With a gleaming smile and a graceful bow, Miss Turkey was crowned Miss World on Saturday, bringing to a close an international pageant that has been dogged by violence and controversy.
Azra Akin, 21, stood proudly to attention while her national anthem was played, after she accepted the glittering tiara and a ?100,000 prize from last year's winner, Nigeria's Agbani Darego.
PHOTO:AFP
"I hope I will represent the women of the world in a good way," Akin told reporters as she sat on her throne.
"I am very honored to be Miss World," she said, wearing her new Miss World sash over a flamboyant red dress. "I think it is good for a woman to have this position, and I hope I can make a difference."
Unlike its heyday in the 1970s, this year's beauty queens glided along the catwalk in evening gowns rather than swim wear -- part of an effort to shed the show's sexist and outdated image.
But swim wear was not entirely absent Saturday. As the girls strutted across the elaborate stage, footage of them shot beside a Nigerian waterfall was flashed across giant screens.
Despite its 11th hour relocation, the 52nd pageant was a slick and glitzy affair, watched by a sellout audience.
Organizers say the show was broadcast in 137 countries to a global audience of more than two billion.
In Britain, however, where the pageant is widely seen as a quaint, kitsch spectacle, no television channel agreed to broadcast it.
The rioting that left more than 200 people dead in Nigeria was barely mentioned during the upbeat show.
"Our thoughts go out to the families that suffered," said Sean Kanan, an actor from US soap The Bold and The Beautiful who co-hosted the event.
"Of course, I was shocked by what happened in Nigeria. I hope people in the world will be more respectful to each other," said Akin.
In Nigeria, viewers tuned in with a mixture of regret and relief, with most agreeing the pageant had to be moved from their country to avoid further bloodshed.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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