Troupe

Madrid's bid had the support of the city's government and the regional council, both controlled at the time by the People's Party, which was also the case for Madrid's 2012 and 2020 bids. There is no such precedent.

Yes, seems definitive http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2013/09/12/madrid/1378971809_791415.html

I assumed he was popular worlwide. I used to watch it as a child and currently my nephews watch it. All Spanish media covered the news when Doraemon was named Special ambassador for Tokyo's bid.

Many of those commentators say a lot of bullshit all the time and about all kind of topics, the tone of these "debates" is always similar. With one or two sensible people. Not all reactions are like this. For example, a columnist from El Mundo, the same newspaper that published the infamous 50 votes list: "Siempre es más fácil recurrir a la teoria de la conspiración y echar la culpa a los demás que reconocer los errores propios". (It's always easier to resort to the conspiracy theory and blame others than recognizing your own mistakes") http://elmundo.orbyt.es/2013/09/08/orbyt_en_elmundo/1378660948.html

I would much prefer the olympics, but I think Spain should bid for the UEFA Euro 2024 instead. We have the stadia, and the last time we hosted a big football tournament was the WC in 1982. Since then Italy had the 1990 WC, England had the 1996 Euro, France had the 1998 WC and 2016 Euro and Germany had the 2006 WC.

That's Doraemon, the cosmic cat! Isn't he known in the US? It's a popular Japanese cartoon.

She says Bubka will not vote for Madrid, that part has not been translated: "Y me gusta que la gente cumpla sus principios y sepa de lo que se habla. Me gusta Serguei Bubka. Aunque probablemente no saldrá como presidente del COI y no nos votará, habla en profundidad."

The Swedes an opening ceremony kind of spectacle yesterday broadcast on national TV to inaugurate the new national stadium in Stockholm, the Friends Arena. The ceremony was called "Swedish Moments":

I guess the torch relay will visit the Iguazu falls, right at the border with Argentina.

She went to Athens and is going to London.

Well, in this case they are protesting a religious event costing money to the state.

Kazan has been awarded 2015 and Guadalajara has been awarded 2017.

It's official now, the mayor of Madrid, together with the leader of opposition in the council, has confirmed the bid in a special press conference. He has said 80% of the infrastructure is already built and that no new investment in infrastructure for the other 20% will be made until after Madrid is awarded the games in 2013. So his seling point was that the bid will be austere and effective because of the previous bids. The minoritary parties in the council IU and UPyD have said they will support the bid as long as long as new investment in infrastructure is not made until the final decision is taken in 2013. The spokesperson of the central Spanish government José Blanco has supported the bid with reserves as long as it doesn't mean new costs. The leader of PP (and the most probable new PM next year) Mariano Rajoy has supported the bid saying that there are serious chances, most investment in infrastructure has already being made, and about the current financial crisis he has said it will take time for the decision to be taken and for the games to be celebrated. Agencia EFE El País

Well, she's had an accident afterwards while she was training, she's being taken to hospital and she won't be able to take part in the final. Bye bye medal chances for Spain!