Andy Carrol joins Hammers

West Ham United have completed the signing of former England striker Andy Carroll from Liverpool for a club record fee £15m. Carroll, 24, cost Liverpool £35m but was loaned out to West Ham in August, scoring seven goals in 24 games.

The former Newcastle United forward has signed a six-year contract, with an option for a further two years. "It's fantastic for me to be here. I really enjoyed last season, and that shows in me coming back and making it permanent," Carroll said.

The transfer fee was agreed in May, but the former England international was said to be unsure about a move before a World Cup year. Carroll added: "The fans, the lads and the club itself have been great to me, and what I wanted to do was come back here and play football.
"Since the end of the season I've had a lot of time to think, I've missed it and that's why I'm back.
"Getting promoted the season before last, then finishing where we did - we did great, and it can only get better for us.

"The way the club's being run, obviously getting the new stadium and everything like that, it's only going up." Carroll, who made his England debut in 2010 and has won nine caps, was signed by Kenny Dalglish for Liverpool on transfer deadline day in January 2011, for what remains a record fee for a British player. He had impressed by scoring 31 times for his boyhood club Newcastle in 81 appearances, but his time at Anfield was short-lived.

Introducing the BMW 4 Series

BMW has unveiled a new model and it’s called the 4 Series. Long rumoured to be in the works and first shown as a concept at the 2013 Detroit motor show, BMW has finally taken the wraps off the all-new production model. Launched as the latest generation of BMW’s sporty mid-size Coupe, the German car maker says the 4 Series Coupe “embodies the essence of dynamics and aesthetic appeal in the premium segment.”

The new nomenclature brings the new 4 Series Coupe in line with the larger 6 Series and 8 Series Coupes. The two-door 4 Series Coupe will be offered as both a 428i, featuring a TwinPower Turbo 2.0-litre 4-cylinder and as a 435i with the Twin Power Turbo 3.0-liter inline six. The 2.0-litre engine produces 240hp and 346Nm; the 3.0-litre engine produces 300hp and 407Nm. Both will be available with a standard 8-speed sport automatic or six-speed manual transmission. Both will also be offered with a choice of rear-wheel drive or with optional xDrive, BMW’s intelligent all-wheel drive system.

The new BMW 4 Series Coupe is visibly larger in width and wheelbase than the outgoing BMW 3 Series Coupe, and its stretched silhouette sits considerably lower to the road. Its lower suspension brings the car’s centre of gravity down to below 500mm, giving it the lowest centre of gravity of any car in the current BMW line-up. This, together with its BMW-typical short overhangs, long hood and set-back passenger compartment with flowing roofline, give the BMW 4 Series Coupe a visual balance. 

The car’s striking front end – with its characteristic BMW design features, such as the double-kidney grille, four round headlights and a large air intake in the front apron – is keen to display its family ties with the BMW 3 Series. 

New elements of the BMW 4 Series Coupe are the Air Breathers, which are positioned rearwards of the front wheel arches to reduce drag. The coupe’s muscular wheel arches and wide track give an aggressive stance, with its prominent horizontal lines. All the controls central to driving are arranged ergonomically around the driver ensuring comfortable access to all functions. 

In the rear compartment, contoured seats continue the sporty theme of the BMW 4 Series Coupe. Recessed head restraints and broad, continuously molded side supports give the rear bench the appearance of two individual seats. Customers can choose among Sport, Luxury or M Sport Lines. 

All three allow visible individualisation of the car’s exterior and interior appearance.

The new BMW 4 Series Coupe uses a combination of driver assistance systems and mobility services (available as standard or optional under the BMW ConnectedDrive banner) to increase safety, comfort and infotainment usage ease and convenience. 

Among the highlights are a new generation of BMW Navigation System, which offers extra capability, sharper graphics and 3D elements for the map display, the full-color BMW Head-Up Display; Driving Assistant Plus, which warns the driver of a potential collision with a pedestrian, the intelligent; glare-free LED High Beam Assistant and the latest iteration of BMW Active Cruise Control with Stop & Go. 

The 4 Series will be rolled out to market later this year.

Hyundai unveils Motorsport facilities

Hyundai recently unveiled its latest facility in Alzenau, Germany, which is said to serve as its center for motorsport development.

At 8,200 square meters, Hyundai will use the facility mainly to focus on developing its World Rally Championship (WRC) contender for the 2014 season. A total of 50 WRC specialists from 11 countries will work there. Further emphasizing its commitment to developing motorsport technology, Hyundai will also open its Nurburgring testing facility later this year.

