Record label brands Justin Bieber tour vote "a hoax"

Universal Music Group (UMG) has denied any involvement in a poll that became the target of an online prank.

A website that asked people where the Canadian singer Justin Bieber should tour next finally received 650,000 votes to send him to North Korea.

A spokesperson for UMG told BBC News that it was a "hoax" but declined to give any further comment.

The poll was promoted by members of the imageboard website 4chan, urging their users to vote for North Korea.

The joke eventually turned viral, spreading onto Facebook and Twitter, with tens of thousands of people casting their vote on the site.

4chan has a long history of pulling off internet pranks and stunts.

In early July, Justin Bieber videos on YouTube were the target for internet hackers, redirecting users to adult websites or triggering pop-up messages saying that the Canadian singer had died in a car crash.

Google temporarily suspended commenting on videos and issued a statement saying: "We took swift action to fix a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability."

The vulnerability hole was patched a few hours later.

Justin Bieber was signed to Island Records, part of the Universal Music Group, after his performances were posted on You Tube.

Somalis Protest Against Deployment of More Foreign Troops

Somalis in regions controlled by Islamist extremists have staged protests against plans by an East African regional bloc to send 2,000 additional peacekeepers to Somalia.  

Witnesses say hundreds of people in al-Shabab-controlled towns in Lower Jubba, Hiran, Gedo, Middle Shabelle, and Bay regions protested IGAD's plan to send more troops to Somalia under the African Union peacekeeping mission known as AMISOM.  

Al-Shabab officials led the demonstrations, vowing to redouble their fight against what they described as "enemies of the country and Islam."

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development - IGAD -- is composed of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.   Eritrea is also in the bloc, but its membership is suspended.

IGAD has not said which countries would contribute troops or give a specific deployment date, but a U.N. resolution currently bans Somalia's neighbors - Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti -- from contributing troops to the African Union mission. 

If additional peacekeepers are sent, Uganda, which already has 4,000 troops in Somalia serving as peacekeepers, is expected to provide the bulk of reinforcements.  But residents in Mogadishu tell VOA that there is deep concern that troops from Ethiopia may be included. 

One resident, who declined to be identified, says he is disappointed that Somali President Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who once led an Islamist faction that fought against Ethiopia's military's intervention in Somalia between 2007 and 2008, is appealing for help from Addis Ababa. 

He says the Ethiopian occupation started the conflict that is still destroying people's lives.  He says the troops also did not behave well and they will not be welcomed by anyone in Somalia.

Ethiopia intervened in Somalia in late 2006 to oust the Islamic Courts Union, which Ethiopia and its western allies feared was turning Somalia into a haven for extremists and terrorists.  A U.N.-sponsored deal signed in Djibouti in June 2008 brought moderate Islamists into the transitional government and paved the way for an Ethiopian withdrawal in early 2009.   

But by then, al-Shabab, which functioned as the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, had grown stronger, partly on an anti-Ethiopian nationalist platform that drew scores of supporters.  It gained control of vast amount of territory in southern Somalia and hemmed the government into a few blocks of the capital. 

IGAD heads of state attending an extraordinary summit on Monday in Addis Ababa reacted with alarm after President Sharif reported that al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida, is gaining the upper hand in its efforts to topple the U.N.-supported Transitional Federal Government.

For months, African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi have been battling to keep the capital from falling into insurgent hands.  But Somalis say the peacekeepers frequently return fire indiscriminately, causing as much harm to civilians as the insurgents.    

The weak government is beset by internal divisions and lacks broad-based support in the country.  Parliament member and a critic of Mr. Sharif's administration, Mohamed Amin Osman, says he believes sending more foreign troops to prop up an unpopular government will only increase support for al-Shabab.

"A solution cannot be made by international intervention.  Somalia needs their own militias, their own local people to take part against al-Shabab and to defeat al-Shabab.  Otherwise, the whole of the Horn of Africa will grow insecure," Osman said.

Somalis have suffered through endless cycles of conflict since the fall of the last functioning government in 1991.  The United Nations calls the humanitarian crisis in the country a "catastrophe".

Nokia Asks Police to Recover Smartphone Prototype From Blogger

HELSINKI — Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, said Wednesday that it has asked the Russian police to help retrieve a smartphone prototype from a Moscow-based blogger who riled the company by posting information it calls confidential.

Eldar Murtazin, editor of Mobile-review.com, published a detailed review of Nokia's forthcoming N8 smartphone based on a working prototype April 26. Nokia then requested the unit back in a post labeled "one of our children is missing" on the company's official blog.

