David Beckham Retires From Soccer, Ending Storied Career

David Beckham, who starred for Manchester United, Real Madrid and England's national team before heading to the United States and Paris, is retiring. The news was confirmed Thursday by England's Football Association.

The midfielder played his first game for Manchester United in 1992 and eventually rose to become captain of England's international team for more than 50 games, including several World Cup tournaments. He appeared in 115 matches for the squad.

The site of the English national squad posted these comments from Beckham, on his retirement:

"I feel now is the right time to finish my career, playing at the highest level.
"I want to thank all my team-mates, the great managers that I had the pleasure of learning from. I also want to thank the fans who have all supported me and given me the strength to succeed.
"If you had told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over 100 times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy."
"I'm fortunate to have realised those dreams."
As he rose to international fame, Beckham also became a style icon and gained fame for his deadly ability to beat goaltenders on free kicks, a talent that even inspired a movie, Bend It Like Beckham.

"Despite the offer of an extended one-year deal at Paris Saint-German, the 38-year-old has played his last game, bowing out on a high after helping Carlo Ancelotti's side win the French title for the first time in 19 years," reports The Daily Mail.

Before this season, Beckham spent six years with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, where he helped boost interest in the league. The team won two championships in Beckham's final two seasons with the squad.

Prior to this season, Beckham returned to Europe with his wife, Victoria, and their children.

"We're never going to replace David Beckham," Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena told the Los Angeles Times this week. "David Beckham is a global personality, and he was tremendous for our franchise, tremendous for the league."

Update at 11:25 a.m. ET. More From Beckham:

Beckham has posted a statement on his Facebook page that includes the paragraphs quoted above. Here is the rest of the statement:

"To this day, one of my proudest achievements is captaining my country. I knew every time I wore the Three Lions shirt, I was not only following in a long line of great players, I was also representing every fan that cared passionately about their country. I'm honoured to represent England both on and off the pitch.
"I wouldn't have achieved what I have done today without my family. I'm grateful for my parents' sacrifice, which made me realise my dreams. I owe everything to Victoria and the kids, who have given me the inspiration and support to play at the highest level for such a long period. I also want to thank Simon Fuller and his team for their continued support.
"I want to thank all my team-mates, the great managers that I had the pleasure of learning from. I also want to thank the fans who have all supported me and given me the strength to succeed.
"Nothing will ever completely replace playing the game I love, however I feel like I'm starting a new adventure and I'm genuinely excited about what lies ahead. I'm fortunate to have been given many
opportunities throughout my career and now I feel it's my time to give back."

Courtesy:

Bill Chappell 

npr.org 

dailymail.co.uk

Tribute to All Mothers!

'Dear Mom, 

Thanks for Rocking Those Gigantic Varicose Veins, Which I Caused'

In search of a greeting card that does justice to the drastic, often permanent physical changes women's bodies undergo when they become mothers...

Photo culled from The Atlantic

Every Mother is required to ...

"... For the love of Mothers"

Saturday Fashion News Roundup! Nigeria’s Tiffany Amber Takes Fashion Retail To Another Level

Tiffany Amber, creatively directed by Folake Coker- a 15 year brand developed in Nigeria has embarked upon its global expansion plans with three new retail outlets launching in the second quarter of this year. The Spring/Summer 2013 Collection of Tiffany Amber will now be sold at Italy’s Leading Department Store – La Rinascente from April 2013.

Folake Coker

In addition to Europe, Tiffany Amber is also concentrating its expansion efforts on the brand’s home Continent of Africa where they are launching an in-store concession in Ghana’s largest and most respected boutique, Viva on 27 April 2013 bringing its ready-to-wear label to the discerning Ghanaian fashionista.

This move to Ghana will be followed by a partnership with leading South African Salon Store, Merchants on Long in Cape Town, a store that specializes in contemporary African design stocking fashion, art and homeware sourced from around the continent.

Story by: Desola Ade-Unuigbe

British Vogue unveils Miss Vogue

The British edition of the fashion bible has welcomed little sister, Miss Vogue, into the fashion fold.

The first ever issue comes packaged with the June issue of Vogue and stars a smiling Cara Delevingne on its cover. It's the first time the British edition of the famed publication has turned its hand to catering to a younger readership.

"We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed working on it," says Alexandra Shulman in her editor's letter, which is accompanied by an image of her 15-year-old self." 

Voguemagazine appeals to all ages but I wanted to produce an edition targeted at younger readers, created with your lifestyles in mind. As with the mother magazine, the fashion is meant to inspire even if you're a bit short on cash."

Contributors to the debut issue include Cara, who shot the cover just a matter of days after returning to London following her marathon month of catwalking at the autumn/winter 2013 shows, Pixie Geldof, Henry Holland, model Sam Rollinson and wacky design due Meadham Kirchhoff.

