An Italian priest organized an online beauty contest for nuns to overcome the notion that nuns are boring and old-fashioned. The organizer, Italian priest Rev. Antonio Rungi, also a theologian and a teacher from the Naples area, said the pageant will pave the way for the nuns to be visible within the Catholic Church.

The French fashion industry led fashion houses, advertising firms and media outlets signed on Wednesday a charter to fight anorexia among models in magazine advertisements and catwalks. The anti-anorexia drive in the world's fashion capital was led by Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot along with groups in other countries worldwide. This will put an end to the display of ultra-skinny bodies of fashion models.

ngola is staging a beauty contest on April 2 with landmine victims as participants in order to raise awareness of the plight of tens of thousands of people injured by landmines. 'Miss Landmine Survivor' is organized by National Commission for De-mining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH). "The objective of the contest is to restore self-esteem (in women maimed by the mines) and make them ambassadors for their own cause," said CNIDAH coordinator Madalena Neto.

As expected, the glamorous third wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy stole the show from him and Queen Elizabeth when the First French Couple visited Windsor Castle on Wednesday. From her Christian Dior outfits to her controversial nude photos, Carla Bruni was the talk of a royalty-obsessed nation that compared the 40-year old former supermodel to two global icons of beauty and style - Princess Diana and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Health officials in mainland China express alarm over reports that a company in Southern China was recycling condoms as hair bands, which they say could pass over the sexually transmitted diseases to whoever will use the recycled condoms, report said Tuesday. Latest report shows that in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in Guangdong southern province, Chinese-made recycled products such as headbands and rubber bands made of used condoms were seen being openly sold in local markets and beauty shops.