Miss World targets AIDS battle in 2007 pageant

Hopes are high here that Miss China -- Zhang Zi Lin, a 23-year-old secretary from Beijing --- will live up to her billing as a pre-contest favourite and take the crown in front of what is likely to be a partisan audience.
Miss China's biggest threat could come from Ada Aimee De La Cruz, or Miss Dominican Republic. The 21-year-old student, whose ambition is "to work in the beauty business," is red-hot favourite with one British bookmaker, ahead of Miss China and Miss Lithuania.
Outsiders include Miss Belize, Miss Nepal, Miss Sierra Leone and Miss Singapore, as well as McKeyla Antoinette Richards, representing the small tropical Caribbean island of Curacao.
Of the nations not represented, there is no Miss Myanmar (formerly Burma) and most Muslim-majority countries do not take part, although Miss Malaysia, Miss Indonesia and Miss Turkey are notable exceptions.
There is also no contestant from Taiwan -- it and the Chinese mainland have governed themselves separately since their split in 1949 and ties between the pair remain tense.