"Several weeks back, we formally requested the return of all unauthorized Nokia property from Mr. Murtazin and he declined to respond," Nokia spokesman Doug Dawson said in an e-mail. "As a result, we have contacted the Russian authorities to assist us in the return of all unauthorized Nokia property".

The increasingly competitive smartphone business has attracted a pool of bloggers and analysts scrambling to be the first with specifications of new products, which companies would prefer to unveil at a time of their choosing. Apple enlisted the California state computer crime task force in April to seize computers from an editor whose blog bought an iPhone 4G prototype the company said was stolen.

Murtazin did not respond immediately to an e-mailed request for comment. On his personal blog, Murtazin said he has made repeated attempts in the past two months to get in touch with Nokia and never heard back from the company.

"Nokia says there has been a trade secret infringement," Murtazin wrote. "But we have never signed any non-disclosure agreements with them and Nokia knows that very well".

Nokia said in a post on its official blog that Murtazin has identified himself as a consultant to other mobile-phone manufacturers. "Whether Mr. Murtazin's actions were as a blogger, or whether he is acting in the capacity of a consultant in order to provide information to his clients is an open question," it said.

Putin Seeks Private Airport Investors

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that the aviation sector needed more public-private partnerships to revamp the nation's airports, which must be able to accommodate Russia's "booming" air traffic.

The state has spent 47 billion rubles ($1.5 billion) over the past two years to modernize its airports, Putin said during a meeting at an airport in the Stavropol region town of Mineralniye Vody.

"We must involve businesses in the development of airports more actively.  There have already been successful examples of such partnerships," Putin said, citing the redevelopment of St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport.

As part of the federal targeted program to develop ground and air transportation infrastructure, the state plans to spend more than 306 billion rubles, or nearly $10 billion, over the next five years.

After investment dried up in the 1990s, airports, railroads and the country's notorious roads fell into deep disrepair, prompting then-Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref in 2007 to promise $1 trillion of infrastructure spending over the next decade.

But after the crisis hit in the fall of 2008, fulfilling the promise seemed a gargantuan task.

"The state, too, is limited in its financial abilities. It cannot, like a magician, pull money out of a hat," said Dmitry Baranov, an infrastructure analyst at Finam.

"This is where investors come into play. If the government can ensure a smooth return on investments over the course of five to 10 years, investors will come," he said.

The infrastructure problem came into sharp focus last week as construction work on a crumbling bridge on the route to Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport left traffic backed up for hours.

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, whom Putin ordered to resolve the issue, reported that traffic was moving more smoothly after he got City Hall to open another two lanes and ban commercial truckers from the route.

"It's good the Moscow government reacted so quickly," Putin said.

City Hall was widely criticized for letting traffic snarl for four days before Putin intervened.

Putin made it clear that he wanted the number of public-private partnerships to grow, although he did not elaborate on how the government might attract new investors.

"Our goal is to turn aviation infrastructure into a prospective and attractive platform for investment [and] to establish precise and understandable rules of conduct," Putin said.

But even Pulkovo, Russia's fourth-busiest airport, hit a few bumps on its road to success.

The new Pulkovo terminal, which had a groundbreaking ceremony June 26, is slated to open by the end of 2013, doubling the airport's annual passenger capacity to 14 million people, VTB president Andrei Kostinsaid at the meeting.  

The state-run bank is acting as financial adviser to the consortium Northern Capital Gateway, which last year won a concession to rebuild the airport and run it for 30 years.

VTB's investment bank, VTB Capital, holds 57.5 percent in the project, while Germany's Fragport has 35.5 percent and Greece's Copelouzos Group holds 7 percent.

Kostin said licensing headaches related to the law on foreign investment in strategic sectors had prevented the group from getting a foreign loan it needs to build.

"The Federal Transportation Inspection Service denied us a license based on the absence of a decision from the government commission on foreign investment, which you head," he told Putin.

The banker argued that the consortium should be exempt from the law because it received the airport as a concession, not property.

The development, which will cost about 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion), includes 440 million euros from shareholders and a planned 800 million euro, 15-year loan, Kostin said.

"This is probably the first example when it was possible to raise the money not from [state banks] VTB, Sberbank and VEB, but from foreign investors," he said.

Putin also said passenger volumes had passed their 2008 peak after recovering from a crisis-related plunge.

