Real Madrid top football rich list for 10th straight year

Spain's Real Madrid have emerged as the world's richest football club for the 10th straight year in the annual Football Money League published by accountants Deloitte, with a revenue of $639 million.

English team Manchester United moved up from fourth to second on the list, which is based on 2013-14 season revenues despite enduring its worst-ever league campaign. German champions Bayern Munich came in third, followed by Spain's FC Barcelona and French side Paris Saint-Germain.

English clubs Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool were placed sixth to ninth, all of them showing healthy rises in revenues.

The Deloitte football money league list:
1. Real Madrid: $639m ($602.7m)
2. Man Utd: $602.3m ($492.3m)
3. Bayern Munich: $566.8m ($500.1m)
4. Barcelona: $563.5m ($560.5m)
5. Paris Saint Germain: $551.5m ($463.2m)
6. Manchester City: $481.9m ($367.2m)
7. Chelsea: $451.1m ($352.4m)
8. Arsenal: $417.9m ($330.2m)
9. Liverpool: $355.8m ($279.5m)
10. Juventus: $325m ($316.4m)

Chadian Prime Minister lead thousands to support army move against Boko Haram

Chadian Prime Minister Kalzeube Pahimi Deubet led demonstrators on Saturday as they marched from N'Djamena’s city hall to the Place de Nation square, carrying Chadian flags and chanting in French and Arabic: "Kick the forces of evil out of our territory," in response to the government’s decision to send troops to fight Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists.

A large banner read: "We support our army. The people of Chad support their Cameroonian and Nigerian brothers in the fight against terrorism."

"Today's march is a strong signal, a warning to Boko Haram and above all a march for peace to protect our vital interests, to protect our economy, to protect Chad's security," Deubet said.

"The country is seriously threatened by Boko Haram," said Ouchar Tourguidi, head of the main party in parliament, calling the rally "important for boosting morale of our troops who are going to the front."

Dozens of Chadian tanks headed out of the capital on Friday south towards Cameroon after Chad's parliament approved the deployment.

Chad's plunge into the war against Boko Haram came after a large-scale attack by the militants in Baga, the Nigerian town on the shores of Lake Chad were as many as 2,000 people were massacred by the militants in a raid on January 7 described by US Secretary of State John Kerry as a "crime against humanity".

Cameroon's President Paul Biya had announced Thursday that his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby had agreed to send "a substantial contingent" of troops to help Cameroonian armed forces, who have faced repeated attacks from Boko Haram.

The Russian ambassador to the country also pledged to supply Cameroon with more modern weapons to combat the Islamist insurgents.

Jonathan makes surprise visit to insurgency-hit northeast Nigeria

MAIDUGURI- President Goodluck Jonathan made a surprise visit to insurgency-plagued northeast Nigeria on Thursday, a rebuff to critics who say he has ignored the plight of victims of Boko Haram Islamist militants.

"What you're doing is not easy," he told officers and soldiers at an army barracks in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.
"We thank you as a nation. Terrorism is a global phenomenon. We're working day and night, trying to curtail this madness."

Jonathan is running for re-election in a Feb. 14 vote in which security is a major issue. His main rival, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, is seen as tough on security.
It was the president's first visit to Borno, the area worst affected by the advance of rebels seeking to carve an Islamic state in Nigeria, since he declared a state of emergency in the northeast in May 2013.
Jonathan has been criticised for not doing enough -- and often not saying enough -- about relentless Boko Haram attacks that have killed thousands of civilians, kidnapped hundreds and pose the greatest security challenge to Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy.

His administration was seen as slow to react when the insurgents abducted some 200 schoolgirls last April.
The group's fighters seized the military base and town of Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, on Jan. 3. Baga was the headquarters of a multinational force with troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon. The militants have killed scores and razed dozens of homes there, with the military putting the death toll at 150, while some local officials have put it as high as 2,000.
Nigerian security forces repelled an attack by Boko Haram on the northeastern town of Biu on Wednesday, killing several insurgents.
Soldiers have complained of a severe lack of equipment and arms in the face of a determined foe.
"We will assist you to succeed in your efforts. We will give you what is due to you," Jonathan said. "In terms of equipment, we are better off now than when we started".


REUTERS

Man Utd sack scout for posting offensive messages

English football club Manchester United have sacked one of their European scouts for posting racially offensive comments on social networking site Facebook.

According to Daily Mail, Torben Aakjaer posted several anti-immigration messages. The 32-year-old Dane, in his comments, supported Denmark closing its borders and putting "extra personnel on every crossover and exit so all that eastern Europe dirt and s**t can be kept out" and a photograph of six pigs with a caption: "It's time to deploy our secret weapons against Islamists."

"The club received the evidence, launched an immediate investigation into the matter and has terminated our association with Aakjaer. Manchester United is an inclusive organisation and will not tolerate this sort of behaviour," a statement from Old Trafford said. However, the English tabloid reported that the Dane was not a permanent United staff member and was used on a casual basis to scout young players for the club's academy rather than the first team.

Nigerians In Chicago Wonder Why Boko Haram Massacre Isn't Getting Attention?

 The terrorist attack in Paris galvanized the world and sparked overwhelming sympathy. But the reaction to a massacre in Nigeria at the same time has been much different, even though many people more people died there.

