Spain's World Cup celebrations .. [ 1440 ]

World Cup 2010: hundreds of thousands greet Spain in Madrid

Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of Madrid last night to cheer Spain's national team as they paraded in an open top bus displaying the coveted World Cup.

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Hundreds of thousands lined the streets of Madrid to cheer Spain's national team as they paraded in an open top bus displaying the coveted World Cup Photo: GETTY

 

The party, accompanied by live music, the deafening roar of vuvuzelas and the constant beeping of car horns, was expected to go on well into the night Photo: GETTY

Telegraph co.uk.,
By Fiona Govan in Madrid
Published: 10:42PM BST 12 Jul 2010

The victorious heroes arrived to a rapturous welcome as crowds of red and gold covered fans chanted "Campeones! Campeones! Campeones!"

In temperatures soaring to almost 104F (40C) some people had waited for hours along Madrid's main avenues for a glimpse of the players who took Spain to World Cup victory for the first time ever.

 

The squad wore red T shirts with "world champions" emblazoned across their chests, waved flags and took photographs of the adoring fans in an emotional homecoming that saw many onlookers break down in tears of joy.

Giant inflatable red balls bounced across the heads in the crowd as the bus approached. To a collective "Ole! Ole! Ole!" from the fans the Spanish equivalent of the Red Arrows painted a trail of coloured smoke resembling the three stripes of the Spanish flag across the sky as the team turned into Spain's main avenue, the Castellana.

"I cried when the whistle blew last night and again when I saw the team bus," said Tania Garcia Minan, 29, a schoolteacher working in Madrid. "It really is a dream come true."

"This is the best day of my life," grinned 14-year-old Senay Ozkaya from Madrid, her face painted in the crimson and gold stripes of the Spanish flag.

"I am so proud of them and so proud to be Spanish."

Nearby on the Paseo de Recoletos three men whooped and furiously waved Spanish flags as the bus approached.

"We drove up from Valenica for this moment," said David Zaluez, an unemployed truck driver from the city on Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast. The three friends admitted that they had not been to bed since Andres Iniesta scored the winning goal.

"We partied all night, drove here and we will party another night before driving home," he laughed proudly. "This is helping us forget about our worries," he added revealing that he has been unemployed since the start of the economic crisis two years ago.

Earlier the team had been congratulated by Spain's King Juan Carlos II who had been unable to attend the final in Johannesburg on doctor's orders having recently undergone surgery.

"You are an example for new generations for your effort and the spirit you showed in overcoming the odds," the King said in the Royal Palace. "You made our best dreams come true."

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero also met with the winners before they set off on their city tour which was due to finish at a specially erected stage on the banks of the river Manzanares.

The party, accompanied by live music, the deafening roar of vuvuzelas and the constant beeping of car horns, was expected to go on well into the night

The rates of Euro and US$..[ 1439 ]

   The rate of 1 US$ to 1 Euro and  v.versa    

  

  Euros to 1 USD                                                                    

120 days	latest (Jul 12) 0.795418	lowest (Jan 25) 0.706664	highest (Jun 8) 0.837381

US$  to 1 EUR

120 days latest (Jul 12) 1.2572 lowest (Jun 8) 1.1942 highest (Jan 25) 1.4151

Japan., decisive vote in upper chamber..[ 1438 ]

Your Party, New Komeito now hold decisive vote in upper chamber

Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe smiles as vote counting shows that the party made a strong showing in the July 11 upper house race. (Mainichi)

New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi puts the party's logo on the name of a candidate who won the upper house election on July 11. (Mainichi)

(Mainichi) 12-07-19.,Opposition parties Your Party and New Komeito hold the power of making decisive votes in the House of Councillors after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led ruling coalition fell short of a majority in the chamber following the July 11 election.

A fierce tug-of-war on issues is expected between the two parties in this so-called "third bloc" in the Diet, behind the ruling coalition and the largest opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Newly formed Your Party made a strong showing in the election, winning 10 seats, by garnering support mainly from independent voters in big cities.

Your Party leader Yoshimi Watanabe suggested the party may initiate alliance talks with the DPJ, urging the governing party to compromise with it over its demand for public service reform.

"Our presence has significantly increased," Watanabe told reporters. "We'll present policy issues to the Diet one after another. By doing so, I'm sure we can find a way out of the nation's current difficulties."

However, there remains a wide gap between Your Party and the DPJ over key policy issues including a consumption tax hike.

Your Party intends to use its victory in the upper house poll as a springboard to win the local elections next year and play a leading role in triggering political realignment in the next House of Representatives election.

New Komeito, which suffered a third consecutive setback following two earlier Diet elections -- the previous upper house race in 2007 and last year's lower chamber election -- are unlikely to join up with the DPJ any time soon.

