A 20-year-old Boston University sophomore and a self-described "cellist-nerd" brought the Miss Universe crown back to the United States for the first time in more than a decade when she won the televised contest Wednesday.

Olivia Culpo beat out 88 other beauty queens to take the title from Leila Lopes of Angola during the two-hour competition at the Planet Hollywood casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

It's not your Apple's iPhone.

A Brazilian company has begun selling smartphones with the iPhone brand after winning the legal right to use the name in Latin America's biggest country. Adding insult to Apple Inc.'s injury, the phone runs on Android operating system from archrival Google Inc.

Miss Lebanon 2012 Rina Chibany will compete on Thursday in the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas.

Chibany, who reserved her spot in the pageant after beating 15 contestants in the national competition, among them her twin sister first runner-up Romy, will join 88 women from around the world who are preparing to don evening gowns, show their interview skills and strut in swimsuits in hopes of becoming the next Miss Universe.

Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak was transferred to a Cairo military hospital on Wednesday, after slipping and injuring his head and chest in prison, a security official said.

For months, there have been conflicting reports about the health of the 84-year old Mubarak, who was sentenced in June to life in prison for failing to stop the killing of hundreds of protesters during last year's uprising. He is the first Arab president to serve a prison sentence.

In the days since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., a shell-shocked nation has looked for reasons. The list of culprits cited include easy access to guns, a strained mental-health system and the "culture of violence" — the entertainment industry's embrace of violence in movies, TV shows and, especially, video games.

"The violence in the entertainment culture — particularly, with the extraordinary realism to video games, movies now, et cetera — does cause vulnerable young men to be more violent," Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said.

Arsenal has secured the futures of five key players, with Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Kieran Gibbs, Aaron Ramsey, and Carl Jenkinson signing new deals.

Arsenal has lost a string of top talent in recent years, including Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.

Cristiano Ronaldo said he would like to win the world player of year prize but he places more importance on helping Portugal win its first international trophy.

He added in an interview posted on the Portuguese Football Federation website on Wednesday, "Careers are made by trophies that are won collectively, not individually.

Barcelona canceled meetings with the club president and journalists on Wednesday amid reports that coach Tito Vilanova is ill.

The club said on its website "it has suspended a meeting with President Sandro Rosell scheduled for this afternoon" and "canceled Christmas lunch with the media."

South Korea appeared to have elected its first female president Wednesday as national TV predicted a clear victory for conservative Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country's former dictator.

More than three hours after polling stations closed, the KBS, SBS and MBC national broadcasters all declared Park "certain" to secure an historic win over her liberal rival Moon Jae-In.

Syrian government forces are carrying out a broad offensive against rebels in the suburbs of Damascus, the state media said Wednesday.

The state-run SANA news agency said that troops have killed "scores of terrorists" — the government term for the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.