IHT Quick Read: April 30

NEWS Two years after a triple meltdown that grew into the world’s second worst nuclear disaster, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is faced with a new crisis: a flood of highly radioactive wastewater that workers are struggling to contain. Martin Fackler reports from Tokyo.

A gruesome assault that left scores of Nigerian villagers dead has been blamed by survivors on revenge-seeking soldiers and has brought withering criticism at home and abroad. Adam Nossiter reports from Maiduguri, Nigeria.

Throughout much of the euro zone’s financial crisis, the European Central Bank has faced criticism for not doing enough â€" not printing enough money or not buying enough bonds or not cutting interest rates fast enough. In Cyprus, though, the bank is accused of doing too much. Jack Ewing reports from Frankfurt.

Pierre Moscovici, the French finance minister, is an easy target for political sniping and ideological anger. He is attacked from the right for not being firm enough in cutting public spending. He is attacked from the left for being too willing to cut public spending in a period of stagnation. Asked why the French are so angry and depressed, he said: “As I sometimes say, I’m not a psychoanalyst; my mother is.” Steven Erlanger reports from Paris.

SCIENCE What to make of all the recent “cured of AIDS” headlines? An American in Berlin, a baby in Mississippi and 14 patients in France are all alive without treatment. Is a cure at hand? No. But in unusual cases, some people seem able, with temporary help from antiretroviral drugs, to kill the virus before it can sink into reservoirs deep in their bodies â€" or to at least force it to stand at the doorways of their cells, unable to get in. Donald G. McNeil Jr. reports.

STYLE A new pedestrian shopping area, to be known as the “Golden Quarter,” is still under construction in Vienna. But even before its completion, scheduled for 2014, Louis Vuitton has taken over a historic building, with Emporio Armani and Miu Miu up the road and a stream of international names from Brioni through Roberto Cavalli to Prada and Saint Laurent lined up to arrive next year. Suzy Menkes writes from Vienna.

ARTS Research casts a new light on van Gogh’s work, in an exhibition of the artist’s development at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Nina Siegal reports.

SPORTS The promoter of One F.C., a martial arts venture based in Singapore, isn’t shy about his dreams: He believes that his fighting league could be the top sport in Asia within 10 years. Christopher Clarey reports from Singapore.

The N.B.A., long known for its inclusion, predicts it will be business-as-usual next season after Jason Collins’s announcement that he is gay. That is, if Collins, 34, a veteran of six N.B.A. teams, is a part of next season. Harvey Araton on basketball.

Chinese Cruise to Disputed Paracel Islands Angers Vietnam

BEIJING â€" To many Chinese, the voyage of the Coconut Fragrance Princess, the first cruise ship touring the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea as Chinese media reported, is about tourism: enjoying the azure water, sun and seafood of “China’s Maldives,” the announcers on Liaoning Satellite TV put it.

To many Vietnamese, who also claim the islands, the cruise isn’t about tourism but something more like imperialism: “China’s sending the cruise ship to the Paracels was the latest in a series of unilaterally provocative actions in the area,” the Thanh Nien News wrote last Saturday. (The newspaper is the flagship publication of the Vietnam National Youth Federation.)

China and Vietnam both claim the Paracels, which China has occupied since a brief war with South Vietnam in 1974. (Taiwan also claims the islands.) They are part of a larger territorial dispute in Southeast Asia, where China claims about 80 percent of the South China Sea and disputes ownership with half a dozen Asian nations, who also have some disputes among themselves. In recent years China has moved to reinforce its claims strongly calling its sovereignty over the area “indisputable,” as my colleague Jane Perlez has reported, angering its Asian neighbors who are responding with counter-claims.

All that makes the cruise, which departed Sunday, sensitive stuff. And it doesn’t appear to be an entirely ordinary voyage: for one, only Chinese citizens are allowed, Chinese media reported. Chinese citizens from the non-mainland China territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwanese, overseas Chinese and “foreign passport holders” were “politely refused” for the 4-day, 3-night cruise that cost between 6,000 and 10,000 renminbi ($1,000-1,600), the Chutianjin newspaper reported Tuesday, without offering an explanation. The report was also carried by Sina, a major news portal.

