The militants seized the western Iraqi town by Isis over the weekend
ISIS militants have burned at least 45 people to death in the Iraqi town of Al-Baghdadi, according to local police.
Colonel Qasim al-Obeidi told BBC News that he believed some of those killed were members of the security forces, as details on the victims and why they were targeted remains unclear.
The reports come after Isis, which calls itself the Islamic State, captured much of the western Iraqi town in Anbar province over the weekend. Al-Baghdadi is positioned near the heavily-guarded Ain al-Asad air base, where over 300 US Marines are training Iraqi troops.
Mr Al-Obeidi added that a compound where the families of security personnel and local officials live was now under attack, and called on the Iraqi government and the international community to send help.
The broadcaster said the fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm the claims.
The report comes after Isis released a video purporting to show militants burning Jordanian pilot Lt Muath al-Kasaesbeh to death in a cage, a brutal incident which was internationally condemned.
The group seized al-Kasaesbeh after his plane crashed in Syria last December during a US-led airstrike.
Over the weekend, Isis seized parts of Al-Baghdadi following months of attacks by the insurgents as part of its advance through Iraq and Syria.
A local official told Reuters that ninety per cent of the district has been captured by the extremist group.
A group of divers found 2,000 gold coins on the seabed of the Caesarea National Park in Israel — the largest trove of gold coins ever discovered in the country.
Caesarea is an ancient Roman city located near the modern Israeli city of Caesarea, about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. The divers from the local diving club stumbled upon the coins by accident a few weeks ago and reported the find to the Israeli Antiquities Authority.
The coins come in different denominations — dinar, half dinar and quarter dinar — and are of various weight and dimensions. While the earliest coin was minted in Palermo, Sicily in the second half of 9th century, most of them were minted in Egypt and North Africa and belong to the Fatimid caliphs Al-Ḥākim (996–1021 CE) and his son Al-Ẓāhir (1021–1036).
Even though they rested at the bottom of the sea for a thousand years, the coins are in an "excellent state of preservation," according to Robert Cole, an expert numismatist with the Israel Antiquities Authority.
As for how the coins ended up on the sea floor, there are a couple of theories. All of them involve the sinking of a ship — either one carrying the money to pay the salaries for soldiers in the military garrison stationed in Caesarea, or a merchant vessel that traded with the nearby coastal cities.
Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the discovery will likely lead to more archaeological findings.
"There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury boat, which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes that had been collected," Sharvit said in a statement.
Pope Francis stands on the popemobile surrounded by security staff during his weekly general audience at St Peter's square on February 18, 2015 at the Vatican
Security at the Vatican and across Italy has been stepped up because of a perceived heightened risk of attacks by Islamist militants, officials said Wednesday.
A day after the Italian cabinet approved new security measures because of fears of a terrorist spillover from the chaos engulfing Libya, the head of the Vatican's Swiss Guard confirmed additional precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of Pope Francis.
"What happened in Paris with the Charlie Hebdo attacks could also happen at the Vatican. We are ready to intervene to ensure Francis is protected," Christoph Graf told Italian daily Il Giornale.
"We have asked all the Swiss guards to be more attentive and to carefully monitor the movement of people," he added, stressing that it was up to the intelligence services to provide detailed information on any potential threat.
Graf acknowledged that Francis's people-friendly style did not make his job easy.
"He does not like having security too close to him. We have to respect that and keep our distance," he said.
The Italian government's security committee on Tuesday placed the country on a heightened state of alert and rubber-stamped a decision taken last week to increase the number of soldiers on anti-terror "safe streets" duties from 3,000 to 4,800.
- Expo 2015 on hit list -
Italian media reported Wednesday that the site of the upcoming Expo 2015 world fair in Milan, the foreign ministry in Rome, the Vatican and synagogues across the country had been identified as prime potential targets for Islamist militants.
"The risk of an attack by a lone wolf or an unbalanced person is concrete," said Felice Casson, a senator and secretary of the Copasir parliamentary committee that oversees Italy's secret services.
"The more successful attacks in other countries are, the greater the risk of someone trying to emulate them in Italy," he told La Republicca.