"Passenger volumes rose 32.3 percent in January to May 2010, compared with the same period last year," he said.

Snarled Train Traffic Forces Passengers Onto Roofs

Passengers on Moscow’s commuter trains have been forced to ride on roofs and between cars after repair work caused mass cancellations of trains on at least half of the main rail links into the city.

Some news reports linked the cancellations to the upcoming opening of a Sapsan bullet train to Nizhny Novgorod, scheduled for July 30, but railroad officials denied any connection.

More than 100 of the 270 daily commuter trains running on the Gorkovskaya Railroad to Kursky Station have been canceled or rescheduled until mid-July, an operator for Moscow Railways’ hotline told The Moscow Times on Wednesday.

The rail lines to Kievsky and Savyolovksy stations have also seen a wave of cancellations, and passengers have complained of problems at the Yaroslavsky and Paveletsky stations as well.

That means schedule changes are causing havoc to at least half of Moscow Railways’ 10 main lines.

The cancellations have created hour-long gaps in the schedule, mostly during non-rush-hour periods during the day and never on weekends, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Wednesday.

But passengers are still accumulating at stations and storming functioning trains, crowding them to the point that entry becomes physically impossible and the people inside start to faint in the scorching summer heat.

The more reckless passengers have mounted the roofs, risking death from the 3,000-volt electric current overhead. No casualties have been reported.

Railroad representatives said all schedule changes were announced in advance and the repair works necessitating the changes could only be conducted in the summertime.

“People are indignant, but if we don’t do these repairs now, we will be unable to safely transport passengers in the nearest future,” Moscow Railways spokesman Vladimir Myagkov told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

The operator for the company’s hotline said the state-owned company conducts repairs on various parts of its lines every year. But she could not explain why the repairs had resulted in a disruption of such magnitude this year.

“The nature of the works is different. They have to bring in heavy machinery and turn off the current,” she said.

Myagkov said the opening of the Sapsan train had nothing to do with the problems because the railroad started preparing its route in 2006 and finished all work on it last month.

But the launch of the Sapsan train between Moscow and St. Petersburg in December caused schedule disruptions — already a regular occurrence in recent years — to intensify. That train runs on the Oktyabrskaya Railroad from Leningradsky Station.

Most countries build separate railways for bullet trains, but the German-built Sapsans use regular tracks in Russia.

Railroad officials said repair works on the line to Kursky Station are scheduled to end July 16 but may be extended.

Charged Pianist Can Leave Thailand

A Thai court on Wednesday charged Grammy-winning Russian pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev with raping a 14-year-old boy but allowed him to leave Thailand in an indication that evidence against him remains questionable.

Pletnev, 53, a former member of the Kremlin's culture and art council, posted bail of 300,000 baht ($9,200) and is to appear in court July 18, Russian Consul Andrei Dvornikov told RIA-Novosti.

The court permitted Pletnev to leave because "the evidence against him was not weighty enough," a Thai police source told Lifenews.ru.

Pletnev, who will kick off a European tour with his Russian National Orchestra on Friday, has denied the charges, calling them "an utter misunderstanding," RIA-Novosti reported.

Friends suggested that Pletnev might be the victim of blackmail.

The charges stem from testimony from a long-time friend, local resident Traiphop Bunphasong, who was arrested Sunday on suspicion of running a child prostitution ring, the Pattaya Daily News web site reported Wednesday.

Pletnev told the web site that he had not known of the illegal activities of his friend and had paid Bunphasong to look after his two houses in the beach resort of Pattaya while he was touring abroad.

The Bangkok Post reported that the 14-year-old boy linked to Pletnev had filed a complaint with a nongovernmental organization in Pattaya. It was unclear whether the complaint had any connection with Bunphasong's arrest.

Thai police said evidence against Pletnev included a statement from the alleged victim that he had lived in the musician's house for a year and been raped by him twice, The Associated Press reported. Police said Pletnev had appeared in some photographs with the boy, but no suspicious activity was depicted, AP said.

If convicted of raping a child under 15, Pletnev faces up to 20 years in prison in Thailand, said Omsin Sukkanka, a Thai investigator working on the case, RIA-Novosti reported.

Several years ago, when Pletnev was touring in Japan, the parents of a Japanese boy accused him of sexually molesting their son, Moskovsky Komsomolets reported Tuesday, without citing any sources.

Russian children's ombudsman Pavel Astakhov called on the Investigative Committee to join in the investigation into Pletnev.