Cover star Delevingne, the brightest modelling talent of the moment, is described by Shulman as " Miss Vogue made physical" thanks to her "maverick sense of style and fun" - and in a nice parallel, Kate Moss, the mother of all British models, appears on the cover of the flagship issue, her 32nd for the publication.

The issue has been put together by members of the existing Vogue team but it's not yet known whether further issues will be produced.

Kate Moss covers the June issue of Vogue. Photo: Patrick Demarchelier

Story by: Bibby Sowray, Telegraph.

The Daily Beast, HuffPost Live and New York Times among Webby Award winners

The annual awards for 'excellence on the internet' recognised a number of news and media outlets

News organisations such as the New York Times, BBC and Forbes joined digital-only news outlets including Pitchfork, The Daily Beast and the Huffington Post on the list of Webby Award winners for 2013 published today.

The awards are given for "excellence on the internet", and are organised into main categories, such as web, online film and video, mobile and apps, and social. Each category is then broken-down into sub-categories, which feature a Webby Winner, decided by a panel of judges, and a People's Voice winner, based on an online public vote.

The Daily Beast was named the Webby Winner in the web category for news for the second year running. The Daily Beast is part of Newsweek which announced a move to digital-only at the end of last year. The Huffington Post won the People's Voice in the same category.

Other winners include Pitchfork in the web category for best visual design and function in recognition for its cover stories, such as this feature on Bat For Lashes.

BBC Olympics took away the People's Voice award in the web category for best use of moving image or video.

The New Yorker won the Webby Award in the web category of best writing (editorial), while the Verge picked up the People's Voice in the same category.

Forbes Media was the Webby Award winner in the web category for magazines, with Wired named at the People's Voice. Mashable was named both Webby Winner and the People's Voice in the web category for business blogs, while Nate Silver's New York Times blog FiveThirtyEight won the Webby Award in the web category for political blogs.

In the online film and video category HuffPost Live was the Webby winner for best news and information channel. Journalism.co.uk spoke to president and co-creator of HuffPost Live Roy Sekoff just last month, six months after the launch of the live video discussion platform.

Also in the online film and video category Vice was named both Webby Winner and People's Voice for both news and politics (individual episode), in recognition for its Mexican Morman War video and the news and politics (series) category for Vice News.

In the mobile and apps category, CNNMoney's mobile web won the Webby Award for news (handheld devices), while TechCrunch took the Webby Award in the news (tablet and other devices) category.

Al Jazeera English's new iPad magazine, which launched in September last year, took the People's Voice award in the news (tablet and other devices) category.

In the social category the New York Times received both the Webby Award and the People's Voice award. Last year Journalism.co.uk reported on the different ways the New York Times uses social media to engage with its online community.

Courtesy: Journalism.co.uk
Story by: Rachel McAthy

Jon Hamm on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Jon Hamm discusses the sixth season of "Mad Men" and his pending marriage to Aasif Mandvi. 

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.




Courtesy:
Youtube

Ghana's Daily Minimum Wage now GHȻ5.24

The Daily Minimum Wage is now pegged at GHȻ5.24 It has been increased by 17 per cent from GHc4.48 by the National Tripartite Committee (NTC) at the consultation of its 2013 National Daily Minimum Wage (NDMW) meeting on April 30, 2013.

It takes effect from May 1, 2013.

This was contained in a communiqué jointly signed by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Nii Armah Ashietey for government, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), Mr Alex Frimpong for the President of GEA and General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr Kofi Asamoah for Organised labour.

“Any establishment, institution or organisation whose daily minimum wage is below the new National Daily Minimum Wage should adjust its wages upward accordingly,” it said.

It said the committee had recommended that the NDMW should be tax exempt.

The National Tripartite Committee reiterated its commitment to the improvement of incomes and productivity in both the public and private sectors.

"I think this is terrible... what happened to sustainability..."

Courtesy:
myjoyonline

How true...Something Has to be Done!

Well this picture says it all...but all the same,something can be done and as a matter of fact something IS being done to attempts to address this challenge by ensuring that kids grow up with that zeal and passion intact.

With the aim of establishing science labs in basic schools in a third world country where kids

find it difficult to understand the basic concepts of science largely due to the fact that

their schools lack the necessary logistics to do so, the dexter's lab project hopes that with the establishing of these lab's, the passion for science would find deeper roots in their hearts that cannot be uprooted hence raising a generation of scientist destined to change their nation and world at large. 

G+ this post to help raise awareness about this project.

Like and share on facebook to help raise awareness

Follow on twitter for updates on its progress

www.indiegogo.com/dexterslab

picture courtesy: "science is awesome" facebook page.