The paper said special security had been ordered for some of Italy's leading journalists and for prominent Italian Jews. Restrictions on government ministers using official planes for private trips have been eased.
Italy has been swept by alarmist rumours in recent days since the posting of a video showing the Islamic State group's beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya, which is a former Italian colony.
The tape includes a warning that Libya could be used as a platform for attacks on Italy and that IS fighters were "at the south of Rome."
- IS warnings -
Some opposition figures in Italy have called for all naval search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean to be suspended because of a much-touted risk of terrorists using refugee boats as a way of getting into Italy to stage so-called lone-wolf attacks.
The government admits it can't rule out that happening but says screening measures are in place to combat the risk, and that it has yet to find any evidence of IS attempting this.
The government has also had to contend with a widely-circulated claim that up to 200,000 African migrants in Libya are about to embark or be ordered on to ships for Italy.
Matteo Salvini, the far-right leader of the anti-immigrant Northern League, has been the principal promoter of this claim, for which no reliable evidence has so far emerged.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said Wednesday that there was an "evident risk" of Islamic State loyalists teaming up with battle-hardened militia fighters in Libya and warned the world time was running out to stabilise the country.
Italy wants world powers to focus all their efforts on getting the warring parties in Libya to unite and squeeze out IS.
If a ceasefire can be established, Rome says it is ready to lead a peacekeeping operation that would also be charged with de-arming a country awash with weapons and providing secure conditions for reconstruction of the conflict-scarred state.
A total of 16 rifles including 2 machine guns recovered from the Mamasapano encounter. to be turned over by the MILF. Photo: Raffy Tima
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front on Wednesday turned over to the government the firearms of Special Action Force troopers slain in a clash in Mamasapano in Maguindanao last Jan. 25.
Wednesday's turnover was held during ceremonies at Camp Brig. Gen. Gonzalo Siongco in Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao.
Handshakes among representatives from the government and the MILF highlighted the turnover of the firearms. Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr. was among the officials present.
At least 16 firearms, including two machine guns, were included in the turnover, GMA News' Raffy Tima reported.
One of the firearms was an M-4 rifle with optics, laser designator and tactical flashlight.
The Philippine National Police-SAF had lost about 63 firearms during the Mamasapano operation.
Forty-four SAF troopers died during the hours-long gunfight with the MILF and its splinter group, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters. The troopers were then on a mission to arrest Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan of Jemaah Islamiyah and Filipino bomb maker and Abu Sayyaf member Basit Usman.
Government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said it was not easy to reach this step. "Hindi po madaling makarating sa araw na ito. Tulad po ng mga pamilya ng Special Action Forces, namatayan rin ng guerilla ang mga MILF," she said.
Aside from the 55th and 84th SAF, she said the MILF also lost guerrillas in the encounter. "Hindi maiiwasan itong paghihinagpis na ito," she said.
Yet, she commended the parties concerned for returning the firearms instead of treating them as war booty.
Ferrer said the next step will be to document and subject the returned firearms to ballistic tests.
"Ang susunod na mangyayari, pag close ng presscon (ay ang) pagdokumento at imbentaryo at ballistics (tests) ng pulis sa (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group)," she said.
For his part, MILF peace panel chairman Mohagher Iqbal said this shows the MILF "is willing to travel the extra mile" for peace.
"We are willing to travel the extra mile just to ensure the peace process will proceed," he said, but also asked media to be objective.
Later at the press conference, Iqbal said they will continue checking for other firearms and equipment of the slain SAF men in the MILF's possession.
"Gaya ng sinabi ko, hindi pa tapos ang efforts ng MILF. Hahanapin pa ang armas... Baka may natira pa sa possession ng MILF. Hahanapin namin 'yan," Iqbal said.
Ceasefire committees
Ferrer said the ceasefire committees of both sides met in Cotabato City Tuesday, and proceeded to the site where the first firearm collection took place.
The first batch of firearms was deposited Tuesday night at Kampilan headquarters.
On Wednesday morning, the second batch was collected, she said.
Call to BIFF to return firearms
Ferrer also called on the BIFF to return firearms from the scene as well.
