Spanoulis, nicknamed "Kill Bill", buried 22 second-half points to steer recession-hit Olympiakos to a memorable 100-88 win against the eight-time Euroleague winners at London's 02 Arena on Sunday.

As so often before in his illustrious career, which has included one title in Europe's premier club basketball competition during two stints with bitter city foes Panathinaikos and a spell with the Houston Rockets, the 30-year-old stepped up to the mark when his team needed him most.

"It was an unbelievable three days in London because we came as champions but also as outsiders, considering the budget and the difficult season in which we've had to play so many games," Spanoulis told reporters after engineering his team's fightback from a 17-point deficit.

"We had our backs against the wall so many times but this team has amazing chemistry. Everyone knows his role, we feel like a family and we are a family.

"We came into a difficult situation but remained united in the locker room and we deserve to be at the top of Europe," he said.

Olympiakos, cheered on by thousands of Greek fans, became only the fourth team in the competition's history to retain the title and their comeback was just as impressive as last year's when they beat CSKA Moscow 62-61 in the final thanks to a game-winning shot on the buzzer by forward Georgios Printezis.

Their double success is all the more admirable given that it came amid the crippling recession in Greece, which has had three years of harsh budget and wage cuts with unemployment rising to 27 percent.

DORSEY DEPARTURE

Olympiakos, like other sports clubs, have felt the crunch and were forced to release some of the game's big names in order to stay afloat, including NBA stalwart Josh Childress in 2010 and Serbia guard Milos Teodosic in 2011.

Olympiakos triumphed last year after overturning a 19-point second-half deficit in the final but repeating the feat this term looked unlikely when their towering American center Joey Dorsey left the club midway through the season after the holders endured a patchy run.

Driven by Spanoulis and the supporting cast, notably Printezis, fellow forward Kostas Papanikolau and American center Kyle Hynes, Olympiakos reached the playoffs and then the Final Four with a 3-2 win over Efes Istanbul in a gruelling quarter-final series.

Coach Georgios Bartzokas had a huge pair of shoes to fill after taking over from Serbian Dusan Ivkovic during the off-season but kept the bulk of the side together, preserving the team spirit that enabled Olympiakos to yet again humble the royalty of European club basketball.

"We were united and we are a big example for all of Greece that we can make miracles," Bartzokas said.

"Life makes beautiful stories and I want to thank the fans who came here all the way from Greece and spent so much money. I was in the right place at the right time with this team."

Bartzokas, who coached modest Greek sides Panionios and Maroussi before he succeeded Ivkovic, paid tribute to his predecessor and fellow Serbian Zeljko Obradovic, who won 11 Greek championships and five Euroleague titles with Panathinaikos before he quit last year.

"The Serbian coaches who achieved previous titles with Greek teams helped Greek basketball. They brought the knowledge. But my face is the face of a Greek coach. I hope there is a continuation and that many coaches will achieve more titles."

(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic in Belgrade; additional reporting by Patrick Graham and Michael Szabo in London; Editing by Clare Fallon)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Lady Antebellum are growing up and getting sassy with their fourth studio album, "Golden," embracing a stripped-down sound to showcase their vocal strength as they prepare for an upcoming tour with a baby on board.

The country band, formed by vocalists Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and guitarist Dave Haywood in Nashville, Tennessee, released its latest album this week, which saw band members drawing on their live tour experiences.

"When we went into the studio we wanted the new record to have that live band sound and we wanted it to be different from the last record," Haywood told Reuters.

The trio, who have picked up seven Grammy awards since their debut self-titled album in 2008 and have become a strong force in the cross-over between country music and pop music, hoped fans would hear a new side to the Lady Antebellum sound.

By keeping the production simple, Haywood said the band wanted to showcase the vocals on "Golden," due in part to the band being more secure in how their voices blend together.

Scott added that the final 12 tracks selected for the album leant themselves to the simpler production.

"It made sense to dial it back, which allowed us more time to spend on vocals and get them exactly the way we wanted them," the singer said.

While most of the band's songs feature romantic lyrics, such as "American Honey," the lead single "Downtown" from the latest album saw the band take on an edgier feel as a sassy Scott sings about demanding her boyfriend to take her out in town.

"I love the song and thought it could be a huge hit. I thought it might be a risk if the fans didn't accept it, but the boys kept saying, We've seen you get sassy, and everybody else needs to see that side of you too,'" Scott said.

