Lionel Messi is the highest-paid soccer player in the world and it's not even close

(Alex Caparros/Getty Images)Lionel Messi made $71 million (€65 million) in total earnings in 2014, making him the highest-paid soccer player in the world according to a France Football report (via ESPNFC.com).

Messi's total earnings include $31 million (€28 million) in endorsements, including deals with Turkish Airlines and EA Sports, and $39 million (€36 million) in salary with FC Barcelona in Spain's La Liga. The salary makes Messi the highest-paid athlete in team sports based on salary alone.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi's rival with Real Madrid, is the second-highest-paid soccer player with total earnings of $59 million (€54 million).
Here is the top ten:

1. Lional Messi, FC Barcelona (Spain) — $71 million (€65 million)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo, Real Madrid (Spain) — $59 million (€54 million)
3. Neymar Jr, FC Barcelona (Spain) — $40.0 million (€36.5 million)
4. Thiago Silva, Paris Saint-Germain (France) — $30.1 million (€27.5 million)
5. Robin Van Persie, Manchester United (England) — $28.1 million (€25.6 million)
6. Gareth Bale, Real Madrid (Spain) — $26.1 million (€23.8 million)
7. Wayne Rooney, Manchester United (England) — $24.7 million (€22.5 million)
8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paris Saint-Germain (France) — $23.6 million (€21.5 million)
9. Sergio Agüero, Manchester City (England) — $23.3 million (€21.2 million)
10. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich (Germany) — $22.2 million (€20.2 million)

Beyonce And Jay Z Allegedly Caught Fighting In Public

Jay Z and Beyonce are just like any ordinary married couple who have misunderstanding in their relationships as they are reported to have been spotted having a heated argument .
For the first time I can remember, the two lost their cool in public where at least four other diners and a couple of waiters in a private room witnessed them having a blowout fight. Granted this intel only comes from two people who were in the room but once tabloids and wallets start digging perhaps they can get the waiters to spill.
The two were at dinner and had just had appetizers brought to the table.
A bodyguard was in one corner of the room seated at a table looking around but mostly looking at his phone. Beyonce started speaking louder and louder and Jay tried to get her to be quiet while looking around. The bodyguard started watching the scene and stopped looking at his phone but did not get up.
Things settled down when Jay whispered in Beyonce’s ear. About ten minutes later Beyonce said something else and whatever Jay said didn’t seem to work. He shrugged his shoulders and Beyonce started pointing at him and leaned over the table and got closer to his face and started talking louder.
He then said one last thing, pushed back her chair and threw her napkin on the table before getting up and headed towards the door. She motioned for the bodyguard to follow her and walked out the door to the room to the main part of the restaurant. By the time she got to the door, Jay had thrown literally a stack of money on the table and was chasing after her.

The Game Is rapper going after Justin Bieber's ex girlfriend?

The Game and Justin Bieber's ex chick, Chantel Jeffries were spotted grabbing a bite at The Ivy restaurant
in California on Tuesday afternoon [March 24].

According to TMZ, sources close to the model claim even though the rapper won't mind going down with Chantel, he really just wants her as the vixen in his upcoming video shoot.

Chantel however, is allegedly dating singer The Weekend while The Game is connected to his ex fiancee, Tiffney Cambridge.

Well, knowing The Game too well and how he used his brief relationship with Khloe Kardashian for publicity, there's no doubt he knew the press will assume an affair with Chantel too... good for his new video!

Nigeria: Al Jazeera Demands Release of Its Two Detained Nigerian Journalists

Al Jazeera demands the release of its two Nigerian journalists who have been detained in Maiduguri by Nigerian forces since Tuesday morning.
Al Jazeera's Ahmed Idris and producer Ali Mustafa were detained in their hotel room after they were returning from covering a story on the Nigerian forces fighting Boko Haram in Borno State. The story was part of Al Jazeera's special coverage on the Nigerian elections.