"Panawagan natin siyempre sa ating mga kapatid tulad ng civilians na nakakuha ng gamit: Sana kusang loob ibalik ito," she added.
International Monitoring Team
For his part, Dato' Abdul Samad Bin Hu Yaakub, head of mission of the International Monitoring Team, hailed the event, and thanked both chairs of the government and MILF peace panels.
"We hope there will be more confidence-building measures in the near future," he said.
Catapang, Deles for peace
Catapang said he wants to "win the peace," as his first assignment was in Sultan Kudarat in 1981.
"You must understand how we feel, soldiers who have been here for the longest time, still wanting to win the peace. We have to claim the peace in our country," he said.
"When I became chief of staff, that was my inaugural speech—that we must claim, not only win, we have to claim the peace in our country," he said.
For her part, presidential peace process adviser Teresita Deles said that because of the Mamasapano incident, "this has been a most difficult challenge our peace process has faced."
"Mamasapano must be turned from a battleground to a haven for peace. Let not the death of the SAF 44 and other 23 more be in vain," she said.
Returning firearms
Earlier, the MILF said it will return soon the firearms its fighters took from the SAF during the Mamasapano clash.
But the MILF said the firearms it recovered from the clash will not be all the items on the SAF's list, which amount to P27 million. It said other armed groups also took away some of the items from the SAF.
PNP SAF officer-in-charge Chief Superintendent Noli Taliño's memorandum to PNP logistics director Director Juanito Vaño Jr. indicated the SAF lost P27 million worth of sophisticated combat equipment.
The moment a performer on top of a float at the Haiti Carnival got caught by an overhead power line as the parade passed through the streets of Port-au-Prince in the early hours of the morning
At least 20 people were killed during a Carnival parade in Haiti’s capital early Tuesday when a music group’s float hit a low-hanging power line, causing them to be electrocuted, officials said.
The accident occurred as thousands of people filled the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince for the raucous annual celebration. People at the scene said someone on the float touched an overhead power line with a pole or stick as the float passed underneath it.
There were conflicting reports on the number of casualties. Nadia Lochard, a coordinator for the Department of Civil Protection, said at least 20 people were killed and 46 were injured.
The float, one of 16 in the downtown Carnival parade, was sponsored by the Haitian hip-hop group Barikad Crew. Some of the victims were instantly electrocuted in a flash of sparks, according to witnesses. Others managed to jump off, causing panic in the crowd.
“I saw the wire falling and sparks and I started running for my life,” said Natacha Saint Fleur, a 22-year-old who was near the float at the time.
Hundreds of people thronged the General Hospital, where many of the victims were taken, some carrying victims and others searching for family members brought by ambulance.
Haitian officials were expected to announce later Tuesday whether they would cancel a second day of Carnival events. Communications Minister Rothchild Francis said the government was working to assist victims.
It is a common practice in Haiti and elsewhere to have someone at the top of a parade float who moves low-hanging power lines. In Brazil, officials said three people were killed when they were electrocuted while standing atop a Carnival float that hit a power line early Tuesday on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Two Filipino women are in the running to join a reality competition with an enviable (or unenviable) prize: a one-way ticket to help establish a colony on Mars.
Minerva Rañeses from Pasig City, and US-based Jaymee Orillosa del Rosario, are among the 50 women and 50 men who made the cut in the third round of astronaut selection by the Netherlands-based Mars One project.
The Mars One project aims to get people on Mars by 2024, where they will establish a colony – essentially, a one-way ticket to Earth's neighbor.
MINERVA AND JAYMEE. Screen shots from their community profiles.
In her profile on Mars One, Rañeses, 24, describes herself as a writer, and that she is an "intellectual wanderer" seeking "growth in knowledge and philosophy."
"I don’t decide based on monetary or materialistic returns, but on the experience I will garner," she said in her introduction. Philosophy, literature, and history are her top interests – "[generally], anything that can lead to comprehending mankind’s behavior and the many possible structures society can take form in the future."
Meanwhile, Orillosa, 27, is an entrepreneur distributing raw material metals and exotic alloys to aerospace, defense, and commercial industries, according to her Mars One profile.
