2 suicide bombs kill 20 Afghan civilians near NATO base

Four provincial governors from the south were at a meeting at the sprawling NATO base at the airport when the attack took place, General Abdul Hameed, Afghan army commander for the southern region, told Reuters.
“The bomb exploded near the airport in a crowded area, killing 20 civilians and wounding 22,” said Ahmad Faisal, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
A spokesman for the NATO-led force said he had no immediate information.
Violence has surged across Afghanistan since the Taliban began a spring offensive in April, vowing to target the Afghan government and security forces, as well as the 130,000 foreign troops in the country.
Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, has seen some of the worst attacks.

A suicide bomber on a motorbike struck on Wednesday outside the airport in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar killing 20 Afghan civilians, officials said, in one of the most serious attacks in terms of civilian casualties in recent weeks.

Back and Better: Beyonce returns to the stage

After a nine-month break, former Destiny Child singer Beyonce returns to the stage without showing signs of rustiness.
The singer who recently delivered a daughter for his rapper spouse, Jay-Z made her first performance comeback at the Revel casino in New Jersey.

Singer and music producer Solomon Oyeniyi, popularly known as K-Solo has reacted to the disparaging interview granted to a soft sell magazine by his six months old wife, Kikelomo Akinkunmi.

K-Solo reacts to wife’s disparaging interview

Although the ‘My Way’ singer refuses to respond to all the allegations unitarily, he said most of the allegations by his wife are far from the truth.
“Don’t believe all you read; things are not the way they appear,” K-Solo said. “We are just a young couple with our challenges”.
His wife had alleged, amongst other things, battery, extramarital affairs and con activities in an interview published by City People Magazine on Wednesday June 6, 2012.
A close associate of the couple who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed exclusively to Channels Entertainment team that K-Solo had moved out of their home four months after they were married.
“He mostly sleeps in the studio now,” the source explains. “I think she has a sinister motive granting that interview because right before the interview was published, they are on the verge of reconciliation.  I saw him shortly after the interview went viral and he said he wasn’t going to make the situation more complicated by making comments because he believes she still his wife,” the source continued.
He also said that there is a pending court case between the couples which he believes will now be more complicated because of the interview.
Oyeniyi and Akinkunmi got married in November last year at a lavish Lagos ceremony.

Capital One, new sponsor of English League Cup

The league cup has called Carling Cup since 2003 when Carling took over the sponsorship of the knock-out tournament.

The tournament which is between English club sides is a less prestigious cup if compared to the FA cup but advantageous for the winner of the major cup who gets a spot in the year’s Europa league.
The draw for the 2012-2013 first round will be made on June 14.
Richard Heaselgrave, chief commercial officer of the Football League, said it is a very great way for the 2011-2012 seasons to end as sealing the deal with Capital One is good news for the League.
This year’s competition was won by Liverpool who beat Cardiff City in a dramatic final after a 2-2 score line after extra-time went to penalties.

The English League Cup known to football lovers and English Club Football lovers alike as the Carling Cup due to Carling’s sponsorship of the cup has been taken over credit card company; Capital One and will also be known as Capital One Cup from 2012-2013 as the new title sponsor for the next four seasons as the new deal has been signed and agreed upon.

Nigeria’s position in FIFA ranking improves

According to FIFA’s latest ranking for the month of June, the Super Eagles moved up by three places to the 60th spot, with 520 points.
The rise is coming after last week’s 1-0 victory over Namibia during the World Cup qualifiers, played in Calabar.
World Cup winner, Spain, maintains the lead on FIFA’s list which ranks 206-nations, while Uruguay and Germany swapped places to be second and third.
Netherlands, Brazil, England, Argentina, Croatia, Denmark and Portugal, follow subsequently.
Cote d’Ivoire is the top African nation on the list, although they dropped one step to 16th position, while Ghana is ranked 25^th, dropped three places.
Other African nations ahead of Nigeria are Algeria (32, up by six steps), Libya (42, up by four steps), Mali (43, dropped four steps); Zambia (43, dropped by three steps) and Tunisia (46, up by 10 places).
Others are Egypt (48, up by nine spots); Gabon (49, dropped seven steps); and Sierra Leone (59, up by two spots).

