De Jong double helps Ajax snatch Dutch league title

(CNN) -- Ajax won the Dutch league title for the first time in seven years after overhauling previous leaders Twente in Sunday's final match of the season.

Ajax beat the defending champions 3-1 in Amsterdam to give coach Frank de Boer a perfect 41st birthday present and seal the club's 30th overall Eredivisie triumph by two points.

Twente beat Ajax in last weekend's Dutch Cup final and, as they did then, the visitors again went 2-0 down on Sunday as midfielder Siem de Jong scored midway through the first half and Denny Landzaat headed an own-goal soon after the break.

Theo Janssen reduced the deficit, but De Jong ended Twente's hopes of another comeback victory when he sealed the match with 12 minutes to play with his 12th league goal this season -- matching the tally of his brother Luuk, who plays for Twente.
"I couldn't have wished for a more beautiful birthday present," De Boer, who replaced Martin Jol in December, said in quotes reported by UEFA's website.

"But it is even more beautiful for our supporters. They have had to wait so long for a new championship. Everyone in Amsterdam has been longing for that third star, and now we finally have it.

"A lot of the players are still only still 19 or 20 years old. They have never had to handle this sort of pressure before. A few weeks ago, no-one considered us still in the title race, but we've won it, which makes me proud."

Ajax won a place in the group stages of next season's Champions League, while Twente must play in the third qualifying round.

Rangers clinched a 54th Scottish title with a 5-1 hammering of Kilmarnock on Sunday as striker Kyle Lafferty scored a hat-trick in manager Walter Smith's last game in charge.

Second-placed Celtic also won, beating Motherwell 4-0, but finished a point behind their Glasgow rivals.

Smith, who will be replaced by his assistant Ally McCoist next season, won his ninth title in his second spell in charge.

Wisla Krakow clinched the Polish league title with three games to spare after Sunday's 1-0 derby win over second-bottom MKS Cracovia Krakow.

Israel international Maor Melikson headed the only goal in the 17th minute to secure the club's 13th crown and first since 2008-09.

Solar-powered lights bring night football to slum

(CNN) -- In one of Kenya's toughest slums solar-powered floodlights are letting youngsters play football late into the night, keeping them out of trouble and giving them hope for the future.

Floodlit football matches are taking place at the Mathare Football for Hope Center, in the heart of Mathare, Nairobi. The center is run by the Mathare Youth Sports Association, which links sports with everything from environmental clean-ups to leadership training and the prevention of AIDS.

The new lights, donated by Chinese company Yingli Green Energy, will allow the center to stay open for an extra three hours a day.

For the players it's a welcome break from the hot daytime sun.

"I find it much better playing football in the evening when it's cooler," said 21-year-old local footballer Robert Chege.

Chege dreams of playing football professionally and used to practice his skills on a pitch in the slums. The Football for Hope Center has allowed him to focus on his favorite sport and grow in ability.

"The late night floodlighting has helped me a lot since it has increased hours of training," he said. "It's also very cool because it doesn't dehydrate you as much compared to some hours where you have to train and the sun is very hot."

It's thought around 20,000 young people have benefited from the Mathare Youth Sports Association, which started as a small-scale self-help project in 1987.

But from the shadows of the first World Cup in Africa last year, the group was chosen to host one of FIFA's "20 centers for 2010." The football governing body chose 20 African groups to house a "Football for Hope Center" in a bid to promote public health, education and football in disadvantaged communities across the continent.

The programs are made in association with streetfootballworld, a Berlin based non-profit organization. A number of centers opened across the continent towards the end of last year and many more are planned for the future in countries including Ghana and Rwanda.

FIFA says it expects 50,000 people to access the Mathare Football for Hope Center this year.

"We have started to generate income through hiring the pitch at night," said Stephen Muchoki, manager of the Mathare Football for Hope Center. "The solar power has enabled us to increase the number of hours we are operating on a daily basis."

This is good news for an organization hoping to sustain itself financially once its partners pull out.

Muchoki says since the World Cup more people have been accessing the site, allowing the organization to target youngsters with its other programs.

"The World Cup tournament in South Africa acted as a catalyst to many African countries," he said. "More people want to get involved with the sport, not only playing it but also in other capacities such as coaching, refereeing and first aid."

But it's not just about the love of football. Off the pitch the center has also become a social hub for young people, a safe place where they can access computers, library books and also learn life skills in center workshops.

"Being around the center is cool and fun because it's a learning place as well as a sporting environment," said Chege.

It sets out to help a community who not only face unemployment, crime and illiteracy but challenges such as HIV/AIDS.

"The center has given community members an opportunity to get counseling and also at the same time to get to know their status on HIV," Muchoki explained.

"The Mathare Football for Hope voluntary counseling and testing center is the only available one in the area," he continued.

The group now hopes visiting its center will become a goal for more of Mathare's football lovers.

Prosecutor requests arrest warrants for Gadhafi, two others

The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) -- The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Monday requested arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son and his brother-in-law, saying there is evidence Gadhafi has committed crimes against humanity in his efforts to maintain control over the country in a months-long battle.