In fact, she says one of their clients is Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX: "Our materials/product was part of the Dragon Capsule that was successfully launched in 2010."
She also is working towards earning a Bachelors degree in Business.
Two out of 202,586
A whopping 202,586 people from around the world applied for the project, which was whittled down to 600, then the current crop of 100 candidates. (READ: 5 Pinoys, one-way ticket to Mars)
The candidates come from all continents: 39 from the Americas, 31 from Europe, 16 from Asia, 7 from Africa, and 7 from Oceania.
The top 100 were chosen after they were interviewed by Norbert Kraft, the project's chief medical officer. "We were impressed with how many strong candidates participated in the interview round, which made it a very difficult selection," he was quoted as saying.
The third round selection is the easy part, Mars One said: the candidates will now be trained to compose teams "that can endure all the hardships of a permanent settlement on Mars."
"Being one of the best individual candidates does not automatically make you the greatest team player, so I look forward to seeing how the candidates progress and work together in the upcoming challenges," Kraft said.
The final cut will see only two dozen people abandoning Earth for a new start on a cold, dry, oxygen-less planet some 55 million kilometers (34 million miles or 6 months' travel) away.
The high cost of the project, an estimated $6 billion (4.4 billion euros), precludes the option of a return trip.
The trial resettlement is meant to be mainly funded by a reality-TV show about the project.
The final 24 would be sent to the Red Planet in 6 separate launches starting in 10 years.
Many experts scoff at the project's feasibility, questioning whether the participants would survive the physical perils and demands on their sanity. On the other hand, its supporters include Dutch Nobel laureate Gerard 't Hooft, who won the 1999 prize for physics.
The world's space agencies have only managed to send unmanned robotic rovers to Mars so far, the latest being NASA's $2.5 billion Curiosity rover, which touched down in August 2012.
If it succeeds, Mars One would be the first private-sector initiative, manned or unmanned, to explore another planet.
But the biggest question, once everything's set, is: could they survive? A study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, using Mars One data, said that they can – but only for 68 days.
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known, a Russian cybersecurity firm says in a report.
Questions were raised in late 2013 when an ATM in Kiev, Ukraine, began dispensing money at random times, when no one had put in a card or touched a button.
Security cameras shows that money would be picked up by customers who appeared to be in the right place at the right time.
But when Kaspersky Lab was called in to investigate, it was revealed that the ATM was part of a much-larger banking breach.
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known.The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab
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A hacking ring has stolen up to $1billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known.The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
After gaining access to banks' computers through phishing schemes and other methods, they lurk for months to learn the banks' systems, taking screen shots and even video of employees using their computers, the report says.
Once the hackers become familiar with the banks' operations, they use that knowledge to steal money without raising suspicions, programming ATMs to dispense money at specific times or setting up fake accounts and transferring money into them, according to Kaspersky.
The report is set to be presented on Monday at a security conference in Cancun, Mexico. It was first reported by The New York Times.
The hackers seem to limit their theft to about $10million before moving on to another bank, part of the reason why the fraud was not detected earlier, Kaspersky principal security researcher Vicente Diaz said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The attacks are unusual because they target the banks themselves rather than customers and their account information, Diaz said.
In a new propaganda video released Sunday by ISIS, the militant group claims to have beheaded over a dozen members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority on a Libyan beach.
The highly produced video shows an apparent mass execution with jihadists in black standing behind each of the victims, who are all are dressed in orange jumpsuits with their hands cuffed behind them.
The five-minute video, released by the terror group's propaganda wing al-Hayat Media, includes a masked English-speaking jihadi who says, "The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden's body in, we swear to Allah, we will mix it with your blood."
Then on cue, all the victims are pushed to the ground and beheaded.
ISIS has imposed its brutal rule on the large areas of Iraq and Syria that it controls, but the beheadings of the Egyptians appears to have been carried out by an affiliate of the militant group in Libya.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi confirmed in a statement that Egyptian "martyrs" had fallen victim to terrorism and expressed his condolences to the Egyptian people.
