Pharrell Williams' 'Happy' vibe wow fans in Qatar

Pharrell Williams produced magical moments and ecstasy in a musical concert to spread joy on the sidelines of the 24th Men's Handball World Championship 2015 at the magnificent Losail Multipurpose Hall with his infectious mega-hit"Happy" on Thursday night.

The hitmaker had everyone in attendance dancing to his Oscar-nominated song for an hour plus in well-lit party atmosphere.

The celebratory single was the last piece of music the artist performed after the various singles from his different albums. Expectedly it was a full house with over 6000 fans who tuned up to watch the handball game between Russia and Denmark.

Fans were already in frenzy before the singer-songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams came on stage. When he finally arrived with his energetic dancers, the atmosphere was rocking with the lighting like a clubhouse as attendants stood to cheer the US star who wore an Armani jean, white t-shirt and a brown suede bowler hat.

Pharrell in describing the atmosphere said, "I have one word to describe this place, its beautiful".

"I am thrilled about the atmosphere and I am happy to see Pharrell live in Doha," said a Danish journalist.

Explaining the atmosphere at the Losail hall, a Doha resident said, "Honestly this is the kind of atmosphere that makes one love Qatar, everybody is happy dancing."

"As you can see people are not getting tired of Happy and that's really the trick," explained Marco, an Argentinean.

On Saturday, following the match between Denmark and Poland, Gwen Stefani will perform at the Losail Multipurpose Hall.

Cathay Pacific named the world's safest airline

Cathay Pacific has been named as the world's safest airline, followed by Emirates, EVA Air of Taiwan and Air Canada.


The European airline with the best safety record is KLM, according to new data published by Hamburg-based Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC).


JACDEC researchers score the world's 60 biggest airlines according to traffic versus the number of accidents and losses over the past 30 years. No UK airlines are currently in the top 12 worldwide.


It said that in 2014, the death toll from commercial passenger flights was four times higher than in 2013, making it the second worst in a decade.


The fatality rate was increased by Malaysia Airlines' twin disasters - the loss of flight MH370 with 239 people onboard and the shooting down of flight MH17, killing 298 - and the AirAsia crash on December 28 with the loss of 162 lives.


As a result, Malaysia Airlines fell from 34^th place in the safety rankings to 57^th.


About half of last year's fatalities came from the Asia-Pacific region.


JACDEC's full data for 2015 will be published at the end of this month.

Nigerians must respect laws of host countries

ABUJA Nigeria's Foreign Affairs Minister Aminu Wali has urged Nigerians travelling or residing abroad to respect the laws of their host countries following the execution of 2 Nigerians in Indonesians on drug related offenses.

The minister made the appeal recently while interacting with journalists regretted that 12 other Nigerians were still on death row in Indonesia for drug offenses.

The minister said the federal government appealed to the Indonesian government to commute the death sentence to other forms of imprisonments but the Indonesians still carried on with the death penalty. He said the Nigerian government has been engaging the Indonesian authorities on sparing the lives of the 12 Nigerians remaining in jail.

Meanwhile, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairman, House Committee on Diaspora has stressed the need for government to take deliberate measure towards ensuring that the 12 Nigerians on death row are not executed.

Sounding a note of warning, Indonesia's Attorney General Muhammed Prasetyo has said there is no excuse for drug dealers and, "hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect."

A word is enough for the wise......

.

Nigeria security adviser suggests postponement of election

Nigeria should delay elections planned for next month to give organisers more time to distribute millions of biometric ID cards to voters, the National Security Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan said on Thursday.

Sambo Dasuki said during a talk at London think-tank Chatham House that he had discussed the matter with the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and had said a delay within the time allowed by the law would be a good idea.
"That is what we are encouraging at the moment," he said.
The elections will be the first where voters have to have a biometric card, introduced to guard against fraud that has plagued past polls.

Dasuki said INEC had distributed 30 million cards in the past year but had another 30 million to hand out.
He said INEC had assured him it would achieve this in time for the February date, but he thought it would make more sense to take more time. He added that there was a 90-day window during which the election could legally take place.

"It costs you nothing, it's still within the law," Dasuki said he had told the INEC chairman.
Dasuki said it was for INEC and not for him to decide.
"What sense does it make to vote three months early when there are 30 million cards still with INEC? That's my position," Dasuki said.

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