Illiterates

The Chinese, according to this story, have been:

aiming to improve illiteracy from an estimated 80 percent.

Do they mean reduce?

Mickey Mouse sport

Whenever one of Huesca's sporting teams are due to play a home match posters appear on the walls of the Coso in the preceding week alerting the unenthusiastic public to the existence of the forthcoming fixture. Fútbol, baloncesto, balonmano - so far I've only been to the first of these. I've had little acquaintance with basketball in my life, save a term or two in the gym at school, and none whatsoever with handball - in fact I never even saw one of the balls until I picked one up where somebody had left it, just a few weeks ago. Perhaps that ought to change: this week's poster advertises an upcoming clash between Huesca's team and Ciudad Encantada. Limited though my Spanish still remains, I have enough to understand Enchanted City: or, to translate a little more freely, Huesca are taking on the Magic Kingdom.

Unavoidably, it's Disneyland that comes to mind: one envisages team made up of Disney characters and those appropriated by Disney, such as Winnie-the-Pooh: Mickey Mouse lining up with Pluto and Goofy and "all his friends". I have, as I say, no idea at all about balonmano and I wouldn't pay to go to Disneyland - matter of fact I probably wouldn't go there if you paid me - but it'd be worth a dozen or so euros to watch Donald Duck getting taken out off the ball.