Floyd Mayweather insisted that his blockbuster fight against Manny Pacquiao is about boxing and business, not angels and demons, as the rivals went eyeball-to-eyeball at their final pre-fight press conference.
     Pacquiao goes into Saturday's bout that has the boxing world buzzing trailing a mantle of humanitarian deeds.
     The two-term congressman tipped as a future Philippines president has left womanizing and gambling ways behind him and while he stands to make some USD 100 million for his night's work on Saturday, the devout Christian says he hopes the intense focus on the fight will be a stage for the glorification of God.
     "I want to inspire," Pacquiao said.
     But Mayweather won't be playing the devil, despite a history that includes two months in jail in 2012 for an assault on an ex-girlfriend in front of two of their children.
     "I am a realist," said Mayweather, the 38-year-old American who has parlayed a perfect 47-0 ring record into a reign as the highest paid 

Mega-fight not good v evil - Mayweather

PTI Automatic

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists the English Premier League title has not been secured just yet despite moving to within one victory of mathematically clinching it.
     The West Londoners ensured they would be crowned champions if they beat Crystal Palace at home on Sunday after coming from behind to win 3-1 at Leicester on Wednesday.
     Goals from Didier Drogba, John Terry and Ramires ensured victory after Marc Albrighton had given Leicester a shock early lead on the stroke of half-time.
     "I cannot touch the trophy, we still need two or three more points," said Mourinho.
     "We need three points to be completely safe. We all had in our mind we had to try and do it at Stamford Bridge. The momentum we had was that. We want to bring it to Stamford Bridge.
     "But the fans can't celebrate yet. They can only celebrate the League Cup. I hope they can play the match with us and push the team. That's the spirit we have in the camp. They are not happy because they won the ...

We haven't assured ourselves of title yet, says Mourinho

Real Madrid warmed up for a big week by moving back to within two points of Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a comfortable 3-0 win over Almeria on Wednesday.
     James Rodriguez's stunning dipping volley a minute before the break lit up an otherwise drab first 45 minute.
     Mauro Dos Santos's own goal doubled Madrid's advantage early in the second-half before Alvaro Arbeloa added a late third.
     Madrid travel to Champions League-chasing Sevilla on Saturday before facing Juventus away in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
     "We are in a very important part of the season and every game is the most important," said Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.
     "I will play the strongest team against Sevilla despite the fact we then play against Juventus.
     "We are not convinced that Barca will drop two points, but we are that we are going to win the four remaining games."
     The pressure was on Ancelotti's men after Barcelona had mauled Getafe 6-0 on ...

Rodriguez cracker helps Real keep pressure on Barcelona

National Guard troops patrolled the tense streets of Baltimore in large numbers in anticipation of a fresh large-scale protest over the death of a young African-American man in police custody.
	A citywide curfew that sprang into effect at 10:00 pm on Tuesday (local time) and lasted until 5:00 am yesterday was largely respected, although police made 35 arrests and warned that they were assessing the volatile situation minute-by-minute.
	That included an anticipated demonstration in the early evening set to begin at the city's main train station, said Baltimore Police Captain Eric Kowalczyk.
	"We anticipate that that will be a large group that will march. From what we understand right now, they will march through the city to City Hall. We are asking that they remain peaceful," he told reporters yesterday.
	Looting and violence erupted in Baltimore after the funeral on Monday of Freddie Gray, 25, who died after suffering severe spinal injuries during a police arrest.
	It was the latest ..

Baltimore braces for fresh large-scale protest

Ukrainian police have launched a criminal probe against ex-employees of a state gas company over their dealings with an oligarch whom the United States wants to extradite, the government said today.
	Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the investigation was opened after the government went to court over the alleged embezzlement.
	The government wants to find out what happened to USD 256 million worth of public funds that it says went missing in a deal between Naftogaz and the Ostchem chemical firm, owned by Dmytro Firtash.
	Firtach is currently under house arrest in Vienna where a court is due to rule on Thursday on a demand to extradite him. The United States issued a warrant for him last year on charges of corruption linked to titanium mining in India.
	Yatsenyuk did not specify when the suspect transaction with Naftogaz is alleged to have taken place and did not name those targeted by the investigation.
	The interior ministry said a court upheld its demand to impound 500 million .

