Miss Russia is the Miss World

Ksenya Sukhinova of Russia won the Miss World 2008 crown on saturday in a glittering African themed paegent where she outshone 108 other contestants from various parts of the World.The first runner up was India's Parvathy Omanakuttan and the second runner up was Trinidad and Tobago's Gabrielle Walcott.The Russian became the 58th Miss World who takes over from Zhang Zi Lin of China.Hailing from Nizhnevartovsk in the north west of Siberia, Sukhinova was dressed in a purple gown, with a decorative neckline and flowing skirt.She is a student pursuing an engineering degree from the Tyumen Oil and Gas University.

U.S. joins pursuit of pirates off Somalia

A U.S. destroyer and a Russian warship headed Saturday for a possible confrontation with pirates who hijacked a cargo ship carrying battle tanks, machine guns and a crew of 21.Though pursued by ships from two of the world's biggest naval powers, the pirates showed no sign of surrendering the Ukrainian vessel Faina, which they boarded Thursday off the Somali coast as it headed to Kenya. Instead, according to unconfirmed reports, they were demanding a $35-million ransom to turn over their unconventional booty, which includes 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks.