Steve Jobs Memorial Held

Hundreds of Silicon Valley's elite streamed into Stanford University's Memorial Church on Sunday evening for a service commemorating Apple Inc.'s late co-founder Steve Jobs.

Guests, many of whom were wearing black, arrived amid intense security with guards stationed near the main gate of the university's campus.

The event, which comes ahead of a company memorial scheduled for Wednesday, is shrouded in the secrecy that has come to be associated with both Jobs and Apple. Passersby who inquired about the service were told simply that the area would be closed for six to eight hours for a private event.

Executives from throughout the technology and media industries were expected to attend.

A walkway in front of the church, which sits near a sculpture garden, was illuminated with small white lights. The weather was crisp and cool, and guests were served hors d'oeuvres in a clearing adjacent to the church.

The memorial comes a little more than a week after a small private funeral was held for family and close friends. Mr. Jobs died on Oct 5.

Mr. Jobs, who struggled for years with pancreatic cancer, is credited as a visionary who ushered a string of successful products, including the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and Apple's iTunes music store. He masterminded Apple's turnaround from near bankruptcy in 1996, turning it into the world's most highly valued technology company.

The memorial also comes two days after Apple released its latest iPhone, the 4S, which appears to have been a hit with consumers despite initial disappointment among industry analysts and bloggers. Apple said preorders were the best ever, while AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. said initial sales were also their best yet.

One security guard, who appeared to be greeting guests and directing traffic, said that he had been asked to hold an iPad, but didn't know what the contents of the device were.

A helicoptor circled overhead. An Apple spokesman said it was dispatched by local media.

Exotic folk songs: the British afternoon tea and tea 6:00

AFTERNOON TEA (The traditional 4 o'clock tea)

This is a small meal, not a drink. Traditionally it consists of Tea (or coffee) served with either of the following:Freshly baked scones served with cream and jam (Known as a cream tea)

Afternoon tea sandwiches often thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off.

Assorted pastries
Now most ordinary British families do not have time for afternoon tea at home, but in the past it was a tradition. It became popular about one hundred and fifty years ago, when rich ladies invited their friends to their houses for an afternoon cup of tea. They started offering their visitors sandwiches and cakes too. Soon everyone was enjoying Afternoon tea.

HIGH TEA (The traditional 6 o'clock tea)

The British working population did not have afternoon tea. They had a meal about midday, and a meal after work, between five and seven o'clock. This meal was called 'high tea' or just 'tea'.

Traditionally eaten early evening, High tea was a substantial meal that combined delicious sweet foods, such as scones, cakes, buns or tea breads, with tempting savouries, such as cheese on toast, toasted crumpets, cold meats and pickles or poached eggs on toast. This meal is now often replaced with a supper due to people eating their main meal in the evenings rather than at midday.

Live Longer: Eat Okinawan?

Bridges isn't just a restaurant, it's a tourism campaign for Okinawa.

Because it is sponsored by the Okinawa government — under the motto 'Okinawa: Bridging Asia,' which explains the name — the new restaurant doesn't face quite the same profit pressure as a purely commercial enterprise.

Maybe that's why the space, on the sixth floor of Causeway Bay's Cubus Building, feels like a museum: large empty spaces, high ceilings and strategically placed centerpieces. There's even a gift shop that sells souvenirs, such as awamori (a rice alcohol, but stronger than sake, as it's distilled and not merely fermented), a daily newspaper from Okinawa and instant beef curry in a box.

Depending on the occasion and size of the party, diners can choose to sit at the sushi bar, in one of the two traditional-style private rooms (complete with tatami mats and a no-shoes policy), or at larger tables in the restaurant's front and back sections. There's seating for 80-some people in the restaurant, but only one other table besides ours was occupied during lunch on a weekday.

Okinawa has a reputation for having a healthy cuisine, as testified to by the life expectancy of the locals (at 81.2 years, it's the longest in the world). Yet pork — seldom the leanest of meats — is a main ingredient in many dishes. A tender braised pork belly stewed in soy sauce is the iconic dish of this region.

But lunch sets at Bridges aren't typically Okinawan. The most comprehensive choice is the Shokado Lunch Box (320 Hong Kong dollars, or US$41): a stewed dish (usually pork), a vinegared dish (seaweed salad), sashimi, a deep-fried dish (usually tempura), a grilled dish (usually fish), chawanmushi (steamed egg custard), rice, soup, dessert and choice of coffee or tea.

Though Okinawan cuisine has a strong emphasis on cooked rather than raw foods, most of the lunch menu items feature sushi or sashimi, probably to cater to local tastes. There's a tuna and spring-onion rice bowl (HK$200) and sushi gozen set (HK$220) with all the usual suspects: tuna, yellowtail, sweet shrimp, eel, tamago (steamed egg) and salmon roe. For a restaurant so connected to its native Japan, the lunchtime dishes were disappointingly inauthentic. The slices of fish — though generous — were cut thick and often uneven; the rice was overcooked.

Hot dishes also proved lackluster. The fried cutlet from the Okinawa benibuta pork cutlet gozen set (HK$180) was tough and dry. (Benibuta is a type of red-skinned pig.) The grilled silver cod gozen set (HK$160) looked like a standard version found in any Japanese restaurant.

The side dishes — a plate of prawn, eggplant and sweet-potato tempura; a seaweed and grated-yam appetizer; and steamed egg — fared the best. The texture of the steamed egg was silky, and the tempura was not greasy, though both could have used a tad more salt. Dessert that day was a chocolate mousse. Green-tea ice cream is always on offer as a default. With all the extra complimentary bits on the side, the meal ends up to be a filling one.

Service, especially from the maitre d', was welcoming, but from certain corners of the room it's hard to get the server's attention.

Bridges, 6/F Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Rd., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Tel: 852-3428-2131

The Year's Highest-Paid CEOs

Chief executives at the biggest U.S. companies saw their pay jump sharply in 2010, as boards rewarded them for strong profit and share-price growth with bigger bonuses and stock grants.

The median value of salaries, bonuses and long-term incentive awards for CEOs of 350 major companies surged 11% to $9.3 million, according to a study of proxy statements conducted for The Wall Street Journal by management consultancy Hay Group.

The rise followed a year in which pay for the top boss was flat at these companies.

Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe P. Dauman topped the list. He received compensation valued at $84.3 million, more than double his 2009 pay, thanks largely to equity awards in a renewed contract.

The Journal measured CEO pay by total direct compensation, which includes salary, bonuses and the granted value of stock, stock options and other long-term incentives given for service in fiscal 2010. That figure excludes the value of exercised stock options and the vesting of restricted stock. The survey covered the 350 biggest companies that filed proxies between May 1, 2010, and April 30, 2011.

For the surveyed CEOs, the sharpest pay gains came via bonuses, which soared 19.7% as profits recovered, especially in some hard-hit industries.

Profits and share prices increased even more than CEO compensation. Net income rose by a median of 17%; shareholders at those companies enjoyed a median return, including dividends, of 18%.

CEOs of media companies claimed four of the top 10 spots: Mr. Dauman at Viacom, plus the chiefs of CBS Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc.

Another media CEO, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, ranked 52nd, with total compensation valued at $16.5 million. A spokesman for News Corp., which owns The Wall Street Journal, declined to comment.

Mr. Dauman, Viacom's CEO since 2006, achieved his $84.3 million largely due to one-time equity awards valued at $54.3 million as part of a five-year employment contract signed in April 2010. In extending his contract, directors cited his operational and financial leadership.

'Viacom shares appreciated 33% during calendar year 2010 as compared with the 13% increase in the S&P 500,'' a Viacom spokeswoman said. The company benefited last year from a rebound in the advertising market and improved ratings at its cable networks.

Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle Corp., took second place. Long ranked among the highest-paid chiefs, he received compensation valued at $68.6 million for the year ended last May 31. It mostly consisted of options valued at $61.9 million. (The package was included in a November Wall Street Journal survey of CEO pay that slightly overlapped the current study.)

Oracle declined to comment.

CBS CEO Leslie Moonves landed the No. 3 spot with compensation valued at $53.9 million. The total includes a $27.5 million bonus, which 'reflected the company's remarkable year under his leadership,'' a CBS spokesman recalled. 'He led CBS to results that produced extraordinary growth in shareholder value'' as returns of 37.4% outpaced media peers, the spokesman said.

Media mogul Sumner Redstone controls Viacom and CBS through National Amusements, his family holding company, although the CBS and Viacom boards set executive pay through their independent compensation committees.