According to CBS 2's Jim Williams reports Chicagoans and others are asking why?

The news coverage was non-stop when terrorists killed 17 in Paris and massive vigils were held around the world.

"17 people died, 1.5 million people march," said Boyede Sobita with the Nigerian American Professional Association. "2,000 people died and it's a blip on a radar."

A blip on the radar says Boyede Sobita the response to the group Boko Haram killing 2000 people last week in Nigeria, Sobita's parents' native country.

"The fact that we can allow this to happen without bringing the necessary attention to the people who are suffering is sad," Sobita said.

Experts explain the different responses this way: France is a close ally of the United States, the murders were seen an attack on free speech and linked to terrorist groups that threaten much of the world.

Nigerian-American Chime Asonye says Nigeria's government itself underplayed the violence there.

"If leadership does not shine a light and say this is an issue the world should turn its attention to, then people are not going to follow suit," Asonye said.

"Boko Harum has been ravaging Nigeria for the last five to six years, so the daily announcements of violence become numbing."

Still, Nigerian Americans in Chicago insist no violence should be ignored.

"From a human standpoint, tyranny anywhere is an attack on freedom everywhere," said Sobita.

The Nigerian-American Young Professionals group plans to hold vigils to call attention to the massacre and the threat posed by Boko Harum. They note that while the president of Nigeria sent condolences to France, he's said little about murders of 2,000 people in his own country.

In Nigeria, New Boko Haram Suicide Bomber Tactic: 'It's a Little Girl'

A girl perhaps no more than 10 years old detonated powerful explosives concealed under her veil at a crowded northern Nigeria market on Saturday, killing as many as 20 people and wounding many more. The blast inflicted devastating damage on shoppers at the Monday Market in Maiduguri, the shopping hub in a city that is at the heart of the Boko Haram insurgency.

The explosion, witnessed by dozens of people, represented a new tactic in the Islamists’ campaign with their decision to use perhaps their youngest-ever suicide bomber. The terrorist group has increasingly employed women as suicide bombers, even as it has stepped up its abductions of girls across northeast Nigeria, including the kidnapping of more than 200 in the town of Chibok in April.

Late last year, two women hit the Monday Market in suicide attacks, killing dozens, and in one week last summer four women carried out bombings in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano. But the use of a child to kill - witnesses, police officials, a top hospital official in Maiduguri and local vigilantes all agreed that the bomber was very young - may be unprecedented in the insurgency.

“It’s a little girl,” said the hospital official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of his position. “The body is beyond recognition, but from the face you can see it’s a young person. A young pretty girl.”

A vigilante group has taken responsibility for much of what little security exists in Maiduguri, and on Saturday morning, before the blast, several members of the group had screened the girl with metal detectors as she entered the market, said a spokesman, Abubakar Faruq. The girl resisted, the vigilantes noticed a bulge around her waist and the bomb went off, Faruq said.

A police spokesman said 20 people were killed and 18 others critically wounded. Several witnesses said it appeared that the girl might not have been aware of her deadly burden. Bakura Bashir, a shopper who witnessed the explosion, said: “This girl may not necessarily know she was conveying a timed bomb. The girl was torn into two halves, and half of her body was thrown across buildings by the devastating blast.”

A top federal police official in the capital, Abuja, who once worked in Maiduguri, said Saturday that the terrorist group appeared to have embarked on a new path. “It’s something quite new, and it’s disturbing, using these young, young girls wearing hijabs,” the official said, referring to the Muslim veil. “Now, one has to be suspicious of any lady wearing a hijab - whether it’s a young lady, or an old lady,” said the police official, who asked not to be quoted by name because of concerns about his position. Boko Haram has carried out a spate of attacks recently in the northeast, including a devastating one in Baga, a fishing village north of Maiduguri, that killed dozens last week; an assault on the nearby city of Damaturu on Friday evening that set off a gunbattle lasting more than four hours, but that was ultimately repelled by security forces; and a bombing in Potiskum on Saturday that killed two police officers.

The New York Times News Service

Abuja to host first inaugural Africapitalism Institute board meeting

Emerging African economic think tank, the Africapitalism Institute, will hold its inaugural board meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, Nigeria.

The institute, founded by Nigerian billionaire and Chairman of proprietary investment firm Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, was established in May 2014 with the aim of promoting an economically progressive Africa that is championed by the private sector.

The buzz surrounding the innovative concept, which canvasses for a comprehensive transformation of the continent through long-term investments in strategic sectors, has already attracted high calibre economic leaders such as Dr Jim O’Neill, creator of the terms “BRIC” and “MINT”, Jose Maria Aznar, Former Prime Minister of Spain, and Matthew Bishop, Globalization Editor of The Economist, to its board room; all of which will be present in its first ever executive meeting.

While the bulk of the Institute’s work thus far has been in emphasizing the private sector’s role in driving Africa’s growth, the Board will also discuss the forthcoming Africapitalism Index – a ground breaking, annual analysis of the way African economies are growing. The index, though long in the making, is the first of its kind.

To be launched later this year, the Index will take the global discussion about the African economic story several layers deeper, through a detailed benchmarking of the key drivers — and barriers – of growth. By quantifying and ranking economies based on how “Africapitalist” they are, or aren’t, the Index will establish a standard by which countries and other indices related to Africa are judged going forward.

Ventures Africa