US

A killer whale mother who carried her dead calf for 17 days in an apparent show of grief has given birth to a new calf, scientists have said. The orca, named Tahlequah and known to researchers as J35, had carried her dead infant for more than 1,000 miles in 2018. But last Friday the whale

The former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch may have dementia and a competency hearing is needed to assess whether he can face sex charges, defence lawyers have said. Mike Jeffries, 80 and who was CEO of glitzy retailer Abercrombie & Fitch for more than two decades, is free on $10m (£7.7m) bond after pleading not

Donald Trump says that when he takes power next month he will direct the US Justice Department to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty. The US president-elect, 78, said he would do so to protect Americans from what he called “violent rapists, murderers and monsters”. Mr Trump was responding to President Joe Biden’s decision to commute

Denmark has announced plans to boost its defence spending for Greenland with a “stronger presence in the Arctic” – a few hours after Donald Trump repeated his call for the US to buy the vast island. Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package would amount to a “double-digit billion amount” in krone, or

Former US president Bill Clinton is in hospital in Washington DC after developing a fever. Mr Clinton, 78, has been admitted to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital for “testing and observation”. Angel Ureña, the 42nd president’s deputy chief of staff, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News he is in “good spirits and grateful for the

Warning: This story contains distressing images To find safety from Gaza, you need first to become the victim of a catastrophic injury and then be lucky enough to be identified, selected and extracted. That’s one of the many brutal truths from this long war. I have followed the stories of some of the few Palestinians

A man has been charged over the death of a woman who was set on fire on a New York subway train. Police and federal officials said Sebastian Zapeta, a 33-year-old Guatemalan citizen, was charged with murder and arson on Monday. He allegedly used a lighter to set fire to the woman’s clothes while she

Police have launched a murder investigation after a woman was set on fire while on a subway train in New York. Detectives say the woman was discovered at around 7.30am local time on Sunday after officers on a routine patrol smelled smoke and noticed some commotion on the platform. They found the woman on fire

A US fighter jet has been shot down after it was mistakenly hit by an American missile cruiser over the Red Sea. Both pilots in the aircraft ejected and were rescued – one of them had minor injuries. An investigation is under way after what the US military described as an “apparent case of friendly

US president-elect Donald Trump says he has appointed British TV producer Mark Burnett as his special envoy to the UK. Mr Burnett, 64, created and worked alongside Mr Trump on the US series, The Apprentice, which made the president-elect internationally famous for firing a succession of contestants vying for roles in his businesses. The London-born

The US government has narrowly avoided a crippling shutdown after politicians agreed on a last-minute spending deal. Failure to reach an agreement would have meant federal employees would have missed pay ahead of the festive season, impacting various public services. Plans to approve the government’s budget were thrown into disarray this week after billionaire Elon

The co-manager for Donald Trump’s presidential election campaign has called Lord Peter Mandelson an “absolute moron” – as the peer was officially announced as the next UK ambassador to the US. The Labour grandee, who served in Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown’s cabinets, will become the UK’s top diplomat in Washington as president-elect Donald

US politicians have rejected a spending bill endorsed by president-elect Donald Trump – leaving Congress with no clear plan to avert a fast-approaching government shutdown. On Wednesday, Mr Trump dismissed a bipartisan compromise, which Republicans and Democrats had reached to prevent a shutdown just days before the Christmas winter break. Instead, he urged Republicans in

Luigi Mangione, the man accused of shooting dead UnitedHealthcare boss Brian Thompson, has arrived in New York where he faces new charges. The 26-year-old was flown to Manhattan by plane and helicopter after he agreed to be extradited from Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week after five days on the run. He now faces fresh federal

President Joe Biden has set fresh climate targets for the United States before climate sceptic Donald Trump takes office in January. Today the outgoing president has unveiled a new goal to slash US emissions of greenhouse gases by 61% from 2005 levels by 2035. The 10-year plan should generate “more good-paying jobs, more affordable energy,

Five members of the same family, including a two-year-old girl, have been found dead at a home in the US state of Utah. A 17-year-old boy was also found alive but with gunshot wounds. It is not yet clear whether he is a suspect or victim in the case, according to local police. Roxeanne Vainuku,