KAMPALA : A former mushroom and poultry farmer has been crowned Miss Uganda following a major rebranding of the annual beauty pageant, which saw the glamour of the catwalk ditched for an army-sponsored boot camp on a farm.

WASHINGTON: Apparently, even the president of the United States can have trouble with his credit card.

TOKYO: The leaders of Japan and China are likely to meet for the first time next month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Beijing, shaking hands in a carefully negotiated display of good will that Japanese officials say they hope will lower tensions between the two estranged Asian powers.

 HONG KONG: Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong clashed violently with police on Saturday as they reoccupied a protest camp mostly cleared the previous day, leading to multiple arrests and jeopardising government talks aimed at ending a political stalemate.

TIXTLA, Mexico: Mexican police sent horse-mounted patrols and officers with trained dogs up into the hills around the city of Iguala on Wednesday in an expanded search for 43 college students missing since a clash with police last month.

WASHINGTON: It may be less punchy than previous nicknames for US conflicts in the Middle East; remember Operation Desert Storm andits thunderous attacks on Saddam Hussein's occupation army; but the Pentagon has finally named its fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria: Operation Inherent Resolve.

KATHMANDU: At least 29 people, including eight foreign hikers and a group of yak herders, were killed in Nepal by unseasonal blizzards and avalanches triggered by the tail of cyclone Hudhud, officials said on Wednesday.

LONDON: An Indian lost out on winning the Man Booker prize second time in as many years as Australian author Richard Flanagan took away the literary world's most coveted prize for his book 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North'.

SYDNEY: A torrent of water which gushed into the cabin of a Qantas superjumbo, raining down on some passengers' heads, could have been caused by cleaning mops loosening a pipe coupling, an inquiry said on Wednesday.

HONG KONG: Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers moved in early Wednesday to clear pro-democracy protesters out of a tunnel outside the city government headquarters in the latest escalation of tensions in a weekslong political crisis.