“This is a historic day for Hyundai Motor Company. Not only are we celebrating the opening of the new home of Hyundai Motorsport, but also demonstrating our commitment to improving the performance of all of our cars.”

In March, the company brought a version of its i20 WRC car to the Geneva Motor Show to preview its progress. Hyundai initially previewed the car during the 2012 Paris Motor Show, but the version in Geneva featured a list of enhancements including better aerodynamics, a stiffer chassis, and improved 

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Aston Martin recalls car due to Throttle Pedal Arm

Aston Martin announced today that it will conduct a recall practice for 689 of its cars because the throttle pedal arm issue. It is said that the throttle pedal arm might break at certain forces. The affected cars were mainly the one that was built between May 14, 2012 and April 10, 2013.

Included in the list, the brand lists the DB9, Virage, V8 Vantage, V12 Vantage, and Rapide. Nothing particularly terrifying happens if the arm breaks. Nothing explodes and the secret rockets reserved for limey blokes in overpriced tuxes won’t suddenly show their teeth. Instead, the engine will return to idle and the driver will need to coast to a safe stop. Aston martin will begin notifying affected owners and the maker will replace the throttle pedal assemblies through its dealer network free of charge.

Fiat 500 Gucci Edition is back.

In this 2013, Fiat is bringing back the 500 by Gucci Edition that comes with a complete new looks both for the interior and exterior. The price is rumoured to be around $23,750.

On the outside, the 500 by Gucci gets unique style thanks to chrome accents on the mirrors, door handles and hood spear, along with 15-inch aluminum wheels that are color-keyed to match the exterior paint color. A green-red-green stripe can be found on all of these cars, either running down the side of the car or over the top. The two paint choices for the exterior are black and white, though the technical names are Gucci Nero and Gucci Bianco. Finally, chrome Gucci badging including Gucci badged hubcaps complete the look.

Turning to the interior, the Gucci edition 500 gets leather wrapped seats along with leather accents, chic embroidery, white and black accents and “velvety varnish” on the instrument panel. Two-tone interiors are available, still with just black and white, and will be designed based on the exterior color of the car. Black cars get mainly white interiors with black accents, while white cars get the opposite.

The Fiat 500 by Gucci starts $23,750, while the 2013 Fiat 500c by Gucci Edition model starts at $27,750. Expect to see the 500 by Gucci in dealerships starting in spring of 2013 for a limited time.

Waze is now part of Google!

Google has finalized its acquisition of the world famous crowd-sourced navigation and traffic app, Waze. Waze is a free app that uses the input of trusted community members to update maps in real time to help other users avoid delays and traffic congestion.

For now on, it looks like the Waze app will remain independent, bolstered by Google’s search capabilities, while Google Maps will kick it up a notch by utilizing Waze’s real-time, crowd-sourced traffic update features, which it rolled out in February. Waze CEO Noam Bardin elaborated in a blog post:

“Nothing practical will change here at Waze. We will maintain our community, brand, service and organization,” Bardim wrote. The Waze team decided that partnering with Google would better serve the Waze community than remaining independent and eventually IPO-ing, which “often shifts attention to bankers, lawyers and the happiness of Wall Street.”

Waze has been the object of numerous acquisition rumors over the past few months. Besides Google, other tech giants like Facebook and Apple reportedly courted the startup.

Sony unveils its latest PS4

Sony is a company that is known for their cutting edge hardware design that is created in a way to be aesthetically pleasing yet serve the purpose of a dedicated game console. The whole console is enclosed in an elegant looking black rectangular that stands vertically on nicely designed hinges. It bears resemblance to its biggest competitor, the Xbox One, but it is more slim and looks elegant and poised. On the front there is the usual PS logo joined by the obligatory Blu-Ray drive. On the back are the usual connecting ports for the TV set and additional controllers and devices that can plug into the PS4 system.

The internal components of the Sony PS4 are truly amazing and obviously carefully chosen to create a great and powerful gaming console. As Sony’s executives say, the PS4 is based on a supercharged PC architecture with an X86 processor that has 8 CPU cores, enhanced GPU card, and 8GB of GDDR5 RAM. More than enough for an immersive gaming experience.

One of the few hardware things that Sony showed back in February was the new controller called simply the Dualshock 4. The controller is an evolution on the previous controller shipped with the PS3, with more rounded corners, softer textures and a matte black finish. The biggest change in the new controller is the inclusion of the new touch trackpad borrowed from the PS Vita, and it is there to take advantage of new ways of gaming with swipe gestures and motions.

