Critical Beauty

     Francielly Ouriques , a 25-year-old model from Brazil, was crowned the new Miss Asia Pacific International  2017 on Wednesday, November 29, at Resorts World Manila in Parañaque City, Philippines. Her court includes first runner-up Acacia Walker of New Zealand, second runner-up Valeria Cardona of Honduras, third runner-up Morgan Doelwijt of the Netherlands, and fourth runner-up Ilene de Vera of the Philippines. Ouriques was crowned by last year's winner, Tessa Le Conge of the Netherlands.   During the final interview, the Top 5 candidates were asked a common question: “Do you think the advocacy of fostering love, appreciation and unity in diversity is relevant in this day and age? Why or why not?”     Ouriques replied: “Absolutely. Fostering love nowadays is essential. I believe that we are all equal before God and all of us should be able to respect love and spread good things among everybody;     “Respect, unity and love are things that my parents taught me

CREDIT: MISS UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters won the second Miss Universe crown for her country, South Africa, on Sunday, November 26, from the AXIS at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The 22-year-old beauty queen zoomed all the way to the final judging after acing her final question. Crowning her was Miss Universe 2016, Iris Mittenaere , of France, who won the 65th edition in the Philippines. The last time South Africa won the title of Miss Universe was in 1978 with the then-18-year-old Margaret Gardiner in Acapulco, Mexico. Her win made South Africa the first nation in Africa win, and her the first African woman to win the prestigious title. She clinched the title through the final question round where she was asked, “What quality in yourself you are most proud of and how will you apply it in your time as Miss Universe?” “As Miss Universe, you have to be confident of who you are as an individual. A Miss Universe is a woman that ove

Miss Iraq Sarah Idan  in her national costume / Credit: Miss Universe Organization MISS IRAQ'S DILEMMA: The last time that Iraq competed in Miss Universe pageant was in 1972. The contestant, Wijdan Burhan El-Deen Sulyman , wore a one-piece swimsuit which hardly caused a stir within the Muslim world. Fast forward 45 years later to 2017, Iraq is back with a beautiful representative, Sarah Idan , 27, born and raised in Baghdad. However, her participation in the world's most prestigious pageant has enraged fundamentalist Muslims in her country and elsewhere. As a result, her family has been receiving death threats and the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has been forced to take down all of her bikini photos from the official website. This is Islamic Sharia law at its best. By removing all of Miss Iraq's swimsuit photos, MUO has caved in to Sharia. Not only has Miss Iraq's individual freedom been curtailed by a primitive and savage law, MUO's control rig

Benita Winther Jensen , Miss Sandoy, 18, was crowned as the first official Miss Faroe Islands 2017 on November 18 in Torshavn. The first runner-up is  Monika Nolsøe , Miss Suðuroy, 18, and the second-runner-up is  Birgit Johannessen , Miss Klaksvík, 18. The winner of Miss Critical Beauty Faroe Islands was  Leyvoy Í Gerðinum , Miss Vestmanna, 18. Jensen was crowned by  Turið Elinborgardóttir , Miss Earth Denmark 2015, who is also the owner and director of the pageant.  Elinborgardóttir launched the pageant with the hope of sending the winner to Miss Universe next year, pending license approval.  Left to right: Benita Jensen, Monika  Nolsøe and Birgit  Johannessen Eight young women from all over the country competed in the first edition of the pageant. The remaining four contestants included:  Sissal Magnussen , Miss Streymoy, 18;  Maria Andreasdóttir Sørensen , Miss Gjógv, 24;  Hananja Dánjalsdóttir , Miss Kollafjørður, 20;  and  Sólja Johannessen , Miss Tórshavn, 18.

