It will be the world's most-watched sporting event of 2012 – aside from that little summer shindig in London – yet the chances are you have never heard of it.

The T20 Cricket World Cup began this week and over the course of the next 16 days will be watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people, or around a quarter of the global population.

India takes on Afghanistan in a T20 Cricket World Cup match.The tournament will captivate the top 12 nations in cricket, of which the United States is not one, perhaps the primary reason why the sport and its showpiece competitions float by without registering so much as a blip on the American radar.

It was not always thus; trace back a couple of centuries and the U.S. was a powerhouse of cricket, even taking part in (and losing) the first ever international match against Canada in 1844.

Nowadays, cricket in the U.S. is mainly played by expats, although there is a smart new stadium in Lauderhill, Fla., where 16,000 watched an international game between New Zealand and the West Indies – representing several small Caribbean islands – a few months back.

Given the diverse cultural topography of this country, the market for cricket (immigrants hailing from India, Pakistan, Australia and the United Kingdom) is still solid, strong enough for ESPN to broadcast every match of the T20 World Cup on its digital platform.

And while cricket may come laced with tales of bamboozling rules and customs, there is actually plenty to like about T20 – the most action-packed and exciting version of a game thought to have begun more than 300 years ago.

As times have moved on, so has cricket been forced to evolve. Even if you have never seen a bowler hurl down a googly or a leg-spinner, you have probably heard of one of cricket's most bizarre quirks: the fact that it takes an extraordinary amount of time to play.

Test cricket, the most prestigious version of the game, involves matches lasting up to five days, with often seven hours of play per day. And at the end of it all, there is no guarantee there will be a winner, if the weather or the nature of the match slows proceedings. Yep, that's 35 hours of playing time with the possibility of no result. That's more than a boxer might spend in the ring in his entire career or twice as much as most NFL players will spend on the field in a season.

Such elongated affairs were all very well when the game was played by the genteel classes in Victorian England, but they aren't so conducive to the modern world. Hence, in the late 1960s, a reduced version of cricket that spanned a single day was invented. This also sparked such innovations as colored clothing instead of the traditional all-white uniforms, an easily visible ball (white instead of red) and music instead of polite applause paired with tea and scones.

The 21st century, though, is the era of the ever-dwindling attention span, and it became clear even a full day was too long for the younger generation. As attendances dropped, cricket's organizers responded and a special task force borrowed heavily from Major League Baseball to come up with T20 – short for Twenty20 – a version of cricket that can be completed in around three hours.

The "20" comes from the amount of batting time each team is given. In all forms of cricket, six balls (or pitches) constitute an over. At the end of each over a different bowler (or pitcher) takes "the mound," which in cricket is a playing strip situated in the middle of the field.

Last month, Samsung finally unveiled the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy Note II at the IFA 2012 in Berlin. It is the successor of the company’s first phone/tablet (phablet) hybrid device, the Galaxy Note. This handset comes with a large 5.5 inch display and a powerful 1.6 GHz quad-core processor. Unlike the Galaxy S III, this device runs on the latest Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System out of the box.

Samsung has already announced the availability of this device in the US. Now, it seems that the folks living in India will soon get their hands on the Galaxy Note II. Samsung India eStore is currently taking the pre-orders of this device. If you are planning to buy one, then check out the complete specs after the break.

Samsung Galaxy Note II features a 5.5 inch Super AMOLED HD display, sporting a resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels, 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS, TouchWiz UI, 8 megapixel rear camera with auto-focus and LED flash, full HD (1080p) video recording and playback, 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 4G Connectivity and so on.

Other features include a 3.5 mm headset jack, FM Radio with RDS, GPS with A-GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, S-Pen, S Note, S Planner, Samsung Hub, DLNA, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB internal memory, MicroSD card slot, 64 GB expandable memory, Google Play Store, Wi-Fi Direct, NFC (Near Field Communication) and a 3100mAh battery.

Samsung has not yet announced the price of this device in India. However, you can pre-order this device just by paying Rs.5000. The remaining amount has to be paid as soon as the device is available in stock. Samsung Galaxy Note II is currently available for pre-order in both Marble White and Titanium Gray colors. You will also get a free desktop dock worth Rs.2399. To pre-order this device, head over to this page at Samsung India eStore.

Archaeologists have unearthed remnants of what they believe is a 1,000-year-old village on a jungle-covered mountaintop in the Philippines with limestone coffins of a type never before found in this Southeast Asian nation, officials said Thursday.

