News in pic

Queen Elizabeth II receives a standing ovation before beginning her address to the Virginia General Assembly on Thursday, May 3, 2007, in Richmond, Va. At back right is Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine

Gibson (R), a Great Dane who is the world's tallest dog at 7'2" (2.18 metres) according to the Guinness World Records, stands with his friend Zoie, a 7.5" (19.05cm) Chihuahua, in this undated handout photograph. REUTERS

Credit card holders pay Rs 6,000 cr as extra charges in 10 yrs

Credit card holders in India, who pay the highest rates of interest in the world, have been ripped of Rs 6,000 crore as "extra charges" by banks in a span of ten years, according to a rights group.
"The banks have already extracted around Rs 6,000 crore in the name of late fee, cash advance fee, billed finance fee, over-limit fee, cash withdrawal fee, cheque pick up fee and service taxes on all these fees," CV Gidappa, General Secretary of Credit Card Holders' Association of India (CCHAI), said in Chennai quoting a study conducted by his group.
A top official of a multinational bank, who did not want to be named, said banks charge more for credit card transactions as they foresee higher risk of default due to the insecure nature of transactions. Further, credit cards are more convenient tools for easy borrowing.
"Credit card is a very useful instrument as a means of payment. But it should be used as a borrowing tool very sparingly and if so for as short a time as possible", he cautioned.
As part of the study, the association went through the balance sheets and Loss and Profit statements of all private as well as nationalised banks, checking their interest income and non-interest income since 1992 after the introduction credit cards in India, Gidappa said.
It also plans to move the Supreme Court seeking an order asking banks to pay back the extra money collected.
The average interest rates on the card transactions and loans in India are highest in the world, he said.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Wesak in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Buddhist devotees gather around an illuminated temple in Kelaniya District of Colombo, late 01 May, as part of celebrations for The Wesak Festival. Wesak marks the birth, enlightenment and the passing away of the Buddha over 2500 years ago. Buddha is believed to have visited Kelaniya which has now become a key temple town.

Vanishing Dingo

A wild dog, also known as a dingo, hangs from a tree after being killed in the Namadgi National Park, Canberra, in this file photo. Dingoes are part dog, part wolf, and a last remnant of Asia's ancestor to modern dogs. Their place in Australian folklore was secured by a sensational 1980's murder case involving baby Azaria Chamberlain, whose parents said she was taken by a dingo. But now a new battle for this wild animal looms with landowners of drought-ravaged farms battling with environmentalists over their survival, with 'militarised zones' being drawn to protect the vulnerable sheep flocks from Australia's top predator.

Capybara

In this photo released by Tobu Zoo on Thursday, a capybara carries a squirrel monkey on its back at Tobu Zoo in Minami Saitama. Four capybaras, 29 squirrel monkeys, one white pelican and two bucerotidaes have been kept at the same site in the zoo, where visitors can see the animals interact with one another.

Devil

A demonstrator costumed as a devilish George W. Bush protests against the war in Iraq in front of the White House in Washington on May 2.

Miss Universe 2007

From left to right, Miss Lebanon, Nadine Njeim, Miss India, Puja Gupta, Miss Malaysia, Adelaine Chin Ai Nee, Miss Indonesia, Agni Pratistha Arkadewi Kuwasdorno, and Miss South Africa, Megan Coleman pose for photographers during a media event at the host hotel in Mexico City on Wednesday. On May 28th, Mexico will host the Miss Universe 2007 pageant.

Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (agg 1-1)

Liverpool booked their place in the Champions League final with a dramatic penalty shoot-out win in the semi-final second leg at Anfield.
Dirk Kuyt scored the crucial spot-kick to clinch a 4-1 win after Arjen Robben and Geremi had missed for the Blues.

Daniel Agger cancelled out Chelsea's first-leg lead in the first half with a crisp finish from Steven Gerrard's superbly disguised left-wing free-kick.
Kuyt also rattled the bar with a fine header after the break.

Chelsea's best chance saw Didier Droga denied by Pepe Reina and the big striker was also inches away from turning in Ashley Cole's cross after the break.
But Liverpool were good value for their win in a game that had plenty of excitement but lacked real quality.
Within seconds it became clear both teams were happy to go long. Liverpool looked to feed off Peter Crouch and Chelsea were eager to get the ball to Drogba and use the pace of Salomon Kalou on the break.
But after a promising opening first five minutes from the visitors, it was Liverpool who settled and started to get on top in a scrappy match.

