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* * * * * * MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2015 ~ VOL. CCLXV NO. 43 WSJ.com HHHH $3 .00

WASHINGTON—The fledglingGOP-controlled Congress returnsto the Capitol just days before itsfirst major fiscal deadline as abattle over President BarackObama’s immigration policies hasset up a showdown on whether tofund the Department of Home-land Security.

Set to expire Friday, theagency’s funding has been tied upby Republican leaders angeredover President Obama’s executiveactions that shielded millions ofundocumented immigrants fromdeportation. GOP leaders haven’tyet signaled how they plan to re-solve the weekslong impasse,which already has spotlighted di-visions between House and Sen-ate Republicans that could inten-sify and escalate in the next fewdays.

In one of the first signs ofmovement, Senate Republicans,still mulling their options, aremost likely to end up supportinga short-term extension of theagency’s current funding, poten-tially for one or two months, ac-cording to GOP aides. But thatwould meet some conservativeopposition in the chamber, and ashort-term deal also could facehurdles passing the House, wheremany Republicans are demandinglegislative steps to block the pres-ident’s immigration policy.

Late last year, in the wake ofthe president’s November actionon immigration, Republicans splitoff funding for Homeland Security,

Please see DHS page A4

BY KRISTINA PETERSON

DeadlineNearsonSecurityFunding

Along the southern frontier ofthe European Union, a small butgrowing number of aspiring jihad-ists are blazing trails by road andferry to Syria’s battlefields, side-stepping heightened airport secu-rity and slipping through the holesin Europe’s intelligence dragnet.

Some fighters followmeander-ing bus routes through severalcountries en route to the more

loosely guarded border of Bulgariato Turkey. Others engage in whatauthorities call “broken travel,” us-ing family visits or holiday desti-nations as an initial leg to masktheir final destination.

That was how the wife of Paristerrorist Amedy Coulibaly slippedinto Syria days before her husbandkilled four people at a kosher gro-cery last month. The woman,Hayat Boumeddiene, drove fromFrance to Spain, then flew to Tur-key before joining Islamic State inSyria. She later called for others tojoin her, in an interview with themilitant group also known as ISISor ISIL.

Western diplomats and intelli-gence officials say most aspiringEuropean fighters still try to fly di-rectly to Turkey, which borderswestern Syria.

But the growing use of alterna-tive routes magnifies a securitychallenge for EU policy makers:How to catch suspected militantswithout undermining the bloc’scommitment to free movementacross a region where passport

and customs checks at nationalborders have been effectively abol-ished.

U.S. intelligence agencies re-ported last week that despitegreater Western efforts, foreignfighters are streaming into Syriaand Iraq to join extremists. An es-timated 20,000 foreign militantsthere include at least 3,400 Euro-peans. About 100 in Syria are be-lieved to be from the U.S.

A series of high-level EU meet-ings in Brussels this month is seek-

Please see ROUTES page A13

ByMaria Abi-Habibin Nicosia, Cyprus

and Joe Parkinson inSofia, Bulgaria

Jihadists Slip European NetDespite heightenedsecurity, recruits findalternate routes to joinIslamic State fighters

Rising FrancUpends DailyLife in SwissBorderlands

CAMPIONE D’ITALIA, Italy—Switzerland’s decision lastmonth to lift the cap on thefranc sent the currency flying40% against the euro and roiledfinancial markets world-wide.But for Enrico Lironi, the deci-sion hit painfully close to home.

The teacher and consultantlives in Campione d’Italia, a tinypiece of Italian territory withinSwitzerland’s borders. He is paidin euros, but most of his ex-penses are in francs. So whenthe Swiss franc surged, heslashed his family’s budget—starting with scrapping plans toreplace his 10-year-old BMW.

“I’m losing tons because ofthe franc,” he says. “Our mantranow is to only buy what’s essen-tial.”

Tiny Switzerland has long hadPlease see FRANC page A8

BY GIOVANNI LEGORANOAND JOHN REVILL

LONDON—The private mem-bers’ clubs which are dottedaround the Mayfair and St.James’s districts of central Lon-don are a serious affair: chief ex-ecutives, governmentministers and militarytop brass all hobnob inwhat’s known as Lon-don’s clubland. One or-ganization, however, isaltogether sillier intone.

Resurrected in 2008,the Eccentric Clubbrings together 200gentlemen and, since1984, ladies. The di-versely dressed mem-bers face two issues:the lack of a clubhouse, and thequestion of who is truly eccen-tric.

The first problem has beensolved, at least temporarily, by

using other clubs’ facilities. At arecent dinner, the eccentricsgathered at the Oriental Club, inStratford House, a London resi-dence built in the 1770s. The sec-ond question is more delicate.

“Eccentricity is much harderto define than it used tobe,” said Ima von Wen-den, the club’s presi-dent, resplendent in agold-and-white high-collar jacket. “Thesedays, anything goes.”

