WSJ: World Bank's Zoellick: US, China Not To Blame For Currency Appreciation Elsewhere

The U.S. and China aren't to blame for the sharp appreciation in currencies in nations like Brazil, said World Bank President Robert Zoellick, who also urged Group of Seven nations to set a model for emerging markets on currency policies.

'I don't think (currency appreciation in Brazil and elsewhere) is driven either by the Fed or primarily by Chinese policies,' Mr. Zoellick said, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve Board. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal ahead of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund spring meetings, he added, 'The greatest driver (is) fundamental recovery and growth dynamics.'

The Brazilian real and others currencies are appreciating rapidly, Mr. Zoellick said, because growth in emerging markets is so much faster than it is in wealthy nations. Capital flows to the faster-growing nations, boosting the value of their currencies, he added.

Debate over currency policy is likely to be a big part of the Washington gatherings, which include meetings of the G-7 industrialized nations and the broader Group of 20 nations. Some developing nations blame the ultra-low interest rates of the Fed on the one hand and China's undervalued currency on the other hand for producing a flood of capital into their countries, which is hard for them to manage.

Mr. Zoellick urged China to 'move toward a flexible exchange rate and appreciate its currency.' But he said the pace and depth of currency appreciation depends on China's ability to fundamentally shift its growth model so it depends less on investment and exports and more on domestic consumption. China's leaders have recognized that such changes are in the country's long-term interest, but the government has made little progress in making the transition.

Mr. Zoellick said the World Bank is working with Chinese authorities to help make structural changes. The organization is offering advice on pension systems, so consumers won't feel they have to save so much for their old age, and urging China to change its dividend policy for its state-owned companies, so the firms pay more of their profits to the government. That money could be used to fund social programs, many analysts have urged.

Unless China feels that its economy depends less on a cheap currency to help exporters, Mr. Zoellick said, it will be wary of letting its currency appreciate faster.

'Rather than endlessly debate (the issue of Chinese exchange rates), one wants to explain to China and others the benefits of flexible exchange rates and independent monetary policies, including dealing with things like inflation,' he said. 'Then you can encourage the structural change that they think is an important prerequisite' for freeing up their currencies.

Mr. Zoellick also argued that the G-7--the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan--could help set standards in currency policy that ultimately would be adopted by emerging markets. 'The G-7 should have an understanding or norms' on currency policy, he said. 'They should agree to have flexible exchange rates and not intervene unless they all agree' to do so, as occurred during the recent intervention to halt the rise in value of the yen.

'Then they can try to move emerging markets toward (those norms),' he said, recognizing the process will take some time.

DJ Late Quake Leaves Tokyo on Edge, Again

With the clock ticking round toward midnight, nearly four weeks after the March 11 disaster, and no major alarms at the ravaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for many a day, most Tokyoites were settling down on a quiet, pleasant spring night Thursday.

At 11:32 p.m. local time, though, things changed in an instant. The magnitude 7.4 earthquake that shook the coast off Miyagi prefecture began to slowly rattle central Tokyo buildings and residents once again, growing to a silent, growling intensity stretching into minutes in the biggest tremor the capital has felt since the cycle of scores of quakes began. (The U.S. Geological Survey later downgraded Thursday’s quake to 7.1.) The menace was real, and all too familiar, the tension that haunted the city in the early hours and days after March 11 snapping back immediately, as if it never left.

Some TV channels quickly shifted to by now expected earthquake programming: footage of newsrooms shaking vigorously, concerned workers holding on to desks, monitors and papers, cutting away to long shots from remote, high-placed cameras in distant towns rocking violently.

With tsunami warnings issued, but for waves much smaller than those that hit March 11, other channels opted to stick with regular broadcasts ─ mostly game shows or light-hearted comedy programs at this time of the evening ─ but with a map of the affected area super-imposed on screen.

Still, Twitter again buzzed with messages from and for concerned Tokyoites. State broadcaster NHK swiftly reinstated the English-language programming it ran for many days after the 9.0 March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Cleopatra starring Jolie confirmed to "Yu-po, " Taylor Tribute

Angelina Jolie to play Cleopatra - Marc Antony still a secret

Angelina Jolie has signed to play Cleopatra, but is not known yet who will be her king. Although there are four candidates for this role but is not yet known who will play Marc Antony. So here comes the big question...Who should wear Marc Antony`s gladiator sandals?

It's official: Angelina Jolie has signed an agreement whereby it undertook to interpret Queen Cleopatra. Ill-intentioned people haven`t lost the opportunity to launch and gave negative comments,saying that Angelina and Cleopatra have something in common: Both have seduced married men! But even so we cann`t stop wondering who will be her king! First, we think of Brad Pitt, star of 'Troy' and Jolie's husband. We already know that Angelina`s husbund looks very sexy in a toga, and director David Fincher will never need to worry about the chemistry between the two on the set, just thinking about the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith where they seem to be the perfect pair .

Another actor who could be Cleopatra`s partner on the big screen is George Clooney, an friend of Hollywood actress . He earned the trust and sympathy of the audience through movies like 'The Red
Colin Firth, awarded last month an Oscar for his performance in "King's speech" is the fourth actor who could be Angelina Jolie partener in Cleopatra. .
Angelina Jolie isn`t on her first interpretation of a historical character. She was the mother of Alexander the Great in "Alexander. "

Cleopatra is a historical figure of great renown and many famous actresses and gave live to this great character so far on the big and small screens. Tedda Bara, Leonor Varela, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor and Monica Bellucci have had the most success by giving life to this famous character.

Brangelina confess and said that she wants to play the Egyptian queen in an utterly different from Elizabeth Taylor, arguing that it could never be as "pretty" as her famous predecessor. Unlike the famous Cleopatra in 1963 played by Elizabeth Taylor, the new project will be based on a screenplay adapted from the biography of Cleopatra: A Life, written by Stacy Schiff, and will focus on the legendary queen cunning in politics and business.