Representatives of 88 countries compete for Miss Universe crown

Representatives of 88 countries will smile it out for the title of Miss Universe Sunday in a contest rattled by Miss Israel taking a selfie with Miss Lebanon, their countries' sworn enemies.
      
The beauty pageant will play out Sunday in the city of Doral starting at 8 pm (0000 GMT Monday) at a sports facility at Florida International University. A successor will be chosen to Miss Universe 2013, Gabriela Isler of Venezuela.
      
The world's lovelies staged a preliminary competition on Wednesday, parading first in casual wear, then formal night wear and finally in pink bikinis. People in the crowd waved national flags and clapped for their favorites.        

That first battle weeded the field down to 15 finalists. But the names of those 15 chosen by a jury will be kept secret until Sunday.
      
On Sunday night, all the Miss Universe contestants will go on display before the final 15 are announced.
      
The winner will actually be crowned Miss Universe 2014 since the pageant was supposed to be held last year but was postpone until now. A 2015 pageant is to be held later in the year.        

The winner will be chosen by a jury of five people, including Cuban actor William Levy, Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao and two stars from US reality TV shows, Kristin Cavallari and Lisa Vanderpump.
                      
The run up to Sunday's gala was controversial: Miss Israel took a selfie along with Miss Lebanon. That irritated the latter's country, which is technically at war with Israel.        

Miss Lebanon, who was careful not to be seen next to her rival, explained that while she was posing with Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia, the Israeli beauty queen Doron Matalon came up to her by surprise,...