El-Sisi called for an urgent meeting of the Council of National Defense and declared seven days of official mourning.
Twenty-one Egyptian Christians were kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January. Officials said all of them had been killed.
El-Sisi said Egypt reserves the right to retaliate for the killings, according to the state-run website Ahram Online.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Sunday after the grisly video emerged.
"The secretary offered his condolences on behalf of the American people and strongly condemned the despicable act of terror," the State Department said. "Secretary Kerry and Foreign Minister Shoukry agreed to keep in close touch as Egyptians deliberated on a response."
The White House also condemned the attack, saying ISIS' "barbarity knows no bounds."
"This wanton killing of innocents is just the most recent of the many vicious acts perpetrated by ISIL-affiliated terrorists against the people of the region," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.
Members of the U.N. Security Council strongly condemned what they called "the heinous and cowardly apparent murder" of the 21 Egyptians.
"This crime once again demonstrates the brutality of ISIL, which is responsible for thousands of crimes and abuses against people from all faiths, ethnicities and nationalities, and without regard to any basic value of humanity," the U.N. statement said.
Coptic Christians are part of the Orthodox Christian tradition, one of three main traditions under the Christian umbrella, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Copts split from other Christians in the fifth century over the definition of the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Copts trace their history to the Apostle Mark, the New Testament figure who they say introduced Christianity to Egypt in A.D. 43. Egypt holds a special place for Coptic Christians because, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus' family fled there shortly after his birth to escape King Herod, who was calling for the execution of all Jewish boys younger than 2.
The largest group of Copts in the world is still in Egypt, where they make up between 8% and 11% of the nation's 80 million citizens, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.
In the United States, there are approximately 90,000 Copts organized under 170 parishes, according to the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the United States.
Stephen Curry was the fifth competitor to take the floor for the shootout, and he had a first round score of 23.
(NBAE/Getty Images)
It has become popular, considering the NBA’s marked improvement in 3-point marksmanship, to call the 3-point shootout the marquee event of not only the All-Star Saturday night lineup, but the entire weekend. This year’s competition didn’t bust any records, and it did have some NBA-influenced mitigating factors, but the contest did follow through on its promise. Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry hit for 27 points in the final round in a fantastic display to win his first Shootout trophy.
With a lineup featuring the NBA’s leading scorer, last year’s All-Star Game MVP, a player who recently set a record for points in a single quarter, last year’s champion, two MVP candidates, and perhaps the greatest 3-point shooter ever, the shootout figured to be a sound draw.
By nature of the talent behind this group, however, James Harden (the league’s leading scorer and an MVP candidate), the defending champion Marco Belinelli, Los Angeles Clippers sharpshooter J.J. Redick (who in a rare instance had two makes waved off after he stepped on the 3-point line, costing him three points), and even Kyle Korver (on pace to shatter the NBA record for 3-point percentage) were out in the first round. Portland’s Wesley Matthews scored 22 points in his first round, enough to usually win the shootout in some years, and he was still knocked out after his first go-round.
It was fellow Warrior Klay Thompson (24 points in the first round), former shootout champion and 2014 All-Star Game MVP Kyrie Irving (23) and Curry (23) who would gear up for the final round. Irving managed just 18 points in his last turn, Curry caught fire to the tune of scoring 27 out of a possible 34 points (including 13 straight makes) just after, and Thompson disappointed by only hitting for 14 points as his fellow Splash Brother watched from the sidelines.
Curry leads the NBA in 3-point makes this season, and he led the league in both makes and attempts in 2013 and 2014, but oddly his current 3-point percentage would rank as the worst of his career if it sustains. At 39.9 percent, Stephen’s mark would rank him as a lights-out sharpshooter in any other context, but after entering the season shooting a white-hot 44 percent from long range on his career, he’s actually taking a small step back.
The Warriors don’t mind. Not only is Curry the go-to scorer on what at times has ranked as the NBA’s best offense, his all-around game has pushed him into the MVP discussion. Golden State entered the All-Star break with a fantastic 42-9 record, league-best mark that puts the team on pace for 68 wins. It should also be noted that Stephen Curry is also a really great guy.
