International

Natalie Cole, whose hit songs included the duet Unforgettable with her father Nat "King" Cole, has died aged 65. The Grammy-winning singer died on Thursday night at a hospital in Los Angeles, her publicist told the Associated Press news…

The authorities in Dubai are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city centre on New Year's Eve. After battling for more than 20 hours, firefighters appear to have extinguished most of…

A fugitive who made headlines for using an "affluenza" defence after a fatal drink-driving crash has delayed his extradition from Mexico to the US. A judge will now consider the deportation of Ethan Couch, 18. He and his mother were…

Prosecutors in the US have charged comedian Bill Cosby with aggravated indecent assault over an alleged incident in 2004. It is the first time Mr. Cosby, 78, has been charged with any offence, after months of accusations. Andrea Constand…

(BBC) Police in Brussels have detained a further six people in connection with an alleged plot to target the city on New Year's Eve, prosecutors say. Cities around the world have heightened security measures as New Year celebrations get…

(BBC) A Canada-bound airliner was forced to make an emergency landing after severe turbulence injured 21 passengers, including three children, officials said. The Air Canada flight from Shanghai to Toronto was diverted to Calgary after the…

(BBC) Government forces are battling rebels for control of a strategically important town in southern Syria. An army statement said troops and militiamen were advancing into Sheikh Miskeen on several fronts and had reached the main square.…

(BBC) Gunmen have shot and killed one person and wounded 11 others at the Derbent citadel in Dagestan, a Unesco World Heritage site in the North Caucasus. The tourists were attacked on Tuesday night outside the fortress in Derbent, one of…

(BBC) A five-mile (8km) section of the Mississippi River near St Louis, Missouri, has been closed to vessels as rising water levels caused "hazardous conditions", the US Coast Guard said. Storms and tornadoes have lashed the region in…

A Guyana-born cardiologist was sentenced to 20 years in prison on December 18, 2015, for performing unnecessary catheterizations, tests, stent insertions and causing unnecessary coronary artery bypass surgeries as part of a scheme to…

(BBC) A US grand jury has decided not to bring charges against a white policeman over the killing of a 12-year-old black boy armed with a toy gun. A local prosecutor in Ohio state, Tim McGinty, called the events that led to the death of…

(BBC) Israel has warned Brazil it will downgrade relations unless it accepts a former head of the Jewish settlement movement as its ambassador in Brasilia. Argentina-born Dani Dayan was appointed four months ago but his nomination has not…

(BBC) Carlos Rosales Mendoza, the founder of one of Mexico's most violent drug cartels, has been killed. Rosales Mendoza's body was found along with three other bodies by a motorway in western Mexico. All four victims had been shot dead,…

(BBC) Two journalists arrested in Ethiopia this month should be freed, an international press freedom group says. The detentions come amid deadly protests over a plan to expand the capital's administrative control into the Oromia region,…

(BBC) A Chicago police officer "accidentally struck and tragically killed" a mother of five after responding to a domestic disturbance, department officials say. Bettie Jones, 55, was killed along with her neighbour, 19-year-old Quintonio…