Deaths at African sporting event tied to witchcraft claims. Thirteen deaths due to rioting at an eastern Congo soccer match are connected to claims of witchcraft. U.N.-sponsored station Radio Okapi reports that many of the victims, most between ages 11 and 16, suffocated after crowds ran for exits from the game in North Kivu province Sunday.   Dozens of teens marched in protest on Monday after the incident that allegedly began when one team’s goalie chanted supposed spells to try and change the game’s outcome. Fighting erupted and a police officer who tried to intervene was reportedly hit in the head with a rock. Government officials are investigating.

Larry Johnson dismisses herpes chatter. Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson dismisses rumors of his status as an STD-carrier as slander. Web chatter that followed a Balleralert.com posting of a form for herpes medication prescribed to “Johnson, Larry” led the player’s reps to state: “Mr. Johnson does not have herpes. He cares about his fans deeply and he thanks his supporters for not believing these allegations, which are untrue.” The statement also attributes the rumor to a “young lady that Mr. Johnson met during his time at his new residence in Miami Beach.” Johnson refused to let the unnamed woman extort him for money, which eventually resulted in her starting the herpes rumor, the statement claims.

Hoops pic causes an international uproar. The Spanish basketball team has come under attack after taking a team photo with their players making a slit-eyed gesture, possibly mocking the host country, China. Is the photo offensive to you? Read more at BET.com Olympics ‘08.

Men’s soccer squad advances to quarter-finals. Nigeria’s 2-1 victory against the USA Wednesday pushes the African men’s soccer team into the Olympics quarter-finals. The Ivory Coast and Cameroon also qualified to continue the chase for gold medals at the Beijing Games. America’s loss to Nigeria drops the men out of contention for any prize. The team needed at least a draw, in order to advance, but will return home empty-handed.

Yankees shortstop too sore to play in Minnesota.

Derek Jeter isn’t expected to take the field for New York again until tomorrow after he sat out a game versus Minnesota with a sore foot. Jeter hit a foul tip off his foot Tuesday night and didn’t take his starting spot on Wednesday. But he’s expected to re-join the rotation against the Kansas City Royals. X-rays of Jeter’s foot returned negative. “He’ll never tell you that he can’t play, but by saying that it’s kind of sore and it’s throbbing all night, you kind of get the feeling that it’s pretty rough,” says manager Joe Girardi.

Earthquake rumbles in Peru
Early Tuesday morning, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook southern Peru, reports Reuters. While quakes of that magnitude are able to cause great damage, the nation’s police and civil defense agency said there were no reported injuries or damage. The quake’s epicenter was in an unpopulated area, said the district chief of Peru’s civil defense agency. Still, many residents of Arequipa, ran out into the streets and refused to return to their homes for fear they would collapse in an aftershock. The nation’s third largest copper mine also reported there was no damage as a result of the quake. “We have had no impact, no injuries, everything is fine,” a spokeswoman said.

Gunmen snatched the brother of a Nigerian soccer player
The gunman of younger brother of Nigerian soccer star Joseph Yobo was abducted by gunman last weekend as he was coming back from a party, reports the BBC. No one has made a ransom yet, and no militant group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, said Rivers State police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey. Yobo plays for Nigeria’s national team and also played in the English Premier League last season. Kidnapping and ransoms are not unusual in Nigeria, the highest oil producer in the continent of Africa. And militants are constantly fighting to get a piece of the nation’s oil profits. Just in the past two years, attacks against the nation’s oil industry has cut oil output by almost 25 percent, which has helped crude prices skyrocket worldwide. After a ransom has been paid, the kidnappings usually end without anyone getting hurt.

Soccer player is charged with felonies after allegedly biting official
A Delaware soccer player is charged with felonies, including assault and terroristic threatening, after he allegedly bit a ref on the chin. Witnesses say Rannord A. Jones challenged the official, who’d given him a red card, ejecting Jones from the game last week. The ref had initially called unsportsmanlike conduct on Jones. “The player was so enraged that he just savagely attacked the official, biting him almost in an animal manner about the chin,” says police Cpl. Trinidad Navarro. Blood gushed from the referee’s face, witnesses say, proving what some thought a joke to be real violence. The mother of Jones, 28, says the official cursed at Jones, provoking him. He turned himself in to police the next day. No name or condition of the referee has been released.

Member of Super Bowl-winning team allegedly involved in club scuffle.
The son of Detroit’s most popular TV anchor woman and a native son returning home from the NFL have allegedly clashed. Geoffrey Pope, cornerback for the New York Giants, faces felony charges after visiting Detroit this past weekend to show his grandmother his Super Bowl ring and celebrate his 24th birthday. Police say Pope got into a scrap at a downtown club where he allegedly struck the son of the local NBC affiliate’s long-time evening anchor woman Carmen Harlan with a champagne bottle. The alleged victim was treated with 28 stitches. Pope’s lawyer says he didn’t commit the assault, while Pope has declined comment.

Kearse is the latest NFL player to get arrested
Tennessee Titans defensive end Jevon Kearse was arrested early Sunday morning for driving under the influence near the campus of Vanderbilt University. Why did he refuse to take a breathalyzer test? Read more details at Playa Hater.