Miss Dominican Republic wins
Miss Universe title

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Vega, a high school student from the Dominican Republic, won the Miss Universe 2003 title at a sparkling ceremony in Panama City on Tuesday night, beating a field of 70 other pageant queens with her charm and charisma.

After reaching the final five with her sheer poise and good looks, Vega clinched the pageant with her reply to the final question put to the leading finalists -- "What is the most precious gift you've ever given someone?"

"According to my grandmother, it was a letter I wrote to her when she was once very ill," said Vega, to the applause of some 7,500 festive pageant-goers in the packed auditorium.

It was the first time a contestant from the Dominican Republic, a Spanish-speaking country that shares an island in the Caribbean with impoverished Haiti, was crowned Miss Universe.

Miss Venezuela Mariangel Ruiz, a 23-year-old economics student, was the first runner-up while Miss South Africa Cindy Nell, a 21-year-old management student from Johannesburg, was the second runner-up.

Miss Serbia and Montenegro Sanja Papic was third runner-up while Miss Japan Miyako Miyzaki was fourth runner-up. India's Nikita Anand did not make it to the top ten.

The winners were announced at the end of a gala night of parades in figure-hugging swimsuits and shimmering evening gowns in the $10-million Figali Convention Centre on the banks of the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.

Organisers estimated some 600 million people in more than 150 countries tuned in to watch the pageant, a show business perennial jointly owned by property tycoon Donald Trump and NBC Television.

As Miss Universe 2003, Miss Dominican Republic will take home a year's salary and hold public engagements around the world that will include fund-raising and campaigning for AIDS research and awareness.

But not everyone was charmed by the beauty queens.

Thousands of Panamanians protested hours before the start of the contest, saying the $9million the government paid to host the event could have been better spent on the country's poor, who make up 40 per cent of Panama's 2.8 million population.