Miss Universe reaches finale

BANGKOK - Eighty-one women from Albania to Zambia applied a final layer of make-up and worked up their best smiles on Monday for the climax of a Miss Universe tournament that once again failed to avoid controversy.  

On-line betting service Sportsbook.com says 8 of the 10 pageant favourites come from the Caribbean and Americas.  

They are led by Renata Sone, a 22-year-old model from the Dominican Republic, and Cynthia Olavarria, 23, from Puerto Rico. 

Both women, who have spent the last few weeks riding elephants, touring temples and frollicking with their fellow contestants on tsunami-hit Thai beaches, are listed as 12-1 front-runners to take the crown from Australian Jennifer Hawkins.  

Unsurprisingly, Thais are backing local girl and wannabe airline pilot Chananporn Rosjan.  

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who hopes coverage of the competition will bring back tourists scared off by the December 26 tsunami, is delaying a weekly cabinet meeting to watch the results come in.  

However, local interest in the pageant might be muted by its 8am (1pm NZT) kick-off in Bangkok -- coinciding with Monday evening prime-time in the United States.  

And despite the best efforts of organisers, the pageant, now in its 54th year, still managed to stir up controversy.  

Photographs of bikini-clad contestants posing in front of Bangkok's famed "Wat Arun", or "Temple of the Dawn", caused outrage among religious traditionalists who said they were an affront to Buddhism.  

Despite Bangkok's racy reputation as the "anything goes" sex capital of Southeast Asia, any perceived insults to the country's religion or morality can trigger public outcries.  

Indonesia's first Miss Universe hopeful in nine years has also caused a storm back home in the world's most populous Muslim nation with her decision to take part in the swimsuit part of the competition. 

Even though 25-year-old law student Artika Sari Devi has opted to wear a one-piece swimsuit rather than the skimpier two-piece bikinis favoured by most contestants, conservatives have reacted with anger, branding the pageant "pornography".  

The Miss Universe franchise is a partnership between real-estate tycoon Donald Trump and US television network NBC.  

- REUTERS