The controller also has a light bar on the front which is used to communicate with the actual console via a sensor called the Playstation Eye. The light bar detects when controllers are switched during a multiplayer game and other in-game motion controls.

One exciting new feature that the Playstation 4 will offer consumers is the ability to run their old games, a significant difference from Xbox’s strategy that doesn’t provide backwards compatibility. Additionally, the Playstation 4 will come with a new feature in gaming called game streaming. Sony is using it’s new acquisition, Gaikai. It will allow users to use a game library hosted on Sony game servers. Gamers can also share videos of their own gameplay with the integrated share button on the Dualshock 4 controller.

On their E3 press conference, Sony showcased several highly anticipated game titles that will debut on the new PS4. With Sony targeting the Playstation 4 towards gamers that take gaming seriously, it really needed the support of the game studios that developed these games. There are a couple of well known titles there like “Destiny” , “Final Fantasy XV”, “Kingdom Hearts III”, “The Dark Sorcerer” among others. Other non exclusive titles, that will appear both on the Xbox One and the PS4 are “Watchdogs”, “Mad Max” and the “Elder Scrolls”

VW and Audi Re-calls some 26,000 cars in Australia

German auto giant Volkswagen (VW) on Wednesday recalled nearly 26,000 vehicles in Australia and Audi followed suit with 6,000 cars due to a gearbox problem that could cause a loss of power while driving.

The recalls follow growing safety worries sparked by the death in Australia of a woman while in a 2008 Golf. The 32-year-old's car slowed and was hit from behind by a truck on a Melbourne motorway in 2011, a coroner's inquest heard last month.

The news sparked complaints from other VW owners whose cars had also cut out or stopped on busy roads. "In isolated cases, an electronic malfunction in the control unit inside the gearbox mechatronics may result in a power interruption," VW's Australian branch said in a statement.

The models affected include Golf, Jetta, Polo, Passat and Caddy cars produced between June 2008 and September 2011.

Last week, VW Australia managing director John White said the company "stands by the quality of our cars and integrity of our engineering excellence".

On Wednesday, he said replacement of the gearbox unit would be free of charge and "owners can continue to drive their vehicles as usual until their appointment".

The move follows similar recalls in other countries, including China where more than 380,000 vehicles were recalled in March over gearbox defects.

Audi, whose parent company is VW, followed suit and recalled more than 6,000 hatchbacks in Australia due to the same gearbox concerns.

Spokeswoman Anna Burgdorf said A1 and A3 models built between 2008 and 2011 and powered by turbocharged, four-cylinder 1.4-litre and 1.8-litre engines were affected.

Webber slams backmarkers for causing his race

Mark Webber slammed Caterham driver Giedo van der Garde as "a pay driver with no mirrors" after the pair's collision during the Canadian Grand Prix. The Australian, speaking immediately after the race, blamed the Dutchman for turning in on him at the hairpin while being lapped.

The stewards hit van der Garde with a 10-second stop/go penalty for the incident, with the Dutchman later being given a five-place grid penalty for the British GP after clashing with Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber.

The incident happened on lap 37, shortly after Webber had passed Lewis Hamilton to run in the clear air he needed, and the Australian believes it handed Fernando Alonso the initiative in the battle for third.

"We finally got past him [Hamilton] and the car was happy then, everything started to cool down and we could get into a rhythm until we caught a pay driver with no mirrors and then lost the front wing," said Webber.

"The car was very damaged after that. You can't have a bleeding car with Fernando around you. "They [backmarkers] are doing their own race as well, I've been there in a Minardi but you need to look in your mirrors."

Van der Garde believes that the stop/go penalty was harsh and that Webber made his move from too far back. "From my view, he was quite far behind me for the hairpin," van der Garde told AUTOSPORT. "I turned in and he hit me. "Before the braking zone, I saw him and [decided] I would let him past on the next straight.

"It is tough, but I am one of the fairest drivers out there and I don't hit anybody.

"I will learn from the mistakes but I think the penalties are a bit harsh.

"I feel a bit sorry for Mark - it was not my intention to hit him."

When Webber's comments about him being a pay driver who does not use his mirrors were put to him by AUTOSPORT, van der Garde said he thought Webber was being "hard".

Source: Autosport

Canadian GP: Marshal was run over by a crane

FIA has announced that one of the Canadian Grand Prix marshal has died following an incident at the Montreal track on Sunday's Canadian GP.