Ukraine probes alleged embezzlement linked to oligarch

German intelligence services spied on top French officials and the European Commission on behalf of the American spy agency NSA, according to an article to appear in Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
	Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency helped the National Security Agency (NSA) carry out "political espionage" by surveilling "top officials at the French Foreign Ministry, the Elysee Palace and European Commission" the German daily paper is to report.
	Long portrayed as a victim of snooping by allies, Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has grappled this week with embarrassing reports of German spying on European firms on behalf of the United States.
	Citing intelligence agency documents, the Bild daily reported Monday that the German chancellor's office was informed in 2008 during Merkel's first term of German involvement in US economic espionage but did not react.
	According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, spying on companies could only have taken place in isolated cases as the United States ...

Germany spied on French and EU officials for US: report

Iran is willing to submit to the highest level of international transparency on its nuclear program and wants to conclude a final accord as soon as possible, its foreign minister said today.
	"The (UN nuclear agency) IAEA has seen everything and if you're looking for a smoking gun, you've got to wait a long, long, long time before you get one," Mohammad Javad Zarif told an audience at New York University.
	Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany have begun drafting a final nuclear accord due by June 30.
	The agreement is intended to ensure the wholly peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of a raft of international sanctions imposed since 2006.
	Tehran is ready to accept the "highest level of international transparency" available to members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, said Zarif.
	"Iran is prepared, within an agreement, to accept the additional .

Iran willing to submit to 'highest' transparency: FM

European countries must prioritise which jihadists to pursue in court if they are to avoid being overwhelmed by the caseload, the EU's counter-terrorism chief told in an interview.
	Gilles de Kerchove, in Paris this week for a meeting of EU counter-terrorism magistrates, said jihadists who had clearly engaged with the most brutal militant groups and risked carrying out violence within Europe must be prosecuted.
	But he said authorities must also identify less fanatical members who could be open to deradicalisation.
	"There is a considerable number of Europeans among the foreign combattants who have travelled to Iraq and Syria, certainly more than 4,000," said Kerchove.
	"So, whatever happens, we don't have a choice: surveillance of all of them is beyond the capacity of states.
	"Before Syria, we were talking about dozens of people to monitor. Now we're in the thousands."
	He said there were many cases in which there was little or no evidence against jihadists returning from ...

EU lawyers must prioritise jihadist cases:counter-terror chief

British Prime Minister David Cameron today promised to ban major tax increases for the next five years if his party manages to win a knife-edge election next week.
	Cameron, who is fighting for his political survival in the May 7 poll, is promising to pass a law introducing a "tax lock" to prevent increases in income tax, value-added tax or national insurance contributions to state benefits.
	His centre-right Conservatives, in power since 2010 as part of a coalition government and at virtual level pegging with the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, has put the economy at the forefront of its campaign.
	"It is, in fact, the first law of politics: it's Labour who put up your taxes, and the Conservatives who cut them," he was to say during a campaign speech the West Midlands.
	Labour's finance spokesman Ed Balls criticised the move at a time when, he said, the British economy was "not strong and robust".
	"They've obviously decided to do this last minute gimmick because they are ..

UK's Cameron vows to ban tax rises if re-elected

Sri Lanka's minority ruling party urged President Maithripala Sirisena today to call a snap general election to strengthen its numbers, one day after parliament passed a watered-down political reform package.
	The governing United National Party (UNP) called for the election after the opposition blocked several key reforms, thwarting Sirisena's pledge to return Sri Lanka to a parliamentary-style democracy.
	"There is now a necessity for an immediate dissolution of parliament," UNP treasurer Eran Wickramaratne said in a statement.
	"The (current) political uncertainly will have dire economic consequences."
	"The only way out is for the people to be given the chance to decide (at elections)."
	Sirisena has yet to dissolve parliament and call an election despite pledging to act as soon as the reform package was passed.
	Parliament yesterday passed reforms to curb the powers of the president, including restoring a two-term limit -- reversing changes made by strongman Mahinda Rajapakse ...

