Selfie from Miss Universe contest causes stir in Lebanon

[spaminator]

Selfie from Miss Universe contest causes stir in Lebanon
REUTERS
First posted: Sunday, January 18, 2015 01:32 PM EST | Updated: Sunday, January 18, 2015 01:53 PM EST
BEIRUT - A Israeli beauty queen's selfie has caused a stir in Lebanon, with some Lebanese saying their country's contestant at the Miss Universe pageant should be stripped of her title for consorting with the enemy.
Miss Israel Doron Matalon posted a photo of herself and Miss Lebanon Saly Greige smiling together at pageant preparations in Miami, where the winner will be picked on January 25.
The two countries are technically at war, although the border has been largely quiet since their 2006 conflict. The Lebanese risk prison if they call or travel to Israel and all Israeli products are banned in Lebanon.
Some Lebanese have demanded on social media that Greige lose her title for contacts with a citizen of the enemy state.
Greige defended herself on the photo-sharing service Instagram on Saturday, saying Matalon had pestered her for a picture together and finally photobombed her.
"Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel, who tried several times to take a photo with me," Greige said.
"I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie, and uploaded it on her social media."
A file picture taken in Beirut on October 5, 2014, shows Saly Greige waving after being crowned Miss Lebanon 2014. Miss Universe contestants are keen to proclaim their desire for world peace, but Greige, this year's Miss Lebanon, has declared war after claiming Miss Israel had pushed her way into a now widely-circulated Instagram photo showing the Middle Eastern beauties with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia in Miami in January 2015. AFP PHOTO / ANWAR AMRO

Selfie from Miss Universe contest causes stir in Lebanon | World | News | Toront

 

[tay]

Outrage in Pakistan as former BBC presenter who recently married Imran Khan is filmed cooking sausages


Reham Khan, the former BBC presenter who recently married ex-cricketer and politician Imran Khan, has sparked a backlash in Pakistan after footage emerged of her cooking and selling pork sausages.


The 41-year-old TV star, who is herself of British-Pakistani decent, can purportedly be seen frying the religiously restricted meat at a country fair in West Sussex for the BBC South Today show in 2011, The Times reports.


In Islamic dietary jurisprudence, the consumption of pork is considered ‘haram’, or ‘unlawful’.


During the film, which, alongside other footage apparently showing Khan wearing “revealing” outfits, has been prolifically viewed in Pakistan over the last week, she is reportedly seen learning how to make and prepare the meat dish by two-time national sausage making champion David Bell.




“She didn’t actually eat any of the sausages,” Bell, who appears with Khan in the video, said.


According to The Times, the footage has, none the less, caused outrage among Islamic conservatives.






Reham Khan: Outrage in Pakistan as former BBC presenter who recently married Imran Khan is filmed cooking sausages - People - News - The Independent

 

[spaminator]

Lebanon, Israel selfie drama doesn't bode well for universe

By Mike Strobel, Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, January 19, 2015 07:11 PM EST | Updated: Monday, January 19, 2015 07:24 PM EST
What is the universe coming to?
Its tensions, ridiculous hatreds, conflicts and xenophobia have poisoned even events celebrating beauty in ball gowns and bikinis.
Quick, call the United Nations. They need to rush peacekeepers to the Miss Universe Pageant.
Miss Lebanon is under investigation in her home country for “consorting with the enemy” after appearing in a selfie with Miss Israel.
This international crisis is playing out at the pageant in Miami, which crowns a winner next Sunday.
Canada’s hope is Chanel Beckenlehner, 26, of Caledon. She has a political science degree. She’s gonna need it this week.
Yikes. Consorting with the enemy. TREASON!? You can be jailed for that in Lebanon, which technically is at war with Israel, though isn’t everybody over there? Lebanese are barred from contact with Israelis, Israeli goods and, clearly, Israeli beauty pageant contestants.
Just what we need. Another international menace to add to suicide bombs, car bombs, suitcase bombs, shoe bombs, underwear bombs, nuclear bombs ...
Photo bombs.
Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, 25, now claims — on Facebook, naturally — that she was innocently sitting with Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan — neither country being at war with Lebanon. “Suddenly, Miss Israel jumped in and took a selfie, and uploaded it on her social media,” Miss Lebanon insists.
Oy vey! retorts Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, 21.
Her latest Facebook volley: “It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you can not put the hostility out of the game, only for three weeks of an experience of a lifetime that we can meet girls from around the world and also from the neighbouring country.”
Open those big brown eyes, Miss Israel. Today’s world is bitter and cruel, a battlefield, even at beauty pageants.
Miss Ukraine must avoid schmoozing with Miss Russia, or Miss India with Miss Pakistan or Miss South Korea with Miss North Korea, if there is one.
Too bad. If a stage full of beauties in spandex and heels can’t strut about in peace and harmony, we’re doomed.
Stop the world. I want to get off.
Now, controversy is no stranger to pageants. Inevitably, something zany happens. I’ve long suspected it’s planned.
But rarely is there an international incident, unless you still consider Newfoundland its own country.
Danielle House, Miss Newfoundland 1995, punched her ex-boyfriend’s new girl in the kisser in a bar, then posed for Playboy.
Yes, beauty pageantry is strewn with unruly queens.
I’ve been a judge for five Miss Universe Canada pageants — and I’ve held my breath every time.
One contestant was punted for appearing in a racy ad for the Ashley Madison infidelity site.
In 2011, a handful of beauties shocked us judges with exotic tattoos, a longtime pageant queen taboo.
In 2013 (after I retired as a judge) a mistake in arithmetic gave the tiara to the wrong girl, who hugged, wept and beamed in the customary fashion until the error was corrected the next day.
But few regal eruptions can match 2012’s Miss Congeniality, Jenna Talackova, of Vancouver, who does not look at all like a fella, though she was born one.
She was tossed, under the “naturally born female” clause, then reinstated by pageant owner Donald Trump.
Also, YouTube bulges with assorted beauty pageant bloopers, mangled syntax, and malapropisms. But nothing treasonous.
The selfie flap may seem hard to believe — but 1993’s Miss Lebanon was stripped of her title over a similar photo.
Funny, but don’t beauty pageant contests always vow “to work for world peace?”
Strobel’s column usually runs Monday to Thursday. Hear him Tuesday and Thursday mornings on 94.9 The Rock FM.
mike.strobel@sunmedia.ca
Lebanon, Israel selfie drama doesn't bode well for universe | Strobel | World |