"We've held up the red card against the administration, so we have no intention of forming an alliance or a coalition with the DPJ," New Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi told journalists.

Nevertheless, there are some legislators within the party who hope to join hands with the DPJ because the party's social security, diplomatic and defense policies are similar to those of the DPJ.

As if to reflect their hope, New Komeito Secretary-General Yoshihisa Inoue told an NHK TV program that the party "will take action while keeping close attention to public opinion."

For the time being, however, New Komeito will have no choice but to consider whether to cooperate with the DPJ over each individual policy issue, as it has repeatedly denied that it will form a coalition with the DPJ and cooperated closely with the LDP in the campaign for the latest election.

Click here for the original Japanese story

Moscow ,the Lubyanka station .. [ 1437 ]

Alleged Accomplice Of Moscow Bombers Detained

Russians leave flowers for victims of the Moscow bombings at the Lubyanka station in April.( Ria Novosti )

July 12, 2010

Russian officials say they have detained a suspected accomplice of the suicide bombers that attacked Moscow's subway system in April, killing 40 people.

The National Counterterrorism Committee said the man, who was not identified, was suspected of providing transport and lodging for the two suicide bombers.

Officials said the arrest was made in the southern republic of Daghestan.

The committee also announced that six women in have been arrested in Makhachkala, Daghestan's capital, on charges of training for suicide attacks.

Human rights groups say Russian officers often accuse innocent civilians of siding with Islamic militants.

compiled from agency reports

Fined for controversial images of Jesus..[1436 ]

Russian art curators fined for controversial images of Jesus

Two Russian art curators were found guilty, after a 14 month trial, of violating Russia's tough hate-speech law. Some say the verdict protects religious values, but others decry it as censorship.

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Yuri Samodurov, left, and Andrei Yerofeyev, Russian art curators who staged a 2007 exhibition that angered the powerful Russian Orthodox Church, listen to the court verdict on their case in Moscow, July 12. Both curators were convicted Monday of inciting religious hatred and fined, but escaped prison sentences. The two were ordered only to pay fines of up to 200,000 rubles ($6,500).

Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo

By Fred Weir, Correspondent / July 12, 2010

Moscow A Moscow court' found two former museum curators guilty of "inciting hatred" against Christians. But some Russian analysts say the verdict will cast a chill over artistic freedom in Russia and encourage extreme nationalists to target a wider range of liberal voices.

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At issue was a 2007 exhibition at the Sakharov Museum that featured "images which are derogatory and insulting to Christianity and religious people," which is a serious crime under Russian law.
Entitled "Forbidden Art," it aimed to challenge censorship and included several controversial images of Jesus – including one which replaced his head with that of Mickey Mouse, and another with the Soviet-era Order of Lenin medal.

Moscow's Tagansky court ruled that the former director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum, Yury Samodurov, and the ex-head of the Tretyakov Gallery's modern art section, Andrei Yarofeyev, "committed actions aimed at inciting hatred." The 14-month trial included more than 134 witnesses for the prosecution, most of whom admitted they had never viewed the art works in question.
The pair could have faced jail terms of up to five years, but were instead handed fines. Mr. Samodurov must pay 200,000 roubles (about $6,500), while Mr. Yerofeyev was fined 150,000 roubles (about $5,000), RIA Novosti reported.

Censorship by the state, or the people?

The defendants and their supporters say that the law under which they were convicted, which is a tougher and broader version of hate-speech laws that are common in Western countries, is being abused by the very extremist forces whose activities should be scrutinized and curbed under the law.

At a press conference last week, Yerofeyev accused a shadowy religious-nationalist group, Narodny Sobor, of instigating the original complaint against the 2007 art show.
"We have the classic situation of a fascist party that is attacking contemporary culture," Yerofeyev told journalists. "Through destruction it is trying to get attention."

Representatives of Narodny Sobor – a small group that is not exactly a household name in Russia – made themselves easily available for comment following Monday's verdict.
"Glory to the court," says Alexander Lapin, head of the group's Moscow organization. "This is not about different tastes, but about the incitement of religious hatred... Yes, we filed the complaint against that exhibition, and we were supported by other religious confessions [apart from the Orthodox Church], including Muslims and Jews. In a country where 70 percent of the population are religious, no one can be allowed to wipe their feet on one of the principal religions."
"This may be informal censorship, not from the state but from society," he adds. "That's what civil society is for."

This is not the first time the Sakharov Museum has faced legal troubles over an art exhibit.
Samodurov was convicted under the same law in 2005 for a controversial display entitled "Caution: Religion," but was sentenced only to pay a fine of about $3,500. At the time, a group of ultrareligious vandals who had triggered the case by defacing the exhibit – by spray-painting the word "Blasphemy!" across some of the works – were released without charge by the court.