The marshal was helping to retrieve Esteban Gutierrez's crashed car following the race when he tripped while trying to retrieve a dropped radio and fell right under the wheels of a mobile crane.

The marshal was not sighted by the driver of the crane, and was run over by the mobile crane resulting in serious injuries.

After being taken to the circuit's medical centre he was transferred by helicopter to the Sacre-Coeur hospital in Montreal for treatment in its traumatology department. However, despite all necessary efforts to help him, the marshal succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night.

The unidentified man is the third marshal to have been killed since 2000.

At the Italian Grand Prix in 2000, Paolo Ghislimberti died after being struck by a wheel that flew over the barriers after an opening lap crash. 

Dortmund calls off Lewandowski move

Borussia Dortmund has said to ruled out Poland striker Robert Lewandowski's proposed move to Bundesliga rival and European Champions Bayern Munich - for this year at least.

Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke tells German daily Bild that ''Lewandowski will definitely not move to Bayern in 2013. That's definitive! We've now told Robert and his advisers that.''

Lewandowski, who has one year remaining on his contract with Dortmund, had indicated his willingness to join Bayern during the offseason transfer window.

Dortmund sports director Michael Zorc confirmed his club's stance to Kicker, which estimated Dortmund would lose out on a possible transfer fee of 25 to 30 million euros to keep the 24-year-old player another year.

Lewandowski has scored 24 goals in the Bundesliga and 10 in the Champions League this season.

Goal Highlights Brazil vs England (2.06.2013)

This was one hell of an entertaining international friendly. The goals that were scored, all 4 of it were truly World Class. Yes, Joe Hart did make some fantastic saves that kept England in the game but check out the quality of the goals. Brazil played some mesmerizing football. Looking good for the Confederations Cup :)

The Special One is back at the Bridge

José Mourinho has been once again confirmed as the manager of Chelsea Football Club for the second time after signing a four-year contract with the club. He was quoted telling supporters: "Now I am one of you".

Mourinho, reunited with the club he professes "to love", completed the formalities of his protracted move after flying into London on Monday following his final game in charge of Real Madrid at the Bernabéu at the weekend, and will be officially introduced by the club next Monday.

"Now I can say I am one of you, let's make a little bit of a difference. In my career I have had two great passions – Inter and Chelsea, and Chelsea is more important for me," he told Chelsea TV. Mourinho brings with him the assistant coaches Rui Faria, Silvino Louro and José Morais, with the current coaching staff members Steve Holland, Christophe Lollichon and Chris Jones remaining in place.

A club statement said: "Chelsea football club is delighted to announce the appointment of José Mourinho as first-team manager. Mourinho has signed a four-year contract and will return to the club where he won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups between 2004 and 2007."

The club's chief executive, Ron Gourlay, added: "I am delighted to welcome José back to Chelsea. His continued success, drive and ambition made him the outstanding candidate.

"It is our aim to keep the club moving forward to achieve greater success in the future and José is our number one choice as we believe he is the right manager to do just that. He was and remains a hugely popular figure at the club and everyone here looks forward to working with him again."


Mourinho, 50, departed Chelsea six years ago and since leaving Stamford Bridge has taken charge at Internazionale, where he won Serie A twice and the Champions League, before winning La Liga and the Copa del Rey with Real Madrid in Spain.

Samsung S4 Mini entering market soon

It is much smaller than the regular S4, the mid-range S4 mini’s screen is still larger than the rivals's iPhone 5′s 4-inch display. Unfortunately, Samsung is undecided/zipped on the price or actual release date of the tinier version of its hit Android phone. What we do know is that the company is entering the mid-market territory with a less expensive device.

The S4 mini is crammed with an 8MP camera, a qHD Super AMOLED screen, 8GB of storage, 1.5GB of RAM, and is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor. The phone runs Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) with Samsung’s Touch Whiz skin. It will be available with 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+ or 3G dual SIM radios, depending on the market.



Basically, it’s less exciting than the larger S4, but more than enough for most smartphone shoppers. The news is also the second “budget” piece of electronics announced today, joining Apple’s release of its cheaper iPod touch.

FIA to probe Mercedes and Ferrari

The FIA has asked Ferrari as well as Mercedes to supply information for a disciplinary inquiry over recent Pirelli tyre tests that have taken place at Barcelona.  Mercedes' secret test for Pirelli with its 2013 car immediately after the Spanish Grand Prix was the initial focus of the scandal when news of the test broke during the Monaco GP weekend.

Ferrari and Red Bull lodged a protest against the team using a current car, with the stewards referring the matter to the FIA.

