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VOL. CCLXIII NO. 126 * * * * * * * *

SATURDAY/SUNDAY, MAY 31 - JUNE 1, 2014

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SURUACÁ, Brazil—Nevermind the World Cup. In this off-the-grid corner of Brazil’s Ama-zon, villagers are already en-grossed in a soccer tournamentthey take just asseriously: theActive ForestCup.

The tourna-ment, which be-gan in April, de-cides soccerbragging rightsamong dozens of small villagesat the confluence of the Tapajósand Arapiuns rivers in Brazil’sremote rain forest. Games onfields of river silt play out un-der the broiling Amazon sun. InAmazon ball, players with shoestend to dominate players with-out.

Brazil, which hosts the WorldCup starting June 12, calls itself

BY JOHN LYONS “the country of soccer.” And thedepth of soccer-mania on thisAmazon frontier illustrates thepoint. For generations, smallvillages like Suruacá have trav-eled by boat for away-gamesthat stoke intense intervillage

rivalries. After-ward, rollickingpostgame par-ties produce ac-tual intervillagemarriages.

“Soccer for usis a way to showpeople from the

outside that here in the Amazonit’s not just monkeys, jaguars,pacas and turkeys, snakes andalligators. There’s also humanbeings here who like to havefun, cheer, score, see goals getscored,” says Djalma Lima, awiry, wisecracking 50-year-oldwho coaches Suruacá’s men’sand women’s teams.

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For Amazon Villagers, the World CupIs Just a Warm-Up for the Big Game

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Shoes Are Optional in Remote TournamentThat Lasts Months; Silt Fields and Piranha Oil

WEEKENDreview

VLADIMIRTHE

(NOT SO)GREAT

REVIEWWSJ. MAGAZINE

world cup mania

n Investigators are pursuingan insider-trading probe intowhether golfer Phil Mickel-son and Las Vegas sportsbettor William “Billy” Wal-ters traded on nonpublic in-formation from Carl Icahn. A1

n Authorities in the U.S. areseeking to punish individualemployees at France’s BNPand pressing the bank to fireat least a dozen people. B1

n Weak wage growth isdragging on the U.S. econ-omy, helping to hinder along-awaited breakout. A1n The Fed’s hawks aren’tspeaking with a unified voiceas officials discuss when tostart raising interest rates. A2

n The S&P 500 rose in May,posting its biggest monthlygain since February, as marketswere mostly higher Friday. B4

n Google moved to soften itsopposition to a nascent Eu-ropean “right to be forgot-ten” on the Internet. B1

n Valeant boosted its bid forAllergan for the second timethis week, offering about $52.7billion in cash and stock. B3

n A jury cleared a manager ofa New York-based hedge fundand two others of insider trad-ing, in a defeat for the SEC. B2

n L.A. Clippers owner Don-ald Sterling sued the NBA ashe fights to retain control ofthe basketball franchise. B3

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Business & Finance

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CONTENTSBooks..........................C5-10Corp. News.....................B3Eating...........................D7-9Heard on Street.......B12Letters to Editor......A12Opinion.....................A11-13

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InsideNOONAN A13

VA ScandalIs a Crisis ofLeadership

U.S. and Japanese leaderscriticized Chinese moves

in the South China Sea, sayingBeijing’s efforts to bolster ter-ritorial claims risk undermin-ing the international order. A6

n Shinseki resigned as headof the VA, but his departure didlittle to solve problems overaccess to care at the agencyor to relieve pressure on theObama administration. A1, A4

n Russia and Ukraine edgedcloser to resolving their dis-pute over natural-gas prices,with Kiev agreeing to pay downpart of its outstanding bill. A7n Russia’s security servicecharged a Ukrainian film di-rector and three others withallegedly plotting a series ofterrorist attacks in Crimea. A7

n A study said adding a hor-mone-suppressing shot tochemotherapy for somebreast-cancer patients canaid fertility preservation. A3

n Officials confirmed a U.S.citizen is believed to havedied in Syria while carryingout a suicide-bomb attack. A7

n India’s government facedincreasing pressure to respondto the alleged rape and mur-der of two village girls. A6

n A man was charged withlying to investigators and seek-ing to destroy evidence abouthow well he knew the allegedBoston Marathon bombers. A3

n White House press secretaryCarney is leaving his post. A5

Federal investigators are pursu-ing a major insider-trading probeinvolving finance, gambling andsports, examining the trading ofinvestor Carl Icahn, golfer PhilMickelson and Las Vegas bettorWilliam “Billy” Walters.

The Federal Bureau of Investi-gation and the Securities and Ex-change Commission are examiningwhether Mr. Mickelson and Mr.Walters traded illicitly on nonpub-lic information from Mr. Icahnabout his investments in publiccompanies, people briefed on theprobe said.

Investigators are examiningwhether over the past three yearsMr. Icahn tipped Mr. Walters—fa-mous in Las Vegas for his sports-betting acumen—about potentiallymarket-moving investments byMr. Icahn’s company.

The FBI and SEC are examiningwhether Mr. Walters on at leastone occasion passed a tip on toMr. Mickelson, these people said,and are studying the two men’strading patterns.

“We do not know of any inves-tigation,” Mr. Icahn said on Friday.“We are always very careful to ob-serve all legal requirements in allof our activities.” The suggestionthat he was involved in impropertrading, he said, was “inflamma-tory and speculative.”

“Phil is not the target of any in-vestigation. Period,” said a lawyerfor Mr. Mickelson, Glenn Cohen,on Friday, adding that an FBIagent had told him Mr. Mickelsonwasn’t a target. The FBI declinedto comment on Mr. Cohen’s state-ment.

Two FBI agents approached Mr.Mickelson on Thursday after he

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BY SUSAN PULLIAMAND MICHAEL ROTHFELD

Stock ProbeEyes Icahn,Gambler,Top Golfer

Veterans Affairs SecretaryEric Shinseki resigned Friday,but his departure did little tosolve entrenched problems overaccess to care at the VA or to re-lieve pressure on the Obama ad-ministration.

After presenting President Ba-rack Obama with an internal VAassessment of improper appoint-ment-scheduling procedures andefforts to hide long wait timesacross the VA health system, the

retired general offered to resignso his role wouldn’t be a distrac-tion from the need to fix prob-lems at the VA, Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama said he acceptedMr. Shinseki’s resignation “withconsiderable regret,” and movedto take charge of VA problems

saying, “This is my administra-tion. I always take responsibilityfor whatever happens.”

But Mr. Shinseki’s departurepresents a new set of challengesfor a White House already on thedefensive over mismanagementwithin the VA system. In addi-tion to having to shepherd a newVA secretary through a poten-tially contentious Senate confir-mation process, the administra-tion must find a way to bridge

differences with Congress overhow to fix an agency mired inproblems. And this will have tooccur under the microscope ofincreased congressional over-sight promised by House andSenate lawmakers.

Moreover, the final results ofcontinuing reviews from the VA

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By Ben Kesling,Michael R. Crittenden and

Colleen McCain Nelson

Heat Stays on VA After ExitShinseki Resigns, but Successor Faces Entrenched Health-Care Problems at Agency

In her final weeks as secretaryof state, Hillary Clinton wrote aprivate memo to President BarackObama warning that relations withRussia had hit a low point and theheralded “reset” in relations was over, accordingto people who saw the document.

Inside the White House, some officials wereloath to ditch a cornerstone of Mr. Obama’s Rus-sia policy. Months passed before Russian Presi-dent Vladimir Putin gave sanctuary to NationalSecurity Agency leaker Edward Snowden,prompting Mr. Obama to cancel a planned sum-mit in Moscow, a stark sign the reset was offtrack, if not dead.

Mrs. Clinton, if she runs for president, likelywill lean heavily on her experience as the nation’stop diplomat. Her memo, written in January 2013,illustrates two striking features of her four yearsin the post: She was often more hawkish than theWhite House she served, and at some key mo-ments was ineffectual at swinging policy her way.

Mr. Obama and his White Houseadvisers were the ultimate archi-tects of foreign policy and kepttight hold over major decisions.Mrs. Clinton, though she held

strong views, didn’t push them hard in internalmeetings, some of her former colleagues say.

Mrs. Clinton will have a chance to tell her ownstory about her State Department record in hernew memoir, “Hard Choices,” scheduled for re-lease on June 10. Her book tour could amount toa kind of trial run for her expected presidentialbid, focusing on what she considered her missionof improving America’s image overseas.

Her State Department record reveals she madeprogress on several fronts and sought to advanceAmerican economic interests, but notched nosweeping peace agreements or marquee break-throughs that reshaped the international stage.

“If she runs, the No. 1 item on her résumé isgoing to be her term as secretary of state,” says

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By Peter Nicholas,Adam Entous

and Carol E. Lee

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

ClintonLegacy:HawkWithClippedWings

A long-awaited liftoff in theU.S. economy is facing pressurefrom stubbornly weak wagegrowth, muddying the outlook forconsumers and challenging Fed-eral Reserve policy makers whoare counting on a pickup as theyunwind the central bank’s extraor-dinary support for the recovery.

Growth in wage and salary in-come slowed to just 0.2% in Aprilfrom the prior month, markingthe weakest monthly increase ofthe year, the Commerce Depart-ment said Friday. After adjustingfor inflation, wage and salary in-come was up 2% from a year ear-lier. The figures came in a reportshowing that U.S. consumerspending fell in April for the firsttime in a year even while inflationcrept up.

The weak start to the secondquarter, coming after the U.S.economy in the first quartercontracted for the first time inthree years, is challenging thethesis of economists and inves-tors who have been counting ona 2014 growth breakout. Thoseexpectations have pushed U.S.stock benchmarks to record lev-els, while yields on safe Treasurybonds have dipped in part due tosofter economic data.

The S&P 500 index hit a freshrecord Friday, rising 3.54 points,or 0.2%, to 1923.57. It advanced2.1% in May. Bonds also ralliedduring May, with the 10-yearTreasury note posting its biggestmonthly drop in yield—whichmoves in the opposite directionof its price—since January.Muted selling Friday pushed theyield up slightly to 2.459%.

“We are not seeing job gainstranslate into wage pressures,”said Sterne Agee chief economistLindsey Piegza. “It’s a questionnot just of quantity but also ofquality” of the new jobs being

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BY JONATHAN HOUSEAND JON HILSENRATH

Weak WagesPose ThreatTo LiftoffFor Economy

Turkey Braces for Unrest on Anniversary of Mass Protests

OPPOSED: Power-plant workers in Ankara protested privatization plans one day before the anniversary of demonstrations that rocked Turkey. A7

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Hillary Clinton before a speechat the World Bank in mid-May.

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