Then, of the 300-or-so passengers on board the Coconut Fragrance Princess, only about 100 were “ordinary tourists,” mostly company bosses, Chutianjin reported, from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning and Jiangsu provinces, and Beijing and Chongqing. About 200 were officials, mostly from Hainan Island, the province nearest to the Paracels. But everyone had to fill in a “People’s Republic of China Xisha Islands Tourism Application Form” (the Paracels are known as Xisha in Chinese, and Paracels or Hoang Sa in Vietnamese.) Two of the travelers were students, one from Peking University and one from the Capital Normal University, the report said.

Some other details about the voyage: only people who are not too fat, have normal mobility and are aged 18-60 could take part, Chinese media reported, without saying why.

If that excludes at least some elderly people, often prime cruise customers, they could perhaps take comfort from the fact that media reports didn’t make the ship sound too comfortable.

“Rooms sleep two to eight people, either with or without portholes, and all toilets are communal,” the china.com.cn Web site wrote. The ship is due to return to Hainan on Wednesday.

It’s not stopping at the administrative center of the islands on Yongxing Island (Woody Island in English,) according to reports in the Chinese media, but at two other isles: Yagong and Quanfu. Yagong Island is inhabited by fishermen and the travelers will be able to disembark and chat with them, while Quanfu Island is uninhabited, Chinese media reported. Calling at Yongxing Island “will have to wait until the Xisha Islands are increasingly opened up,” Chutianjin reported. (China has recently developed Yongxing Island quite extensively, and it has a landing strip for aircraft.)

How often will the cruises take place?

“Taking into consideration the Xisha’s natural environment, industry sources said cruises would be limited to two a month,” the Chutianjin wrote. “Not counting ship workers, about 400 people monthly from across China will be able to view the scenery of the Xisha. Taking into account that the wind blows in the winter and the waves are bigger then, the cruises might have to stop in October and resume again in January,” the report said.

Meanwhile, this is how Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News sees the Chinese presence in the Paracels and its cruises: “In 1974, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the American troops from the Vietnam War, China invaded the Paracel Islands. A brief but bloody naval battle with the forces of the then U.S.-backed Republic of Vietnam ensued. Vietnam’s behemoth northern neighbor has illegally occupied the islands ever since.”

“On April 5, Vietnam’s National Border Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested China’s plans to sail the cruise ship, saying that Vietnam has “incontestable” sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys (Truong Sa) islands,” it said.

“The cruise ship plans are against the spirit of the talks in which Beijing committed to fully follow the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), the committee said in a statement. It demanded that China cancel such plans.”

Chinese Cruise to Disputed Paracel Islands Angers Vietnam

BEIJING â€" To many Chinese, the voyage of the Coconut Fragrance Princess, the first cruise ship touring the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea as Chinese media reported, is about tourism: enjoying the azure water, sun and seafood of “China’s Maldives,” the announcers on Liaoning Satellite TV put it.

To many Vietnamese, who also claim the islands, the cruise isn’t about tourism but something more like imperialism: “China’s sending the cruise ship to the Paracels was the latest in a series of unilaterally provocative actions in the area,” the Thanh Nien News wrote last Saturday. (The newspaper is the flagship publication of the Vietnam National Youth Federation.)

China and Vietnam both claim the Paracels, which China has occupied since a brief war with South Vietnam in 1974. (Taiwan also claims the islands.) They are part of a larger territorial dispute in Southeast Asia, where China claims about 80 percent of the South China Sea and disputes ownership with half a dozen Asian nations, who also have some disputes among themselves. In recent years China has moved to reinforce its claims strongly calling its sovereignty over the area “indisputable,” as my colleague Jane Perlez has reported, angering its Asian neighbors who are responding with counter-claims.

All that makes the cruise, which departed Sunday, sensitive stuff. And it doesn’t appear to be an entirely ordinary voyage: for one, only Chinese citizens are allowed, Chinese media reported. Chinese citizens from the non-mainland China territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwanese, overseas Chinese and “foreign passport holders” were “politely refused” for the 4-day, 3-night cruise that cost between 6,000 and 10,000 renminbi ($1,000-1,600), the Chutianjin newspaper reported Tuesday, without offering an explanation. The report was also carried by Sina, a major news portal.

Then, of the 300-or-so passengers on board the Coconut Fragrance Princess, only about 100 were “ordinary tourists,” mostly company bosses, Chutianjin reported, from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning and Jiangsu provinces, and Beijing and Chongqing. About 200 were officials, mostly from Hainan Island, the province nearest to the Paracels. But everyone had to fill in a “People’s Republic of China Xisha Islands Tourism Application Form” (the Paracels are known as Xisha in Chinese, and Paracels or Hoang Sa in Vietnamese.) Two of the travelers were students, one from Peking University and one from the Capital Normal University, the report said.

