis and said it would take “something very, very major” to shed them.

“Historically the great failures in banking have led to very, very long periods of recession at best,” said the archbishop, a former oil company executive. “I would argue that what we are in at the moment is not a recession but essentially some kind of depression. It therefore takes something very, very major to get us out of it in the same way as it took something very major to get us into it.”

The analysis is unlikely to be received with much enthusiasm by Mr. Cameron, who, as I write in my latest Page Two article in the IHT, is already facing challenges to his hopes for kick-starting one part of the moribund economy - the building trade.

But, according to a report in The Times of London on Tuesday, builders may be the least of his worries. Britain’s spies, too, are fretting at the austerity measures imposed by George Osborne, Mr. Cameron’s chancellor of the Exchequer and close ally.

Both the domestic security service, MI5, and the overseas intelligence agency, MI6, have warned Mr. Osborne that “public safety will be put at risk if spending on the security services is cut any further” in efforts to save money, The Times said, “and Britain would be more vulnerable to a terrorist attack if they have to find additional savings.”

The timing of the story, eight days after the Boston bombing and just hours after Canada warned of a terrorist plot directed at a train between Toronto and New York, underlines the nervousness of the security services almost eight years after the London bombings of July 7, 2005.

Referring to the nation’s spies, a government minister was quoted as saying: “Their argument is that there has not, since 7/7, been a major outrage in this country but that’s not because people haven’t been trying. They are saying, ‘You will put safety at risk if you cut our budget.’”

Jonas Kaufmann, Nina Stemme Named Best Singers at Opera Awards

Nina Stemme and Jonas Kaufmann won the awards for best male singer and best female singer, and the Frankfurt Opera House took the prize for best opera company at the first annual Opera Awards Monday night. The ceremony was held at the Hilton Park Lane in London.

Other winners included Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh” as staged by Dmitry Tcherniakov at the Amsterdam Opera for best production and Puccini’s “Trittico” at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in a staging by Richard Jones conducted by Antonio Pappano for best DVD.

The Opera Awards were instituted this year by Harry Hyman, a business man and opera supporter in Britain, and the British magazine Opera to bring recognition to the world of opera in a broad range of Oscar-like categories. The awards honored achievement during the year 2012 and were determined by a 10-person jury made up of critics and practitioners, following nominations from the readers of Opera magazine and the public at large.

Ms. Stemme won acclaim for her Wagnerian interpretations in Munich, Milan and Paris, while Mr. Kaufmann’s performances included “Carmen” in Salzburg and two bestselling solo discs. The award to the Frankfurt Opera recognized its strong box office sales and its mix of rarities and mainstream repertory.

The award for new opera went to George Benjamin’s “Written on Skin,” which had its premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and has since traveled to major opera houses. Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Baroque masterpiece “David et Jonathas” in performances by Les Arts Florissants, which was also seen in several venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, won the award for rediscovered work.

Opera in the United States was recognized by two awards to the Metropolitan Opera, one for accessibility for its streaming of performances to movie theaters and another for best orchestra, which it won despite the absence of the company’s music director, James Levine, for health reasons; he is scheduled to return for a concert with the orchestra on May 19. Cape Town Opera won for best chorus.

Covent Garden’s Antonio Pappano won the award for best conductor. The British soprano Sophie Bevan won the young singer award, and the conductor Daniele Rustioni won for best newcomer (conductor or director).

The award for best festival went to Salzburg, which saw a particularly ambitious first festival under its new artistic director, Alexander Pereira.

In addition to the award won by his production of “The Legendary City of Kitezh,” Mr. Tcherniakov won the award for best director. Likewise, Mr. Kaufmann’s award for best male singer was reinforced by a readers award based on votes by the readers of Opera magazine.

In the CD realm, Decca’s strongly cast recording of Handel’s rarely performed “Alessandro” conducted by George Petrou won for best complete recording, and Christian Gerhaher’s mellifluously sung disc of Romantic arias for Sony won for best operatic recital.

Paul Constable won for lighting designer, Antony McDonald for set designer and Buki Schiff for costume designer.

Peter Moores was honored as philanthropist/sponsor, and a lifetime achievement award went to George Christie, former chairman of Glyndebourne productions.