Not over yet

Never mind what you have been hearing about the global crisis getting over and countries limping back to normalcy, it simply isn’t true. According to a Reuters newswire report, Venezuela’s famous beauty factory continues to feel the pinch even though it has won more international pageant victories than any other country. Joaquin Riviera, the organiser of the annual Miss Venezuela competition told the newswire that it had slashed the number of competitors from the earlier 30 to 20 — “We have had to tighten our belt a bit too,” he said. The local beauty czar, Osmel Sousa, who prepares the competitors, however, said that the overall quality of the pageant would not be compromised — to quote the newswire, ‘Sousa denied the cuts, however, would mean fewer dresses or less plastic surgery for girls competing’.