Sri Lanka's ruling party seeks fresh election

Bangladesh's ruling Awami League party was declared the winner of mayoral elections today after the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party boycotted the polls, claiming they were rigged.
	Candidates allied to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured landslide victories in the capital Dhaka and port city of Chittagong following the BNP's withdrawal several hours into voting yesterday, polling officers said.
	"I've visited quite a few booths during the vote and found trouble in only one booth," Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz told AFP, declaring the polls largely free and fair.
	But the US embassy called for a probe into the allegations of electoral irregularities, saying it was "disappointed by widespread, first-hand, and credible reports of vote-rigging, intimidation and violence".
	The elections were initially billed as a test of the popularity of Hasina and her centre-left party, which the BNP says is becoming increasingly autocratic.
	The BNP, led by former premier Khaleda Zia, .

Bangladesh ruling party declared winner after poll boycott

A cigarette-begging woman at an Israeli petrol station was so inflamed by a man's refusal that she ignited the fuel at his petrol pump, police said today.
	Police released a link to video of yesterday's incident in Jerusalem, showing the woman flick a lighter at the fumes from the petrol hose as it sat in the car's tank, and then run off as a sheet of flame erupted.
	The motorist is seen yanking the hose from the tank, and police said forecourt staff were able to extinguish the flames before anyone was hurt.
	They said a suspect was arrested shortly after the incident but denied the charge.

No smoke without fire: woman lights Israel petrol pump

Air strikes by Syrian government forces killed at least 21 people, including six children, and wounded 50 today in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, a monitor said.
	In the south of Aleppo city, a small girl was among four civilians killed in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Ferdus, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
	Another seven civilians died in Deir Hafer and Bab, two areas located in the east and north of Aleppo under the control of the Islamic State jihadist group, said the Britain-based group.
	Explosives-filled barrels and missiles were used in the wave of bombing, which left 50 people wounded.
	In Idlib, air strikes killed 10 people, five of them children, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports.
	A newly formed rebel alliance calling itself the Army of Conquest has seized key positions in Idlib province in recent weeks, including the provincial capital of the same name, the town of Jisr al-Shughur and a ...

Regime bombing kills 21 in north Syria: monitor

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Washington's World War II memorial today, hoping to appease criticism of his stance on his country's brutal past ahead of a landmark speech to Congress.
	Abe toured the monument on Washington's National Mall, which honors hundreds of thousands of Americans who died during the conflict, many at the hands of Japanese forces.
	He laid a flower wreath at the Freedom Wall, shortly before he was due to become the first Japanese prime minister in history to address a joint meeting of the US Congress.
	News of his address has been greeted by calls for a full apology for Japan's treatment of an estimated 200,000 mostly Chinese and Korea women forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial armed forces.
	Abe has said he is "deeply pained" to think about what the so-called "comfort women" were subjected to, but has stopped short of a full apology.
	In Congress, Abe will come face to face with Lee Yong-Soo, one of those forced into sexual slavery.
	She is ...

Abe makes symbolic visit to US World War II memorial

Iranian maritime authorities said today that Iran seized a ship carrying cargo for Denmark's giant Maersk group under a legal ruling over a longstanding commercial dispute.
	Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards intercepted the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo vessel Maersk Tigris yesterday in the strategic Strait of Hormuz leading into the Gulf.
	The Iranian Port and Maritime Organisation, in a statement, said the vessel was intercepted "upon a legal order" and transferred to Shahid Bahonar port in southern Iran.
	The ruling was "based on a lawsuit by a private company called Pars Talayieh Oil Product company (Golden Pars Oil Products) against Maersk ship company," it said.
	"This lawsuit has been ongoing in legal courts in recent years and the competent court has issued the ruling" after having heard from both sides in the dispute.
	It said Maersk was ordered to pay financial damages in what was a purely commercial case with no political dimensions. The ship can only be released "upon a ..

Iran says cargo ship seized under court order

European Union lawmakers called today for all alcoholic drinks including beer, wine and spirits to have labelled calorie counts in a bid to tackle obesity and other health problems.
	The European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution urging the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, to draw up legislation by the end of 2016.
	They also urged the Commission to consider adding a label to warn pregnant women not to consume alcohol and highlight the dangers of drink-driving.
	"We've sent a strong message to the Commission today and I hope they'll listen," said Glenis Willmott, a Labour MEP from Britain who has led the labelling campaign.
	"Consumers have a right to know that a glass of wine has the same number of calories as a slice of cake."
	Alcoholic beverages were exempted from a 2011 law that resulted in all non-alcoholic drinks sold in the 28-nation EU having nutritional details on their labels.
	 Wednesday's resolution faced ...