The Foreign and Culture ministries have asked the Russian Embassy in Bangkok to offer consulate assistance to Pletnev.

The earliest that Pletnev might face trial is in April, the Thai police source told Lifenews.ru.

Under terms of an agreement for him to leave the country, he paid a second bail of $6,000 and has to register with the court every 12 days, said the Russian Embassy in Bangkok.

Ex-Boyfriend Calls Spy Suspect Secretive, Smart and Sweet

When Vyacheslav Serkov got a phone call last week from a friend asking whether his former high school sweetheart had been arrested in New York on suspicion of spying, he could not believe his ears.

Serkov, 29, has known Anna Chapman, 28, since they attended eighth grade together at a school in Volgograd. He got the phone call on June 29, a day after the U.S. Justice Department announced that it had arrested Chapman and nine other suspects on suspicion of working for Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service.

While Serkov said Chapman was sometimes secretive, he insisted that there was nothing wrong with that and expressed chagrin at the portrait of Chapman painted by the media.

"She has always been secretive and warmhearted at the same time. There have always been a lot of friends around her," said Serkov, who dated her for more than a year when they were about 15.

He said they had kept in touch even after the breakup and her brief marriage.

"I know her as a very good person, smart and always kind-hearted," he said in a telephone interview from Volgograd.

Chapman — whom Serkov knew as Anya Kushchenko, a diplomat's daughter living with her grandparents in Volgograd — has become the most famous of the 11 suspects in the U.S. spy case, with the media likening her to a foxy James Bond-style spy and her British ex-husband Alex Chapman sharing topless photos and intimate details about their life with the tabloids.

"I'm upset and try not to look at what the media write about her," Serkov said in a sad voice. "I don't believe what they say, that she was a spy …".

Chapman founded a successful real estate web site with her younger sister, Yekaterina, before she moved to New York last year, ostensibly to pursue her career in real estate.

Her sister and mother, Irina Kushchenko, who live in Moscow, also said they could not believe what has happened.

"At first we thought it was some sort of PR trick to attract visitors" to the real estate web site, Yekaterina Kushchenko told Lifenews.ru.

Her mother said Chapman, who was described by U.S. prosecutors as a "highly trained agent "and a "practiced deceiver," had called her parents shortly before her arrest and sounded "frightened" and "shocked".

"Anya called her father and said that someone was trying to frame her," the mother said, Lifenews.ru reported.

Chapman's lawyer, Robert Baum, told journalists last week that his client reached out to her father, veteran diplomat Vasily Kushchenko, a day after an FBI agent posing as a Russian consulate employee asked her to deliver a fake passport in a sting operation.

"He advised her not to hand over anything to anyone and that she should go to the police as soon as possible," her mother said.

The mother said she and her husband would like to hire a good lawyer for their daughter, but they can't afford one. She repeatedly said she believes in her daughter's innocence.

Chapman's friend Serkov said she never was an outspoken Russian patriot and took no interest in politics.

"The only thing she was interested in was business," he said.

Chapman, a 2005 economics graduate of Moscow's Peoples' Friendship University, created her real estate web site several years ago.

Serkov said she was always smart and got top grades in all subjects in school.

"Her main hobby was studying English," he said, adding that she learned it well while living in Africa with her parents.

Her father served as a diplomat in Kenya and Zimbabwe, but they wanted her to get a good education so they sent her to stay with her grandparents in Volgograd during her school years.

"She missed them when they were away," Serkov said.

He said Chapman has changed very little since they dated, so he had trouble reconciling the woman her knew with the one described by her ex-husband.

Chapman met her now ex-husband in London at a party in 2002, and they got married later that year in Moscow. They divorced in Britain four years later. In addition to sharing lurid details about their life together, Alex Chapman has indicated that he had no reason to doubt that his ex-wife was a Russian spy.

"In my personal opinion, he might be just taking revenge on her," Serkov said.

China Beefs up Health Emergency Response to Heat Wave

China's Ministry of Health issued a circular Wednesday advising the nation's medical facilities to gear up for a rise in the number of people suffering from heat-stroke and other heat related ailments given the recent hot temperatures.

The number of people suffering from heat-stroke and related disorders has risen sharply over the last few days, reads the circular without giving specific figures. 

Beijing-based Chaoyang hospital reported a significant increase of cases showing heat-induced symptoms such as dizziness, according to the Health News, the health ministry-run newspaper. 

The hospital has 450 such cases in emergency care each day now, compared to 360 cases just a few days ago. 