And Liverpool scored from the first good chance of the night.
Joe Cole fouled Gerrard on the left flank and with everyone expecting the Reds skipper to whip in a cross towards the far post, he slid the ball across the box to Agger who slammed it home first time into the bottom corner.

With the scores level on aggregate, Liverpool stepped off the gas a little and Chelsea began to look lively.

Reina was forced into a decent save from Drogba, who stood firm to beat away the striker's fiercely struck shot following Mikel's through-ball.

Chelsea, playing in their third Champions League semi-final in four years, nearly went ahead just before the break when Essien almost diverted a Drogba header in from a Frank Lampard corner.

Liverpool then had three excellent chances to double their lead after the break.
Jermaine Pennant wriggled his way free on the right and crossed to Crouch but his downward far-post header was kicked away by Cech and John Terry completed the clearance.

And within five minutes Liverpool went even closer. A fantastic cross from John Arne Riise was met brilliantly by Kuyt but his header crashed back off the bar.
A rare Terry error then saw stand-in centre-half Essien bail out his skipper as he launched himself in front of Pennant and diverted the ball over for a corner.
Chelsea then pieced together their best move of the half.
Lampard combined with Joe Cole to put in Ashley Cole and Carragher got ahead of Drogba to turn the cross over the bar from three yards.
Minutes later, Drogba almost got through on goal but was thwarted by Reina and at the other end Bolo Zenden tested Cech with a decent 20-yard strike.
Neither side could force the crucial goal in normal time and chances were at a premium in the extra 30 minutes

Liverpool went closest when substitute Xabi Alonso unleashed a rasping 35-yard drive that Cech could only parry into the path of Kuyt, who turned the ball in before his strike was ruled offside.

In the second period Drogba almost converted Shaun Wright-Phillips' teasing cross and Kuyt had a shot beaten away by Cech in the closing moments.
It came down to a penalty shoot-out, and Liverpool romped home.
Bolo Zenden scored the first and only Lampard was successful for the Blues, meaning Kuyt's sweetly-struck effort was enough to secure Liverpool's place in the final against either AC Milan or Manchester United on 23 May.

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT

Zenden scored 1-0

Robben missed 1-0

Alonso scored 2-0

Lampard scored 2-1

Gerrard scored 3-1

Geremi missed 3-1

Kuyt scored 4-1

Liverpool: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Pennant (Alonso 78), Gerrard, Mascherano (Fowler 118), Zenden, Kuyt, Crouch (Bellamy 106).Subs Not Used: Padelli, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Gonzalez.

Booked: Agger, Zenden.

Goals: Agger 22.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Essien, Terry, Ashley Cole, Mikel, Makelele (Geremi 118), Lampard, Joe Cole (Robben 98), Drogba, Kalou (Wright-Phillips 107).Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Boulahrouz, Bridge, Diarra.

Booked: Ashley Cole.

Att: 42,554.

Ref: Manuel Enrique Mejuto Gonzalez (Spain).

Labour day

A Buddhist devotee offers flowers to a Buddhist statue on Vesak day at the Kelaniya Temple in Colombo on Tuesday, May 1. Vesak Day commemorates the birth of Buddha, his attaining of Enlightenment and his passing away into Nirvana.

Youths paint their faces as they take part in a Labour Day rally in Manila on Tuesday, May 1.

News in Photo-Japan

University student sumo wrestlers attempt to make babies cry during the "Baby-cry Sumo" at Tokyo's Sensoji temple in Tokyo on Saturday, 28 April. Some 70 under one-year-old babies participated in the annual baby cry contest, which is supposed to bring good health

Saudi tribe holds camel beauty pageant

GUWEI'IYYA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - The legs are long, the eyes are big, the bodies curvaceous.