Booze calorie counts get EU parliament backing

Opener Mohammad Hafeez hit an unbeaten century as Pakistan reached 227 for one in reply to Bangladesh's 332 at stumps on the second day of the first Test in Khulna today.
     The tourists finally enjoyed a successful day on an otherwise miserable tour, where they were whitewashed 3-0 in the one-day series and lost to Bangladesh for the first time in a Twenty20 international
     Hafeez made 137 not out, his eighth Test hundred and the third in his last four innings, after Pakistan had ended Bangladesh's hopes of posting a mammoth first innings total.
     Hafeez has so far hit 12 fours and two sixes after surviving a narrow escape in the fourth over of the innings when TV umpire Paul Reiffel overturned a decision for a catch at the wicket off Taijul Islam.
     Hafeez put on 50 for the first-wicket with debutant Sami Aslam and 177 in an unbroken partnership with Azhar Ali, as the batsmen prospered in good batting conditions at the Sheikh Abu Naser stadium.
     Left-handed Aslam, who 

Ton-up Hafeez leads Pakistan's strong reply

The Germanwings crash has left permanent scars on parent airline Lufthansa, its chief executive told shareholders at their annual meeting today, which started with a minute's silence to honour the dead.
	"This tragedy has changed us and the scars that it has left on our company will remain forever," CEO Carsten Spohr told some 2,000 shareholders in the northern German port city of Hamburg.
	A jet from Germanwings, the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps on March 24 -- apparently in a deliberate act by the co-pilot -- killing all 150 people on board.
	"The entire Lufthansa family is in mourning," said supervisory board chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber who formally opened the annual general meeting with the minute's silence.
	A book of condolences lay open for shareholders to sign in the huge congress centre where the meeting was being held.
	Spohr said Lufthansa would "stand by... And support" the families and friends of the people who died.
	"We consider this not only 

Lufthansa says Germanwings crash scarred it forever

President Francois Hollande announced today that France would increase its defence budget by close to four billion euros over four years, in response to extremist threats after the Paris jihadist attacks.
	He also said that emergency military patrols set up at sensitive sites nationwide after the January attacks would be made permanent, with a 7,000-strong force dedicated to internal security.
	The announcements came nearly four months after jihadists went on a three-day killing spree in Paris, leaving 17 people dead and putting France and neighbouring European countries on high alert.
	Speaking after calling a defence council, Hollande said the decisions were taken to ensure France's internal security but also the safety of military forces currently engaged in operations abroad, such as in the troubled Sahel region of Africa or in the Central African Republic.
	"We have the duty to support people who may come under threat, but we also defend our own security," he told reporters.
	The 

France increases defence budget post-attacks

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi vowed that parliamentary polls, originally set for last month, will be held before the end of the year, in an interview published today.
	"I give my word: they will be held before the end of the year," he told El Mundo newspaper in an interview published on the eve of his official visit to Spain.
	Egypt's parliamentary polls were set to start on March 21 and run until May 7 but were postponed after the constitutional court ruled that parts of the electoral law unconstitutional.
	The election would be the first for a new parliament since former army chief Sisi overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
	Critics accuse Sisi, who was elected president in May 2014, of establishing an authoritarian regime by eliminated all opposition, but he told El Mundo he has prevented Egypt from descending into civil war.
	"I faced a difficult equation: my role is to guarantee life and security of 90 million Egyptians who faced the risk of chaos. If I ...

Egypt's Sisi pledges elections in 2015

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou today defended his policy of rapprochement with China ahead of a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the chairman of the island's ruling party, saying it had brought peace despite fears of Beijing's increasing influence.
	Xi is expected to meet Eric Chu, who succeeded Ma as chairman of the China-friendly Kuomintang party, in Beijing on Monday.
	A group of 20-odd demonstrators from the radical anti-China opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) rallied in central Taipei against the meeting, alleging Chu could betray Taiwan's interests.
	"Chu would be ditched by Taiwan people and the Kuomintang pay a dear price if he reached an agreement with Xi sacrificing the interest of Taiwan people," TSU chief Huang Kun-hui warned in a statement.
	Ma, the initiator of rapprochement with China since 2008, however said Chu should meet with Xi and keep on track the "One China" policy which has paved way for the improved ties.
	"I met with chairman Chu ...

AFP

AFP

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