It also emerged that Ferrari's customer car division, the Corse Clienti, provided a 2011 car for a tyre test for Pirelli two weeks before the Mercedes session.

On Friday night the FIA issued a statement saying it wanted both Ferrari and Mercedes to participate in its investigation.

"The FIA has asked Team Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 and Scuderia Ferrari Team which have taken part in tyre tests in the 2013 season to reply to a disciplinary inquiry in pursuance of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules," said the statement.

"This follows the Stewards' Report from the Monaco Grand Prix and represents supplementary information required by the FIA in the light of the replies received from Pirelli, who were asked for clarifications on Tuesday May 28."

Although Mercedes' testing of a 2013 car has been the main focus of the row up until now, Ferrari's involvement in the disciplinary inquiry is more of a surprise because it was previously believed that its running of an '11 car was within the rules.

The exact details of the test have been kept quiet, but it is understood that the test with the F150 was paid for by Pirelli and run by the Maranello outfit's Corse Clienti division, so completely separate from the race team.

F1 teams have long been under the impression that running two-year-old cars was allowed, but there are now suggestions that even this could be in doubt.

Article 22.1 of the sporting regulations defines exactly what cars are exempt from the in-season testing ban - and appears to revolve around the definition of 'substantially different' from the current 2013 contenders.

"Track testing shall be considered any track running time not part of an event undertaken by a competitor entered in the championship, using cars which conform substantially with the current Formula 1 technical regulations in addition to those from the previous or subsequent year," states the rule.

One interpretation could be that a 2011 car is not 'substantially' different enough from the 2013 cars to be exempt from the testing limitations.

All time Spanish highest goal getter on the move to England?

Barcelona striker David Villa is reportedly getiing a lot offers from the Premiership notably from teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham as he looks set for a Premiership move.

According to Spanish website Sport.es, the all-time leading Spain goalscorer has decided his future lies away from the Spanish champions and would like a move to England to compete in the Premiership.

Arsenal are in the driving seat to land the Barcelona striker who is available for €14million, following their qualification for next season's Champions League.

As we previously revealed, Spurs have been in negotiations with Barca, but their failure to qualify for the Europe's top competition puts them at a disadvantage.

At Anfield, Pepe Reina has been keen to emphasise to his international team-mate that, with a new structure in place, Liverpool are again ready to challenge for honours.

Villa is keen to play regular first-team football next season, as he eyes a place in the Spanish team at the World Cup in Brazil.

Falcao picks AS Monaco ahead of English Heavyweights

No fee was mentioned in Monaco's statement confirming the transfer, but it was certain to be astronomical, reflecting the interest in Falcao from many of Europe's biggest and wealthiest clubs. Monaco said on their official website: "Monaco are happy to announce we have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid and the player Radamel Falcao for the transfer to Monaco beginning with the season 2013-14.

"The Colombian international striker has signed for five years."

Monaco said he would be presented to the media when the club's players return for pre-season training.

Falcao wrote on Twitter: "I want to share with you that I will be player of @ASMFC-MONACO next season. I'm eager to start this challenge! I count on your support!"

Monaco's summer spending spree is well under way, with the principality club having signed Porto pair Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez for a combined fee of 70 million euros (£60million) and also Portuguese defender Ricardo Carvalho from Real Madrid.

Their ambitious rebuilding is being funded by billionaire Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev, who bought a majority share in the club that has produced seven French league-title winning teams.

Rybolovlev said: "We are very happy that Radamel Falcao has chosen the challenge of AS Monaco for the future.

"It's something to be proud of for us to be able to count on on of the best players in the world in order to allow ASMFC to get back to where we belong."

Falcao has scored 16 goals in 44 appearances for Colombia, and after spells with River Plate and Porto he joined Atletico Madrid in summer 2011.

Mour's says GoodBYE

Jose Mourinho gave his best wishes to Real Madrid  before the kick off of his final game for the Madrid based club. Jose Mourinho is expected to leave after a 3 years stint with Real Madrid that saw him captured 1 Copa Del Rey title and 1 La Liga title.

It was supposed to be 2 Copa Del Rey title and that could have won back the fans and save him from the exit door, but the ill-tempered match against city rival Atletico went their rivals way. That was the ultimatum for him.

The rocky relationship between him and club captain and one of the longest serving squad member, Iker Casillas also doesnt do him much favour.

"I want to wish everyone at Real Madrid the best of luck. I appreciate all the support and accept the criticism very well". and he wrap it all by saying "Hala Madrid".