After months of persistent slide on FIFA’s monthly ranking, Nigeria has moved up on FIFA’s ranking.

Al-Farouq Aminu - basketball royalty

Among one of the pillars on which the Nigerian D ‘Tigers hope to lean on heavily in July at OQT in Venezuela will be the regal professional Al-Farouq Aminu. Royal - because Aminu can trace his roots all the way back to that of a Nigerian King. His name means " the chief that has come"
Professional - because that’s what he is on the court, a NBA Hornet.

Hope - because nothing is etched in stone yet
A member of the 2008 McDonalds All American team he almost had his career derailed when he was found guilty of shooting a pedestrian with an Air gun and was subsequently put on probation. But that was a long time ago and he has since that idiotic prank, virtually reinvented himself.
Also American by birth , he is also the younger brother to the ex Georgia Teach star Alade who currently plays in France
Aminu opted to return home to West Africa and help Nigeria in her quest to obtain one of the three remaining spots for the London 2012 Olympics. At 6 ‘8 the small forward has an amazing 7-3 ¼ wingspan and could easily be played as a power forward.
So it’s interesting to see how the Nigerians will utilize him in a mere three weeks. Not that it matters because even as a water boy he will be a plus because of his focus.With an awesome work ethic Aminu is comfortable at both ends of the floor and if he could just sharpen his shooting a little more, would be an even more vicious weapon in the D' Tigers arsenal.
Nigeria has been grouped along with Lithuania and host Venezuela.

Mourinho slams Spain after Italy draw

Jose Mourinho © Reuters Images

11 June 2012, 09:34

Sunday's 1-1 draw against Italy in the Uefa Euro 2012™ Group C opener produced bittersweet feelings in Spain.
On the one hand, their was a sense of relief that the world champions managed to battle out a draw, thanks to an equalizer from Cesc Fabregas just three minutes' after Antonio Di Natale had given Italy the lead.
However, there was also disappointment that Fernando Torres wasted several good chances at the end to give Spain victory.
"We Wasted Too Many Chances", said the headline in sports daily Marca on Monday in reference to the late misses of substitute Torres.
Marca was fairly positive about the experiment of national manager Vicente del Bosque to field an innovative 4-2-4-0 lineup without a centre-forward.
"The idea seemed to be to bring on Torres towards the end to take advantage of a tired Italian defence," Marca said. "The only thing that went wrong was that Torres missed all three of his chances."
As spoke of "A Draw Between Two Good Teams" and was full of praise for Cesare Prandelli's Italian side, especially for veterans Di Natale, Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon.
AS criticised Del Bosque for including three centre-forwards in his squad - Torres, Fernando Llorente and Alvaro Negredo - then not starting with any of them, saying that it was not a "well thought-out decision" but rather a "last-minute response" to the absence of injured striker David Villa.
"It's no use having Xavi, (Andres) Iniesta and Fabregas knocking the ball around if they do not create danger in Buffon's area," AS quoted Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, who was present in Gdansk, as saying.
"There was a great effort from the midfielders but this was rather sterile because of the lack of a forward."
The Spanish newspapers were in agreement about the poor condition of the pitch in Gdansk, with Catalan daily Sport calling it "dry, uneven and fragile."
With regards to the situation in Group C - in which Croatia are top after beating Ireland 3-1 - there is a consensus in Spain that the world champions now have no choice but to beat Ireland on Thursday.
"Thursday's game has to be a win," said radio station Cadena COPE. "Otherwise it will be a tense situation on the last day (June 18), with Spain needing to beat Croatia but also needing to depend on the result of the Italy-Ireland