Miss Universe 2008 (Updated)

As promised, I'm back with more news and (more importantly) picture of the Miss Universe 2008 beauty pageant held in a resort city in Vietnam, where the Americans once went to war and lost to the communists who were supposed to be less well-equipped.

Above picture, courtesy of The Sun, Malaysia's free paper, shows Venezuelan beauty Dayana Mendoza reacting after being announced Miss Universe 2008 while first runner-up and fellow Latin American, Taliana Vargas, 20, of Columbia looks on.

Apart from Dayana and Taliana, two of the other three top five finalists were also from Latin America. They were Miss Dominican Republic and Miss Mexico. The other finalist was Miss Russia.

According to a despatch from Reuters, this year's event went more smoothly than the 2007 pageant in Mexico, which was marked by protests, a banned dress and the withdrawal of Miss Sweden after critics at home complained the contest degraded women.

However, misfortune befell Miss USA for a second straight year. During the evening gown parade, Crystle Stewart of Texas slipped on the runway. She however finished in the top 10.

A year ago in Mexico, Rachel Smith also lost her footing and landed on her bottom. Despite that, she finished fifth.

The annual Miss Universe pageant - which tries to present itself as something more meaningful than a swimwear parade - was first held in Long Beach, California in 1952. (2 years before I was born!)

The event was taken over in 1996 by real estate mogul Donald Trump.

Communist-led Vietnam spent nearly USD$20 million on the event, including USD$7 million on a new resort and convention center to host the pageant, in a bid to promote tourism to the South East Asian nation.

After celebrating at home with her family, Mendoza will spend her year-long reign travelling the world to speak out on humanitarian issues.

"I think I will jump on my family and they will jump on me. I want to have my mum's food," she said.

"I am excited. I cried a lot. I am really glad I made it," Dayana, the 57th winner of the title, also told reporters.