National Museum official Eusebio Dizon said the village on Mount Kamhantik, near Mulanay town in Quezon province, could be at least 1,000 years old based on U.S. carbon dating tests done on a human tooth found in one of 15 limestone graves he and other archaeologists have dug out since last year.

The discovery of the rectangular tombs, which were carved into limestone outcrops jutting from the forest ground, is important because it is the first indication that Filipinos at that time practiced a more advanced burial ritual than previously thought and that they used metal tools to carve the coffins.

Past archaeological discoveries have shown Filipinos of that era used wooden coffins in the country's mountainous north and earthen coffins and jars elsewhere, according to Dizon, who has done extensive archaeological work and studies in the Philippines and 27 other countries over the past 35 years.

Aside from the tombs, archaeologists have found thousands of shards of earthen jars, metal objects and bone fragments of humans, monkeys, wild pigs and other animals in the tombs. The limestone outcrops had round holes where wooden posts of houses or sheds may have once stood, Dizon told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

The tombs were similar to ancient sarcophagus, which have become popular tourist attractions in Egypt and Europe, although the ones found in Mulanay were simple box-like limestone coffins without mythological or elaborate human images on the tops and sides.

Archaeologists have only worked on a small portion of a five-hectare (12-acre) forest area, where Mulanay officials said more artifacts and limestone coffins could be buried.

A preliminary National Museum report said its top archaeologists found "a complex archaeological site with both habitation and burial remains from the period of approximately 10th to the 14th century ... the first of its kind in the Philippines having carved limestone tombs."

The discovery has been welcomed with excitement in Mulanay, a sleepy coastal town of 50,000 people in an impoverished mountainous region that until recently was best known as a major battleground between army troops and Marxist rebels.

"Before, if you mention this region, people will say `Oh, that's NPA country,'" Mulanay Mayor Joselito Ojeda said, referring to the New People's Army rebels. "But that era is past and now we can erase that image and this archaeological site will be a big help."

Mulanay tourism officer Sanny Cortez said that after archaeologists have finished their work in a few years, his town plans to turn Mount Kamhantik's peak into an archaeological and ecotourism park. A museum would also be built nearby.

Despite the loss of thick tree covers in the 1,300-foot (396-meter) mountain's foothills as villagers clear the jungle for homes and farms, the forested mountain still harbors a rich wildlife, including rare hornbills, wild cats and huge numbers of cave bats, including a white one recently seen by environmental officials. The mountaintop offers a scenic view of Tayabas Bay and the peak of Mayon volcano, famous for its near-perfect cone, Ojeda said.

Pop sensation Britney Spears has dabbled in acting in the past — who can forget her movie masterpiece, Crossroads? — and has appeared as a guest star on some major sitcoms, including How I Met Your Mother and Will & Grace. Is Modern Family next?

Yesterday, Britney tweeted about her love of the show, declaring, "I know everybody is excited about the Super Bowl, but I personally can't wait to see the next episode of Modern Family! Funniest show on TV."

This inspired some of her fans to start a #GetBritneyOnModernFamily Twitter hash tag. Brit then retweeted some of their supportive tweets, saying "Ahhhh I would love to be on it!"

So far there has been no official response to Brit-Brit's causal offer of her services. But who knows? We could actually see Britney working as a guest star. She was pretty funny in her past sitcom roles, and she could even play herself. The writers could get a lot of comedic mileage out of the Modern Family gang reacting to a run-in with such a major star.

Think about it: Wouldn't a Britney vs. Gloria (Sofia Vergara) diva-off be amazing? Weigh in at our Facebook page.

A British soldier has given birth to a boy while serving in Afghanistan at the same desert camp where Prince Harry is deployed and a Taliban attack last week killed two U.S. Marines.

The birth in a field hospital is thought to be the first time a serving member of Britain's military has gone into labor in a combat zone.

The solder, a Fijian national serving as a gunner with the Royal Artillery, delivered the child Tuesday at Camp Bastion. The sprawling British base in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province last week suffered a major attack in which two U.S. marines were killed and six American fighter jets destroyed.

Britain's defense ministry said Thursday it had not been aware the soldier was pregnant, and stressed that it does not allow female soldiers to deploy on operation if they are pregnant. It declined to say whether the soldier, who has not been named, was aware of her pregnancy.

"Mother and baby are both in a stable condition in the hospital and are receiving the best possible care," the ministry said in a statement. It said a team of doctors would fly out to Afghanistan in the coming days to help the solider and her son return safely to Britain.

The woman had deployed to Afghanistan in March, meaning her child was conceived before her tour of duty began. She is one of about 2,000 Fijians who serve in the British military, even though the country became independent from Britain in 1970.