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After military officials questioned the men in their hotel rooms, their camera equipment was confiscated. Both men have been kept in their hotel rooms and are officially detained until further notice.
According to a reported military statement, both men were questioned and restrained in their room because they were operating without "protection, accreditation or due clearance" - despite having just completed filming with the cooperation of the military.
Additionally, both Messrs. Ahmed and Mustafa are officially accredited by the Independent Electoral Commission in Abuja with the clearance to report from anywhere in Nigeria during the entire election period.
The military statement also said that both men were said to be 'loitering' in various locations, however they were actually detained in their hotel rooms.

The statement gave a reminder about warnings given to "foreign" journalists, but both Messrs Idris and Mustafa are Nigerian nationals.
Mr. Idris has rich experience reporting in northern Nigeria," Al-Jazeera said. "Last year he was the first international journalist to reach Chibok and interview families affected by the mass kidnap of schoolgirls by Boko Haram."
An Al Jazeera spokesperson said: "We call on the Nigerian authorities to release Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa; they have all the relevant paperwork to report on the Nigerian elections and stories related to the election.
Both men had just finished filming a story on the military with their cooperation. They were not 'loitering', but were in the hotel room and had only passed through the restricted areas of Yobe and Borno State to get to Maiduguri."
"Both men are accredited and respected Nigerian journalists. As Nigerian citizens they are allowed to travel their country freely. Al Jazeera calls on the authorities to end this matter swiftly by returning all their equipment and releasing both men without conditions."
Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa are part of four Al Jazeera English teams reporting on the election in Africa's most populous country and largest economy.

Rihanna's response to Chris Brown being a dad is pretty mature

 

by Kathryn McKay  Follow

 

Photo credit: STS/WENN.com

Chris Brown is now a father, but his comment about getting Rihanna pregnant bothers us

At least we hope so. Chris Brown just recently got the surprise of a lifetime when he found out he is the father of a 9-month-old baby girl. TMZ reportedly found out the singer is happy about being a father. The baby's mother is a model named Nia, 31, whom Brown has reportedly known for years.

TMZ says the two are on good terms but are not romantically involved. The 25-year-old rapper has been on-again-off-again with model Karrueche Tran since 2011, but Brown's most famous ex, singer Rihanna, responded to the news with the utmost professional and mature response ever.

Hollywood Life reported that an insider told them she was "shocked" and said, "[She] had to read the reports four times before it finally sunk in." Of course, they continued, saying, " ...if it's true, Chris will be a good father and take care of his little girl."

More: Rihanna and Leonardo DiCaprio: A timeline of their (alleged) love (PHOTOS)

Rihanna is much more judicious than I would have been given not only his terrible track record of taking care of his loved ones, but most recently, his interview with The Breakfast Club just a week and a half ago. The one where he said his ideal situation would have been to get Rihanna and Tran pregnant at the same time. On the morning show, he was asked about having kids, and he said, "At the time when I was doing my wam wam with both [Rihanna and Karrueche Tran], get both of them, then boom, I'm good. That would be my ultimate boom!"

Well, isn't that pleasant?

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

More: A Chris Brown timeline: Every horrible thing he's ever done

So, while we don't have any details about formal child support or legal confirmation that this cute little girl is actually his, given his track record on the subject, I wouldn't really find it a huge surprise if she is his child.

Maybe this will cause the outburst-driven, tantrum-throwing, domestic abuser to grow up and take responsibility for his actions.

U.S. ambassador gets 80 stitches after knife attack

 

Reuters

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert was slashed in the face on Thursday.

By

ALASTAIRGALE

JEYUPS. KWAAK

SEOUL — The U.S. ambassador to South Korean was recovering late Thursday after he was attacked here by a nationalist in a rare spasm of anti-American violence that runs contrary to mainstream support in this country for close ties between Seoul and Washington.

The activist slashed the ambassador, Mark Lippert, with a 10-inch kitchen knife as the envoy was seated, preparing to give a Thursday morning breakfast address about the U.S.-South Korean alliance. The attacker, a bearded man dressed in a traditional Korean outfit, screamed calls for reunification between North and South Korea.

Lippert sustained a deep gash across his right cheek, for which he received morethan 80 stitches, and cuts on his left arm and fingers, doctors said. He will remain hospitalized for a few days, they said.

