BBC Panorama exposes 3 top senior FIFA officials in bribery scandal.

In programme broadcast by BBC on Monday evening, Panorama reported that three senior Fifa officials who will vote on the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids took bribes in the 1990s.

Ricardo Teixeira, Issa Hayatou and Nicolas Leoz took the money from a sport marketing firm awarded lucrative World Cup rights, the programme alleges.

BBC Panorama exposes 3 top senior FIFA officials in bribery scandal.

Oracle Octopus Paul to Retire.

At last octopus paul who predicted the FIFA WC 2010, is set to get away from the media and the world eye.

The Sea Life Oberhausen aquarium's spokeswoman Tanja Munzig told AP Television News on Monday that the intuitive invertebrate will "go into retirement and do what he likes to do best: play with his handlers and delight children who come visit to him."

Oberhausen is located in Germany, where Octopus Paul was born.

Oracle Octopus Paul to Retire.

Nelson Mandela under pressure from FIFA to attend FIFA WC 2010

Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela says the former South African president has been put under "extreme pressure" by Fifa Governing Body to attend Sunday's World Cup final.

Nelson Mandela will be 92 years old by next week.

Nelson Mandela cancelled plans to attend the opening ceremony after his great-granddaughter died in a car crash the night before the tournament.

Fifa head Sepp Blatter has said it will be "wonderful" if Mr Mandela attends.

Speaking to the BBC, Mandla Mandela said: "We've come under extreme pressure from Fifa (the governing body of world football) requiring and wishing that my grandfather be at the final.

Nelson Mandela under pressure from FIFA to attend FIFA WC 2010

Clash of Oracles, Octopus Paul v/s Parrot Mani Parakeet.

Both of the Animal Oracle had delivered the results. Octopus Paul form Germany had selected Spain to be FIFA WC 2010 champions, where as Muniyappan's Mani Parakeet which is professional fortune teller in the streets of Singapore had picked Holland to the World Champions 2010.

People are seeking Mani's help to win bets on the World Cup matches, according to a report by the Channel News Asia.

Muniyapan, Mani's owner of Indian origin, said he was now getting 10 customers in an hour compared to 10 on a regular day due to growing popularity of his parrot.

Clash of Oracles, Octopus Paul v/s Parrot Mani Parakeet.

Its not octopus paul, but the parrot mani parakeet predicting the FIFA WC 2010

The world and football frenzy guys are after the Germany's Octopus paul which almost attained superstar and almighty deity status among football fans.Paul is an octopus that lives at the Sea Life Centre in Oberhausen, Germany. But its the Mani's parrot parakeet which is predicting all the FIFA WC football matches and it seems that all of its predictions are true.

13-year-old parakeet only has a little cage to call home, although he is taken care of with tender loving care.

He and his master, fortune-teller Mr Muniyappan, ply their trade along the narrow five-footways of Little India, awaiting customers like curious locals and tourists who want a peek into their future.

Its not octopus paul, but the parrot mani parakeet predicting the FIFA WC 2010

Sepp Blatter apologises to England, Mexico for Referee Mistakes.

(AP) With pressure for video replay mounting after two blatant missed calls at the World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said soccer's governing body will reopen the issue after the tournament.

Blatter said Tuesday that FIFA deplores ``when you see the evidence of refereeing mistakes.'' It would be ``a nonsense'' not to consider changes, he said.

The referee at England's second-round match with Germany on Sunday missed a clear English goal that would have tied the score 2-2. Germany went on to win 4-1. Hours later, a referee awarded a goal to Argentina on a play in which goal-scorer Carlos Tevez was obviously offside. Argentina went on to beat Mexico 3-1.

Sepp Blatter apologises to England, Mexico for Referee Mistakes.

Man kills girl for crying during WC match on TV

A man beat his two-year-old stepdaughter then suffocated her to death in an American town for crying during a World Cup football match between the US and Ghana which the latter won. To make the killing look accidental, he jammed a screw down her throat.

Hector Castro, 28, has been arrested for murdering in McAllen city in Texas Saturday. Ghana beat the US 2-1.