The ministry ordered hospitals across the nation to make sure people suffering from heat stroke get timely and proper treatment. 

Beijing reported an average temperature of 40.3 degrees Celsius at 4 p.m. Monday, the highest temperature in the first 10 days of July in 50 years. 

The capital city cooled a little bit Wednesday, and rains are expected for China eastern regions starting Thursday, offering some respite.

China plans railway link with Pakistan

BEIJING: Kashgar -- an important transit point on the ancient Silk Route and a gateway between China and Pakistan -- has earned a special distinction during the ongoing visit of Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari. It has been declared a special economic zone, which is the magic formula that has catapulted several Chinese towns like Shenzhen into world class trading centers. 

The move suggests that Chinese leaders are seriously considering plans to connect Pakistan with rail that would run through the difficult terrain near the Karokoram Highway, which connects Khunjerab Pass with Chinese towns including Kashgar. Indian strategic experts see the proposed railway plan as a serious military infrastructure close to the Indian border, sources said. 

Zardari on Wednesday told a group of officials from the China Northern Railways Corporation that Pakistan was keen to build several new new lines for access to the Central Asia, West Asia and Chinese markets. He requested CNR to form a consortium with Pakistan Railways for to give shape to the plans. 

The announcement makes Kashgar in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the sixth special economic zone in China. This will mean preferential policy support for development of new industries in the city. This will mean a growing market for Pakistani exports. 

Kashgar is also known as a hotbed of Uighur separatists indulging in occasional incidents of violence to press for their demand for an independent East Turkmenistan nation. China has been seeking both intelligence and military support from Pakistan to keep the Uighur militants in check and cut off their links with pro-Taliban forces across its borders. 

At present, the Chinese military is engaged in a joint anti-terrorism exercise with Pakistan forces between July 1 and 11 on the bordering province of Ningxia.The decision to make Kashgar a special economic zone shows that China will rely more heavily on Pakistani military support to keep Islamic militants outside its border while offering Pakistan with a ready market to sell its goods.

First Army march in Srinagar in a decade

NEW DELHI: The rapidly deteriorating situation in J&K forced the government to get the Army march through Srinagar as a deterrent against mobs running riot on the streets in the towns across the Valley. 

This was the first time in over a decade's time that Army had been called out to help stem violence, and the decision, coming against the background of Centre's painstaking effort to show the return of normalcy to the border state, fully brought out the anxiety of authorities in Delhi and Srinagar to the sharp turn of events. 

The government's growing concern found expression in Congress's accusation that Pakistan was behind the trouble. 

Army is being kept on stand-by near population centres as a message to the trouble mongers who, Centre suspects, are working to a plan to reverse the gains - as reflected in the conduct of two successful elections, success against terrorists, diminished support for secessionists and revival of tourism - made over past few years. 

The Centre has been wary of deploying the Army in the valley despite the state government wanting it. The Centre's wariness was on account of the fear of walking into what it considers to be a trap being laid by those inciting violence in the state just when it had appeared to be on the mend. The troops who staged a show of strength - a flag march of sorts - were back to their respective locations within hours. But the sight of the men in olives on the streets of Srinagar revived memories of the troubled eighties when Army had to be deployed to fend off the secessionists. 

A day after mob violence and the resultant police firing claimed three more lives in the trouble-torn Kashmir valley, a worried Cabinet Committee on Security - the government's apex body on security matters - backed "maximum crackdown" on the trouble makers. The CCS, which met at a short notice, also decided to send Union home secretary G K Pillai to take stock of the situation and advise the state government which had looked clueless in the face of spiralling violence. 

CCS identified the failure of the state government to enforce curfews it declared as a serious concern. "Curfews will be fully enforced till normalcy is restored and the violators would be put behind bars," said a senior official. The Centre is particularly apprehensive of what may unroll on Friday when thousands congregate in Srinagar and urban centres for prayers. J&K has a history of prayer gatherings being commandeered by rabble rousers, and the use of loudspeakers in mosques on Tuesday to stoke passions and mobilize crowds against security forces has raised fears of the tactic being used again. 

The cabinet panel, however, also underlined the need for tact so that security forces don't end up playing into the hands of agent provocateurs. It felt that the J&K police should lead the effort to stop violence which has caused over a dozen civilian deaths in the past four weeks, and should be extended full assistance. 

The Army has been instructed to avoid confrontation with crowds. "The Army will not be used for crowd control and would, in fact, avoid direct confrontation with crowds," said a senior official. 

