THE world’s largest natural pearl on the market was expected to fetch up to $8 million when it went on auction at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace last night.

The world’s largest natural pearl on the market is expected to fetch up to £4m (€5.85m) when it is auctioned at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace today.

The world’s largest available natural pearl is set to be auctioned in the Emirates’ capital Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

A top al-Qaida-linked militant, long wanted by the US and Philippine authorities for deadly terror attacks, has been killed in a clash with troops in a major blow to his brutal rebel group, the military said today.

Four members of a family in the Philippines have been charged with murder for allegedly killing and eating a relative during a wedding reception – and serving his flesh to unwitting party guests.

A terrorist bombing on the scale of the Madrid attacks was averted in the Philippines with the arrests of four Abu Sayyaf members and the confiscation of 380 pounds of TNT, the president said in Manila.

The death toll from a tropical storm which hit the Philippines this week has risen to at least 110 as rescuers continue to recover bodies from under mud, boulders and collapsed homes on Camiguin Island.

Americans travelling in the Philippines are being urged to review their security arrangements and check with the US Embassy for the latest information following a kidnapping incident.

Up to 20 people, including foreign tourists, have been taken hostage by armed men from a Philippine island resort.

A military helicopter went down while airlifting bodies from an earlier chopper accident, officials in the Philippines said today. The two crashes killed 13 people.