"Gadhafi organized to arrest any suspected dissident, and they tortured them and they disappeared," Luis Moreno-Ocampo told CNN.

The regime's "widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population" constitute crimes against humanity, the prosecutor argued.

The arrest of Gadhafi and his two close relatives "is the only way to protect" civilians in areas under the regime's control, he said, "because that is the way he is ruling the country."

Libya, which did not sign the treaty that created the International Criminal Court, indicated it would ignore the prosecution move.
Judges on the court must now decide whether to issue the arrest warrants Moreno-Ocampo wants.

They have never turned down a request from him in his 10 years with the court, he told CNN.

Senior officials in the Libyan regime have called him in the past few days to offer him their support, he claimed. He did not name them but indicated that "less than 10" had done so.

Moreno-Ocampo said his office "gathered direct evidence about orders issued by Moammar Gadhafi himself, direct evidence of Saif al-Islam (Gadhafi) organizing the recruitment of mercenaries and direct evidence of the participation of (Abdullah) al-Sanussi in the attacks against demonstrators." Al-Sanussi, the brother-in-law, is Gadhafi's head of intelligence and chief enforcer.

"The evidence shows that civilians were attacked in their homes; demonstrations were repressed using live ammunition; heavy artillery was used against participants in funeral processions, and snipers placed to kill those leaving the mosques after the prayers," Moreno-Ocampo said.

"The evidence shows that persecution is still ongoing in the areas under Gadhafi control," he said.

Authorities believe Gadhafi "personally ordered" attacks on unarmed civilians, he said, and al-Sanussi is "his right-hand man, the executioner."

Gadhafi has "absolute authority" in Libya, Moreno-Ocampo told reporters. "... It's a crime to challenge Gadhafi's authority and he used his authority to commit the crimes."

Gadhafi and his inner circle plotted to suppress any challenge to his authority, the statement said.

It was the first time the International Criminal Court has taken action while a conflict was ongoing. It is the culmination of an investigation that began February 15, when demonstrations against Gadhafi's regime accelerated. Since then, war has erupted in Libya as the strongman has tried to stay firm on his grip on power.

"Gadhafi ruled Libya through fear," Moreno-Ocampo said Monday, "and I think Libyans are losing that fear."

Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim on Sunday dismissed a possible ICC action, saying that because Libya is not a signatory of the Rome Statute that established the ICC, the government will "just ignore it."

The investigation took investigators to 11 countries and included the review of 1,200 documents and interviews with about 50 witnesses.

Moreno-Ocampo has to present all his evidence to a panel of judges before the court in The Hague can decide whether to issue arrest warrants. The panel can reject his request, accept it or ask for more evidence, he said.

It could take weeks or months for the judges to decide what to do.

A report issued earlier this month by Moreno-Ocampo said the alleged crimes against humanity include the alleged commission of rape by supporters of Gadhafi's government, as well as the deportation or forcible transfer of citizens during the civil war in the country.

"It is indeed a characteristic of the situation in Libya that massive crimes are reportedly committed upon instruction of a few persons who control the organizations that execute the orders," the report said. "Arresting those who ordered the commission of crimes, should the judges decide to issue warrants, will contribute to the protection of citizens in Libya."

Teen girls send edible invention into space

John Zarrella is CNN's Miami correspondent. He has been covering space shuttle launches since 1984 and today, he'll be at the Kennedy Space Center as Commander Mark Kelly, husband of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, launches the Endeavour into space for the last time.

Science was not on the top of sixteen-year-old Mikayla Diesch’s list of careers. “I thought I was gonna be President about a year ago,” Mikayla told me as we stood about five miles from the Shuttle Endeavour sitting on the launch pad.

Quite a bit changed last year for Mikayla and her fourteen year old sister Shannon. They won a Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation competition that challenges students to come up with commercially viable solutions to real world problems. The girls’ award came in the nutrition category for developing a nutrition bar. It’s made of oats mainly and, “cranberries, apple pieces, cinnamon and a few nuts like almonds and cashews,” Mikayla says.

At first, Mikayla wasn’t too excited about the project. Sister Shannon talked her into it. “I was like, it sounds fun. It’s different,” Mikayla says, “But, I don’t know if I really want to do it. She’s like, ‘come on you can do it,’ and then we did it. Like, I decided ok I’m gonna do this and it was awesome.”

So you ask, ‘what do a nutrition bar and the Space Shuttle have in common?’ Well, the girls developed their “Stem Bar” as it’s called using NASA’s standards to certify food products for space flight. From Battle Creek, Michigan, the girls got some guidance and mentorship from the folks at Kellogg.

But, they did the work themselves, spending many hours in the kitchen. “Mostly it was just trial and error,” Shannon says, “We’d try putting some, a ton of stuff together and that would taste gross. So, we’d go back and change something and then it would taste gross too. Then we’d go back and try it again and that would taste better so it was just basically trial and error the whole time.

The cranberries were tough. “We tried getting smaller cranberries that didn’t have so much sweetness in them and that was definitely better,” Shannon said. Her sister added, “We ended up with cranberries, but not juice infused cause when you did juice infused, you’d take a bite and it would be a gusher. You get a bunch of sweet, sticky sweet cranberry. It wasn’t very good with the rest of the bar.”