'ROAD BABY'

Along with a new album and upcoming tour, the band is also preparing for a big change within its dynamic, as Scott and her husband, the band's drummer Chris Tyrrell, prepare for the birth of their first child.

Scott, the daughter of country singer Linda Davis, said she grew up as a "road baby" on tour with her mother and hoped her child would benefit from the same experiences.

"I adapted as a child to my surroundings and I turned out okay, I hope, and I think our little girl will do the same. I have a feeling that being home will be more of an adjustment for her than being on the road," she said.

Kelley was also excited by the prospect of raising a child on the tour bus, saying "that baby is gonna see things no baby gets to see."

After more than five years of touring, the band said they are growing more comfortable musically and as a group, as they enter a new chapter in their career.

All three members are eager to leave an imprint with their fans as they continue to grow as a band, and they hoped they would leave a legacy behind, the central theme in the final song on the album, "Generation Away."

"One of the coolest things going on in our genre right now is the undercurrent of friendship among all the artists who came along around the same time that we did. I want to be remembered as that group of artists who were best friends, almost a Rat Pack type of thing," Kelley said.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey)

(This story corrects "American Honey" as not one of the songs on the "Golden" album in paragraph 8)

"Its incredible, you just try to live an honest genuine life and the next thing you know, you've got the president calling you," he told ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday.

Collins said President Barack Obama had been encouraging in the telephone conversation.

"He was incredibly supportive and said he was proud of me and said this not only affected my life but others going forward," he said.

Asked about the scale of reaction to his decision to come out, Collins said: "That's kind of mind-boggling... I never set out to be the first," he said.

"I'm ready to raise my hand but, you know, you still look around like, 'OK, come on guys.'

"It's time for someone else in the room to raise their hand and say: 'You know what? Yeah, so big deal. I can still play basketball. I can still help the team win, and that's what's most important,'" he added.

The 34-year-old center revealed his sexuality in an article published by Sports Illustrated on Monday and said he was glad that he was now 'out'.

"I know that I, right now, am the happiest that I've ever been in my life," he said.

"A huge weight has been lifted. I've already been out to my family and my friends, but just to, you know, sort of rip the Band-Aid off and come out on my own terms."

Collins is currently a free agent after spending last season with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards but said he expects future team-mates to welcome him.

"From my team-mates I am expecting support because that is what I would do for my team-mates, team is like a family and the NBA is like a brotherhood and I am looking it at that we will all support each other on and off the court," he said.

Asked about what advice he would give to a young gay man hoping to make it in the NBA, Collins said he should focus on the game.

"It doesn't matter that you are gay but the key thing is - its about basketball. Its about working hard, its about sacrificing for your team," he said.

Collins could well be the first of several gay players in top sports to come out but he said everyone's decision on how open to be was based on their own circumstances.

"I hope that every player makes a decision that leads to their own happiness. I know that I, right now am the happiest I have been in my life," he said.

(Reporting by Simon Evans, editing by Justin Palmer)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Neil Patrick Harris has been named the host of the 67th annual Tony Awards, marking the fourth time he has hosted the ceremony.

Previously, the "How I Met Your Mother" star served as the host of the 63rd, 65th and 66th awards. As he did last year, he will also produce the show along with executive producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment.

"I'm very excited to be back hosting the Tony Awards at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. It'll be more impressive than ever - if my math is correct, it will be 267 times bigger than last year," said Harris. "Oh, wait. No, that can't hold on carry the one... I'm awful at math. But rest assured, the show will rock!"

The awards will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 9 at 8/7c on CBS.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court justices appeared divided on Monday as they considered a challenge to a law requiring non-profit organizations to adopt an anti-prostitution policy in order to obtain federal funding for HIV/AIDS programs abroad.

Several justices voiced concerns that the law imposes unconstitutional limits on freedom of speech, but others indicated the government had a right to direct how its money should be spent.

The 2003 law bars funding for non-governmental organizations that work on HIV/AIDS prevention but do not have a policy opposing prostitution and sex trafficking.

The Alliance for Open Society International and Pathfinder International - NGOs that receive funding for overseas HIV/AIDS prevention - sued in 2005, citing the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech.

The organizations challenging the provision do not want to take a stand on prostitution. They say the law interferes with their work providing advice and counseling to prostitutes about the risks of HIV infection.

The non-profit world is divided, with 46 groups, many of which focus on women's rights, supporting the law.

The groups obtained an injunction in 2006 that has prevented the policy from being enforced ever since.

Justice Elena Kagan is recused, most likely due to her previous role as solicitor general in the Obama administration, meaning only eight justices are presiding over the case.

At least three indicated they had concerns about the law, with Justice Samuel Alito the most outspoken.

He signaled discomfort with the general concept of the government having a broad right to direct groups it is funding on what they can and cannot say.

"It seems to me like quite a dangerous proposition," he said. Alito questioned whether, for example, the government could impose similar conditions to funding for higher education.

FIRST AMENDMENT QUESTIONS

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg focused on a move made by the Bush administration, later amended by the Obama administration, to resolve some of the First Amendment questions. The government has said that NGOs could set up affiliate groups to receive the funding without the parent organization having to announce a position on prostitution.

Ginsburg said that approach may not solve the problem because it's "no simple thing" for an NGO to set up a new organization in another country. She said that requiring this extra step is "quite an arduous" burden to place on NGOs.

Taking another line of attack, Justice Sonia Sotomayor questioned whether the law restricted an NGO's ability to "stay true to its own beliefs."

Other justices, while not wholeheartedly endorsing the government's argument in defense of the law, did not appear to feel that there was a problem in general with Congress attaching conditions on funding.

Justice Stephen Breyer said there were "dozens and dozens" of examples in which the government gave funding to groups because they shared the same goals. "Otherwise, they wouldn't be in the program," he said.

Chief Justice John Roberts said the government is "just picking out who is an appropriate partner."

Under a barrage of questioning from the justices, David Bowker, the NGOs' attorney, seemed momentarily stumped by one of Roberts' questions.

The chief justice asked whether, during the period in which South Africa was racially segregated, the U.S. government could have limited funding for public health programs to NGOs that were opposed to the policy, known as apartheid.

After a lengthy pause, Bowker conceded the question was tougher than the one posed in his case, but that it would still be impermissible for the government to make decisions on that basis.

The case is Agency for International Development v. Alliance for Open Society International, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-19.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Bill Trott)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore will host the glittering annual finale of the women's tennis season from 2014 until 2018, the WTA said on Wednesday.

The Southeast Asian city-state beat Tianjin in China and Mexico's Monterrey for the right to stage the WTA Championships after Turkey's Istanbul ends its three-year stint in October.

"Your sensational city, the amazing city of Singapore, has won the right to host the WTA Championships for the next five years from 2014," WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster told reporters.

Allaster called the agreement a record breaker and "the largest and most significant WTA partnership in our history", with prize money increased to a record $6.5 million.

The season-ender is the most prestigious women's tennis event outside the four grand slam tournaments - the Australian, French and U.S. Opens plus Wimbledon.

The top eight singles and doubles pairs over the season qualify for the event which was won last year by American world number one Serena Williams. Russian pair Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova took the doubles title.

The event was first staged in 1972 in the United States but has moved around the world since 2001 with Munich, Madrid and Doha joining New York and Los Angeles in staging it.

The hosting rights are a major coup for Singapore, which has not held a top level tennis event since the 1999 Heineken Cup on the men's ATP Tour. Lower ranked challenger events and exhibition tournaments have struggled to attract crowds.

The event will take place at the Sports Hub complex, which is due to be finished by the first quarter of 2014 at a cost of S$1.3 billion ($1.05 billion).

The impressive complex will feature a 55,000-seater stadium with retractable roof, a 13,000 indoor stadium, aquatics center and water sports center.

The indoor stadium will host the show court with the other facilities to be used in a entertainment filled "10 day fan fest."

The venue could be key for sports and entertainment businesses to tap into the lucrative southeast Asian market with Singapore's low crime rate and overall ease of doing business a rarity amongst nearby nations.

World Sports Group, the commercial partner of the Sports Hub, have talked previously about attracting a rugby 7s event and Indian Premier League Twenty20 matches. WSG Chief Executive Andrew Georgiou said the WTA Championships was just the start.

"It is also another feather in the cap for Singapore, which continues to prove itself as Asia's premier events destination. We are really excited about working towards the first event of 2014," the Australian told reporters.

"We are pretty proud, one of the first of many to be announced over the next couple of months to be hosted at the Singapore sports hub."

(Additional reporting by Ossian Shine; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Neil Patrick Harris has been named the host of the 67th annual Tony Awards, marking the fourth time he has hosted the ceremony.

Previously, the "How I Met Your Mother" star served as the host of the 63rd, 65th and 66th awards. As he did last year, he will also produce the show along with executive producers Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment.