Underneath paint-ings celebrating Brit-ain’s colonial exploits,members gathered forpreprandial drinks.Guests wore fez hats,tartan trousers, and onewoman held a bejew-

eled handbag shaped like achampagne bottle in an ice-bucket. Some make, as well aswear, clothes: Alex Torun-Shaw,

Please see CLUB page A14

BY FRANCES ROBINSON

It Can Be Hard to Stand OutIn This Wacky Crowd

i i i

In London, the ‘Eccentric Club’ embracesthe idiosyncratic, but debates what that is

Eccentric Clubmember

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CONTENTSAbreast of the Market C1Business News...... B2,3Global Finance............ C3Heard on the Street C8Markets Dashboard C6Media............................... B6

Moving the Market C2Opinion.................. A15-17Sports.............................. B8Technology................... B4U.S. News................. A2-4Weather Watch........ B7World News......... A6-13

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What’sNews

Congress faces a Fridaydeadline to fund the Depart-ment of Homeland Securityamid an impasse over Obama’simmigration policies. A1 The DHS head urged cau-tion at the Mall of America af-ter a video called for attackson major shopping centers. A3Turkish forces enteredSyria and retrieved an Ottomantomb and 38 Turkish soldiersguarding it, fearing they wereat risk from Islamic State. A6A blast in Ukraine during amarch to mark the one-yearanniversary of a pro-Westernuprising killed two people. A7The U.S. military is leaningtoward extending its missionin southern Afghanistan’s Kan-dahar province into 2016. A6 Israel’s Netanyahu steppedup criticism of nuclear talkswith Tehran as Kerry metwith Iranian officials. A6Greece’s premier is temper-ing his election pledges as thenew government races to de-liver reforms to creditors. A8 Biden’s recent commentsand trips to states with earlynominating contests have fannedtalk of a presidential bid. A4 Oil production resumed atLibya’s largest field, whichhad been forced to shut aftera pipeline was bombed. A13Hungary’s governing partylost its two-thirds majorityin Parliament after the oppo-sition won a seat. A7A ferry in Bangladesh cap-sized after it was hit by a cargovessel, killing at least 48. A7

Valeant said it would buySalix for about $10 billion,

a return to big deal makingfor the drug company after itsfailed bid for Allergan. B1West Coast ports resumedfull operations after the unionand employers reached a laborpact, but it may take monthsfor the backlog to clear. B1 Investors have pulledabout $2.5 billion since Octo-ber from a Carlyle hedge fundafter big bets on Fannie andFreddie led to steep losses. C1 Stock-trading volume andvolatility have slumped thismonth even as the Dow andS&P 500 set new records. C1 The economic impact ofthis winter’s harsh weatherdoesn’t appear to be as bad asa year ago, economists say. A2 Prospects for legislationto ease regulations on smallbanks are dimming amidrifts among lawmakers. C7 AT&T said rival Dishskewed prices and distortedthe results of last month’s U.S.sale of wireless licenses. B3 Union workers walked outof three more U.S. refineriesthis weekend, expanding anearly monthlong strike. B3 Facebook drivers voted toratify a contract, in what couldbe a big step for unions in Sili-con Valley’s service industry. B4 Prada sales eased in 2014,marking a halt to the fashionfirm’s strong growth rates. B2Rocket Fuel reported disap-pointing results and the ad-technology company offeredweak first-quarter guidance. B6

Business&Finance

World-Wide

EXCHANGES, REGULATORSCALL TRADERS’ BLUFFS

Market-manipulation probes eye ‘The Russian,’ others in ‘spoofing’ crackdown

CHICAGO—One June morning in 2012, a col-lege dropout whom securities traders call “TheRussian” logged on to his computer and begantrading Brent-crude futures on a London ex-change from his skyscraper office here.

Over six hours, Igor Oystacher’s computer sentroughly 23,000 commands, including thousandsof buy and sell orders, according to correspon-dence from the exchange to his clearing firm re-viewed by The Wall Street Journal. But he can-celed many of those orders milliseconds afterplacing them, the documents show, in what the

exchange alleges was part of a trading practicedesigned to trick other investors into buying andselling at artificially high or low prices.

Traders call the illegal bluffing tactic “spoof-ing,” and they say it has long been used to ma-nipulate prices of anything from stocks to bondsto futures. Exchanges and regulators have onlyrecently begun clamping down.

The 33-year-old Mr. Oystacher referred inqui-ries to a spokesman for his firm, 3Red GroupLLC, who declined to comment for this story. Inhis clearing firm’s correspondence with the ex-change, Mr. Oystacher—co-founder of Chicago-

Please see TRADES page A14

BY BRADLEY HOPE

BUSINESS & TECH. | B1

Battery Life: Tech’sNext Dimension

Thin devices are robbing us ofwhat we want most—power—but Christopher Mims says itdoesn’t have to be this way

JOURNAL REPORT | R2

How to Tell if You’reA Jerk at Work

Most people see a valuedcolleague when they look inthe mirror, but they’re often

fooling themselves

Inside

Homeland Security chief callsfor caution after mall threat... A3

TOP FLIGHT: ‘Birdman’ director Alejandro G. Iñárritu accepts the award for best picture Sunday. Mr. Iñárritu also won the best-directing Oscar—giving the filmtwo of the night’s top awards. Other winners included Eddie Redmayne for best actor and Julianne Moore for best actress. For more, see B1 and WSJ.com.

‘Birdman’ Soars Above the Competition at the Academy Awards

Turks enter Syria to rescue troopsat tomb under terror threat... A6

KevinWinter/Getty

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