Shamcey Supsup shines in 2011 Miss Universe in Brazil

 Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup was a star, fan favorite and finished 3rd in the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant 2011 in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
Supsup was ranked high by fans in the swimsuit and evening gown competitions.
The magna cum laude graduate and architecture board topnotcher joined other candidates in the final five namely 2011 Miss Universe Leila Lopes of Angola, first runner-up Olesya Stefanko of Ukraine, second runner-up Priscila Machado of Brazil and fourth runner-up Luo Zi Lin of China
Suspsup was sharp and intelligent during the question and answer portion. She was asked, “Would you change your religious belief to marry the person that you love?”
She answered “I would not marry the person I love because the first person I love is my God and the person loves me, he should also love my God.”
She was the only top 5 candidate who did not use any translator.
Shamcey is the fourth Filipina to have placed third at the prestigious pageant after Lalaine Bennett (1963), Maria Rosario “Chat” Silayan (1980), and Maria Desiree “Des” Verdadero (1984). Last year’s bet Maria Venus Raj, placed fourth in the competition.
In the announcement of the Top 16 finalists, Shamcey was the second to the last contestant called. Meanwhile, she was the seventh beauty and one of the two Asians (the other was Miss China) who was declared as part of the Top 10.
Shamcey both placed second in the fan polls of the swimsuit and evening gown competitions. She donned a yellow two-piece bikini with a light blue scarf which merited her a score of 7.0. The fans, meanwhile, gave Shamcey a score of 6.7 for her long, beige glittery gown. Miss Venezuela (9.1) and Miss Angola (7.2) respectively topped the two categories.
In the “Getting to Know the Top 10” VTR, Shamcey related her dreams of becoming an architect who will build “beautiful and sustainable structures” for her countrymen as well as that of becoming a teacher who will “hone young minds and prepare them for the future.”
One of the judges in this year’s Miss Universe was Tony award-winning singer-actress and Disney legend Lea Salonga.

Japanese girl delighted by bottle found in Hawaii

A photo of 6th grade students from Kagoshima, Japan found in a bottle by Petty Officer Jon Moore during a cleanup on a beach at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island.The bottle contained four origami cranes, a photo of Arikawa's elementary school class and a note dated March 25, 2006, and signed by Arikawa saying she wanted it to be "a graduation memory." (AP Photo/US Navy - Saki Arikawa) 

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese teenager expressed her gratitude Sunday after a U.S. sailor in Hawaii found a bottle she had tossed into the sea off Japan's southern coast as a child, and said she was delighted to be reconnected with her old classmates as a result.

Saki Arikawa, 17, said she had almost forgotten about the bottle and initially couldn't believe it was found after five years.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press from her hometown in Kagoshima, she said "it's a miracle" the bottle was found. "It's incredible," she said.

The clear glass bottle was found Thursday by Navy Petty Officer Jon Moore during a beach cleanup at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai island.

The bottle contained four origami cranes — symbols of peace in Japan — as well as a photo of Arikawa's elementary school class and a note dated March 25, 2006, and signed by Arikawa saying she wanted it to be "a graduation memory."

News of the bottle's recovery reconnected more than a dozen of her old classmates, now studying at different high schools, and their elementary school homeroom teacher for a reunion Saturday. Arikawa says she now wants to further expand the circle of friendship.

"Thanks to the bottle, some of us could get together and had a great time," she said. "Now I'd like to meet the person who kindly saved my bottle."

The bottle was one of five she tossed into the ocean in 2006 as her sixth-grade class graduated from Kokubu Elementary School in Kagoshima. She and her 31 classmates dropped five bottles each, including the one that turned up last week.

Three other bottles had previously been recovered, including two in Alaska and a third at another location in Hawaii.

The Navy said Moore was among 40 base personnel and 16 students and faculty from a Kauai school who picked up beach trash in observance of International Coastal Cleanup Day.

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy electrician's Mate 2nd Class Jon Moore removes a message from a bottle sent from Kagoshima, Japan more than five years ago. The clear glass bottle was found Thursday by Petty Officer Jon Moore during a beach cleanup at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai island. The bottle contained four origami cranes, a photo of Arikawa's elementary school class and a note dated March 25, 2006, and signed by Arikawa saying she wanted it to be "a graduation memory." (AP Photo/US Navy - Jay C. Pugh)