"I'm very excited to be back hosting the Tony Awards at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. It'll be more impressive than ever - if my math is correct, it will be 267 times bigger than last year," said Harris. "Oh, wait. No, that can't hold on carry the one... I'm awful at math. But rest assured, the show will rock!"

The awards will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Sunday, June 9 at 8/7c on CBS.

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Billionaire environmentalist Elon Musk has quit a Silicon Valley advocacy group formed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg after the group funded ads for senators touting their support for an oil pipeline and oil drilling in Alaska.

Musk leads one of the world's best known "green" companies, electric carmaker Tesla. A Tesla spokeswoman told Reuters on Friday that the South African-born entrepreneur preferred not to elaborate on his reasons for leaving FWD.us.

Zuckerberg announced the formation of FWD.us last month, saying it was focused on bipartisan policies to bring about comprehensive immigration reform and improvements in the U.S. education system.

Fwd.us bankrolled three television ads on behalf of senators who have been playing a key role in the immigration debate.

The ads were focused not on immigration but rather on the senator's general positions, including one's support for the Keystone XL pipeline, which has created a backlash among some progressive groups. Backers say the pipeline project would boost North American energy security and provide thousands of construction jobs. Opponents argue that it would lead to higher releases of greenhouse gases.

The spots quickly drew the ire of liberal and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and MoveOn.org, who earlier this week pledged to pull ads from Facebook for two weeks.

The Fwd.us website removed Musk's name on Friday after a Reuters inquiry. It was unclear how much Musk, who also chairs solar-energy company Solar City, had donated.

David Sacks, founder of business networking site Yammer and a former colleague of Musk's at payment service PayPal, also dropped off the list of the FWD.us backers on Friday. FWD.us spokeswoman Kate Hansen earlier confirmed that a second funder had withdrawn support but declined to elaborate. Sacks did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We recognize that not everyone will always agree with or be pleased by our strategy - and we're grateful for the continued support of our dedicated founders and major contributors," FWD.us spokeswoman Hansen said in a statement.

"FWD.us remains totally committed to supporting a bipartisan policy agenda that will boost the knowledge economy, including comprehensive immigration reform."

A Facebook spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

FWD.us boasts an impressive list of backers, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, though it operates as a special type of non-profit group that does not have to disclose its donors. Run by Zuckerberg's old Harvard roommate, Joe Green, FWD.us's political operation is managed by a group of Washington insiders with leadership roles in both Republican and Democratic organizations.

It joins other technology groups and alliances lobbying Congress for more H-1B visas for high-skilled workers and easier hiring of foreign math, science and engineering experts.

Rather than directly representing the companies its backers are involved with, FWD.us is funded by individuals who have personally attached themselves - and their cash - to the cause. Zuckerberg has become the group's public face, among more than three dozen big-name supporters.

Politically, Zuckerberg has carved out bipartisan credentials, visiting the White House and hosting a town hall for President Barack Obama but also staging a fundraiser for Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey who some see as a 2016 Presidential hopeful.

The latest controversy was sparked by ads for Republican Senators Marco Rubio from Florida and Lindsey Graham from South Carolina as well as Alaskan Democrat Mark Begich. FWD.us helped fund two separate entities to run the ads.

Rather than focusing on raising public awareness over immigration reform and its benefits for the technology sector, the FWD.us ads promote lawmakers who the groups thinks will be key players on the issue.

In doing so, the ads highlight a number of positions held by the senators, including supporting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in Graham's case, and drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve in Begich's.

The ads could help inoculate the lawmakers against challenges from within their parties as a result of their stand on immigration reform. Graham and Begich are up for re-election in 2014.

Fwd.us co-founder Jim Breyer, a venture capitalist at Accel Partners, defended the group's efforts.

"Our advertising decisions are being made by a very smart team of political operatives who know that passing major reform will require some different and innovative tactics," Breyer said in an emailed statement.

For the most part, donors have stayed out of the nitty gritty of how FWD.us operates.

"It's a really gnarly, gnarly thing having to deal with Washington," venture investor and Fwd.us co-founder Chamath Palihapitiya said at a conference last month. "I'm glad that other people other than me are dealing with it who have the patience and the resolve to figure it out."

(Reporting By Sarah McBride and Alina Selyukh; Editing by Ros Krasny, Mary Milliken and Claudia Parsons)

During a visit to New Zealand, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder also said that he saw no reason why Kim Dotcom, the founder of the defunct site who lives in New Zealand, should not be extradited to the United States to face charges of facilitating massive piracy of copyrighted music and movies.