Camp Bastion, which hosts the U.S. Camp Leatherneck, is home to most of Britain's 9,500 soldiers in Afghanistan, including Prince Harry – who arrived there earlier this month to serve as an attack helicopter gunner.

"This sort of thing makes life difficult for everyone else, but the important thing is the welfare of the female soldier. This could have gone wrong and we don't know if the attack on Camp Bastion might have forced the birth," said Maj. Charles Heyman, a retired officer and author of "`The British Army Guide."

Heyman said it may have been "that the excitement of the tour masked the symptoms of the pregnancy."

Belinda Phipps, chief executive of the National Childbirth Trust, a British parenting charity, also suggested the soldier's demanding duties could explain why she either didn't know she was pregnant or attempted to ignore the signs.

"It could be that she was so very focused on other things, and because she was in a life-or-death scenario, that she simply didn't recognize that she was pregnant," Phipps said.

Phipps said the pregnancy may not have been obvious to the soldier's colleagues. "Not everyone has a very big baby bump, some women carry their baby far inside," she said.

Patrick O'Brien, a consultant obstetrician at University College London Hospital, said cases of unnoticed pregnancies were unusual but he encountered at least one each year.

There might be 25 years between them, but Nick Knowles dismissed any concerns about the age gap between himself and girlfriend Jessica Rose Moor as the pair wed in a romantic ceremony in Rome.

The DIY SOS star, who turns 50 this year, posed up with his 25-year-old bride as he told Hello! magazine that Jessica 'makes everything sweeter'.

He told the magazine: 'I came to the conclusion that you can't spend your life worrying about everybody else.

'She makes everything sweeter!' Nick Knowles, 49, opened up about his love for new wife Jessica Rose Moor, 25, as the pair wed in Rome

'I'd looked after other people for as long as I could remember and what I knew for sure was that Jessica made me a happier, calmer, far nicer person.

'She makes everything sweeter. As one of life's romantics, I'd always hoped that I'd find someone who would make me truly happy and with whom I could look into the future long-term - and I have.'

Father-of-three Knowles looked dapper in a grey suit teamed with a pink shirt and tie for the occasion, while Jessica opted for a modest white lace off-the-shoulder gown and matching veil.

And despite the fact that the pair hit the headlines when they started dating due to the age difference, Jessica said she was never put off the relationship.

She said: 'Because of Nick being in the public eye and because of the age difference between us and the fact he has children, there was a lot to consider and I wasn't prepared to enter the relationship lightly.

'When we started dating, of course I was aware that there was a big age difference, but there really is no sign of it in our day-to-day relationship.

Her body is pretty much a work of art already, so Sofia Vergara was happy to let her figure become a canvas for a body painting session.

The sexy Modern Family star was snapped stripping down to her underwear at her Los Angeles, Calif home to let her artist pal, Domingo Zapata slap paint all over her.

Wearing nothing more than a black bra and panties, Vergara, 40, still managed to look stunning despite the bizarre doodles she ended up covered in.

So what did she get out of the artistic session?

Vergara turned the tables and got her own back on the contemporary artist and daubed his torso with black and white paint.

The Colombian actress isn’t the only celebrity who has been body painted, however. Kim Kardashian, Ashley Greene and Demi Moore are just a few of the stars who have bared almost all for body art.

Before the days of Colombian 40-year-old Sofia Vergara stripping down for body painting sessions and sassing it up and getting nominated for Emmys in the hit show "Modern Family," she was already an award winning model and hugely popular actress on Hispanic television.

But before that?

Everybody has to start somewhere, and for Vergara, one of her early appearances included bouncing around in a blue bikini while working out in a pool. Watch the video above.

Any more commentary on this is quite unnecessary.

(Hat Tip / Worldwideinterweb)

Check out the gallery below for more of Sofia's looks:

Although some people think SNL is on the decline, it still catapults some of our favorite comedians into super stardom. Like, Bridesmaids star and writer Kristen Wiig. Wiig found her way into America’s heart playing the wacky and brilliant characters we’ve all come to love. Now, those characters are joining the ranks of Rachel Dratch’s Debbie Downer and Will Ferrell’s George W. Bush. This past Saturday Wiig danced her way to a good-bye in her touching final episode. Now, we can at least hope for a cameo here and there.

Even though she’s only just left, I’m looking forward to the reprisal of some of her best characters. Some of her memorable were recurring roles and others only graced our televisions once. Either way, here are some that I’ll never forget.