The attacker, identified by police as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong, was pinned to the floor by officials as Lippert was rushed for treatment.

Both South Korea and the U.S. quickly condemned the attack, with PRESIDENT PARK Geun-hye calling it “an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.”

Reuters

Security personnel detain Kim Ki-jong after the attack on Mark Lippert.

South Korean authorities haven’t identified a motive or formally charged Kim. But when he briefly emerged from the police station, he shouted “I oppose war drills,” an apparent reference to military exercises being held by South Korea and the U.S.

Local media reported that Kim said he had been planning the attack on Lippert for about 10 days.

“I (attacked the ambassador) because I didn’t like how a moron who’s barely in his 40s was going to take on our inter-Korean policy,” he said, according to Yonhap News.

Chelsea look to tighten stranglehold on Premier League title race ---from AFP

Chelsea look to tighten stranglehold on Premier League title race

By Tom William

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London (AFP) - Having claimed the season's first major trophy, Chelsea will attempt to tighten their stranglehold on the Premier League title race when they visit West Ham United in mid-week.
Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Wembley on Sunday to lift the League Cup and they were given double cause for celebration by Manchester City's 2-1 defeat at Liverpool earlier in the day.
Chelsea now lead second-place City by five points with a game in hand, leaving manager Jose Mourinho well placed to repeat the feat from his first season at the club, 10 years ago, when his side followed up success in the League Cup by romping to the title by a 12-point margin.
But Mourinho, who had gone two and a half years without winning a trophy, said that it was too early to declare the title race over, and pointed to the form of Manchester United and a resurgent Liverpool as proof.
"It's in the hands of everyone," he said.
"We have lots of difficult matches to play. City have difficult matches. United are third (actually fourth), right? They are in the title race, too. Liverpool, I predicted that."

View gallery

Manchester City's David Silva (L) fights for the ball with Liverpool's Raheem Sterling durin …

Chelsea won 3-0 on their last visit to Upton Park last season and would appear to have little to fear from a West Ham team who have slipped to ninth place in the table after a run of one win in 10 games.
Bottom club Leicester City are the visitors to the Etihad Stadium and City could scarcely have asked for more suitable opposition in the wake of their loss at Anfield, but with last week's Champions League defeat by Barcelona also fresh in the memory, manager Manuel Pellegrini has urged his team to hit back.
"We will see in the reaction in the next game," said the Chilean. "The only way to see is the way we play again on Wednesday.
"I hope that the team will recover and we can win on Wednesday. Every point we drop is more difficult."
City's defeat at Liverpool, who won courtesy of a sensational late goal by Philippe Coutinho, left the champions at risk of being dragged into the scrap for Champions League qualification below them.

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Arsenal's goalkeeper David Ospina (L) punches the ball clear under pressure from Everton's R …

- Rooney supports Di Maria -

Arsenal, who beat Everton 2-0 on Sunday, are now only four points behind City in third place, with Manchester United a point further back in fourth and Liverpool another two points back in fifth.
Arsenal visit fourth-bottom Queens Park Rangers while United travel to Newcastle United and Liverpool host third-bottom Burnley.
United laboured to a 2-0 win at home to Sunderland on Saturday that saw record signing Angel di Maria substituted at half-time after a poor first-half display, but captain Wayne Rooney has backed the Argentina winger to prove his class over the season's closing weeks.
"It was one of those days that every footballer has," said Rooney, who scored both of United's goals.

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Manchester United's Daley Blind (R) runs with the ball during their English Premier League match …

"He's a great player. You don't lose your talent overnight. Hopefully he'll get back to his best and start giving some great performances.
"I think he will figure it out. We all have to do that sometimes. You have to come to it in your own way and I am sure he will be a big player for us between now and the end of the season."
Tottenham's head coach Mauricio Pochettino has called on his players to put their Sunday's League Cup disappointment behind them as they prepare to host Swansea City.
"The challenge, now, is the next game," said the Argentine. "We can speak about the top four at the end of the season, but we must concentrate on Swansea.
"We need to move forward, forget the final, refresh legs and minds. But we need to take positives. We have more positives than negatives in this final."

