Italian Mafia Boss And 300 Others Arrested – The wiretap evidence included scenes straight out of The Godfather. After months of clandestine recording, Italian police launched a predawn raid Tuesday, July 13, snatching up more than 300 alleged members of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta criminal organization, including top bosses, businessmen and corrupt civil servants. Hmm, I wouldn’t be surprised if Luca Brasi was behind this. [time]

Music Labels Take On The Porn Industry – Since online video exploded with the arrival of YouTube in 2005, the music industry has fought to make sure artists and labels are compensated for tracks used in web clips. Now, the music industry has filed a lawsuit against a new foe: porn peddlers. Warner Music and several other labels have filed copyright infringement lawsuits against RK Netmedia for using songs by Michael Jackson, Katy Perry and others on porn video soundtracks. [rollingstone]

French Approve Bill To Ban Islamic Full Veil – France’s lower house of parliament has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would ban wearing the Islamic full veil in public. There were 335 votes for the bill and only one against in the 557-seat National Assembly. It must now be ratified by the Senate in September to become law. Yu! Let’s keep an eye on this – it’s gonna be interesting to watch. [bbc]

World Cup Most Watch Soccer Event In US History – Nielsen, the same guys who did 2oceansvibe’s recent survey, have reported that Sunday’s World Cup final drew a TV viewing audience of 24.3 million people across ABC and Univision, making it the most-watched soccer match ever in the U.S. ! ESPN and ABC Sports are quite clearly over the moon! Watch, soccer professionals in the US will be earning the highest salaries in the next few weeks year. [variety]

Soccer Over – So What Next? Duh – The Olympic Games! South Africa is to put in an official bid for the 2020 Olympic Games, South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc) CEO Tubby Reddy announced on Tuesday. This follows President Jacob Zuma’s public declaration that the Soccer World Cup was a success and his expression of confidence that South Africa could do a similarly excellent job in 2020. Yes we can! Hey, that’s a pretty good saying – I should market that! [mail&guardian]

A Closer Look At The Ferrari 599 GTO – Claiming the mantle of the fastest Ferrari ever made is no mean feat. And this is the car that did it: the new 599 GTO. Reviving the stoic nameplate from the 60s-era 250 GTO and the 80s-era 288 GTO, the new ultimate Ferrari uses an improved version of the engine originally developed for the Enzo – for a 3.3-second 0-60 run. Each of the 599 they’re building will cost upwards of €300,000.Thankfully, Thursday’s SuperEna lottery jackpot is sitting on a billion Rand.. [luxist]

SA Banks Better Off Than US And UK – SA’s banks have emerged from the global recession in a much healthier state than their UK and US counterparts. Last year the total annual remuneration paid to executive directors in the financial services sector increased by 7%, according to a new report issued by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) yesterday. By way of comparison, base salary increases awarded to executives of FTSE 100 companies over a similar period were limited to around 1%. ie. we’re awesome! [businessday]

Microsoft Tablet PC – Too Little Too Late – Steve Ballmer is confident that Windows 7 based Tablet PC (or Slates) will be a roaring success when the first wave of devices come to market by the end of the year but we do not share his enthusiasm for a Windows-based tablet form factor, at least not as Ballmer imagines it. I mean really, can you imagine? “Hey is that an iPad?” – “No” – “Oh” (followed by crickets) [itproportal]

Anna Chapman (Hot Russian Spy) Has British Passport Revoked – The British passport of Anna Chapman, the woman accused of spying for Russia in the US, has been revoked. Chapman gained British citizenship from her marriage to Alex Chapman, 30, from Bournemouth. The two met at a party in 2002 and were married for four years. Chapman lived and worked in the financial sector in London for several years. Hmm, it seems spies operate best when no-one knows they are spies. Unless you’re Pierre Spies of course – that’s different. [guardian]

“Nazi Octopus” Murdered On TV And Put In Blender – Furious with Paul the “psychic” octopus’ astonishing 100% World Cup prediction rate, an Argentine TV presenter has gotten his revenge by slaughtering another octopus on the air and then liquifying its remains in a blender. On a recent episode of Argentina’s “Un Mundo Perfecto” program, host Roberto Pettinato dubbed his tentacled victim “a Nazi” before hacking off its head and then placing hunks of the carcass into a blender. Stunning! [huffpo]

Whoopi Goldberg Doesn’t Believe Mel Gibson Is A Racist – You’re a racist! No YOU’RE a racist! And so it goes on. Comedian and “The View” co-host Whoopi Goldberg declared that Mel Gibson is not a racist, as she and the rest of the daytime panel on Monday discussed recently released tapes allegedly featuring the actor — including one in which a racial slur is used. “I know Mel, and I know he’s not a racist,” Goldberg said. “He may be a bonehead.” [latimes]

Mushrooms And Rainbows Work Well Together – While our esteemed foods and spices sponsor, NoMU will no doubt have all sorts of garnish and toppings to add to any mushroom dish, we think the guy in this video had his al dente with a good dose of trippy music in the background. Danny K, even. But although he ate them without any extra flavouring, I’m sure they still tasted, ahem, magic.. [worldwarwon]

The Science Of Cougar Sex – Why Older Women Lust – Men who cheat on their spouses have always enjoyed an expedient explanation: Evolution made me do it. Many articles, especially in recent years, have explored the theory that men sleep around because evolution has programmed them to seek fertile (and, conveniently, younger) wombs. But what about women? [time]

Old Spice Guy Is Now Making Personalised Videos – How do you get bloggers, fans and random Internet folks to make your campaign go viral? Namecheck them in a personalized monologue delivered by a shirtless man, of course! That’s right, everyone’s favorite topless dude, Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa, has been tweeting just-for-you-vids to a bevy of Internet folk all day. [mashable]

[thanks simon]