LAS VEGAS — A 22-year-old Mexican won the Miss Universe pageant Monday after donning a flowing red gown and telling an audience that it’s important to teach kids family values.
Jimena Navarrete of Guadalajara was first to answer an interview question and the last of 83 contestants standing in the pageant on the Las Vegas Strip.
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Her one-strap gown flowed behind her while she walked as she held it out like a cape. Earlier, she smiled in a violet bikini as she confidently strutted across the stage.
Asked by Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek how she felt about unsupervised Internet use, she said the Internet is important but parents need to be careful and watch over their kids.
“I do believe that (the) Internet is … indispensable,” she said. “We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family.”
First runner-up was Miss Jamaica Yendi Phillipps, while second runner-up was Miss Australia Jesinta Campbell.
Navarrete is Mexico’s second Miss Universe; Lupita Jones of Mexico won the title in 1991. She replaces Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela.
Navarrete’s win thwarted Miss Venezuela Marelisa Gibson from giving the South American country a third consecutive win. Navarrete won a package of prizes including an undisclosed salary, a luxury New York apartment with living expenses, a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy with housing after her reign, plus jewelry, clothes and shoes fit for a beauty champion.
Does Levi have itch for politics, or reality TV?
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Levi Johnston, the father of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s grandson, has filed papers to run for office next year in his hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.
Johnston filed his letter of intent Friday with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, a first step needed to begin campaigning.
The letter doesn’t specify an office, although Johnston’s manager, Tank Jones, has said Johnston is interested in a run for mayor or City Council.
Earlier this month, Jones confirmed that Johnston planned to run for office as part of a reality TV show.
Lady Gaga passes Spears as the ‘queen’ of Twitter
NEW YORK — Lady Gaga has surpassed Britney Spears as the most followed person on Twitter – for now.
She has more than 5.7 million followers. She overtook Spears over the weekend and posted a video late Saturday on YouTube.
Gaga called her fans her “little monsters” as she thanked them for beginning “my reign as Twitter queen.”
Spears, Ashton Kutcher, Ellen DeGeneres and an account run by President Obama’s political organization, Organizing for America, all have more than 5 million followers. The most followed title often shifts rapidly, and fans frequently organize to boost their favorite’s tally.
One ‘X Factor’ too many
LONDON — Britons are up in arms over online claims that a popular TV talent competition has been electronically tweaking contestants’ voices to make them sound in tune.
Fans of Britain’s “X Factor” show took to the Internet over the weekend to claim that pitch-correction software had been used to smooth contestants’ performances. The hugely popular show’s producers acknowledged that post-production had taken place to correct for the interplay of the microphones used during filming.
The “X Factor” is a fixture of Britain’s entertainment calendar and is judged by veteran talent show curmudgeon Simon Cowell, among others.
His face was pasted Monday across the front of Britain’s Daily Mirror, under the caption: “X Faker.
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