Spark Spot

Tourism is the best way to know more information about various places on the globe and at the same time it is more entertaining. There is no wonder that almost all the people in the world loves tourism. It is quite interesting that a new tourists survey results displayed that Japanese tourists are the best in the world.

The survey was conducted online travel company Expedia, hoteliers voted on categories including behaviour, spending habits, fashion sense and willingness to try and speak the local language.The Japanese retained the top prize, with hoteliers worldwide naming them the world’s best tourists, ahead of the British and Canadians. Japanese tourists were also ranked the quietest and most polite, as well as the cleanest and least likely to complain.

In the survey, around 4500 hoteliers across the globe rated Australians travellers the sixth best among the 27 nationalities surveyed in the second annual global Best Tourist Survey. Australians tourists were complimented for being sparing in their complaints (third place), being polite (fourth place), and for their willingness to speak the local language and their good behaviour (fifth place in both categories).

The French were the worst tourists, according to hoteliers, who voted them the most frugal and meanest tippers. They were also deemed the most impolite tourists. The only criticism given to Australians was that they were perceived as loud travellers, according to the survey, which ranked them the fourth noisiest behind the Spanish, Italians and Americans.

I am a  great fan of Roger Federer and i would like share his tremendous victory that created new records in the tennis books.  He is really an artistic player. Roger Federer, the popular tennis maestro from switzerland,  beat highly talented American Andy Roddick 5-7 7-6 7-6 3-6 16-14 in a marathon Wimbledon’s men’s singles final on Sunday and won 15th grandslam title.

With American Pete Sampras, the only other man to win 14 slams, watching intently from the Royal Box, Federer kept his nose in front in a nerve-racking decider and clinched victory after over four hours when Roddick dropped serve for the only time in the match at 14-15 when he mishit a forehand.

Federer was stretched to the limit in an unforgettable duel of enery-sapping tension, losing the first set and then trailing 6-2 in the second set tiebreak before digging himself out of trouble to win six consecutive points and level the match. He could make no headway on the Roddick serve but remained solid on his own delivery to win the third set on another tiebreak.

Let us congratulate the champion Roger Federer on his tremendous victory and the excited federer said humbly that he still has a long way to go.

World bank cuts economic forecasts? Japan’s  survey showed less pessimism at big Japanese manufacturing firms in the three months to June. Meanwhile German business sentiment rose to a seven-month high in June although analysts said plenty of risks remained given that expectations fueled the rise in sentiment.

Despite initial signs of a weakening in the pace of economic decline, policymakers must remain alert, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said. “While there are first signs that the pace of economic weakening is decelerating, we must remain alert. We are in uncharted waters, and there are still risks of a sudden emergence of unexpected financial turbulence,” he said.

Trichet’s caution chimed with that of Angel Gurria, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “We see a very difficult 2009, with negative growth in the OECD area. Unemployment problems are going to continue to linger,” he told Reuters television in an interview on the sidelines of a conference in Paris.

Adding to those wary comments, the World Bank said prospects for the global economy remain “unusually uncertain” as it cut 2009 growth forecasts for most economies.

Governments around the world have borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars to fight the worst economic crisis in decades, providing incentives for businesses and consumers to spend and embarking on big infrastructure programs to create jobs and stimulate activity.

They should stick to spending programs to reignite growth because their economies are still weak in spite of signs that the worst of the crisis may be past, World Bank Chief Economist Justin Lin said in an interview with Reuters. Lin also said he was concerned about rising borrowing costs and weak external financing conditions for the emerging economies of Europe and Central Asia.

Like the ECB, the U.S. Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to record low levels and used unorthodox means to pump more money into the system.

The Fed’s interest rate setting committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday and economists polled by Reuters see no chance that the Fed will raise its benchmark short-term interest rate from the current level near zero. The Fed is also seen unlikely to ramp up its purchases of U.S. government and mortgage-linked debt as investor focus shifts to inflation on evidence that the economy is stabilizing.

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Bangladesh has ordered high security across the country amid fears of possible attacks by Islamists or criminal gangs. The alert comes as the south Asian country prepares to put on trial later this month dozens of people alleged to have committed war crimes during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence.

Security officials also fear a backlash following the recent arrest of three close associates of underworld don Daud Ibrahim. They confessed to a judicial magistrate of having run a clandestine criminal network for Daud.

One of the detainees told police that about 100 Daud agents were active in Bangladesh, an overwhelmingly Muslim country of more than 140 million people and already facing militancy by the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) and other outlawed groups. The JMB is blamed for a series of bomb attacks in 2005 that killed dozens of people, including lawyers, judges and police in 2005. Police and intelligence officials say they have been regrouping since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina took office in January.

Even now some of the people believe that LTTE Chief Prabhakaran is alive. Although the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that Prabhakaran founded has been virtually destroyed, its overseas adherents refuse to believe that the legendary rebel leader was killed in Sri Lanka May 18.

While reams of obituaries have been written the world over about the man who almost broke up Sri Lanka, LTTE functionaries in the West are dubbing Colombo’s claims of killing the elusive Prabhakaran as fantasy. And many seem to genuinely believe this – or at least doubt Colombo’s version of his final hours.

Leading the propaganda of the LTTE or what remains of it in foreign countries is its international wing leader S. Pathmanathan who made his first statement May 19, a day after Prabhakaran’s death was announced.
‘I wish to inform the global Tamil community… that our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people,’ the pro-LTTE website Tamil Net quoted him as saying.

Apparently realising that Pathmanathan’s words are not having the desired effect, a member of the LTTE intelligence wing has now ‘categorically denied’ that Prabhakaran was dead. He accused Colombo and its military establishment of spreading ‘rumours’.