After their bar won, NASA took a look at it. The bar was put through testing at the Johnson Space Center in Houston food laboratory and was approved for flight. The bars are being taken into space for the Endeavour astronauts to eat as a nutritional supplement.

For Mikayla, there's no more talk of being President, “I kind of got more interested in science and math and realized it’s really important and there’s kind of a lack of people pushing kids, and that is really important.” The girls say they are considering marketing their bar to raise money for school programs.

Shannon and Mikayla were at the Kennedy Space Center last month when the Endeavour launch was delayed. They’re back. No way they were going to miss a chance to see something they made fly in space. Shannon is pretty excited, “Something I made is on there. That’s just so awesome.”

Van Persie: We have to prove ourselves

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie claims it is up to the squad to prove they have what it takes to challenge for honours next season after another trophyless campaign.

GettyImagesRobin van Persie's side have misfired.

• Wenger: Fans have right to boo

The Gunners look set to be overtaken by FA Cup winners Manchester City in the race for automatic Champions League qualification and, since suffering a dramatic last-minute defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final at Wembley, Arsene Wenger's men have recorded just three wins in all competitions; a run that saw them dumped out of everything they had been fighting for.

Van Persie - who is one of just a handful of players to emerge from the season with credit - accepts Arsenal need to show more courage if they are to turn potential into trophies.

''There were lots of things (which went wrong) - we were not consistent enough. It is difficult to talk about it now,'' Van Persie told Arsenal TV Online. ''It is going to be difficult to finish third, but we still have one game and have to win that to at least give us a chance.

''Next season we have to try [to come back stronger]. Everyone starts from scratch and we have a chance, it is up to us to prove it.''

Wojciech Szczesny has also apologised on behalf of the Arsenal players for their failings this season.

''I totally understand the frustration of the fans, and we apologise for our lack of trophies this season,'' Szczesny said. ''This is one of the biggest clubs in the world and we should be winning trophies every year.''

The Poland goalkeeper added: ''We will have much more desire next season as we know how close we were this season to win the Carling Cup and Premier League. That gives us more motivation and desire to go for it next year, and obviously we will be one year more experienced compared to what we were this year.''

Fergie: Don't bet against us

Sir Alex Ferguson believes a Champions League final win over Barcelona at Wembley would end any debate about the merits of his current Manchester United side.

GettyImagesSir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola met in 2009.

United were crowned champions for a record 19th time on Saturday, yet still the doubters remain. No one questions how good Barcelona are though, which is why Ferguson believes any criticism can be ended by beating Pep Guardiola's men in the Champions League final on May 28.

"Beating Barcelona would end all arguments about this team and that is their challenge at Wembley," he said after his 12th title triumph as United manager. "There is nothing wrong with accepting challenges and we are good at that. It doesn't matter where they come from, you have to stand up to the mark. We have shown resilience and our home form has been great. I think we are okay.

"They don't give in, that is their great quality. There are good ages in the team, a lot of good legs and a lot of speed. I know we are playing a terrific team in Barcelona but would you back against us in a big way? I don't think you would. We are capable of doing very well in the final."

Ferguson, however, said success for the likes of Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling would push the club on for more titles.

"I think that hunger will always be there because that is my job. We try to select properly and we try to produce players properly,'' he said. ''All the players we have produced through the years have had that quality, that hunger. That includes [Tom] Cleverley, [Danny] Welbeck and others. They have what we expect of Manchester United players.

"It is difficult to say where this team stands. We have had some great teams at this club. The 1994 team and the one in 1999 stand out but all the teams we have had here have risen to the challenge, which at this club is to win things.

''Some of the young players now have their first trophy - [Antonio] Valencia, [Darron] Gibson, Hernandez, Smalling - and that gives them the impetus to move on and realise what being a Manchester United player involves."

Ronaldo: I'm not obsessed with goals

Cristiano Ronaldo claims he is not obsessed with scoring goals after matching La Liga's single-season scoring record with a brace in the 3-1 win against Villarreal.

GettyImagesCristiano Ronaldo now has 38 goals this season and is in pole position to win the Pichichi

• Benzema agent denies exit talk

Ronaldo's brace of free-kicks put him level with Athletic Bilbao striker Telmo Zarra in 1950-51 and Madrid's own Hugo Sanchez in 1989-90, but the Portuguese claimed he never expected to score that many goals.

"I am very happy about equalling Zarra and Hugo Sanchez's record," the 26-year-old told Madrid's official website. "The truth is I didn't expect to score so many goals this year and I feel honoured to reach two legends like Zarra and Hugo Sanchez.

"What really matters is that we earned a great victory at a complicated venue. All of us, coach and players alike, want to have a good end to the season, and we're accomplishing this so far.

"I would like to score even more goals against Almeria, but I'm not obsessed about it. I've tried to score from set pieces many times this year, but had been unlucky until now."

Madrid play host to Almeria on Sunday in their final game of the season, as the former Manchester United winger looks to add another record to his collection.