A 25-year-old Venezuelan television presenter, Gabriela Isler, on Saturday was crowned Miss Universe in Moscow in a glittering ceremony.

Judges, including rock star Steven Tyler from Aerosmith, picked the winner from a total of 86 contestants at the show, watched by millions of viewers around the world.

Multi-platinum selling diva Lady Gaga is fighting to keep her 'Queen of Pop' crown with a hotly-anticipated third album, but early reception in the U.S. and Britain has been lukewarm.

"Artpop" signals a return to the limelight for Stefani Germanotta -- known as Lady Gaga on stage and in video -- after she was forced to tone down her usually ubiquitous media presence to undergo hip surgery.

Here's a couple you didn't expect to see riding the train together on a Friday afternoon: Vice President Joe Biden and Whoopi Goldberg.

The vice president's office tweeted a photo of Biden and the Oscar-winning comedienne sitting side by side and smiling on an Amtrak train.

Rising from the ashes of 9/11, the new World Trade Center tower has punched above the New York skyline to reach its powerfully symbolic height of 1,776 feet (541 meters) and become the tallest building in the country. Or has it?

A committee of architects recognized as the arbiters on world building heights met Friday to decide whether a design change affecting the skyscraper's 408-foot (124-meter) needle disqualifies it from being counted. Disqualification would deny the tower the title as the nation's tallest.

There are few, if any, surprises left at an Eagles concert: The vintage music sounds digitally crystal clear, the band members' voices remain strong through the long, high notes and harmonies, and it's hard to find a bad song on the set list.

The thrill isn't gone, mind you, just some of their grunge from the '70s.

U.S. television host Thomas Roberts, who is in Moscow to present Miss Universe contest and is openly gay, has condemned Russia's homophobic legislation in what he called dark times for the country.

"The Russian laws obviously are a dark time and a dark chapter in LGBT history here," Roberts told Agence France Presse after arriving in Moscow with his husband ahead of the Miss Universe final on Saturday.

Kanye West has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery and attempted grand theft in a case filed over a scuffle with a celebrity photographer earlier this year.

Attorney Blair Berk entered the plea on the rapper's behalf Thursday in a Los Angeles court. West was charged with two misdemeanors in September over a July altercation with paparazzo Daniel Ramos at Los Angeles International Airport.

Chris Brown has countersued a man who accused the R&B star's entourage of attacking him outside a recording studio earlier this year.

The singer filed an assault and battery lawsuit Wednesday against Sha'keir Duarte, who claimed in an earlier suit that he was injured when a fight erupted between Brown and Frank Ocean's entourages in January outside a West Hollywood studio.

A Canadian bit-part actress barraged Alec Baldwin with lovesick, demanding messages, packed her belongings into a car and showed up uninvited at his homes in Manhattan and the Hamptons, prosecutors said as her stalking trial opened Thursday.

The case is expected to put the "30 Rock" actor in an unsought role: a key witness against a woman who says she had a fling with him some years ago, which he denies. Baldwin is expected to testify next week against actress Genevieve Sabourin, whose lawyer says she was merely trying to get answers after the actor lost interest in her.

U.S. President Barack Obama will screen "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," a film portraying the life of South Africa's iconic anti-apartheid leader, on Thursday, the White House said.

The movie recounts the political and personal life of former South African president Nelson Mandela, whom Obama has called an inspiration.