The coastal US city of New Orleans will play host to the 71st Miss Universe pageant on January 14. The annual event, which was initially meant to be held later this year to crown the 2022 winner, was postponed earlier this month, extending the reign of current titleholder, Harnaaz Sandhu from India.
“There is no place like New Orleans. This vibrant city has been at the top of our list to host for quite some time due to its rich cultural history, as well as its unique arts, entertainment and culinary scene,” said Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organisation. “I look forward to our delegates from all over the world getting to experience all it has to offer."
More than 90 women will vie for the title of Miss Universe at the event, to be held at the Ernest N Morial Convention Centre. They will compete in various categories, including evening gown and swimwear. They will also take part in an in-depth interview session. The evening will culminate with the 70th Miss Universe, Sandhu, crowning her successor.
“My time as Miss Universe has been an incredible experience and I am so grateful for all the opportunities I have received as a result of this platform,” Sandhu said. “I’m very excited that I will be crowning the next titleholder in New Orleans and that she will kick off her reign in such an exciting and special city known for its resilience, music and grand celebrations.”
The announcement also means two Miss Universe pageants are likely to be held next year, with the second taking place later in the year to crown Miss Universe 2023.
The last time two pageants were held in the same year was in 2021 when, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, a postponed Miss Universe 2020 was held in Hollywood, South Florida, in May. Miss Mexico Andrea Meza won the competition and then crowned her successor, Miss Universe 2021 Sandhu, in December in Israel.
It is likely that a decision to postpone the pageant was taken to make way for the Fifa World Cup, scheduled to kick off in Qatar in November.
More than 50 countries — from the UK to Ukraine and Guatemala to Ghana — have named their representatives for the 71st Miss Universe. In the region, Evlin Khalifa, 24, was named Miss Universe Bahrain on September 11. The trained pianist and dancer will be only the second beauty queen to represent her country at the global pageant.
Scroll through the gallery below for Miss Universe 2022 contestants who have been crowned so far
Located along the Mississippi River, New Orleans is known for its history, musical traditions and festivals, including the Mardi Gras. A former French and Spanish colony, it is nicknamed The Big Easy, an ode to its laid-back culture, or NoLa, which stands for New Orleans, Louisiana.
“The City of New Orleans and the Miss Universe Organisation share common values of celebrating inclusion, culture and the empowerment of women,” said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, the first female mayor in the city’s 300-year history.
“Former Miss Universe delegates and winners have gone on to become surgeons, diplomats, politicians and business leaders, and they all champion social causes that are important to them. Hosting this event demonstrates the significant global impact an international city like New Orleans has on the world’s tourism and cultural stages."
VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
Russia's Muslim Heartlands
Dominic Rubin, Oxford
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything
Director: Asif Kapadia
4/5
SERIES INFO
Schedule:
All matches at the Harare Sports Club
1st ODI, Wed Apr 10
2nd ODI, Fri Apr 12
3rd ODI, Sun Apr 14
4th ODI, Sun Apr 16
UAE squad
Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
Zimbabwe squad
Peter Moor (captain), Solomon Mire, Brian Chari, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Craig Ervine, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Tony Munyonga, Elton Chigumbura
FORSPOKEN
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Starfield
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
Bareilly Ki Barfi
Directed by: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring: Kriti Sanon, Ayushmann Khurrana, Rajkummar Rao
Three and a half stars
Men from Barca's class of 99
Crystal Palace - Frank de Boer
Everton - Ronald Koeman
Manchester City - Pep Guardiola
Manchester United - Jose Mourinho
Southampton - Mauricio Pellegrino
Indika
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Children who witnessed blood bath want to help others
Aged just 11, Khulood Al Najjar’s daughter, Nora, bravely attempted to fight off Philip Spence. Her finger was injured when she put her hand in between the claw hammer and her mother’s head.
As a vital witness, she was forced to relive the ordeal by police who needed to identify the attacker and ensure he was found guilty.
Now aged 16, Nora has decided she wants to dedicate her career to helping other victims of crime.
“It was very horrible for her. She saw her mum, dying, just next to her eyes. But now she just wants to go forward,” said Khulood, speaking about how her eldest daughter was dealing with the trauma of the incident five years ago. “She is saying, 'mama, I want to be a lawyer, I want to help people achieve justice'.”
Khulood’s youngest daughter, Fatima, was seven at the time of the attack and attempted to help paramedics responding to the incident.
“Now she wants to be a maxillofacial doctor,” Khulood said. “She said to me ‘it is because a maxillofacial doctor returned your face, mama’. Now she wants to help people see themselves in the mirror again.”
Khulood’s son, Saeed, was nine in 2014 and slept through the attack. While he did not witness the trauma, this made it more difficult for him to understand what had happened. He has ambitions to become an engineer.
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
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