US

Almost 500-mile-long lightning bolt crossed three US states

The lightning bolt, extended a total of 477.2 miles (768 km) and spread across Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

The previous record was 440.6 miles (709 km) and recorded in Brazil in 2018.

Lightning rarely extends over 10 miles and usually lasts under a second.

Another lightning flash recorded in 2020 - in Uruguay and Argentina - has also set a new record for duration at 17.1 seconds. The previous record was 16.7 seconds.

Sir Elton John postpones US shows after positive Covid-19 test

The musician, 74, is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is currently experiencing only mild symptoms, according to a post on his Instagram.

The global pandemic has caused many delays in Sir Elton's Farewell Yellow Brick Road world tour.

Another British superstar, Adele, also cancelled US shows last week.

The Dallas shows were originally scheduled to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

US could sanction Putin if Russia invades Ukraine, Biden says

Mr Biden said there would be "enormous consequences" for the world if Russia made a move on the nation, which sits on its south-western border.

His comments came as other Western leaders repeated warnings that Russia would pay a heavy price for invasion.

Russia has accused the US and others of "escalating tensions" over the issue and denies it plans to enter Ukraine.

However, Moscow has built up troops at the border, with some 100,000 Russian soldiers deployed in the region.

Get away from shore - US and Japan warn after Tonga tsunami

The US warned of strong currents and waves, and coastal flooding.

The huge underwater volcanic eruption caused waves of more than a metre to crash into Tonga.

The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano was heard across the South Pacific, and eventually as far away as the US.

A tsunami warning has been issued for parts of Australia's east coast and Tasmania, and the north and east coast areas of New Zealand's North Island.

Prince Andrew to face civil sex assault case after US ruling

Virginia Giuffre is suing the prince, claiming he abused her in 2001.

His lawyers said the case should be thrown out, citing a 2009 deal she signed with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. But a New York judge ruled that the claim could be heard.

He has consistently denied the claims. Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on an ongoing legal matter.

The motion to dismiss the lawsuit was outlined in a 46-page decision by Judge Lewis A Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

US reports record 1m Covid cases with peak still to come

A record 1,080,211 cases were reported on Monday - the highest one-day tally of new cases anywhere in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The Omicron variant accounts for the majority of cases in the US.

The top US pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci has said the country is facing "almost a vertical increase" in cases.

He said the peak may be weeks away.

While rates of death and hospital admissions in the US have been far lower in recent weeks than in previous infection spikes, the number of hospital admissions has been steadily rising.

US surpasses 800,000 pandemic deaths

It comes as the US reached 50 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Monday.

Most deaths have been recorded among the unvaccinated and the elderly, and more Americans died in 2021 than in 2020.

The US is again seeing deaths rising at an alarming rate.

The last 100,000 deaths came in just the past 11 weeks, a quicker pace than any at other point aside from last winter's surge.

Germany, US plan new Covid-19 restrictions as Omicron spreads

With countries including the United States, India and France reporting their first Omicron cases, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she hoped the pandemic would not completely stifle economic activity.

"There's a lot of uncertainty, but it could cause significant problems. We're still evaluating that," she told the Reuters Next conference.

The new measures in Germany focus on the unvaccinated, who will only be allowed in essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while legislation to make vaccination mandatory will be drafted for early next year.

Colombia's most wanted drug lord Otoniel captured, faces extradition to US

Dairo Antonio Úsuga, better known as Otoniel, was seized after a joint army, air force and police operation.

He led the country's largest criminal gang and has been on the US Drug Enforcement Agency's most wanted list for years.

US officials had placed a $5m (£3.6m) bounty on his head.

They accused him of importing at least 73 metric tonnes of cocaine into the country between 2003 and 2014.

Colombia's Defence Minister Diego Molano told El Tiempo newspaper that the next step for officials was to comply with the US extradition order.

All Blacks crush US in one-sided affair in DC

The visitors led 33-7 at half-time and scored 16 tries to two against an understrength US team.

Wing Will Jordan dotted down for a hattrick, while loose forward Luke Jacobsen and prop Angus Ta'avao bagged two tries each.

Prop Ethan de Groot, fullback Damian McKenzie, first-five Richie Mo'unga, second-five Quinn Tupaea, loose forward Dalton Papalii also scored tries as did replacements Anton Lienert-Brown, Beauden Barrett, Dane Coles and TJ Perenara.

The Eagles secured their first-ever try against the All Blacks during the test.