Martin E. Franklin, the longtime head of Jarden Corp., was fourth highest-paid. His $45.2 million package consisted mostly of restricted shares tied to higher per-share earnings or stock price at the maker of consumer goods. (An executive gets such shares free after sticking around for several years, but they sometimes come with a performance test, as Mr. Franklin's did.)

Jarden products include K2 skis and Bicycle cards.

Jarden directors hope to propel long-term performance 'by promoting the creation of stockholder value and maximizing the growth in the company's earnings,'' they said in its latest proxy.

Performance-based incentives worked well before, a Jarden spokesman said. Its share price has 'increased by over 1,000% since Mr. Franklin joined the company in 2001, on the back of significant revenue and earnings growth.'' Mr. Franklin relinquishes the CEO spot at next month's annual meeting, but will remain executive chairman.

DirecTV Group Inc.'s Michael White ranked fifth with a $32.6 million package. The lion's share came from options and performance-based stock. He took the helm of the satellite-TV provider in January 2010. DirecTV doesn't expect to give Mr. White any more equity grants for the rest of his three-year employment agreement, a spokesman said.

Several chief executives experienced sizable drops in pay. Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s Ray Irani, who retired Friday, saw his 2010 compensation shrink 71% to $14.9 million.

The decline mainly grew out of a shareholder backlash that prompted the big oil concern to set a new policy last year cutting its longtime leader's maximum compensation by nearly three quarters.

But Mr. Irani received an additional $70 million in long-term payouts in 2010─largely as a result of meeting performance goals set by Occidental's board in 2007. (louis vuitton scarves The Journal does not count the payout of prior awards as part of annual compensation.)

While serving as executive chairman until 2014, Mr. Irani still will have most compensation based on long-term performance, an Occidental spokesman said.

'Sex and Zen' Lives Again, in 3-D

It was a feast fit for an emperor.

On Friday night, the cast and crew of '3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy,' described as the world's first 3-D erotic film, gathered at a Hong Kong restaurant to promote the Ming Dynasty-era sex romp.

Producer Stephen Shiu Jr. and director Christopher Sun lined up the movie's cast members for dinner and a photo shoot at Supreme Hot Pot ─ a bustling local establishment on a busy street corner in Kowloon's Tai Kok Tsui district, tucked behind the noisier and more chaotic Mong Kok.

William Lee ─ the proprietor of the restaurant, which is wallpapered with posters for the movie ─ was busy supervising the dinner. His eatery serves up a traditional Hong Kong favorite: raw food that's cooked in a large pot of boiling water in the center of the dining table. A bountiful assortment of fish balls, seafood, meat and vegetables was spread out across the table as the movie group posed for a crowd of journalists and photographers.

Actress Vonnie Lui, armed with a pair of chopsticks and a coquettish smile, fed leading man Hiro Hayama as photographers scrambled to capture the scene. If there was any hesitation among the stars about appearing in a soft-core movie, it wasn't on display Friday night.

'Yes, I thought about the nudity,' says Mr. Hayama, a Japanese actor who's lived in Hong Kong for 10 years and speaks Cantonese and English. 'I'm a very low-profile person.'

Mr. Hayama, who has appeared in roughly 20 Hong Kong movies, including 'New Police Story' (2004), starring Jackie Chan, says acting is his chosen profession and he'll do what's required of him.

The skin flick is a remake of 'Sex and Zen,' a notorious 1991 sex farce that over the years has reached cult status and earned its place as one of Hong Kong's most successful Category III films. (Category III is the equivalent of the NC-17 rating in the U.S.) Both films draw their inspiration from 'The Carnal Prayer Mat,' a 17th-century erotic novel by author Li Yu.

The movie is the pet project of Stephen Shiu, who produced the 1991 version, and his son Stephen Shiu Jr. (They weren't involved in two 'Sex and Zen' sequels from the 1990s.)

By some measures, the 25 million Hong Kong dollar (US$3.2 million), Cantonese-language production is part of the great tradition of Hong Kong's entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to exploit a new trend for profit: in this case, 3-D entertainment.

The younger Mr. Shiu says after watching the 2008 Hollywood movie 'Journey to the Center of the Earth,' it became clear to him that 3-D had reached maturity.

Mr. Sun, the director of the updated 3-D film, acknowledges that the movie is 'pushing the limits.' Of the film's roughly two-hour length, there are about 30 minutes of scenes that feature sex, he says, including full-frontal nudity. 'It's very vibrant, overtly funny and violent.'

