Leila Lopes of Angola was crowned Miss Universe 2011 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Monday, becoming the first from her country to bag the prestigious beauty title.

An overcrowded ferry sank off the waters of Zanzibar on Saturday, drowning more than 100 people with many others believed to be missing.

The International Police Organization has officially joined the hunt for fallen Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, even as more officials allied with the former strongman continue to seek refuge in nearby Niger.

At least 43 people have reportedly died when a Russian passenger aircraft carrying a professional hockey team crashed Wednesday shortly after taking off from Tunoshna Airport in the city of Yaroslavi Oblast.

Villagers and experts have caught a gigantic crocodile in a small town in the southern Philippines, reports said.

The 51-year-old Frenchman justified himself by saying health problems and chronic fatigue due to difficult working hours were the cause of his inability to perform, however this did not convince the judge of southern France’s highest court in Aix-en-Provence.

A former German chancellor has called for the creation of a United States of Europe to make the continent more equipped to deal with financial and economic problems.

An Al Jazeera news producer claims to have uncovered documents at the ransacked offices of Abdullah Al Sinnousi, head of Libya’s intelligence service, that seem to indicate that influential Americans aided Muammar Gaddafi beat the rebellion.

Armed men stormed and torched a popular casino in the affluent Mexican city of Monterrey on Thursday, killing 52 people in a brazen attack that is considered the worst against civilians since the country’s notorious drug war erupted five years ago.

Lady Gaga has upstaged the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Beyonce in Forbes magazine’s annual list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.