Fixtures (1945 GMT unless otherwise stated)
Wednesday:
Liverpool v Burnley (2000 GMT), Manchester City v Leicester City, Newcastle United v Manchester United, Queens Park Rangers v Arsenal, Stoke City v Everton, Tottenham Hotspur v Swansea City, West Ham United v Chelsea

Hundreds Killed as Chad Forces Seize Northeast Nigerian Town

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria 

By HARUNA UMAR and DANY PADIRE Associated Press

Hundreds of civilians were killed as troops from Chad seized a strategically located Nigerian town from Boko Haram extremists, according to military reports and witnesses.

Boko Haram left hundreds of people dead Monday before fleeing Chadian forces which regained control of Dikwa, a town occupied by the militants for weeks, said Chad's military spokesman Col. Azem Bermandoua.

One soldier was killed and 34 were wounded, most by a suicide car bomber, Bermandoua said on national television. Dikwa is at a crossroads to two border crossings with Chad and north to Lake Chad.

Separately, southwest of Dikwa, Nigerian troops Monday repelled an attack by Boko Haram on Konduga, killing more than 70 insurgents, according to a Nigerian corporal who helped defend the town. A security official confirmed the attack. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to reporters.

Boko Haram invaded the town between herds of cattle and a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden car, the corporal said. But the military had been warned and were well prepared to drive back the insurgents, he said.

Konduga has been attacked many times in recent months because it is a final defense for Maiduguri, the biggest northeastern city 35 kilometers (25 miles) away that is the birthplace of Boko Haram.

The United Nations said Tuesday that fighting in the northeast forced 16,000 Nigerians to flee across the border into Cameroon over the weekend. Some 1.6 million Nigerians have been forced from their homes and unknown hundreds of girls and young men have been kidnapped in the 6-year-old Islamic uprising by Nigeria's home-grown Boko Haram group.

The Islamic extremists' attacks have spread across borders into Cameroon, Chad and Niger, which are forming a multinational force to fight the militants.

International concern has risen along with fatalities in the uprising: Some 10,000 people were killed last year compared to 2,000 in the four previous years, according to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.

Nigeria: Jonathan Offers 164 Ex-Corps Members Jobs, Scholarships-----from DAILY TRUST

By Isiaka Wakili

President Goodluck Jonathan has announced an offer of automatic employment and post-graduate scholarships for 164 former members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

He announced these in Abuja yesterday during the 2014 President's NYSC Honours Award and the flag-off of the NYSC Hope Alive Programme aimed at assisting corps members who suffer permanent disabilities during their service years.

NYSC Director-General Brigadier-General Johnson Bamidele Olawumi had earlier said the awardees were drawn from the 2012, 2013 and 2014 service years for their exceptional performances explaining that 55 were selected from 2012, 52 from 2013 and 57 from 2014.

Jonathan, however, clarified that the awardees, to be immediately absolved into the Federal Civil Service, were those yet to be employed by their state governments.

The president charged the awardees to be good ambassadors of Nigeria always saying the country would continue to look up to them for greater vision and accomplishments.

According to the president, "A nation that does not build the youth is building a nation for disasters."

The president also hinted that his government would soon establish a National Youth Development Fund to ensure that "our vision for empowered youth is firmly irreversible".

He said the NYSC Hope Alive Programme (NYSC-HAP) which seeks to identify and recognise corps members who had the misfortune of becoming physically challenged owing to injuries sustained in the course of their national service was very dear to him.

Nigerian censors board states reason for banning movie

The National Film and Video Censors Board has cited 'Public Interest' as reason behind ban of 'Fifty Shade of Grey' in Nigeria.

On Friday 20, 2015, the much talked about movie 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was removed from Nigeria cinemas.

The movie which showed in major cinemas in its first week of release, was suddenly banned without reasons made known to the public.

The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) has now revealed 'public interest’ as reason behind ban of movie from cinemas.

According to Nation Newspaper, in a statement released over the weekend, the NFVCB reaffirmed its resolve to attend to submitted movies with utmost dispatch and the display of due diligence in its role as the industry gatekeeper.

'Fifty Shades of Grey' was earlier banned in Kenya before Nigeria.