SANYA, CHINA - I ndia's Manushi Chhillar has won the Miss World beauty pageant for the year 2017. The win comes 17 years after Priyanka Chopra brought home the coveted title in the year 2000. Andrea Meza , who is Miss Mexico was the first runner up and Stephanie Hill from England was second runner up. Around 108 women from across the world participated in the beauty pageant. Ms Chhillar, a 20-year-old from Haryana, studied in St. Thomas School in New Delhi and Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women in Sonepat. According to Ms Chhillar's profile on the Miss World website, Ms Chhillar aims to be a cardiac surgeon and has plans of opening non-profit hospitals in rural areas. Ms Chhillar's profile also says she is a trained classical dancer and has a passion for outdoor sports like scuba diving, snorkelling and bungee jumping. After reaching the top five, Ms Chhillar was asked during the Question and Answer round, which profession she thought

Miss Faroe Islands 2017 Crowned Benita Winther Jensen , Miss Sandoy, 18, was crowned as the first official Miss Faroe Islands 2017 on November 18 in Torshavn. The first runner-up is  Monika Nolsøe , Miss Suðuroy, 18, and the second-runner-up is  Birgit Johannessen , Miss Klaksvík, 18. The winner of Miss Critical Beauty Faroe Islands was  Leyvoy Í Gerðinum , Miss Vestmanna, 18. Jensen was crowned by  Turið Elinborgardóttir , Miss Earth Denmark 2015, who is also the owner and director of the pageant.  Elinborgardóttir launched the pageant with the hope of sending the winner to Miss Universe next year, pending license approval.  Left to right: Benita Jensen, Monika  Nolsøe and Birgit  Johannessen Eight young women from all over the country competed in the first edition of the pageant. The remaining four contestants included:  Sissal Magnussen , Miss Streymoy, 18;  Maria Andreasdóttir Sørensen , Miss Gjógv, 24;  Hananja Dánjalsdóttir , Miss Kollafjørður, 20;  and  Sól

Kevin Lilliana , 21, from Bandung, Indonesia was crowned Miss International 2017 on November 14 at the Tokyo Dome City in Tokyo, Japan. She is the first woman from her country to have won the world's fourth biggest pageant which began in 1960. She was crowned by her predecessor, Kylie Versoza from the Philippines. The new queen waves to the crowd during her victory walk The first runner-up is Chanelle De Lau , 22, from  Curaçao  The second runner-up is Diana Croce , 20, from Venezuela  The third runner-up is Amber Dew , 21, from Australia  The fourth runner-up is  Natsuki Tsutsui , 23, from Japan Completing the Top 8 were the delegates from Ecuador, Laos and the United Kingdom. Rounding up the Top 15 were the delegates from Finland, Ghana, Honduras, Panama, Slovakia, South Africa and Thailand.  PHOTO CREDIT: MISS INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

Sthefany Gutierrez , 18, representing the state of Delta Amacuro, was crowned Miss Venezuela 2018 last night in Caracas. She will represent her country in the 2018 Miss Universe pageant. She succeeds Keysi Santiago who will be competing in 2017 Miss Universe to be held on November 26 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Veruska Ljubisavljevic Rodríguez , 25, from Vargas was crowned Miss World Venezuela 2018 and will compete in Miss World 2018.   Mariem Claret Velazco García from Barinas was crowned Miss Venezuela International 2018 and will compete in 2018 Miss International to be held in Tokyo a year from now. The first runner-up was Biliannis Álvarez of Falcón and the s econd runner-up was Megan Beci of Amazonas. Photo credit: Miss Venezuela Official Website

Teresita Ssen “Winwyn” Marquez , first-time Philippine representative to the pageant, was crowned Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on Saturday night, November 4. She bested 26 other candidates in a competition that aims to promote Hispanic-American culture across the globe. In the photo above, Marquez is flanked by her court that includes (from left to right):  Katherine Añazgo Orozco of Bolivia, fourth runner-up;  Karla Maria Lopez Berumen of Mexico, third runner-up;  Akisha Albert of Curaçao (Virreina Hispanoamericana 2017);  Maria Laís Berté of Brazil, first runner-up; and María Victoria D’Ambrosio Díaz of Venezuela, second runner-up. Marquez’s victory came only hours after her compatriot Karen Ibasco was crowned Miss Earth 2017 on Saturday night in the Philippines. During the question-and-answer segment Marquez was asked how she would promote Hispanic-American culture despite language barriers. She replied: “Language can be learned bu