One drawback during an otherwise fun time out was the NBA’s move to run the TNT commentary of Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller into the Barclays Center’s public address feed. Not only did their insipid back and forth reek of pointless radio-chat-show yammering, but the league did the festivities one step worse – there was actual canned crowd noise, obviously fake applause, being fed into the speakers and/or TNT broadcast feed after every make.
The 3-point shootout is just fine where it is. It will never inspire the sort of immediate cheers and gusto reserved for even the lamest of dunk contests, but that’s just fine. The NBA doesn’t need to create a spectacle out of the event, especially when helmed by some of the league’s least-loved in-game commentators. The fake splash of applause on top of it all was just embarrassing.
The NBA’s 3-point shooting is as good as it has ever been, as evidenced by a shootout-high 27 points being saved for the final round by the best player on the NBA’s best team. The only change we’d ask, beyond the PA commentary nonsense and obvious fake crowd noise, would be to add a few more rounds – because it is so damn fun to watch this bunch let fly from 24 feet.
Showdown: Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather have agreed to fight - at last. Photo: FameFlynet.uk.com
The richest match-up in boxing history between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has finally been agreed after years of haggling.
A source close to the Filipino boxer and congressman revealed to The Sunday Telegraph that Pacquiao completed his contractual agreements on Saturday and that Mayweather is set to sign and will announce the contest which is expected to be worth $250 million (£162 million) in the coming days.
Mayweather was in New York on Friday, buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery, and there are indications that the unbeaten American boxer could even decide to announce the superfight officially at the NBA All-Star Game tip-off, which takes place on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
“Manny has 100 per cent signed his side of the deal,” the source told Telegraph Sport. “It is now over to Mayweather to close the deal and announce the fight.” Pacquiao himself revealed Friday that he has started training in General Santos City, Philippines for his next fight.
Before his face-to-face meeting with Pacquiao last month at a basketball match in Miami, where the pair later met for an hour in the Filipino's hotel suite, Mayweather had appeared on CBS coverage of a boxing event in December and announced that his decision was to face Pacquiao in the ring on May 2.
Through January, however, leaked comments from both sides led to claim and counter-claim over negotiations, which appeared to have stalled again.
But the meeting in Miami re-ignited the deal. Both parties agreed that MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas would be the venue of the fight.
Mayweather has had his past 10 fights there, while Pacquiao has had five of his past seven bouts there.
The fight the world has waited for, on and off for almost six years, now looks set to take place at the MGM Grand on May 2, although it is believed that there are two other dates on the table.
Behind the scenes, the talks have been complex. Top Rank chairman Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, has overseen his side of the negotiations for the bout since November last year through Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS, whose subsidiary network Showtime has two more fights left on a six-fight deal with Mayweather.
It is understood that Mayweather's adviser, Al Haymon, has secured a 60 per cent cut of the revenue for his fighter, with Pacquiao, 36, having agreed to a 40 per cent cut.
Mayweather, unbeaten in 47 fights with 26 knockouts, who turns 38 in nine days' time, will take his career earnings to over half a billion dollars from this contest. But the greatest risk to 'Money' Mayweather in this fight is the loss of his status as an unbeaten fighter.
The megafight between the pair of welterweight world champions is expected to shatter all boxing's box-office records, including the all-time pay-per-view buy record of 2.4 million (Mayweather-Oscar De La Hoya), the pay-per-view revenue record of £100 million (Mayweather-Canelo Alvarez) and the all-time gate record of £13 million (Mayweather-Alvarez).
The teams, according to the Pacquiao side, have also agreed on the policy for the 8-ounce gloves they will wear, and have concurred on a pre and post-fight drug testing programme, the latter issue having scuppered talks in 2009, and then in 2010.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency will be assigned for random drug-testing leading into the fight, with all other matters for the bout to be overseen by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.
Pacquiao is under contract with cable network HBO/Time Warner, and it understood that both broadcasters will air a joint pay-per-view event.
The rival television networks had a similar agreement when heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson in 2002.
Reuters/Reuters - Nutella produced from Italy, priced at 6.25 BAM ($4.20), are displayed for sale at a FIS supermarket in Vitez March 13, 2012. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
ROME (AP) -- Michele Ferrero, the world's richest candy maker whose Nutella chocolate and hazlenut spread helped raise generations of Europeans and defined Italian sweets, died on Valentine's Day, the company said. He was 89.
Ferrero, who had been ill for several months, died Saturday in Montecarlo where he lived, surrounded by his family, the company said in a statement.
Ferrero was the patriarch of the eponymous family empire best known for its Nutella and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. The company's products also included Tic Tacs and the Kinder line of products — including the eggs beloved by children for the treat inside.
Ferrero's father, Pietro, started making Nutella when cocoa was still rationed during World War II, Forbes noted in ranking Ferrero and his family 30th on the list of the world's richest billionaires in 2014, worth $23.4 billion.
The company was one of Italy's most successful, a prime example of the "Made in Italy" brand of food and luxury goods that have defined the private sector in post-war Italy.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella praised Ferrero as one of the leaders of Italian industry, "always ahead of his time thanks to innovative products and his tenacious work and reserved character."
Pietro Ferrero opened his first chocolate laboratory in Alba, in Italy's northwest Piemonte region, in 1942. The business passed to Michele upon Pietro's death in 1949.
Michele Ferrero developed Kinder chocolates in 1968, Tic Tacs a year later and Ferrero Rocher in 1982, according to a biography provided by the company. Eventually, Ferrero intruced the Ferrero Rocher chocolates in Europe and by 1985 began selling them in the United States, according to the company's website.
By 1997, Michele Ferrero handed over the running of the company to his two sons, Pietro and Giovanni. Pietro Ferrero died in 2011 of a cardiac arrest, leaving Giovanni the sole CEO.
Survivors include Ferrero's wife, Maria Franca, and Giovanni.
A wake was scheduled in the Alba factory and the funeral was scheduled for the cathedral in Alba, the company said.
ISIS has paraded captured Kurdish soldiers in cages through screaming crowds in what some fear is a prequel to them being burned alive.
A total of 17 Peshmerga were led through the streets of what is apparently Kirkuk in northwestern Iraq
A video of the procession has appeared on Isis-affiliated social media accounts, showing the prisoners in orange jumpsuits and flanked by black-clad militants brandishing Kalashnikovs and the group’s black flag.
People lining the streets could be heard jeering and shouting “Allahu Akbar” as they passed one by one on the back of flat bed vans.
The captured soldiers were each forced to stand alone in a cage similar to that used in the murder of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh as the convoy crawled through the town.
The footage was believed to have been filmed in Hawija, in Iraq’s Kirkuk province, although the date could not be confirmed.
Ari Mamshae, an Erbil-based senior civil servant in the Kurdish President’s office, said Isis had vowed to murder the 17 abducted Peshmerga fighters.
“They say they will burn them,” he wrote on Twitter.
Although the threats could not be verified, the plan would echo the death of Lieutenant al-Kasaesbeh.
The captured pilot had been shot down over Syria in December and intelligence sources believe he was killed in January.
Isis did not publish the gory propaganda video featuring his death – being doused in petrol and burned alive in a cage – until weeks later after claiming to be open to negotiating a prisoner exchange.
Jordan immediately executed two Isis-affiliated prisoners in retaliation and increased its air strikes against the group, which militants claimed killed American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller.
The Independent’s Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, said Isis burned captive Syrian soldiers to death months before Lieutenant al-Kasaesbeh's murder.
“Isis put captive Syrian soldiers to the torch – and then barbecued their heads on video,” he reported.
Most of Isis’ foreign hostages have been beheaded, including British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, and most recently Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
The group has also filmed Peshmerga commanders being decapitated - most recently murdering Hujam Surchi earlier this month.
The Kurdish fighting force has been the group’s main opposition in Kirkuk and around Hawija, which was abandoned by the Iraqi army last year.
Isis fighters and the Peshmerga have been battling for control of the city of Kirkuk as well as waging a propaganda war on social media.
Kurds have posted graphic pictures of killed Isis militants, while the jihadists appear to be taunting them with the latest video of their comrades.
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