Contestants in this Saudi-style beauty pageant have all the features you might expect anywhere else in the world, but with one crucial difference -- the competitors are camels.
This week, the Qahtani tribe of western Saudi Arabia has been welcoming entrants to its Mazayen al-Ibl competition, a parade of the "most beautiful camels" in the desolate desert region of Guwei'iyya, 120 km (75 miles) west of Riyadh.
"In Lebanon they have Miss Lebanon," jokes Walid, moderator of the competition's Web site. "Here we have Miss Camel."
While tremendous oil wealth has brought rapid modernization to the desert state of Saudi Arabia, the camel remains celebrated as a symbol of the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Bedouin Arabs.
Throughout history camels have served multiple purposes as food, friend, transport and war machine. They were key to the Arab conquests of the Middle East and North Africa nearly 1,400 years ago that brought Islam to the world.
Camels are also big business in a country where strict Islamic laws and tribal customs would make it impossible for women to take part in their own beauty contest.
Delicate females or strapping males who attract the right attention during this week's show could sell for a million or more riyals. Sponsors have provided 10 million riyals ($2.7 million) for the contest, cash that also covers the 72 sports utility vehicles to be will be awarded as prizes.
"Bedouin Arabs are intimately connected to camels and they want to preserve this heritage. The importance of this competition is that it helps preserve the pure-breds," said Sheikh Omair, one of the tribe's leaders,
"We have more than 250 owners taking part and more than 1,500 camels," he said inside a huge tent where the final awards ceremony takes place.
RESTLESS BEAUTY QUEENS
Over at the camel pen, the contestants are getting restless as the desert wind howls and whips up swirls of sand in the hot afternoon sun.
Amid a large crowd of Bedouin who have gathered to watch, the head of the judging committee emerges to venture into an enclosure with some two dozen angry braying camels.
Camel-drivers sing songs of praise to their prized possessions as they try to calm the animals down.
"Beautiful, beautiful!" the judge mutters quietly to himself, inspecting the group. Finalists have been decorated with silver bands and body covers.
"The nose should be long and droop down, that's more beautiful," explains Sultan al-Qahtani, one of the organizers. "The ears should stand back, and the neck should be long. The hump should be high, but slightly to the back."
The camels are divided into four categories according to breed -- the black majaheem, white maghateer, dark brown shi'l and the sufur, which are beige with black shoulders. Arabic famously has over 40 terms for different types of camel.
Some females have harnesses strapped around their genitalia to thwart any efforts by the males to mount them. One repeat offender called Marjaa has been moved away.
"This one would fetch a million!" says Hamad al-Sudani, a camel-driver, admiring the heavy stud, or fahl.

GUWEI'IYYA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - The legs are long, the eyes are big, the bodies curvaceous.

Contestants in this Saudi-style beauty pageant have all the features you might expect anywhere else in the world, but with one crucial difference -- the competitors are camels.
This week, the Qahtani tribe of western Saudi Arabia has been welcoming entrants to its Mazayen al-Ibl competition, a parade of the "most beautiful camels" in the desolate desert region of Guwei'iyya, 120 km (75 miles) west of Riyadh.
"In Lebanon they have Miss Lebanon," jokes Walid, moderator of the competition's Web site. "Here we have Miss Camel."
While tremendous oil wealth has brought rapid modernization to the desert state of Saudi Arabia, the camel remains celebrated as a symbol of the traditional nomadic lifestyle of Bedouin Arabs.
Throughout history camels have served multiple purposes as food, friend, transport and war machine. They were key to the Arab conquests of the Middle East and North Africa nearly 1,400 years ago that brought Islam to the world.
Camels are also big business in a country where strict Islamic laws and tribal customs would make it impossible for women to take part in their own beauty contest.
Delicate females or strapping males who attract the right attention during this week's show could sell for a million or more riyals. Sponsors have provided 10 million riyals ($2.7 million) for the contest, cash that also covers the 72 sports utility vehicles to be will be awarded as prizes.
"Bedouin Arabs are intimately connected to camels and they want to preserve this heritage. The importance of this competition is that it helps preserve the pure-breds," said Sheikh Omair, one of the tribe's leaders,
"We have more than 250 owners taking part and more than 1,500 camels," he said inside a huge tent where the final awards ceremony takes place.
RESTLESS BEAUTY QUEENS
Over at the camel pen, the contestants are getting restless as the desert wind howls and whips up swirls of sand in the hot afternoon sun.
Amid a large crowd of Bedouin who have gathered to watch, the head of the judging committee emerges to venture into an enclosure with some two dozen angry braying camels.
Camel-drivers sing songs of praise to their prized possessions as they try to calm the animals down.
"Beautiful, beautiful!" the judge mutters quietly to himself, inspecting the group. Finalists have been decorated with silver bands and body covers.
"The nose should be long and droop down, that's more beautiful," explains Sultan al-Qahtani, one of the organizers. "The ears should stand back, and the neck should be long. The hump should be high, but slightly to the back."
The camels are divided into four categories according to breed -- the black majaheem, white maghateer, dark brown shi'l and the sufur, which are beige with black shoulders. Arabic famously has over 40 terms for different types of camel.
Some females have harnesses strapped around their genitalia to thwart any efforts by the males to mount them. One repeat offender called Marjaa has been moved away.
"This one would fetch a million!" says Hamad al-Sudani, a camel-driver, admiring the heavy stud, or fahl.