Filipino teacher wins Miss International pageant
TOKYO (REUTERS) - Filipino kindergarten teacher Kylie Verzosa, sporting a gown inspired by church architecture, was crowned Miss International at the 56th edition of the beauty pageant in Tokyo on Thursday.
The 24-year-old model edged out Australian student Alexandra Britton, who was first runner-up, with Indonesian Felicia Hwang third in the annual contest which featured 69 competitors.
Verzosa is the sixth Filipino to be crowned Miss International, one of the four major beauty pageants in the world.
Myanmar confirms first case of Zika virus infection
YANGON (REUTERS) - A pregnant foreign woman in Myanmar's largest city Yangon has been diagnosed with Zika, the first case of the mosquito-borne virus in the southeast Asian country, state-owned Myanmar TV (MRTV) said on Thursday.
Zika has spread to some 60 countries and territories since the current outbreak was identified last year in Brazil, raising alarm over the rare birth defect microcephaly as well as other neurological disorders it can cause in infants and adults.
"A foreign woman in Yangon who is pregnant was found to have contracted Zika virus and further examination is being carried out," MRTV reported without giving further details.
Putin says Russia showing restraint in Syria but patience may run out
MOSCOW (REUTERS) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was showing restraint in Syria, but might lose patience and respond in some way to unspecified actions.
"We...don't respond to our partners in such a rude way. But everything has its limits. We may respond," Putin told an audience in southern Russia.
He made the comments after accusing the US-led coalition of violating a ceasefire agreement by bombing Syrian government forces in September.
Twitter says it will be discontinuing the Vine mobile app in the coming month
NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Twitter Inc announced on Thursday that it would discontinue the video-sharing mobile app Vine, as it moves to cut 9 per cent of its workforce worldwide to keep costs down after beating Wall Street quarterly earnings expectations.
The decision comes on the heels of a failed attempt to sell Twitter as it fights against stagnant user growth and mounting competition from other social media platforms.
In a post published jointly by Twitter and Vine to the blog platform Medium, the social media services said that the Vine website would stay live even after the mobile app is discontinued, giving users the chance to download and save any videos.
Apple ramps up MacBook infused with touch controls
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Apple on Thursday unveiled new MacBook Pro laptops infused with touch control features that people have become popular on smartphones.
MacBook Pro models shown off at a special event at Apple's headquarters in Silicon Valley touted keyboards that had "Touch Bar" controls where function keys have traditionally been positioned.
Touch Bar adapts to display controls most relevant to whatever application is being used, from email or typing text to video editing or music mixing, demonstrations showed.