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ Karen Ibasco , a 26-year-old licensed physicist and university instructor from Manila,  won the Miss Earth 2017 pageant to the cheers of a hometown crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night. The crown was passed on to her by outgoing queen Katherine Espin from Ecuador. X Other winners in the pageant were Australia’s Nina Robertson as Miss Earth Air 2017; Russia’s Lada Akimova , Miss Earth Fire 2017; and Colombia’s Juliana Franc o, Miss Earth Water 2017.  Completing the top 8 were  Paweensuda Drouin (Thailand),  Ninoska Vasquez (Venezuela),  Iva Uchytilova (Czech Republic), and  Faith Landman (Netherlands). Miss Colombia (left) congratulates Miss Philippines for her win. Ibasco, who studied applied physics and medical physics at the University of Santo Tomas, impressed both the judges and the audience with her reply during the question and answer segment of the pageant. For the first segment,

Do Tran Khanh Ngan  of Vietnam was crowned Miss Globe 2017 on November 3 in Tirana, Albania.  She was crowned by the outgoing queen Dimple Patel of India. Over fifty contestants from around the world competed in this year's edition. L-R: Siberia, Vietnam, Philippines, Albania, Cape Verde Ngan's court includes first runner-up Nelda Ibe of the Philippines, second runner-up Elena Latypova of Siberia, third runner-up  Alessia Çoku of Albania, and fourth runner-up  Simone Heijligers of Cape Verde. Completing the Top 15 semifinalists were Lilit Martirosyan (Armenia), Amberly Jantzi (Canada), Emma Ostergren (USA), Chatchadaporn Kimakorn (Thailand), Lady Russell Panaguiton (Denmark), Denise Portone (Italy), Jekaterina Petsonkina ( Estonia), Csillag Szabo (Hungary), Andrijana Ilioska (Macedonia) and Leah Addo Brown (Ghana). PHOTOS COURTESY OF DELIART ASSOCIATION

Sarah Abdali Idan  was crowned the new Miss Universe Iraq 2017 on November 1st in a special ceremony held at Miss Iraq Organization headquarters in Qadisiya, Baghdad. She has been chosen via an open casting in consultation with Miss Universe Organization after the dethronement of the original winner of Miss Iraq. Former Miss Iraq 2015 and Miss Universe 2016 designate, Shaymaa Qasim , did the honours of crowning the new winner. Sarah is 27 years old, 5'7" tall and was raised in Baghdad, but her parents originally hail from the city of Hillah in Babylon. She is a singer, songwriter and musician by profession and graduated with a degree in performance arts. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, Sarah worked with the American led coalition forces in Baghdad in 2009 through which she received the opportunity to travel to United States. She is also the reigning Miss Iraq USA having won the title last year in Michigan. Sarah will make history as the first Iraqi woman

This country’s Miss Universe T&T pageant first runner-up Martrecia Alleyne  (left) is now being considered to replace stripped delegate Yvonne Clarke  (center). The local franchise holder for the pageant, Jenny Douglas , was weighing this option yesterday after she stripped Clarke of her title over an alleged breach of contract nine days before she was due to leave for the international event in Las Vegas. Less than two weeks after winning the title, Clarke was told via email from Douglas that she would no longer be able to represent the country. But during a press conference at the St James studio of soca artiste Fay Ann Lyons yesterday, Clarke demanded an apology from Douglas, saying she did nothing wrong in seeking sponsorship on her own, including from Lyons. She claimed she was left with no choice after all she received from Douglas was an “old black dress” and an admittance they did not have “all the resources” to get her to the competition. “I asked her if t