'3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy' has received a storm of publicity over the past several months, and the filmmakers don't let an opportunity to promote the film slip by.

At a news conference last week at Hong Kong's Filmart, an annual film-industry trade show, the filmmakers gave journalists an early glimpse of the movie on a 3-D television. One by one, the crowd donned 3-D glasses to watch the trailer. (Nudity wasn't featured in the trailer, but there were plenty of suggestive scenes, including robust men and sultry women.)

Mr. Hayama stars in the lead role as Wei Yangsheng, a noble scholar who goes on a lustful journey of self-discovery. 'It's been like a roller-coaster ride,' Mr. Hayama says happily of the recent swirl of publicity for the movie.

Other cast members on hand Friday included Tony Ho, a Hong Kong actor and choreographer who has appeared in two other Category III movies; and Justin Chung, a Hong Kong actor and model who says he's had to bare his bottom in one other movie.

The film opens in Hong Kong on April 14 and Taiwan the next day ─ just before China's May 1 holiday week, presenting an opportunity to attract curious tourists from the mainland, where the film won't be released due to censorship rules.

Mr. Sun is hopeful at that prospect. 'Maybe they will enrich their tour with a screening,' he says.

Other release markets include Australia, New Zealand and Peru on April 14; South Korea on April 14 or 21; and France, Italy and Russia, on June 16.

Mr. Sun also anticipates a release in Singapore, where movie censorship rules are more strict than Hong Kong, although a date isn't confirmed. 'We have our fingers crossed,' he says.

It remains to be seen how audiences will respond to the film and whether the filmmakers will recoup their investment. But they remain optimistic.

'I won't rule out a sequel,' Mr. Sun says before returning to the table for another round of hot pot.

Nobel Laureate Must Step Down From Bank

Bangladesh's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus must step down as head of microlender Grameen Bank, a decision likely to ratchet up diplomatic tensions with the U.S.

The court ruled unanimously to uphold a central bank decision last month that Mr. Yunus, 70 years old, must resign as managing director of Grameen, which pioneered lending small amounts to poor borrowers without collateral.

The central bank found that Grameen had failed to get its approval, as required by a law that formally set up the bank, when it reappointed Mr. Yunus managing director in 1999.

Mr. Yunus appealed, but Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling ended that legal avenue. Nine of Grameen's 12 board members have launched a separate case at the Supreme Court calling for Mr. Yunus's reinstatement, which is likely to be heard Wednesday.

Mr. Yunus has remained at work since the central bank's ruling, but he appears to be running out of legal options to stay.

His ouster, if made final, could dent Bangladesh's international reputation at a time when its textile-driven economy is growing steadily and its moves to clamp down on Islamist extremism have won plaudits.

Some analysts say Mr. Yunus's fame after he shared the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize with Grameen has angered Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and that she increasingly views the bank as a competing power center.

While Bangladesh has lurched between unstable civilian and military governments since it was carved out of Pakistan after a 1971 war, nongovernmental organizations like Grameen have grown in stature. Bangladesh received large amounts of foreign aid following independence, which spawned a huge nongovernment sector.

Grameen, which Mr. Yunus founded in the 1970s, initially was aid dependent but hasn't taken donor money since 1998, as it became more profitable.

1 euro per day to spend a healthy life

Is it possible to live in central Europe and eat healthy food on a budget of only 1 euro a day? A Slovenian pharmacologist has done it and now urges the world to learn from his example.

Ales Cerin, a father of four who wants to promote a simple and modest lifestyle, raise awareness of global poverty and over-consumption in the West, discovered he could do it but only if he grew his own vegetables and fruit.

"Consumerism in Western society is exaggerated, particularly if we compare it to the undeveloped world... I want to change that consumer orientation and show how much is enough,” Cerin said.

China Takes Hard Line With U.S. on Taiwan

China rebuffed a U.S. proposal for a clear timetable of strategic defense talks on the first day of a long-delayed visit to Beijing by Robert Gates, the U.S. defense secretary, and indicated that Taiwan remains the single biggest obstacle to improving the world's most important bilateral relationship.

While agreeing to narrower defense exchanges some time in the first half of the year, Gates's Chinese counterpart, General Liang Guanglie, also made clear that China would suspend military ties again if the U.S. continues to sell weapons to Taiwan, the island that Beijing regards as a rebel province.

