Miss Universe sacked
NEW YORK - A reigning Miss Universe has been sacked for the first time in the beauty pageant's 52-year history.
Quoting internal sources in the Miss Universe organisation, the New York Post newspaper said the 24-year-old beauty queen had been dethroned for failing to fulfil the obligations that go with her title. It said she had also got herself pregnant and was married to her companion, a Russian businessman.
Pageant spokesman Esther Swan said the dark-haired, green-eyed beauty was sacked last week after being warned about her lacklustre performance.
Miss Fyodorova has denied all the allegations. 'I am not married and I have not put on weight,' she declared in an interview published by the Russian daily Gazeta.
She said she wanted to concentrate on her studies, adding that she would soon be undertaking a thesis in civil law at the university of the Russian Interior Ministry.
Miss Fyodorova, who won the pageant in Puerto Rico, had served only four months of her one-year term.
The first runner-up in the May contest, Miss Justine Pasek, a 22-year-old aspiring environmental engineer from Panama, will now serve the remainder of her term. --AP, AFP
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