Some other details about the voyage: only people who are not too fat, have normal mobility and are aged 18-60 could take part, Chinese media reported, without saying why.

If that excludes at least some elderly people, often prime cruise customers, they could perhaps take comfort from the fact that media reports didn’t make the ship sound too comfortable.

“Rooms sleep two to eight people, either with or without portholes, and all toilets are communal,” the china.com.cn Web site wrote. The ship is due to return to Hainan on Wednesday.

It’s not stopping at the administrative center of the islands on Yongxing Island (Woody Island in English,) according to reports in the Chinese media, but at two other isles: Yagong and Quanfu. Yagong Island is inhabited by fishermen and the travelers will be able to disembark and chat with them, while Quanfu Island is uninhabited, Chinese media reported. Calling at Yongxing Island “will have to wait until the Xisha Islands are increasingly opened up,” Chutianjin reported. (China has recently developed Yongxing Island quite extensively, and it has a landing strip for aircraft.)

How often will the cruises take place?

“Taking into consideration the Xisha’s natural environment, industry sources said cruises would be limited to two a month,” the Chutianjin wrote. “Not counting ship workers, about 400 people monthly from across China will be able to view the scenery of the Xisha. Taking into account that the wind blows in the winter and the waves are bigger then, the cruises might have to stop in October and resume again in January,” the report said.

Meanwhile, this is how Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News sees the Chinese presence in the Paracels and its cruises: “In 1974, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the American troops from the Vietnam War, China invaded the Paracel Islands. A brief but bloody naval battle with the forces of the then U.S.-backed Republic of Vietnam ensued. Vietnam’s behemoth northern neighbor has illegally occupied the islands ever since.”

“On April 5, Vietnam’s National Border Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested China’s plans to sail the cruise ship, saying that Vietnam has “incontestable” sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys (Truong Sa) islands,” it said.

“The cruise ship plans are against the spirit of the talks in which Beijing committed to fully follow the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), the committee said in a statement. It demanded that China cancel such plans.”

Chinese Cruise to Disputed Paracel Islands Angers Vietnam

BEIJING â€" To many Chinese, the voyage of the Coconut Fragrance Princess, the first cruise ship touring the disputed Paracel Islands in the South China Sea as Chinese media reported, is about tourism: enjoying the azure water, sun and seafood of “China’s Maldives,” the announcers on Liaoning Satellite TV put it.

To many Vietnamese, who also claim the islands, the cruise isn’t about tourism but something more like imperialism: “China’s sending the cruise ship to the Paracels was the latest in a series of unilaterally provocative actions in the area,” the Thanh Nien News wrote last Saturday. (The newspaper is the flagship publication of the Vietnam National Youth Federation.)

China and Vietnam both claim the Paracels, which China has occupied since a brief war with South Vietnam in 1974. (Taiwan also claims the islands.) They are part of a larger territorial dispute in Southeast Asia, where China claims about 80 percent of the South China Sea and disputes ownership with half a dozen Asian nations, who also have some disputes among themselves. In recent years China has moved to reinforce its claims strongly calling its sovereignty over the area “indisputable,” as my colleague Jane Perlez has reported, angering its Asian neighbors who are responding with counter-claims.

All that makes the cruise, which departed Sunday, sensitive stuff. And it doesn’t appear to be an entirely ordinary voyage: for one, only Chinese citizens are allowed, Chinese media reported. Chinese citizens from the non-mainland China territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and Taiwanese, overseas Chinese and “foreign passport holders” were “politely refused” for the 4-day, 3-night cruise that cost between 6,000 and 10,000 renminbi ($1,000-1,600), the Chutianjin newspaper reported Tuesday, without offering an explanation. The report was also carried by Sina, a major news portal.

Then, of the 300-or-so passengers on board the Coconut Fragrance Princess, only about 100 were “ordinary tourists,” mostly company bosses, Chutianjin reported, from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Shandong, Shanxi, Liaoning and Jiangsu provinces, and Beijing and Chongqing. About 200 were officials, mostly from Hainan Island, the province nearest to the Paracels. But everyone had to fill in a “People’s Republic of China Xisha Islands Tourism Application Form” (the Paracels are known as Xisha in Chinese, and Paracels or Hoang Sa in Vietnamese.) Two of the travelers were students, one from Peking University and one from the Capital Normal University, the report said.

