GERMAN SHOOTS DOWN ITALIANS
Police hunting a German man suspected of shooting two Italians in a pub after a row about the World Cup said Tuesday that both victims were now dead.
Authorities in Hanover, northern Germany said they were searching for the man, a 42-year-old identified only as Holger B., after uncovering surveillance camera footage of the suspect withdrawing money just before the shoot-out.
The argument, which took place early on Monday morning, was apparently about the performances of Italy and Germany in past football World Cups, according to police.
But the bar banter turned deadly when B. left the pub, returned a short time later with a 9mm pistol and shot the two Italians in the head.
One of the victims, a 47-year-old, died mid-morning on Monday of his injuries in hospital. The other, 49, died later.
NOTTHE BOGEYMAN
New France coach Laurent Blanc said it was not his responsibility to take disciplinary action against the players who led a mutiny during the team’s dismal World Cup campaign.
"I followed the events with great sadness. I was disappointed by the results and I was particularly shocked by some behaviour," Blanc, a member of France's World Cup-winning squad in 1998, told a news conference on Tuesday.
"However, I'm not the bogeyman. It is not my responsibility to take disciplinary action."
NO VUVUZELAS AT PAMPLONA
The Spanish city of Pamplona on Monday banned World Cup vuvuzela trumpets on the eve of its famous bull run, with the deafening instrument already popular ahead of Spain's football semifinal.
"The municipality has banned the sale of vuvuzelas in the stands set up for the San Fermin festival, due to the noise disturbance they produce," the mayor of the northern town said in a statement.
The trumpets would produce" unpleasant and dangerous noise for neighbours," the mayor said, the day before the annual San Fermin festival begins, which involves the famous bull run through the streets of Pamplona.
The tuneless, deafening plastic vuvuzelas have become the defining sound of South Africa's World Cup, leaving television networks hunting for
ways to filter out the constant buzz.
GOODLUCK SAVES NIGERIA
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said on Tuesday hundreds of posts on his Facebook page had helped persuade him to reverse his suspension of the national soccer team from international competitions.
Jonathan on Monday rescinded a two-year suspension imposed following the side's embarrassing performance in the World Cup. The Super Eagles were knocked out in the first round after failing to win a game.
"To Suleiman Musa, Nwanze Francis Uchenna and Ifade Udunayo Peter and the hundreds of Nigerians who appealed to me on this page, I have listened to your voices and those of others," Jonathan said.
"We must now work together to make sure that the Nigerian Football Federation and our players do us proud in future events," he wrote on the social networking site.
The presidency confirmed late last month that Jonathan had launched a page on Facebook.
The leader of Africa's most populous nation has more than 75,000 Facebook followers and lists his political views as "moderate".
BALLON D'OR, GOLDEN BALL SET FOR MERGER
FIFA unveiled on Monday a deal with France Football to present a new global soccer award that combines the "Ballon d'Or" or Golden Ball
prize with the World Player of „ie Year trophy.
The first "FIFA Ballon d'Or" prize will be awarded in Switzerland on January 10 next year, officials said at a news conference on the sidelines of the World Cup.
"1 am a very happy president today," enthused FIFA president Sepp Blatter, signing the agreement with Marie-Odile Amaury, president of the group that owns the France Football publication which had been making the annual Ballon d'Or award.
Coaches and captains of national teams, as well as media, will vote for the new award.
Argentina's Lionel Messi is this year’s FIFA World Player of the Year, while German's Lothar Matthaeus won the first one in 1991. Messi also took the 2009 Ballon d'Or, which stretches back to 1956 which, under the title of European Football of the Year, was won by England's Stanley Matthews.