Boston Marathon bomber manhunt: Police nab suspect alive

BOSTON—Police have nabbed the 19-year-old suspected Boston Marathon bomber, after a day-long manhunt that completely shut down the city of Boston and several suburbs.

An ambulance arrived at the scene to take the suspect, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, to a hospital. A volley of gunfire had been heard in the Watertown area around 7:00 p.m., and police told residents to stay inside and shelter in place as SWAT teams rushed in.

Tsarnaev was found in a boat in the yard of a home on Franklin Street, close to where he and his older brother engaged in a shootout with police nearly 24 hours earlier. Police could be heard calling to him to come out with his hands up.

A neighbor told ABC News that the homeowner had discovered Tsarnaev when he saw blood on the outside of his boat and then lifted the cover to find a person inside.

Watertown residents--finally able to leave their homes around 8:45 p.m.--broke into cheers and applauded police officers after word spread that the suspect was in custody.

Just a few hours earlier, police announced that the 19-year-old suspected bomber had so far eluded capture after fleeing from police on foot early Friday morning.

Thousands of law enforcement officers conducted a nearly 24-hour door-to-door manhunt for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is believed to have helped his brother plant two bombs near the finish line at Monday's Boston Marathon that wounded more than 170 people and left three dead.

Officials announced at 6:00 p.m. news conference that they had been unable to apprehend the suspect, despite combing through a 20-block area of the Boston suburb of Watertown and shutting down the city's entire public transportation system in an effort to prevent him from fleeing. They said they did not know if he had a car, or if he was still on foot.

Gov. Deval Patrick lifted his previous "shelter in place," or lockdown, order for the city of Boston and many surrounding areas of the city at 6:00 p.m.. But Patrick urged Bostonians to continue to be "vigilant" as the "very dangerous" armed suspect has not been apprehended.

An overnight police chase and shootout left Dzhokhar's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev dead and Dzhokhar on the lam.

Federal investigators had released photos and videos of the two men hours earlier, showing them in the vicinity of the marathon finish line before the twin explosions. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was seen placing a backpack on the ground minutes before the blast, investigators said.

One police officer was killed and another seriously wounded during the violent spree. The city of Boston and its surrounding areas ground to a standstill for hours as police went door to door searching for the suspect in the suburb of Watertown.

Police said they had uncovered several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Watertown and in the brothers' home in Cambridge.

Tsarnaev is a student at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The Tsarnaev family is originally from Chechnya, a volatile and once war-torn southern Russian republic. The family fled to Kyrgyzstan and eventually immigrated to the United States as refugees about 10 years ago.



Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the dead suspect, studied at a local community college and was a Golden Gloves boxer. He also reportedly had a wife and young child. The FBI questioned him two years ago for terrorist ties at the request of a foreign government, but cleared him, according to the AP.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was remembered by former classmates as bright and personable, posted links to pro-Chechnyan independence sites on his social media page, and listed his world view as "Islam." It's unknown if either the separatist politics of Chechnya or their religion had anything to do with the suspects' motivations.

Tsarnaev appeared to be posting to his Twitter account even after the marathon attacks, writing in his last post on Wednesday, "I'm a stress free kind of guy." His posts covered everything from cute photos of his cat to rap lyrics.

In an interview with The New York Times, the suspects' father said Tamerlan had been unable to become a U.S. citizen because he was arrested for hitting his girlfriend, and that he traveled to Russia last year to live for six months and renew his passport. Dzhokhar is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

The suspects' uncle, when told that one of his nephews was killed by the local CBS News station, replied that he deserved it.

“He deserved his. He absolutely deserved his,” Ruslan Tsarni said. “They do not deserve to live on this earth.”

Later, in an emotional press conference outside his home in Maryland, Tsarni said his nephews had brought shame upon his family, and called them "losers." He speculated that they were not "able to settle themselves" and were "angry at everyone who was able to." He said he did not believe they were motivated by radical politics in Chechnya or their Muslim religion.

"Dzhokhar, If you're alive, turn yourself in and ask for forgiveness from the victims [and] the injured," he said. "He put a shame on our family. He put a shame on the entire Chechnyan ethnicity. Turn yourself in."

He added that he hadn't been in touch with the family for several years but would not say why.

"I'm ready to kneel in front of them and ask their forgiveness," Tsarni said of the victims of his nephews' crime. "I respect this country; I love this country ... this country that gives everybody chance to be treated like human being." Other family members, including an aunt and the brothers' father, said they did not believe the brothers could have planted bombs.

The University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth announced shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Friday that they were evacuating the entire campus after learning Tsarnaev is a registered student there.

Earlier, at sunrise Friday, Gov. Patrick ordered a shutdown of all public transit and for residents in the city of Boston and on its edges to stay indoors. Amtrak also shut down all trains between Boston and New York.

