Venezuela Keeps Miss Universe Crown

'It was very interesting,' she writes in blog

(NEWSER) - Not many people have fun at Guantanamo Bay, but Miss Universe did. Caracas-born beauty Dayana Mendoza visited the US naval base surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers yesterday, and had a "relaxing, calm" time, she said. It was a "loooot of fun!" she wrote in her blog. "We visited the detainees' camps and we saw the jails, where they shower. It was very interesting. I didn't want to leave." Her visit was sponsored by the USO. More»

Trump organization backs down on Jenna Talackova controversy

(NEWSER) - The Trump organization appears to have had a change of heart about a Canadian beauty who had a change of sex. Jenna Talackova—a transgender contestant booted from the Miss Universe Canada pageant —will be allowed to take part "provided she meets the legal gender recognition requirements of Canada and the standards established by other international competitions," according to a lawyer for Donald Trump, who owns the competition. More»

Jenna Talackova not 'naturally born female' as rules require

(NEWSER) - Jenna Talackova might look like a babe, but that's not what it says on her birth certificate, so she's getting the boot from Canada's Miss Universe pageant. The transgender contestant from Vancouver might be a "real girl" now, say officials, but pageant rules require that each contender be a "naturally born female." Talackova claimed on her registration form that she was born female, but officials suspected otherwise, and she finally 'fessed up. Talackova "feels like a real girl, and she is a real girl," pageant official Denis Davila tells the Toronto Star . "She didn't expect people to question it. She was hoping we could put her back in the competition, but the rules are very clear, and there’s no way we can go back on it.” More»

Leila Lopes didn't deserve to win, Laury Thilleman implies

(NEWSER) - Sounds like someone's a sore loser: Miss France Laury Thilleman snarked about Miss Angola Leila Lopes after Lopes was crowned Miss Universe , complaining to a French magazine about Lopes' fashion sense, among other things. The Washington Post offers a translation: "She was the only girl I didn’t know very well. We didn’t see her much; she was very discreet. She was often in jeans and not wearing makeup." More»

Leila Lopes wins the top honor

(NEWSER) - In a competition that was, for once, scandal-free, Miss Angola Leila Lopes was crowned Miss Universe last night in Brazil. Get a taste of the evening via the best lines, as reported by the AP :

• Lopes, 25, during the pageant's Q&A portion: Asked what she would change about her physical appearance, she replied, "Thank God I'm very satisfied with the way God created me and I wouldn't change a thing. I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty."
• Connie Chung, celebrity judge: "You have to keep in mind that these women are not objects just to be looked at. They're to be taken seriously."