Weird News & Urban Legends (add yours)

Dubai's Prince Buys $2.7 Million Camel


Apr 8, 9:53 PM (ET)

By BARBARA SURK

MADINAT ZAYED, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Dubai's crown prince paid $2.7 million for a camel during a desert festival celebrating Bedouin traditions in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, state-run media said Tuesday.
The festival also included a camel beauty contest, where thousands of owners strutted their animals in a bid for the top prize of finest overall camel and separate categories related to the age and color of the camels, in which features such as best neck, head, lips, nose, hump, legs or feet, are judged.
Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the son of Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed, bought 16 camels for $4.5 million, including one female camel for $2.7 million, the state news agency WAM reported.
The price tag was unprecedented but it was not clear if it was an official record.
The hefty sum was still a fraction of the record price paid at auction for a horse. The Green Monkey, a thoroughbred colt, was purchased at a Florida auction in 2006 for $16 million.
There was no indication what Hamdan, Dubai's heir apparent, planned to do with the animal though female camels are often used for racing. Owning fine camels is also a mark of prestige for the ruling elite in the Persian Gulf.
Abu Dhabi's ruling family organized the nine-day festival in a bid to preserve the nomadic way of life in the desert that predates the discovery of oil in the region in the 1960s.
More than 17,000 camels from the oil-rich Gulf countries - the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain - were registered for the beauty contest, which gave out millions of dollars in prize money and more than 100 four-wheel-drive vehicles and pickup trucks, the festival's managers said.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and, with the lion's share of the country's oil resources, the richest of the seven semiautonomous emirates that make up the country. Dubai, the largest emirate in population, has been undergoing an unprecedented boom as its leaders shape it into a major financial center.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080409/D8VU24MO0.html

Indonesian Masseuses Lock Their Pants

Apr 10, 4:46 PM (ET)


JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Massage parlors in an Indonesian town are asking their female masseuses to padlock their skirts and pants to make it clear that sex is not on offer. But the move has been protested by the women's affairs minister of Indonesia, where massage parlors are often a front for prostitution.
"It is not the right way to prevent promiscuity," Meutia Swasono was quoted as saying in Thursday's Jakarta Post. "It insults women ... as if they are the ones in the wrong."
At least one parlor in the tourist town of Batu on Java island has required its masseuses to padlock their skirts or trousers to make it clear that the establishment does not tolerate prostitution.
Others in the town started following suit after local officials suggested it was a good idea at a recent meeting with parlor owners. TV footage and photos have shown several masseuses with small padlocks in the zip of their pants or skirts in recent days.
"The padlocking phenomena has been seen at various parlors and it is something we like," said Imam Suryono, the head of the town's public order authority. He denied media reports that he had formally ordered them to wear padlocks.
It was not immediately possible to contact Swasono for comment.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080410/D8VV7QR80.html

TheDenverChannel.com

Related To Story Joseph Manzanares was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment and domestic violence for a fight with his girlfriend inside a Hollywood video store.

Police: Mother A Crip, Father A Westside Baller

POSTED: 7:10 pm MDT April 10, 2008
UPDATED: 7:27 am MDT April 11, 2008




COMMERCE CITY, Colo. -- A couple fighting about which gang their 4-year-old toddler should join caused a public disturbance that resulted in the father's arrest, Commerce City police said Thursday.
On Saturday, Joseph Manzanares stormed into the Hollywood Video store where his girlfriend worked, threatened to kill her and knocked over several video displays and even a computer, Commerce City police Sgt. Joe Sandoval said.
After he ran out of the store, police were called and the 19-year-old was arrested at his home.
His girlfriend told police that they had been arguing about the upbringing of their son and which gang he should belong to. The teen mother, who is black, is a member of the Crips. Manzanares is Hispanic and belongs to the Westside Ballers gang, the woman said.
"They have different ideas on how the baby should be raised. Basically, she said they cannot agree on which gang the baby would 'claim,'" Sandoval said.
Manzanares was charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, and domestic violence. He was transported to the Adams County Detention Facility.
On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to a year of probation. The misdemeanor harassment charge was dropped.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15851207/detail.html