Legion of Angels News Archive

NHA TRANG, Vietnam (AP) – Miss Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the evening gown competition for the second year in a row.

An elated Dayana Mendoza received the crown from her predecessor, Riyo Mori of Japan, and then prepared to meet a gaggle of reporters. Miss Venezuela, 22, was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.

Tension got under the skin of Crystle Stewart of Texas, the second Miss USA in a row to fall down during the Miss Universe pageant.

She tripped on the train of her bejeweled evening gown as she made her entrance.

During the 2007 Miss Universe contest in Mexico City, Miss USA Rachel Smith also tumbled during the evening gown competition and became an unintended star on You Tube, where the video was shown over and over again.

Like Smith, Stewart quickly stood up after her fall and continued on as if nothing had happened.

Stewart, 26, is a motivational speaker and former track and field star who is working on a book called “Waiting to Win.” The Houston native plans to open a character-development school for young children and has worked with autism victims in the Texas schools.

The final five contestants included four from Latin America: Miss Mexico, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Colombia and Miss Venezuela. Rounding out the final five was Miss Russia.

Miss Colombia finished second behind Mendoza.

Miss Thailand won the prize for best national costume and Miss El Salvador was chosen by her peers as Miss Congeniality.

During her interview with the judges, Mendoza was asked who she thought has it easier in life, women or men.

“God made us to share and have differences,” she replied, then highlighted what she regards as the different thought processes of men and women.

“Men think that the faster way to go to a point is to go straight,” she said. “Women know that the faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves.”

The NBC show was hosted by talk show star Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Melanie Brown and broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers in 170 countries.

Eighty contestants gathered in the seaside city of Nha Trang, Vietnam, vying to succeed reigning Miss Universe Riyo Mori of Japan.

Sporting yellow, green and orange bikinis, the 15 semifinalists strutted across the stage during the swimsuit competition to the sounds of Lady Gaga, who belted out the pulsating “Just Dance” in a platinum blond wig. Miss Vietnam, Lam Thuy Nguyen, was greeted with a roar from the Vietnamese audience.

The final 10 then competed in the evening gown event.

They performed in front of a panel of judges that included international fashion experts and Donald Trump Jr., whose father, the real estate magnate and TV star, co-owns the pageant with NBC.

This year’s contestants spanned a wide range of experiences and aspirations.

Miss Albania was a professional basketball player. Miss Argentina says she has paranormal experiences. Miss Antigua & Barbuda is fascinated by snakes. Miss Angola was in a plane crash while trying to escape a conflict during her country’s civil war.

The show has been a publicity bonanza for Vietnam, where beauty contests are very popular. The contest featured segments on many of the nation’s most popular tourist destinations, such as Hue, Hoi An, Sapa and Ha Long Bay.

The program set has been dominated by iconic Vietnamese images, such as bamboo trees, conical hats and lotus flowers.

The tuxedoed Springer made a grand entrance on a motorbike — the vehicle of choice in Vietnam where the streets are teeming with millions of the speeding two-wheelers.

Source — CNN

HAMILTON (Reuters) - A tropical storm watch was issued for Bermuda on Friday as Hurricane Bertha, the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic storm season, neared the wealthy mid-Atlantic British colony, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Conditions in the major offshore finance center were sunny and calm on Friday and few of Bermuda’s 66,000 residents appeared concerned about the storm.

While it remained unclear how close Bertha would eventually come to Bermuda, a tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions, including rough seas and storm-force winds, are possible within the next 36 hours.

“Large swells and high surf are affecting Bermuda … and these conditions are expected to persist for the next few days, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

At 5 p.m. EDT, top sustained winds from the hurricane were blowing at 90 miles per hour (150 km per hour), making it a minimal Category 1 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

Bertha’s center was about 270 miles southeast of Bermuda, according to the hurricane center, which said it was moving north-northwest at a slow 5 mph (7 kph).

Forecasters expected the storm to turn more to the north and make its closest approach to Bermuda, home of some of the world’s biggest reinsurance companies and a major resort center, on Saturday or Sunday.

“The core of Bertha is expected to pass well east of Bermuda but any deviation to the left could bring stronger winds to the island and adjacent waters,” the forecast said.

Residents of the island, which has tough building codes to ensure structures weather storms, appeared largely relaxed.

“People are buying the usual staples — tarps, batteries,” said Bermuda Chamber of Commerce President Philip Barnett. “We are watching the track of the storm, and we hope it will stay well to the east of us,” he added.

To better gauge the intensity of the storm — which surprised forecasters when it strengthened briefly into a “major” Category 3 hurricane on Monday — an air force “hurricane hunter” airplane flew into Bertha to get a close look on Friday. Forecasters said afterward that no significant change of strength was expected.

Jahkima Kirkpatrick, sales manager for hardware store Masters Ltd, said most Bermudians seemed to have dismissed Bertha as a non-event.

“We have seen an increase in battery sales and flashlights in the past two or three days, but it’s nothing like the rush we have had in the past when other hurricanes have been bearing down on us,” Kirkpatrick said.

“Usually, when people feel it’s a real threat, they have their houses boarded up by now, but you just don’t see any of that happening this time around,” he said.

“The weather’s been great and it’s very early in the season for us to get hit — I think everyone is pretty skeptical that Bertha is going to have any impact at all.”

But there remained enough uncertainty to justify issuing a storm watch for Bermuda, the hurricane center said.

Source — Yahoo!

Rumours were swirling late last week that Australia’s strict games classification regime had struck its highest-profile victim for 2008, with Fallout 3 apparently being refused a rating. It seems the rumours were true, with confirmation coming tonight that Bethesda’s upcoming postapocalyptic action RPG has indeed been banned for sale in Australia.

The most recent update for the Web site of Australia’s Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) shows that Fallout 3 has been refused classification. Unlike films or DVDs, the highest rating allowable for a game in Australia is MA 15+, which means any title that has content deemed unsuitable for a 15-year-old is illegal to sell or promote in this country.

While the OFLC website has no details on why Fallout 3 was banned, a user in GameSpot’s PC forum last week suggested it could be due to the use of the drug morphine within the game. Australia’s game classification rules state that titles that “depict, express or otherwise deal with matters of sex, drug misuse or addiction, crime, cruelty, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults” will be refused classification.

Fallout 3 is the third game in 2008 to be banned in Australia. Dark Sector was originally refused classification, although an edited version has recently been resubmitted and passed with an MA 15+ rating. Last week, Shellshock 2 was banned due to graphic violent content.

Source — Gamespot