According to Sri Lanka, Prabhakaran, founder leader of the LTTE, was killed following heavy fighting with the military which trapped him close to a lagoon in Mullaitivu district in the island’s north. He was reportedly with 18 of his bodyguards when he was cut down, with a single bullet in the front of the head that blew off the upper portion of his head.

Thousands of his Tamil supporters, particularly in the West, insist that Prabhakaran had broken the army cordon at the last moment and that photos and television footage showing him dead were doctored. But diplomats and security agencies around the world firmly believe that Prabhakaran has been slain although speculation persists as to how and when he breathed his last.

A Western diplomat based in Colombo told IANS over telephone: ‘We are in no doubt about Prabhakaran’s fate. He is dead and gone.’ Tamil sources in London, where the Tigers have enjoyed wide support among the Tamils, say the LTTE is finding it difficult to come to terms with the reality that Prabhakaran is no more.

Asian Highway pact is to signed by Bangladesh,  shedding its suspicion that the route devised by a UN body would allow neighbouring India a transport ‘corridor’ to its northeastern region. Discussions began Thursday as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government has decided to change the official line set by the previous government of Khaleda Zia.

Bangladesh had failed to meet the deadline set by the UN for Dec 31, 2005, to sign the international pact for a highway that would connect Bulgaria in Europe to Bangkok in southeast Asia.

The Zia government had opposed the routes determined by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) on the ground that India would get undue advantage. It had proposed alternative routes specifying that no route should be a thoroughfare for Indian goods.

The present government will not miss the chance to join the highway network, the minister said prior to beginning consultations.Dhaka wants to settle the issue before the upcoming meeting on the Asian Highway network Sep 4, 2009, in Bangkok.

Rahmatullah, a former director of the UN, told New Age that the plea for changes in the routes would be effective if the country ratifies the treaty in time.There are three proposed routes. Two are main routes which connect India and Bangladesh. The third one  connecting India, Bangladesh and Myanmar is described as a regional route.

The previous Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat government wanted the third one to be the main route as it would bolster the country’s much cherished ‘Look East Policy’ and expedite economic cooperation with Myanmar, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The BNP, now in opposition, believes that the ‘Look East Policy’ will not materialise if the existing proposal of the Asian Highway routes is accepted. The UN ESCAP, however, insisted on ratification of the treaty before Bangladesh places proposals for any change of routes.The Asian Highway network, which will stretch for 141,000 kilometres and cross 32 Asian countries after completion, is also linked with Europe. So far 28 Asian countries have ratified the agreement, according to UN ESCAP.

China, the asian country, has marked the first anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people last year in Sichuan province, and planned to hold a national moment of silence. Commemorative events were scheduled to be held in Yingziu township, near the epicenter of the quake, starting at 2:20 p.m.

The May 12, 2008, quake killed 68,712 people, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Huang Mingquan, head of Sichuan’s provincial civil affairs department, as saying at a press conference last week. It left 17,921 missing, more than 374,000 injured and at least 15 million people displaced.

The initial tremor was so strong it was felt as far away as Beijing and even Bangkok, more than 2,000 kilometers  away. The epicenter: Wenchuan County, a lush, mountainous region with a population of more than 111,000 people. The disaster served as a rallying point for the Chinese government to reach out to the outside world and to instill patriotism and humanitarianism among the Chinese.

Since then, however, the government has come under some criticism for its handling of the post-quake period — notably the quality of school construction in the affected area and the number of children who perished in the temblor. Only last week did the Chinese government reveal that the quake left 5,335 students dead or missing and disabled an additional 546 children. Video Watch China analyst Victor Gao offer reflections on the anniversary »

Wildfire in california ignited the dry brush and was being investigated as an arson, had blackened some 500 acres around picturesque Santa Barbara by nightfall, leaving behind smoldering, burned out husks where multimillion-dollar mansions once stood.

The pall of thick black smoke hanging over Santa Barbara made it difficult to tell how many of the large hillside homes had gone up in flames but believed at least 20 had been burned to the ground. Entire neighborhoods remained in jeopardy as more than 900 firefighters struggled to make headway against flames whipped by hot, dry Santa Ana winds through steep and sometimes inaccessible canyons.

The firefighters were hoping for a break from the weather on Thursday, but weather experts predicted that the Santa Ana winds, which blow in from the California desert, would persist at least another day.Santa Barbara County was asking for aid from fire crews across the state and said they expected some 100 engines and 400 firefighters, although other California communities were keeping a wary on their own dry hillsides. The blaze was difficult to fight because of the seaside community’s “extreme weather”and the temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with winds gusting at up to 50 miles per hour.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Santa Barbara County, a move that frees up additional funds and equipment.Though the fire slowed as winds eased late on Wednesday night, officials worried that it was burning in the direction of downtown Santa Barbara and residents there were told they may need to evacuate overnight.

Yusuf Pathan, the big power machine of Royals,  blazed his way to an unbeaten half-century to propel Rajasthan Royals to a five-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League.

Pathan smashed 62 not out off 30 balls with three fours and six sixes as Rajasthan reached 147 for five to overhaul Delhi’s 143 for seven with nine balls to spare. It was second-placed Delhi’s first defeat in four matches in this year’s tournament.

Pathan and Graeme Smith shared an unbroken sixth-wicket partnership of 83 in 47 balls, with the South Africa captain contributing an unbeaten 44 after the Royals had slumped to 64 for five.Pathan, who was dropped on 30, brought up his half-century in 26 balls as the holders claimed their second win of the competition to go fourth in the table.

It was Pathan again for Royals to smash the oppenents. Last time Pathan drove Royals to an emphatic win over Knight Riders in a super over by smashing the srilankan spinner Mendis all over the park. Pathan in this kind of form, i am sure that royals would feel their place in the semi finals.