The effort to lower the profile of the Army and central forces seems to be aimed at frustrating those who have used the violence and the response of security forces - ham-handed and excessive in cases - to try to revive the campaign against "Indian occupation". 

The CRPF has also been asked to observe "maximum restraint" and not resort to firing unless asked by the local magistrate. The paramilitary troops manning pickets erected to deal with terror threat and who are heavily armed have also been asked to avoid being baited by forces out to provoke the forces. 

After the meeting of the CCS, Union home minister P Chidambaram summoned CRPF chief Vikram Srivastava to his North Block office and is learnt to have told him to strictly adhere to the do's and don'ts, which include restricting the role of the paramilitary force to assisting the local police. 

Srivastava is believed to have been asked to present a daily report to the home minister till normalcy is restored in the Valley. 

Besides Chidambaram, defence minister A K Antony, cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekar, home secretary Pillai and defence secretary Pradeep Kumar attended the meeting.

Spain head to final thanks to Puyol's sledgehammer

Carles Puyol powered Spain into their first World Cup final with a thunderous second-half header to beat Germany.

The Euro 2008 winners dominated possession in Durban but initially struggled to create clear openings against Joachim Low's impressive young side.

But after failing to break through with their subtle approach, Spain eventually brought out the sledgehammer.

Iker Casillas deserves plenty of credit for his fine save to deny Toni Kroos moments before the goal.

But when midfield schemer Xavi curled a corner deep into the German box, 32-year-old Puyol showed the German young guns what experience can bring as he rose highest and then powered an unstoppable header beyond Manuel Neuer.

For Germany it was a game too far. But with their impressive victories against England and Argentina, they have signalled a new dawn for their national team.

Spain's prowess has been known for some time. That is why they had the strength to leave out a strangely shot-shy Fernando Torres.

And against Holland at Soccer City on Sunday, they will attempt to confirm their class, as FIFA waits to crown a new champion, no matter what the outcome.

It was one of those games that is usually described as being for the purist. An alternative assessment would be boring.

There was nevertheless a bewitching tactical battle that Spain started in the ascendancy and Germany slowly hauled their way back into.

The format was fairly predictable. Spain dominating possession, Xavi and Andres Iniesta attempting to pierce their opponents defence with intelligent and incisive close passing, while Germany looked to hit back with greater power on the counter-attack.

Aiming to become the first team since West Germany in 1972 and 1974 to follow up a European Championship triumph by lifting the World Cup as well, Spain's problem was the ferocious discipline of their opponents' defence.

On their charge to the last four, Mesut Ozil, suspended wide-man Thomas Muller and Miroslav Klose have captured most of the headlines.

But Germany could not function without Arne Friedrich and Per Mertesacker doing the business at the back.

Having axed Torres, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque was putting more responsibility than ever on the shoulders of David Villa.

Yet the Barcelona-bound forward had just one sight of the German goal, when Torres' replacement Pedro threaded a pass through for him to run onto. Neuer was out just as quickly to make a brave block.

Germany hardly touched the ball for 25 minutes and as it turned out, would have probably benefited from a more English-style route one approach.

But when Spain finally paused for breath, Piotr Trochowski, the man entrusted to fill Muller's right-sided berth, forced Iker Casillas into a scrambling low save and thereafter the Spain skipper was the busier goalkeeper until the break.

The interval just triggered a repeat of the opening to the first half, as Spain totally dominated their bewildered opponents without making it count.

Their best opportunity came when Pedro let fly with a speculative effort that was too strong for Neuer to hold.

Andres Iniesta was onto the rebound in a flash, drilling the ball across goal from the left to where Villa, sliding in at the far post, just failed to make contact.

As they had done before, Germany began to make their presence felt midway through the half when Lukas Podolski chipped a cross to the far post which substitute Kroos met perfectly.

In such moments are big matches won and lost. On this occasion Casillas thundered across his goal and made an impressive and important save. Minutes later, Spain had their lead.

That it should come in such a direct manner after the neatness that had gone before just highlights the paradox of the game.

Puyol's skill was to evade the arm grabs that are now commonplace at all corners by beginning his run from deep.

It had the added advantage of giving him the power to ensure once he had got his head to Xavi's corner, Neuer had no chance of keeping the ball out.

Germany did their best to press for an equaliser but in the end, they lacked enough nous.

Indeed, had it not been for the greed of Pedro, who could have presented substitute Torres with a late tap-in, the margin of victory could have been greater.