The top clubs in English football clubs have always attracted investment and in recent years the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool have all been bought by wealthy foreign investors.

But what happens if your club isn't big enough to attract the attention of a overseas benefactor with money to burn?

The answer, in Sheffield United’s view, is to turn the whole system on its head.

Rather than wait for foreign money to come in, the Coca Cola Championship side are investing in other football clubs around the world. United has already bought clubs in China and Hungary and are looking at snapping up clubs in the U.S. and the Middle East.

The idea is to increase business opportunities for the club’s sponsors as well as promote the club’s brand abroad. Investments made now will, the club’s director’s hope, reap sustainable benefits in the future providing dependable revenue streams.

Would you like to see your club follow the example of Sheffield United? Would you be happy for your football team to own others? Or would supporting a club which owns several others make you feel more of a shareholder rather than a fan?

Has the team from a city known for its steel struck gold with what they say is a unique business model? 

Football fans, we want to hear your views on how you think your club should be funded. Post your comments below.

The activist Aminatou Haidar has now been on hunger strike for 26 days.

Haidar – known to her supporters as the Sahrawi Gandhi – is protesting about her expulsion from her homeland: the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara – a former Spanish colony – in 1975. But the action has been contested ever since by the Polisario Front – the territory’s independence movement. There has been a U.N. sponsored ceasefire in the region since 1991.

In November, Haidar flew into Laayoune – Western Sahara’s administrative capital – from the U.S. where she had collected a prize commending her long fight for self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.

On arrival at the airport of Western Sahara's administrative capital Laayoune, Haidar refused to declare her nationality as Moroccan, leading to the confiscation of her passport by Moroccan authorities. She was subsequently deported to the Spanish island of Lanzarote where she has remained ever since.

Since November 16, Haidar has consumed only sugared water and as she grows weaker pressure mounts on both the Moroccan and Spanish governments to resolve the situation.

Demonstrations have taken place in Spain and Haidar’s protest has attracted the attentions of actor Javier Bardem and film director Pedro Almodovar.

On Friday, Reuters reported that U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon had called the Spanish foreign minister in an attempt to resolve the situation.

And in the last few days, Spanish authorities have openly debated whether to force feed the activist.

On Thursday, Haidar restated her desire to return to her homeland. “I will return to Layounne – dead or alive – but I will go home,” she told assembled reporters at Lanzarote airport.

Time is running out. What do you think should happen? Should they grant Haidar her wish and allow her to return to Western Sahara or should they force feed her, as Spanish officials are debating doing. At the moment, the alternative is to watch a weakening woman stave to death for her beliefs? Send us your comments.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday that one of the key aims of coalition forces fighting the Taliban was to “prevent the ability of al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations from coming into Afghanistan and using it as a safe haven.” 

It was an opinion echoed by the UK’s Defense Secretary, Bob Ainsworth earlier this week as the UK’s death toll in Afghanistan rose to 100.

"Our presence in Afghanistan is vital in preventing it from once again becoming a haven for terrorists who would seek to threaten the UK," Ainsworth said.

Despite the billions of dollars being spent on removing the threat of al Qaeda in Afghanistan, their influence continues to extend throughout the world.

A deadly reminder of al Qaeda’s capability in Iraq came earlier this week as a series of car bombs killed 127 and injured 448 in Iraq. A statement claiming responsibility, reportedly from the Islamic State of Iraq, was published on an al Qaeda supporter Web site on Thursday.

Today it was announced that that five U.S. Muslim students have been arrested in Pakistan over possible links to terrorism.

And last week, 19 people were killed by a suicide bomber in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The attack is believed to be the work of militant Somali Islamist group Al-Shabaab – thought to have strong ties to al Qaeda.

Al-Shabaab is thought to have recruited members from other parts of Africa including Tanzania and Kenya as well as from Bangladesh and Pakistan.

With al Qaeda gaining a foothold in countries around the world, is it time the U.S. government started diverting more resources to closing down cells prospering outside Afghanistan?

Does the spread of al Qaeda show that coalition forces are achieving their aims and forcing them out of Afghanistan. Or is this an never-ending battle? Can al Qaeda really ever be defeated or are we locked into a permanent war disrupting their activities wherever they emerge? Send us your thoughts.

The Danish draft climate proposal which was leaked to media organizations on Tuesday has handed the organizers of the U.N. summit another unwanted distraction from ongoing negotiations. 

The document has provoked an angry reaction from developing countries and activists in Copenhagen who say that it appears to shift a greater burden onto poorer nations to reduce their greenhouse emissions.

The Danish government was further criticized for trying to pre-empt negotiations with the draft document.

Far from bringing developed and developing countries closer together, the publication of the document is serving to widen the rifts between the two.

We’re only three days into the summit and already the prospects for a legally-binding deal are becoming increasingly remote.

Despite Danish attempts to play down the document’s importance saying it is just a draft and should be read that way, the damage it has done to confidence not only inside the conference center but outside as well is difficult to quantify.

But coming off the back of the so-called “Climategate” emails, is the legitimacy of the conference now being called into question? Are the leaks part of a concerted effort by climate skeptics to derail the talks? What chances are there for a deal come the end of the conference in nine days time? We want to hear your views.

A coordinated series of bombings, including three car bombs, killed more than 100 people and wounded scores of others in central Baghdad this morning – the worst wave of violence to hit the Iraqi capital in more than a month. 

The car bombs, which detonated in quick succession, struck the Labor Ministry, a court complex and the new site of Iraq’s Finance Ministry.

The attacks highlighted the insurgents’ continued ability to strike important and highly visible targets in Baghdad as U.S. forces plan their withdrawal, turning security over to Iraqi forces.