The Monitor quoted McAllen police chief Victor Rodriguez as saying: "There are no words for this. It makes you want to think about doing lots of things to this guy, but he will face the criminal justice system just like everybody else."

Man kills girl for crying during WC match on TV

Thulani Ngcobo is the FIFA World Cup Fan No. 1[OFFICIAL].

Thulani Ngcobo, a resident of the Soshanguve Township outside Pretoria can now officially claim the title of South Africa's No. 1 football fan after he set a new world record for attending the most matches at a World Cup tournament.

He has so far attended 38 matches.

Thulani Ngcobo is the FIFA World Cup Fan No. 1[OFFICIAL].

US Football match might set new Net Record.

The match between the U.S. and Algeria on Wednesday could set a new record for internet traffic.

Akamai's Net Usage Index, which tracks visitors per minute on the company's vast network of websites. In the minutes following Landon Donovan's game winning goal in the 91st minute of action (which sent the US to the round of 16), traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, which move the event past the 2008 presidential election as the second highest traffic day of all-time.

The overall traffic record was set earlier this month during the first day of World Cup action, where traffic exceeded 12 million visitors per minute. We'll wait and see what the final numbers are from Akamai, but for the moment, it looks like Donovan's goal will go down in Internet history at least as a solid No. 2.

US Football match might set new Net Record.

Lets know the History of FIFA World Cup Balls.

Fifa World Cup was held in the following years 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010. One thing is sure Adidas still holds the monopoly for making Official FIFA World Cup Ball. Upto now all the balls were manufactured by Adidas.

Telstar

Telstar was a design of association football made by Adidas. It was the official match ball of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.

It was painted with black and white panels so it was more visible on black-and-white television. The name Telstar one of the first communications satellites, which was roughly spherical and dotted with solar panels, somewhat similar in appearance to the football.

Lets know the History of FIFA World Cup Balls.

World Cup vuvuzelas buzz on internet.

On 19/6/2010 morning, there were roughly 30 vuvuzela-themed smartphone apps for the open-source Android platform. Another dozen or so were in the Apple's App Store, which sells apps for the iPhone and iPad. Most of these apps turn phones into digital vuvuzelas.

During every World Cup match, thousands of fans, seemingly with lungs like bellows, honk the buzzing horns from start to finish, a nod to South African culture but one that has led some players to complain about being distracted.

World Cup vuvuzelas buzz on internet.

Is Leader Kim Jong-il help coaching the North Korea Football Team??

The country's latest claim is a mysterious phone that allows Dear Leader Kim Jong-il help coach the team from afar.

North Korean manager Kim Jong-Hun reportedly gets coaching advice directly from the country's diminutive dictator via an invisible cell phone.

According to ESPN.com the coach has claimed he gets "regular tactical advice during matches" from Jong Il "using mobile phones that are not visible to the naked eye."

"Jong Il is said to have developed the technology himself," coach told ESPN.com.

Is Leader Kim Jong-il help coaching the North Korea Football Team??

iVuvuzela apps, hit with iPhone users.

An iPhone application that mimics the blasting of the African trumpet, however, has been downloaded more than a million times.

The app was designed by a Dutch duo. The Dutch have been the most vociferous in their disdain for the cacophonous horn, with coach Bert van Marwijk banning them from his team's training sessions and Dutch striker Robin van Persie blaming vuvuzelas on his inability to hear a referee's whistle.

"It's the Vuvuzela jackpot," said Jeroen Retrae, co-designer of the iVuvuzela at http://moblio.nl/

After gaining only a few thousand downloads since its launch eight months ago, downloads exploded after the start of the tournament, mostly from the United Kingdom, Germany and France.

iVuvuzela apps, hit with iPhone users.

FIFA fever kicks up cyber malware attacks.

A fake website, sourced from Symantec.

Symantec, a leading internet security firm, warns that this time around, spammers are also optimising their fake websites. Hapless net users mistake these sites for original FIFA websites and end up paying for content or stuff that does not exist. Malicious activity on the web is known to be significantly high in countries, where new internet bandwidth is made available. South Africa's new tech infrastructure, and the huge interest that the FIFA events generate, creates a “perfect storm” for cyber criminals, says Shantanu Ghosh, Vice President, India Product Operations, Symantec.

