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

American Airlines was forced to ground all flights in the US on Christmas Eve due to an unspecified technical issue. The airline did not immediately say why it was stopping all flights, but social media was quickly abuzz with travellers worrying about getting to their loved ones for the holiday. A groundstop notice was lifted

Matt Gaetz, who was briefly Donald Trump’s nominee for US attorney general, paid women for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and used drugs while he was a member of Congress, a committee has said. The House Ethics Committee’s report concluded there was “substantial evidence” that the former Florida congressman violated House rules, state and

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

The driver of a pickup truck has been shot dead by police after crashing his vehicle into a shopping centre in Texas and injuring five people, including a six-year-old child. Officers said that after a chase with the driver, he struck a JCPenney store in Killeen about 68 miles (109 km) north of the state

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

This is awkward for Downing Street to say the least. The person chosen by the British government to be the keystone in the most important of bilateral relationships is, according to one of the incoming president’s close aides, a “complete moron”. Chris LaCivita is a central character in Trump’s orbit. He managed Trump‘s election victory

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

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

Consider one view outside the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC. “I think we need to paint a mural to Luigi, what do you think?” said one passer-by, with a smile. “I don’t endorse murder but I think it’s a good thing if CEOs are a little bit nervous.” Everyone has a thought for

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,

A death row inmate’s last words were “let’s get this over with” before he became the first person to be executed in the US state of Indiana in 15 years. Joseph Corcoran, 49, died by lethal injection on Wednesday for the 1997 murders of his brother, his sister’s fiancee and two other men. He had

The man accused of killing an insurance firm chief in New York has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism. Luigi Mangione is suspected of shooting Brian Thompson, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, on 4 December, and was arrested after a manhunt that ended with police finding the 26-year-old in a McDonald’s. He had

A lawyer representing an alleged victim of Sean “Diddy” Combs has told Sky News she believes the criminal case against him is “just the tip of the iceberg” and there are “hundreds” more who may be “too afraid to come forward”. Lisa Bloom is representing singer Dawn Richard, a former member of two groups formed

Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have “gotta make a deal” to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. The US president-elect said the conflict “has to stop” and that people were “dying at levels nobody has ever seen”. He also claimed it could take “100 years” to rebuild Ukraine’s cities from