Although overall violence has dropped sharply around Iraq over the past year, insurgents have increased attacks at government sites.

What does a devastating, well-coordinated attack like today’s mean for the future of Iraq under Iraqi forces? Can Iraqi forces control their embattled capital? Should U.S. forces still withdraw?

Violence in Iraq dropped sharply after former President Bush’s so-called “surge” of American troops.

Does that mean that the answer is more troops?

President Obama announced recently that 30,000 more U.S. soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan, the country Obama is now targeting over Iraq.

Is Obama right to turn his attention to Afghanistan while such deadly violence still rages in Iraq? Send us your comments

It is “an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss” said Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen in his opening address to delegates at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen today.

And in a recent statement, Lord Stern, author of the influential 2006 UK climate report, went further by calling the U.N. summit "the most important gathering since World War II."

The leaked emails from a UK climate research center has helped skeptics find a platform to make some noise in the build up to the talks. But there is a mountain of evidence to support the view that the world is getting warmer. Isn't there?

Are we meant to believe that thousands of scientists have been lying to us for over a quarter of a century? And what for exactly?

Are you hopeful that an agreement will be reached in Copenhagen? Or has "Climategate" dealt a hammer blow to the chances of an deal?

Send us your views

There are plenty of golfers all over the world who have wished they were Tiger Woods at one time or another. But you’d be hard pushed to find someone wanting to slip into his spikes at the moment as he deals with the protracted fallout from his recent “accident.”

Tiger’s “transgressions” are the subject of heated debate.

Whats more the recent “transgressions” of the world’s number one golfer is sounding alarm bells within the female fraternity at CNN’s London bureau.

Woods’ alleged off-course shenanigans with – oh, please! – a cocktail waitress, has started a debate about whether their own partners are “playing ball”.

We want to know whether Tiger's transgressions have caused you to question the faithfulness of your other half. Are you seeing the golf clubs left lying around the house in a new empowering light?

Ok. We know Tiger's said claims of physical violence are "false and malicious" but one has to remember that clubs can be incredibly effective at showing how you feel about your relationship. Just ask Nick Faldo.

A little over two years ago, British exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered in a flat in Perugia, Italy.

Exchange student Meredith Kercher was murdered in 2007.

On Friday, a jury will start their deliberations as to whether her flatmate, 22-year-old Amanda Knox and Knox's former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, are guilty of the Briton’s murder.

One man, Ivory Coast immigrant Rudy Guede, is already behind bars for his part in the murder.  

But the very public trial of Knox and Sollecito, which has lasted almost a year, raises a number of issues.

It has, at times, felt as if the victim and her grieving relatives have been totally forgotten such has been the media obsession with the “facts” of the case and the alleged behaviour and public demeanour of Amanda Knox.

Another problem has been the curious antiquities of the Italian judicial system which appears to condone prosecutors leaking juicy tidbits to reporters before a trial has even started. The chief prosecutor in this case, Giuliano Mignini, wasn't backward in coming forward before the trial began.

And far from marking the close of a gruesome chapter in the lives of all those affected by this tragic case, the end of the trial will, no doubt, start a mad rush to secure exclusive interviews with all those involved – especially Knox, if she is acquitted.

Do you think that the victim has been forgotten? What has been your opinion of the coverage of the trial? Has all the information that has been available to the public hampered objectivity and more importantly the objectivity of the jury? Post your comments below.

Filming on the final two parts of the massively successful Harry Potter series is close to wrapping up in Hertfordshire, UK.  

Will the Twilight Saga eclipse Harry Potter as the biggest teen film franchise?

The final movie of the seventh J.K. Rowling book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is a two-part film, whose first instalment is due to be released in November 2010.

Broadcasters have just gotten their first peak at the upcoming mega-hit.

And so the young global superstars borne from the Harry Potter movie franchise – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – are looking towards a Harry Potter-less future after a decade growing up together on screen.

But what of the legions of Harry Potter fans around the world? Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever, selling 15 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Where do they find a home now?

At the same time that Harry Potter winds down its amazing run in all medium – print, film and merchandising knock-offs – another mega-series is taking shape: Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga about repressed teenage love between a vampire and his high school sweetheart.

The second instalment in the American romantic fantasy film series, “The Twilight Saga: New Moon ,” broke box-office records this November as the biggest single day domestic gross at $72.7 million.

Like the Harry Potter franchise, Meyers’ books are instant best-sellers; the films instant super-hits. The film’s smouldering young British star, Robert Pattinson, has already graced magazine covers. Legions of screaming young girls follow him wherever he appears.

Is Twilight the new Harry Potter?

Can Harry Potter fans transition from wizards to vampires? Will Twilight continue the path blazed by Harry? Or is it just not the same thing?

World No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods still isn’t talking about what happened in the wee hours of last Friday morning, when he crashed his Cadillac SUV into a fire hydrant and tree in his exclusive private golf community outside Orlando. He’s refused to meet with Florida troopers investigating the crash on three separate occasions.

Tiger Woods holds his daughter Sam and stands next to his wife, Elin Nordegren, at a game in Palo Alto, California.

And now, he’s not golfing either, having announced yesterday he’s pulling out of his own tournament, the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, California, due to start this week without him.

Today, he was supposed to appear at a press conference promoting the tournament, which he hosts every year.

So it seems Woods, 33, has managed to avoid being out in public for the foreseeable future. Arguably the world’s most famous athlete, Woods is known as an extremely private man who goes to great lengths to uphold his image.

As he stays out of the public eye malicious rumors are circulating about what happened that night.

Is Tiger making things worse by not talking?

Does Tiger owe it to his fans to give a full explanation of what happened that night?

Will it hurt his reputation even more to keep silent?

Or can he keep what he himself called an “embarrassing” situation private?