One by one, starting with Miss Angola (Albania had not arrived yet) the contestants were introduced to over 700 enthusiastic attendants, who cheered on their favorites.

The most fashionable beauties at yesterday’s welcoming party were Switzerland (she wore a sexy mini skirt and boots), Singapore (va-va-voom), France, Estonia, Russia, Serbia & Montenegro (spectacular), Namibia (another one who could be super model, she looked incredible), Peru, Malaysia, Panama, Colombia, Spain, India, Sweden (apparently the tallest in the bunch), Dominican Republic (stunner).

All delegates and guests sang “Happy Birthday” to a emotional Miss Bolivia, who yesterday turned 24. Miss India, at one point, didn’t feel good and her blood pressure lowered to the point that she almost passed out. She was immediately attended and is doing great. It was just a scary moment.

With 30 minutes for the party to be over, some of the candidates who were still missing arrived from the airport. They were China (beautiful, although not very tall), Albania (gorgeous), South Africa (striking, resembles Victoria Secret’s supermodel Adriana Lima) and Ireland. Misses Guyana, Norway, Australia and Bulgaria were expected yesterday..

The official list of candidates has been released and nowhere to be seen in the list are Misses British Virgin Islands, Northern Marianas, Kenya and Venezuela. A total of 71 candidates will be competing in this year's pageant if Angola is confirmed. Otherwise, they will be 70.

Meanwhile it pageant history in the making! One of the biggest changes being highly considered for this year's pageant is the increase in the number of semi-finalists from the tradional 10 to 15, how it used to be in the 1950's and 60's. A greater number of semi-finalists means more fans, candidates and national directors satisfied, and more beautiful girls competing in their swimsuits, which will result in higher television ratings. We will wait and see if it's true, or just wishful thinking.

And, Donald Trump's Miss Universe pageant just said 'nyet' to Miss Russia, Maria Smirnova, after it discovered she posed nude in Russian Playboy. Smirnova was disqualified yesterday just as contestants prepared to fly to Panama to prepare for the June 3 telecast on NBC.

This is the first time in beauty pageants that a country is banned from participating after three unsuccessful attempts to attend. In June of 2002 Svetlana Koroleva won the Miss Russia contest. She attended Miss Europe last December and won it, becoming ineligible to compete in Miss Universe.

Given this situation, an 'emergency' pageant was chosen called "Miss Russia Universe" with just five contestants. The winner was Yulia Akhonkova (right, with the black gown) who was disqualified for being underage, only 17 years old. (MUO's rules state that delegates must be between 18 and 27 years of age).