"That's not true," Holder told Radio New Zealand, when asked to respond to Dotcom's claims that Hollywood moguls are pressuring Washington to target file-sharing sites, which can house pirated content uploaded and downloaded by individual users.

"(The case) was brought on the basis of facts, on the basis of law, and it is consistent with the enforcement priorities that this administration has had," he said.

The United States began a criminal copyright case against Dotcom in January 2012. At Washington's request, New Zealand law enforcement officers conducted a dramatic raid on his mansion outside Auckland.

Attempts to have him sent to the United States for trial were delayed after a New Zealand court last year found that New Zealand used unlawful warrants in his arrest and illegally spied on him in the lead-up to the raid.

An extradition hearing is scheduled for August, although it could be delayed by further appeals. Holder said he expected Dotcom to be extradited to the United States, adding that he was happy with the level of cooperation with New Zealand authorities on the case.

"There are things which are working their way through the New Zealand court system, but we've had good communications, and I think at the end of the day, there will be an appropriate result," he said.

Dotcom and six associates face U.S. charges that they conspired to infringe copyrights, launder money and commit racketeering and fraud.

The copyright case could set a precedent for internet liability laws and, depending on its outcome, may force entertainment companies to rethink their distribution methods.

Dotcom maintains that Megaupload, which housed everything from family photos to Hollywood blockbusters, was merely a storage facility for online files, and should not be held accountable if content stored on the site was obtained illegally.

The U.S. Justice Department counters that Megaupload encouraged piracy by paying money to users who uploaded popular content and by deleting content that was not regularly downloaded.

Holder is visiting New Zealand this week for a meeting of attorneys general from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and Canada.

(Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Britain and Somalia on Tuesday co-host an international donors' conference that aims to provide international support for the Somali government as it continues to leave behind two decades of conflict.

Though Mogadishu still suffers from intermittent terror attacks by the Islamic extremists of al-Shabab, including a car bomb Sunday that killed at least seven people, the capital is much more peaceful today than in years past, when deadly battles took place daily.

The weekend mail delivery to Mogadishu came courtesy of the United Nations Postal Administration. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent letters to Somalia's president.

"It's a victory and a sign of development. We have received the first letters now, and we are going to process sending letters soon," said Abdullahi Elmoge Nor, Somalia's Minister of Information, Telecoms and Transport.

At the London conference Somalia is set to share its plans to develop the country's security forces, justice sector and financial management systems. International donors are likely to pledge aid to help get Somalia's plans moving. Britain said in February it would give 3 million pounds ($4.7 million), with a large chunk intended to help train Somali lawmakers.

Eradicating sexual violence a cause championed by British Foreign Secretary William Hague will also be on the agenda. In the run-up to the conference Britain and the United Arab Emirates announced 2 million pounds ($3.1 million) in joint funding to help tackle sexual violence in Somalia.

Britain's Foreign Office said it expected representatives of "nearly 50 governments," as well as groups like the United Nations, the African Union, the World Bank, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League. Also expected to attend is Kenya's new President Uhuru Kenyatta, who faces charges at the International Criminal Court for allegations connected to 2007-08 post-election violence.

After Sunday's attack in Mogadishu, Britain's Minister for Africa Mark Simmonds said the bombing demonstrated the importance for the Somali government and international partners to work together to combat extremism. Gunmen and suicide bombers attacked Mogadishu's Supreme Court complex last month, killing more than 35 people.

Despite the attacks, new construction is up in the capital. New restaurants have opened and citizens are participating in sports leagues, which had been banned by the extremists. Britain last month opened an embassy in Mogadishu for the first time in 20 years.

Human Rights Watch urged international donors meeting in London to make accountability and women's rights a priority. It also said the government should exclude power brokers who violate human rights from any role in the security forces.

"International goodwill for the new Somali leadership and its proposed reforms should not mean unqualified support," said David Mepham, Britain director at Human Rights Watch.

The Somalia NGO Consortium a group of civil society actors noted that Somalia's new constitution requires the implementation of federalism but has not yet done so.

The northern Somali region of Somaliland a semiautonomous region that has been agitating for years for independence is not attending the conference despite the fact that furthering dialogue between the governments of Mogadishu and Somaliland had been one of the goals of the conference.

___

Associated Press reporters Cassandra Vinograd in London and Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.