Some other details about the voyage: only people who are not too fat, have normal mobility and are aged 18-60 could take part, Chinese media reported, without saying why.

If that excludes at least some elderly people, often prime cruise customers, they could perhaps take comfort from the fact that media reports didn’t make the ship sound too comfortable.

“Rooms sleep two to eight people, either with or without portholes, and all toilets are communal,” the china.com.cn Web site wrote. The ship is due to return to Hainan on Wednesday.

It’s not stopping at the administrative center of the islands on Yongxing Island (Woody Island in English,) according to reports in the Chinese media, but at two other isles: Yagong and Quanfu. Yagong Island is inhabited by fishermen and the travelers will be able to disembark and chat with them, while Quanfu Island is uninhabited, Chinese media reported. Calling at Yongxing Island “will have to wait until the Xisha Islands are increasingly opened up,” Chutianjin reported. (China has recently developed Yongxing Island quite extensively, and it has a landing strip for aircraft.)

How often will the cruises take place?

“Taking into consideration the Xisha’s natural environment, industry sources said cruises would be limited to two a month,” the Chutianjin wrote. “Not counting ship workers, about 400 people monthly from across China will be able to view the scenery of the Xisha. Taking into account that the wind blows in the winter and the waves are bigger then, the cruises might have to stop in October and resume again in January,” the report said.

Meanwhile, this is how Vietnam’s Thanh Nien News sees the Chinese presence in the Paracels and its cruises: “In 1974, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the American troops from the Vietnam War, China invaded the Paracel Islands. A brief but bloody naval battle with the forces of the then U.S.-backed Republic of Vietnam ensued. Vietnam’s behemoth northern neighbor has illegally occupied the islands ever since.”

“On April 5, Vietnam’s National Border Committee under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested China’s plans to sail the cruise ship, saying that Vietnam has “incontestable” sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys (Truong Sa) islands,” it said.

“The cruise ship plans are against the spirit of the talks in which Beijing committed to fully follow the Declaration on the Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), the committee said in a statement. It demanded that China cancel such plans.”

International Schools Boom as More Seek Education in English

HONG KONG â€" A century ago, there were only a handful of international schools in the world, mostly set up by Western corporations so overseas employees would have a place to educate their children. (Shell has had one in Borneo since the 1920s, after it discovered oil there in the 1910s).

The divide between what was once known as the First World and everyone else was more clearly defined then. So was education. International schools were small, elite replicas of Western schools for the generally white, rich children of parents posted in “exotic” locales. Locals were left to local schools.

But â€" as developed nations have become wealthier and as the world has become more multicultural â€" international schools have boomed. According to ISC Research in Britain, there are now 6,400 international schools all over the globe. In a decade, that number is expected to almost double.

Their makeup has changed, too. International school students and faculty can be of any background or nationality. And terms like “expat” and “local” don’t mean as much in 2013 â€" not when you have Hong Kong-born Eurasian kids with a Swiss banker father and a Singaporean designer mother.

“The real driver is the increase in the number of locals who want an English-language education for their children,” said Nicholas Brummitt, ISC Research’s managing director. “When you make more money, you want your children taught in English. It is just the way it is.”

That’s certainly the case here in Hong Kong, where the government made hundreds of English-language public schools change to Chinese-language instruction after the 1997 handover, leaving many local parents desperate to enroll their children in private education - even if the price tag is much higher.

So what are international schools today? Are they simply English-language private schools with Western curriculums (like the International Baccalaureate)? And who, exactly, teaches at them?

Ginanne Brownell, who attended an international school recruitment fair in London, reports on the frantic horse-trading that goes on behind the scenes as employers vie for top educators and vice versa. Her full feature article is here.

Ginanne reports that education budget cuts in the West have left many well-qualified teachers in places like Canada, the United States and Europe without jobs. The prospect of being paid a good salary to live abroad â€" from Rio to Rome to Riyadh â€" is tempting. Meanwhile, international schools are rushing to fill the many new positions created by the huge student demand. At these fairs, recruiters and potential employees run around networking in bars and even doing interviews in hotel rooms. One interviewee called it a “cattle call.”

Did you or do your children attend an international school or a local one? Have you taught in one? Tell us your experiences. Is a Western-style education worth the cost? Is it fair that, in some places, only rich local residents can afford English-language international schooling for their children?