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an international treaty on trade in endangered animals and plants.
• "We must speed up efforts to build large-scale production systems," Yoshimasa Hayashi, the minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, told reporters after the IUCN's decision was announced.
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AP review shows that Spain props up soccer teams amid crushing austerity
• VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -- At the height of Spain's crushing economic crisis, the Villareal soccer club sported an eye-catching logo across its jerseys: Aeroport Castello. The local government paid the club 20 million euros ($27 million) to promote what was to become Spain's most notorious "ghost airport" -- one that hasn't seen a single flight since it opened in 2011.
• The deal illustrates one of the peculiarities of Spain's meltdown: As austerity measures sap the life from health, education and welfare programs, Spain's soccer teams have been receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in government aid. The government says soccer subsidies are simply part of a policy of supporting sports around the country.
• An Associated Press review of official documents shows that Spain's highly autonomous regions are helping to keep some soccer teams alive through massive direct cash injections. The financing has some politicians and ordinary Spaniards questioning the support.
• The 20 clubs in Spain's top soccer league received at least 332 million euros in direct public aid between 2008 -- the beginning of Spain's financial meltdown -- and 2012, according to the AP review. The funds were allocated through public agencies and companies run by the country's 17 regional governments. In the same time period, the clubs have also benefited from an additional 476 million euros in indirect aid, such as allowing clubs to run up tax and social security debts.
• That makes the total 810 million euros in the years reviewed -- $1.1 billion.
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From slums to space, world tunes in to World Cup
• From the stadium in Sao Paulo to sofas in Germany, from a pub in Nairobi to a cafe in Miami, from a Rio slum to outer space, nearly half the world's population was expected to tune in to the World Cup, soccer's premier event which kicked off Thursday in Brazil.
• Even football-loving Pope Francis got a touch of World Cup fever. He sent a (Continued on page 32)
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