Gates arrived in Beijing Sunday on a three-day mission to deepen and stabilize military-to-military relations, which China has repeatedly suspended for political reasons over the last decade--most recently last January in response to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)

As his trip falls just ahead of a state visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao next week, which both sides hope will go well, Gates had hoped Chinese officials would agree to set dates for a series of high-level defense talks and a visit to Washington by Gen. Chen Bingde, chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army.

Although Pentagon officials had been hoping for a more enthusiastic response from Liang on Monday, the reaction was not unexpected.

Some U.S. officials and China analysts believe that China's civilian leadership is more keen on building the military-to-military relationship with Washington than the PLA. As a result, some expect Gates's meeting with President Hu on Tuesday to be visibly warmer than the news conference with Liang.

But Chinese experts on U.S.-China relations say Beijing is highly unlikely to show any flexibility on the issue of U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan--especially in the run-up to a Communist Party leadership change in 2012.

Gates asked the Chinese military to look at American arms sales to Taiwan as a political matter, and not let Beijing's objections to the transactions lead to a suspension of military ties.

'We are in strong agreement that in order to reduce the chances of miscommunication, misunderstanding, miscalculation it is important our military-to-military ties are solid, consistent and not subject to shifting political winds,' Gates said.

He also proposed establishing a broader strategic defense dialogue that would include in-depth discussions on Chinese and U.S. policies on nuclear weapons, missile defenses, cyberattacks and space.

Both countries have long tried to prevent friction between their armed forces from affecting their overall relationship, which has improved steadily over the last three decades despite U.S. legislation that obliges Washington to help Taiwan defend itself.

But tensions on the military front are having increasing impact on policy-making in Washington and Beijing as China's growing military power starts to challenge the supremacy that the U.S. has enjoyed in the Asia-Pacific region since the end of World War II.

Those tensions were evident in a series of public disputes last year over issues including China's more forceful territorial claims in the East and South China seas, Beijing's close links to North Korea, and U.S. joint military exercises near China's coast.

Chinese state media has been fiercely critical of U.S. defense policy in Asia, which it says is designed to contain a rising China, but has been relatively restrained in recent days in an apparent effort to ease the atmosphere ahead of Hu's visit to the U.S.

In recent months, U.S. officials have been offering their Chinese counterparts in-depth private briefings on U.S. nuclear policy and other military issues, in hopes of prompting Beijing to reciprocate.

But at a news conference Monday, Liang said only that China was 'studying' Gates's request for a deeper strategic dialogue, and declined to agree on specific dates for future defense talks, announcing only that they would occur in the first half of 2011.

China agreed instead to set up a working group to discuss the military relationship, as well as to renew a deal, originally struck in October 2009, to expand high-level military education exchanges and expand cooperation on counterpiracy exercises and disaster-relief preparation.

Liang said he recognized the U.S. desire for military-to-military ties that are uninterrupted by political disagreements. But his emphatic denunciation of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan made plain that future weapons transfers likely would again threaten military relations.

'China's position has been clear and consistent: We are against it,' Liang said. 'U.S. arms sales to Taiwan seriously damage China's core interests. And we do not want to see that happen again.'

He added: 'We hope the United States will pay sufficient attention to the concerns to the Chinese side and take measures to gradually remove or reduce the obstacles that stand in the way of our military-to-military relations.'

Gates also met Xi Jinping, China's vice president, who was effectively anointed as the country's next president and Communist Party chief in October when he was appointed a vice chairman of the party's Central Military Commission, which controls the PLA.

Some experts suggested that China was responding to U.S. demands for greater military transparency by allowing Gates to visit the headquarters of China's Second Artillery Corps, which controls its nuclear and conventional missiles, on Wednesday.

However, others pointed out that Donald Rumsfeld was also allowed to visit the same headquarters when he visited as defense secretary back in 2005.

Pentagon officials argue that they are trying to use incremental steps, such as the working-group meetings the Chinese officials agreed to Monday, to build trust and move to the kind of broader dialogue that Gates has been pushing for.

Some officials hope that if they can demonstrate openness with the Chinese, and successfully complete a series of dialogues on basic defense issues, over time Chinese leaders will grow more comfortable with a discussion that goes beyond talking points and tackles the deeper strategic issues Gates believes are critical to discuss.

Before the trip, officials rebuffed suggestions the visit was just for show ahead of Hu's visit, and they also pushed back against suggestions that Gates needed to visit any new facilities, previously off limits to American leaders.