So, if you click on a colourful file attached to a cleverly-worded email from the “Canada Lottery — Soccer World Cup 2010 Promotional Draw,” for instance, be prepared to get sucked into an elaborate scam, involving your financial details, accounts and your computer. The Symantec also warns against falling for “promotional offers” from hotels in South Africa, that even throw in a free ticket for one of the matches.

FIFA fever kicks up cyber malware attacks.

Google’s 3-D Images of the World Cup Stadiums [VIDEO].

Internet giant Google introduced some of the fruits of its labor, including 360-degree pictures from the country’s soccer stadiums and maps with information on some of South Africa’s most important sights.

To get shots from inside the buildings, Google used what it calls the Street View Trike — a bulky tricycle with cameras mounted on it. The video of the tricycle in use shows a sometimes-tired looking employee pedaling through the stadiums; he’s not moving quickly, but he makes sure to wear a helmet.

Google’s 3-D Images of the World Cup Stadiums [VIDEO].

World Cup related traffic can crash twitter.

Twitter, which has suffered a series of outages this week, has warned that there could be more problems amid heavy World Cup traffic.

Mr Jean-Paul Cozzatti, a Twitter engineer, said on the Twitter blog that the micro-blogging service's problems this week were due to an internal network being over-capacity.

Mr Cozzatti said Twitter was doubling capacity and re balancing traffic on the network to redistribute the load.

When Twitter goes down, a picture of a whale — known as the "fail whale" — appears on Twitter.com and Mr Cozzatti said his engineering team was hoping for fewer appearances by the creature.

"You may still see the whale when there are unprecedented spikes in traffic," he said on Friday.

World Cup related traffic can crash twitter.

Twitter Launches Official World Cup Tracking Page.

The FIFA World Cup 2010 is officially opened and football fever is touching its new height. In order to make it easier to follow news and updates about specific teams and matches, Twitter has launched a brand new World Cup portal page.

The new page is smartly designed, displaying upcoming matches, the most interesting tweets (as determined by Twitter’s algorithm) and Twitter staff picks for relevant users to follow.

Twitter Launches Official World Cup Tracking Page.

Yahoo World Cup Shootout Game to Raise $100k to Fight AIDS in Africa.

World Cup 2010 is officially underway and to celebrate, Yahoo and (RED) have teamed up to donate $1 for every goal scored today via Yahoo Penalty Shootout to help eliminate AIDS in Africa.

Yahoo’s Penalty Shootout online game launched in May. The game tasks users to try their hand at winning a penalty shootout against friends or strangers. You can choose your country and challenge one of your Yahoo or Facebook friends to a shootout duel. For each shootout, you’ll play the part of both the striker and the goalie, selecting a portion of the goal to either attack or defend.

Yahoo World Cup Shootout Game to Raise $100k to Fight AIDS in Africa.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins twitter for world cup.

Blatter's account, @seppblatter, went live on Thursday on the eve of the tournament's opening game and the 74-year-old Swiss had already amassed almost 3,000 followers by the early evening.

Blatter is more fortunate than many of the players at the tournament in being able to use the micro-blogging service.

Netherlands players have been banned from using Twitter during the World Cup after Eljero Elia sparked a racism row with comments on a live streaming video.

Src & Text: [reuters]

FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins twitter for world cup.

FIFA 2010 has £6.2bn insurance, says Lloyd's

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa has been insured for more than £6.2bn, according to Lloyd's of London, the world's biggest insurance market.

Football world governing body Fifa, national teams, broadcasters and other firms with a stake in the tournament's success have all taken out policies.

Stadiums and training venues for the World Cup matches are covered to the tune of £3.2bn, underwriters say.

• Property - £3bn
• Contingency - £3bn
• Liability - £200m

Source: Lloyd's

But other business opportunities linked to the event account for another £3bn.

FIFA 2010 has £6.2bn insurance, says Lloyd's