1,017 extra miles and a saving of £7.72.

From the gold laden glitter of an Aztec headdress adorning Miss Honduras to the perky buzby sported by Miss Great Britain and the fearsome Celtic warrior floated on stage by Ireland’s Lisa Madden, the national costume show was all about pride of place during the 63rd annual Miss Universe Competition at Florida International University in Miami.

BERLIN

I lunched last Sunday with a gargantuan guzzler and bon viveur who announced his plans to take a sleeping pill tonight and retire early. New Year’s Eve is funny.

Just like after the Second World War, countries must co-operate, not ply their own path, writes US secretary of state John Kerry

This Sunday marks 25 years since the fall of the Wall.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again. This seems to be key in any great sporting triumph.

World Cup winners Germany touched down on home soil yesterday as they returned to Berlin with the top prize in football.

World Cup winners Germany had a bit of fun after they touched down on home soil this morning as they returned to Berlin with the much-coveted top prize in football.

Thomas Muller has warned Germany fans not to expect tomorrow’s World Cup final against Argentina to be as easy as their semi-final cruise over Brazil.

It has to be said we in the readed meeja were a little put out when we learned Roy Keane wouldn’t be in attendance for the grand unveiling today of Martin O’Neill as the new Ireland manager.

President Barack Obama’s visit to Berlin caps three days of international diplomacy for the president, and marks his return to a place where he once summoned a crowd of 200,000 to share his ambitious vision for American leadership.

The 12th of June will go down in history for many reasons.

Hundreds of protesters have forced construction crews to stop work on removing a small section from one of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall to make way for a luxury flats project.

Hundreds of protesters have forced construction crews to stop work on removing a small section from one of the few remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall to make way for a luxury flats project.

Irish race-walking legend Olive Loughnane has announced her retirement from international

Last week, work took me to the German capital Berlin, where I spent four days in the company of cement kiln refractory specialists from around the globe.

WHY did it take me so long to visit Berlin? The German capital had been on my list of places to see for years.

Hundreds of world landmarks from Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to the Great Wall of China went dark last night, part of a global effort to highlight climate change.

EXTRAVAGANT firework displays lit up the skies from Sydney to New York in a global New Year’s party as people around the world set aside their worries to welcome 2012.

Glittering fireworks have exploded as revellers in Australia and Asia welcomed 2012 and people around the world looked forward to bidding adieu to a year marred by natural disasters and economic turmoil.

Vienna, Austria

Feathers flew in a German street recently when the world's biggest pillow fight took place.

SYDNEY’S Harbour Bridge exploded in a spectacular blaze of New Year fireworks yesterday as people around the globe began welcoming 2011 with a glittering array of parties.

Phillip Ruch’s monument to Srebrenica is a huge jumble of worn shoes, more than 16,000 of them, each pair representing a victim of Europe’s worst massacre since the Second World War.

REVELLERS worldwide met the new year with spectacular fireworks displays and joyful parties against a backdrop of tightened security.

THE dominoes fell, one by one, all 1,000 of them, covering 1.5km along the path of the 43km fence that kept Berliners imprisoned for 28 years.

Celebrations, remembrances and joyful exuberance enveloped Germany today, the 20th anniversary of the night the Berlin Wall came down, a momentous event that helped transform Europe and signalled the beginning of the end of communism in Europe.

Twenty years ago tomorrow, they danced on top of the Berlin Wall, feet thudding on the cold concrete, arms raised in victory, hands clasped in friendship and giddy hope.

Beyonce has scooped a hat-trick of prizes at the MTV Europe Music Awards, dedicating one of them to husband Jay-Z.

U2 have played a spectacular mini-concert in the German capital - ahead of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

MTV denied that they had erected their own “wall” around U2’s free concert tonight, which celebrates 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

U2 are to play a free show at the Brandenburg Gate to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it was announced today.

Following her superb silver medal-winning performance in yesterday's 20km walk at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Olive Loughnane is already looking to add to her medal haul.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE delivered on the promise shown at last year’s Olympic Games when she won the silver medal in the women’s 20k walk at the world championships in Berlin yesterday.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE was barely off the plane from Beijing last year when she set about planning her onslaught on a medal at this year’s world championships in Berlin.

Olive Loughnane has provided Irish athletics with a massive shot in the arm by winning a silver medal in the 20 kilometre walk at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin.

OLIVE LOUGHNANE will be among the elite medal prospects when she lines up at the Brandenburg Gate for the start of the women’s 20k road race at the world championships tomorrow.

HANKIES at the ready, everybody.

Republican John McCain intensified criticism of Barack Obama’s vow to pull troops out of Iraq, saying the Democratic presidential candidate’s plan would lay the Arab nation open to the kind of chaos that gripped it 18 months ago.

President Mary McAleese met European Central Bank president Jean Claude Trichet in Frankfurt today as she concluded her three-day state visit to Germany.