US News

The British man who took four hostage in Texas was on a call with his children when he was shot dead, his brother has told Sky News. Malik Faisal Akram, originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, was killed after the FBI entered the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue. The gunman’s brother, Gulbar Akram, said he spoke to

The British man accused of holding hostages inside a Texas synagogue on Saturday demanded the release of a Pakistani woman who is imprisoned close by on charges of trying to kill American service members in Afghanistan. Aafia Siddiqui is serving an 86-year prison sentence in the Fort Worth area after being convicted in 2010. During

The British man who was shot dead after taking four people hostage at a Texas synagogue has been named by the FBI as Malik Faisal Akram. Sky News understands the 44-year-old from Blackburn was not living in the United States but had recently travelled there. Akram’s family say they are “devastated” by his death, adding

A suspect who was shot dead by officers after taking four people hostage at a Texas synagogue was British, Sky News understands. One hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville was released six hours into the 10-hour standoff, before an FBI SWAT team entered the building at around 9pm local time on Saturday and

A SWAT team and FBI officers have been called to a hostage situation in a Texas synagogue, where a man is reportedly holding members of the congregation. The incident at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville is ongoing. Dara Nelson, a police sergeant for Colleyville Police, said there were no injuries to report and that

Ghislaine Maxwell will be sentenced at the end of June, after being convicted of recruiting teenage girls for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse. US district judge Alison Nathan announced 28 June as the date of sentencing, even as she waits to resolve claims from Maxwell‘s defence team that a new trial should be ordered. It comes

Lawyers for the woman accusing Prince Andrew of sexual assault have requested permission to interview two potential witnesses in the UK. One is a woman who allegedly saw the royal “with a young girl” at Tramp nightclub in London, while the other is a former assistant of the prince’s whose name appeared in convicted sex

The leader of a far-right militia group has been charged with seditious conspiracy following last January’s attack on the US Capitol.  The charge, which alleges the group attempted to overthrow the government, is more serious than the lower-level crimes others have faced and brings with it a 20-year prison sentence. More than 150 people have

Davos, January 2015, and in front of a room of businesspeople at the World Economic Forum, Prince Andrew for the first time had to publicly deny the sex abuse allegations made against him. And yet since then, for seven years, the claims have continued to haunt him and the rest of the Royal Family, fuelled

A teenager in the US has pleaded not guilty to child abuse and attempted first-degree murder after being accused of throwing her newborn baby in a rubbish bin. Alexis Avila has been able to stay out of jail pending her trial but must remain under house arrest. CCTV footage showed a young woman, believed to

A judge has rejected Prince Andrew’s attempt to have the sexual assault lawsuit against him thrown out. US judge Lewis Kaplan refused to dismiss the case after hearing arguments from lawyers representing the royal and his accuser Virginia Giuffre. It means the royal will face a civil sex case trial later this year. The Duke

Police in Philadelphia say it’s a “miracle” all four passengers – including an infant – survived when the helicoper they were travelling in crash landed in a built up area. The Eurocopter EC135 aircraft somehow managed to avoid power cables and buildings before it hit the street and slid into bushes outside a Methodist Church,

A teenage mother in New Mexico has been arrested and charged with attempted murder and child abuse, after she was captured on CCTV throwing her new-born baby in a dumpster. Alexis Avila, 18, has confessed to giving birth to the child at another location and placing him in the waste container. The baby boy was

A terminally ill man has been given the chance of life after his own diseased heart was replaced by a genetically-modified pig’s heart. In a medical first, doctors in Maryland transplanted the animal’s organ into 57-year-old David Bennett and said on Monday that he is doing well three days after the experimental surgery. It is

A New York City apartment block fire was more deadly because an open door allowed smoke to spread, the city’s fire commissioner has said. The blaze on the morning of 9 January in the Bronx was caused by a faulty electric heater, but fire chief Daniel Nigro said many of the victims were killed by

A man has been saved from near-death by police officers in Los Angeles after he crash-landed his plane onto railway tracks seconds before it was hit by a train. The unnamed pilot was saved from the Cessna by quick-thinking officers who pulled him out just before a high-speed train smashed into the aircraft, sending debris

At least 19 people, including nine children, have died after a huge fire tore through an apartment block in New York City. New York City Mayor Eric Adams confirmed the number of dead in the Bronx apartment building fire. A city official who was not allowed to speak to the media confirmed to Associated Press

A Chinese man who was brutally attacked while collecting cans in New York City has died of his injuries eight months later. Yao Pan Ma, 61, had been collecting returnable bottles and cans in Harlem to raise money to buy food after he lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic when he was attacked from

Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has revealed how he lost nearly six and a half stone (40kg) in less than six months. The Trump administration’s top diplomat told The New York Post that keeping his weight down had been a lifelong battle. But, on 21 June last year, he decided enough was enough

Three white men who chased and shot a black man as he ran through their neighbourhood have been sentenced to life in prison for his murder. Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was pursued and cornered by Travis McMichael, 35, his father Gregory McMichael, 66, and their neighbour William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, 52, on 23 February 2020 in Satilla