Beauty queen is a man

A beauty queen in Thailand has abdicated after being unmasked as ... a man.

Police said other contestants had complained of unfair competition.

A BBC correspondent in Bangkok says beauty pageants are extremely popular in Thailand, though this is the first known case of a man winning a female contest.

The disappointed winner Kesaraporn Duangsawan has returned the crown and first prize of hundred-and-forty dollars, but has asked to keep the winner's sash, as a memento.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service