"We cannot continue to lock down an entire city or an entire state," Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben told reporters. He added that he believes the suspect is still in the state, but would not elaborate.

Boston and the surrounding areas of Watertown, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge, Newton, Allston and Brighton were placed on lockdown for most of Friday. A no-fly zone was declared over Watertown. The city of Boston was eerily quiet for much of the day, the city's busy intersections totally abandoned.

The mayhem began at approximately 10:20 p.m. Thursday in Cambridge when police said the bombing suspects shot and killed an MIT campus officer, Sean Collier, 26. The terror suspects then carjacked a Mercedes-Benz SUV with the driver inside and fled, eventually letting the driver go unharmed.

The suspects were then spotted in Watertown, where federal agents swarmed in. At approximately 3:30 a.m., Massachusetts State

Police issued a plea on Twitter for residents of Watertown to lock their doors and not open them for anyone, as dozens of police officers, many of them off duty, searched backyards and exteriors of houses there, and a police perimeter of several blocks was established.

Worried residents were also told to turn off their cell phones out of fear that they could trigger improvised explosive devices.

The suspects exchanged dozens of rounds of gunfire with patrol officers, and lobbed IEDs out of their vehicle, injuring several officers.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot by police and brought to Beth Israel Medical Center. He arrived at the hospital under cardiac arrest with multiple gunshot wounds and blast-like injuries to his chest. The second suspect fled on foot.

A transit police officer, Richard H. Donohue, was seriously wounded during the exchange of gunfire, officials said.

K9 units and SWAT teams searched homes on Spruce Street as officers with a police robot searched an SUV that the suspects had abandoned. Multiple devices were left in the road and two handguns were recovered, according to police scanners.

"We believe this to be a terrorist," said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, of Tsarnaev. "We believe this to be a man who has come here to kill people. We need to get him into custody."

[Related: FBI releases photos of suspects in Boston Marathon bombings]

Police in Watertown, Newton, Brighton and Cambridge were put on high alert. "Units use caution," an officer said. "He might have an explosive object on his person."



Police were able to track down images of the suspects after a victim of the attacks, Jeff Bauman, came to them with a description, Bloomberg reported Thursday. Bauman's legs were torn apart by the bomb.


Courtesy: yahoo news

Psy’s New Single Is Out! Hear ‘Gentleman’ Now

Of course, the question on everyone's mind is, does the new tune gallop like "Gangnam"? General

consensus around the Web is that Psy hasn't strayed far from what worked (very well) for him. "Gentleman" has a driving beat, a repeated catchphrase ("mother father gentleman"), and Korean words that will doubtlessly have nonspeakers scratching their heads.

Is this repetition of sorts a good thing? Critical reviews are mixed, with the expected cheerful-to-grumpy spectrum . The BBC calls the new tune "formulaic"; while Fuse counters that it's "oh-so-danceable" and MTV raves about its "floor-shattering" drive. The Associated Press optimistically observes that at least the song is "stealing attention from inter-Korean tensions."

Fan reviews were predictably mixed as well, ranging on Twitter from "It's great," "Catchy" and even "Brilliant" to "Ugggh," "Let-down," and "Not really unique."

Those who got their groove on learning Psy's horse dance last year will be happy to know that there's yet another signature dance for "Gentleman," although we'll have to wait one more day for the official video to come out to see that.

"The dance is one known to all Koreans but new to 
foreigners," Psy explained earlier this month. He'll reportedly unveil the moves during his sold-out concert in Seoul on Saturday.

Of course, the question on everyone's mind is, does the new tune gallop like "Gangnam"? General consensus around the Web is that Psy hasn't strayed far from what worked (very well) for him. "Gentleman" has a driving beat, a repeated catchphrase ("mother father gentleman"), and Korean words that will doubtlessly have nonspeakers scratching their heads.

Is this repetition of sorts a good thing? Critical reviews are mixed, with the expected cheerful-to-grumpy spectrum . The BBC calls the new tune "formulaic"; while Fuse counters that it's "oh-so-danceable" and MTV raves about its "floor-shattering" drive. The Associated Press optimistically observes that at least the song is "stealing attention from inter-Korean tensions."

Fan reviews were predictably mixed as well, ranging on Twitter from "It's great," "Catchy" and even "Brilliant" to "Ugggh," "Let-down," and "Not really unique."

Those who got their groove on learning Psy's horse dance last year will be happy to know that there's yet another signature dance for "Gentleman," although we'll have to wait one more day for the official video to come out to see that.

"The dance is one known to all Koreans but new to foreigners," Psy explained earlier this month. He'll reportedly unveil the moves during his sold-out concert in Seoul on Saturday.

Story by:
Wendy Geller, Yahoo News