A 21-year-old auburn-haired California model won the Miss USA crown and will represent the United States in this year's Miss Universe pageant.

Alyssa Campanella of Los Angeles topped a field of 51 beauty queens on Sunday to take the title at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. She strutted across the stage in a blue bikini with white polka dots and a dark turquoise Sherri Hill evening gown with beading on its top.

Days before peace talks, India and Pakistan were caught in an angry exchange of accusations Sunday over the movements of their warships engaged in operations against Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

An Indian naval ship and a Pakistani naval vessel brushed against each other Thursday. Pakistan protested Friday, saying the Indian warship undertook dangerous maneuvers, and a day later India said it was the Pakistani ship that had jeopardized safety.

Astronomers think they have solved the mystery of an extraordinary flash spied in a faraway galaxy, saying it came from a massive black hole that devoured a star after it wandered too close.

The awesome energy released by the feeding frenzy was first detected by NASA's Swift satellite on March 28 and was later confirmed by a fleet of space and ground telescopes.

It's a scenic jewel, a hamlet of hill-hugging chalets, elegant church spires and ancient inns all reflected in the deep still waters of an Alpine lake. Hallstatt's beauty has earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site but some villagers are less happy about a more recent distinction: plans to copy their hamlet in China.

After taking photos and collecting other data on the village while mingling with the tourists, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in faraway Guangdong province, a project that residents here see with mixed emotions.

Cuban scientists calculate that median sea levels around the Caribbean nation will rise more than 30 inches by the end of the century due to global climate change, official media said Friday.

Models predict the sea will rise 10.6 inches (27 centimeters) by 2050, and 33.5 inches (85 centimeters) by 2100, Abel Centella, scientific director of the country's Meteorological Institute, was quoted by Communist Party daily Granma as saying.

Martha Stewart's media aspirations just got bigger: Meet Martha Stewart, comic-book heroine.

The woman who created her own media empire — television, magazines and more — is getting a biographical treatment in her own comic book next month.

Lady Gaga made history at last year's MTV Video Music Awards when she turned butcher's cuts into high fashion.

On Thursday, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will unveil the singer's infamous raw-meat dress to the public. The dress — made of layers of Argentinian beef — was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals and then dried out by taxidermists in California before being transported to the museum.

A man who dropped out of college just short of graduation in 1932 has earned his degree at age 99.

KTVZ-TV in Bend reports that Leo Plass, of Redmond, received his diploma a few days ago from Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.

Google, Apple and Facebook get all the attention. But the forgettable everyday tasks of technology — saving a file on your laptop, swiping your ATM card to get 40 bucks, scanning a gallon of milk at the checkout line — that's all IBM.

International Business Machines turns 100 on Thursday without much fanfare. But its much younger competitors owe a lot to Big Blue.

Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner says his fiancee has called off their wedding.

The 85-year-old Hefner says in a Tuesday message on Chicago-based Playboy's official Twitter feed that 24-year-old Crystal Harris has "had a change of heart."